Honestly, your character is already pretty uber. Rather than seeking more power, I would suggest investing in stunts. Particularly, Riposte comes to mind as one of the better stunts for the Weapons skill. Alternative, some stunts invested in social skills or skill substitutions could help shore up your lack of non-combat ability.
Hm. I'd actually make a simple flavor choice to distinguish yourself. Some examples:
1) play up the thrown / ranged aspect of the weapons skill. Flavor "wall of death" as a fan of knives sort of skill. Pick up the dual-wielding stunt, and maybe a zero-point "Item of Power" dagger that returns when thrown & functions as weapon: 2 when used in melee. (This is worth zero, because it's not any better mechanically than you could get by pairing up a shortsword with mundane daggers.)
2) Have your current weapon break when you use it with supernatural strength - and then go find something sturdier, like a two-handed warhammer. Describe your combat in terms of sweeping blows that can be dodged but not parried; maybe take a stunt that gives you +1 on weapon attacks when your opponent is defending with weapons or fists.
3) Go weaponmaster - instead of having a preferred weapon, you have a whole collection - and know enough to pick out which weapon would be best used in the current situation. Take a stunt that does for the weapons skill what martial artist does for fists, and then use it - pick out the "right" weapon at the start of any given fight, and use a declaration to give yourself the advantage for having brought a sword to a knife fight, or a polearm to a swordfight, or a knife when it's close quarters fighting and your foes are still trying to swing those clunky halberds around...
4) You've got an aspect that references chains already; make that literal with flails, whips, etc. Go heavy on the maneuvers; trip your foes, entangle them (a stunt that lets you grapple using weapons complemented by might, rather than just might skill), and generally work to control the fight - let your allies get the finishing blows, and know that you're the one that made such decisive strikes possible.
Haha; I'd meant that list to be a "pick one" sort of thing - but it sounds like you're picking all of them. In that case, having a variety of weapons might also be insurance against strength-related compels; if one weapon breaks... move on to the next.
Honestly, your character is already pretty uber. Rather than seeking more power, I would suggest investing in stunts.He only has Inhuman level powers. His parent is pretty uber, I'd admit but the PC isn't quite that level yet.
He only has Inhuman level powers. His parent is pretty uber, I'd admit but the PC isn't quite that level yet.
But I'd also advise getting some stunts to shore up the lower level skills like Discipline and Lore. A situational +2 to Discipline or Lore can be quite useful.
Well, I must admit I come from a game where Supernatural X is banned for PC's. Having all four Inhumans, with significant rebates from catch and other stuff is considered very strong for a PC where I come from.Inhuman is entry Chest-deep/Submerged level for a PC in my game. At higher Refresh (10+), Supernaturals are fair game.
He only has Inhuman level powers. His parent is pretty uber, I'd admit but the PC isn't quite that level yet.
But I'd also advise getting some stunts to shore up the lower level skills like Discipline and Lore. A situational +2 to Discipline or Lore can be quite useful.
Well, I must admit I come from a game where Supernatural X is banned for PC's. Having all four Inhumans, with significant rebates from catch and other stuff is considered very strong for a PC where I come from.
Inhuman is entry Chest-deep/Submerged level for a PC in my game. At higher Refresh (10+), Supernaturals are fair game.
As an alternative to going the IoP route to give you an Strength-proof weapon, you could go the Claws route. This would probably involve a bit of retraining: you'd want to swap Weapons and Fists (and possibly even allow Weapons to degrade over time due to disuse) and either 'forget' your stunt or replace it with something else. A nice bennie to this is that the claws could be concealed by your Human Form.
If you really like the weapon schtick (which I get the impression you do), then this option is not for you, of course.
I recommend taking a stunt. You can swap stunts at every milestone, so they make good choices for the indecisive.
Plus, a stunt would add flavour to your combat style. Faris is currently pretty bland, mechanically speaking. (His fluff is cool, but his stats are mostly just standard bruiser stuff.)
PS: I don't understand why an IoP would give Claws. Why not just give the gauntlets a weapon rating?
I personally find it strange that Dracul doesn't have Wings and maybe Hulking Size (shapeshifting), just something to think about.
Alternatively you can stick with Weapons but go ranged with a IOP that gives a reskinned Breath Weapon (an IOP weapon with a Mjollnir-type return to thrower enchantment).
Your physical defenses are pretty good with respect to the Refresh level of your game, a straight up +5 with Weapons or a +4+1(with Inhuman Speed). Without knowing what house Powers there are in your game, I am assuming there aren't any magical Social attack vectors. From my view, your Mental stress track is vulnerable, which is why I suggested you get a stunt to boost your Discipline. Personally I'd go with defense over offense, but that is personal preference.
