Extraordinary NPC Thread

[ways and means]

I'm not sure why, but most characters from other media get overstatted when people write them up for DFRPG.

There are plenty of superheroes that can be represented by Submerged characters. (Some representations of) Batman, Spiderman, the Fantastic Four, and the X-Men, for example.

I think that is due to the disconect between a lot of powers  write up and their reality, there is also the fact with strength powers the divide between what the strength actually means and the damage is hugh at higher levels at mythic levels you can break a tank in half with your barehand in a turn but can't finish off a mortal wearing armour. The wierd disconects in places and the odd nature of stress (your attacks are at supposedly more powerful than a rocket launcher but will only cause a mortal to be graised at point blank) mean that fans of people from other medias often go for characters who are as lethal as they are in their own setting rather than as lethal as they would be in DFRP.

[Sanctaphrax]

Not really sure I follow.

Mythic Strength basically makes a take-out certain if you hit a mortal.

[JustinS]

And even superman likely only has good fists.
Batman and Lady Shiva might be +6.
Black Canary, Karate Kid, Cassandra Cain Batgirl are +5. I'd even stick Wonder Woman at this level.

A +5 skill and a few supporting stunts or aspects is low level supers without anything more.

I'm not sure why, but most characters from other media get overstatted when people write them up for DFRPG.

There are plenty of superheroes that can be represented by Submerged characters. (Some representations of) Batman, Spiderman, the Fantastic Four, and the X-Men, for example.

[ways and means]

I would personally say lady shiva fighting skill would be at legendary becuase when you get down to it there are legends about her skill and she may be the best fighters in the world. I take a fantastic to mean actually fantastic which in my opinion means olympic level, epic to mean one of the best in the world (in martial arts sort of Ancient Grand Master level) and legendary to mean the best in the world.

[Sanctaphrax]

That doesn't really work out very well, I'm afraid.

If that were true, then every single olympian would be an above-Submerged superman. They aren't. Great Athletics + stunts will get you up to olympic level, in my view.

Remember that by canon, some of the world's most skilled people have Superb skills. Luccio is a world-class swordswoman, but her Weapons is only Superb. Michael is a Knight Of The Cross and the most powerfully faithful person in the series, but his Conviction is only Superb. Here's how I'd break down the skill levels:

Average (1): Competent-ish.
Fair (2): Decent, but not impressive.
Good (3): Professional level.
Great (4): Exceptional. Most people never raise any skill this high.
Superb (5): World-class. You make ordinary professionals look bad.
Fantastic (6): Pinnacle of human ability. You can't go past this without magic.
Epic (7): Skill that transcends the limits of a human being.
Legendary (8 ): I don't have the words.

[ways and means]

Why would Olympians who focus in one aspect of their life have to have a balance pyramid?

[Sanctaphrax]

I have an answer to that, but I just realized how badly we are derailing this thread.

If you want to continue this discussion, make a new thread.

[ways and means]

The ultimate Overpowered Japanese Anime Vampire.

Name: Alucard
High Concept: King of Vampires
Trouble: Bound in Service
Aspects: The Dracula, Mass Murder, In it for the lols, Glory Seeker, My Soft-Hearted Apprentice

Skills:
8:Intimidate
7:Athletics, Weapons
6:Guns, Endurance
5:Fists, Might
4:Survival, Alertness
3:Lore, Conviction
2:Deceit, Scholarship
1:Performance, Discipline

Stunts:
Bullet Storm: Because of his ridiculous reaction Alucard can hit everyone in an area for a -2 penalty) with his custom pistols
Pistol Surgeon: +1 accuracy with pistols
Terrifying Transformation: +2 to intimidate when attempting to frighten someone when using shape shifting to transform into the most horrific thing possible

Powers:
[+1] Blood Drinker
[-4] True Shapshifting  
[-6] Mythic Strength
[-6] Mythic Toughness
[-6] Mythic Recovery
[+4]Holy and Silver, well known
[-6] Mythic Speed
[-4] Incite Fear (lasting, potent, range)
[-8] Physical Immunity
[+0] Catch: Has to be killed 20,000 times or so (the lives of all the people he has eaten) before it sticks, think of it as (400,000 extra stress soak)
[-8] Plot Device Power: Blood Puppets (he can summon all the people he has killed by draining their blood as loyal servants, they obtain all the skill they had in life [though have no consequences] this strips him of his physical immunity.
[-1] Marked By Power (his own)

-43 refresh

[Sanctaphrax]

I haven't seen Hellsing, so I can't comment in detail.

But...

I thought that Alucard was all about the pistols. This build is better off using either throwing knives or Incite Fear.

True Shapeshifting might not be fitting. It allows impersonation, which I don't know if Alucard is good at.

The Plot Device Power and the Physical Immunity could be folded into one power and made more usable.

Why no Blood Drinker?

