How Many Scions Can You Make?

[Belial666]

Here's my very first DF character, one I've yet to play in the game. As long as you don't look at her with the Sight and you don't mind the occasional otherworldly aura, she's a cute girl... in an eldritch abomination sort of way. She's the scion of a greater outsider but still too young to have anywhere close to her full power.

Character: Lily Young Player: Belial
Template: Scion (modeled on changeling)
High Concept Aspect: Cute Eldritch Horror
Trouble Aspect: Unearthly yet Clueless

There are beings beyond this reality that few will name, even if they can. Luckily for us clueless mortals, the Outsiders are all locked beyond the Gates. Or are they? What if one could arrange for a living being to be born that could take a small piece of itself into the world at birth? And then, as said being grew, that piece would grow while the outsider waned until the two became one and free to act in the world.
But life is notoriously difficult to predict and easy to change at an early stage. What if a loving parent taught the child human values? What if she was kept away from the supernatural so the desire for power did not corrupt her? What if the child was cute and likable and had no plans of world domination? Free will is a wonderful and terrible thing.
So said child was born. She's a cute young woman now, always striving to be likable and help others, with a healthy dose of responsibility after growing up in a farm. Problem is, those people in the know sense something is wrong with her, something that makes them uneasy. That she has no clue whatsoever of how the supernatural works and she fails to be scared or respectful or understanding or just knowing when to shut her mouth tends to complicate things.



Appearance
Lily is tall, slim and good-looking, with long brown hair, green eyes, delicate nose and a heart-shaped face with dimples. While vigorous and healthy, she looks a bit pale and young for her age, still clinging to that girlish line of late sixteen and easily falling to the cute expressions common to children. Despite having worked in a farm, her hands look delicate and without caluses and she has no scars older than a year or two.
Her powers manifest physically as an aura of unease or subtle features like black eyes, long ears or muscles playing under her skin when it is something subtle as speed or sensory enhancement and rarely appear as anything monstrous... to human eyes. Those having the senses to pierce her human guise usually see something unnatural and terrible but still beautiful beneath.

ITEM OF POWER
Scion of Darkness
Lily's coat is a powerful item associated with powers from beyond this reality. When using the item she may employ sponsored magic from that source. Such magic is often alien and while it applies to spirit as well as normal magics, it works on the other elements subtractively; draining energy instead of light or fire, diminishing earth and its forces instead of shaping it, using void instead of air and lightning and so on. It functions especially well for subtractive spirit magic; reducing minds and energies to nothing.
Mechanically, treat as spirit for evocations. +1 power/control for spells that inflict stress or consequenses. For thaumaturgy, add disruption, conjuration, diabolism. (diabolism refers to outsiders, not denizens of Hell. The magic should be mechanically equivalent to Hellfire, only the flavor is different)
Agenda
The coat, like all items of power, is tied to a powerful entity, a purpose if its own. Debt incurred when using magic from it compels that agenda... which is the weakening of the Veil between this world and others.
It is what it is
The coat is made of heavy fabrics and since it is indestructible it is very good in stopping most attacks. Of course, it is not rigid (as the wearer could not move) and does not cover everything so very precise or very powerful attacks carry through and deal damage. (armor 3)
Indestructible
The coat cannot be permanently damaged unless somehow used in a ritual to pervert its purpose.
Secrets
The origins of the coat have been kept secret for a reason, the same reason it is so relatively modern-looking compared to other items of power; it is tied to the same Outsider that arranged for Lily's birth not very long ago. What this might mean for its agenda concerning Lily none can say but speculation abounds. Most probably, it is a way to tempt Lily with powers she has not yet developed, give access to them before she develops control on her own...
(mechanically speaking, 1 more refresh and Lily could have sponsored magic without the need for an item of power. But suddenly reaching for that power before she is ready would force her nature over her free will. I.e. spending 1 more refresh on a Change before her refresh increases sends her to negative refresh and makes her a monster)
Focus and Enchanted items
Lily lacks formal training and her Lore skills are what she has gleaned from research or self-experimentation. Her focuses tend to be simplistic at best. She has one bracelet of +2 offensive spirit control and one bracelet of +2 offensive spirit power.
Evocation
Lily has evocation ability she can use like many mortal practicioners (even though she isn't one). Her elements are spirit, darkness (subtractive fire) and void (subtractive air). She specialises in spirit, getting +1 control.

