Character Concept Help

[Bango Shank]

Hello all,

So I have this idea for a character but am having a very hard time making it work, both mechanically and thematically. I was hoping the good people of the forums might be able to shed some insight on how to make this work of if it's even possible at all.

The idea is that there's a guy who's powers derive from belief in himself and the power of the human mind, body, and spirit. Basically Mind over Matter. The idea came out of, strangely enough, an episode of Batman Beyond. In the episode there's a group of psychics trying to kidnap a young girl with powerful abilities. One of the group is a guy in a suit who is immune to just about all physical hard, can throw around heavy furniture and appliances like they were beachballs, and is otherwise unfazed by most forms of aggression. I wanted to do something similar in the Dresden RPG. It seemed possible at the time given that Faith is a real source of power in the universe. The concept (as I have yet to work out aspects beyond Mind over Matter) is a guy who believes in humanity's superiority over all other beings. He wishes to raise humanity up to be able to defend and protect itself from the threats presented by Vampires, Fae, and other things that go Bump in the Night. In this way he's kind of like a self-help guru, one of those guys selling crappy books on "realizing your inner potential", only in his case it's actually very true and he stands as the foremost example of the results. Then problems started to arise...

First and foremost is the concept problem. Is faith in yourself and your own abilities to the point of defying reality itself enough to warrant supernatural powers? Again, the Mind over Matter aspect springs to mind here, and there are plenty of real world cases where well disciplined men and women have been shown to survive unharmed from even serious tests (saw a guy bend a sword with the point on his neck once for instance). The idea is that he has such faith and belief in what he can do that this faith is strong enough to make it true. He knows he's bulletproof, wholeheartedly and without a doubt, and so he actually is.

Then there's the mechanics. The toughness powers are a little strange to me and I've been trying to work out how they come together. I understood it for the most part up until I got to stacked catches in Physical Immunity. Here's where I'm at:
-Supernatural Toughness
-Physical Immunity
-Inhuman Recovery
-->Catch: Provides protection against physical attacks only. (Does not work on fire, electricity, etc)

Now if I'm reading Stacked Catches right then I can add another catch onto the existing one I have for these three toughness powers for a greater discount. So I could end up with something like this:
-Supernatural Toughness
-Physical Immunity
-Inhuman Recovery
-->Catch: Provides protection against physical attacks only. (Does not work on fire, electricity, etc)
-->Catch: Must breath (Does not work on suffocation, drowning, smoke, etc)

If it works like this, then the bonuses for the two catches actually make both Supernatural Toughness and Inhuman Recovery free. I know I could take Supernatural Recovery instead for free but I feel like that would be going overboard a bit (especially considering I already have a pretty serious power in Physical Immunity). I'm just wondering if I am doing this all correctly.

I'm also wondering if there are any ideas or thoughts on what else I could do to make this character. Beyond the toughness powers I have very little idea as to what to give him, both as far as powers go and with his skills. I know that conviction should be one of his more major skills, but I don't know if discipline should be up there as well. Should discipline and conviction both be the same and very high, or should one take precedence over the other? What about for offensive abilities? Should I stick with the original idea and take a Super-strength route and invest is Fists and Supernatural Strength? Or should I make it more modern and go Guns, the theory being that he likes using man-made technology to kill things not human?

Any and all feedback or comments would be greatly appreciated.

[Richard_Chilton]

Just a quick note on his concept...  It would make sense if his Faith had led him to something that gave him the power... Say if there was a hole that opened into a nightmare part of the nevernever and weirdness was coming through, but his Faith in himself somehow repelled it (the way Dresden's Faith in magic repels things) and in doing so it changed him in an unique way...

I'm thinking the mystic equivalent of being bombarded by gamma rays or bitten by a radioactive spider - he survives by his belief in himself but most of the power comes from elsewhere.  He doesn't even have to know the source of his powers.  He might think that it all comes from his Faith, which had gotten stronger since the time he stared down that weirdness.  And since that's how he thinks his powers work they would probably stop working if he didn't believe they would work (i.e. he somehow lost faith in himself).

