A Cold Character Concept

[Polarbearguy90]

Okay a few things, one I am interested but unfamiliar with the fate rules. I am a huge DF fan and would love to play in a game(however where I live there is no body interested and so far I have been unsuccessful in finding a online game). I do have some experience with role-playing games and find myself always coming up with ideas for characters. I have been reading the a bit of the DFRPG books and have come up with an ideas but unsure on how exactly they would be implemented. I would like to make a character based on one of the following ideas, a character who could maybe used some day in game if I ever find:

1st: I have an idea of a winter sorcerer. A child of someone with magical talent and a winter fae, he of course was a changeling. Later on he made the choice to be mortal, but after making the choice he started to develop a slight magical talent. Despite not being a fae anymore his slight magical seems to still have some connection to winter, capable of only calling magics of ice. Would this be expressed by just taking Unseelie magic? Would it be modifid since the magic is only coming from or should I just take say evocation with a focus on Ice.

2nd(sorta)Also either with this concept or maybe a different one, I like the idea of a oneiromancer. Someone Adept at lulling people to sleep then observing their dreams, maybe even putting himself asleep with them and entering and effecting thier dream. The reason I tie this to teh winter sorcerer is because I have read that sleep falls under winters domain. Could oneiromancy be done under unseelie magic, could it be done under normal magic(such as a spirit evocations or maybe thaumaturgy) and would it be breaking one of the laws of magic or just really close to it.

3rd: A polar werebear with a some slight magical talent. The idea is a combat focus character who focuses on ambush tactics, The idea of summoning up a small snowstorm then shifting to a great white bear, hitting his opponent fast and hard being hidden by the flurrys of snow.

The idea of the oneiromancer is the one I like best and if I can incorporate a winter theme without being too powerful(I am looking at being less tehn a submerged charater). If I can get away with entering dream I would take the form of a bear whilst in most dreams(see a theme here, I like polar bears )

Any help with mechanics or fleshing out the charater concept is greatly appreciated, I am big noob to how to go about this!

[computerking]

I like the first option, and I have an NPC with a similar concept in my game. She chose mortal to defy her mother, A Summer Sidhe, and learned magic. Her Evocation elements are represented as Fire (Duh), Lava (Earth), and Steam (Air). She also learned the Diabolism theme of Rituals and summoned fire demons.

[sinker]

For the first one I would definitely not take unseelie magic unless you still want that connection to fey. Sponsored magic means that you have a sponsor, someone who is giving you this power. So even if he's mortal, if he has unseelie magic then he's still part of the winter fey. I would probably take channeling(Ice) or evocation with a winter theme in your elements.

For the second one you have to think about what that will get you mechanically. Sleep itself is easy. Usually a sleep spell is just another kind of physical attack. The dream manipulation is the hard part though. Is this an attempt to try to change who they are or their behavior? Is it an attempt to read some of their thoughts? You might want to figure that out.

Thematically I see sleep as part of winter's domain, but not dreams. If you're a mortal practitioner with your own magic (even influenced by winter) then it doesn't really matter. It just so happens that your power is slightly different from your origins.

Third one I'd build around the were template first. Even if you want a wizard capable of changing shape, you still want to change on a regular basis, and thus should buy the powers to do so. You could add ritual/channeling/thaumaturgy/evocation to that and then go from there.

[Polarbearguy90]

If I went winter evocation would picking water and air let me be able to make ice? would taking spirit allow me to quick put someone to sleep. As for the dreams part I was thinking of someone who either helps people by doing one of two things, one is dream interpretation, being able to tell someone if there is some deep meaning to thier dream(this part could be a fraud to get cash) and the other is getting ride or nightmares particularly recurring ones by entering the dream(similar i guess to astral projecting my mind in there or something) I am afraid that this later one could be a bit too close to the forth law. The way I intend it to be practiced is that I dont actually muck around with their thoughts, the person would have to be willing, and i am only there to see the dream myself, not steal any info from the mind(though making him a darker character who invades dream for info seem like a interesting idea, maybe even make him a scion, a parent being a Baku and he literally eats dreams . I wonder if I could flavor a Baku being a winter fey and just keep him as a changeling, but with a addiction to eating dream, I could keep winter magic and do stuff with dreams...all at the cost of being a dream addicted servent of winter:P

[sinker]

Ice is similar to lightning in this case, there are good arguments for making it with several elements including fire (See the sidebar "Mommy, Where Does Lightning Come From" on YS254). All you have to do is come up with a method you like, and then go with that. You don't need to start mixing elements, because that can cause problems with foci and specializations.

I guess I should have been clearer on my question regarding the dream manipulation. What do you want it to do mechanically? If you're just looking for info (watching dreams) then look at how divination and similar things work, that's the best example of using magic to get info.

As far as nightmares, etc. I would expect that to look a lot like torture/intimidation. So a mental attack resulting in consequences that you could invoke to create a specific response. This would be bordering quite close on breaking the fourth law, but so long as you're using the natural emotions already there, and not supplanting them with others I would think it would be ok from a universal perspective. The wardens may still take offense though.