ASPECTS
Cute Eldritch Horror: Lily is a cute young woman that also happens to be a still growing physical manifestation of some force beyond our world. (High Concept)
Invoke: Wheedling, summoning boys, getting people to like her, using or resisting dark or mental powers, including her own.
Compel: Being taken seriously, intimidating (not), avoiding boys, avoiding or resisting faith and warding magic.
Unearthly yet Clueless: Lily strikes anyone with some arcane sense as not-human. Dark powers might even treat her as demon. At the same time she is almost completely ignorant of the nature of the supernatural world and its workings.
Invoke: Ignoring intimidation, being buddies with dark creatures, asking forgiveness but not permission, making Sight users insane. (not always good things)
Compel: not knowing what (not) to do, trusting, lore, avoiding supernatural senses, making Sight users insane
Aunt's House in the Woods: Lily lived the majority of her admittedly short life in her aunt's house at the Great Smoky Mountains, Tenesee, well away from the "corruption" of modern life, learning the benefits of healthy living, hard work and little things in life. She's way more healthy physically and mentally than most city dwellers but does not go well with most modern appliances either. She still has said house to remember her aunt by.
Invoke: strength and endurance, determination, survival, resisting temptation
Compel: using modern appliances, urban navigation, fitting in, seizing the moment
Out of the Circle, Into the Fire: Lily registers as a demon to certain magics. She often attracts the attention of summoners and dark creatures, and they sometimes try to ask for favors or make pacts with her. And while her considerable abilities would allow her to fulfill many of these favors, Lily insists she is not a demon. Hilarity invaiably ensues.
Invoke: influencing or making deals with summoners, warlocks and creatures interested in demonic power.
Compel: spurned warlocks, curious 'real' demons and alarmed champions of faith causing trouble. They're funny like that.
Cloak of Trouble: Lily wears this cool-looking, occasionally glowing heavy black coat with the strange runes on the inside. Keeping it to remember her aunt by and prevent it from being used for evil purposes, she occasionally draws power from it while trying to help. It (allegedly) belongs to her after all.
Invoke: Using it as an item of power, protective clothing, looking cool.
Compel: Debts from its use, blending in.
Good Intentions, Paved Roads: Lily wants to help. She always wants to do the right thing. Unfortunately, she is often impulsive and doesn't think before she acts.
Invoke: convincing people she wants to help, resisting temptation
Compel: not thinking things through, convincing people she is competent
Not On My Watch!: After several altercations and a showdown with power-hungry wizards, she hates their power-grabbing guts. She will oppose their plans on sheer principle. She finds non-human supernaturals more honest (even when evil) and has some trouble trusting the good human wizards out there.
Invoke: fighting mortal black magic, seeing through wizard deception
Compel: not trusting the white council, believing supernaturals

Background: Where did you come from?

Genetics are overrated; biological ancestry might make you what you are but real parents will make you who you are. Or that is what Lily's aunt Amaya always said. A herbalist in her golden years that had retreated in the less civilized parts of Tenessee and taken up farming of all things, she raised up Lily to believe in hard work, healthy living and helping others. Lily's parents were never discussed; at an early age Lily realised that was a sore subject for her beloved Auntie A. and did not bring it up. After all, nobody had come looking for her in all those years and the old woman had the burden of raising her so late in life. Either her parents were dead -and if they were, reminding Auntie A of her lost sister was a no no- or worse, they did not care. And the old woman loved her; why mess up a good thing? Six years learning why people needed help at Auntie A's side as she dispensed herbs and advice to other country houses, ten years doing her best to make the burden of farm work lighter. All in all, sixteen years well spent. Who needed more?

Phase Aspect: Aunt's House in the Woods.

Rising Conflict: What shaped you?

