Request A Character

[Shaft]

And here's Harry and Molly.

I just wanted to thank you for writing these up at my request.  I've been busy lately, but I will comment on them in more detail.

[Sanctaphrax]

You're very welcome.

Anyway, nobody asked me to write up Rorschach from Watchmen. But I'm doing it anyway.

(click to show/hide)

Rorschach (Chest Deep)

High Concept: Murderous Vigilante
Trouble Aspect: Crazy Hobo
Other Aspects: Ugly Little Man, Rough Childhood, Hated And Feared, Nite Owl's Former Partner, Incredibly Resourceful
Skills:
Superb: Fists, Intimidation
Great: Investigation, Athletics
Good: Endurance, Conviction
Fair: Alertness, Stealth
Average: Presence, Might
Stunts:
Dirty Fighter (Fists): Use improvised weapons with Fists.
Grappling Hook Gun (Athletics): Use Athletics to cover distances with his grappling hook gun.
Go Out And Break Fingers (Intimidation): Use Intimidation to gather information.
Horrible Blank Face (Intimidation): Use Intimidation to defend against social attacks and attempts to read him.
Pathological Determination (Conviction): Use Conviction +2 to defend against attempts to make him change his mind.
Total Refresh Cost:
-3 (Pure Mortal)
Refresh Total:
5

[S1C0]

since you did Rorschach, could you do Ozymandias cause he was my favorite out of the watchmen.

[Quantus]

If theres a Watchman theme going, Id be really curious to see a swipe at Mr Manhattan, mostly just to see how you'd scale his powers. 

[Sanctaphrax]

I'll take a stab at them if and when I start doing requests again.

[Nmclaughlin81]

I have never played DFRPG before, but I've read most of the Dresden Files books and am a seasoned role-player. I'm going to be playing in a one-shot/ weekend game. I'm interested in playing a Malk changling thief, chest high. Thoughts?

[Taran]

-1 cloak of shadows
-2 inhuman speed
-1 claws
-0 human guise

Stunts
-1 use burglary for hiding/sneaking trapping of stealth
-1 use burglary for declaring items and gear, but it has the 'stolen' aspect
-1 hacker: use burglary to hack computers or
  A lock-picking stunt


+4 athletics; burglary
+3 fists; deceit
+2 contacts; alertness
+1 endurance; stealth; presence

I forget how much refresh/skill points you get.  You could drop claws and fists and replace it with weapons or guns and then use a mundane weapon.  It will save you a refresh.

I left stealth in there in case you are shadowing someone but with such low investigation, shadowing will be hard.

I like hacker because it's another way to create aspects on a potential target.  The resource replacement is just a fun stunt if your GM compels it.

I'm not very good with aspects so someone else could help you with that.

[ghostviking]

I'm curious as to how I should build my character and this seemed like the best place to ask. My high concept is "21st Century Shaman" and I'd really like to go the ectomancer route. I'd particularly like to play with the concept of ancestor worship because I like how ghosts are handled in DF. I'm also curious on how ancestor ghosts like Sir Stuart work. Can my character have access to more than one, do I need a foci, etc.

[Sanctaphrax]

There are no special rules for ancestor spirits as far as I know. Presumably you'd handle them with normal thaumaturgy effects. 7 shifts of Lore skill substitution gets some ancestor ghost to give you Epic-quality information about Lore, and so on.

And IIRC Ghost Speaker lets you contact ghosts the same way you contact living humans, so that's an option.

If you want to summon them and have them fight for you, you might find this and this useful.

[dragoonbuster]

There are no special rules for ancestor spirits as far as I know. Presumably you'd handle them with normal thaumaturgy effects. 7 shifts of Lore skill substitution gets some ancestor ghost to give you Epic-quality information about Lore, and so on.

And IIRC Ghost Speaker lets you contact ghosts the same way you contact living humans, so that's an option.

If you want to summon them and have them fight for you, you might find this and this useful.

I'd handle this the same way, minus the summoning rules.

If you have an ancestor spirit like Sir Stuart, make it an Aspect you can invoke. AS far as multiple ones, I'd say it's possible but unlikely, given the nature of how ghosts are created and stick around in Dresden...of course, a sort of "Spirit Council of Elders" is a really cool concept.  If you have refresh to burn you could make them an Item of Power.

