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The Dresden Files => DFRPG => Topic started by: raydjulia on August 27, 2013, 05:35:23 AM

Title: Iron druid
Post by: raydjulia on August 27, 2013, 05:35:23 AM

im looking to stat up a druid character, i want to give him supernatural recovery, and i want the catch to be he has to be in contact with the earth, i dont know if this qualifies as a catch or not or if so what its worth. i also want him to have channeling earth magic and ritual, to craft talismans. if anyone could help me stat this up i would be very greatful ty

Title: Re: Iron druid
Post by: bobjob on August 27, 2013, 05:45:14 AM

I've given some thought to it after reading the first book in the series (as a hold until Skin Games comes out). I'll play around with some ideas and post something up tomorrow.

Title: Re: Iron druid
Post by: raydjulia on August 27, 2013, 06:28:53 AM

imalso wanting to give him an item of power , but i want it to be tattoes, is that possible

Title: Re: Iron druid
Post by: Sanctaphrax on August 27, 2013, 06:32:52 AM

A tattoo IoP probably isn't doable. The disadvantages of an item don't apply to a tattoo.

Anyway, I know nothing about Iron Druid. But I did a forum search, and here's what I found:

http://www.jimbutcheronline.com/bb/index.php/topic,38126.0/ (http://www.jimbutcheronline.com/bb/index.php/topic,38126.0/)
http://www.jimbutcheronline.com/bb/index.php/topic,36044.0.html (http://www.jimbutcheronline.com/bb/index.php/topic,36044.0.html)

Title: Re: Iron druid
Post by: raydjulia on August 27, 2013, 11:14:44 AM

ty very much for that, im looking to get a playable version for like 10 refresh but this helps alot

Title: Re: Iron druid
Post by: Cadd on August 27, 2013, 11:21:31 AM

On the Item of Power: You can very well describe these powers as something given to him by tattooing these spells into his skin, but mechanically they're not going to give an refresh rebate, since the "item" (the tattoos) can't be removed from him. Make it an aspect, and maybe damage to the tattoos can be a compell.

Calculating the catch of "only when in contact with earth" is another thing. The calculations are on p185 of YS. I'm thinking that it's a +2, maybe at most +3 catch. It depends a bit on what precisely is considered "earth" and how much is needed. Is the small square of earth open in a sidewalk that a tree stands in enough? A large (2 foot square) pot of earth enough? A small, regular houseplant pot? Is it enough to carry a pouch of earth with him?
The easier it is for him to have access to the recovery, the less the catch should be worth.

If it requires "natural earth" so to speak (so most parks will do, but if the grounds been prepared with gravel and then filled up with earth on top it won't work) and the story will mostly be in a city, I'd allow it as a +3 catch.

Title: Re: Iron druid
Post by: blackstaff67 on August 27, 2013, 05:15:27 PM

Quote from: Cadd on August 27, 2013, 11:21:31 AM

On the Item of Power: You can very well describe these powers as something given to him by tattooing these spells into his skin, but mechanically they're not going to give an refresh rebate, since the "item" (the tattoos) can't be removed from him.

  Au contraire, sir.  Ask any member of Hell's Angels, they will cheerfully tell that a tattoo can be removed.  It can be flogged off, burned off, etc.  Tattoos can quite assuredly be removed.

Title: Re: Iron druid
Post by: bobjob on August 27, 2013, 05:43:12 PM

Ok, from what I remember Atticus O'Sullivan can increase his strength, speed, toughness and healing by drawing on Earth magic. Basically he has to be in contact with natural earth in order to use these abilities (including not having shoes on for a lot of it) and in order to properly heal has to be laying down on his right side so that his tattoos are in contact with the earth (meaning he's probably also mostly naked). He can store up some energy to do this when not in contact with the Earth, but right now you don't have enough refresh to get his amulet, so no dice.

I would give him Modular Abilities for most of his Earth Magic, although I wouldn't do it at Supernatural levels (yet).

Modular Abilities (-5)
Limited to Inhuman Strength, Inhuman Speed, Inhuman Recovery, Inhuman Toughness (the catch +1 must be in contact with natural earth). Basically at this point he can swap out 3 points of powers. So either Inhuman Strength or Inhuman Speed and a Recovery or Toughness Power. He can switch out which abilities as an action.

I would also give him Beast Change -1 since he can shape shift into certain pre-chosen forms. Although Beast Change only lets you transform into one form. As a house rule, you might find out if you can use modular abilities to take certain abilities under "Creature Features" in the book (YS 162) only when shapeshifted. There is a custom power called Family Shifter (http://dfrpg-resources.wikispaces.com/%28Family%29+Shifter) that your GM might allow to cover only your pre-chosen forms, but that will be up to them. The cost differences are pretty severe though (-1 for Beast Change, -4 for Family Shifter).

As for his Magical abilities, I would almost say that is Sponsored Magic tied to Binding and Unbinding of natural fibers. As Sponsored Magic with no other Magic abilities, that would cost him -4, although I would put a limitation on this of +1. If this magic is used to kill anybody, he dies (which is stated in the book). He doesn't take lawbreaker, he doesn't change an aspect. Character dead. Finite, caput.

Title: Re: Iron druid
Post by: wyvern on August 27, 2013, 05:43:58 PM

Quote from: blackstaff67 on August 27, 2013, 05:15:27 PM

  Au contraire, sir.  Ask any member of Hell's Angels, they will cheerfully tell that a tattoo can be removed.  It can be flogged off, burned off, etc.  Tattoos can quite assuredly be removed.

