Emissary of Lady Luck

[Steed]

So let's say I wanted to make an Emissary of Lady Luck.  I know I want to give him some kind of Supernatural Sense for Luck (whether someone's luck is good or bad, etc.) and I definitely want him to be able to manipulate luck.  He'll be Marked by Power too, obviously.  So my question is, what do you think would be the best way to do the luck manipulation?  And what other powers do you think he should have?

The backstory is that he was a drifter and a gambler back in the old west.  He tried to cheat Curly Bill (one of the cowboy gang) and though he walked away from the saloon with the pot, he only made it about twenty feet out of town before Curly shot him through and left him for dead.  He'd lived his life according to the whims of luck, so the Lady appeared to him and gave him a choice:  Become her agent in the mortal world and he could have new, longer life (Wizard's Constitution with the serial numbers filed off) and power.  Or he could die alone in the ditch.  Obviously he chose the former.

[Ophidimancer]

Hmm ... I think I'd give the character a -2 Refresh Power that let's you make one free "lucky" declaration a scene.  Then I'd probably give you a pair of dice as an Item of Power, with a version of True Aim that gives you +1 to a random ability for the scene.  A Supernatural Sense that would allow you to make Assessment actions regarding Aspects that may apply to a given situation, so you'd be able to tell if someone has a lot of Aspects that apply to a given situation or not.

[FangGrip]

I have an NPC character who has that ability in the game that I run.  I find it very simple just to use the True Faith ability "Guide my Hand".  Just it deals with luck instead of the almighty.

[Ophidimancer]

I have an NPC character who has that ability in the game that I run.  I find it very simple just to use the True Faith ability "Guide my Hand".  Just it deals with luck instead of the almighty.

Ooh, that's a good one!

[Crion]

Just another concept to toss in: What about Sponsored Magic (Luck)? Buy using the idea of "Thaumaturgy at the speed of Evocation," couldn't you toss around low grade entropy curses (a form of bad luck) or even an opposite version for good luck at a moment's notice? I can see direct and simple applications like a "Good Luck" aspect as per a maneuver, or even causing "Faulty Wiring" to explain why that light bulb burned out just when you needed some darkness to hide in. What a coincidence!

[bcillustration]

Just name him Rincewind, the rest will take care of itself, so long as he/ she never acknowledges said ties to lady luck.
 

[Steed]

I'm really liking what you guys are throwing out here, thanks!  I do definitely want him to be able to sling around some luck effects like Crion suggests, and I think I might go with Sponsored Magic (Luck) as that seems the simplest to me.  It seems like it'll be a lot of maneuvers, which works great with what I'm thinking.  I picture a guy who, during a foot chase, can take a second to throw up a curse that applies a maneuver to the person he's chasing like OFF BALANCE or something, that he can tag to try and make the person trip.  Or alternately, a maneuver he can apply to himself like SLIPPERY AS A SNAKE to help him avoid getting hit in a fight.  Seems like the Sponsored Magic route might be the best way to go about that.

I like the idea of using Guide My Hand for the luck sense, too.  I'll probably rename it, "Sense the Lady's Work" or something like that to fit the concept better, but mechanically I think it should work fine.

[ludomaniac]

I like the concept, and the power suggestions so far are cool.  But what does Lady Luck get out of the deal?  In other words, what s the emissary called upon to do for his sponsor?  How does she complicate his life?

[Steed]

I like the concept, and the power suggestions so far are cool.  But what does Lady Luck get out of the deal?  In other words, what s the emissary called upon to do for his sponsor?  How does she complicate his life?

He's basically her slave.  When she calls, he goes.  It's almost like a Knight of the Cross, only replacing the WG with Lady Luck.  She gets a free-willed champion, much like the Faerie Queens with their Knights, and he gets power and a new life.  She complicates his life because sometimes, he's not the one benefiting from the luck, and sometimes she gets him involved in things regardless of whether he really wants to be or what else he has going on at the time.  Part of the vagueness is because I want to leave her deeper motivations up to whatever GM I end up using him with, but that's the basic idea.

[Arcteryx]

Can she use him to cause un-luck?

[Ophidimancer]

Can she use him to cause un-luck?

Do you mean un-luck as in everything being standard, with no deviation from a set norm?  Or do you mean bad luck?

[Steed]

Can she use him to cause un-luck?

Since I envision his magic as being able to cause bad luck, I would say she could absolutely compel him to cause it on someone, even if he didn't really want to.  If you didn't mean bad luck, then I'm not really sure what you mean.

[Crion]

I like the concept, and the power suggestions so far are cool.  But what does Lady Luck get out of the deal?  In other words, what s the emissary called upon to do for his sponsor?  How does she complicate his life?

He's basically her slave.  When she calls, he goes.  It's almost like a Knight of the Cross, only replacing the WG with Lady Luck.  She gets a free-willed champion, much like the Faerie Queens with their Knights, and he gets power and a new life.  She complicates his life because sometimes, he's not the one benefiting from the luck, and sometimes she gets him involved in things regardless of whether he really wants to be or what else he has going on at the time.  Part of the vagueness is because I want to leave her deeper motivations up to whatever GM I end up using him with, but that's the basic idea.

Just to toss in my own two cents: I can see quite a few compels that Lady Luck would demand of her emissary. Perhaps someone is taking advantage of her good graces, and she needs someone to step in to set things straight. Perhaps some outside force is causing some bad luck on those that she's blessed, and she wants that to be remedied.  And who's not to say that having him show up at Vegas to give some poor soul on his last dollar the luck to win millions isn't up the alley of the Lady herself? Good luck brings praises to her, after all, and those with bad luck are calling out to her all the time. How is this a bad thing?

As previously noted, some of these entities have a hard time working directly with mortals, and must act via an emissary, so putting him neck deep into a situation, such as a group thinking they can best luck with an entropy curse and will target any emissary she sends to further relay the message. . .yeah, about that :-p

I think with that line of thought, Lady Luck gets more than just a simple "slave." Just putting that out there for you ^_^

[Steed]

Crion, you pretty much articulated what I was trying to say, only better.  Those are exactly the sorts of things I envision her getting him to do.

[Crion]

Crion, you pretty much articulated what I was trying to say, only better.  Those are exactly the sorts of things I envision her getting him to do.

And you're welcome. Hope that it helped a bit ^_~

I'm currently trying (unsuccessfully) to get a group together, and I've been tinkering with a slew of character types/samples, ranging from Changelings/Scions to Sponsored Magicians to your Modern-Day Sherlock Holmes. What you're mentioning is actually kind of fun and an interesting exercise, so I may need to borrow the concept later whenever I can get the ball rolling.