Character Creation Help: Santeria Parkour Superspy

[razorsmile]

I've been reading the Dresden Files books, following the threads here with great interest and am now ready to try statting out characters. I've had my fill of wizards from the books and am more interested in the magical one-trick ponies and mercs like Binder, Kincaid or Tam Veda (artifact dealer from one of the better Dresden Files fics). I like the sandbox but want to import stuff from outside it.

In that vein, I'm going with Tito from William Gibson's Blue Ant trilogy, specifically the second book Spook Country. I've been fascinated with the character since I read it back in 2007. This gives me the opportunity to kill two birds with one stone by experimenting with DFRPG character creation and doing it with a non-DF character.

Here's my (somewhat confused) attempt at statting him out:

Name: Tito
High Concept: Semi-reluctant Santeria Superspy
Trouble: Wanted by the US Government (?)*
Other Aspects: Loyal to the Family, Never Without a God, Soldier in the Cold Civil War, The Journey is the Destination, My Music is a Comfort, Doesn't Like to Fly, Large Family No Surnames, Beautiful in Motion, In Between Everything, Maybe Magic Maybe Mundane(?)

STUNTS AND POWERS
-1 Marked By Power** (Initiate of the Guerreros)
-1 Inhuman Speed (Limitation: when channeling the Guerreros)
-1 Martial Artist
-1 Tradecraft
-1 Not Entirely Unlike Parkour
-2 Perfect Aim (Limitation: when channeling Oshosi)
-1 Crypsis By Perpetual Motion (Tito's training and the gifts of the Guerreros let him blend into crowds)
-1 The Street As One Animal (The Guerreros grant Tito a kind of enhanced pattern recognition, letting him spot tails easily; when channeling Oshosi; can be used in conjunction with Crypsis By Perpetual Motion)

Firearms - he should have decent Firearms; he's well-trained but hasn't had much occasion to actually shoot anyone
Athletics - his greatest talent, he backtucks and monkey-vaults like the rest of us breathe
Contacts (intelligence) - his Contacts are the rest of his family and their Contacts are vast and deep.

Tito is in his early twenties. Born in Cuba, he speaks fluent Russian, lives in one room in a NoLita warehouse, and does delicate jobs involving information transfer. He's pretty in an almost feminine sort of way, agile, quick hands, looks like a very serious fifteen-year-old. He belongs to a multi-racial family (Cuban-Chinese by way of Russia) that are variously referred to as illicit facilitators, freelance spies and the world's smallest crime family.

Among other things, they use one-shot pneumatic pistols (hand-made by a long-dead Bulgarian) that shoot salt cartridges. When they move house, they scrub everything forensically speaking. Mattresses, presumed to contain skin flakes and DNA traces, go to the landfill. It's funny how there are so many parallels between the tradecraft of espionage types and supernatural countermeasures. For the purposes of the Dresdenverse, we can make his family supernaturally clued-in.

In addition to his "systema" (as it is referred to within the family) which is a combination of pseudo-parkour and Cold War-era tradecraft (both of which he was trained to from a very early age), Tito practices Santeria, one of the many Afro-Caribbean religions that merge Yoruba traditional religion with other stuff (in this case, the veneration of Catholic saints.) The gods or orishas (Tito follows the Guerreros***) mount/possess their more worthy initiates.

The way the book is written, the orisha may be geniune supernatural entities or just a form of deliberately-induced DID that helps Tito better focus his skillset.
-------------------------------

So. What am I missing? I don't have the PDFs or anything; I'm basically doing this using other people's character sheets as templates. The numbers are almost certainly wrong and so forth.


*_{As he currently stands, I can't quite figure out a decent Trouble for him yet; Spook Country was a very low key book that way.}
**_{I'm undecided as to whether to keep this at all. Not reflected in the original text but might make sense when porting him here. Is it possible for Marked By Power to be behavioral instead of literal i.e. no glowing facial tattoos?}
***_{THE GUERREROS
Eleggua: Opener of the ways, lets you access the others, precognition apparently (that business with the ICE badge)
Ogun: As Eleggua opens every road, so Ogún clears each road with his machete. God of iron and wars, of labor; owner of every technology. The number seven, colors green and black,
Oshosi: Hunter and scout of the Orishas: the colors blue and yellow, the number three and seven
Osun: whose role was mystery}

[Kiero]

A hardcore traceur will have a decent Endurance. Some measure of Might as well (moving your whole bodyweight around like that builds serious dynamic strength).

[toturi]

Human Form - applied to Marked By Power and Inhuman Speed perhaps?

Or just Human Guise. Instead of facial tattoos, he could go with the Stargate Eye-glow and a creepy voice.

[Sanctaphrax]

I have no idea what most of this guy's powers and stunts do. Are they available online somewhere?

Why so many aspects? Most PCs have 7, he has 12.

Firearms is called Guns.

What power level is this guy?

Backstory looks good.

The Spare Character Concepts thread is your friend.

[razorsmile]

Like I said, I don't own any of the DFRPG books. I just cribbed this stuff from other character sheets I've seen on the net and tried to make it fit the character. As for the character, he's from William Gibson's Spook Country, a kind of low-tension borderline-magical-realist spy novel set in 2006. He was born and raised in a family of smugglers, forgers and spies who were trained by the KGB back in the days when Castro was young and dinosaurs walked the earth. He is a traceur who can (seemingly) channel the orishas of Santeria to enhance his already impressive skills.

Let me try this again with Sanctaphrax' input:

Name: Tito (Chest-Deep)
High Concept: Semi-reluctant Santeria Superspy
Trouble: Wanted by the US Government (?)*
Other Aspects: Loyal to the Family, Never Without a God, Soldier in the Cold Civil War, The Journey is the Destination, Doesn't Like to Fly, Large Family No Surnames, Maybe Magic Maybe Mundane(?)

