Session Help - Stats and Game ideas

[Lavecki121]

Hey Guys,

Im trying to come up with a couple of encounters for my game group and was wondering if y'all could give me a hand.

My Main guy is Called THE FISHERMAN. He is a power hungry demi god trying to become a main god. He started a war between two gods: RA and NURGAL. There is also a heavy Fomor presence and they are actively chasing him. I want to start off having the fisherman drop one of the PC's old characters off a roof and have some Fomor show up and start attacking indiscriminately. Not sure how to stat this out or how to make it so my characters realize that they are against the Fisherman as they are under the belief they are working together despite heavy hints that this is not the case.

Im also thinking a chase in case someone trys to take off after the fisherman.

The other issue I'm having is i don't know what kind of powers i want this guy to have. Its been a few months of playing and i still havent stated this guy out at all. He did steal some powers from the fomor, possibly an artifact (IOP) and he stole some magic from 4 wardens. Other than that he has the ability to steal magic/abilities. He has also been collecting children for a purpose that i haven't fully fleshed out but i do know that i want all the kids to be changelings but i cant come up with a good list of things for them to be part of.

Any help would be great guys. Thanks

[Kennifus Prime]

For the conflict where you want the players to realize the Fomor are not allied with The Fisherman I would just do that as storytelling. No real reason to bring mechanics into it unless it's something you want them to have the possibility of discovering, but not required to. If you want it in mechanics then having them roll things like Alertness (or maybe Investigation if they're actively discerning who's on who's side) or you could even use something like an Empathy roll for "Reading People" to help them to determine who's who in the fight.

For the chase I would probably do it as an Extended Contest (YS pg. 193-194). You could do this as Cat & Mouse, but it may be more fun to throw some extra stuff in to create a sort of Custom Skill Challenge.

Example

(click to show/hide)

Someone begins chasing The Fisherman. The Extended Contest will be a variant of Cat & Mouse with five opposed rolls.
The Fisherman gets a +4 after his first roll.
The PC gets a +3. Current total +1.
The Fisherman gets a +2 after his first roll.
The PC gets a +4. Current total -1.
The Fisherman rolls a +3 Might to throw a trash can at the PC.
The Fisherman gets a +3 after his first roll.
The PC gets a +2 Athletics and is hit by the trash can.
The PC gets a +2, a +3 roll -1 from the trash can hit. Current total 0.
The Fisherman gets a +2 after his first roll.
The PC gets a +4. Current total -2.
The Fisherman bobs and weaves through some traffic using a +3 Athletics.
The Fisherman gets a +3 after his first roll.
The PC gets a +4 Athletics to dodge the traffic too.
The PC gets a +4, a +3 roll +1 from catching up during the traffic dodging.
Final Total: -3 (PC Wins and catches up to The Fisherman!)

Obviously you'd want this to be very narrative heavy, and likely more than just one PC would be making rolls. This is just the general idea of what I mean.

For stat blocking The Fisherman himself I'll need a bit more time. I'm heading to class.

Hope this stuff helps!

[Kennifus Prime]

On the subject of stat blocking The Fisherman:

What kind of NPC is he Skill wise? Is he more of a cunning type character? Fast, but not strong? Vice versa? Both? How do you envision him playing out in a storytelling sense, and then you can build in his Skill placements. (At least that's how I do it when I make a NPC.)

For his Powers I think he'd obviously have Evocation and Thaumaturgy. I'd imagine he uses Rituals of some kind of another (via Thaumaturgy) to steal other people's magic. How to accurately reflect the fact he has stolen people's magic is tricky. I'd say, if he's meant to be a challenging character for the party, to throw some Refresh into some Refinement. Use that to either give him Elements he didn't have originally, but stole from the Fomor or Wardens. (i.e. He had Wind, Water, and Earth magic. After stealing from some people he now also has Fire and Spirit magic.) You could also use the Refinement to just make his magic literally stronger by adding pluses to his Power and Control of various elements of Evocation. Just make sure to follow the "tower rule".

Whatever he's stealing the [changeling] children for I'm sure he'd end up also using a Thaumaturgic Ritual for as well. Just need to come up with a concept for it is all. Remember it's your game and you can do what you'd like. Though my PC's ensured it never came to fruition, I had a changeling collecting other changeling kids to use in a Ritual that would strip them of their capability to make The Choice and remove his requirement to have to do so. In other words, he could gain all the Powers of his fae heritage without losing his mortal free will. There's nothing like this in the Dresdenverse (That I know of anyways.) and certainly no mechanics for it in the book, but I thought it was a very fun concept.

For the Item of Power (artifact) it shouldn't be too hard to make. Did you have in mind what you wanted it to do?

As for further Powers I'll defer to up above where I talked about planning out the NPC. Once you determine what KIND of being he is it will make it much easier to assign Powers to him.

Keep us posted and good luck in your sessions!

[Taran]

There are magic stealing powers on the custom power board you may want to look at.  Under Vampiric Powers, I think.

I agree that cat n Mouse is the way to go for a chase.

Also, Welcome back!

