Author Topic: A new player looking for some assistance  (Read 3080 times)

Offline Ghostfreak

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A new player looking for some assistance
« on: January 13, 2015, 11:46:05 PM »
Hi, I am a new player for the Dresden Files rpg and I would like to ask for the advice of experienced players. How would I go about creating a character similar to Kiritsugu Emiya from Fate Night? One of my friends introduced me to the game and the first two characters that popped up in my head was both Kiritsugu and Kirei as they are both my favorite characters. Deeply appreciated and thank you so much to those who was willing to help me.

Offline Sanctaphrax

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Re: A new player looking for some assistance
« Reply #1 on: January 14, 2015, 04:35:49 AM »
Welcome to the game and to the board, Ghostfreak.

I'm not really familiar with those characters, unfortunately. I've googled them, but the info I've found is only mildly helpful.

Anyway, probably the most important thing is to choose Aspects similar to the defining traits of the characters you're trying to emulate.

According to my googling, a Kiritsugu-analogue would need an Aspect, probably a Trouble Aspect, representing a mixture of ruthless utilitarianism and idealism. A Kirei-analogue would need an Aspect, again probably a Trouble, representing a lack of joy in life. They'd both need appropriate High Concepts, like MAGE KILLER and EXECUTOR OF THE CHURCH or something.

If you get the Aspects right you're mostly covered. But I can't tell you how to handle the crunchy bits, since all I know about these guys' abilities is that they're really good at fighting and magical in some way.

If you tell me more, I can tell you more.

Offline Ghostfreak

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Re: A new player looking for some assistance
« Reply #2 on: January 14, 2015, 09:35:11 PM »
Thank you very much for your assistance, it is deeply appreciated and I will definitely follow your advice. Is there anything else I should take into consideration?

Like if I wish to to use Kiritsugu's or Kirei's method of combat or even his Time Alter  ability, how would I go about doing so? Especially for this parricularly diverse game?
« Last Edit: January 14, 2015, 09:53:50 PM by Ghostfreak »

Offline Sanctaphrax

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Re: A new player looking for some assistance
« Reply #3 on: January 15, 2015, 12:16:33 AM »
I don't know enough about the characters to say for sure.

Often an unusual combat style can be handled just by narrating your Fists/Guns/Weapons skill in an unusual way, but maybe these particular characters need a stunt or Power. What are the methods of combat that you want to use?

What is Time Alter, and what is it used for?

Is there anything else I should take into consideration?

Two rules of thumb for playing this game:

Use your Aspects. If you're not getting Compels and spending Fate Points, the game's less fun.

Don't be too legalistic when it comes to the rules. They're not always clearly or rigorously written, so you can't just follow them like a robot. And the game encourages you to be creative.

Offline Ghostfreak

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Re: A new player looking for some assistance
« Reply #4 on: January 15, 2015, 03:24:18 AM »
Sorry for taking so long, was in class when I got your reply. I was heavily thinking about creating a character capable of using this along with armed and or unarmed combat. Or if you have any better suggestions then I would gladly take it into consideration. The game I am currently in now already has 3 vampires, 1 lupe garou (not sure if I spelt that properly), a wizard and something else I cannot recall at the moment. I'd like to avoid being any of those if I can help it.  This is Time Alter.

Innate Time Control (固有時制御, koyuu jiseigyo?) is Kiritsugu's personal application of the Emiya family's magecraft. They spent generations researching and seeking the magecraft that controls time, eventually reaching "Time Manipulation", which is the ability to separate the passage of time inside a designated space from the "flow of time" in the outside world. It is classified as High-Thaumaturgy in the form of a Bounded Field that can be regarded as a type of Reality Marble in a way, but still not something extraordinarily difficult to utilize like other time related magecraft or something on the level of the True Magic that is unable to be replicated. It allows for "time adjustment" that can only stagnate the time which has passed and accelerate time in the future rather than something more advanced like "time modification", which has the ability to reverse cause and effect and change the past. The major problem is that the practitioner needs to consider the size of the Bounded Field and the scope of time that needs to be modified. It requires a large amount of prana and similar rituals in the same magnitude of High-Thaumaturgy to activate it. It would normally be applied to a wide area and a long period of time, taking longer to set up and more prana to utilize it as the Bounded Field becomes larger and the deviation in time becomes longer.

