Character Help: Teenage Reincarnation of Ishtar Priestess

[Ophidimancer]

So I've hammered out  a partial character and wanted some opinions on how to finish:

Name:  Jasim "Jay" Bashir
High Concept: Teenage Reincarnation of an Emissary of Ishtar
I think I want to go with Emissary of Power, but I might just stick to Minor Talent.
Trouble:  There's an Ancient Sex Priestess In My Head!!!

Background:  Jasim comes from a Muslim family living in America and, although he was raised in a pretty devout household, he tends to just want to live the American Dream of being a popular high school jock.  As the captain of the soccer team he enjoys the perks of being in the in crowd, despite the fact that he has lost touch with his heritage.  Little does he know that it will bite him in the ass, because both sides of his family are very distantly related to an ancient bloodline of Babylonian priests.  He's lately begun to have disturbingly vivid dreams of ancient times and places.  More embarrassing for him, he's also having wet dreams about men.
Aspect:  Should I go with Not So Good Muslim Boy or All-American Muslim Boy?

Rising Conflict:  In the middle of his gay crisis, the last thing Jay expects is for a four thousand year old priestess of Ishtar to wake up inside him.  Things get really weird as he starts casting ancient spells unconsciously and some strange woman begins talking to him in his dreams.  He tries to bury the stress of both of these things by being aggressively normal, throwing himself into sports, school, and maintaining his popularity.  The camaraderie he shares with his teammates is a large source of comfort for him.
Aspect:  I Just Want To Be Normal

The Story:  Now fully awake, Jay's co-pilot who I have yet to name, has begun to make a nuisance of herself.  She's headstrong, willful, and has magic to boot.  She has the annoying habit of giving Jay unwanted advice and then taking over his body when he doesn't take the advice.  She's kind of a diva in that she was accustomed to being obeyed, had beautiful clothes, beautiful men, and the attention of a goddess.  It's difficult to get these things when you're four thousand years out of date and in the body of a teenage boy, but that doesn't stop her from trying.  This seriously complicates Jay's masculine image and threatens his popularity.  It also sends up mystic red flags that catch the attention of the White Council and shadowy enemies from the high priestess' past.  Jay leans heavily on the support of his best friend and fake girlfriend, Tasha (replaceable name), a tough no-nonsense chick with a cute cheerleader exterior.
Aspect: As a continuation of his Trouble Aspect ... And She's a High Maintenance Bitch.

I don't have a group to play this character with yet, so I'll leave the last two Aspects for later.

Skills (20 points, capped at Great)
Good:Athletics, Presence
Fair: Endurance, Rapport
Average: Alertness, Contacts, Deceit, Driving, Empathy, Fists, Intimidation, Might, Resources, Scholarship

Do those represent a high school student and soccer player well enough?

Powers (6 Refresh)
Marked by Power (-1), Wizard's Constitution (-0), Channeling (-2)

Human Form* (+1), Involuntary Change (+1)
*Beast change (-1)
*Ritual (-2)

Final Refresh: 2

A few issues here:
1)  I know it said under Beast Change that knowledge skills can't be upgraded, but I'm using Beast Change to represent when someone else takes over the character's body, someone who was most likely a Wizard level practitioner back in her day, so I was thinking of giving her a pretty good Lore rating.  You guys think that's ok?
2)  I decided to go with Channeling and Ritual, with Ritual only being accessible when the priestess takes over, because I wanted the Jay personality to have access to a little bit of magic, as bad as he may be at it given his Mediocre Conviction and Discipline scores.  His Channeling element would be Spirit, with an emphasis on mind magic, and his Ritual would also be in Psychomancy.  (Yes, I know this treads on Lawbreaking territory.)  Do you guys think it would just be easier to go with Sponsored Magic?

[JG_Mage]

"Woops I have to go, finish this later."

Not fair. 

[Ophidimancer]

"Woops I have to go, finish this later."

Not fair. 

Sorry!  There ya go!

[Deadmanwalking]

Looking at it...that should all work, but only having Conviction and Discipline at Mediocre, and no skills above Good is going to make Jasim himself pretty much useless (though the Priestess might be very useful indeed). I'd maybe give him some sort of physical enhancement or a couple of Mortal Stunts instead of Channeling, and rearrange his skills to be more effective, maybe like this:

Great: Athletics,
Good: Fists, Presence,
Fair: Endurance, Rapport,
Average: Alertness, Contacts, Deceit, Empathy, Might, Scholarship,


I'd also be tempted to give the Priestess full-blown Thaumaturgy (dropping your Refresh to 1)...it makes more sense and will be much more useful. Or you could go Sponsored Magic and just give Jasim himself some Mortal Stunt or other potentially useful ability. That too would be more effective.

[Saedar]

Additionally, have you read the Kane Chronicles by Rick Riordan? This actually sounds really close to the themes from the first book The Red Pyramid.