The past catches up to you. Especially if it is ugly and you're running from it. Lily's quiet life in the woods ended only days short of her sixteenth birthday when one cold winter night she got out the front door to check the water pipes for freezing and somehow found herself standing in an even colder basement, in the middle of a circle of chalk and candles and with a crazy robed man claiming she were a demon and he had summoned her. The man was short, thin and hungry-looking under his robes and Lily felt pity for him, despite his maniacal demands to do his bidding and smite his enemies with the "nightmares from beyond". But things got infinitely worse when Auntie A. appeared, dressed in an even wierder, seamless black coat with long sleeves and a hood and a murderous expression on her face. Her aunt was an aging woman and until that night Lily would never describe her as scary. And just like that, the scrawny, pathetic man transformed upon seeing her, from someone Lily pitied to something terrible. Words were exchanged between them-they knew eachother. And when words did not suffice, bolts of flame and darkness right out of a nightmare or her aunt's horror stories told by the fire when she was a little girl. The cold basement was ruined, broken, but they still fought until part of the roof collapsed and fell on Auntie A. Lily's mind went numb. She ran out of the circle, not even registering the unseen pressure that tried but failed to bar her passage. She barely heard the man's chant and the second attempt to contain her. And she didn't see her clawed hands that tore the man apart and threw his pieces into the roaring fire.
When the shock had passed days later, she found herself in the woods, before a small mound of rocks and soil six feet long and half as wide, the charred remains of her clothing still clinging to her body. The only thing left of Auntie A was her strange coat, as unscathed by the ordeal as Lily's skin.

Phase Aspect: Out of the Circle, Into the Fire

The Story: What was your first adventure?

Her aunt's sacrifice so she could live shamed Lily but what really haunted her was her own transformation. And while her shame almost stopped her, in the end she had to know. Searching her aunt's things and diaries yielded some facts: her aunt became a farmer to escape something. The heavy coat was magic and it belonged to Lily's unknown mother and now to Lily herself. And Lily? Auntie A knew of her powers -though her diaries gave no details- and she had taken her along to "protect her soul". Following the scant clues, with several hard-to-read diaries in one hand and a magic coat on the other, Lily left the Great Smoky Mountains behind and headed for Virginia. On the way she experimented and learned to manipulate her innate abilities to enhance her physical self but it was not until she encountered yet another robed man that she learned what the coat did -besides keeping her warm and cosy- and why they wanted it; it offered magic, power. The man retreated then but days later she was assaulted in her motel room and for the first time drew from that power to defend herself. The warlock -for that's what he had been- she forced in retreat. The motel she did not manage to save as her frantic attempts drew far too much power for her to control; she learned of the price of power and what evil or ignorant people could do with it. Lily decided to keep it out of their hands and, if she could manage it, put it to good use.

Phase Aspect:Coat of Trouble

Guest Starring...

When a dark cabal sacrificing supernatural creatures to drain their power is uncovered in Virginia, Lily Young interferes and attempts to help the captives. But what happens when Lily plays right into a warlock's grasp and foils another rescuer's plans?

Phase Aspect: Good Intentions, Paved Roads

Guest Starring Redux

When Lily follows the tracks left by a powerful warlock back to the city of London, she stumbles into an entire cabal of dark mages... and the wizards that try to stop them. But will Lily cooperate with the White Council to put an end to that threat or will her mistrust of wizards give victory to the warlocks?

Phase Aspect: Not On My Watch!

SKILLS
Superb (+5)  Conviction, Discipline
Great (+4)    Might, Athletics
Good (+3)    Fists, Endurance
Fair (+2)      Rapport, Alertness, Lore
Average (+1) Survival, Crafting, Presence, Empathy, Resources

STUNS & POWERS

[-1] Item of Power (sponsored magic, one-time discount)
[+0] Unnatural Constitution (as per wizard's)
[-3] Evocation
[+1] Average Jane
[-6] Modular Ability (form follows function catch is wounds from holy objects, stacked with warding magic for immunity)
Total Refresh Adjustment: -9

A power she occasionally uses via modular abilities:

Tentacles [-2]
Non-Eukleidian tentacle-like appendages extend from you to lash and rip nearby creatures. You may use might to attack or grapple every creature in the zone except for yourself. You don't have enough control to distinguish between friends and allies.
Special: Any bonuses and powers to using might does apply to the tentacles.

Lily works as a jack of all trades. Usually magic for offense, powers for defense, senses and various tricks.

