Newbie to the game: Non-Evil Necromancer

[Deadmanwalking]

Oh sorry, I saw that though my GM said they want me to reduce the armor down to 2. So right now I have it set up like this.
Robes/Coat
   (4 shift Block or Armor 2, 5 times per session)  (2 item slots)

Is that correct?

Edit: The GM said under these rules the armor 4 is okay since it's limited use.

Not quite, your basic 1 slot Item would be 5 shifts, 1 use, or 4 shifts, 2 uses. So the 2 slot version is only 4 uses, not 5.

But since the better one's allowed, I'd go with that.

No, it can be just the player.

Really, there's no reason to require the character be involved. Maybe refusing the Compel prevents the issue from arising in the first place. Maybe your character gives into the impulse, but because you refused the Compel none of the consequences occur.

Whatever.

Sure...but it can also be be the character resisting (whenever you, the player, want it to be)...which is the whole point I was making.

[Oblyss]

That was one of the major changes between the pre-release and the final draft.  It can be fun going through the two versions and seeing what else changed.

Then guessing at why it changed.

Richard

I can imagine.


Also looking at this bit:

In addition, if you already practice evocation, you may use a sponsored power source to “supercharge” an element you’ve already specialized in. So Summer magic might combine with the air element to give a “breath of life” effect; hellfire might combine with fire to produce, well, hell-fire; and Kemmlerian necromancy might combine with the spirit element to inflict potent visions of death upon a victim. This sort of combination allows the spellcaster to use his existing evocation specialization bonuses with the new power source.

Okay so, any evocation type I have specialized in, I can supercharge in with kemmler and use my necromancy specialization bonus for control of it? And then I just faintly explain how that works out in flavour? I don't need any rationalization past that?

So for me, currently it would be only applicable for spirit, but later say if I specialize in fire. Would I be able to super charge my fire with kemmler, and use necromancy bonus to control it? And then say I fueled flames with the power of death? Maybe give it a new green/black/blue/pale-white color to go with it.

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Is this what Harry does at some point as well with winter magic and his fire? And why it turned blue in color?

Not quite, your basic 1 slot Item would be 5 shifts, 1 use, or 4 shifts, 2 uses. So the 2 slot version is only 4 uses, not 5.

But since the better one's allowed, I'd go with that.

Oh okay thanks, I'll go read up on that section so I know what I'm doing.

Currently here's my idea for this item:

Kemmlerite Gauntlet
   (8 shift Block or Armor 4, 5 times per session) (6 item slots)

I'm still trying to decide if my character is going to be going around in robes or a more Constantine-esque outfit, but I thought a medieval gauntlet would be really cool on either one. The idea being this is some enchanted item she stole from the kemmlerites on her way out, and of course by this point it has lost any power it once had, and is now solely being refreshed on her own magic. It's just a flavor thing and has no real power on it's own.

[Deadmanwalking]

Yep. That's all correct (though powering some stuff with raw death energy might be hard to justify). Sponsored Magic's pretty cool, but then it oughtta be for 2 Refresh.

[Oblyss]

Yep. That's all correct (though powering some stuff with raw death energy might be hard to justify). Sponsored Magic's pretty cool, but then it oughtta be for 2 Refresh.

Okay I see thanks for all the help, and touching back on my aspects I started to settle on this.

High: Your Friendly Neighborhood Necromancer
Trouble: If the Ref doesn't see it. It's legal.
Any means Necessary
Death Serves Me (lawbreaker)
Politics is my favorite Game
I'm not always such a smart ass, sometimes I'm asleep.
I'm Everybody's Friend ... Until I'm Not

I just started considering smart ass because I thought it might make for some fun situations. Though I don't know what these games are like yet, and the last one seems like it might help my character not alienate everybody they come across.

The alternative for either of those last two I figured would be an Ebenezer type NPC for my character that helped them out in the transition.

[Deadmanwalking]

Those all look good.

[Oblyss]

Cool thanks!
Pretty sure that's everything for now then.


So far the city creation has been pretty fun, we decided to throw vampires(Aspect: Red, White and Black all over) in the mix in philadelphia. For the white court we went with House Malvora, and after looking at some stuff around the city we found out there's a big Prison that's a tourist site now "to visit and get spooked", and it turns into a haunted house on halloween.

The reviews for it online are always "Really convincing monster actors!" I got a huge laugh out of it.

[Oblyss]

Had some new questions come up, and figured I'd just add them to this thread instead of a new one.

I've finally got a couple sessions under my belt and having a good bit of fun. Almost died in the first battle my GM sent a fetch at me and I made mistakes regarding how many shield uses I had.

Anyway, still trying to learn thaumaturgy's rules and such, but one thing I noticed had me curious. It says you can sacrifice a sentient for 20 shifts to lore in thaumaturgy. Now, obviously most of the time this violates the first law and such. Though I was curious if you used something like a red or black court vampire for the ritual, does it still give you the 20 shifts, and does that count as lawbreaker? I'd say no on the lawbreaker, but I have no clue about the 20 shifts.

Except that it

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seemed to work just fine in Changes.

