Help with character ideas...

[chelatek]

Hey all.  I probably should foam about how great the books are...needless to say, I wouldn't be posting here and involved in a Dresden RPG if I didn't think they were great.

ANYWAY.  I was hoping some people would help me throw around the 2 ideas I have for characters.  We start in October and I was hoping to have a backstory written by then, but I don't know which I want to go with; I haven't even gotten to talk with the DM.

Quick disclaimer:  I've played my share of RPGs, but I haven't done the Dresden one yet.  I took a look at the books and from what I understood, it gives the DM and player freedom to create whatever they'd like.  If either of these are in violation of the rules or don't make sense in the universe (I'm only up to Small Favor) yell at me.  I tossed them at my girlfriend and she thinks they both are fine lore-wise.

My two ideas boil down to these types:

1) A spellshatter.  Think of how wizards are with technology, how they can't be around it, and if they use power it tends to fry things worse.  My guy would be like that, except against magic.  Magic would not work around him.  Spells fizzle, bolts of lightning fade, fireballs cool.  This would also let him use high technology safely as his personal field nullifies things around him.  My backstory would probably be something along the lines of him being a former bodyguard who didn't know why he was better against some of the more "improbable" things he fights.  He wouldn't know of actual wizards, the Nevernever, anything like that.  Open-minded to it from what he's seen but as skeptical as say, Butters was.  He will learn to concentrate and manipulate the aura to either expand or constrict to a form-fitting sheath over his body, but at first he will not be able to control it at all. 

2) A shaman of death (horrible name, ok).  He would be really focused on darker aspects of nature, like venoms and decay.  He can pull the spirits of deceased animals out of the earth to assist him (not enslave, but beg their help with an offering).  He can manipulate and taint water into corrosive acid rain and call forth insect constructs to swarm and devour enemies.  I'm also thinking that he would be able to accelerate the decay of living matter and draw power from that process.  Not an evil character, and an absolute force against necromancy.  He would completely distrust immortal beings as they are "outside" the cycle, even though he can technically regenerate from decaying matter forever or unless he suffered a serious parting of body parts.


Any ideas or comments would be great.  I am going to poke my DM in about a week to see if her workload has lessened so we can try to get a quick convo over which she would prefer, if either. I think both of these chars are pretty good ideas and I don't even know which I'd go with in their current forms.

[Richard_Chilton]

There aren't any powers in the rules as written that give you spell shatter, but you can build a Shaman of Death type.  Maybe just your outlook and straight magic or maybe with something called Sponsored Magic (something big supplying your power - the examples include the Fairy Queens).  It's something that you might want to talk to the GM about.  (And if you and the GM work out a spell shatter power - that's cool too.)

Just remember the seven laws of magic - in this case the "don't kill people with magic" one comes to mind.  Avoid doing that and everything should would.

But building a character is a collaborate process - the entire group should sit down talk things out.  Making sure a PC fits the group is more important than just providing guest star roles, it keep the group together.

Richard

[Hadeshorn]

Yeah, I think the Shaman is probably going to be an easier route as well.

I also agree that sponsored magic might be a really good way to go either that or a scion of power.  Both of those would rely on having some sort of "higher power" at work.  If you want to go the Sponsored route, I recommend checking out the show Supernatural, they have some very interesting Death-related critters that would fit the bill, reapers (the ones who escort souls from body to afterlife) and even the Pale Horseman himself.  For the Scion stuff, you could be the bizarre love child of a White Court vamp and a necromancer, that would certainly give you some troubles and aspects to play with.

[sinker]

1) A spellshatter...

At least in some ways this could be done with aspects. Something you could invoke as a bonus against magic, and it could be invoked for effect or compelled (depending on whether it was positive or negative) to have magic behave strangely around you. If you want actual armor vs magic or the ability to create blocks against it then you'd have to come up with a new power.

2) A shaman of death (horrible name, ok).

Ditto the sponsored magic, but you wouldn't necessarily need to find a specific mythological creature, and could probably settle with the forces of nature (or if the GM is uncomfortable with that perhaps an embodiment of said forces).

[EdgeOfDreams]

One option for the anti-magic character is some level of Toughness or Physical Immunity with the catch "Anything NOT magic".  Talk to your GM about the details of how this works, though, as exact catch values can be open to debate.

[crusher_bob]

Yes, outright immunity to magic is reasonably cheap, at 3 points (physical immunity with 5 points of catch).  Of course, that doesn't protect you from having your arms ripped off, or protect others in a zone wide attack.

[chelatek]

Thanks everyone, got a few things to think about.  I guess I really need to harass the DM to see what she would allow or could work with and what would just be a big no.

I was thinking of making them a scion of some type, I'd have to go look through some mythology to figure out what type, however. Maybe the shaman would be good as a Knight of some other power.

Regarding the magic deadening, there are a few instances of it happening.  Harry can deaden the magic around him to make technology not explode (like when he was on the talk show).  When he's in the aquarium, the Nickelhead first totally negates a gigantic spell, and then traps him in an anti-magic circle (which seemed to be different from just a regular circle, since he was able to blow his way out).  It just seemed natural that while wizards have an aura of magic that breaks technology, somewhere or somehow there could be someone with the opposite.


