Extraordinary NPC Thread

[ways and means]

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.

To me asking just how much stress mordite does is like asking just how high is a perfect defense roll (exalted).

[Belial666]

Mordite Fiend (run!!!)

High Concept: Tentacled Death
Trouble: Mindless Hunger
Other: Touch of Annihilation, Horror from Beyond, Bound To A Dark Wizard


Skills:
+6 Conviction, Intimidate, Fists
+5 Discipline, Stealth, Endurance
+4 Presence, Athletics, Alertness
most other skills default to mediocre.

Powers/Stunts:
[-1] Living Nightmare - as per living dead
[+1] Alternate Form - pint size black blob
[-4] Black Tentacles  - a mordite fiend has a natural reach of 1 zone and can take a -2 on its attacks to attack an entire zone. Its physical attacks are weapon 4.
[-6] Physical Immunity - catch is faith powers and special banishment spells
[-1] Lifedrinker  - a mordite fiend may devour a victim's lifeforce if it is disrupted. This is similar to Emotional Vampire and works much the same way.
[-9] Mordite Touch - incite lifedrain (based off Fists, defend with Athletics), lasting (w2), potent (+2w),
       devastating (+2w), irresistible (+2 att), crippling (consequences take 2 steps more severe slots)
[-1] Senses - can pinpoint location and power of any white magic within 3 zones even through veils or physical barriers.



[-9] Sphere of Annihilation

   *It is what it is: a small sphere of what passes for toxic waste from beyond Reality. Without the special enchantments
     that govern and limit it, it can neither be controlled nor exist within our reality for any long period of time.
   *One-Time Discount: +2 (a sphere of annihilation is rather conspicuous)
   *Higher Purpose: Destruction. Not so much a purpose as a limitation - a Sphere of Annihilation can only be used at full potency
     by someone of at least Superb Conviction. Under no circumstances can it be "pulled" to affect someone at less than full strength.
   *Indestructible: Spheres of Annihilation are invulnerable to most attacks, except for effects that dispel or disrupt their governing spells,
     in which case they burst in a zone-wide wave of instant death before fading to their own reality.
   *Mordite Touch: incite lifedrain (based off Conviction, defend with Endurance), at range, lasting (w2),
     potent (+2w), devastating (+2w), irresistible (+2 att), crippling (consequences take 2 steps more severe slots)
   *Multitarget: by taking a -2 to their roll, a wielder can attack all targets in a zone.

[Sanctaphrax]

I have decided to stop talking about mordite because I don't want to derail the thread.

Good idea to make the Sphere of Annihilation an IoP.

I suppose I could do Astro Boy characters later, but I'm not terribly familiar with them. I'd need a refresher.

Anyway, here's the Astro City lineup:
The Confessor
Altar Boy
Steeljack
Manny Monkton
Goldenglove 2

[Sanctaphrax]

Steeljack (Submerged)

High Concept: The Steel-Jacketed Man
Trouble Aspect: Ex-Con Former Supervillain
Other Aspects: Tarnished Angel, Tough Enough, Kiefer Square, Ma's Grave, 800 Pounds Of Ugly Metal
Skills:   
Superb: Might, Endurance
Great: Fists, Intimidation
Good: Conviction, Presence
Fair: Discipline, Contacts
Average: Investigation, Empathy, Athletics, Lore, Alertness, Burglary, Deceit
Stunts:
Former Supervillain (Contacts): +2 to Contacts for contacting supervillains.
Real Hard To Hurt (Endurance): Use Endurance for physical defence.
Tough Enough (Endurance): When an opponent tags or invokes one a physical consequence in a conflict they only receive +1 to their roll. If they choose to reroll, may lock down one of their dice and leave them only 3 to reroll.
Powers:
Supernatural Strength [-4]
Supernatural Toughness [-4]
The Catch (Vibrational Weapons) [+2]
Total Refresh Cost:
-9
Refresh Total:
1

[Sanctaphrax]

Manny Monkton (Feet In The Water)

