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The Dresden Files => DFRPG => Topic started by: Ophidimancer on July 08, 2010, 02:44:27 PM
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So I've hammered out a partial character and wanted some opinions on how to finish:
Name: Jasim "Jay" Bashir
High Concept: Teenage Reincarnation of an Emissary of Ishtar
I think I want to go with Emissary of Power, but I might just stick to Minor Talent.
Trouble: There's an Ancient Sex Priestess In My Head!!!
Background: Jasim comes from a Muslim family living in America and, although he was raised in a pretty devout household, he tends to just want to live the American Dream of being a popular high school jock. As the captain of the soccer team he enjoys the perks of being in the in crowd, despite the fact that he has lost touch with his heritage. Little does he know that it will bite him in the ass, because both sides of his family are very distantly related to an ancient bloodline of Babylonian priests. He's lately begun to have disturbingly vivid dreams of ancient times and places. More embarrassing for him, he's also having wet dreams about men.
Aspect: Should I go with Not So Good Muslim Boy or All-American Muslim Boy?
Rising Conflict: In the middle of his gay crisis, the last thing Jay expects is for a four thousand year old priestess of Ishtar to wake up inside him. Things get really weird as he starts casting ancient spells unconsciously and some strange woman begins talking to him in his dreams. He tries to bury the stress of both of these things by being aggressively normal, throwing himself into sports, school, and maintaining his popularity. The camaraderie he shares with his teammates is a large source of comfort for him.
Aspect: I Just Want To Be Normal
The Story: Now fully awake, Jay's co-pilot who I have yet to name, has begun to make a nuisance of herself. She's headstrong, willful, and has magic to boot. She has the annoying habit of giving Jay unwanted advice and then taking over his body when he doesn't take the advice. She's kind of a diva in that she was accustomed to being obeyed, had beautiful clothes, beautiful men, and the attention of a goddess. It's difficult to get these things when you're four thousand years out of date and in the body of a teenage boy, but that doesn't stop her from trying. This seriously complicates Jay's masculine image and threatens his popularity. It also sends up mystic red flags that catch the attention of the White Council and shadowy enemies from the high priestess' past. Jay leans heavily on the support of his best friend and fake girlfriend, Tasha (replaceable name), a tough no-nonsense chick with a cute cheerleader exterior.
Aspect: As a continuation of his Trouble Aspect ... And She's a High Maintenance Bitch.
I don't have a group to play this character with yet, so I'll leave the last two Aspects for later.
Skills (20 points, capped at Great)
Good:Athletics, Presence
Fair: Endurance, Rapport
Average: Alertness, Contacts, Deceit, Driving, Empathy, Fists, Intimidation, Might, Resources, Scholarship
Do those represent a high school student and soccer player well enough?
Powers (6 Refresh)
Marked by Power (-1), Wizard's Constitution (-0), Channeling (-2)
Human Form* (+1), Involuntary Change (+1)
*Beast change (-1)
*Ritual (-2)
Final Refresh: 2
A few issues here:
1) I know it said under Beast Change that knowledge skills can't be upgraded, but I'm using Beast Change to represent when someone else takes over the character's body, someone who was most likely a Wizard level practitioner back in her day, so I was thinking of giving her a pretty good Lore rating. You guys think that's ok?
2) I decided to go with Channeling and Ritual, with Ritual only being accessible when the priestess takes over, because I wanted the Jay personality to have access to a little bit of magic, as bad as he may be at it given his Mediocre Conviction and Discipline scores. His Channeling element would be Spirit, with an emphasis on mind magic, and his Ritual would also be in Psychomancy. (Yes, I know this treads on Lawbreaking territory.) Do you guys think it would just be easier to go with Sponsored Magic?
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"Woops I have to go, finish this later."
Not fair. :(
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"Woops I have to go, finish this later."
