Custom Templates

[Hick Jr]

Well. The "hard to read" is probably indicative only of me, a nearsighted grammar nazi. Maybe separate the Powers sections for the Yin and Yang vampires?

[Sanctaphrax]

Jade Court, huh?

Come to think of it, I've seen plenty of versions of the Jade Court over the years. Some of 'em might have included templates. I'll go hunting later.

Catch is (sunlight for both along with Bamboo(Yin) or Lead (Yang) (+3) as well as True Love (and True Peace is Wrath has been added) for Yang vampires or True Courage (and True Hope is despair has been added) for Yin Vampires.

In addition to the above powers Yang vampires may add or increase the following:

Add Inhuman Toughness (-2)
Increase Speed to Supernatural (-2)
Add Inhuman Strength (-2)
Add Emotional Vampire(Lust) (-1)
Increase range and potency of Incite Emotion and add the emotion of wrath (but not fear or despair)

Yin inverse the above list with

Add Inhuman Recovery(-2)
Increase Strength to Supernatural (-2)
Add Inhuman Speed
Add Emotional vampire (fear)(-1)
Increase range and potency of Incite Emotion and add the emotion of despair (but not fear or wrath)

I think the struck-through sections should read
 
if
if
replace
lust

Otherwise looks good.

[Hick Jr]

Meh, i made a Jade Court statblock a while back, and they were pretty scary. I translate the hopping into "walks stiffly but can jump forty feet straight up", and they ate life-force and magic at range. They were a "mosquito court" because they got Bram Stoker'd- the Chinese passed down tales of their weaknesses.

Want me to post it? There are probably going to be a lot of versions of the Jade.

[Sanctaphrax]

Yes, there are a lot of versions.

But post yours anyway. The more the merrier.

PS: vultur, what's up with that Valkyrie template?

[Hick Jr]

Here's my Jade Court vampire. They just walk stiffly instead of hopping, and utterly hate the stereotype. They're based in china and underwent a similar ordeal to the Black Court of old- Someone published all their weaknesses. Rather, several generations of Chinese were sure to pass down the tales of how the Jade Court could be defeated, and now they are similar to the Black Court- Only the clever ones are still alive. This statblock is meant to represent a Jampire of moderate age and includes a custom power. So take it with a grain of salt.

(click to show/hide)

High Concept
Jade Court Vampire
Other
Jiang-Shi, Secret Court, Not A Joke,  Hopping Vampire

Skills
Great: Fists, Discipline
Good: Endurance, Might
Fair: Athletics, Alertness
Average: Contacts, Lore, Resources
Stunts
Hopping Mad (Athletics): Gain a +2 to any Athletics check made to jump. These suckers got hops.

Powers
Human Guise [-0]
Claws [-1]
Living Dead [-1]
Feeding Dependency (Chi) [+1] affecting
Supernatural Strength [-4]*
Mythic Toughness [-6]*
Supernatural Sense [-1] (Breathing)*
Chi-Eater [-5] (At range, Giga Drain, Magic Eater)*
Limitation [+3] are their classic weaknesses- Peach wood, the blood of a black dog, rice, eggs, and fire. None of the powers marked with the asterisk function when doused in the blood of a black dog and they gain the Horrible Pain aspect, peach wood weapons and fire bypass their Toughness, and being hit with an egg removes their Human Guise and downgrades their Strength to Inhuman.

Total Refresh Cost: -13
Stress
Social: 00
Mental: 00
Physical: 0000(000000)

CHI EATER [-1]
You devour life-force and the inherent magic from human beings, be it by touch or with a simple glance.
Effects
Feeding Touch: Physical contact is necessary for a satisfying meal. With a touch, you may draw the chi out of your victim. Treat as a Weapon:2 physical attack using Discipline. This can also be done as a maneuver or a block, adding aspects like Feeling Faint or Too Weak to Move to your victim. Gain a +1 on subsequent feeding rolls if the first one succeeds.

At Range [-1] You may use this ability on targets up to a zone away without touching them.

Giga Drain [-1] Your chi drain becomes Weapon:4.

Magic Eater [-2] You can use your Chi Drain in it’s purest form- Sucking magic out of the very enviroment and your victims. You may now use your Chi Drain as a magical block, adding it’s weapon rating to your Discipline to determine the strength of the block. In addition, you can now apply aspects like Magically Inert and Powerless to victims of your Chi Eater, and can apply scene/zone aspects like Dead Magic Zone and Lifeless Blight. Requires Giga Drain.

