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The Dresden Files => DFRPG => Topic started by: Falar on May 01, 2010, 03:51:23 AM

Title: Yet Another 'My Character Idea' Topic
Post by: Falar on May 01, 2010, 03:51:23 AM
Now, this is the first character idea I've ever done, and I'll admit it's a bit rough. Also, when looking over the powers, keep in mind that he's not actually who the Fae Lady is making him like - it's just how she thinks who she made him to be is like. ;) And I'd probably choose to rack up some more Fists stunts as soon as possible. The final two adventures are left open for when he finds a party, of course.


Charles Emerson
Feet in the Water (6 refresh, 20 skill points, skill cap at Great)

Final Refresh: 1

High Concept: Real, Live, Fae-Formed Saotome Ranma
Trouble: I never back down. I gotta win.

Physical Stress: OOOO(OO)
Social Stress: OOO
Mental Stress: OOO

Powers
Human Form [+1 Involuntary Change] - Charles Emerson either takes the form of a muscled, handsome male, albeit with thick, square glasses or that of a lithe, beautiful female, with the added bonus of sexy glasses - when he can find them. Any time he is splashed with cold water, he changes into his female form and any time he is splashed with hot water, he resumes his male form.

While in the male form, he has the following power:
Inhuman Strength [-2] - +3 Might when lifting or breaking inanimate things. +1 to Might when grappling. When Might modifies another skill, always add +1. +2 damage to muscular force hits.

While in the female form, his Might lowers by one, his Alertness raises by one, and he has the following power:
Inhuman Speed [-2] - +4 for Alertness for initiative. All Athletics at +1, +2 when sprinting. May move one zone without taking -1 for the supplemental action when moving as a part of another physical activity. -2 Difficulty from moving when rolling Stealth.

While in either form, he has the following powers:
Inhuman Recovery [-2] - Can recover from all physical consequences (except extreme) with only time. Recovers from physical consequences as if they were one lower. Endurance never restricts due to lack of rest and you make skip a night of sleep with no ill effects. Once per combat scene, you may clear away a mild physical consequence as a supplemental action.
Inhuman Toughness [-2] Armor:1 against all physical stress. Two additional boxes of physical stress.
- The Catch [+3]: Standard Fae catches, due to way in which he recieves the power.

Stunts
Tough Stuff: The stuff of blunt trauma — fists, sticks, and stones—pose little trouble for you. Against such things, you have a natural Armor:1 (which stacks with other forms of protection). This does not apply to things like blades, bullets, and burns, but it makes you a beast in a burly brawl.

Skills
Great (+4): Fists
Good (+3): Might, Athletics
Fair (+2): Alertness, Discipline, Endurance
Average (+1): Presence, Conviction, Lore, Scholarship

Background
Aspect: Just Another Otaku

There isn't really a lot to say about Charles Emerson when he was growing up. Boy grows up. Boy likes math, reading, and science. Boy becomes geek. Geek finds anime, manga, and the promised land - Japan! Geek becomes otaku. Sure, there was other stuff that happened, but do you really want to know about his mom's basement flooding?

What Shaped You?
Aspect: God-damned Wishes

And then there was that one time he ran after that beautiful woman - a woman so beautiful that Charles was absolutely convinced that she had escaped from one of his books, DVDs or illicitly downloaded MPEGs. He chased after her, at a distance, but she was always one step ahead. And then he was nowhere he knew and she was there and told him that she could fulfill one wish for him - and he wished to be one of his anime heroes ...