High Concept: Owner Of Bulldog Comics
Trouble Aspect: My Way Of Comics Writing
Other Aspects: We Need Excitement!, Quite A Talker, One Of The Greats, Relentless, Crackerjack's Contract
Skills:
Great: Rapport, Performance
Good: Presence, Resources
Fair: Discipline, Empathy
Average: Conviction, Contacts
Stunts:
Quite A Talker (Rapport): +2 to Rapport defence.
You Don't Scare Me (Rapport): Armour 1 against Intimidation attacks.
The Social Graces (Empathy): +2 to social initiative.
Fast And Loose (Performance): Use Performance to tell "true stories" that aren't.
One Of The Greats (Performance): +2 to make comics.
A Lifetime In Comics (Performance): Use Performance for Contacts in the comics industry.
Relentless (Presence): 2 extra mild social consequences when his method of storytelling causes trouble for him.
Total Refresh Cost:
-5 (Pure Mortal)
Refresh Total:
1

[vultur]

John Taylor (Nightside series)

Power Level: Submerged +1 significant milestone
"Template": Scion

High Concept: Supernatural PI
Trouble: My future haunts me - and I don't even know why
Aspects: Pursued by my Enemies, "Shine so brightly in this dark place", I might be a King in Waiting, Unknown heritage of power, My reputation precedes me

Skills:
Superb: Presence, Discipline
Great: Alertness, Deceit
Good: Fists, Conviction
Fair: Athletics, Investigation, Lore, Stealth
Average: Burglary, Empathy, Endurance, Might

Stunts
The Weight of Reputation (Presence)

Powers:
The Sight [-1]
Sponsored Magic (unique) [-4]: Ritual (Divination) and Channeling (Spirit), can perform divination at evocation speeds, sponsor debt
    compels reflect physical and mental strain and/or becoming very noticeable to all sorts of nastiness
Psychometry [-1]
Inhuman Recovery [-2]
    The Catch [+1]: silver
Marked By Power [-1]

Total Refresh Cost: -8

Notes: His Sight, Psychometry, and most of the functions of his Sponsored Magic are features of his super-powered Sight gift.  The spirit evocations he can do also represent a few of his other tricks like the evil eye and "bullets out of guns".

Advancement:
These statistics represent John Taylor at the end of Agents of Light and Darkness. Before that book, he lacks Inhuman Recovery.

Over the course of the series, he will pick up a few new mortal stunts (No Pain, No Gain; Ear to the Ground); probably putting him somewhere in the general range of -12 refresh cost. His main skill increases will be in Contacts (dramatically!), Intimidation, Alertness, maybe Endurance and Presence...

His Aspects are going to change a *lot*, too. "Hunted by my Enemies" goes away after that gets resolved in Sharper than a Serpent's Tooth.  Somewhere in the Lilith trilogy (Hex and the City - Sharper than a Serpent's Tooth), the "I might be a King in Waiting" Aspect will change, at least in wording. Other aspects he should pick up at some point include "I belong here... with all the other monsters" and one related to his evolving relationship with Suzie Shooter.

At the end of book 10, his high concept will update as well to reflect

(click to show/hide)

his new role as Walker.

[Sanctaphrax]

Don't know enough about the Nightside to make an insightful comment, I'm afraid.

But I think that he has a total refresh cost of 9.

[Sanctaphrax]

The Confessor (Scuba Diving)

High Concept: Vampire Superhero Priest
Trouble Aspect: Creature Of The Night
Other Aspects: Someone I Don't Have To Lie To, Look At The Patterns, I Came To This City In 1869, Show Them The Way, Basically Batman
Skills:   
Fantastic: Fists, Discipline
Superb: Conviction, Athletics
Great: Intimidation, Investigation
Good: Presence, Endurance
Fair: Alertness, Stealth, Might
Average: Empathy, Burglary, Deceit
Stunts:
Mesmerizing Gaze (Intimidation): +2 to Intimidation when able to force prolonged eye contact.
Righteous (Conviction): +2 to Conviction for Righteousness.
Actual Priest (Conviction): Use Conviction for religious knowledge.
Powers:
Human Guise [-0]
Claws [-1]
Supernatural Toughness [-4]
The Catch (Vampire weaknesses) [+3]
Living Dead [-1]
Righteousness [-2]
Blood Drinker [-1]
Feeding Dependency (Blood) [+1] affecting:
Inhuman Strength [-2]
Inhuman Speed [-2]
Gaseous Form [-3]
Cloak Of Shadows [-1]
Total Refresh Cost:
-16
Refresh Total:
1

[The_Tuninator]

Here's a post-draining Illyria:
(Warning, major Angel spoilers in this post:)