Of course I'm totally ignoring the game mechanics right now because I'm still too unfamiliar with the particulars.  I'll pull out the books and try to figure out a bit more about character creation. 


/edit: As an aside, of neither of these work as a char, I'm going to just make a ferromancer (earth magic) and say "Don't call me Magneto"

[Richard_Chilton]

What Harry does is use Thaumaturgy to given himself sticky aspects to tag (things like "Not sending bad vibes").  That he is uses a magic ritual to suppress the random magics that swirl around him.

And that book shows how effective that was.

Richard

[chelatek]

After talking with my friend who knows a great deal of mythology, he suggested that I could be a Knight for Hades.  Hades dealt with all death and was not really evil, it's just his realm.  He dealt with anything under the earth as well so that would give me the other necessary aspects.

[Michael Sandy]

You could go with a Sponsored magic deal, Counterspells only, allows counterspell as an instant.

You could go with a stunt that allows Conviction as defense vs magic, and another stunt (or two) to boost conviction for that purpose.

Immunity to magic has been mentioned.

[chelatek]

Had a chance to speak with my GM today, she loves both ideas.  She REALLY liked the first once since it would be a flaw people would also have to work around, and said that I should really go for a technomancer kind of deal, someone gifted to just be able to pick up and repair anything mechanical or computer-based. 

She liked the second one as well, so we will really see which the group will want to do.

[chelatek]

I had another idea but I don't know of its quality.

We all know White Court vampires feed off of emotions like terror and sex.  I want another court, let's say Purple Court, that feeds off of feelings of faith and loyalty.  They would be a much less organized court, maybe not even really knowing of the existence of others.  They would be the most human-like of all the courts, except for their two big traits

1)  They have no innate strength or knowledge, but they are basically very fast learners.. They improve faster than humans, so for instance, any given Purple Court vampire who does not work out may not be stronger than any given human who also does not work out, when they do, they improve very fast; thus a vampire who does work out a lot would be very strong.  Same goes for things like practicing firearms, studying a subject, etc.

2) They feed off of the faith and loyalty of humans.  They are almost always in the positions of religious and military leaders.  While they passively feed off of the feelings of those they inspire, they can also take those feelings and magnify them in humans, doing this like whipping them up into a rage, or religious fanaticism (not in a negative way, just a YES, GOD IS SO AWESOME WOO kind of way)

My character would be a military-type leader with a cadre of 3 or 4 humans who are utterly devoted to him.  They are ex-Special Forces-type characters who are each proficient in firearms and melee combat themselves, but the real power is that the vampire can use his only power to turn them into raging, frothing warriors who gain strength and agility and ignore pain in order to protect the vampire.  At the same time, he inspires loyalty by fighting right alongside them and protecting them as he can.

/edit: To drag in as comparison another huge geekery of mine, think of the not-murdering-asshat Commissars in Warhammer 40k; part of their job is to inspire the troops to great heights of bravery and inspire righteous rage in the troops.   My guy would be very much like that, but also with a slight psychic component.

[Sanctaphrax]

1. I figure a WCV could feed off of loyalty and faith. Or if you consider those emotions too positive for a vampire, maybe make it obsession. Not much different, but it sounds worse.

2. That is not going to be an easy character to make in this system. Essentially everything about him will require heavy houseruling.

[The Mighty Buzzard]

Eating some part of another person is an act of violence, William. Positive emotions don’t go together with that.

Kind of makes it explicitly forbidden by the RAW but, then again, when have gamers ever let that stop them?

About point one, you're thinking essentially trading refresh for stat points?  I don't care for it.  Feels overpowered but I'm too short on sleep today to do comparative math vs other powers.

Also, I'd be real careful about feeding off of faith that's spoken for by a deity.  It occurs to me that they might get a bit cranky about that, which could very well explain the court's rarity.

[chelatek]

Kind of makes it explicitly forbidden by the RAW but, then again, when have gamers ever let that stop them?

About point one, you're thinking essentially trading refresh for stat points?  I don't care for it.  Feels overpowered but I'm too short on sleep today to do comparative math vs other powers.

Also, I'd be real careful about feeding off of faith that's spoken for by a deity.  It occurs to me that they might get a bit cranky about that, which could very well explain the court's rarity.

Maybe "feeding" is wrong, then.  Possibly gaining strength from it?  They don't have to be a vampire but I thought it would be an interesting angle.  Maybe it can just be empowered by the feelings by acting as a conductor, so that it doesn't really intercept a feeling, but rather is pulled along in the slipstream.

The only power that I would really want is the ability to boots the abilities of the bodyguards; that's really the mechanics I would think would be behind this kind of char.



And regarding the above chars, I think I'm going to go with the anti-magic guy, as a technology genius.  He will have little physical strength but will be a weapons developer for an undisclosed military contractor and will have a few very high tech weapons that themselves have limited magic shielding.  Remember how

(click to show/hide)

Odin's computers are magic-proof?  He worked on that project. 

.  He still doesn't know much of magic but knows that its a force and how to shield technology from it.  His carried devices will work when they are on his person, but if they are anything but right on him, they stop working and have a chance to just fizzle out and break in the presence of even a small amount of magic.