Yay, city creation turned out fine afterall. Thanks for the advice. Now I want to work on some of the crunch.
I need help working on mechanics for turning people to evil.
The shadow lands: It's tainted by a Dark God (Old ONe). The Nevernever and mortal realms overlap. Exposure to the Taint over time can warp you, mutate things and generally make things evil. I'd like to model this somehow. I figured Mental stress would be the best way. Then as people get consequences you can compel to do evil stuff. Not sure how to model the mutations, though. I guess I could do physical consequences to reflect mutations.
The Taint can:
-Can only be healed through special means (holy healing/places etc..)
-Exposure to the Taint over time can warp you. (Environmental effect)
>The stronger the effect the more damage it does and more frequency.
-Some creatures have an aura of taint. Exposure to said aura causes mental stress (power?)
>How would this power work on how much would it cost?
-Some powerful creatures can cast spells that cause the taint (sponsored magic:Shadow lands - the taint as an element)
-Fey creatures/mortals can be warped by the Taint (a template?)
Protection
Jade trinkets can protect people from the Taint for a limited amount of time. Jade will also act as the catch for any Shadowlands creatures that have Toughness Powers.
I'd say that the Taint is an environmental attack, with take-out resulting in mutation. Jade is armour. That's all within the RAW.
The aura isn't doable with the RAW, but I do have a custom Power. It looks like this:
DANGEROUS AURA [-2]
Description: Standing near you is dangerous.
Effects: Dangerous Aura. Whenever another character spends any part of their action inside your zone, this Power makes a Fair attack against their Endurance at weapon 0. The attack occurs at the end of the target's action. This power can be turned off and does not affect the user.
Can't Touch This. Add two to the weapon rating of this Power's attacks against characters that spend their actions grappling you. At the GM's discretion, Stunts and Powers that provide odd methods of grappling may negate this effect.
Avoidable Aura [-0]. This Power makes attacks against Athletics instead of Endurance.
Extra-Dangerous Aura [-1]. This power makes Great attacks.
Super-Dangerous Aura [-1]. (Requires Extra-Dangerous Aura) This power makes Fantastic attacks.
Hyper-Dangerous Aura [-1]. (Requires Super-Dangerous Aura) This power attacks at weapon 2.
Mental Aura [-1]. This power inflicts mental stress and is resisted with Discipline.
Large Aura [-1]. This power affects everyone within one zone.
Vast Aura [-1]. (Requires Large Aura) This power affects everyone within three zones.
I've never used it in game, because my players opted not to fight the things that had it. But I think it's balanced-ish.
Though I should probably make Avoidable Aura incompatible with Mental Aura.
As requested by Taran, this is a brief run down on what it is to be an Iaido Swordsman within the Dresden universe.
First, I am a trained Iaido swordsman, a samurai. Here is a brief by the books definition of what that is:
Iaido is the contemporary Japanese art of drawing the long sword. Iaido contrasts with kenjutsu (combative swordsmanship), techniques done with swords already drawn, and kendo, the Japanese sport of fencing. Basic iaido kata combines drawing the sword with either a defensive block or cut, usually followed by another cut, then chiburi (moving the blade in such as way as to remove blood and tissue) and noto (returning the blade to the scabbard). While kenjutsu and sword-drawing techniques (batto-ho) were originally taught together, they are now usually, but not always, taught as separate art forms. Iaido, as the sword-drawing forms became known in the 1930's, is now used not only to teach sword techniques, but as a form of mental and physical discipline, emphasizing correct technique and form, meditation and character development.
That being said, my Dresden Files RPG character is based on myself. Here are some stunts I have formulated. (Bare in mind, I do NOT know the rules too well. I have been playing D&D and World of Darkness for many years. This is my first character in DF RPG, and i am still familierizing myself with the rules. I still have to run these by my acting DM as well.)
I Present, The Swordsman of Boogie Down
Weapons Based Stunt:
Iaido Swordsman- Bonus to attack for the first time against each Individual opponent.
(I figure this is the bread and butter of the style. The swordsman anticipates his attack, or that of the enemies. Then it is on the draw that he reacts. E.g Parrying the attack and then counterattacking. Or simply going though the foe's defense and attacking first.)
O-Chiburi- After a successful attack that would draw blood, some small amount of mental stress is done to that opponent.
(This is a really neat idea. The Chiburi is the act of flicking the blade in such a way that it flings the blood away. The O-Chiburi is a variant that usually involves taking a large sweeping slash, allowing the blood the be flung direction-ally. The O-Chiburi is also known as "The wet umbrella". What is more likely to get into an opponents head to have their own blood splashed upon their face.)
These Next Two are more based on character, but I tried to keep it within the Samurai Flavor:
Discipline Based Skill:
Clarity Through Rage- Once per combat, Joe can shrug off one spell cast at him, but in turn, he is then subject to his trouble aspect.
(This may need some clarifying. The Swordsman of Boogie Down was taught of the never never, and conditioned to fight the supernatural by a white court vampire who feeds on Wrath. They have a bond, and she feeds on his wrath. His Trouble Aspect is "The Conduit of the White Court." This is very much a tool to be used by my DM. As a DM myself I know how important it is for the players to assist the DM in making the game exciting. For example: Joe is fighting a spellcaster. He ends the fight fairly quickly, getting the upperhand. Charging though a blast of fire and using this ability to shrug it off. The spell caster losses his staff and the hand holding it for his trouble. Though Joe is merciful, The DM now has the chance to compel me toward wrath. And granted I have used this ability, I must accept the compulsion to finish the spell caster off. Murdering a now unarmed HAR... foe...)
The last one I have for you is an Empathy based skill:
One breath- Able to identify the highest initiative foe, or that which will attack first, and gain a bonus to attack him for the first time.
(The build itself will aim to build heavily upon the first attack against each opponent. In true Iaido fashion. A familiar and favored sort of mantra in Iaido is "One breath, one draw, one kill" Now the idea behind this one is though empathy, he can somewhat read the motive of those who imminently intend on violence. He can then be ready and react.)
Anyhow, I have to run to work so I will have to wait until tonight to hear and gather all your input and opinions on this. Taran, I hope you can use some of these ideas on your game. (And credit me -wink-) and I hope you can all fill the gaps in these mechanics that I most certainly have.
First and last stunts need a bit of clarifying, but they look more or less good-ish.
Second and third need a lot of clarifying, and depending on what that clarification says they might not be workable.
Incidentally, there are one or two Iaido stunts on the Resources board list. Here's what they look like:
Quick Draw: You can draw and use a weapon in a single motion. You take no penalty when drawing a weapon as a supplemental action (page YS:213); if you're in a race to see who draws first, or anything else having to do with your speed or ability to draw, gain a +1 on the roll.
Iaijutsu: (Requires Quick Draw) You are trained in iaijutsu, the art of drawing a sword. The first attack you make with a sword each scene inflicts two additional stress. Furthermore, you may add one to your Weapons skill when making it.
I figure that the difference between Iaido and Iaijutsu is unimportant here.
