Delan Frost, Half-Sidhe Dilettante

[Ryan_Singer]

Hi Everyone,

Character I'm considering playing in a new game. I still need to figure out three more aspects. I'll see if any of the other players want a co-star.

Code: [Select]

Character Name: Delan Frost
Player Name: Ryan
High Concept: Half-Sidhe Dilettante
Trouble: Mab wants me
Aspects:
Cold Shoulder
Fickle as a Fae

Powers:
-3 Unseelie Magic
-3 Thaumaturgy
-6 Mythic Recovery
+4 The Catch (Cold Iron)
-1 Marked by Power (Mab)
=
-9

Skills:

Superb +5: Discipline
Great +4: Lore, Conviction
Good +3: Resources, Rapport, Athletics
Fair +2: Endurance, Contacts, Weapons, Presence
Average +1: Empathy, Alertness, Performance, Deceit, Fists

Magic Items:
Bracelet of Decay: +1 Entropomancy Power and Control
Chisel of enchanting: +1 Enchanted Items power
Ring of Protection: 5 Block or 2 Armor, once per session, 1 mental stress each after
1 potion slot (5 shifts)

[WillH]

Cold iron is usually a +3 catch based on the examples in OW. I would also drop the recovery a bit. Those points could be better spent else ware, or left unspent for more fate points. The same goes for thaumaturgy.

[Ryan_Singer]

Cold iron is usually a +3 catch based on the examples in OW. I would also drop the recovery a bit. Those points could be better spent else ware, or left unspent for more fate points. The same goes for thaumaturgy.

Weird. I was thinking: +2 Anyone can get it, +2 everyone knows about it = +4. I'll ask the GM how common he thinks cold iron vs. fae knowledge to be. Given that pretty much every weapon and gun satisfies the catch, I don't think it's overpowered.

Re:Thaumaturgy: I'm thinking of picking up "Tutored by a Wizard" as an aspect.

[MijRai]

I'd lower Recovery to Supernatural and buy Inhuman Speed. You'd have an effective +4 Athletics in all situations, which helps when magic is not an option.

[WillH]

Re:Thaumaturgy: I'm thinking of picking up "Tutored by a Wizard" as an aspect.

Oh if you knowing both mortal and fae magic is going to be a thing, then that's actually pretty cool.

Guns will usually only satisfy your catch if they throw it at you. Most bullets are copper and lead. The exception would be shotguns. Steal shot is pretty much the norm now.

[The Dread Polack]

I believe the book cautions against taking mythic powers, and even supernatural is a bit sketchy, IMO. In my game, I would expect something in the high-concept to suggest supernatural recovery, or else I'd limit it to inhuman, at least to begin with.

As a matter of fact, I have a "Half-Sidhe Courtier" in my campaign who wanted to take supernatural speed, but I told him he could only have inhuman. I might never hear the end of it

[Becq]

As stated above, you should re-think Mythic Recovery:

"You must have a high concept that
fits taking one of these abilities. The Mythic
level is nearly always reserved for potent NPCs" (YS184)

Mythic powers are rare among full-blooded creatures, and should be nonexistant among mere half-bloods.  I suggest taking Inhuman Toughness and Inhuman Recovery instead -- with The Catch [+3] cold iron and the like this will cost you only one refresh.

Regarding The Catch, by the way, I'm sure that among RPers the Fae weakness to iron is common knowledge; I'm less sure that it's common knowledge among those with less arcane inclinations.  In any case, you're missing a major part of the equation: it's not enough that most people recognize that Fae creatures in general have iron as a weakness (whether or not this is true), for you to get the +2 knowledge bonus it would have to be widely recognizeable that YOU have a weakness to iron.  And while your average cloven-hooved, horned, red-skinned demon is easily recognizeable as a demonic entity, many Fae creatures -- and half-breeds even more so -- are more subtle.  So unless you are OBVIOUSLY Fae -- that is, unless random people on the street look at you and say "Oh my God, it's a half-Sidhe!  Quick, Maude, grab me my railroad spike collection!" -- you probably shouldn't get the +2. 

[Becq]

Regarding your aspects, it's tough to suggest aspects without knowing more about the character you're making.  But having a "Tutored by a Wizard" aspect sounds like a good start.  Better yet, consider making the aspect "Tutored by <insert specific Wizard's name here>", instead, making up an NPC Wizard (best not a major DF character).  This not only reflects your training, but also establishes a connection with an NPC character.  This would allow you to invoke you aspect for help from your mentor (or if you need a contact in the White Council), and also recieve compel Fate points when your mentor needs help in return.