It is not an ability that can be used on the battlefield where strategies must be quickly made in order to survive, as it must be prepared beforehand and used strategically even after the preparations. The Magic Crest of the Emiya family contains generations of inherited research, but that is unimportant to Kiritsugu. It was a useless inheritance until he found a way to use it to its maximum potential in a combat situation. He worked around the issue of size and prana consumption by creating a flexible method of utilizing it on a small scale that only applies to himself. This allows for the establishment of the Reality Marble at any given time without the need of extended rituals. It is impossible to completely isolate the flesh from the outside world, but the ability can minimize the effect the outside world has on the body. Keeping the scope of the spell to a minimal bounded field within his own body, it doesn't allow for the world to be affected, but rather allows for Kiritsugu to "adjust" a few seconds of time within his own body. He uses the chant Time alter (固有時制御, ?), followed by the degree of speed he wishes to use. The chant accel (速, ?) allows him to speed up, while stagnate (停滞, ?) slows him down. He can use Release alter (制御解除, ?) to stop it an any point.

Time alter - double accel (固有時制御二倍速, ?) is his most used version, allowing him to move faster than the human eye can see. It speeds up his blood flow, hemoglobin metabolism, and muscle movement all at the same time. Using this brief burst of speed, he can use his own physical skills and reaction speed at a level far above human limitations. It allows for split second evasion in front of an enemy, and its power of mobility can make for one of his greatest defenses. Normally double accel is enough to push his body past its limits with brief use, but with Avalon providing regeneration, he is capable of using Time alter - triple accel (固有時制御三倍速, ?) and the quadruple-accelerated time of Time alter - square accel (固有時制御四倍速, ?) for an extended period of time. Using stagnate, he can slow his biological processes, and using Time alter - triple stagnate (固有時制御三重停滞, ?) reduces them to one third of their normal speed, slowing his heart beat to the point where he can barely feel it himself, slowing his breathing so it lags, and reducing his metabolism to the point where body temperature cools quickly enough to almost match room temperature. The sound of his presence is reduced enough that Volumen Hydrargyrum is unable to make out his breathing and heart beat from the other noises in the natural world, and it is unable to recognize him by using the standards of a human. While there aren't any changes within the actual world, his optic nerves and ear drums register what he sees and hears from within the bounded field. His cornea receive three times the light a person's eyes normally receive, which makes his field of view extremely bright, and his hearing is dulled.

Even with his minimalistic approach, it is still High-Thaumaturgy far above the level of basic physical enchantment that causes inconsistencies between the flow of time inside and outside the field. Once the movement is complete and the field is removed, natural forces, the "world’s own adjustment", will forcefully adjust the "incorrect time." This places a large burden on Kiritsugu with each use, as the bounded field where the "errors have occurred" is within his own physical body. In order to get back in sync with the normal time flow, adjustments occurring within his flesh greatly damage him. Even brief use has him accompanying death, and continuous activation is nothing less than suicide, making it his riskiest technique. When returning to normal from stagnating, he suffer from the blood flow speeding up back to original speed, which causes burst capillaries and internal bleeding. Without the use of Avalon, double accel is his limit when speeding up, and even a few seconds of it is enough to rupture numerous blood vessels and cause fractures in the bones of his limbs due to the burden. Provided with constant regeneration from Avalon, he makes use of the ability's purpose as a strategic weapon to its full potential by utilizing higher levels while enduring his body breaking down and healing at an extremely high rate. He still feels the torn tendons and snapping bones tormenting his nerves while shedding mists of blood with every movement, but the regeneration allows him to keep fighting with accelerated speed for a much longer duration of time.

Offline Taran

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Re: A new player looking for some assistance
« Reply #5 on: January 15, 2015, 01:26:40 PM »
Reality Marble is a custom power that you could probably use.  Since time in the Nevernever is never consistent having Demesne is useful as you can make a free declaration that time is moving faster or slower.  So, this would cover more of the non-combat time stuff (without actually taking Thaumaturgy)

The rest looks like Regular powers:  Speed, Toughness, recovery.  Maybe a supernatural sense with some kind of limitation.