I don't see the problem with breaking your weapon, actually. The FP ought to make it worth it.
Weapon Master is bland and a bit too powerful.
IoP looks mechanically decent but uninteresting. It doesn't even have a name.
Hm, I just had a stunt idea that I quite like. Not sure if you'd be interested, but I might as well post it here.
Weapons:
Blade-Shattering Force: Your strikes are so powerful that they sometimes destroy the weapons you use to make them. When you successfully hit someone with a close-combat Weapons attack, you may choose to have your weapon break. If you do so, the attack inflicts three additional stress.
Not entirely certain of balance here. But I like the idea enough to post it anyway.
It's little different to other Stunts I've seen in SotC; +1 Stress isn't anywhere near as significant as +1 Skill, and +2 to Maneuvers is about equivalent to a +1 Stress. So not really too powerful.
EDIT: Actually I'm not sure Breath Weapon works so well, at least so far as it not allowing you to add Inhuman/Supernatural Strength to it. Any thrown weapon normally allows you to add that; so what we're really looking for is a "returns to hand" Power rather than a "strike at range" Power.I think Breath Weapon does allow you to add Inhuman/Supernatural Strength to it. It is how I run it in my game. If your GM runs the power differently, then maybe another Stunt/Power will be better.
The resemblance between Killer Blow and Blade-Shattering Force is superficial. Breaking your weapon isn't worth a FP when you have another weapon at hand, which you almost certainly will if you intend to use this stunt.
Combined with a stunt that lets you ignore supplemental penalties for drawing weapons, it's a fairly universal +3 stress. Which might be a bit too much. Hence my worry. I'm probably just being paranoid, though.
Blade-Shattering Force: Your strikes are so powerful that they sometimes destroy the weapons you use to make them. When your weapon breaks due to a compel from the GM, . If you do so, the attack inflicts three additional stress.
Killer Blow, IMO, is the bottom feeder of Stunts. It is nearly, in almost all circumstances, the worse choice. By comparison, nearly any other Stunt is better. If we are to make use of Killer Blow as a gauge, then I feel that it would be wise to use it as the lower bound of the power level of a Stunt. Any worse than Killer Blow will make the stunt absolutely craptacular.
I think I know what I don't like about Blade-Shattering Force: It lacks a proper triggering condition. Just successfully hitting with a melee weapon isn't specific enough. Combine that with the at-will utility of the stung and it's "Here, have +3." If the stunt were only usable if the GM has compelled your enhanced strength to break your weapon, it would be more stunt-y (Plus, you'd have gotten a Fate point to boot!)
So maybe this way:
...would work better. Any opinions?
No.
Look, BBF is totally underpowered if you aren't using it more or less every time you attack. So if you take it, you should be carrying more swords than a sword store. And you should use a new one every exchange.
The reason I was unsure of its balance is that it could be underpowered due to its big drawback or overpowered due to its universal applicability.
And yes, Killer Blow sucks.
PS: @Kiero: Have you read the stunt creation guidelines for DFRPG? It sounds as though you are working from the rules of other games here.
Look, BBF is totally underpowered if you aren't using it more or less every time you attack. So if you take it, you should be carrying more swords than a sword store. And you should use a new one every exchange.I would think that carrying more swords than sword store would come with its own Compels. Namely Compels to make the character lose all those weapons or get the character into trouble if he wants to hold on to them. So in order to have "universal applicability", you need to jump through a whole series of other flaming hoops. BBF as it is totally underpowered no matter how you look at it.
The reason I was unsure of its balance is that it could be underpowered due to its big drawback or overpowered due to its universal applicability.
@toturi:I disagree but this will have to be one of the things we have to agree to disagree on. I think that Compels are not good things and being compellable is not necessarily a strength.
Ugh, no. I hate that argument so much. Compels are not bad things and being compellable is not a weakness.
@Kiero:
I like the sword caddy idea. Once we get the ally stunt rules done, I'm making that guy.
Two things i have not see.(but may have missed) is to buy back your catch. go from holy stuff (+2) to true faith (+1) to sword of the cross (+0). or you could keep your refresh for more fate points. that way you do not have to deal with compelling as much.
Compels aren't a bad thing, they're a reward for complications I want to happen. Haven't found reason to say no to one yet.I agree that they aren't bad if the complications are those that you want and at a degree that you expect.
If the only thing that breaking your weapon does is to force you to take a supplemental action penalty on your next turn's actions (because you have to draw one of the 50 extra weapons you pack into your hammerspace just for this occasion), then that's YS would describe as a 'weak compel' and not worth gaining a FP for.And there is where I think the problem lies. The more likely/more easily the character is able to overcome the Compel, the more likely the GM will call a weak Compel.