Speedster?

[Yosepi]

So I have a character concept I am trying to gather ideas on(not in a game though I am looking for a pbp to join) that is somewhat inspired by seeing the new "The Flash" series trailer. The idea is a character with super speed though I want to have more to the concept then just the speed. I am thinking the character has a hero mentality in the nerdy way, he grew up a comic book fan then discovers a world of magic but also the potential horror of it. What I am having difficulty with is thinking on where he gets his power from. A scion of Hermes? A changeling? Item of power? I am looking for a interesting method for him to gain power as well as other powers or stunts that would go well with superspeed. I am somewhat new to rpging but am a huge fan of the Dresden Files.

[solbergb]

I've played with this quite a bit for theoretical builds.  I'll likely want to try one of these ideas someday.

Obviously SU speed, or mythic in a high refresh game.

Stunts like "too fast to react" (athletics for stealth Ambush trapping) or "plenty of time to react" (athletics instead of alertness to spot an ambush) can add a lot to the flavor.

If you're really high end (like DC's flash character, rather than somebody who's just very fast), consider thematic Channeling (Super Speed Tricks) and your focus item might be something like the Flash Suit (you can't go to extreme super speed tricks without protection).   A "flash suit" could instead be an item of power, perhaps provided to keep your super speed from tearing you apart (maybe you can only do inhuman speed+stunts without it), provided by a friendly magical patron.  The Star Labs scientist on the 1990s TV show provided the Flash Suit for that reason.

Feeding dependency would fit the TV show pretty well, when Barry Allen used his powers much he would literally starve unless he had a bunch of food on hand to devour.    Some kind of recovery power tied to a feeding dependency would also make sense (you heal fast, if you can rest/eat).   

Power.....

Scion of Hermes or similar speed oriented entity could work.  There are probably some messenger angels that might apply too, or diabolic influences for that matter.  Or you could just go the Focused Practitioner route, you're a mortal whose magic is just all about moving yourself around quickly and safely.

Again, just stealing ideas from the 1990s TV show, Barry Allen is a mundane who had a magical accident, then hooked up with a white court wizard who provided a suit that helped him control his power, in exchange for favors/future services, plus lore stuff to let him know important things like he could kill himself with hunger if he overdid things.

A changeling is possible but a super-speedster is likely to have gone all the way over to Fey side.  A Fey who got fascinated by superheroes might be kind of fun.   Dewdrop faeries are REALLY fast.  What if one of them figured out how to make a human sized body out of ectoplasm, but kept the speed?  (too heavy to fly, but still super fast).   (shapeshift, where your shifted form has dim size/flight, your "human" form is an ectoplasmic exoskeleton, maybe the costume hides how it isn't a very good copy of a human....).   

[Haru]

Did he make a bargain with a Sidhe? Did he get struck by lightning? Did he make a bargain with an entity that is effectively living lightning? Did he fall asleep on a ley line and absorb some of the power? Did he find an old amulet that gave him the power? Son of a god would work, of course, or maybe the son of lightning itself. Or wind? There are bound to be all kinds of entities trying to mate with humans.

In some cases, "Marked by Power" might be a good choice, making him sort of an emissary of the entity that gave him the power.

Recovery could simulate a sped up metabolism going with the general speed, so he would heal faster.

As the son of the wind, he could have "gaseous form", becoming wind itself and flying around at high velocities.

Speaking of flying, "Wings" might be appropriate, giving him the ability to lift himself up on currents of air, airbender style. I've had a character concept of an aeromancer once who had enchanted a skateboard to work off air-currents instead of wheels, so he could skate around the air like Marty McFly.

Channeling/Ritual/Sponsored magic with a speed/lightning/air theme. If "supernatural speed" is your active power, you could take ritual(speed) for more elaborate things to do with speed and put them into items. For example an item that allows you to vibrate at high speeds and shimmer through a wall.

Going a bit crazy: "Diminutive Size". You can move so fast, that you suffer from length-contraction due to relativity. You've learned to control this, so you can shrink yourself even without moving near the speed of light.

[Yosepi]

The going small and hunger track ideas seem interesting. I know I want him to gain his power as an adult so not at puberty like changelings. I also want him to have a heroic ideal, maybe even making a a lame costume, but also want to tempt him with going on a darker path, not evil so much as taking less heroic means seem to be necessary.

[Haru]

Maybe he started off with a mental breakdown after being robbed? He started thinking as a split personality/alter ego, made a costume and everything, and actually made a difference in his neighborhood, when a supernatural entity took note of him and slowly made him grow into power to build him up as a champion for his cause. Once day the entity reveals itself and asks him to do something shady for him in return. Your character refuses, and when he tries to rescue an old lady from three muggers, he suddenly loses his powers, since the entity is no longer backing him. He agrees to work for the entity in exchange for the power to help other people.

[solbergb]

If you want to worry about dark side, I think a focused practitioner has a lot going for it, because of the laws of magic.  If you don't want him to be a typical "lore/discipline/conviction" guy you can use stunts to shift key skill trappings around (it's easier if you stick with Channeling or Rituals, rather than trying to do both).  There's plenty of precedent for someone with latent talents getting a power boost by being near a big magical event.   (eg, some college student who got too close to the Darkhallow having talents awakened either for necromancy or its opposite)

Consider a speedster whose power is based on having time go slower around him, rather than kinetomancy.  You avoid all the issues of tearing yourself apart (the world is slow around you, rather than you being super fast) and what you can do is different (you don't cause sonic booms even if you travel objectively at speed of sound, but your ability to communicate is challenged...everyone speaks so sloooww, and you speak really fast and you can probably search a room really quickly without causing a vortex of wind to blow everything around).

