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Messages - whitelaughter

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1
DFRPG / sacraments as Stunts
« on: March 09, 2025, 05:11:03 AM »
Given the game has True Faith, we really should have Stunts for the sacraments of the Church.
(Here, I'm using 'church' in the universal sense. Although different denominations argue over whether something is a sacrament or not, everything on this list is considered holy by everybody).

Baptism Washed clean of sin, the character is considered Holy until they do something that they believe to be sinful. (Ignorance is bliss: infants can keep this for years).  The character will burn White Court vampires (as True Love/Hope/etc) during this time. Because this washes away the past, supernatural abilities cannot tag actions from before the Baptism. The Stunt is effectively 'inactive' (no longer having effect or costing Refresh) after a sin has been committed. However:
Confirmation A trapping of Baptism; the character is again considered Holy, and if Holiness lost due to sin, can be regained with repentance and penance.
Holy Orders This Stunt replaces Baptism; the character is still Holy while in a state of sin, but this state can be Tagged. Organisations whose members have Holy Orders can elect leaders who can grant Holy Orders. If the character is a priest, he can grant access to these Stunts, with two qualifiers - any Baptised Christian can if necessary Baptise someone into the church, and Holy Orders typically requires a higher position within an organisation (this higher position does not require a Stunt - the referee is justified in requiring an Aspect though).
Anointing the Sick This Trapping of Holy Orders allows the character to take Wizard's Constitution for an adventure if the playerwishes it Note that this will drop a Pure Mortal's refresh by 2 during that time: and if this turns the character into an NPC they will remain one after this Stunt
Marriage "One Flesh" If both spouses have this Stunt, then either can use the Recovery abilities of the other (the limit on how much damage can be healed does not change though: thus 'once per combat' abilities may only be used by one spouse per combat, and reductions in levels of severity must be divided between the pair).
Eucharist a Trapping of Holy Orders, allows those partaking to refresh Fate if they have an appropriate Aspect.
Penance A Trapping of Holy Orders, allows the restoration of grace.

Thoughts?

2
DFRPG Resource Collection / Permanent Troll Stabilizing Device
« on: February 27, 2025, 03:03:36 AM »
PTSD are...unpleasant. They are very common at the Gates; created from Trolls Mab considers to valuable to be put down but too insane to continue fighting. Somehow, she carves their traumas out of them, to create a tool that can help new recruits survive longer.
The derangements caused by long term service at the Gates aren't Lawbreaking, but they function on mortals in a similar fashion.

[-0] Purpose. PTSD are created to restablize veterans of the war against the Outside, and given to new recruits to help them survive.
[-0] It Is What It Is. These are usually scales or horns, physically carved from the troll, along with their madness.
[-0] Unbreakable. As an Item of Power, this item cannot be broken except with a magical ritual that opposes its nature.
[+2] One-Time Discount. This is sometimes enough to let the Troll continue functioning; more often the discount is being used for a weapon so cannot be applied, and the Troll will not return to sanity until a rookie buys the item.
[-2] Lawbreaking/3. Always the 5th Law; Usually the 1st; plus either 2nd, 3rd or 4th.
[-0] Cassandra's Tears. Any
[-0] Wizard's Constitution

If one of these is found anywhere except at the Gates, something has gone horribly wrong. The most likely scenario is that Unseelie forces have pursued an Outsider into the physcial world, and then lost the resulting fight. So if you find one, you are in trouble. Still, it might help you survive the Outsider!
Mab, of course, will want it back. You can either hand it over; no problems. Or you could buy the item...
if you buy this item, then you have volunteered to serve in the war against the Outside. You will be drawn into the Nevernever, and find yourself at the Gates. A kindly GM might let you play out your first, and probably last, engagement...

PTSD have a minimum of two aspects, one for being an item and the other for Cassandra's Tears. In the original Troll these replace the aspects inflicted by the Lawbreaking. Once every 3 adventures, a Refresh gained from Cassandra' Tears can heal a mental Extreme Consequence caused by battle at the Gates.