Edit: I also understand this is speculation, and that in this book it was mostly a matter of linking rather than power summoning.

 Would this be a "good law abiding" way for my character to get quick and powerful thaumaturgy spells off, if they could pull it off? Even if it counts, I imagine you'd have to do something like toast them with a big shift evocation unless you had them prepped in some way.

[Deadmanwalking]

Technically? Yeah, that works fine.

But there's a catch: 20 Shifts is if they still have all their Consequences. It's based on inflicting said consequences. Mostly, enemies get taken out or even more often concede instead of taking Consequences...but if you're planning on capturing them, they may concede (with death their concession) or (potentially much worse) fight through all their Consequences. So doing it reliably is pretty much not gonna happen. They start fighting to the death real quick.

As a one-off? Yeah, it'll work fine and technically breaks no Laws.

[Oblyss]

Technically? Yeah, that works fine.

But there's a catch: 20 Shifts is if they still have all their Consequences. It's based on inflicting said consequences. Mostly, enemies get taken out or even more often concede instead of taking Consequences...but if you're planning on capturing them, they may concede (with death their concession) or (potentially much worse) fight through all their Consequences. So doing it reliably is pretty much not gonna happen. They start fighting to the death real quick.

As a one-off? Yeah, it'll work fine and technically breaks no Laws.

Cool thanks, that's good to hear. Obviously not something that'd happen often, but I wanted to ask because I do see it coming up.

My group's city is infested with vampires and I think it may come up at some point, and my character might be able to use Black Courts really well for this. Other courts, possibly. I'll keep the catch in mind that they need all their consequences for it to be 20 shifts.

[JDK002]

It wouldn't be in violation of the 1st law.  Vamps aren't human, but if I were the GM I probably wouldn't give a full 20 shifts unless it was a spell designed to target vamps.  My personal take on it is sacrificing a human is a big deal because they have free will.  You're essentially snuffing out an infinite number of possibilities and harnessing it's power for a spell.  Vamps are slaves to their nature.

Agreed on the second part.  If someone thinks you're going to kill them they are gonna fight till the end.  Deceit or stealth are useful for the one shot knock out or the luring people in.  You'll also likely end up in a declairation/compel war with the GM during the scene.

[Sanctaphrax]

That one's a bit iffy.

The rules say that if you commit murder on a sentient being you get all of the shifts for all levels of consequence - a total of 20.

The actual meaning here is rather unclear.

It doesn't say that those consequence slots must be un-used, but maybe it should.

It says the total is 20, which causes weirdness when your victim is some nobody who normally wouldn't even get mild consequence. (This leads to the "bus full of refugees" problem.)

It's also not clear whether that total gets changed if the victim has extra consequences. Normally it would, but the rules explicitly say that the total is 20 so maybe the total is 20.

It also says that this is a violation of the First Law. Since sacrificing a vampire wouldn't be a violation of the First Law, maybe these rules don't work for vampires.

It's also unclear what the murder of a sentient being actually is. Because rabbits are sentient...maybe they actually meant sapient being. And is it murder to de-animate a vampire?

tl,dr: It's impossible to play by strict RAW here because it's impossible to tell what the RAW actually means.

[Deadmanwalking]

From context, I think it's clear that it come from inflicting Consequences (since the entire section is called 'Accept or Inflict Consequences', after all) and additional Consequences will grant more (same basic reason). Also that they meant sapient (sentient is misused for sapient so often it's basically one of the word's definitions at this point). It is more than a bit unclear how it interacts specifically with non-humans and the First Law and more generally characters who don't normally take Consequences, though.

[Sanctaphrax]

I wouldn't call it clear.

When I first read that, I thought it was a special exception to the normal consequence-inflicting rules. 20 shifts for killing, no questions asked, to provide some extra incentive to kill instead of filling consequence slots with various permutations of TIRED and BLOOD LOSS. (And maybe a SEVERED LIMB for the extreme slot.)

And if I drag my enemy in to my sacrificing room after a massive brawl where I inflict every possible consequence to him, I want some shifts.

[Oblyss]

I wouldn't call it clear.

When I first read that, I thought it was a special exception to the normal consequence-inflicting rules. 20 shifts for killing, no questions asked, to provide some extra incentive to kill instead of filling consequence slots with various permutations of TIRED and BLOOD LOSS. (And maybe a SEVERED LIMB for the extreme slot.)

And if I drag my enemy in to my sacrificing room after a massive brawl where I inflict every possible consequence to him, I want some shifts.

I'm kinda with you on this part. I think if you're the one who inflicted the consequences on him then you definitely would get full shifts. I think it's a lot more gray after that and I wouldn't know.

As for rabbits, the book says you only get 2 points for killing them "with a spoon". I imagine because they're both unintelligent, weak, small, young. Not much magical energy to them due to all of that.

[Oblyss]

New question.

I've been looking into potions, and one guy says they are crazy good. So I'm considering taking a few slots out of other locations to open up for one or two potions.

I don't know what kind of potions I should use though if I do that, I know I can leave them blank and try to roll my Lore to decide on the fly. Though one good idea seemed to be stat boosts to discipline, conviction and athletics.