[Crion]

@Belial666: That kind of Scion seems like it'd be a fun way to go. Then again, I've always like the unknown, the horrors of Lovecraft, and the idea of being split between two worlds (thus why I enjoy Scions). I don't know how well all of it goes into balance (I'm waiting for my books so I have an easier way to read things besides pdf files and a copy in a binder), but the concept itself looks interesting.
Personally, I'd have it scaled down even lower and RP the "evolution" of things, so to speak. But again, that's just my sick, twisted approach to gaming ^_^;
And if you could, think you could elaborate a bit more on the Evocations? I like how it's representing a different flavour than the basic elements and spirit, but I'd like to see a bit more for curiosity's sake.

As for other members of this discussion:

I'm digging the idea of Dragon Scions (always a fun topic in my old D&D sessions, still amusing now), but I'm curious what else is on the table. And for those that mentioned options, what sort of powers are you putting to them?

And as a personal note: How would you "stat" a Black Court Scion (aka: Dhampir)? Would they just be Red Court infected (with a Hunger track, sans the saliva and tattoos), or do you have a better approach?

I figure at the very least, most Dhampir would have some of the Inhuman physical powers to at least give them a chance to hunt blampires, as per the legends. I was also thinking to give them some equivalent of The Sight (or a very specific Lore stunt) to allow them to detect/see Vampires for what they are, regardless of Veils or flesh masks (If anything, I'd make this a required thing, much like the Changeling powers). I'd also allow Ritual (and possibly Thaumaturgy) as fitting options, with Channeling/Evocation as plausible. I can see a character growing into most of these powers (among others), but I'm curious if anyone else has another take.

So, vesides the idea of manifesting some VERY powerful Black Court powers (such as the legendary "turn to mist", beast forms, and mental domination), am I overlooking anything?

Note: I've had the argument in the past that the Dhampir of legend were just the equivalent of a very knowledgeable human who could perceive vampires; since the setting has vampires stronger than those of Balkan myth, it's only fair that their offspring be tougher as well.


Anyway, anyone else have some extra options and feedback?

--Crion

[DFJunkie]

And as a personal note: How would you "stat" a Black Court Scion (aka: Dhampir)?

How would they ever come into existance in the first place?  Blampires are dead.  Squick factor aside, I'd think they'd be incapable of sexual procreation.

Now, I can imagine some sort of ritual, ala Buffy, to essentially steal some of the power from a Blampire's demon and infuse it into a mortal, for later use against other members of the black court.  You could treat them like Scions in that the powers are heritable and similar to their supernatural "sire."

[Crion]

How would they ever come into existance in the first place?  Blampires are dead.  Squick factor aside, I'd think they'd be incapable of sexual procreation.

Now, I can imagine some sort of ritual, ala Buffy, to essentially steal some of the power from a Blampire's demon and infuse it into a mortal, for later use against other members of the black court.  You could treat them like Scions in that the powers are heritable and similar to their supernatural "sire."

I'm actually tossing it out there as per a request from an old Mage ST of mine, as this was something he was curious about when I offered the Dresden RPG as an option for a game. That, and I just like my folklore ^^;

Methods of (pro)creation aside (as there can be any number of approaches, from the plethora of options by ritual, a bloodline "curse," the film version of Blade, or even the reference within traditional folklore where they go through the deed immediately after the change), I'm curious what some people would do with this option when it comes to game mechanics.

So, anyone have an opinion or approach? And any other Scions hitting the table? If so, how did they work out, and what sort of options were open to them?

[Belial666]

Lily starts out submerged, like a strong wizard (i.e. Harry) or Knight of the Cross, with only a fraction of her potential realized. Through her adventures she's expected to grow up to be stronger. Harry for example doubled his refresh worth of powers over ten books (not counting Changes or Turn Coat) and still has more than ten books still to go.