3
DFRPG / Precision Hexing
« on: February 18, 2023, 01:05:33 PM »
Simply trashing a technological item is straightforward, but how would you go about more detailed interference?
Possible examples:
causing a mechanical watch to run slow or a mobile phone to burst into flames.
While making a car cease functioning is straightfoward, how about ensuring that the brakes fail?

A character who only has Mana  Static is going to want to play with the implications of his power, while a more powerful character could create spells to focus or refine what can be done.

Suggestion?

4
DF Spoilers / Re: The fae slaves
« on: January 13, 2023, 01:22:53 PM »
But, I take your point -- there is no "I quit" clause in the Mantle.
There wasn't an "I quit" clause.
But a trick Harry has used - death doesn't have to be final. Set it up to 'die' on Halloween, the Mantle moves, get revived.

5
No you're not, not by a long shot.
I will not be getting any future books.
The only bit of Peace Talks worth keeping is the practice duel between the knights at the Carpenters. That was glorious, and can be read in its own right as a short story - I'd recommend adding that to future reprints of the short stories.
But otherwise?

I Don't Care About These People.
Everyone in the last two books has been mutilated beyond repair. Including Murph; her death is a secondary problem. Both she and Marcione were awesome because they were mortals dealing with the supernatural.
Both refused direct supernatural power. Now she's a Valk and he's got a coin.
She refused a Sword of the Cross and is supposed to be a devout Catholic. Now in the service of Odin? Nuh.

When Marcione was offered a job by Nicodemus, Marcione responded by offering *Nick* a job! That was classy.
Given his nature through the previous books, rather than taking a coin, Marcione should have calmly given it to a twisted but loyal sidekick.

Likewise the other characters. Probably the most relatable character was Mab!

I get the impression that Jim didn't even bother to read his own books before returning to the series.
He'd have to declare the last book - which is one story stretched across two volumes - noncanon for me to return to the world.

6
DF Spoilers / Re: King Arthur's Scabbard
« on: June 06, 2022, 02:17:23 PM »
The swords do no change shape either, they change form.
And your distinction between shape and form is...what?
Because both a noose and a scabbard hold something still; you can form a noose in a rope belt to hold a sword.

Meanwhile, Katanas date from the 10thC, broadswords from the High Middle Ages, the cavalry sabre from the 17thC. The swords have clearly changed radically; probably starting out as Roman Gladii.
(And that's before pointing out that the swords are older than the languages they are supposedly named in).

Your other points deserve their own thread(s). Probably based on the 13 treasures of Britain.

7
DF Spoilers / King Arthur's Scabbard
« on: June 03, 2022, 01:51:44 PM »
From Morte d' Arthur:
Then Sir Arthur looked on the sword, and liked it passing well. Whether liketh you better, said Merlin, the sword or the scabbard? Me liketh better the sword, said Arthur. Ye are more unwise, said Merlin, for the scabbard is worth ten of the swords, for whiles ye have the scabbard upon you, ye shall never lose no blood, be ye never so sore wounded; therefore keep well the scabbard always with you.

Given that in Dresdenverse:
1) Excalibur is a Sword of the Cross, and
2) Nicodemus has a Noose with the powers of the Scabbard above, and
3) the Swords can change form -

maybe the Noose used to be the Scabbard? Certainly Nicodemus would enjoy persuading the Knights that one of their holy relics was an evil artifact. It is Arthurian canon that the scabbard is stolen by a witch.

8
DFRPG / Re: King Arthur's Scabbard
« on: June 03, 2022, 01:49:53 PM »
Interesting.  I think there's a whole forum on this website dedicated to these kinds of theories.  You should post it there and see what people think!
thanks, I'll do so

9
DFRPG / King Arthur's Scabbard
« on: April 29, 2022, 12:41:02 PM »
From Morte d' Arthur:
Then Sir Arthur looked on the sword, and liked it passing well. Whether liketh you better, said Merlin, the sword or the scabbard? Me liketh better the sword, said Arthur. Ye are more unwise, said Merlin, for the scabbard is worth ten of the swords, for whiles ye have the scabbard upon you, ye shall never lose no blood, be ye never so sore wounded; therefore keep well the scabbard always with you.