Not fair. :(
Sorry! There ya go! :)
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Looking at it...that should all work, but only having Conviction and Discipline at Mediocre, and no skills above Good is going to make Jasim himself pretty much useless (though the Priestess might be very useful indeed). I'd maybe give him some sort of physical enhancement or a couple of Mortal Stunts instead of Channeling, and rearrange his skills to be more effective, maybe like this:
Great: Athletics,
Good: Fists, Presence,
Fair: Endurance, Rapport,
Average: Alertness, Contacts, Deceit, Empathy, Might, Scholarship,
I'd also be tempted to give the Priestess full-blown Thaumaturgy (dropping your Refresh to 1)...it makes more sense and will be much more useful. Or you could go Sponsored Magic and just give Jasim himself some Mortal Stunt or other potentially useful ability. That too would be more effective.
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Additionally, have you read the Kane Chronicles by Rick Riordan? This actually sounds really close to the themes from the first book The Red Pyramid.
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Looking at it...that should all work, but only having Conviction and Discipline at Mediocre, and no skills above Good is going to make Jasim himself pretty much useless (though the Priestess might be very useful indeed).
Yep, I wanted him to be very much a high school student, with not a lot of life experience, hence all the Average Skills, but I could concede a bit to gamism and rearrange a bit. I don't think I would put Fists so high, but otherwise I like the Skill pyramid you made.
About the Priestess, do you think it would be ok for her to have higher Lore than Jay? I know it's against the rules of Beast Change, but ...
I'd also be tempted to give the Priestess full-blown Thaumaturgy (dropping your Refresh to 1)...it makes more sense and will be much more useful. Or you could go Sponsored Magic and just give Jasim himself some Mortal Stunt or other potentially useful ability. That too would be more effective.
Yeah, I'd probably just go for Sponsored Magic, but again, I wanted Jasim himself to have access to a little bit of the magic. Maybe I should drop Marked by Power and have him be a Minor Talent for a bit more Refresh?
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Additionally, have you read the Kane Chronicles by Rick Riordan? This actually sounds really close to the themes from the first book The Red Pyramid.
I'd never heard of this series before now, thanks for the recommendation! :D
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I'd never heard of this series before now, thanks for the recommendation! :D
No problem! It is actually really good. He is a pretty good author.
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Yep, I wanted him to be very much a high school student, with not a lot of life experience, hence all the Average Skills, but I could concede a bit to gamism and rearrange a bit. I don't think I would put Fists so high, but otherwise I like the Skill pyramid you made.
Reverse Rapport and Fists then. I almost did myself, and Rapport is both cool and appropriate.
About the Priestess, do you think it would be ok for her to have higher Lore than Jay? I know it's against the rules of Beast Change, but ...
Oh, I'd absolutely allow it. It makes perfect sense considering.
Yeah, I'd probably just go for Sponsored Magic, but again, I wanted Jasim himself to have access to a little bit of the magic. Maybe I should drop Marked by Power and have him be a Minor Talent for a bit more Refresh?
Maybe. I'd be tempted to grant him something physical, personally (Inhuman Speed would be appropraite). Ishtar was a goddess of war as well as sex, after all. For the same reason, I'd give the Priestess Skill Pyramid decent Weapons and athletics, as well as the needed magical skills.
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Oh yes, I know she was a goddess of sex and war, but I was going with mind magic to cause both of those things. When she's feeling spiteful, she combines them and causes Jealousy. She's definitely more of a Social heavy character.
The reason I went for Channeling and Ritual is because I eventually wanted to upgrade him to Evocation and Thaumaturgy level, after a lot of work and the Priestess teaching him. Sponsored Magic gives me good bang for my buck now, but it doesn't upgrade, does it?
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Not per se, but you can buy Evocation or Thaumaturgy for (effectively) only 2 Refresh each since buying them drops the cost of Sponsored Magic.
And my original reccomendation was actually Channeling and Thaumaturgy, which is even easier to upgrade than Channeling and Ritual. :)
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And my original reccomendation was actually Channeling and Thaumaturgy, which is even easier to upgrade than Channeling and Ritual. :)
Ooh, now that's an idea. I think maybe I'll leave it at Ritual, to represent her not having her full power back yet and to give the character some room to grow.
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For that matter, looking at it, you could drop Marked By Power and have both Evocation and Thaumaturgy, then invest your 'room to grow' Refresh into buying down and eventually off Human Form as Jasim learns to use the magic himself. Doing it that way, I'd actually arrange things like this:
Skills:
Great: Athletics,
Good: Rapport, Presence,
Fair: Endurance, Fists,
Average: Alertness, Contacts, Conviction, Deceit, Empathy, Scholarship
Plus a different skill pyramid for the priestess, obviously.
