Is a Pure Mortal viable?

[CableRouter]

Michael Westen is a workable character concept at submerged.  A high deceit skill would be central to the character, and either a deceit or performance stunt to allow him to effectively play the role of a large number of personas. 

That's just the normal use of Deceit.  He's not trying to disguise himself as a specific other person, just lying to them about who he is or what he can do for him. 

Other skills that are useful would be burglary, driving, guns, and one other social skill, probably rapport (and decent empathy and performance would help as well).  His main focus is working an "asset" and conning the bad guys.  He rarely uses direct force to achieve objectives, and when he does use force, its usually part of the show needed to convince (i.e. trick) someone of part of his act.  Michael Westen really is skilled at combat, but for game purposes, you don't have to make it a high ranked skill to simulate the way he would act in most situations. 

Don't forget that his High Concept of "Burned Secret Agent" is an aspect and he can easily invoke it with one of his many fate points for a +2 on any task that a spy would be good at.  Any time during the show when he's talking about how a spy does something, that's an Invoke in action.  This lets him be whomever he needs to be, know what he needs to know and lets him use Scholarship to make declarations about people, places and things so he can exploit a bunch of their weak points all at once for the takedown. 

Even with a +1 skill, toss in a couple of tagged declarations and invoke that Spy aspect and you're looking at a base of +7, that kind of thing is easy to underestimate while looking at a character writeup and being tempted to give someone 45+ skill points, 11 stunts and a free tag because of equipment in every scene in a Submerged Level Game.  Yes, Batman thread, I'm talking about you 

[luminos]

I agree with most of that, with the exception that I think he uses burglary to make most of his declarations rather than scholarship.

[Deadmanwalking]

Hmm. Maybe I did speak too soon.

Let's see how I'd make Michael Westen, eh?

Name: Michael Westen

Aspects:
High Concept: Burned Spy
Trouble: Can't Resist A Cry For Help
Other:
Solitary Man
Bad Things For Good Reasons
Nobody Will Take My Calls
Loyal to His Friends
Improvised Backup Plans

Skills:

Superb: Deceit,
Great: Burglary, Discipline, Fists,
Good: Alertness, Craftsmanship, Endurance,
Fair: Athletics, Investigation, Guns,
Average: Conviction, Driving, Presence,

Stunts:

Cat Burglar (Burglary)
Demolitions Training (Craftsmanship)
Takes One To Know One (Deceit)
Martial Artist (Fists)
Armed Arts: Knife, Bludgeon (Fists)
Nasty Infighter: May use Fists instead of Might to initiate and hold grapples (Fists)
Footwork (Fists)
Linguist (Scholarship)

Total: -6 Refresh (Pure  Mortal)

Stress:

Mental: OOO
Physical: OOOO
Social: OOO
Armor: Usually, none.

Note: He rapidly piles up Significant Milestones, grabbing Scholarship and Contacts at Average, and Rapport and Stealth at Fair quite quickly, and raising Investigation to Good at the same rate.


Huh, that worked out better than I thought it would. Guess I underestimated what can be done with a Submerged character.

[Rel Fexive]

Nice work.  I love Burn Notice.

[Deadmanwalking]

Nice work.  I love Burn Notice.

Yeah, me too. 

Hence, well, doing it.

[austinmonster]

I'm often amazed at how well this system actually simulates DRAMA well.  Sure, the stuff it comes out with might not always be statistically perfect, or make total sense by the rules, but it encourages quick-thinking players to do more than just "I attack him!"

I've gotten to the point now that when I'm listening to the audio-books (go James go!)  I can't help but see every invoke, tag, and compulsion that Harry does!   I'm sure as I learn the system more, I'll get even MORE into it.

It will likely permanently flaw how I see fiction in general. 

Wonder how Fate: Ahnk-Morpork will work?

[Jeckel]

Nice on the Michael Westen, Fiona and Sam would also make good examples of Pure Mortals that can hold there own. Sam with his Seal training and Contacts, and Fiona putting holes in everything or making it go boom... the three of them really show what Pure Mortals can do when they put their minds to it.

[theDwarf]

Anyway don't forget that you will have a lot of fate poits. 12 base refresh plus a couple of relevant aspects (strange luck, Murphy stalks me (Him not Her!), chivilary?) will enable you to slip by easyly.

Just don't give into temptation of using too much refresh. Supernaturals have to but if you try to compete with them with mortal stunts, you won't be happy. Just select a few necessary stunts and bank on fate.

Having extra fate points allows you to do more triggering Aspects ...

Is it possible to trigger other player's aspects to give them a boost?  If so then a "mere mortal" could potentially be the most versatile character in the game!