Yes, but that removal isn't something that can happen just casually; you don't check your tattoos at the door the way you could a gun or a staff or a jacket.  Thus, a magic tattoo isn't an item of power; it's just a power.

Title: Re: Iron druid
Post by: Cadd on August 27, 2013, 05:56:34 PM

As wyvern said above, you can't just casually lend your tattoos to someone else, or leave them home ;)
Making the tattoos an Aspect however, could be used to Compell if an attack is targeted specifically at damaging the tattoos themselves.

Title: Re: Iron druid
Post by: bobjob on August 27, 2013, 06:12:17 PM

I'm with wyvern and Cadd on this. Make the tattoos an Aspect.

Title: Re: Iron druid
Post by: vultur on August 28, 2013, 02:54:35 AM

Quote from: raydjulia on August 27, 2013, 11:14:44 AM

ty very much for that, im looking to get a playable version for like 10 refresh but this helps alot

This is an approximation in DV terms, not an exact conversion, but...

Beast Change [-1]
Inhuman Recovery [-2]
      The Catch [+1]: requires contact with natural earth
Item of Power [+1]: Cold Iron Amulet
     Physical Immunity [-8]
         The Catch (Stacked) [+5]: only against mortal magic
Seelie Magic [-4]
The Sight [-1]

Total: -9 Refresh. If you want more than one free Refresh, or to add a stunt or something, replace Seelie Magic with an appropriate Ritual or Channeling, or possibly remove Beast Change or The Sight (whichever you think is less critical to the character).

Notes (spoilered for space):

(click to show/hide)

The actual effects of his cold iron amulet are significantly more impressive than this (vaporize fae with a touch), but this is reduced to be Submerged level. Similarly, he has multiple animal forms not just one, better strength and speed, etc.

Actually, Atticus' magic seems more limited than a wizard's full-on Evocation and Thaumaturgy, but broader than most Focused Practitioner's Channeling and/or Ritual, and it's derived from Gaia, so Sponsored Magic seems appropriate. Seelie Magic isn't actually all that similar in effects, but it's thematically similar, so...

He can only use full-on attack evocations against "unnatural" creatures (like demons and vampires), but they are incredibly powerful (instantly destroys any vampire however powerful). He destroys demons with "Cold Fire", but it's completely exhausting.

He regularly casts "camouflage" (a veil), increases his own strength/speed/etc. (Biomancy as Evocation via Seelie Magic), and binds/unbinds things (generally Evocation Blocks and Maneuvers in combat...)

PS: I'd suggest an accurate-to-the-books build would be somewhere in the range of 20-25 Refresh, but it'd be highly dependent on what value you put on the "limited to contact with earth" bit (since it affects so much of his powers), so hard to judge exactly.

Title: Re: Iron druid
Post by: HumAnnoyd on August 28, 2013, 03:06:37 PM

I would normally be against it but I can see the Tattoos being considered an Item of Power.  Atticus talks at length about how if the tats were damaged by an attack he would not be able to heal or access his magic at all until he got them redone by another druid.  And considering he is the last druid (until the last book anyway) he would likely have to get one of the Tuatha Dé Danann to do it for him.  Which would really suck for him.  In fact I recall his tattoo was damaged at one point and because of that he wasn't able to shape change into any animals because he would not be able to shape change back into a human.  I am not sure how this could be modeled however.  Perhaps the controlling Aspect for the IoP could cover this.

Title: Re: Iron druid
Post by: Taran on August 28, 2013, 03:24:19 PM

Maybe a (small)Limitation^TM associated with any power that's attached to the tatoos.  I still don't think an IoP would work and you'd definitely need an aspect to represent it.

Title: Re: Iron druid
Post by: wyvern on August 28, 2013, 08:26:06 PM

Compare, for reference, the Tattoos of St. Giles - that's just a power, with an associated aspect.

As for having the tattoos damaged, that sounds like a consequence; if it would take you just a quick touch-up job to fix, that's a minor; if it would take a couple game sessions worth of time to fix, that's a moderate, etc.

Title: Re: Iron druid
Post by: bobjob on August 28, 2013, 09:51:50 PM

If the Tattoo were just the name of a power, absolutely I agree with you on everything. But an IOP with a refresh rebate, I would say no.

Title: Re: Iron druid
Post by: Cadd on August 28, 2013, 11:42:28 PM

I'm really liking the "damage to tattoos as consequence" thing, thus making every time the power would be useful but isn't available a compel.

Title: Re: Iron druid
Post by: HumAnnoyd on August 30, 2013, 12:18:53 AM

Like I said I would normally agree with you.  However, in the books people have specifically targeted his right side to try to stop him from using his tattoos. Which suggest that maybe they are almost an object because they CAN be targeted. That could be worth a discount depending on how you handle it.

Title: Re: Iron druid
Post by: Sanctaphrax on August 30, 2013, 12:20:36 AM

You might be able to manage tattoos as a Limitation, but they aren't items any more than claws are. So Item of Power isn't really gonna work.

Title: Re: Iron druid
Post by: HumAnnoyd on August 30, 2013, 06:53:37 AM

Well like I said they are a bit of a special case. If IoP is as unacceptable as you say then what would you suggest? Because they seem to go beyond simple Aspects from my reading of them.

Title: Re: Iron druid
Post by: Sanctaphrax on August 30, 2013, 07:27:27 AM

I can't be sure since I haven't read the books.

But maybe when an opponent who knows about the tattoos inflicts a consequence on you, they can damage the tattoo. Which would make you lose the Powers until the consequence heals and another druid touches up your tattoos.

You could do that with the Limitation custom Power easily enough.