Most of the magic we have seen this far is to make something out of nothing by giving energy (evocation) or make something bigger out of something smaller but related (thaumaturgy). That's the idea behind additive magic, one of several types of magic conceptually possible.
Lily's magic is subtractive, which is the opposite; to make nothing out of something, or reduce something big into something smaller. Everything Lily does with magic should diminish an object, a force or an idea. Examples follow;

To move something with air, a normal wizard creates a strong current to push the target. Lily would excise the air from behind the target or diminish the pressure of that air, creating a vacuum that would pull the target.
To kill something with Fire, a normal wizard would put additional energy into heat to burn it. Lily would drain the heat instead and freeze it to death or drain the heat into another form of energy-say, kinetic or chemical-to make the target explode with its own energy.
To counter a spell, a wizard would try to dispel it, unraveling the magic with his own power. Lily would diminish the force of the spell until it faded.
To travel through the Ways, a wizard would push with enough energy to part the Veil and create a Gateway. Lily would drain energy from the Veil until it weakened and parted into a Gateway.
To create a mental suggestion, a wizard would enhance the ideas and emotions that worked towards it. Lily would diminish ideas and emotions that opposed it.


That's how it works.

[Deadmanwalking]

Procreation mechanics aside (I like the idea that, like corpses are in theory, the Black Court are fertile for a few days) I think Dhampirs would have the following abilities at base:

Strange Senses: Vampire Detection [-1]
Wizard's Constitution [+0]

And could acquire these if they so desired:

Inhuman Strength [-2]
Inhuman Speed [-2]
Inhuman Toughness [-2]
The Catch is Unknown [+0]

It's actually not necessary for them to be inhumanly physically potent to take Black Court down, knowing their Catch makes them a hell of a lot less scary, but they make sense to have and would be fun for the player, so why not?

I really don't think they should get any other powers as part of being a Dhampir, but they could definitely have powers from other sources humans can get it from, suc as being a Wizard or Were-creature.

[Crion]

@Belial666: Interest approaches overall. So instead of the idea of net positive energy, it is more to the idea of a negative energy approach?
Either way, still fitting, still interesting, so thank you for tossing that out there.

@Deadmanwalking

Procreation mechanics aside (I like the idea that, like corpses are in theory, the Black Court are fertile for a few days) I think Dhampirs would have the following abilities at base:

Strange Senses: Vampire Detection [-1]
Wizard's Constitution [+0]

And could acquire these if they so desired:

Inhuman Strength [-2]
Inhuman Speed [-2]
Inhuman Toughness [-2]
The Catch is Unknown [+0]

It's actually not necessary for them to be inhumanly physically potent to take Black Court down, knowing their Catch makes them a hell of a lot less scary, but they make sense to have and would be fun for the player, so why not?

I really don't think they should get any other powers as part of being a Dhampir, but they could definitely have powers from other sources humans can get it from, suc as being a Wizard or Were-creature.

Do you think they should have a non-existant catch, or do you think it would be extremes of what repels a blampire? Would they even have something that could act as a Catch, determined at character creation (such as one item from the blampire list, or something entirely different but still fitting)? Again, just kicking around ideas.
And yes, while it may not be necessary for them to be inhumanly potent, it is still fitting for the theme and would be fun for a player.

Speaking of these inhuman powers, do you believe they would use a Hunger track of sorts, like a Red Court Infected? Speaking of, how would a Red Court Infected clear their track? I don't remember seeing it written in the RPG, and we have seen it "cleared" enough to function twice in the series: once with some blood drinking (but not enough to cause harm) and once in a rather. . .interesting scene between Harry and Susan.

As for other, non-wizarding powers, I can see some of them coming into play if the Dhampir became more like their parents after an extended existence, but that seems to be more NPC fodder or a higher-level game.

Again, just kicking around ideas, don't mind me.

[Deadmanwalking]

Do you think they should have a non-existant catch, or do you think it would be extremes of what repels a blampire? Would they even have something that could act as a Catch, determined at character creation (such as one item from the blampire list, or something entirely different but still fitting)? Again, just kicking around ideas.

I...don't think that having one of their parent's Catches feels right. They have just enough of their parent's powers to be dangerous to them, but they aren't the same order of being. Almost more of a cosmic defense mechanism or curse against them than real Scions. For that very reason, I considered having "Any Attack By Mortals" as their Catch and upping their Toughness or adding Recovery, but that felt like too much, especially with the whole thing with Renfields and whether they'd count or not.

And yes, while it may not be necessary for them to be inhumanly potent, it is still fitting for the theme and would be fun for a player.

Yeah, I'm all for letting players have their fun. 

