Something Extra (Asheville game)

[FishStampede]

Naturally, this is from the Asheville game so if you're in it, stay out.

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I'm building a major antagonist who is a master White Court vampire. Someone who, at one time, could have even replaced Lord Raith as White King. His house of Bellacroix (it's a pun) was fueled by Wrath and its variants such as rage and hate. They were perhaps a bit crass by White Court standards, but they were one of the great houses. Nowadays, not so much. After a failed coup, Lord Raith totally humiliated him, destroyed his power base, and worst of all left him alive. Lord Raith wasn't done with him, though. He spend the next 150 years or so continuing to kick him and his entire family while they were down, making them a public joke at the White Court as well as an example of what happens to those who defy him.

Then, Maggie Le Fey died and levied her death curse against Lord Raith. He suddenly didn't have the resources to spare to continue beating down the Bellacroix house. It took Lord Bellacroix a while to notice that he'd stopped being the White Court whipping boy, and immediately launched into rebuilding his power in a small, out of the way area with little White Court or Council supervision: Asheville. NC.

Now, under the name Pastor Will Buncombe, he runs a megachurch which spends a great deal of time preaching against the evils of (insert here). The congregation is filled with hate and rage at a world that is full of people that aren't just like them. There is no True Faith here, just anger. He has a bunch of other side enterprises based off of that church and building on his power base to potentially challenge the ruling body of the White Court (he does not know it's back on its feet yet, oops.)

So anyway, in statting him up I feel the need to give him something extra. He can easily max out his White Court powers (aside from Mythic everything), but then Lord Raith himself felt the need for something extra in the form of his antimagic field. I want him to be someone who believably could have challenged Lord Raith at one time. Several ideas have come to me, such as allowing him to control people touched by his wrath more directly, or give him something entirely unexpected and out of theme such as Channeling (shadow).

What would you do to make him more than just an uberpowerful white court?

Oh look, I figured out spoiler blocks! I am so smart! S-M-R-T

[Sanctaphrax]

If I was up against Lord Raith, I'd want a Contacts skill more than anything else. Straight-up ass-kicking isn't terribly useful in a political conflict.

So I don't think he needs anything extra to be a credible opponent for Lord Raith.

That being said, he might need something extra to be a good final boss fight.

I could see a Wrath vampire being unusually focused on hand-to-hand combat. Some kind of combat shapeshifting could work.

As could making him a master swordsman. Maybe one with an Item of Power sword.

He could also be an Emissary Of Power. Or a sorcerer.

Any of that sound good?

[FishStampede]

If I was up against Lord Raith, I'd want a Contacts skill more than anything else. Straight-up ass-kicking isn't terribly useful in a political conflict.

Well, he lost, didn't he? 

Probably overestimated the value of his personal skills. That's the problem with anger being your vice of choice...it doesn't lend itself to sound judgement, even when focused into hate.

Still, he's learned his lesson and has some really nasty plans through his side operations. Let's just say he runs a summer camp.

I could see a Wrath vampire being unusually focused on hand-to-hand combat. Some kind of combat shapeshifting could work.

As could making him a master swordsman. Maybe one with an Item of Power sword.

He could also be an Emissary Of Power. Or a sorcerer.

Any of that sound good?

All are good options. Emissary in particular has potential due to The Old Things of the Hills. He made a deal with them that let them join the Accords, so he had to have gotten something in return. Only problem is, I'd have to figure out what they could actually gift, and they're so diverse that's hard to pin down. Making him a master swordsman is almost a given, and if he has an item of power weapon it could easily relate to this. Making it of Cherokee make would be a great tipoff who is sponsoring him.

Shapeshifting is also an interesting option as one of his weaknesses is that after so long being abused and humiliated his demon is far too close to the surface. Oh, he can keep control most of the time, but when he doesn't...while most of them simply grow pale and their eyes turn silver, he actually goes full demon-face at times. It's still technically a human face, it's just a visage of anger so primal and exaggerated that it could be seen from the back row of an amphitheater. Some sort of shapeshifting could play from that.

[Sanctaphrax]

Don't know enough about the Old Things to know what they'd give.

Could his "shapeshifting" justify Claws or other physical Powers?

PS: Have you seen my Bloodthirsty Weapon Bearer template? It might be appropriate if you decide to go the IoP route.

/self-promotion.

[Praxidicae]

You mentioned that you might want to allow him to control those touched by his feeding more directly, how about giving him Domination, but instead of creating Renfields, drop the Lycanthrope template onto the resulting minion (you'd probably have to boost the Refresh cost - but as this is for an NPC it really doesn't matter), this gives him a horde of raging beserkers who're fanatically bound to his will.
For a nasty surprise for the PC's you could give the dominated individuals a bit of a Manchurian Candidate vibe in that they have no idea that this has been done to them, go about their own daily life as a housewife, bus driver or police officer, but at any moment can dropped into the attack-dog state through implanted keywords ("There are three flowers in a vase...The third flower is green.").
Nasty for both the PC's and for Raith in that anyone, any mortal in their life could be a sleeper agent for House Bellacroix.

[FishStampede]

I like the cut of your jib, Prax!

The Lycanthrope template would fit well, with instead of the change being related to the moon, it's related to Lord Bellacroix's will. His "spiritual retreat" and "youth camp" are training a small army of potential berserkers and soldiers. Pack instincts, echoes of the beast...all of this would work well for his minions. The worst part is the teenagers who have been to his summer camp. He calls them his Children's Crusade. There's a good chance the PCs could end up facing a bunch of kids under his control and with good training in "wilderness survival," "knife safety," and..uh...riflery. No quotes needed for that one.

I honestly have no idea how the PCs could deal with them without coming off like complete monsters, but we'll see. PCs always surprise you.

[Sanctaphrax]

So what's the plan?

[FishStampede]

I'm going with the lycanthrope idea. Definitely makes him more scary if he can have sleeper agents everywhere. Also makes his Children's Crusade particularly disturbing and dangerous.

[Praxidicae]

A quick follow up to this that has occurred to me, you'll have to consider what will happen when (inevitably) the augmented Domination power is used on a PC. If the entire Berserker-ification takes place immediately then in many cases that PC just went into negative refresh and became an NPC.

[JDK002]

You could dance around that danger by explaining it away via role playing exposition.  Like it's a bit of a process to get someone totally zerker.  Or that it doesn't work so well on adults hence doing it to children and teens.  But you could have some fun with it by means of sticky aspects and invoke/compel as the worst possible moment for your players.

[FishStampede]

Well, generally someone dominated into a Renfield is probably not going to be a PC anytime soon. The fact there's even the possibility they could stay somewhat sane as a rage thrall is a step up from the way such thorough domination would normally work. It takes 24 hours to make someone into one, so he can't just do it to everyone who passes through his camp, probably just the best and brightest.