Scion of Hermes?

[Belial666]

Andie Shun

Born to a chinese mother, father unknown, Andie Shun had always been apart from her peers. Strongly favoring her unknown father with her athletic build, olive skin and strong face while still retaining enough of her mother to appear exotic made her an outsider at school even more than being an immigrant to a small, backwards town in the Midwest did. Being sneaky and an introvert didn't help. All of that changed one rainy, dark afternoon as she returned late from school and became witness to something well into the Twilight Zone. The red court vampire had hunted in another's turf and wanted no witnesses. Besides, it was hungry. But try as it might, it could not catch the hysterical teenage girl that literally ran like the wind and escaped within moments.
From that day on Andie seemed scared of her own shadow when darkness fell and refused to go anywhere even remotely isolated after dark. She took up self-defense classes, carried three pepper-sprays and a big knife, and became more of a loner than before. Nearly a month after the event, a package for her came from Eastern Europe with a long note explaining a few things and a pair of really cool designer sandals. Andie recovered much of her lost self-confidence after that and even took part in gymnastics -in which she excelled- but would often vanish at night and her mother would worry for hours at a time. But she always returned and each time she did, a man-eating monster did not.

Aspects:
High Concept: Daughter of the Traveler
Trouble: Vampire Vendetta
Other: My Father's Winged Sandals, At The Speed Of Thought, I Am Not Bulletproof Damnit!, You'll Never See Me Coming

Skills:
+5 Athletics, Alertness
+4 Discipline, Stealth
+3 Endurance, Conviction
+2 Might, Fists, Burglary
+1 Rapport, Driving, Scholarship

Powers and Stunts:
[-6] Mythic Speed
[-1] My Father's Winged Sandals
  * They are exquisitely made sandals: tag once per scene for athletics
  * Indestructible
  * One-time Discount
  * Winged
  * Silent like a Summer Breeze (speed powers modify stealth in addition to athletics)
  * Olympic Speed (+1 bonus to Athletics)
[-1] Acrobatic Attack: You may use momentum and great speed to land your blows past opponents' defenses before they can react. If you use a supplemental action to move at least one zone as past of an unarmed attack, you may use your athletics instead of your fists for the brawling trapping.
[-1] Altered Time Sense: You have adapted to the demands and reactions of extreme speeds. Your conscious thought is now as fast as your reflexes, allowing you to focus on defending for several subjective seconds against attacks that appear lightning-fast. Use Athletics to defend against physical or mental attacks or maneuers.

[Papa Gruff]

Seems ok. I like the general concept a lot but have a few concerns.

If I were your GM I'd simply disallow you having mythic speed or at least make you put it onto the sandals as well. Mythic stuff, as I understand it, shouldn't be given to a PC lightheartedly. It is, at least in my opinion, something that a belongs to high level NPC or to a very developed PC with lots and lots of Major Milestones on his back.

An other thing: what is Hermes doing without his sandals? ... Thats not really a concern but something I'd simply like to now =P

As you did not take anything else in the Power department I probably would allow this char in my game. She is really only good at one thing... Running away ... Well stealthy stuff too =D

[Deadmanwalking]

Yeah, I wouldn't allow Mythic Speed on a PC either, but that's between you and your GM, since it's legal and technically workable. Ditto Altered Time sense.

And that's entirely leaving aside the fact that in most groups a character with a 9 shift attack and defense is just broken beyond belief and will literally ruin the game for everyone else in any combat encounter, just by making it impossible for the GM to make an enemy that can reasonably threaten you and not walk all over the other PCs like they're nothing. This would obviously not be the case in an entire group of similarly optimized characters, but it's worth noting.



In terms of actual mechanical issues, I'd be inclined to say that Silent As A Summer Breeze is overpowered as a -1 Power (+3 to a skill is really pushing it, there), but other than that it all works fine.

[CMEast]

Hmm, I know it's been discussed before but I still feel a little odd about allowing Athletics for an attack skill. I'd say it's fair to allow it to modify Fists or Weapons by +1, the same as Might can do with the strength powers, but any more just feels a little odd.

Bear in mind that while it's possible to transfer a trapping from one skill to another, I think it should make narrative sense. It wouldn't make sense to be able to attack with Burglary, Stealth or Lore either.

Hmm, however thinking about it, I can imagine a stunt that creates a specific attack using Athletics instead of Fists, and I suppose you could use that all the time for pretty much the same effect. It just feels ... cheeky, I suppose, to put one skill at max, give it further bonuses and then use it for attacking AND defense plus numerous other extras. In the same way you could create a character that uses Endurance to attack (his flesh is incredibly dense, and just uses his mass against them rather than skill, almost like getting hit by a car), Endurance to defend (he just shrugs off blows due to his density). Except athletics is cheesier as it takes less stunts and can get bonuses from speed powers.