Speaking of these inhuman powers, do you believe they would use a Hunger track of sorts, like a Red Court Infected? Speaking of, how would a Red Court Infected clear their track? I don't remember seeing it written in the RPG, and we have seen it "cleared" enough to function twice in the series: once with some blood drinking (but not enough to cause harm) and once in a rather. . .interesting scene between Harry and Susan.

Re-read the Feeding Rules, even one scene of non-lethal feeding gets rid of all Hunger Consequences, and one Stress Box. You only need to kill to reduce Stress completely. Obviously, Red Court Infected usually go for Consequences in terms of Hunger.

As for other, non-wizarding powers, I can see some of them coming into play if the Dhampir became more like their parents after an extended existence, but that seems to be more NPC fodder or a higher-level game.

This too feels wrong, for the reasons listed above. It seems to me that Dhampirs shouldn't so much be "half-vampires" in the way that the Red Court are, but instead a legitimate thing of their own, a scourge on the Black Court (pun intended) from some ancient curse or some such. Their ability to sense vampires is what really makes me feel that way, I mean, that just makes so much more sense that way.

Again, just kicking around ideas, don't mind me.

Hey, me too.  What else is this thread for?

[CMEast]

I...don't think that having one of their parent's Catches feels right. They have just enough of their parent's powers to be dangerous to them, but they aren't the same order of being. Almost more of a cosmic defense mechanism or curse against them than real Scions. For that very reason, I considered having "Any Attack By Mortals" as their Catch and upping their Toughness or adding Recovery, but that felt like too much, especially with the whole thing with Renfields and whether they'd count or not.

Hmm, that'd be interesting. Rather than Dhampir having powers of their own, they just satisfy a catch for all BCV powers and are immune to them, sort of like BCV kryptonite. I'd argue that this would be a 1 or perhaps 2 refresh power only as they have no control over it's use and it is very specific.

[Crion]

Hmm, that'd be interesting. Rather than Dhampir having powers of their own, they just satisfy a catch for all BCV powers and are immune to them, sort of like BCV kryptonite. I'd argue that this would be a 1 or perhaps 2 refresh power only as they have no control over it's use and it is very specific.

Actually, something like this is rather fitting from the folklore perspective, as there are legends of Dhampir just walking into a village that was plagued by a vampire, spots the vampire with just a glance, fires one bullet and presumed it dead after hearing a death scream from an unseeable source and a bloodspot on the ground. Just not entirely sure if it would be too game breaking, ya know?

I just thought of the "powers of their own" as they are still half human, after all, and if there can be vampire wizards/sorcerers, why not their children as well?



And Deadmanwalking. . .I'll get back to you in a bit. Need to finish something here at work, and then I can devote some attention to more ideas being kicked around. Thanks as always for the input; I'm looking forward to another interesting thread here with you.

[Fedifensor]

Well we don't really know enough about Dresdenverse Dragons to be sure, but I'd say things like Breath Weapon (obviously), Supernatural Toughness (scaly armoured skin), Supernatural Strength, Human Guise (Ferrovax doesn't always look like a giant winged dinosaur), and quite possibly spellcasting would all be valid options for half-Dragons.

To be honest though, given how powerful WoJ has implied True Dragons to be half-dragons might well not fit into Submerged unless they were really weak examples.

My wife is working on a "dragon-blooded" emissary of power.  We've left it deliberately vague as to whether she is a half-dragon, a mortal child that was fed dragon blood in a ritual to imbue her with power, or something else.  However, whichever choice we go with, those responsible were members of the dragon cult that followed Siriothrax (the dragon Michael killed).  Either way, the character starts at Submerged power level, and has the potential to be earth-shakingly powerful...with the caveat that it may take a thousand years for her to fully grow into her draconic heritage.

Here's the powers we came up with:
(-1) Marked by Power (Dragon-Blooded) - Though the character does not (to her knowledge) have a patron, she has been marked by the blood of a true dragon, which shows up when she is viewed with the Sight.
(-2) Inhuman Strength
(-2) Inhuman Recovery*
(-2) Inhuman Toughness*
(-6) Mythic Toughness (special) - The character is highly resistant to fire, but not quite immune.  This is an exception to the normal rules for Stacked Catch, allowed because the character plans to upgrade to Physical Immunity after a few Major Milestones.  For now, the character has Armor: 3 versus fire/heat/smoke, and four extra stress boxes that only apply versus fire.
 (+5) Stacked Catch: Only versus fire/heat/smoke, easy to come by, uncovered by research

* Catch (+0): Dragonbane items (Swords of the Cross, etc)

Future upgrades include the Physical Immunity to fire mentioned above, and more physical manifestations of draconic power (dragon breath, wings, etc).  Once these start manifesting, her form will begin to change, and she will need to take Beast Change or Human Guise to continue to interact with mortals.  Spellcasting would be a LONG way away, unless she found a patron for sponsored magic.