Illyria (Punched A Shark In The Nose)

High Concept: Old One In A Human Body
Trouble Aspect: Perplexed By Humanity
Other Aspects: "Might Of The Old Ones"; "The Burkle Persona"; "Stranger In A Strange Land"; "Drained Of My Power"; "Emotions Are Foreign To Me"



Skills:
Fantastic: Fists, Might
Superb: Athletics, Endurance
Great: Alertness, Stealth
Good: Conviction, Discipline, Intimidation, Presence
Fair: Empathy, Lore, Rapport, Weapons
Average: Deceit, Investigation, Scholarship, Survival

Stunts:
Subtle Menace
Tireless

Supernatural Powers
Human Guise [-0]
Inhuman Speed [-2]
Supernatural Recovery [-4]
Supernatural Senses [-1]
Supernatural Strength [-4]
Supernatural Toughness [-4]
The Catch (unknown) [+0]

Human Guise:
Illyria can assume the form of the human Winifred "Fred" Burkle, whose body she has possessed, at will. Additionally, Illyria can mimic the personality of Fred exactly; this grants her a default Fantastic (+6) Deceit skill when attempting to persuade individuals that she is Fred. If any of Illyria's strength, speed or toughness powers are activated (willingly or otherwise) while she is in Fred's form, she will revert back to her standard appearance as Illyria.

Supernatural Senses: Empath
Illyria perceives human emotions as most of us might perceive body odor or perfume; to her, they radiate off humans in palpable waves. Her Empathy skill defaults to Fantastic (+6) when Illyria attempts to gauge the emotions of a human.

The Catch:
Even after being trapped in a human body and drained of her power, Illyria remains much tougher and more powerful than most supernatural beings on Earth. Though Illyria can be beaten down by an even stronger foe, such as an emissary of Wolfram and Hart's Senior Partners, the only way to overcome her inherent resistance to all forms of attack appears to be sheer brute force.

Stress
Physical: OOOO (OOOO)
Mental:   OOOO
Social:    OOOO

Total Refresh Cost:
-17

[Sanctaphrax]

Who is this?

Also, I don't think that Supernatural Sense normally works that way. But I don't foresee any real problems.

[Masurao]

Who is this?

Also, I don't think that Supernatural Sense normally works that way. But I don't foresee any real problems.

Oh, my... Sanctaphrax? You have not tasted of the heavenly fruit that is Angel? The spinoff from Buffy? :0o Shocking!

[Sanctaphrax]

Um...no.

I don't watch television.

[Masurao]

Well, that would certainly explain it.

A quick recap, as I remember it, Illyria in the Angel/Buffyverse, is a Great Old One (read: Outsider) who was reawakened. She had to have a shell to live in, so she took over Fred's, effectively destroying her. In her original form, before time, she was one of the demonic entities that ruled earth, if I recall correctly. She essentially hung around the good guys and kicked bad-guy-arse of whatever came near here by accident.

[The_Tuninator]

WARNING: MAJOR ANGEL SPOILERS ABOUND IN THIS POST

Illyria is, as mentioned, a character from the latter half of Angel Season Five, and one of my favorite characters  in any fictional work. I've been on an Angel kick lately and was inspired to stat her up. I'm also working on the entire Buffy Scooby Gang circa S5 and Angel Fang Gang circa S3 for amusement, which I'll likely post up sooner or later.

She's basically an incredibly powerful ancient demon that's taken up residence in the recently-vacated body of one of the main characters. This limits her powers somewhat, but even so she starts out able to walk through dimensional barriers, manipulate space-time, and effortlessly swat aside even the most powerful characters on the show. After a period, she is forced to relinquish a good portion of her power in order to avoid self-destructing. She remains immensely strong and tough, though, and that's the portrayal I chose to stat.

The deal with her shapeshifting (and what makes her such an intriguing character) is that although she's evicted the human whose body she's wearing, the character's (whose name is Fred) memories remain and mingle with hers. As such, she's able to assume Fred's appearance and flawlessly mimic her personality, and the memories begin to force her to deal with human concepts and emotions. It's really quite fascinating.

As far as the Supernatural Sense goes, I recognize it's a bit of a stretch but there didn't really seem to be anything else that worked, so I twisted it a bit to fit.

[Sanctaphrax]

Perhaps Mimic Abilities would be appropriate, given that description.

And thanks for the explanations.