[Deadmanwalking]

Because it seems appropriate to continue with the trio:

Name: Sam Axe

Aspects:
High Concept: Washed-Up Navy SEAL
Trouble: Never Leave A Man Behind
Other:
Has A Guy For Everything
Kept Man (Of Sorts)
Knows Spies
Reliable Man In A Tight Spot
Trying To Do The Right Thing

Skills:

Superb: Contacts,
Great: Deceit, Fists,
Good: Burglary, Endurance, Guns,
Fair: Alertness, Athletics, Discipline, Rapport,
Average: Conviction, Empathy, Presence, Resources, Scholarship,

Stunts:

Cat Burglar (Burglary)
Ear To The Ground (Contacts)
I Know Just The Guy (Contacts)
Document Forging (Deceit)
Takes One To Know One (Deceit)
Armed Arts: Knife, Bludgeon (Fists)
Footwork (Fists)
Target Rich Environment (Guns)

Total: -6 Refresh (Pure  Mortal)

Stress:

Mental: OOO
Physical: OOOO
Social: OOO
Armor: Usually, none.

Notes: Sam rapidly raises Intimidation and Conviction to Good and Guns and Discipline to Great, as well as Stealth to Fair.

[Fedifensor]

Name: Sam Axe

Aspects:
High Concept: Washed-Up Navy SEAL
Trouble: Never Leave A Man Behind
Other:
Has A Guy For Everything
Kept Man (Of Sorts)
Knows Spies
Reliable Man In A Tight Spot
Trying To Do The Right Thing

I think it's cool that you're writing up the Burn Notice crew, but I think you missed something here.  Not a single aspect mentions booze or women...

[sjmcc13]

I think it's cool that you're writing up the Burn Notice crew, but I think you missed something here.  Not a single aspect mentions booze or women...

Booze is missing, but I figured women was covered under Kept Man (Of Sorts)

[Lanodantheon]

On the Burn Notice thing:

Awesome sauce! Burn Notice is great.

No Offense Deadman, but Michael Weston's Aspect, No One Will Return My Callsis 1) redundant with Burned Spy and 2) you're forgetting the other important part of his life currently.

I propose either: A)  My Mom Would Have Made a Great NSA Communications Operative  or B) Something with the word "Family"


Name: Fiona Glenanne
High Concept: Ex-IRA Bombmaker
Trouble: Michael's Old Flame
[b]Other Aspects:[/b]
"Back In Ireland"
Professional Femme-Fatale
Perfect American Accent
"Should we shoot them?"
Friends and Enemies Here and There

I'm too lazy to do Skills and Stunts at the moment.

Back on Topic (at least for a bit).

One of the things nnaysayers of Pure-mortals complain about is being unable to stand-up to the coolness of Were-forms, EoPs and Wizards or in a fight. THe thing about magic-users is that Magic is expensive. Yeah that Wizard can do a lot with magic, but that maigc is most of that character. Chances are that is all the supernatural characters can do.

The trick to Pure Mortals is finding what they can do that the supernatural characters can't. Martial Arts is one. Guns is another. But one main one that people overlook is social status. The Negotiatior, a character from my short-lived SPokane game before I moved to Seattle, was aPure-Mortal and probably the most dangerous of the bunch. HE was dangerous because of his 1) High SKills in COntacts and Resources(Marcone Rich and Connected) and 2) his Aspect Freeholding Lord which when used can derail an adventure faster than anything. Also, his social skills allowed him to destroy the opposition. The Town's White Court Mistress shuttered at his social ticks.

Authority can be a valuable tool. People underestimate how valuable a police officer in good standing hunting the supernatural is. Celebrity Detective Poe from the same game could get a lot of doors opened to him because he wasn't exiled to Siberia.

The last thing people overlook about Pure Mortals is Fate Points. Like...how many they have. Watch as you do those Hollywood style stunts every single round. Magic is great, but it doesn't compare to being able to fire 2 guns whilst jumping throw the air.

Dammit.... Next Character to post: Max Payne or Chow-Yun Fat from Hard-Boiled.

[CMEast]

Wonder how Fate: Ahnk-Morpork will work?

I thought I'd give it a quick go, I've missed out a ton of stuff but things like the luggage are plot device rather than his powers

Name: Rincewind
Template: Pure Mortal

--Aspects--
High Concept: The Eternal Coward
Trouble: Favoured by The Lady
 
WIZZARD
Why is it always me?
Can run away from anything
The patter of tiny, scary feet.
I love a good potato!
That one spell...

--Skills--

Superb: Athletics,
Great: Endurance
Good: Lore
Fair: Contacts, Scholarship
Average: Stealth, Presence, Survival, Empathy

Stunts:
Fleet of Foot
Too Fast to Hit
Tireless
Go Native
A knack for languages - Rincewind is capable of communicating in any language... as long as he's only trying to say 'Aargh'

Total: -5 Refresh (Pure  Mortal)

Stress:

Mental: OO
Physical: OOOO
Social: OOO
Armor: Wizzard hat and robe.

[luminos]

Sam Axe is missing a Chuck Finley aspect/stunt 

[Bubba Amon Hotep]

Yeah Sam needs the Aspect:
Its over by <place>, <adjective> Mojitos there!

Could be used to know where he is going, as he maps out locals by whats around resturants, bars, and liquor stores.

Could be compels to leave and go get a drink.