Author Topic: Help! Character Creation Concept Help.  (Read 4292 times)

Offline Sanctaphrax

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Re: Help! Character Creation Concept Help.
« Reply #15 on: December 20, 2011, 03:50:32 AM »
Alright.

Some powers are cheaper than free. This is because they are bad to have. They attach to other powers and limit those powers in some way.

For example, The Catch attaches to your Toughness powers and disables them under certain special circumstances. In exchange for accepting this weakness, you get some refresh back.

In effect, rebate powers make your other powers cheaper by limiting them.

Does that make sense?

Offline Kyrin Lightbringer

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Re: Help! Character Creation Concept Help.
« Reply #16 on: December 20, 2011, 03:52:54 AM »
I'm with you so far. So since it's Magic that gives me my power Then the weakness for all of them would be thresholds and running water correct?
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Offline Silverblaze

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Re: Help! Character Creation Concept Help.
« Reply #17 on: December 20, 2011, 04:24:14 AM »
I'm with you so far. So since it's Magic that gives me my power Then the weakness for all of them would be thresholds and running water correct?

That would make sense.

You could also choose an item or substance anathema to your character depending on his/her story...similar to iron to fae, silver to werewolves, or kryptonite to Superman.

EDIT:
Oh uh, yeah...the catch only applies to toughness powers. (toughness, recovery, immunity) So running water/thresholds might be good for that, but if you wanted more rebates you'd have to look elsewhere.
« Last Edit: December 20, 2011, 04:33:40 AM by Silverblaze »

Offline Sanctaphrax

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Re: Help! Character Creation Concept Help.
« Reply #18 on: December 20, 2011, 04:25:52 AM »
Probably not.

There does not exist a rebate power that works in such a way. I suppose that one could be written, but I'd question its balance.

Rebates that might work for you:

Human Form (the spells that enhance you also alter your body)
Item Of Power (you get your powers from a magic sword)
The Catch (there's something out there that ignores your Toughness)
Magical Self-Enhancement (you need to cast a spell to give yourself powers)

Offline Kyrin Lightbringer

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Re: Help! Character Creation Concept Help.
« Reply #19 on: December 20, 2011, 04:38:32 AM »
OK so here is what I'm proposing and you tell me how we can work it(and if it can't i'll try to figure out one of the other ways you listed). So I think i want to try something that mixes MSE with The Catch but have no spoken incantations just a thought. It is spell like tho since it will be using my magic power. But rebates galore with the catch that my power is extremely limited with thresholds and running water. Not really sure how to word this.
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Offline Sanctaphrax

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Re: Help! Character Creation Concept Help.
« Reply #20 on: December 20, 2011, 04:57:33 AM »
MSE does not require a spoken incantation. A thought will do just fine. (Assuming I haven't forgotten some part of the core spellcasting rules).

The Catch only applies to Toughness powers.

Offline Kyrin Lightbringer

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Re: Help! Character Creation Concept Help.
« Reply #21 on: December 20, 2011, 04:59:50 AM »
Ah thats where I'm messing up. I was trying to say that I would ADD a catch to all of them because of the nature of my power to help balance it?
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Offline Sanctaphrax

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Re: Help! Character Creation Concept Help.
« Reply #22 on: December 20, 2011, 05:08:16 AM »
You can't. The Catch is for Toughness only.

I suppose you could write a new power, though.

Offline benign

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Re: Help! Character Creation Concept Help.
« Reply #23 on: December 20, 2011, 05:12:37 AM »
Assuming I am understanding what you are asking for, this is how I would do it.

Step 1: Establishing what your power source is.

As I see it this is best done with aspects. First have your High Concept be something like Auto-Biomancer (meaning essentially that you are a specialized practitioner who uses body-altering magic on yourself). Go ahead and throw something like My Powers are Magic! somewhere on your aspect list to reinforce that. Or don't, if you are pressed for aspects, you really said it all in your High Concept already.

Step 2: Choosing your Powers

I'm going to take what you mentioned earlier: Enhancements for your strength, hardiness, speed, and perception.
For speed we are choosing Inhuman Speed [-2] and for strength we have Inhuman Strength [-2], easy enough. For perception let's choose Supernatural Sense [-1] which lets you see in the dark, echolocate, smell algebra, or whatever you choose as a super-sense, go nuts. That leaves us with Hardiness, which we will simulate with Inhuman Toughness [-2]. Now all toughness powers need what is called a Catch, which means that they need some kryptonite factor that will pierce them. Let's deal with that in step 3.

Step 3: Choose your limitations

We already know we need a catch for your toughness power, so lets choose that first. The Catch can be anything from silver to sunlight and holy water to whatever else you can think of. It gives you a refund of +0 to +4 of the refresh that you spent back, depending on how obvious the weakness is and how easy it is to find. For you we only want a refund of +1, since you can't get more back from the Catch than you spent on Toughness in the first place. I'm going to say that your rocky skin helps to turn aside blades and energy, but not blunt force, which can still shock your bones and internal organs on impact, thus giving your Toughness the Catch Blunt Trauma. It's not obvious because you look so impervious, but is very easy to find, giving it the refund value of +1.

Now we're not done yet, because there is another refund you can take advantage of. Because you must invoke your powers with a transformation, we are taking the Shapechange ability Human Form, which states that your supernatural abilities are unavailable so long as you appear human. When you do access them, you physically change in obvious and threatening ways; your skin takes on the appearance of rock, your eyes and mouth leak fire, and thundercracks accompany the movement of your magically accelerated limbs. Because this leaves you pretty defenseless so long as your abilities aren't activated, it is worth the refund of +1.

 Step 4: Add everything up

And this is what your final powers list looks like:

Human Form [+1] attached to
Inhuman Speed [-2]
Inhuman Strength [-2]
Supernatural Sense [-1]
Inhuman Toughness [2]
        The Catch [+1]
is blunt trauma.


Total refresh spent: -5

So that handily comes in at just under the lowest refresh level stated in the book, feet in the water. And don't let the fact that you chose the bottom level for your speed, toughness, and strength abilities fool you; you will be a beast in combat. Hope that helps!
« Last Edit: December 20, 2011, 05:31:59 AM by benign »

Offline Kyrin Lightbringer

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Re: Help! Character Creation Concept Help.
« Reply #24 on: December 20, 2011, 05:19:43 AM »
Definitely getting closer but not quite there yet. Hmm ok i'll sit down and try to come up with something and you guys can tear it apart and fix it. That i think should be the next step
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Offline Becq

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Re: Help! Character Creation Concept Help.
« Reply #25 on: December 20, 2011, 11:23:52 PM »
If you want to make a character with physical powers, but have them be Biomancy-generated, another way to do this would be to handle the whole thing via your character's high concept.  That is, give your character a high concept that links his powers to Biomancy, then work with your GM to determine what powers are appropriate.

This does not get you back any refresh (although you can still get The Catch to get a rebate on Toughness powers).  What it does do is give your GM the option to compel your high concept in situations where the nature of your powers is troublesome.  Heavy rain weakens your Supernatural Strength to mere Inhuman levels?  Fate point!  Foe taunts you from across a modest stream?  Fate point!  Sorceror counterspells your Speed?  Fate point!  And then you can turn around and use those Fate points to make your Biomancy-granted capabilities stronger later, by invoking your high concept in your favor.