Grandchild of Love and War

[Belial666]

Here's my latest character idea, a Scion with the blood of both Ares and Aphrodite in her veins. Mostly used as an NPC, unless you're in a game of high enough refresh to handle fairly strong wardens, vampire warriors and faerie godmothers. In that case, a 18-refresh, 17-year-old demigodess should fit right in. Fitting her into the city and story-wise, I envision her as a model, moonlighting as a hitwoman for hire. Given that Ares and Aphrodite are canonically (and fairly happily) a non-married couple, I wanted to make such a scion build for some time. Plus, waifs with missile launchers can be fun.




Adrestia Sture

High Concept: Grandchild of Love and War  Trouble: Big Happy Family (Not!)
Aspects: Beautiful as Aphrodite, Bloodthirsty as Ares, Concordant Opposition, Vengeance Is My Middle Name, Young - Not Naive.
Stress: Physical  OOOO(OOOOOO) armor 3, Social OOOO, Mental OOOO, Hunger OOOO (extra mild) Refresh and Fate: 18/1



Powers and Stunts:
[-4] Mythic Toughness (catch is acid and True Serenity)
[-1] Power of Ares - Adrestia has strength, toughness and balance that belies her slimness.
She can handle massive weaponry exceptionally well, taking a +1 to attack rolls with such weapons.
[-1] Old Or New, War Changes Not - may use modern weaponry with Weapons just as easily as archaic weapons and vice-versa.
[-1] Aura of Aphrodite - as per "flesh mask" but may not conceal items. May make small changes to her appearance as if by makeup or diguise kits instead.
[-1] Blinding Beauty - The first time someone sees Adrestia in a scene, she is always entitled to the "first impressions" of Rapport, even if it is a combat scene
or has met that person in previous scenes. Aspects thus applied are not just natural appearance; the victim might recognize he's supernaturally manipulated after they wear off.
[-2] Incite/Emotional Vampire: Lust - touch only, rapport-based
[+1] Feeding Dependency: Lust - modifying the following powers;
  [-2] Inhuman Strength
  [-4] Supernatural Speed
 
[-1]  Ravager
       *It is what it is: a grenade-launcher (w4, ranged, area) with a massive warglaive added bayonet-style (w4, melee)
       *Indestructible
       *One-time Discount (+2)
       *Feeding Dependency: Blood - modifying the following powers; (+1)
       *Hephaestus-Forged Weaponry: +2 weapon rating (-1)
       *True Aim (-1)
       *Ectoplasmic Ammunition: generates unlimited ammo using the essence of war as fuel; spilled blood. If this is used instead of real ammo, circles block the attack. (-1)
       *Blood-Drinker (-1)

[-1]  Mantle of Mists
       *It is what it is: a sheer nightgown. Somewhat indecent to wear in polite company. (or not - your mileage may vary)
       *Human Guise
       *Concordant Opposition - may take a mental stress hit to boost an attack roll or a defense roll by the amount of stress she took,
         to a maximum of 4. May take a 2-stress mental hit to degrade physical immunity down to mythic toughness.
       *Tears of the Slain: as Cassandra's Tears, only it predicts wars and violent battles instead of other disasters.

Skills:
+6: Weapons, Athletics
+5: Discipline, Rapport
+4: Alertness, Presence
+3: Conviction, Might, Endurance
+2: Survival, Deceit, Fists
+1: Lore, Stealth, Scholarship

[InFerrumVeritas]

I don't like that she has Epic skills.  We see very few characters with those.  Senior Council and that.
I don't see why she's a vampire.

Otherwise, it looks good.  I'd lose emotional vampire and feeding dependency.  It'll be a wash for refresh and I think work better.

[Shecky]

Grandchild of Love and War? Must be called "Marriage" or "Family".

[Belial666]

She has "Fantastic" skills, not "Epic". The "best ever" mortals like Shiro was with swords are at that level.


As for why she has the "vampiric" stuff, deities typically become more powerful when they spread the axiom, idea or concept they represent. They are also usually tied to that concept in some way and have some powers to cause it - and usually become weaker if they are forgotten/no longer involved with said concept.

So, it's like reverse vampirism. She doesn't need emotions lest she starve (that's why only some of her secondary abilities are tied to the dependency), but she does get stronger if she spreads lust - and her weapons become more powerful if she causes lots of mayhem.

[sinker]

I'm confused. Is your rocket launcher a weapon 8 (with Hephaestus adding to what it is) or a weapon 6 (with Hephaestus explaining why it's two higher than what it should be)?