Powers:
Evocation [-3]
Beast Change [-1]
Human Form [+2] effecting;
Thaumaturgy [-3]
Specializations:
Evocation (Spirit, Earth, Air); Control (Spirit +1)
Thaumaturgy; One Specialty of choice.
Focus Items:
Control Ring (+2 Offensive Control with Spirit)
Power Ring (+2 Offensive Power with Spirit)
That gives him decent (3 shift) offensive Evocation, even without the priestess taking over, and is fun, and has plenty of room to grow, particularly skill-wise.
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I wouldn't give him the rings. They feel a lot better as being found on the first adventure, in an antique shop or similar themed location with some problems that he helps solving...
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I wouldn't give him the rings. They feel a lot better as being found on the first adventure, in an antique shop or similar themed location with some problems that he helps solving...
You're forgetting that all characters, by definition, have had their first big adventure already. It's part of character creation. :)
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The Focus Items are actually pretty easily justified. Ameena (picked her name :) ) is a High Maintenance Bitch, after all, so one of the first things she would have wanted to do was outfit herself in some of her regular accoutrements. The Power Focus would be a lion's head ring, as the lion was one of Ishtar's symbols. The Control Focus would be a pendant bearing the Star of Ishtar. (http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/46/Ishtar-star-symbol-simplified.svg/600px-Ishtar-star-symbol-simplified.svg.png)
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DMW: Hmm, yea I concur, there is that too...
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Made some changes:
Name: Jasim "Jay" Bashir
High Concept: Teenage Reincarnation of an Emissary of Ishtar
Trouble: There's an Ancient Sex Priestess In My Head!!!
Aspects: ... And She's a High Maintenance Bitch, All-American Muslim Boy, I Just Want To Be Normal
Skills
Great: Athletics,
Good: Endurance, Presence,
Fair: Rapport, Alertness,
Average: Fists, Driving, Deceit, Contacts, Empathy, Conviction
Powers (6 Refresh)
Wizard's Constitution (-0), Evocation (-3)
Human Form* (+1), Involuntary Change (+1)
*Beast change (-1)
*Sponsored Magic (-3)
Specializations
Evocation: Spirit (control +1), Air, Water
Item Slots
Lion Ring (+2 Power, Spirit)
Star of Ishtar Pendant (+2 Control, Spirit)
Final Refresh: 1
With some more Refresh, I think I'd get him some Social Stunts, like Best foot forward, or Personal Magnetism
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Now I just need to do Ameena's Skill Pyramid
Skills
Great: Lore,
Good: Conviction, Discipline,
Fair: Rapport, Empathy, Presence
Average: Weapons, Deceit, Intimidation
Rotes
I'll need some time to work out the mechanics, but probably a spell to stick some sort of Glorious Radiance Aspect to herself, a stun spell in the form of a mental Grapple, a personal armor spell, and maybe a mass emotional disinhibitor spell.
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Damn, I'm going to try and have to research some Babylonian/Sumerian or otherwise Ancient Mesopotamian phrases for spells, aren't I?
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Ameena's a little screwed defensively: I'd modify her skill pyramid slightly:
Skills
Great: Lore,
Good: Athletics, Conviction,
Fair: Discipline, Rapport, Empathy,
Average: Weapons, Deceit, Presence
That'll leave her a 5 shift Offensive Evocater and give her something in the way of defense.
Other than that, that actually looks really good. Though you'll obviously need to come up with the details of her particular brand of Sponsored Magic.
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Argh, I forgot that Focus Items have to split their bonuses between offense and defense. Gotta decide how to work that.
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Well, Jasim doesn't need Defense (he has Athletics), and needs them to be purely offensive to be decent as an Evocater...
Hence my suggestion.
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Well, Jasim doesn't need Defense (he has Athletics)
That's only physical Defense, and besides s bit of Armor couldn't hurt either.
needs them to be purely offensive to be decent as an Evocater...
Not necessarily, I mean you can do some pretty nasty stuff with a good Block.
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That's only physical Defense, and besides s bit of Armor couldn't hurt either.