[toturi]

And while your average cloven-hooved, horned, red-skinned demon is easily recognizeable as a demonic entity, many Fae creatures -- and half-breeds even more so -- are more subtle.  So unless you are OBVIOUSLY Fae -- that is, unless random people on the street look at you and say "Oh my God, it's a half-Sidhe!  Quick, Maude, grab me my railroad spike collection!" -- you probably shouldn't get the +2. 

I disagree. The value of the catch should be valued for after knowing the character is a Fae.

Mab can choose to look like anyone with her Glamour, but it doesn't mean that just because some punk on the street cannot ID her as Fae, the value of her Catch is lower. Is the average Black Court vampire obviously a Stokerian vampire to a random person on the street? If the Catch requires that the person needs to be recognisable as being vulnerable, then the value of the Catch would necessarily vary when the character interacts with different people.

[Drashna]

The way I look at the Knowledge part of the Catch is this: how much research would it take to figure it out?  Is it something common like "oh, that's a fae, grab me some iron", or scan the reference books to find out, or do you have to do some serious, in depth research (or act on a hunch and PULL). Aka: How hard would it be for somebody "in the know" to figure out the weakness.

[Becq]

I disagree. The value of the catch should be valued for after knowing the character is a Fae.

Mab can choose to look like anyone with her Glamour, but it doesn't mean that just because some punk on the street cannot ID her as Fae, the value of her Catch is lower. Is the average Black Court vampire obviously a Stokerian vampire to a random person on the street? If the Catch requires that the person needs to be recognisable as being vulnerable, then the value of the Catch would necessarily vary when the character interacts with different people.

Actually, it does; if it didn't than why wouldn't the more powerful Fae listed in OW get more than the +3 they get for The Catch (iron and the like).  That clearly breaks down to +2 for accessability which leaves +1 for knowledge.  Feel free to look through OW to confirm this.  Note that weaker Fae sometimes get +1 or +2 due to the limit that the bonus must be less than the power it modifies, but even the ones with [-6] or more worth of powers still get only +3 from The Catch.

[toturi]

Actually, it does; if it didn't than why wouldn't the more powerful Fae listed in OW get more than the +3 they get for The Catch (iron and the like).  That clearly breaks down to +2 for accessability which leaves +1 for knowledge.  Feel free to look through OW to confirm this.  Note that weaker Fae sometimes get +1 or +2 due to the limit that the bonus must be less than the power it modifies, but even the ones with [-6] or more worth of powers still get only +3 from The Catch.

Which examples are you refering to?

[Becq]

The Reaper
Giant Scarecrow
Elder Gruff
Ogre
Bridge Troll
Lily
Maeve

This is a complete list of every character in OW that (a) has cold iron as The Catch, and (b) has more than 4 points worth of Toughness and Recovery, and therefore would be eligible for a 4 point Catch.  Every one of them gets +3 for cold iron.  If cold iron were worth 4 points, then they'd be getting 4 points.

[Drashna]

Hmmm.... That does seem to make sense.  I mean, I've known a lot about mythological creatures and folklore stuff for a long time, and one of the first things you learn is faeries + cold iron = bad.   But that's not something that just everyone knows.  However, stakes, garlic, holy symbols and such... Everyone knows that's how you fight vampires!

Your argument sounds logical. And it's easy to forget that some know more about myths and legends, than others.

[Becq]

I'm still thinking the point is recognition, not hypothetical knowledge.  Take trolls, for example.  In DFRPG (and some other settings) they are Fae.  But in the arguably most well known fantasy setting -- LotR -- they aren't.  In LotR, they are quite definitely not weak to iron, but are quite weak to sunlight.  The other biggest info source would be D&D, in which their major weakness is fire.  Also 'wrong', per DFRPG.

Ogres in most settings are large humanoids, and not at all related to pixies.  The Reaper and his fellow fetches looked like creatures out of horror flicks, and wouldn't be recognized by most as Fae, and therefore alergic to iron.  Lily and Maeve look only as Fae as they choose to.

So if you see a guy with REALLY sharp canines rip the throat out of your best friend ... well, those that resist denial are going to immediately connect the dots to form the word 'vampire' and are going to think of things like stakes, fire, sunlight, garlic, etc.  But Someone who sees a Troll is going to reach for a torch ... and find that it's not nearly as effective as their college DM led them to believe.