First Adventure: Wild-Fae Warrior
Aspect: Faerie Gifts come with Faerie Debts

The beautiful woman, who Charles has now figured out is a Sidhe of questionable morals and motivations, has arranged a task for him. A pig-demon warrior threatens her land and she offers a contestant in combat mortal. Will Charles be able to beat the scarily strong combatant or will he fall on the field of battle?
Title: Re: Yet Another 'My Character Idea' Topic
Post by: Deadmanwalking on May 01, 2010, 04:01:58 AM
I hate to say it, but that's not quite Human Form...or maybe it is. The two forms are equal, but each only has one power...hmm. I'd rule that as giving Human Form to each of the powers seperately. Though to balance that, even as small as the changes between the two forms are, they're actual skill changes and thus require Beast Change. So the cost remains the same, more or less.
Title: Re: Yet Another 'My Character Idea' Topic
Post by: Falar on May 01, 2010, 04:49:46 AM
Actually, if you read the text of what it does, I didn't take a +1 for having a non-powered human form. I took a +1 for the Involuntary Change aspect of the power. It would probably be more accurate to make it just say Involuntary Change instead of Human Form, but that's where Involuntary Change is.

Edited to Redact.
Title: Re: Yet Another 'My Character Idea' Topic
Post by: Deadmanwalking on May 01, 2010, 04:55:10 AM
All right, I'll buy that. You still need Beast Change if you want to alter skills though.
Title: Re: Yet Another 'My Character Idea' Topic
Post by: Falar on May 01, 2010, 05:12:47 AM
Also, it does say that as long as you have at least 2 points of powers locked away by the change, you still gain the +1 from the basic Human Form. It's actually four points locked away, but only 2 at a time.

Conversely, I could have gone with Modular Ability, but only being able to use Inhuman Strength and Inhuman Speed possibly gotten a +1 if I used good GM-fu because those are the only two options that this particular application of Modular Abilities would allow. And another +1 because it's an Involuntary Change. Possibly. If I could go this option, I'd take another stunt, probably Fists.

Actually, going with a singular form of Modular Ability, specialized to the character as above, complete with a merely cosmetic human change (-0 as in Human Guise) other than the skill reshuffle, might be enough to add in the Skill Shuffle trapping of Beast Change and True Shapeshifting instead of getting a +1 for those two being the only two option ...
Title: Re: Yet Another 'My Character Idea' Topic
Post by: SoulCatcher78 on May 01, 2010, 11:28:37 AM
small typo on the gender switching portion...says that both types of water turns the character "male".
Title: Re: Yet Another 'My Character Idea' Topic
Post by: Falar on May 01, 2010, 06:27:43 PM
Thanks, Soulcatcha. Got that fixed up now.
Title: Re: Yet Another 'My Character Idea' Topic
Post by: arentol on May 01, 2010, 07:00:06 PM
Falar, how much refresh does this character have left?
Title: Re: Yet Another 'My Character Idea' Topic
Post by: Deadmanwalking on May 01, 2010, 07:01:50 PM
Umm, I'm not Falar, but:

Quote from: Falar on May 01, 2010, 03:51:23 AM
Charles Emerson
Feet in the Water (6 refresh, 20 skill points, skill cap at Great)

Final Refresh: 1
Title: Re: Yet Another 'My Character Idea' Topic
Post by: arentol on May 01, 2010, 07:35:53 PM
Quote from: Deadmanwalking on May 01, 2010, 07:01:50 PM
Umm, I'm not Falar, but:


Oops, missed that.

So, I see -8 and +4 for a total of -4 refresh, or 2 refresh left. What am I missing?
Title: Re: Yet Another 'My Character Idea' Topic
Post by: Deadmanwalking on May 01, 2010, 07:37:43 PM
Quote from: arentol on May 01, 2010, 07:35:53 PM
Oops, missed that.

So, I see -8 and +4 for a total of -4 refresh, or 2 refresh left. What am I missing?

The Mortal Stunt.
Title: Re: Yet Another 'My Character Idea' Topic
Post by: luminos on May 01, 2010, 07:40:01 PM
You are missing the mortal stunt he also took
Title: Re: Yet Another 'My Character Idea' Topic
Post by: Falar on May 01, 2010, 10:07:49 PM
Yup, the Mortal Stunt. -1 for every Mortal Stunt that you take.

Which I would axe if I tried to get this into a game and the GM told me one of the catches didn't apply right or that there was a need for some other Power to do the skill reshuffle.