Skills
Great: Athletics, Stealth (both go to Superb when channeling Oshosi),
Good: Contacts, Discipline, Alertness (goes to Superb when channeling Oshosi), Endurance
Fair:  Guns, Fists, Burglary, Craftsmanship (might be able to bump it up a rung or two when channeling Ogun; not sure),
Average: Deceit, Presence, Empathy, Lore, Scholarship

Powers
-1 Marked By Power** (Initiate of the Guerreros)
-2 Inhuman Speed (Limitation: when channeling the Guerreros)

Stunts
-1 Martial Artist
-1 Tradecraft
-1 Not Entirely Unlike Parkour
-2 Perfect Aim (Limitation: when channeling Oshosi)
-1 Crypsis By Perpetual Motion (Tito's training and the gifts of the Guerreros let him blend into crowds)
-1 The Street As One Animal (The Guerreros grant Tito a kind of enhanced pattern recognition, letting him spot tails easily; when channeling Oshosi; can be used in conjunction with Crypsis By Perpetual Motion)

Guns - he should have decent Guns; he's well-trained but hasn't had much occasion to actually shoot anyone and wouldn't want to if he did.
Contacts - his Contacts are the rest of his family and their Contacts are vast and deep.

Tito is in his early twenties. Born in Cuba, he speaks fluent Russian, lives in one room in a NoLita warehouse, and does delicate jobs involving information transfer. He's attractive in an almost feminine sort of way, agile, quick hands, looks like a very serious fifteen-year-old. He belongs to a multi-racial family (Cuban-Chinese by way of Russia) that are variously referred to as illicit facilitators, freelance spies and the world's smallest crime family.

Among other things, they use one-shot pneumatic pistols (hand-made by a long-dead Bulgarian) that shoot salt cartridges. When they move house, they scrub everything forensically speaking. Mattresses, presumed to contain skin flakes and DNA traces, go to the landfill. It's funny how there are so many parallels between the tradecraft of espionage types and supernatural countermeasures. For the purposes of the Dresdenverse, we can make The Family supernaturally clued-in.

In addition to his "systema" (as it is referred to within the family) which is a combination of pseudo-parkour and Cold War-era tradecraft (both of which he was trained to from a very early age), Tito practices Santeria, one of the many Afro-Caribbean religions that merge Yoruba traditional religion with other stuff (in this case, the veneration of Catholic saints.) The gods or orishas (Tito follows the Guerreros***) mount/possess their more worthy initiates.

The way the book is written, the orisha may be geniune supernatural entities or just a form of deliberately-induced DID that helps Tito better focus his skillset.



*_{As he currently stands, I can't quite figure out a decent Trouble for him yet; Spook Country was a very low key book that way.}
**_{I'm undecided as to whether to keep this at all. Not reflected in the original text but might make sense when porting him here. Is it possible for Marked By Power to be behavioral instead of literal i.e. no glowing facial tattoos?}
***_{THE GUERREROS
Eleggua: Opener of the ways, lets you access the others, precognition apparently (that business with the ICE badge)
Ogun: As Eleggua opens every road, so Ogún clears each road with his machete. God of iron and wars, of labor; owner of every technology. The number seven, colors green and black,
Oshosi: Hunter and scout of the Orishas: the colors blue and yellow, the numbers three and seven
Osun: whose role was mystery}

[sinker]

First thing I noticed is that he's chest deep (maximum 7 refresh in stunts and powers) but has 10 refresh worth of abilities. This guy isn't a PC. He no longer has free will but is ruled by his nature (or those he is indebted to).

As far as I know marked by power has no physical representation, no actual mark. It's part of your aura, your presence. People (and things) keyed into the supernatural may notice, but to mortals you're just another guy. Take for example Fix in the later books. He looks no different from any other guy, however every supernatural being knows who he is and what he represents.

Like Sanctaphrax said, he has too many aspects. He needs a high concept, a trouble aspect, a background aspect, a rising conflict aspect, a first story aspect, and two guest star aspects. That's seven in total. When you're doing a solo character you can often write the aspects as you wish (without linking them to specific parts of your backstory), but seven is still the limit.

[Sanctaphrax]

Still a few problems:

1. The RAW don't allow for skill increases of the sort that this guy gets when channeling Ososhi. The Beast Change power might be helpful here.

2. Limitation is not a thing. I recommend Human Form.

3. None of his stunts do anything except for maybe Martial Artist.

4. Stunts cannot cost more than one refresh apiece.

Really, you should get the book. Making a character without reading the rules is not easy.

[Richard_Chilton]

Brief, very brief, bit about aspects.
1) You have one that more or less defines who you are.  Called the "High Concept" it mentions any supernatural stuff.  EG: Apprentice Wizard, Changeling Daughter of Autumn, Tough as Nails Cop.

2) you have an aspect that isn't so good called your Trouble.  It's something that can bite you as it adds to the story.  EG: Hunted by the Mothers of My Children, Mistaken for Sidhe, Still Just a Kid.

3) You have an early life one - usually about your mundane life

4) You have a "powers rising" one.  Whether it's the day you stood up to that bully or the day you noticed you were growing scales, it's something about your early powers OR passing from a background character to a PC OR something that happened during that phase of your life.

5) You tell your first story and get an aspect inspired by that.  Usually the story links you to another PC.

6) you "guest star" in another PC's story and that player works with you to give you an aspect.

7) as above, but with a different PC.

And those are the seven aspects.  At least that's the Rules As Written, but if the table is fine with having more or fewer aspects the RPG police aren't going to bust down your door over it.

Note that if there are 4 PCs then all of them are linked by appearances in stories and guest spots so when play begins everyone knows everyone else.

Richard