[Shaft]

Here's an idea:

The Fisherman is actually the mythological Fisher King. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fisher_King

His "injury" is the gradual loss of his power which, over the years has reduced him from god to demi-god and then weakened god. Perhaps he was attacked by an ancient, epic level martial artist that was skilled in Dim Mak, the death touch, and it withered away his power over the centuries. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Touch_of_Death

He travelled the world, following up on rumors associated with legendary places, items and people where he could restore his power, and at one point encountered an unholy text (written in the obscene tongue of the Outsiders) that contained a forbidden ritual that let him seep power from those around him.  He can absorb the life force of others and use it to counter the Dim Mak that still plagues him. Magical life force is even more powerful, but in the end, it is quickly burned up as he uses it, and he is eager to replenish it.  His goal is to cure the death touch so he can build up his power and reclaim his godhood.

The Deep OnesFomor oppose him because he stole one of their greatest artifacts: Dagon'sDanog's Trident- a tainted weapon that is a dark counterpart in terms of power to a Sword of the Cross.

Attributes:

High Concept: Power hungry Fisher King
Trouble: Fallen god facing mortality
Other Aspects: Keep your powerful friends close and your powerful enemies closer, A cure for Dim Mak, Teach a man to fish and you feed off him for a day,

Skills:
Epic: Deceit (Fishing, +9 w/ Partial Truth)
Fantastic: Discipline, Lore,
Superb: Conviction, Endurance,
Great: Athletics, Rapport, Resources, Weapons (+5 w/ Trident)
Good: Alertness (+5 Initiative), Empathy, Might (+4 Grapple, +6 Lift), Presence

All other skills at Average or Fair

Stunts:
On My Toes (+2 Initiative)
Honest Lies (+2 Deceit with Partial Truth)
Lingust (+4 Languages)
I once caught a fish this big (swap Deceit for Survival when Fishing)

Powers:

[-1] Ghost Speaker
[-1] Psychic Vampire, as per Emotional Vampire,but drains Psychic energy
     -Feeding Touch, treat as mental attack using Deceit; on subsequent exchanges, add +1
     -Once per scene, take immediate free recovery if target is killed; this clears hunger track
     -risk of feeding frenzy in presence of powerful magic
Aura of Influence [-0] (see http://dfrpg-resources.wikispaces.com/Aura+Of+Influence ; Thanks to Sanctaphrax for the suggestion)

[+2] Item of Power, affecting:
[-3] All creatures bow before Danog: spend a Fate Point to trigger catch
[-1] Taint of Chaos: affects creatures of order and the light
[-0] It's a Trident, Wpn 3
[-1] True Aim, +1 to Weapons skill
[-0] Unbreakable

[+1] Feeding Dependency, affecting:
[-8] Mimic 8 Points of Powers or stunts by absorbing target's essence;
usually mimics Evocation, Thaumaturgy & Refinement
[-1] The Sight (no soul gazing, since he's not mortal)
[-2] Inhuman Strength
[-2] Inhuman Recovery
[-2] Inhuman Toughness
[+1] The Catch: Death themed magic like Dim Mak

Stress: Physical OOOO[OO] 1 Extra Mild & Armor 1, Mental: OOOO 1 extra Mild, Social OOOO

total Refresh: -22

[Sanctaphrax]

The math on that IoP is definitely wrong, but whatever. I like those stats anyway. I Once Caught A Fish This Big is funny enough that I'd allow it at my table even if it's kinda silly from a logical standpoint.

One suggestion: since he's the Fisher King, it'd be appropriate for him to affect the area around him. Something like the Aura of Influence Power would seem fitting.

[Shaft]

The math on that IoP is definitely wrong, but whatever.

I followed the build that was written up for the Swords of the Cross in the Your World pdf.  Is there a corrected version?

I'm glad you approve of the other details.  Thanks.

[dragoonbuster]

I followed the build that was written up for the Swords of the Cross in the Your World pdf.  Is there a corrected version?

I'm glad you approve of the other details.  Thanks.

[+2] Item of Power, affecting:
[-3] All creatures bow before Danog: spend a Fate Point to trigger catch
[-1] Taint of Chaos: affects creatures of order and the light
[-0] It's a Trident, Wpn 3
[-1] True Aim, +1 to Weapons skill
[-0] Unbreakable

[Shaft]

[+2] Item of Power, affecting:
[-3] All creatures bow before Danog: spend a Fate Point to trigger catch
[-1] Taint of Chaos: affects creatures of order and the light
[-0] It's a Trident, Wpn 3
[-1] True Aim, +1 to Weapons skill
[-0] Unbreakable

Corrected in original post.  Thanks.

[Lavecki121]

On phone so this will be breif. Thanks a lot guys. Given me a lot of great ideas. Game is Friday so I will let you know when I know more/what happened.

[Lavecki121]

So I'm going to be honest. Never clicked the link to the Fisherking Wiki until today. This works so well. My game has a heavy Arthurian plotline. One of my PC's is a reincarnated knight of the round. Im so happy with this. Game is tonight, will let yall know what happens.

[Lavecki121]

Well thanks for the help guys. Session went great. Had a chase scene that the players ended up catching the fisherman. I used all his consequences: two reasons for that. A) I forgot about being able to withdraw from a scene. B) I pretty much just wanted the game to end. I ended up taking out every single PC in a battle I was trying to get them to abandon (they also meta-gamed into that this was probably the last session). It was down to a PC White Court and the Fisherman and the PC ended up taking him out by killing his mental stress track.

Was probably one of the better sessions I had run. I appreciate all the help again guys.