first go at making a magic-using character

[beachhead1973]

okay here goes. I GM our homegame, we are really just starting up and until now, I have handled magic either in a hands-off format or let the other guy I play with handle the one magic-using character we have so far.

I have used the normally excellant DF Character generator program from http://dfrpgtools.blogspot.com/, but for some reason it will not workw ith this guy. I have re-made him from scratch 4 times, each time, it refuses to show me his character sheet for printing, or load saved version of the character, so I attempting to work this out the hard (very hard for me) way. I'll break this up as I go



Meet Trevelyne!

He is normally played my my best friend's girlfriend, or myself, (the GM) or anyone else who happens to drop in, until now, we've been playing him as a sheet-less NPC

He is
5'10 and 187 pounds-ish, so a light, wirey build

he has blue eyes, white hair and fair complexion and preferes to remain clean shaven, he is 146 years old

His high concept is as an overworked, cynical warden

his trouble aspect is that his is stretched too thin

more fleshed-out; he is the senior and only Warden assigned by the White council to Canada and Alaska

[beachhead1973]

Back ground;

Trevelyne was born in an eastern-european immigrant community in northern Ontario, as a result he is somewhat old fashioned in his personal dealings, particularly when it comes to matters we would see as political correctness.

Aspect; old fashioned

Rising conflict;

Trevelyne has had the great misfortune to have been posted to the upper-half of norther america for his entire career as a warden, his few opportunities to travel have been a motley-collection of ill-stared operations and expeditions, all woefully under-funded and under-manned. The White Council has never put much weight in what happens between the border of the united states and the arctic circle and so have tended to give short shrift to canada in terms of resoruces and attention. That Trevelyne has also occasionally been called away for extra-cirricular warden duties handled in much the same manner is unintentional, but probably just as well, he is after all used to such situations, but he doesn't like them.

Aspect; Shoe String Budget

[beachhead1973]

The Story; First Adventure

Title: Tall Trees Cut Down

Early in his career as a Warden, while, just barely beyond his apprenticeship, Trevelyne narrowly survived an incident which killed his Mentor; Warden Talltrees. Having mortally wounded a Wendigo, they were preparing the ritual which would either purify the host, or kill him, when the monster, gathered itself and sprang at Warden Talltrees, eviscerating him before collapsing in it's own, final death spasm. This and other incidents over the years have instilled in Warden Trevelyne an unusual thuroughness when it comes to making sure of things. Since the incident, he has never willing "left a foe to die", nor accepted as final any demise which did not produce verifyable evidence of death. He is known to keep his own files on threats the rest of the council has long consigned to their archives and he  almost never willingly turns his back on a prisoner.

Aspect; Never turn your back.

Title; Memories of Marucus

One of the very few people Trevelyne ever considered a peer in his own school of self-education, let alone a friend was Warden Marcus Camp or Wales. in 1974, however, Marcus fell afoul of a Lust Vampire named Letisha Cordus of the White Court, her mission was to seduce and turn him to the will of the White Court. In this she failed, instead reducing him to a vegetative state and a potentially permanent resignation to a covert hospice care. this is but the most noteworthy of perhaps dozens of examples of the long-term grudes and ecall it what it is; baggage that Trevelyne carries around with him. He is however, both circumspect and pragmatically vindictive in his outlook; when he again encountered Ms. Cordus and saw the terrible price which the White King had exacted against her for her failure, he simply laughed in her face and laid his personnal blessing on her in his  native way, telling her that he hoped she lived a very long time.

Phase Aspect; Long Memory

[beachhead1973]

Guest Star Redux; WHo else's path have you crossed

Title; ask me no questions...