Richard

[Bubba Amon Hotep]

Hmm, interesting.  You could go "massive mentalist".  Make him a Tony Robins self help guru.  Have thousands of people believe in him.  Then he becomes a Focus of Faith.  He doesn't get the power from within, as much as he gets power from all the people that believe in him.  We know that the swords of the cross are focus items that channel the faith of millions across the world into physical reality.  He would be like that but on a smaller scale.

This would also lock him in to wanting to increase his "power base" and convert more and more people to his thinking so he could become stronger, or keep his powers.  Take some stunts to shift skill checks to Conviction, or Discipline.  And make everything a mind game with the character.

Almost like a "Tick" character.  Is he so strong and tough because he thinks he is? or because he is the embodiment of justice?

[Ophidimancer]

The other way you could go is that his powers come from extreme discipline.  He might have trained with Tibetan monks, Indian gurus, the most advanced biofeedback training.  Basically David Blaine to the point of unlocking supernatural powers.

[Bango Shank]

Hmm, interesting.  You could go "massive mentalist".  Make him a Tony Robins self help guru.  Have thousands of people believe in him.  Then he becomes a Focus of Faith.  He doesn't get the power from within, as much as he gets power from all the people that believe in him.  We know that the swords of the cross are focus items that channel the faith of millions across the world into physical reality.  He would be like that but on a smaller scale.

This would also lock him in to wanting to increase his "power base" and convert more and more people to his thinking so he could become stronger, or keep his powers.  Take some stunts to shift skill checks to Conviction, or Discipline.  And make everything a mind game with the character.

ooh... I like it. So how would you make this mechanically? I haven't looked yet but is there a way to set up an individual as a Focus of Faith (like the Pope I suppose). In this instance I think Conviction would be more important than Discipline, though if I'm off base here please tell me (abstracts are hard to pin down like that).

[Bubba Amon Hotep]

Mechanically . . . . hmmm

Okay how about, "Emissary of Power".  A human saddled with the burden of great power from human spirit or Faithful Followers.  Therefore you would have to have "[ -1 ] Marked by power"  This would be your ability to "shine/standout" to humans and supernatural monsters to let them know you are a part of something powerful.   You would have to work to maintain Emissary of Power status by working to convert more and more people.  You would also have to keep up a strong public image and never allow yourself to be filmed, photographed, or seen by a lot of people in questionable areas.  Would also let the Storyteller/Game master compel your trouble to not be able to do things because this.

In regards to powers, since they are all mind based you could create the pool and go modular.  Give yourself a Human form for when you aren't "psyched up" and give yourself a beast change to represent when you are.  Create the pool of points and do a short list of abilities.  You have limitations, but you would be able to spend a round to "psyche up/shift" to a new power.  A two point pool will cost you four refresh.  But that grants you lots of range.  As you milestone up, you can increase your pool and have multiple powers going at once.

I can see the character on stage getting ready to be cut by weapons.  Even walk across glass.  So he "psyches up" and activates inhuman toughness.  Then impresses the crowd. 

For the next show of power he wants to do something with speed.  So he spends a round to deactivate the toughness, and activate Inhuman speed.

So it would be written as so.

[-1] Marked by power
[+1] Human Form
[-1] Beast Change
      [-4] Modular Abilities
             Form Points - 2

Total Cost -5.  So you could play the character with a feet in the water campaign.  With more refresh you can increase your form pool, or buy some stunts.  Perhaps one that shifts Endurance to Conviction for you, for determining physical stress.

Hope this helps get your creative juices flowing.

[Hoyled]

Just as a side thought if you go with the whole center of his own religion idea, it might be fun to consider the character as being holy and thus a punch from him would meet the catch for some monsters.