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Messages - Sanctaphrax

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166
DFRPG / Re: Hellfire as two powers
« on: April 11, 2019, 09:56:57 PM »
Yeah, I only really suggested another sponsored magic equivalent for Heaven as a balance thing--if Hell has two, then Heaven should as well.

I don't think it's necessary, but if you want to you could add a non-Soulfire heavenly sponsored magic that involves invoking God or his angels rather than using your own soul.

But how are they different? That's what I'm trying to work out: how soul-powered hellfire is different from place of power-like hellfire, and how the two work together if you have both.

I don't think they're actually separate in the original lore, so how they differ is really up too you.

(Part of this is also me trying to figure out why, if a wizard has a Denarian shadow, they would also pick up the coin. I mean, they already have access to hellfire and all the Denarian's knowledge--what do they get out of picking up the coin? Shapeshifting powers may be cool, but I'd think a wizard would rather spend their refresh on spellcasting powers. If, on the other hand, the shadow only gives them place of power-like hellfire, and soul-powered hellfire can only be gotten by picking up the coin, and the two powers amplify each other, then it makes a lot more sense to me. But I'm not sure how to design two sponsored magics in such a way that they have this effect.)

In general, buying two Sponsored Magics is not very efficient Refresh-wise.

It's true that the full Denarian package isn't either, but you've got to keep in mind that Refresh doesn't exist in-setting. People can't just decide to buy more Refinements because they want them. You've got to take the Powers you can get.

That said, the conflict between power and free will does exist in-setting and that often lines up nicely with Refresh. A Denarian is likely to go deep into the negatives, becoming unplayably devoid of freedom but very powerful.

167
DFRPG / Re: Hellfire as two powers
« on: April 11, 2019, 08:00:00 AM »
I don't think there's any need for a custom Power to get faith powers working with Soulfire. Guide My Hand and Righteousness already work well together with Soulfire, and Bless This House doesn't work well with anything. I guess Holy Touch + Soulfire is a bit of a nonbo, but you can just not take holy touch.

Both forms of Hellfire could probably use the canon mechanics. Changing the associated Aspect can do a lot of work.

168
DFRPG / Re: Request A Character
« on: April 04, 2019, 08:32:15 PM »
I'd want to fill out the bottom of her skill pyramid a bit. Most of those Fair or Average skills would make sense at Good, and you could easily justify giving her more low-ranked skills.

And of course she could always use more Weapons / combat stuff.

Depending on how she uses the Force, there might be a reasonable argument for Supernatural Senses and various Faith powers.

169
DFRPG / Re: Request A Character
« on: April 04, 2019, 03:48:08 AM »
Normally I wouldn't use Sponsored Magic for the force, but if she's doing everything from veils to telekinesis to raising zombies then it seems fitting.

Lightsabers should maybe have some kind of stunt for destroying objects. Could go either way on that.

Decided to skip Contacts since it's more for a large web of unimportant NPCs than for specific powerful allies. Her skill pyramid is honestly pretty cramped; bumping her up to Snorkelling would give her some breathing room. But I prefer to stat characters at the lowest possible level. And I left her some FP which she can use to punch above her numerical weight.

Technically having a single focus provide four +1 bonuses is forbidden to a character with Average Lore but that rule is silly anyway. And I wanted her Lore low to reflect her flawed training. Not a very optimal build, obviously, but so what?

(click to show/hide)

170
DFRPG / Re: Harry's pain-blocking stunt
« on: April 03, 2019, 03:55:13 AM »
1 Refresh.

That's just gut instinct, but most custom power balance is just gut instinct.

171
DFRPG / Re: Harry's pain-blocking stunt
« on: April 02, 2019, 09:04:41 PM »
Something along the lines of the Unshakable stunt (YS 151) might work. Or just No Pain No Gain (YS 152). Or the Feel No Pain custom power.

Really, you have any number of options for representing an ability to fight through or ignore suffering.

172
DFRPG / Re: Request A Character
« on: April 01, 2019, 09:04:30 PM »
Apologies if the description is long but I wanted to make sure that I gave the character proper description as she is one of my favorites from the legends continuity. I don't believe in that disney garbage nor would I use it to attempt to try put this character to paper. I hope this paints a clear enough picture or if more info is needed then I would be more than happy to give it. When I get the chance I'll be sure to put up something for Obi-wan Kenobi. Again, thank you so much for this undertaking.

Story-wise, that seems like plenty. Should be able to write Aspects off that.

I'm less sure what to do with her mechanically. She's got lightsabers and presumably a solid Weapons skill. Sounds like she's also pretty good at leadership, Intimidation, and strategy. Beyond that, what's her skillset? Any special force powers worth noting? Does she have significant contacts and/or financial resources? Is that Sith meditation thing a one-time plot contrivance or something she uses on the regular?