Instead of Summoning Rules, I note that Mort gets tired when he directs ghosts on-the-fly and the prevalence of thaumaturgic-level magic with the speed/method of Evocation. This tells me that you can pretty easily model what he does as Ritual: Ectomancy, and Superior Ectomancy, effectively using "Ectomancy" as an evocation element in combat. Availability of ghosts to do this is handled simply with compels.

Spinning off the idea of a "Spirit Council of Elders," here's how I might build a "21st Century Shaman" ectomancer at Chest-Deep:

HC: 21st Century Shaman
Trouble: Still An Outcast In Society

OA:
- I HAVE to Listen to My Elders
- The Old Ways Aren't The Only Ways, But I Still Keep A Beard
- Last of the True Ainu Shamans
- I Named Him Smokey


Skills:
+5
+4 Conviction, Lore, Discipline
+3 Endurance, Survival, Athletics
+2 Stealth, Fists, Alertness
+1 Presence, Rapport, Scholarship


Powers:
-2 Ritual: Ectomancy
-2 Superior Ectomancy: You may perform Ectomantic rituals with the speeds and methods of evocation, and your focus items for rituals may be used in conjunction with this, substituting Complexity bonuses for Power.
 -1 Item of Power: Ancestor Spirits
   +1 One Time Discount: It can be found and scattered, but its purpose isn't obvious to everyone, and it isn't carried around.
   -0 It Is What It Is: A shrine in his home housing seven carved sticks that act as vessels for his relatives, who offer guidance and wisdom.
   -0 Unbreakable
   -1 Guide My Hand (He may use the powers in Guide My Hand after praying and speaking with his ancestors for guidance at the shrine.)
   -1 Occultist: Spirit Beings (Kamuy)
-1 Item of Power: Smokey the Bear Spirit
   +0 One Time Discount
   -0 It Is What It Is: A bear spirit invisible to all but those who can see ghosts.
   -0 Unbreakable
   -0 Wizard's Constitution
   -1 Echoes of the Beast: Bears


Focus Items:
Elm Staff: +1 Ectomancy Control

Enchanted Items
- 2 potion slots


Starting Refresh: 8
Refresh Spent: -6
Remaining Refresh: 2

[Sanctaphrax]

That reminds me, I should probably have linked to this. Although in retrospect, I'm not sure why I didn't use Ghost Speaker there.

As for Superior Ectomancy, I'd only charge 1 Refresh for ectomantic evothaum. It's not as powerful as ghost-themed Channelling, after all.

[dragoonbuster]

As for Superior Ectomancy, I'd only charge 1 Refresh for ectomantic evothaum. It's not as powerful as ghost-themed Channelling, after all.

Agreed, and I charged another one for being able to use your foci for evocation and as catch-all Power/Discipline instead of offensive/defensive only. That might be a bit powerful, and maybe you should make them choose offense/defense.

[Sanctaphrax]

Oh, I see.

I might actually fold that into the basic evothaum ability. It's not clear which foci and specializations you're "supposed" to use, and thaumaturgy foci are generally less impressive than evocation foci, in my experience. Plus I'm not thrilled with how using evocation bonuses has worked out in my games.

[dragoonbuster]

Oh, I see.

I might actually fold that into the basic evothaum ability. It's not clear which foci and specializations you're "supposed" to use, and thaumaturgy foci are generally less impressive than evocation foci, in my experience.

Hm, you've got a good point there. In which case I think I'd keep Superior Ectomancy at -2 and give a +1 Power/Control bonus to it.

Plus I'm not thrilled with how using evocation bonuses has worked out in my games.

How's that?

[dragoonbuster]

Double post:

If people are still doing requests than I would like to see the mythological version of Cu Chulainn, and more specifically I want to see how the Warp Spasm would impact the character. Use whatever Refresh level you think is necessary.

Warp Spasm is pretty easily done with an Aspect that's used for invokes and compels.

For a little more effect, I would attach a few extra powers to Human Form. Exactly how you want to build it is pretty flexible; I'd give him a Fighting stunt or two, a boost to Strength and maybe Toughness, and call it a day. If you like the Inhuman/Supernatural/Mythic Martial Arts powers (couldn't find the link), you could give him one of those.

Cu Chulainn is the type of character I see as having a lot of FPs to work with, based on the legends. Inhuman Strength in base form and likely not much else. A few stunts, and that's it other than the spear Gáe Bulg (which I'd model with Natural Weaponry) and Warp Spasm.