[Belial666]

Look at, say, guns. It has a stunt to be used as a defense in addition to being a main attack skill. As for other skills:

Feint: you can deceive opponents into blocking where you won't strike so they are wide open to your real attack. Use deceit instead of weapons for melee attacks.
Hidden Blow: you are a master assassin - you can hide the angle of your blow or the true reach of your weapon until the very last moment and follow the blind spots in your enemy's vision caused by their own moves, weapons and armor, catching defending enemies off-guard. When using a light weapon such as a knife, a shortsword, a rapier or your hidden blade, you can use stealth instead of weapons for attacks and maneuers.
(Assassin's Creed anyone?)
Know Weakness: a demon that once wanted to eat your face will want to eat your face now and a thousand years from now. All supernatural creatures are thus rigid in their decisions and you have studied it all; how they act, how they think, how they fight - and how you can take advantage to kill them best. Against supernatural creatures, you can use Lore instead of [insert skill name] for attacks.
Dun Moch: you are a master of destroying an enemy's will to fight by verbally undermining their beliefs, choices and sense of self during combat until doubt makes them unable to defend. Against any enemy that can understand you, you may use your highest social skill (chosen when you first take this stunt) for attacks with [insert attack type]

Almost any skill can be justified as both attack and defense via stunts. And a -1 power is stronger and less limited than a stunt.

[CMEast]

Indeed, it's totally appropriate according to the rules. I'm just saying it makes me a little uncomfortable

---stunts---
[-1]Hidden Blow: When using a light weapon such as a knife, a shortsword, a rapier or your hidden blade, you can use stealth instead of weapons for attacks and maneuers.
[-1]Blend in: +2 to stealth rolls when in a crowd

---powers---
[-1] Cloak of shadows: Under cover of darkness gain +2 to stealth rolls.
[-2] Channelling (spirit) (to create veils and manoeuvres. Plus enchanted items like 'scent suppression' potions or assassin daggers)

With a stealth of 5, you could attack with a skill of 9 in a nightclub or similar, not including using the aspects for further bonuses. Then use the epic stealth to set up an ambush... ouch!

[Belial666]

Which explains how Altair and Enzio Auditore get away with dozens of assassinations in broad daylight in the center of the city. Not to mention my running around in a city in Assassin's Creed 2 until I could alert every guard I could find, gather all three dozen of them in an alley and killinate them with impunity. And then I realized my mission could only be started when the alarm stopped - which meant I had to run down all 11 of them that fled in abject terror and assassinte them before things calmed down.

[Katarn]

<All hail Thread Necromancer>

Here's my interpretation of a weaker scion of Hermes.  The emphasis in powers is on speed, but Hermes was also the deity of gambling so it tied in well.

Thought I'd throw my hat in the ring as a backup.  I have exams in December, but I can make a few posts a day, then after those my availability opens way up.

Name: Elias Ioannou

High Concept: Bookie Scion of Hermes
Trouble: Too Fleet-Footed For My Own Good
Other Aspects: If It Pays...., Never Tell Me the Odds, Need for Speed, Gambler, Don't Pick A Side

Skills:
5: Athletics
4: Alertness, Stealth
3: Deceit, Endurance
2: Scholarship, Weapons, Resources, Lore
1: Fists, Chess, Conviction, Presence

Physical:  OOOO
Mental: OOO
Social: OOO

Powers and Stunts:
-4 Supernatural Speed
-1 Fleet of Foot
-1 Too Fast to Hit

Other:
Equipment:  Money (currently Dutch Guilders), Staff with serpentine design (powerless), several pairs of good running shoes, Sandals that don't wear from running
Nationality, Occupation:  Greek Bookie
Languages:  Greek, Dutch, Russian
Physical Description:  43-year-old man, about 1.7m, 68kg, black beard just starting to grey

Total: -6
Adjusted Refresh: 2

Backstory:  Born in 1936 to a Greek family, Elias was a gifted athlete even from a young age.  He won every race he participated in; which wasn't many, due to the World War II occupation, and the subsequent Greek Civil War.  He had a knack of pickpocketing troops from any side, a habit only aided and abetted by the fact the soldiers could never keep up with him.  It was a risk he loved taking.  It was near the end of the Civil War his parents told him that he was adopted. Hurt by their secrecy, Elias struck out on his own a year after the conflict ended.

Elias didn't know that his innate gift of speed was actual magical talent (or even the existance of magic) until he visited Mount Olympus a few years later.  When he was 17 (1953), he was about to move to the Netherlands to find work, and visited the Mountain.  Upon reaching the peak, he fell unconscious, and was given a dream by Hermes explaining his true heritage.  Armed with the knowledge of his abilities, Elias moved to the Netherlands, and learned a little bit about the greater magical community.  He used his abilities in moderation, fighting his need for speed.

Elias tried to avoid the Cold War, but it was inevitable wherever he went.  After living in the Netherlands and remaining flat broke, he wound up taking long-distance delivery jobs, which invariably led him to hot spots for the conflict, such as Berlin.  Elias self-taught himself Russian because it knew it could become handy, especially with delivery jobs into USSR territory.  Eventually, he grew tired of people shooting at him and settled into a career of his other love:  gambling.  Elias knew the risks of gambling, and knew better than to get hooked himself so he became a bookie with varying degrees of legitimacy, depending on the country he was in.  Despite his better judgement, he still takes risks and gambles in events he's not acting as bookie.

[Sanctaphrax]

The Spare Character Concepts thread could use a submission or two, I think.

[Katarn]

If I wind up not using him, sure thing.

[Wyrdrune]

for my game i created a sponsored magic: hermes with emphasis on travelling, communication, trickery and thievery as he is messenger of the gods and patron deity of travellers and thieves.