Or I would possibly take out the skill reshuffle as it's not terribly important.
Title: Re: Yet Another 'My Character Idea' Topic
Post by: arentol on May 01, 2010, 11:33:39 PM
Although you are not using Human Form exactly as written, I think you are paying the right number of points for what you are getting in power, so if I were your GM I would allow it.  No carrying around a thermos of hot water at all times though!

The main thing I see on the character that doesn't make sense is that he doesn't have at least one point of scholarship based on his early interest in math, reading, science, and his (presumed) ability to speak japanese. For a "geek" he also just seems awful combat-skill heavy so you might want to think about that.

At the very least I would suggest changing to a 4,3,3,2,2,2,1,1,1,1 skill setup, adding level 1 scholarship and investigation to his skills.


Title: Re: Yet Another 'My Character Idea' Topic
Post by: Falar on May 02, 2010, 12:15:02 AM
I was actually thinking of that today while I was telemarketing and considering that I needed to do something along those lines to actually make it work. Although I'd probably go with a point of Lore rather than a point of Investigation as that would make a bit more sense with how the character would actually work ...

Also, I figure that the origin story and background is at least two or three years before what will be the date after the first three adventures. And this is what he has developed into. Which actually makes it being only a +1 for the pair of them work out okay.

As for the Human Form - remember that I'm not taking a +1 for the main human form. I'm actually taking a +0 for that and then adding a +1 for Involuntary Change for a total of +1.

And personally, I figure that keeping a thermos of hot water on him would count as turning down a compel from his High Concept, so I'd have to pay a Fate point each and every time I did that. Just to be true to the concept of the character and how the game works.
Title: Re: Yet Another 'My Character Idea' Topic
Post by: arentol on May 02, 2010, 01:25:19 AM
Human form works like this:

In Human Form you have powers X
In shifted form you have powers X + powers Y

As written in the rules this is the ONLY way Human form works, it ADDS a power that isn't there in the normal form, but does not remove any powers.

What you are doing is this:

In form A you have powers X + powers Y
In form B you have powers X + powers Z

You are swapping power Y for power Z, or alternatively adding power Z and removing power Y.

For what you are doing to be proper Human Form you would need to do this:

Form A has powers X + powers Y
Form B  has powers X + powers Y + powers Z.

Which is clearly not what you are doing, or want to do.

At least that is my take on things from as strict rules point-of-view. As a GM though I would say your method gets the job done, it just isn't "technically" what the rules of Human Form say. It doesn't really matter, as long as everyone agrees on how the powers work and what-not.

As a matter of fact I would say that this game has a major rules hole because it actually completely lacks a way to change from one "human" form to another without taking true shapeshifting then limiting that to a single form, or something similar. There should be a multi-form power or something.
Title: Re: Yet Another 'My Character Idea' Topic
Post by: Falar on May 02, 2010, 01:58:18 AM
To be honest, what I should have done is taken the option of Rare or Involuntary Change and made it into its own power (and made it Involuntary Change). Because the Human Form isn't the emphasis of what I'm taking from the power, it's just the only place where Involuntary Change appears as an option. Which is basically the focus of the character.

However, I suppose it could also be done with three way split as well - Charles Emerson, male, normal. Charles Emerson, male, buff. Charles Emerson, female, fast. And then Human Form would be the first and I could get +2 for both Human Form and Involuntary Change. And the middle is for lukewarm water.
Title: Re: Yet Another 'My Character Idea' Topic
Post by: Falar on May 03, 2010, 07:11:29 PM
Just testin' out an idea for how to display a header in a PbP if I ever get into one...


Charles Emerson
StressHigh ConceptTrouble
Physical: OOOO|OO   Real, Live, Fae-Formed RanmaI never back down. I gotta win.
Social: OOOOther Aspects
Mental: OOOJust Another OtakuGod-Damned Wishes
Refresh: 1Faerie Gifts come with Faerie Debts  Aspect
Fate Points: 1Aspect