Playing a true, Pure Fae

[william722w]

Working out how to use Greater Glamours. Is playing a pure Fae possible. And if so what would be some balanced stats.

I was looking at the Catch +2 cold iron / inhuman recovery/toughness -2 to show the fae side or in lower powerd games use wizard constitution with the catch +1
Then use Aspects for the no lie. Any ideas or help or even if this has been posted before would help thanks.

[UmbraLux]

I don't see why it wouldn't be possible with some house rules or allowances.  As for balance, that depends on powers chosen.  Take casting abilities and you're just as powerful as other casters. 

Greater Glamours isn't really any more 'broken' than Glamours...it just gives you a bonus and a 'utility item'. 

The real issue is in deciding how close to the Dresden narrative you want to stay and how much freedom an individual fae might have from her court. 

[Ellipsis]

Here's how I did it for my fae trickster that's sitting in my bag of character ideas:

Play as a fae servant bound to the party's wizard (sort of like Bob, only not stuck in a skull).  Say the wizard's great-grandfather did a big favor for Titania a while back, and she granted a vassal for him and his descendants.  Work out the specifics with the other player; give them a decent working relationship, the fae gets days off, allowances for danger, etc.

As for the whole "free will" thing, if it looks like a duck, smells like a duck, and quacks like a duck.  Give him a contract clause allowing him to ignore the wizard's commands in certain cases, give him stuff he likes to do on his days off, give him some basic personality traits, and it'll be close enough.

Since this setup relies on there being a wizard in the party, fae magic would probably be redundant.  Instead, I suggest maxing out Deceit (since Greater Glamours can be done with Deceit or Discipline), and assuming the role of "face" and/or illusion support.  Add a stunt that boosts Deceit when you're not lying directly to represent the fae's whole lying-while-telling-the-truth thing.

In essence, this setup could leave you rolling +7 Deceit in a lot of social situations, plus rolling +7 on veils and glamours, while still leaving plenty of refresh and skill points for balancing your role.

"no-lying" thing: treat those as compels on your High Concept.  This could also apply to things like thresholds.

Cold Iron: With a cold iron Catch, Supernatural Recovery would only cost -1 Refresh, and it's a really useful power.

[Mrmdubois]

I always figured the stunt Honest Lies made sense for Fae.

[william722w]

cool. Thank you for the help. I will post the charactor when i get it worked up.

[Richard_Chilton]

I agree with the above - with house rules everything is possible.

That said, make sure that the table is comfortable with those rules before you start.

Richard

[Sanctaphrax]

Dunno if I'd call playing a true fae house rules. It's more like house setting.

That aside, remember that The Catch's rebate must be smaller than the cost of the Powers it applies to.

Greater Glamours can work as a PC Power, but only if the GM is willing to improvise. You basically have to make up your own rules for it.

[sinker]

Keep in mind also that one may also simply create an excuse for your fey character to have gained some sort of free will. The books certainly imply that it is possible for a fey to alter their relationship with their court (though it doesn't say anything about altering their nature). It's not too tough to believe that one may find a way to give themselves a bit of mortalness.

[Tedronai]

That, and if it wasn't for a certain cannonical WCV sibling, that template probably wouldn't be listed as being viable for PCs.  The vast majority of WCVs, after all, are not exactly exemplary when it comes to exercising free will over the demands of their demons.

One example was enough to get WCVs OK'd.
I see no reason to believe that a similar example does not exist for Fae, but was simply not included in the novels because they haven't interacted with our beloved narrator.

[Thrakkesh]

Can I ask, out of curiousity, what the intent is in wanting to play a True Fae instead of say, a Changeling? Is it just because you want to play in the Sandbox of Greater Glamours or is there something specific you're going for?

Good question to have an answer to anyway depending on the GM you'd play with. Personally I'd be a little leery of it, if only because I've had one too many groups with a player who really only gained enjoyment out of making the group miserable and constantly backstabbing them.

[Dust Bunny]

Is playing a pure Fae possible.

Just clarifying for my own info (I've only seen the "beta" books)--the base rules in the Beta books explicitly disallowed playing pure Fae. Did the "final" bookschange that, or areyou discussing house rules?

[HeadWound]

Just clarifying for my own info (I've only seen the "beta" books)--the base rules in the Beta books explicitly disallowed playing pure Fae. Did the "final" bookschange that, or areyou discussing house rules?

If you have a page reference, I can compare the text with the current version. I have not seen anything explicitly disallowing it so far.

[Thrakkesh]

The only thing I could find was a reference to requiring 'Free will'.  Something Fae explicitly don't have.  Similar rules prevent you from playing say, pure Red Court.  So while it's not out and out said 'No pure fae' (That I could find)  by their very nature Fae seem excluded (unless you house rule it, natch).

[HeadWound]

A quick readthrough, it looks pretty much the same way in the current version.

[Dust Bunny]

If you have a page reference, I can compare the text with the current version. I have not seen anything explicitly disallowing it so far.

I don't, unfortunately, but the distinction that was made was (iirc) whether a character could act out of will, or only out of their nature. Humans act as they choose--Fae, angels, Red Court vampires, and other creatures only act as they must act, according to their nature. I think it was in the Character Creation section that talked about Changelings.

I think it has to do with having no "refresh"--Fae's power costs are too high to have free will.