Power Selection for a Character Concept

[Apollishar]

Basically, I'm making a Sorceror who feels that the White Council isn't doing enough to protect mankind, so he began searching and making pacts and bonds to gain more power. This has led him some dark places, and some dark forces. I want to figure out some interesting and appropriate powers. For example, I know he is going to have learned Domination from some Black Court vampires( before the Stokerlypse). I've got 12 refresh(total) to work with, knowing that 7 are taken up by Thaumaturgy, Evocation, and The Sight. 2 for Domination. So i've got 3 points of refresh to play with, and I have no idea what to do with them

[Becq]

Two, really, since you can't spend your last refresh.

Have you considered a Sponsored Magic?  For example, you could replace Domination with Kemmlerian Necromancy (no net refresh cost) and be able to use Psychomancy to do Domination-like stuff via Evocation.  (And then some.)

Also, you probably need a Lawbreaker or two, if you've been naughty.

[Sanctaphrax]

Refinement is always good.

You may or may not need Lawbreaker, depending on your GM's opinions.

[Apollishar]

I checked on Lawbreaker with the GM. His targets have never been mortals, so its not a violation of the laws.

@Becq
I considered it, but I haven't seen anything that makes me go "that would be in line with protecting humanity", since theres the whole, Agenda of the Sponsor thing. And trying to avoid abilities that mortal spellcasters would lean towards. More stuff of the non human variety

@Sancta

I'm trying to shy away from traditional spellcasting. I mean, he has access to it, and can do normal spellcasting stuff. But he's trying to become "more than a Wizard"

[Sanctaphrax]

Would you be up for an Item Of Power?

What about custom Powers?

[UmbraLux]

You could go with 'fleshcrafting' - human form plus hulking size and a modified flesh mask.  Another option might be ninja-esque powers - cloak of shadows and spider walk.  Then there are the various types of sponsored magics, worldwalking powers, simple boosts like speed or recovery and more obvious ones like shapechange powers or wings.

The real question is, what did your character need to do to protect people and who taught him?

[Apollishar]

You could go with 'fleshcrafting' - human form plus hulking size and a modified flesh mask.  Another option might be ninja-esque powers - cloak of shadows and spider walk.  Then there are the various types of sponsored magics, worldwalking powers, simple boosts like speed or recovery and more obvious ones like shapechange powers or wings.

The real question is, what did your character need to do to protect people and who taught him?

To answer the question....think of it like Maggie LeFay. He trafficked with a lot of different powers, and made a lot of pacts to gain/learn powers. I plan on making a couple of those into aspects, so I need to have something make sense. That's why I used the Black Court-Domination example.

As far as the why, in seperate incidences, he lost both his wife, and his daughter, to seperate supernatural predators, and wasn't around to protect them. His daughter was slain by a loup-garou( one of Macfinn's ancestors), and his wife was taken as a thrall by the White Court. Both times, when he pleaded to the local Warden, he was told there was nothing that could be done, as the loup-garou had dissappeared( little did he know that it had actually been slain) and that there weren't enough Wardens to spare to assault a White Court "base" (as they were dealing with their first killing of Kemmler), so while he didn't know the circumstances, all he knew was that his wife and daughter were to go unavenged, and the Council seemed not to care.

[Becq]

So is he after revenge, or protecting mankind?  I ask this because striking bargains with any "dark forces" (Black Court being a great example) seems a lot like aiding and abetting the folk who mean humanity harm, which is kind of the opposite of protecting mankind.  If he wanted to avenge the deaths of his family, and was "flexible" about the means used to reach that end, then it would make more sense to go that route.

[Apollishar]

So is he after revenge, or protecting mankind?  I ask this because striking bargains with any "dark forces" (Black Court being a great example) seems a lot like aiding and abetting the folk who mean humanity harm, which is kind of the opposite of protecting mankind.  If he wanted to avenge the deaths of his family, and was "flexible" about the means used to reach that end, then it would make more sense to go that route.

A little bit of both. Obviously, he does want to avenge his family, and I plan on having an aspect reflecting that. But as far as protecting mankind, he views himself as the one who acts when the council won't. As far as making pacts for power, he sees it as "a little evil now so he can better protect his charges" later.

edit: I never said it was the greatest philosophy, just the code he goes by

[Apollishar]

FEEDING DEPENDENCY [+varies]
Description: Some or all of your powers come from eating something. Probably something weird.
Skills Affected: Discipline.
Effects:
Restricted Powers. When you take this power, you must select at least one other power that you possess. You must also choose a thing and an amount of that thing that you must consume in order to use those powers. Which powers and foods may be selected with this power is a matter of the GM's discretion. This power provides a variable Refresh rebate depending on how much power is selected with it. If 2 Refresh is selected, the rebate is +1. If 6 Refresh is selected, the rebate is +2. If 10 Refresh is selected, the rebate is +3. And so on. The above values assume that the food is rare or morally objectionable, like significant amounts of human blood or huge piles of cash. If the food is acquired easily and without guilt, or only with extreme measures, add or subtract an appropriate amount from the Refresh total used to calculate the rebate. If more Refresh is attached to this power than is required for the rebate received, this power provides a free mild hunger consequence for each additional Refresh.
Feeding. You are capable of consuming whatever your food is. Furthermore, when you do so, you may remove any hunger consequences that you possess and recover any powers that you lost to your hunger. If you consume an insufficient amount of your food, you may receive partial benefits at the GM's discretion.
Limited Reserves. At the end of any scene in which you use one or more of your restricted powers, you must roll your Discipline skill against a number equal to the combined Refresh value of the restricted powers that you used. If you fail this roll, you must take consequences or sacrifice restricted powers with a total Refresh value and/or stress value equal to the amount that you failed by. If you do not or can not, you are taken out. This usually means that you die, get incapacitated, or go mad with hunger, but other fates are also possible depending on the character and the situation.

Adjustments for easy or difficult foods:

-4 A few hours of sunlight, other small downtime requirements
-3 Normal food in unusually large amounts, other stuff that's no real effort
-2 Weird stuff like copper, large amounts of downtime like sleeping for a week straight
-1 Diamonds, people singing about you, other stuff that's impractical but not really difficult
0 Blood, rare radioactive materials, other difficult stuff, massive downtime like spending months in prayer
+1 Vampire blood, other difficult and dangerous stuff
+2 Human sacrifices, other stuff that's a big deal, ridiculous downtime like meditating for a decade
+3 Angel feathers, other stuff that pretty much requires a quest
+4 Planets, other nearly impossible stuff

I just saw this in the custom powers master list. If I make his Domination power learned post Stokerlypse, what kind of rebate would he get if he has to feed on the phage of a White Court Vampire once per month to keep the power? I figure it makes sense to bind the power that way, as the black court now hates the whites, and the character already hates them enough to be willing to pay that price, since the black court now has one agent who is constantly trying to find and kill their enemy

[Becq]

Feeding Dependency (including the custom variant) doesn't have a set feeding frequency.  Instead, as you use linked powers, you suffer stress and/or consequences (the variant uses consequences only).  Then, you need to feed to recover from the effects.  So you might need to feed fairly rarely if you rarely use your powers, while at the other end of the spectrum if you have many linked powers and you use them heavily, you could find yourself practically crippled with hunger after every combat scene.

[Apollishar]

Ok....should've read through it more lol. So, that makes more sense, as it closely reflects the books. So then, what kind of refresh "rebate" would be appropriate for feeding on White Court Phages?