True, but Magic (especially Evocation) isn't usually useful as a Social Defense, and Mental Defenses don't really seem like they should be his cup of tea.
Not necessarily, I mean you can do some pretty nasty stuff with a good Block.
True enough. Allow me to re-phtase: I wouldn't split it up. I'd do it all as either Offense or Defense, because 2 shift effects just aren't usually worth it. With Great Athletics I think he'll get more use out of offense, but Defense'd do alright too.
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True, but Magic (especially Evocation) isn't usually useful as a Social Defense, and Mental Defenses don't really seem like they should be his cup of tea.
But remember who's making the items and will probably also be using them. Ameena might also be trying to shore up the fact that he doesn't have a very good defense against mental attacks. I think I'm going to give her some history with an ancient Daeva (White Court) clan. She's also going to be a little bit protective of him as her host. She might be a primadonna, but she's not stupid.
True enough. Allow me to re-phtase: I wouldn't split it up. I'd do it all as either Offense or Defense, because 2 shift effects just aren't usually worth it. With Great Athletics I think he'll get more use out of offense, but Defense'd do alright too.
I think you're right, that I probably shouldn't split them up. I think if I stick to Defensive I might avoid stepping on the Laws of Magic as much, considering how much mental magic I'm aiming for.
Also, do you think it's a problem that he has no Lore to justify these Focus Item bonuses? Ameena does, but Jay doesn't.
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Under the circumstances? I'd definitely allow it in a game I ran. I suspect most other GMs would feel likewise, but you will need to run it by them, noting the minor rules changes/violations.
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If it helps, I guess you could consider Ameena the main personality, for the purposes of magic.
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Ok, on to the magic of Ishtar.
"Listen to me, boy, for I will tell you the secret of magic," said a woman in strange robes, "and the secret of life." Even though she was lounging at the top of the bleachers and Jay was in the middle of the field, her voice purred in his ear as if she were right next to him. He was currently being hoisted in the air by his victorious teammates, right in the middle of one of his favorite dreams about winning the World Cup, so he tried to ignore her, but she persisted.
"You see, magic only works when you really want something, and life is about those things you want so much that you'd die to have them." The dream faded, as dreams do, from one into another. This one was in a temple, the cheering of fans becoming the sussurus of many voices chanting. "Shall I show you what you really want?"
Ishtar is the ancient Babylonian Goddess of Love, Fertility, Sex, and War. Above all she is a being of passion, whether it is the ardor of a lover or the rage of battle. Ecstasy, in the religious sense, is her agenda for the world, the kind of feelings that catapult the mind beyond the mundane into the magical and beyond to touch the divine. The true, honest, and deep desires that come from a person's soul itself are the spark of the divine within humanity and above all, Ishtar seeks to have all realize their soul's desires, despising repression and inhibition. Ritual sex was often performed in Her temples, as she joined with her worshipers through her priests and priestesses in holy matrimony, or hierogamy as the Greeks called it. Her magic is tinged with desire and passion, but can also cause satiation, the feeling of having one's desires fulfilled. Her magic excels in psychomancy, worldwalking, and a bit of biomancy. One of the rituals of Ishtar, the Dance of the Seven Veils, is actually a subtler method of crossing over into the Nevernever without tearing a hole in the Veil, though the caster does end up naked on the other side.
"Remember what I told you," Ameena's voice spoke in Jay's mind while he psyched himself up to walk into the bar, "we may spark the flames of desire and fan them into a blaze, but we do not direct how they burn, that is the path of the daeva, the demons." With one last breath to calm himself down, Jay pushed open the door and walked into the bass beat.
A note on the Third and Fourth Laws of Magic: I'm going to say that Ameena has had dealings with White Court vampires in the past. She knows them as Daeva, demons that lead people astray instead of toward divinity as they are meant. Babylon was rife with them and they feasted on the ashes as the great empire fell. I'll take that as a cautionary tale as to why she probably straddles the line of Lawbreaking, but never quite crosses over. Empathy, both receptive and projective, doesn't count as mind reading or enthrallment.
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Sumerian Reference for Spells (http://www.ping.de/sites/systemcoder/necro/info/sumerian.htm)