[Ophidimancer]

Looking at it...that should all work, but only having Conviction and Discipline at Mediocre, and no skills above Good is going to make Jasim himself pretty much useless (though the Priestess might be very useful indeed).

Yep, I wanted him to be very much a high school student, with not a lot of life experience, hence all the Average Skills, but I could concede a bit to gamism and rearrange a bit.  I don't think I would put Fists so high, but otherwise I like the Skill pyramid you made.

About the Priestess, do you think it would be ok for her to have higher Lore than Jay?  I know it's against the rules of Beast Change, but ...

I'd also be tempted to give the Priestess full-blown Thaumaturgy (dropping your Refresh to 1)...it makes more sense and will be much more useful. Or you could go Sponsored Magic and just give Jasim himself some Mortal Stunt or other potentially useful ability. That too would be more effective.

Yeah, I'd probably just go for Sponsored Magic, but again, I wanted Jasim himself to have access to a little bit of the magic.  Maybe I should drop Marked by Power and have him be a Minor Talent for a bit more Refresh?

[Ophidimancer]

Additionally, have you read the Kane Chronicles by Rick Riordan? This actually sounds really close to the themes from the first book The Red Pyramid.

I'd never heard of this series before now, thanks for the recommendation! 

[Saedar]

I'd never heard of this series before now, thanks for the recommendation! 

No problem! It is actually really good. He is a pretty good author.

[Deadmanwalking]

Yep, I wanted him to be very much a high school student, with not a lot of life experience, hence all the Average Skills, but I could concede a bit to gamism and rearrange a bit.  I don't think I would put Fists so high, but otherwise I like the Skill pyramid you made.

Reverse Rapport and Fists then. I almost did myself, and Rapport is both cool and appropriate.

About the Priestess, do you think it would be ok for her to have higher Lore than Jay?  I know it's against the rules of Beast Change, but ...

Oh, I'd absolutely allow it. It makes perfect sense considering.

Yeah, I'd probably just go for Sponsored Magic, but again, I wanted Jasim himself to have access to a little bit of the magic.  Maybe I should drop Marked by Power and have him be a Minor Talent for a bit more Refresh?

Maybe. I'd be tempted to grant him something physical, personally (Inhuman Speed would be appropraite). Ishtar was a goddess of war as well as sex, after all. For the same reason, I'd give the Priestess Skill Pyramid decent Weapons and athletics, as well as the needed magical skills.

[Ophidimancer]

Oh yes, I know she was a goddess of sex and war, but I was going with mind magic to cause both of those things.  When she's feeling spiteful, she combines them and causes Jealousy.  She's definitely more of a Social heavy character.

The reason I went for Channeling and Ritual is because I eventually wanted to upgrade him to Evocation and Thaumaturgy level, after a lot of work and the Priestess teaching him.  Sponsored Magic gives me good bang for my buck now, but it doesn't upgrade, does it?

[Deadmanwalking]

Not per se, but you can buy Evocation or Thaumaturgy for (effectively) only 2 Refresh each since buying them drops the cost of Sponsored Magic.

And my original reccomendation was actually Channeling and Thaumaturgy, which is even easier to upgrade than Channeling and Ritual. 

[Ophidimancer]

And my original reccomendation was actually Channeling and Thaumaturgy, which is even easier to upgrade than Channeling and Ritual. 

Ooh, now that's an idea.  I think maybe I'll leave it at Ritual, to represent her not having her full power back yet and to give the character some room to grow.

[Deadmanwalking]

For that matter, looking at it, you could drop Marked By Power and have both Evocation and Thaumaturgy, then invest your 'room to grow' Refresh into buying down and eventually off Human Form as Jasim learns to use the magic himself. Doing it that way, I'd actually arrange things like this:

Skills:

Great: Athletics,
Good: Rapport, Presence,
Fair: Endurance, Fists,
Average: Alertness, Contacts, Conviction, Deceit, Empathy, Scholarship

Plus a different skill pyramid for the priestess, obviously.

Powers:

Evocation [-3]
Beast Change [-1]

Human Form [+2] effecting;
Thaumaturgy [-3]

Specializations:

Evocation (Spirit, Earth, Air); Control (Spirit +1)
Thaumaturgy; One Specialty of choice.

Focus Items:
Control Ring (+2 Offensive Control with Spirit)
Power Ring (+2 Offensive Power with Spirit)

That gives him decent (3 shift) offensive Evocation, even without the priestess taking over, and is fun, and has plenty of room to grow, particularly skill-wise.

[Nomad]

I wouldn't give him the rings. They feel a lot better as being found on the first adventure, in an antique shop or similar themed location with some problems that he helps solving...

[Deadmanwalking]

I wouldn't give him the rings. They feel a lot better as being found on the first adventure, in an antique shop or similar themed location with some problems that he helps solving...

You're forgetting that all characters, by definition, have had their first big adventure already. It's part of character creation.