The Council's estimation of Warden Trevelyne is poor and they take little account of him and even in the throes of the Red Court War, he was rarely drafted onto missions and was just as often impossible to reach when he was needed. It's not that they doubt his abilities, in an organization of long memories, Trevelyne's record stands out with more than a few impressive feats. The problem comes from his experience, or the percieved lack thereof. For most of his career he has worked alone and been tasked with holding down all of Canada and Alaska on his own, this he has done, with varying degrees of success and alot of complaining for over 100 years. He has long since made himself essential and irreplaceable in his role and in doing removed himself from all other consideration. In short, the Council ignores him, his reports, his suggestions, his pleas for material aid and human assistance. The council has never had an over abundance of resources and Canada has never been high on the list to recieve them and because Trevelyne does his job "well enough", why bother? as a result Trevelyne has steadly lost respect for both the authority and ability of the council and his fellow wardens, since the early 80s, his reports have become spotty in frequency and detail and he would now rather fabricate some thing that keeps his masters in Grey happy, than tell them the real truth. You can't blame him, he is punished for failure and ignored if successful. The upside is that he probably has more freedom of action and less oversight that any other warden of comparable seniority. What this all means for him as part of a greater organization is that Trevelyne's thoughts and opinions are, for his seniority, held by the Council in a level of esteem, more recently associated with one Harry Dresden.

Aspect; Half Answers to the White Counil

[beachhead1973]

Skills:

Athletics: fair+2 (so, not really, an athlete, no)
contacts: fair +2 (doing better than the rest of the PCs, Ear to the Ground helps)
CONVICTION: Fair+2 (yes, I know, i attribute this to his lack of faith in his fellow wardens and the council in general)
Craftsmanship: great +4 (the man likes to work with quality tools)
DISCIPLINE: great+4 (TallTrees was a hard master, but a good one and it rubbed off, but it's SELF-discipline)
ENDURANCE: good +3 (a man used to being out numbered, Trevelyne is used to long, drawn-out fights)
Fists; Average+1 (not one of imposing stature, he has always depended on his skill with a blade and his innate talents to carry him through)
intimidation: average +1 (He's not a scary guy until you get to know him...or see him in action)
Investigation: Good+3 (all faults aside, the man is good at tracking down information on the threats he has to face)
LORE; Great+4 (self-taught and well-learned, most of it the hard way)
Prescence: Average+1 (Trevelyne depends on his personality to make people take notice of him, besides a somewhat unusual appearance, he is otherwise an everyman, until he opens his mouth)
Resources: Average+1 (welcome to Canada, eh? that cloak keep you warm?)
Scholarship: Good +3 (Trevelyne is quite well educated in the more mundane sense as well, it's mostly been by way of small town libraries and correspondance courses, but he has a knack for Letters. He even taught his Master; TallTrees how to read at one time)
Stealth: Fair+2 (much remains in Trevelyne from his early upbringing and education in an isolated northern town, surrounded by forrests and his is better at sneaking around than alot of people we know)
Survival: Average+1 (...but a woodsman he is not and never has been. he can make a good enough shelter and he is no stranger to acardbopard box in a vancouver back-alley, but he;d rather be comfortable)
Weapons: Good+3 (TRevelyne's father, a retired Russian Army Officer taught him how to use a blade and he is a fine Fencer with a Warden Sword based off of the blade one of his materal ancestors carried at Bannockburn)

[beachhead1973]

Stunts and powers:

Mortal Stunts;

Ear to the Ground
Linguist (still foggy on how many languages this gives me)

Supernatural powers;

just the Wizard stock for now;

Evocation
Thaumaturgy
the sight+soulgaze
wizard's constitution (the white hair is from stress and fear, not any failure of Trevelyne's youth and has been with him since the first time he met a Wendigo)

[beachhead1973]

okay; MAGIC! the hard part and what I think keeps messing up the character creation program...


Familiar Elements; Air and Earth

School; a mixture of Native American with the Native Canadian twist and Eastern European

Focus Items;

Trevelyne's Rod; 26" of Iron-shod Maple, a discipline item aligned to the earth. Don;t sell it short, in public it will pass for a walking stick or cane everday on the street, or a fancy dress baton at a formal engagement. It's also alot more manuverable in close quarters and easiler to conceal under a long jacket or cloak than a full staff and the top conceals an insulated vial of whiskey!