Such a speedster will be right on the edge of the time travel Law, might even have Lawbreaker feats, and if you have rituals you're likely to be able to actually capable of time travel, maybe even opening time-travel "ways" for others even if you don't for lawbreaking reasons.

Even a typical "flash" type build has risks of first law violations (you hit someone too hard, or your slipstream-fallout causes property damage to the point where somebody dies).  Some kind of aspect indicating you're addicted to speed could work nicely with a feeding dependency to encourage you to use your powers and then pay for it later.

By contrast "Emissary" and "I'm a creature of the never never" type concepts tend to be less conflicted.  You behave according to your nature, or that of your boss...the problem is not as personal.

Mechanically I'd do the speed-addicted Kinetomancer as a channeler (area punches/maneuvers, rapid-fire punches for high shift single attacks, blocks where you catch all the bullets/knives/block punches within a zone, etc with options on sonic booms, slipstreams and similar effects where appropriate or for fallout) and the chronomancer/lawbreaker as a ritualist (magic items or potions for combat-speed effects, normal rituals to let you do things like search an entire building in 15 minutes or read an entire library in a day).  Frankly the speed-addicted kinetomancer sounds more like a typical superhero of the two examples, but there are some more cerebral superheroes out there, and a contrast between his greater power (slow rituals) and the desire to just go "fight crime" and do flashy hero things might also be entertaining...high concept vs trouble kind of stuff.

[Yosepi]

The chronomancy bit sounds attractive though would using any chronomancy be breaking the law or just the trying to go back in time specifically?
 

[solbergb]

The letter of the law matters.

"Never Swim Against The Currents of Time"

If all you're doing is traveling forward through time at a different rate than everybody else, but in the same direction, I suspect you're fine. It's when you want to swim AGAINST the stream of time (ie go back in time and meddle) that you get into trouble. 

Whether all wardens will see it that way depends on your trouble I suspect

[Yosepi]

I like the idea of his"speed" bein time based but I almost don't want it to be intentional, sort of the power sudden appears through some means and he is left to try and navigate the magical world with no idea whats what. Being a decedent of Hermes or find the shoes of Hermes seem like the best choice.

[solbergb]

Having Hermes for an ancestor might work better than the sandals.

The sandals let him fly with the speed of the wind, and likely helped open ways to Never Never (he could fly between Olympus and the mortal world, and escort spirits to Hades).  If I was to write them up in DFRPG, they'd be an object of power with flight and worldwalking.   When Perseus got his hands on them (everybody gave him a pile of items of power, it was kind of silly...the man had Contacts like nobody's business) all they did was help him fly.  The "speed of the wind" was likely Hermes, not the sandals, but some of the Perseus legends indicated that he was faster too...you might consider inhuman speed without them and supernatural speed with them.

If you postulate that the reason why Hermes was so fast, and so able to sneak around even gods without being noticed was that he could travel forward through time slower than everybody else, a little thread of blood of Hermes might be enough to justify a talent for Chronomancy without it being too likely you'd time travel by accident (that would take training from somebody with theory in such things, leveraging your talent that you are currently using the way your ancestor did, to be really freaking fast).   So it might be you attract the attention of a wizard or sorcerer that WANTS to break the 6th law but lacks the aptitude and is eager to teach you and study you (although the real agenda may be hidden, so they help you master your speed powers first when they manifest....gee they're so nice and helpful....that nice Star Labs Lady is always looking out for me...)

That said, any of his regalia might be a good excuse for your powers manifesting.  This link has a good original-source compilation of Hermes legends.  He's got the staff, the traveling hat and the sandals.   

http://www.theoi.com/Olympios/Hermes.html

[Taran]

In general (not specifically Hermes)

you might want to look at the teleport custom power.  To represent moving at the speed of thought or moving through obstacles like the Flash can by vibrating super fast.  The latter can be representing by gaseous form, though.

I see having a strength power justifiable with a limitation.  Basically the bonus to damage but not the lifting capability because you're hitting people with so much momentum.  A re-skinned claws power would work for that, probably.

[solbergb]

If you're not going down the Channeling road, yeah, claws are a good idea.  You'll get much bigger shifts (and things like zonewide "punch everybody") tricks with channeling but you get all the baggage of spellcasting.  It's a matter of if you think high end superspeed should be exhausting.  It does depend on your flavor a lot though.  On a chronomancer claws would be more likely to be a temporal disruption as the "the world seems slow to me" approach rather than "I'm just super fast" approach lets you ignore most of the inconvenient physics aspects of going so fast...but also likely takes some of the flashier super speed powers (slipstreams, sonic booms and possibly even offensive use of superspeed as purely speed rather than some kind of chronal paradox effect) off the table.

If he goes down the Hermes road he's looking at speed of sound (fast as the wind) not speed of light, which likely means SU speed plus high athletics plus an aspect "fast as the wind" gets you cross country speeds without needing rituals, although obviously if you HAVE rituals/Superspeed or rituals/chronomancy your options increase.

[Yosepi]

Would the sponsored magic of Hermes be effective?

Edit: Reading the link you posted Hermes sometimes acted as a psychopomp, created music and was "charming", and is the God of travel, roads, commerce, and shepards, so his sponsored magic could be more versatile then just speed

[solbergb]

Sponsored magic would work well, if you can afford the refresh.

[Starjammer]

Would the sponsored magic of Hermes be effective?

Edit: Reading the link you posted Hermes sometimes acted as a psychopomp, created music and was "charming", and is the God of travel, roads, commerce, and shepards, so his sponsored magic could be more versatile then just speed

And thieves.  Don't forget that he was the god of thieves, as well.