[JayTee]

As a rabid Alucard fan, I have to say this build looks all kinds of strange to me. Here are my thoughts:

I would replace one Aspect with "Death Seeker" or "Blood Knight", but thats just me

Get rid of weapons and replace it with Fists.
Raise Alertness to where Fists used to be.
Raise Lore to where Alertness used to be
All other skills default to Average, with a few at Good, IMO

For powers, I would just put everything except for Mythic Recovery under Modular Abilities and True Shapeshifting and call it a day. No Toughness Powers, as part of his charm is that you can blow him to soupy chunks and he'll get right back up again. Also I would get rid of the Holy and Silver Items, at best Holy stuff jams up his healing ability, and I don't remember Silver ever being used. I would also give him Channeling: Spirit, as he is shown throwing down some darkness every so often and using Hypnosis once or twice. Also no Incite Emotion, people fear him 'cause he's fucking SCARY, not any psychic effect.

I would get rid of Blood Puppets. It seemed to me that Alucard's player just threw down a few Fate Points and the GM (who loves creepy stuff, apparently) liked the idea of it.

Here are a few visual examples:

Alucard vs Luke Valentine
Alucard vs Father Anderson
Alucard vs Alhambra
Alucard vs Rip van Winkle
Also note that he never really gets a power up in between any of these fights. I'm pretty sure the whole Scenario was the GM and the player having a bit of a power fantasy after a rough spot in their lives.

Sorry about the languages changing all the time, you would not believe how hard it is to find a clip that isn't someone posting an alternate sound track over the video.

[ways and means]

As a rabid Alucard fan, I have to say this build looks all kinds of strange to me. Here are my thoughts:

I would replace one Aspect with "Death Seeker" or "Blood Knight", but thats just me

Get rid of weapons and replace it with Fists.
Raise Alertness to where Fists used to be.
Raise Lore to where Alertness used to be
All other skills default to Average, with a few at Good, IMO

For powers, I would just put everything except for Mythic Recovery under Modular Abilities and True Shapeshifting and call it a day. No Toughness Powers, as part of his charm is that you can blow him to soupy chunks and he'll get right back up again. Also I would get rid of the Holy and Silver Items, at best Holy stuff jams up his healing ability, and I don't remember Silver ever being used. I would also give him Channeling: Spirit, as he is shown throwing down some darkness every so often and using Hypnosis once or twice. Also no Incite Emotion, people fear him 'cause he's fucking SCARY, not any psychic effect.

I would get rid of Blood Puppets. It seemed to me that Alucard's player just threw down a few Fate Points and the GM (who loves creepy stuff, apparently) liked the idea of it.

Here are a few visual examples:

Alucard vs Luke Valentine
Alucard vs Father Anderson
Alucard vs Alhambra
Alucard vs Rip van Winkle
Also note that he never really gets a power up in between any of these fights. I'm pretty sure the whole Scenario was the GM and the player having a bit of a power fantasy after a rough spot in their lives.

Sorry about the languages changing all the time, you would not believe how hard it is to find a clip that isn't someone posting an alternate sound track over the video.

I agree about the toughness thing though if you have got far enough into the millennium arc you will probably no why I put it there. As the most bad ass vampire I am certain he has strength and speed at mythic levels all the time but would rather not use them because that would end the fight to quickly, "He isn't even dodging".

 As to incite emotion your mileage would vary he clearly has access to some mental powers (him being Dracula and all) but they are never really shown in the plot probably because he finds physical violence more thrilling.

His Epic skill at weapons is justified by his back story him being a knight and having access to minds and souls of hundreds of knights and the sword being the weapon of the nobility.   

Blood Puppets is a little to overkill for even the most excessive deceleration (GM's how many fate points would an army of thousands of loyal zombie knights be worth) and is clearly a result of Alucards over the top power list. The power wasn't an upgrade he had it all the time but it was bound by the wards/ magic of some kind that limited the majority of his power, so Integra's do what you must speech pretty much justified the power buff. 

[Silverblaze]

Why characters from other media are overpowered or contested.

Biases towards favorite characters.

Also.

Good for a narative or video game =/= good for a Tabletop RPG.  Game balance alone is impossible to achieve in some circumstances.

Like somone said there is a disconnect.

[ways and means]

Why characters from other media are overpowered or contested.

Biases towards favorite characters.

That and the fact that heroes all ways win in a lot of fiction so their stats may as well be infinite. There is also problems that worlds are not all ways balanced with each other or balanced within themselves. (High Level DF players live in an almost completely different world from feet in the water character and have a totally different degree of agency.) Finally there are the existence of absolute powers that aren't statable unless they are butchered for example mordite it kills people it dosen't deal stress.

[Sanctaphrax]

The always winning thing is easily represented by an excessive FP supply.

And mordite is stattable. Taking stress doesn't mean you got hit. And besides, you could always just give it weapon rating 341. Or...is it actually an auto-kill? Just because we've never seen anyone survive doesn't mean it's impossible to do so.

I think I'll put up some Astro City characters next.

[JayTee]

Oh I'm so looking forward to Professor Tenma, a personal favorite of mine!

er. . . oops, thats Astro BOY! Not Astro City. xD