[wyvern]

Another interesting notion is a child of an elemental force - for example, a child of a salamander might have:

(-2) Immune to Fire (that's a physical immunity with a +6 stacked catch, since it only protects against fire & fire byproducts like smoke inhalation, not-fire is easy to come by, and it's pretty obvious that the character is immune.)
(-4) Supernatural Recovery: It's not particularly hard to hurt a salamander - but, like a fire re-kindling from a few embers, making a salamander *stay* hurt is a rather trickier proposition.
(+3) Catch: Water magic or truly extreme cold.  Mere mundane water is insufficient to snuff out the fire of a salamander - but proper application of, say, liquid nitrogen, is pretty effective.  (In terms of stats, this is two catches: water magic is hard to get, but trivial to figure out that it'd work, while extreme cold is something anyone can get - albeit with some effort - but also isn't necessarily quite as obvious that it'd work.  You only get the rebate for the strongest catch; in this case, they're both +3, so that's the value.)
(-2) Inhuman Speed: fire is fast.
(-2) Breath Weapon: representing the character's ability to casually call up small amounts of fire.
(-2) Channeling: representing the character's ability to call up (or put out) *large* amounts of fire, albeit with some effort.

Of course, that cost structure relies on it being obvious that the character has salamander lineage (otherwise at least one catch value would go down by one), so you'll also need human guise or human form.  (Or maybe just a really good trenchcoat / hat / sunglasses combo?)  That could be as simple as an enchanted amulet (tying a -0 human guise to a +0 item of power), or it could be a natural shapeshifting ability where the character has access to both a human and a salamander form - perhaps modeled as a human form (+1) tied to channeling & inhuman speed.

For added fun, have that character work as a fireman.

[Crion]

Interesting ideas going on here again.

@wyvern: Is the Salamander the only one you've worked on so far? I can see other options coming to play with a similar design scheme. I could also see this going in two other ways: starting off with weaker powers and eventually picking up the bigger guns as you "mature," or having most of those powers under another form, or even some combination thereof.
Heh. . .ideas ^_^

@Fedifensor: How has the dragon scion been in game, if you've tested it yet? And when you say Dragonbane weapons, I assume there are a few random relics capable of such things in your game? Swords of the Cross fulfill the Catch on just about everything, so relying on just those would be rather daunting.


@Deadmanwalking: Sorry about taking so long to get back to this. It's been a busy week. . .but let's see what I can do.
When it comes to the Catch of a Dhampir, I'm at a loss. Attacks by mortals would be just plain nasty, especially with how plentiful they are and how easy they would be acquired by a Blampire (simple dominate, even without the Renfields, would be more than enough). Attacks by magic could be a fitting Catch, but then any Blampire with magic has a way to squash this threat with relative ease.
I could do something with Balkan/Gypsy blessings/curses/etc, but that might be hard to come across in the "New World."
Or, again, just design a catch at character creation, or have a Catch that the player knows exists but doesn't know what until that appropriately dramatic moment. . .

I've also considered the idea of Dhampir being their own catch to a Blampire's toughness as a 2 point power, but I'm not entirely sure how balanced that would be. Any thoughts on that?

Now, when it comes to their powers: do you think they should have a feeding dependency (to add some degree of inhuman threat to their powers), and do you think any Inhuman Power should be linked directly to the Hunger track? I'm just seeing this as the idea behind the White Court Virgins who will suddenly manifest a power and have the Hunger come following in right behind it. Not always a requirement to have those powers, but still possible to do so. . .at a cost (i.e. humanity).

Any other thoughts there?




And anyone else have another scion to share, or another thought in general to add to the mix?