P.S. Also wanted to know, is it possible to use the Conviction skill in place of Rapport for the purposes of chi-chat and first impressions trapping of said skill? I am asking because I was going through the stunts section and noted that Cat-burglar has it so where it took two trappings from the stealth skill and placed it under burglary. An when I was looking up the word conviction on goggle, I delved deeper and found that in the origin section, conviction is actually shown to be called convince in english.

Not without a stunt. But of course stunts can move trappings around. Moving those trappings with two stunts should be uncontroversial; moving them both with one seems a little broad.

173
DFRPG / Re: Request A Character
« on: March 20, 2019, 06:50:47 PM »
A question: are you familiar enough with Steven Universe to stat up the gems?

Not really, no. But if you provide a summary I might be able to work from that.

I suppose. I wouldn't let anyone but a wizard buy it, though, and they don't usually have too many refresh to spare, so I figure that would mitigate it. After all, the 3 refresh they're spending on the sponsored magic are 3 refresh not spent on refinements, and that's even before buying any refinements for the sponsored magic to stack.

The problems really show up at higher Refresh, when specialisation pyramid limitations become significant.

Yeah, I hadn't meant that humans could use both at once--more like that they could flip the coin at will.

The question, then, is how quickly and easily they can flip.

Personally, I'd expect the flip to require a significant change to your whole outlook or to your allegiances.

174
DFRPG / Re: Request A Character
« on: March 19, 2019, 12:05:30 PM »
It's based on the description of Fomor magic in Paranet Papers. It costs -3 instead of -2, but you can stack refinement bonuses from it with refinement bonuses from compatible types of magic. I expanded it to other types of sponsored magic because I think it works well for a wizard, since they're combining sponsored magic with their own magic, and they should have more understanding of their magic than a sorcerer.

Ah, okay. Makes sense.

Pretty abusable, but that's more or less a moot point here.

(All this, of course, assumes that you don't automatically gain access to hellfire when you get soulfire and vice versa, which I'm not convinced of. WoJ says that they're opposite sides of the same coin, so I don't see why, if it's a human burning their own soul, they can't use both. I actually wrote up a power to this effect, but it's based on a different rules-system for magic that I made up, so I'm not sure how much use it would be to post it.)

To me, calling them two sides of the same coin actually suggests that you can only use one. If you're using your soul hellfire-style, you're obviously not using it soulfire-style.

Bit like a real coin, come to think of it. Either heads is up or tails is up.

175
DFRPG / Re: Request A Character
« on: March 19, 2019, 09:55:31 AM »
The Summer Knight should have Marked By Power.

Incidentally, why are you charging 3 Refresh for Summer Magic (and Hellfire on the Denarian)? Does it have something to do with the "stackable" note?

Speaking of stacking Sponsored Magic, is it actually possible to have both Soulfire and Hellfire? Seems vaguely wrong to me.

Thanks! Also, can you help me figure out how to phrase the concept of "I'll protect you even if you hate me" in a way that sounds good for an aspect?

And what do you think of "Dubiously Necessary Evil"?

Sounds alright to me.

FORCIBLE PROTECTION, maybe? Not sure it really encapsulates the idea perfectly, but I like the way it rings.

176
DFRPG / Re: Rewriting Lawbreaker Powers
« on: March 19, 2019, 09:47:24 AM »
Interesting idea.

So what does Sponsored Magic: Lawbreaking do, mechanically?

177
DFRPG / Re: Mirror Magic (sponsored magic)
« on: March 17, 2019, 08:43:50 AM »
I do like the sponsor debt approach better.

178
DFRPG / Re: Request A Character
« on: March 16, 2019, 02:10:06 AM »
She just makes Hannah naked and covered in a few wisps of purple mist.

Lame.

Do you have any aspect suggestions? I want to include something about his friends and family, but Jim has said that Lasciel would work to isolate him, so I'm not sure what to say about them.

MORE AND MORE ALONE, then?

Also, as an alternative to allowing you to specify a second target for thaumaturgy done with the mirror, do you think it would work for it to let you gain shifts equal to your conviction without having to roll to control it (sort of doubling your innate power, rather than the power of the entire ritual)?

Pretty sure this was meant for the other thread, but anyway. I guess that could work. Honestly, though, I'm not a fan of the whole "you're overpowered until you get screwed over" paradigm.

179
DFRPG / Re: Request A Character
« on: March 15, 2019, 10:22:36 PM »
Looks fine at first glance, to me.

As I recall Lasciel fights Harry in Skin Game. Can't remember what form she takes, but I'm sure if you dig that book up and look at the end it'll have something useful for you.

180
DFRPG / Re: Mirror Magic (sponsored magic)
« on: March 15, 2019, 10:17:53 PM »
I assumed it affected a track of your choice.

Regardless, I think the consequence-based approach is better.

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