Given that in Dresdenverse:
1) Excalibur is a Sword of the Cross, and
2) Nicodemus has a Noose with the powers of the Scabbard above, and
3) the Swords can change form -

maybe the Noose used to be the Scabbard? Certainly Nicodemus would enjoy persuading the Knights that one of their holy relics was an evil artifact. It is Arthurian canon that the scabbard is stolen by a witch.

10
DFRPG / Cats and barriers...
« on: January 23, 2022, 03:53:43 AM »
given cats can cross thresholds and wards without difficulty, has anyone played with using a cat as a launch mechanism for spells?

11
DFRPG / 7 Aspects, 7 Laws...
« on: September 03, 2021, 06:12:17 AM »
Given each time Law Breaker is taken, an Aspect changes, a wizard who has broken all 7 Laws will *only* have aspects related to his crimes. But what about the other way? Has anyone taken the inverse of the Laws into account when creating a character? Or decided which Aspects would be destroyed by each Law?

12
DFRPG / supporting villain for your amusement
« on: August 29, 2021, 12:22:28 PM »
Alfred Dawkins
Supernatural advertising Executive

That'll kill you...

Patronising health adverts that make teetotallers turn to drink; inspire teenagers to smoke, or do drugs; drivers to speed. Dieting ads that send you on an eating binge. Alfred makes them all. He sees the future, a future of death, and has long since stopped trying to prevent it - instead, he sees to it that he is well paid to ensure it. The tobacco lobby loves him, and ensures that he is employed where he can do the most harm.
His actions have changed time by killing people, or on a couple of occasions having them turned into undead monstrosities - although he is only the bearer of bad news, the results have been sufficient to warp his soul beyond recognition.
Alfred knows which of the local goons are going to get killed by the PCs, so will ensure that those goons are on stand by to act as bullet shields. He should never be encountered alone.
His Lawbreaker Powers increase his inability to persuade others of the truth of their fates; Alfred deliberately tells the truth to ensure that people will not avoid their fate. He particularly enjoys it when people would have avoided the future but for his 'attempt to persuade' them to take precautions results in them refusing to do what they originally intended. (This is also necessary for him to increase his Lawbreaker Powers. Specifically, Lawbreaker 1 requires that they die because they change their action to refuse his advice; Lawbreaker 5 requires them becoming undead; Lawbreaker 6 requires a change to the city).
Important skills: Great Resources, Fair Intimidate.
Stunts: Infuriate, Teflon Persona
Powers: Cassandra's Tears, Lawbreaker 1, 5 and 6.
Against other NPCs, the -2 from Tears stacks with +3 from Lawbreaker as a -5 penalty on Discipline rolls etc to avoid temptations and continue on their normal, non-self-destructive lives.
Against PCs, Alfred should be throwing multiple compels based on their Troubles and how they will kill the PCs.

13
DFRPG / Re: DFRPG stats for Ghosts, Spectres and Poltergeists
« on: August 18, 2021, 05:18:02 AM »
How about a ghost that for most purposes, doesn't exist?

Create some aspects for it - and nothing else. The ghost can be compelled, or spend Fate, but does not otherwise interact with the rest of the universe. It remains until someone compels it to 'move on'.

14
DFRPG / Re: Questions about Beast-Change & skills
« on: August 18, 2021, 05:11:43 AM »
I wouldn't allow someone to get a Human Form rebate on Beast Change.
The Alphas do - check 115 OW.

15
DFRPG / Re: Please help with 2 spells for my wizard
« on: August 18, 2021, 05:08:54 AM »
Are you planning to only use this for his clothes? Because if so, making them a 0pt Item is the way to go.
Or, Power Option: Spell from p308 of The Paranet Papers, granting Flesh Mask to weave a 'skin' of nifty clothes.
If though he can fix other people's clothes though, you need to plough through the Thaumaturgy rules.

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