I might take Modular abilities where you can shuffle your powers based on what you need.  Maybe tie them to a Feeding Dependency or Limitation that requires you to roll Endurance after a combat where you use your powers.  Failure on your roll causes you to take stress and/or consequences.

Offline Sanctaphrax

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Re: A new player looking for some assistance
« Reply #6 on: January 15, 2015, 04:36:33 PM »
Huh.

You could handle that power a bunch of different ways.

My personal approach would be to give him Incite Effect so that he can make maneuvers reflecting his time shenanigans, Supernatural Martial Arts (with Overdrive, Enhanced Accuracy, Enhanced Defence, and Flurry) so that he can boost his combat prowess by damaging himself a bit, and Inhuman Speed so that he can be really fast. Possibly with a Limitation to reflect the physical cost of using Time Alter, though Supernatural Martial Arts does a lot to cover that angle.

But that's just me. My approach uses custom Powers, because I'm a big tinkerer. Your group might prefer something closer to the book.

Offline Ghostfreak

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Re: A new player looking for some assistance
« Reply #7 on: January 15, 2015, 06:26:49 PM »
No no no, I actually can picture our method and I love it! I honestly never would've thought about it like that at all, and what exactly do you mean by incite effect? I'll need to look into that phrase, I definitely love your idea Sanctaphrax. Same with Taran, it gives me alot to think and read about and definitely is something I can make happen. Also could tell me if I need to be a focused practitioner to do this or no?
« Last Edit: January 15, 2015, 06:32:24 PM by Ghostfreak »

Offline Taran

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Re: A new player looking for some assistance
« Reply #8 on: January 15, 2015, 06:45:50 PM »
You could do all this without being a focused practitioner, although you could fluff it as magic if you wanted. 

Offline Sanctaphrax

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Re: A new player looking for some assistance
« Reply #9 on: January 15, 2015, 07:35:50 PM »
...what exactly do you mean by incite effect?

It's basically the Incite Emotion Power, but modified to cover a wider variety of effects.

For a fuller explanation, click the link in my previous post.

Offline g33k

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Re: A new player looking for some assistance
« Reply #10 on: January 15, 2015, 08:24:57 PM »
Also note -- if you aren't familiar with the DresdenFiles novels/universe -- that magically mucking about with "time" is liable to bring you to the attention of the White Council, and their Wardens.  If I understand the powers you've described, I don't think anything he's doing is technically against the Laws of Magic.  Nevertheless, it may well LOOK as if it's Lawbreaking, and get you on the wrong side of a Warden's sword.

From the roleplaying standpoint, this could even be a good thing:  plenty of story-potential in a Trouble Aspect along the lines of "Looks like a Lawbreaker, Smells like a Lawbreaker..." and an angry Warden sniffing around in hopes of catching you red-handed in lawbreaking (this is a big part of Harry Dresden's own story)... 


- Steve, the g33k
 

Offline Ghostfreak

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Re: A new player looking for some assistance
« Reply #11 on: January 15, 2015, 11:58:04 PM »
Ahh, thank you! One of the major reasons why I choose this to use this power was for the exact same reason G33k mentioned. I looked over the laws of magic and the one that talked about messing with time caught my attention, and I couldn't help but wonder. What if their was a character capable of pushing this very law to the limit, but at the same time, not break it in anyway. The sixth law prohibits any attempt to change the past through temporal manipulation for fear of paradoxes, but how my ability works I am not doing any of that. I figured it would give some interesting dialogues and scenarios, I've even ran it by my Gm and he fell in love with the idea.


Though as I said in the beginning I could not for the life of me figure out how do I go about creating this character, or what exactly do to make him believable and convincing, then their was what kind of skills to give him, aspects, etc. But I am really glad that everyone who has come to this thread feel good about it because I wanted to do something interesting, but edgy in a way that its satisfying to those I am playing with when we get together. All of your ideas have been extremely helpful in helping me help bring this character to life and I wish their was a better way to express how happy I am for the help. My gratitude goes out to everyone, even if you don't feel its significant, its means so much to me as a new player to be helped like this.