Either way that's a ridiculous amount of damage considering explosives are supposed to be a 4. Then again I've never played/run an 18 refresh game, so I don't know what the scale is here.

[Tedronai]

Either way that's a ridiculous amount of damage considering explosives are supposed to be a 4. Then again I've never played/run an 18 refresh game, so I don't know what the scale is here.

'grenades and battlefield weaponry' are listed as '4+'

[Belial666]

Normally, a soldier could handle weapon 4 heavy weapons like antimateriel rifles and grenade launchers. Due to her "Might of Ares" she can easily handle heavy weapons like miniguns and missile launchers at least as large as the FGM-148 Javelin or Starstreak 2 (that can take out tanks in single hits - hence weapon 6). The specific missile launcher is further enhanced to have a +2 weapon rating.

As for damage, here are typical damages;

Fist: w 0
Mortal, Knife: w 1
Mortal, Rifle: w 3, long ranged
Grenade: w 4, thrown
Grenade Launcher: w 4, ranged
Ghoul, claws: w 4
Ghoul, javelin: w 4, ranged
RCI/WC, heavy sword: w 5
Chest-deep wizard: w 6, ranged
Submerged giant, javelin: w 7, thrown
submerged giant, sword: w 8
submerged wizard: w 8, ranged
submerged giant, car: w 9, thrown
optimized submerged wizard: w 10, ranged

She's at the typical upper limit for submerged, damage-wise.

[Sanctaphrax]

Character looks alright, though I'd have to go over a few things more carefully if someone were to want to play this as a PC.

One question about the table. It looks as though you are giving the Submerged giant a +5 strength bonus to stress. Why?

[Belial666]

A submerged giant would have Supernatural Strength [-4], Supernatural Toughness with a +2 catch such as "fires of muspelheim" [-2], Hulking Size [-2] and have a free refresh to get whatever he wants.

Using his bare hands he's weapon 4.
Using a human-sized greatsword (giant-sized shortsword) he's at weapon 4+3.
Using a giant-sized greatsword or battleaxe he's at weapon 4+4.
Using a car he's at weapon 4+5 - and then he needs another car. 
Using the "off-hand weapon training" stunt and wielding 2 huge weapons, he's at weapon 4+4+2
Using an Item of Power huge weapon, he could be at weapon 4+4+2 with True Aim.


Hulk Smash!

[Sanctaphrax]

Oh, I see.

I thought that you were using the same base weapon ratings for a human's sword and a giant's sword.

[Becq]

Questions of balance aside, I wonder:

Isn't -1 refresh for three Items of Power granting at least seven powers a bit generous?
Aren't you missing three aspects required to specifically reference those IoPs?
Given that IoP impart their powers on the wielder, does this mean that you must feed only by drinking the blood of those in the throws of lust?  (Note that I don't think you can regain refresh by taking the same power twice.)
How do you rationalize how you manage to steep an item so firmly based in modern technology (missile launcher) with magic without hexing it into oblivion?

[Arcane]

How do you rationalize how you manage to steep an item so firmly based in modern technology (missile launcher) with magic without hexing it into oblivion?

I'm guessing the same way

(click to show/hide)

Odin and his ravens did with the computers in Changes

, either divine magic doesn't hex technology the way mortal magic does, or the missile launcher is actually a divine weapon which manifests physically as a missile launcher.

[Michael Sandy]

I like the name and flavor of her Aphrodite stunts.  She is probably less powerful than a more focused 18 refresh character would be.  She could probably hang around with 13-15 refresh characters without overshadowing them.  Level 6 skills would be appropriate for characters in that range.

The total bonus refresh for the Items of Power can not exceed +2, no matter how many you have.  I like the "ectoplasmic ammunition".  That is a wonderful mechanic for not running out of ammo.

One issue:
Weapons and Guns are typically different skills.  That is a very powerful stunt to allow Weapons for all weapons, modern/ancient/melee/ranged

[Sanctaphrax]

Hexing is not a problem unless you are a mortal spellcaster.

I don't think the Lust Feeding Dependency affects the IoPs.

By my math, the Items Of Power are more or less correctly costed. They just use a rather broad interpretation of It Is What It Is, a -0 cost for Ectoplasmic Ammunition, and also a second Feeding Dependency. It's all very sketchy, I admit. Especially the second Feeding Dependency.

And yeah, that's a very broad stunt.

[sinker]

I could see it as a couple of stunts, each folding a different trapping of guns into weapons. I suppose you could simply use a single stunt to steal the gunplay trapping and call it good.