[Sanctaphrax]

1. Wow, those are some bizarre weaknesses.

2. I think that Power could use work. Its base effect makes Claws/Natural Weaponry look lame, and I don't see why you couldn't perform a block with it without the Magic Eater upgrade.

3. I'm having some trouble extracting a template from that statblock. Which Powers are Musts? What are the Options and the important skills? What's the blurb like?

[Sanctaphrax]

Okay, I went and collected every mention of the Jade Court I could find.

Here are the ones that could be added to this thread:

http://www.jimbutcheronline.com/bb/index.php/topic,31276.msg1334285.html#msg1334285
http://www.jimbutcheronline.com/bb/index.php/topic,24065.0.html

Here are the ones that do not provide a proper template:

http://www.jimbutcheronline.com/bb/index.php/topic,19768.msg872179.html#msg872179
http://www.jimbutcheronline.com/bb/index.php/topic,15947.msg737231.html#msg737231
http://www.jimbutcheronline.com/bb/index.php/topic,22609.0.html

PS: A quick google search of RPGnet has revealed a bunch of threads with Templates worthy of addition to this thread. Links:

http://forum.rpg.net/showthread.php?526049-The-Dresden-Files-New-Templates
http://forum.rpg.net/showthread.php?512169-Dresden-Files-Help-Creating-Templates
http://forum.rpg.net/showthread.php?525683-Dresden-Files-RPG-New-and-Different-PC-Types-Species
http://forum.rpg.net/showthread.php?630828-The-Dresden-Files-RPG-cheat-sheets-anyone
http://forum.rpg.net/showthread.php?551741-Dresden-Files-Playing-around-with-the-werewolf-concept
http://forum.rpg.net/showthread.php?530397-Dresden-Files-RPG-Fan-created-DFRPG-Vampire-Court-offerings

[Hick Jr]

1. Wow, those are some bizarre weaknesses.

2. I think that Power could use work. Its base effect makes Claws/Natural Weaponry look lame, and I don't see why you couldn't perform a block with it without the Magic Eater upgrade.

3. I'm having some trouble extracting a template from that statblock. Which Powers are Musts? What are the Options and the important skills? What's the blurb like?

Argh. Sorry. I find it easier to write statblocks than templates.Mechanically,  The Magic Eater upgrade acts as an Evocation defensive block. Like Reflettum. Flavor-wise, it's similar to Thorned Namshiel's ability to simply swallow spells. The first level of Chi Eater and all the listed powers are Musts.

And I agree, Chi Eater could use a ton of work. The JCV under Fan Created monsters is similar mechanically, but I incorporated the weaknesses, which are indeed incredibly bizarre, but i was having trouble figuring out how to represent them as a Limitation, because it just did not work as a Catch. Chi-Eater could be reduced to Weapon:0?

[Sanctaphrax]

Yeah, statblocks are easy and Templates are less so.

Evocation blocks are basically the same as normal blocks, except it costs 2 shifts to protect a zone with them, they can be used to create armour or a zone border, they end when beaten, and they can be extended by spending shifts when making them or by taking another action to renew them.

Is that what you intend for Magic Eater?

Making Chi Eater weapon 0 would probably help.

You might find it easier to represent that Limitation as a number of different Limitations.

[Hick Jr]

That was what i had in mind for Magic Eater, yes. It's meant to be one of their scarier abilities and one of the reasons for the Purge. I was also reading the White Wolf tvtropes page and am mildly interested in incorporating some of their kuei-jin mechanics into this. And separating the Limitations would work, but calculating the fractions would start to hurt my brain after a bit. I'm not a math guy. I have to calculate Refresh and Skills with a calculator at least three times before I can be totally comfortable with it.

[Sanctaphrax]

Alright, updated the first post. It now contains two types of Jade Court Vampire and every RPGnet Template I could find outside of this thread.

I'm leaving that one for later because it's long.

[Sanctaphrax]

Updated the first post again. We're up to 53 Templates.

[Sanctaphrax]

Added the Synthesist. 54 Templates, now.

I really didn't expect the list to get this long. I might actually need those extra posts if this keeps up.

[Hick Jr]

I've got a Thunderbird and Pyrovile/Vulcanoid templates a-brewin'.

Oh, and two Sponsored Magics for them.

Edit- God, i'm editing this within two minutes of posting, but I forgot one. I'm also doing a skinwalker. Not a naagloshii. deadmanwalking did an awesome naagloshii up in the Characters thread. I mean skinwalker as in a human who was taught magic and shapeshifting by a naagloshii.

[Sanctaphrax]

Cool.

If you could post the Sponsored Magics to the list thread for those once they're done, that'd be great.

PS: Are you planning to rewrite your take on the Jade Court as a Template?