Sidhe-born Changelings and Power Selection.

[GruffAndTumble]

I'm pre-genning characters for a one-shot I'm running tomorrow, and one of the High Concepts I'm running with is "Mortal-born Prince of Ogres." His father is a Wyld Sidhe, the Ogre King, which I feel entitles the father to some upgraded powers, like Supernatural Strength. Should I allow Supernatural Strength for the changeling character? On the one hand, he is descended from an especially potent Fae. On the other, if he Chooses, he doesn't become an Ogre King, and probably (although I'm not certain) he doesn't even become a Sidhe. Since Changeling's powers seem to be tied up in bringing them closer to the Choice, I'm torn on this.

Since its a one-shot, if I don't get a good answer in time, I'll just go with whatever makes him work the best in the group. However, I'd prefer not to establish a precedent I'm going to go back on later.

[Deadmanwalking]

I'd say that he can totally have Supernatural Strength, and that he would become Sidhe if he made the Choice. But then, I like the idea of allowing Changelings with exceptional parents to exceed the common run of the creature type they're decended from.

[Archmage_Cowl]

I think you should let him take the power. The choice represents their decision to permenantly change so being able to draw on some of the permenant power they may have is logical. Plus i think its cool to have children of powerful creatures out do the lesser (generic-ish) creatures.

Edit: Quicker on the draw again deadman lol.

[Morgan]

Superhuman Strength is pretty powerful but it is also pretty costly in terms of refresh. Since Sidhe seems to be more of a title then a specific type of Faerie it could be that your changeling character inherited some of his dad's extra muscle, and if he ever fully embraces his Faerie side then he could be something like an Ogre Prince if you want to justify it that way.

If you're really worried about it you could start the character off with Inhuman Strength and let him upgrade to Superhuman Strength as an option if he makes the choice and embrace more of their Fey heritage. But since it's a one shot you really don't have to worry too much about it. Since it is just a one shot I would say the real question is what do you want the character to do in the game. A -4 refresh for Superhuman Strength is going to quickly eat up his power especially if you want him to have access to other classic Ogre powers like Toughness. Also is there going to be anything game breaking about having a superhumanly strong character running around in the game?

[Crion]

I'm with Deadman and Archmage in this, but I personally think it would be fitting if he started with Inhuman and acquired Supernatural as he succumbs to the nature a bit more or makes the Choice.

Even though my approach works best for a longer running campaign, it would make for an epic end to a one-shot: he makes the choice to become a Sidhe to acquire the strength he needs to complete his goals before falling into his new nature and responsibilities permanently.

Just my two cents.

Edit: Morgan beat me to stating the concept, but still tossing my vote out there.

[CMEast]

To offset the cost of supernatural strength, why not give him a human form with inhuman strength and then allow him to hulk out and gain his full supernatural strength. You could do human form at [+1], or make the change involuntary for a [+2] if he gains other powers along with the increased strength.

It would show how he's normally a pretty strong guy but when danger kicks in he taps further in to his fae side to access more strength, with the risk that one day the change might stick as he becomes a full ogre.

[TheMouse]

For a one-shot, sure, go with Supernatural Strength. The point of a one-shot is to go all out and highlight the system. Turn the dial to 11 and hit the ground running.

For a longer game, I might ask the player to go with Inhuman Strength and to play out the character's descent into their faerie nature. And if the player thought that sounded cool, it could make for a pretty fun game.

And if the character Chooses? Choosing to become Ogre Prince sounds pretty cool. If anyone's going to be an exception to the normal patterns, it should be the PCs.

[GruffAndTumble]

For a one-shot, sure, go with Supernatural Strength. The point of a one-shot is to go all out and highlight the system. Turn the dial to 11 and hit the ground running.

This is what I ended up doing. I already have a character who is Toughness-heavy, so I opted to make the Changeling Strength-heavy as a counterpoint. Session is in ten hours, and we'll see how it plays out. I've got 6, maybe 7 players, all playing Submerged characters...should be lots of fun!

[Saedar]

So. How'd it go?

[GruffAndTumble]

Excellent! Lots of fun was had by all, including two big combats--a dozen ghoul assassins in one, and a -27 refresh Denarian in the other. They managed to isolate the Denarian and surround him, and true to RPG form when a single villain goes against a whole party, he got pasted. They spent more fate points to crush him like that that they did on the ghouls though, so I don't think it was unreasonable. Plus, the Denarian was goaded being stupid and overconfident, and earned it by going into direct conflict without backup.

Read the evil overlord's list, nickelheads!

[JosephKell]

I would still say that a Sidhe-born changeling still makes the choice to become fully fae when they meet the power list of a non-sidhe version of their parent.

I.e. If your dad was an Ogre Sidhe, then if you have all the regular Ogre powers (better versions still count as the powers, like supernatural strength instead of inhuman power), you Chose.

[GruffAndTumble]

I would still say that a Sidhe-born changeling still makes the choice to become fully fae when they meet the power list of a non-sidhe version of their parent.

I.e. If your dad was an Ogre Sidhe, then if you have all the regular Ogre powers (better versions still count as the powers, like supernatural strength instead of inhuman power), you Chose.

I can see that happening, and could make for some interesting character build choices. Didn't come up, though--his Toughness was below standard Ogre levels, and he wasn't immune to magic, tossing Glamours around or twelve feet tall.

[finnmckool]

Yeah, I'd limit him at first, but then, as he advances, he can buy up and choose to become less and less human. it should also change his appearance and progressively impact how "straights" perceive him.