[Deadmanwalking]

@Deadmanwalking: Sorry about taking so long to get back to this. It's been a busy week. . .but let's see what I can do.
When it comes to the Catch of a Dhampir, I'm at a loss. Attacks by mortals would be just plain nasty, especially with how plentiful they are and how easy they would be acquired by a Blampire (simple dominate, even without the Renfields, would be more than enough). Attacks by magic could be a fitting Catch, but then any Blampire with magic has a way to squash this threat with relative ease.
I could do something with Balkan/Gypsy blessings/curses/etc, but that might be hard to come across in the "New World."
Or, again, just design a catch at character creation, or have a Catch that the player knows exists but doesn't know what until that appropriately dramatic moment. . .

Honestly, I'd just go with a +0 Catch...the kind that explicitly never need to come up. Maybe they're vulnerable to something conceptually opposed to their vamiric parent's weaknesses? Unholy Stuff is actually a perfectly valid Catch...

I've also considered the idea of Dhampir being their own catch to a Blampire's toughness as a 2 point power, but I'm not entirely sure how balanced that would be. Any thoughts on that?

One point at most, I mean look at Righteousness. But honestly, I'd go with it as a -0 power, it's extremely situational, and having, say, iron claws wouldn't cost any more than the normal Claws cost, and that satisfies a Faerie's catch. Having the ability to do it with anything might be worth -1, I guess, but probably not.

Now, when it comes to their powers: do you think they should have a feeding dependency (to add some degree of inhuman threat to their powers), and do you think any Inhuman Power should be linked directly to the Hunger track? I'm just seeing this as the idea behind the White Court Virgins who will suddenly manifest a power and have the Hunger come following in right behind it. Not always a requirement to have those powers, but still possible to do so. . .at a cost (i.e. humanity).

Any other thoughts there?

I don't think so, but then my view of Dhampirs may or may not be how you want to do them. It'd involve things like Compels to make them run into and feel the need to kill the Black Court. Even in the middle of dealing with other foes, their nature would just be so inherently inimical to the Black Court that it'd come up.

If you really want to aim for the 'vaguely inhuman half-vampire' thing, yeah Feeding Dependency is good, but honestly I think Red court Infected have that one covered.

[Crion]

Honestly, I'd just go with a +0 Catch...the kind that explicitly never need to come up. Maybe they're vulnerable to something conceptually opposed to their vamiric parent's weaknesses? Unholy Stuff is actually a perfectly valid Catch...

I can see Unholy being a Catch for things that are Holy, but for an entity that is half dead-ish, a part of me can't see it being an overall thing. But again, I can see some random, epic moment where someone learns of an Achille's Heel for the Dhampir, and things go from there.
I like the idea if you never guessed :-p

One point at most, I mean look at Righteousness. But honestly, I'd go with it as a -0 power, it's extremely situational, and having, say, iron claws wouldn't cost any more than the normal Claws cost, and that satisfies a Faerie's catch. Having the ability to do it with anything might be worth -1, I guess, but probably not.

I was only thinking of the 2 pointer due to it being the Blampire Catch when they use anything. Again, following the myth I mentioned where the Dhampir just fired a single shot and did the equivalent of bypassing everything. But you are right in that it is extremely situational to be the Catch for just Blampires, so you think it should just be a -1 Refresh for that, bringing the minimum Refresh to -2 (-1 Vampire Sense, -1 "Vampire Slayer")?

I don't think so, but then my view of Dhampirs may or may not be how you want to do them. It'd involve things like Compels to make them run into and feel the need to kill the Black Court. Even in the middle of dealing with other foes, their nature would just be so inherently inimical to the Black Court that it'd come up.

If you really want to aim for the 'vaguely inhuman half-vampire' thing, yeah Feeding Dependency is good, but honestly I think Red court Infected have that one covered.

Honestly, I was going to Compel the high concept to bring Blampires to their doorstep, give them the need to jump into a nest to wipe them out, act impulsively on rumors, and even have them target the Blampire over all other foes (even if something was a bigger threat). But at the same time, I know that they aren't entirely human, and we all know that blood is power in the Dresdenverse, so I was thinking the feeding dependency would be fitting.

Again, just my line of thought, especially after seeing Red Court Infected being similar to Dhampir in so many ways.