EDIT: I forgot to mention this, but another option would be to eschew the traditional five elements in favor of the winter elemental theme. This would completely restrict you from doing anything with fire, but does have interesting other options like darkness and rot.

[ARedthorn]

Water would be sufficient. Ice is water, and thematically, water is tied to the concepts of decay and entropy. It's as close to Winter as Fire is to Summer.
I'm running a frost Sorceror, of a different flavor (he works for a certain Nordic CEO), and it's fun. I like your first concept a lot...
The second one is good, too- but calling yourself an oneiromancer implies a focused talent or sorceror not a full blown Wizard. Was this deliberate? If so, it'd be build #1 plus ritual (onieromancy)... otherwise, just go wizard and make sure your specializations for Thaum are O-mancy.
The third... eh, may appear rocksome visually, but it's a tough one. You're talking about a lot of expensive powers on the same toon, right out of the gate... not sure you could make it and be happy with it. Less important, but the books imply that short of Senior Council material (Read: Listens-to-Wind) that kind of shapeshifting takes a level of focus when it comes to magic that almost precludes doing anything else well.... which is appropriately mirrored by the Refresh Cost of trying to do both.

[Katarn]

1)  I'd just make him a Focused Practitioner, and not bring up the Unseelie aspect.  That's a background piece (probably an aspect), but not directly tied in methinks.  He chose to relinquish his Unseelie heritage.

2)  Unseelie is probable (Lea does sleep spells on occasion), evocation seems unlikely IMO (maybe as a KO attack only), but thaumaturgy is well within reason for both sleep and dreams.  Keep in mind you might be skirting the Laws of the Magic here, but being Unseelie, especially if you're attached to the Court, could mitigate that somewhat.

3)  Refresh will be high, but very doable.  I'd avoid the Unseelie angle, and mix Focused Practitioner and Were-Form templates to try to keep the refresh down.

[Becq]

Keep in mind that you need not keep to the 'traditional' elements that Harry uses.  Feel free to just take Channeling (Cold) for -2 refresh and use spells that are much like the Evocation portion of Unseelie magic.  Note, of course, that this would not include any access to Thaumaturgy, ability to power spells via Debt, or ability to ignore Summer Faerie's Toughness abilities.  It would also not include any strings attached to the Winter Court, though Fae of both Courts might have biases based on your powers (Summer might think you a lackey of Winter, and Winter might treat you as a thief of their powers).

[Polarbearguy90]

Okay so am taking out the bear idea. Now which sounds better, a changeling or a minor talent/focused practitioner who used to be a changeling. I like the idea of a sort of dream eater. As a pure changeling I could probably cover it all by just unseelie magic and tacking the feeding thing white court vampires have but have with fear or something(twisting the dream to cause the emotion). If a former changeling would having channeling:cold and ritual: onieromancy work? As a former changeling I would make it that he doesn't need to feed anymore, maybe making use of his talents for info gathering and dream interesting. I like the idea of using dreams to integrate. I don't doing in a way that the white council would disagree with but I dont actual want to break the law at least not at the start. Though having the temptation of returning to the feeding habits of when he was a changeling

[Becq]

If you're planning to make the character a human who uses magic, I can't really see how manipulating emotions, feeding off spiritual energy, or invading people's dreams wouldn't be treated as Lawbreaking.  If you want to go with a dream-eater concept, perhaps you might be better off basing the character on the White Court Vampire concept?  There's room in that template for a minor house that feeds on dreams.  Make a few changes, and you have the Incite Dream power (which could work on awake targets by causing daydreaming), a Catch of True Purpose (ie, the antithesis of daydreaming), and so on.  Does this work at all with what you have in mind?

[Polarbearguy90]

maybe, I dont know, I am have a hard time making up my mind. The dream eater is just a concept to do with dreams, I like dreams(am a psych major) but also like the idea of a child of winter. I guess I am trying to combine them making the parent of the character something akin to a baku. In such a case it would likely work similar to changleing with a fetch parent.. I was considering haveing the character be a child of a wizard and fey dream eater. When his fey powers started to manifest he discovered he could cause people to sleep/enter dreams along with other magics associated with winter but also discovered he could feed off of the dream and soon became addicted to it. Well sometime down the road he made the Choice to be mortal. At this point though he started to manifest a bit of talent from his wizard parent but this talent had been affected by his time as a changeling, this channeling cold, ritual oniromancy. He wouldnt have the need to feed on the on dreams anymore but he may still have the desire too and may still use onriomancy to gain information and to earn money as a psudo psychologist(specializing in dreams of course). I may just have to pick one over the other(winter magic user or dream guy) to make things easier.

[Becq]

That background is certainly allowed, but in my opinion, gathering information from dream magic is a clear violation of the Third Law, and influencing behavior via dream magic is a clear violation of the Fourth Law.

This is not to say you can't do it (that's why the Lawbreaker stunts are there).  I only mention it because you stated that you wanted to somehow avoid Lawbreaking, and I don't see much room for skirting the Laws with that particular power and using it the way you described.  The only exception might be if you only used the power on willing volunteers (ie, the therapist concept, but not as a more general method to gather information from those who haven't given permission), though even that might be considered too close to a violation for comfort.