Trevelyne's Warden Sword is in the form of a Scottish-style Basket-hilted Broadsword, holding it in his hands is really the only thing that helps reassure him of his duty and reminds him of the strength of the institution he represents. It is, of course an item of conviction and aligned to the air.

While not truly a focus Item, I have it here that Trevelyne's Warden Cloak is enchanted with a protection against the elements, so, yes it does help against the cold

[beachhead1973]

Okay the spells:

Magneteo-Colminae

               Earth, attracts, repells or alters the course of objects with a magnetic resonance

Igneaum-Sturm

               picks up or rips up, loose dirt, stones, pebbles, bits of masonry, ect, forms them into a sort of earthen "grape shot" and propells them at high velocity. obviously this is another earth spell.

Defensor

                 This spell works best when Trevelyne has his sword up in a guard posture. small arcs of lightning dance around his forearms and couruscat along the length of his sword blade, lashing out at any and all incoming threats and destroying or at least attenuating them, assuming they are the sort of threats that react to bolts of lighting. An active defence, but one Harry might have a thing or two to say about. I think of this as an air spell, or is lightning a different element?

Sundaeros

                Another air spell. This is an un-working of things, sort of like a magical-EMP, though it has been known to fry complicated machinery from time to time as well. It is versatile as such things go, dispelling hostile magic, dreaining or breaking enchantments and disrupting rituats, when it works well enough. more than once, Trevelyne has worn himself out fighting, only to barge in on the working of some magical evil only to have his Sundaeros spell deflect or damage a working rather than destroy it.

[beachhead1973]

Final Summary;

clothes; like Harry has his leather duster, jeans and t-shirt, Trevelyne has his fine and surprisingly versatile leather shoes, slacks, polo shirt and dark blue sport coat.

He only ever wears his Warden's cloak when on offical business, but it is rarely far from him. when he expects trouble and doesn't want to attract attention, he wears throwaway trenchcoats or ponchos to hide his sword belt, which is a fine old thick leather belt with scabbard, liberally laden with small pouches for carrying various items useful to him in the field and a hook for handing his Rod from. oddly, he has room for a holster, but rarely carries one, when he does, prefering a very old MkVI Webley in .455 calibre or a flare gun.

I credit him with one Major and one significant mile stone, which kicks him up to 37 skill points and 11 refresh (2 of which remain free) in our submerged campaign.



Okay, so thats that. any thoughts? any way for me to post this in a less-oibtrusive way next time? any idea why the darn character generator keeps spitting this guy back out?

[beachhead1973]

oh, i forgot; Ritual specialization is Necromancy, another reason the rest of the council likes to keep him at arms reach. too bad because his research into rituals for reviving dead tissue, speeding healing and rehabilitation are revolutionary, if not unique

[BumblingBear]

Too much reading my friend.

If you can put your stats in an easier to read format (check out the generic NPC or spare PC character threads in the resource section for examples) I would love to give you some input.

[Sanctaphrax]

Description is good even though it portrays my country badly.

I believe that Linguist gives 4 languages in addition to the standard Scholarship +1.

He should have three evocation elements.

Rotes and foci need more full descriptions.

Character seems very weak given that he is a Regional Commander of the Wardens and supposedly able to enforce the White Council's will across half a continent.

[sinker]

Something I've noticed is that he only has one, maybe two, story based aspects which will make things difficult for your GM. Aspects should talk to your character's connection to the world around them, as well as who they are. You could likely tweak some of the aspects that you have a little and it would do just fine. For example you could flesh out his family a bit more and then the "old fashioned" aspect could be adjusted to represent his social class/how others see him. It would give you all of what you currently have but add more to it. The same could easily be done with your story and first guest story as well, adding how he interacts with other wizards (or how they interact with him) since his mentor's death and how other enemies have interacted with him after his encounter with the white court.

[beachhead1973]

Description is good even though it portrays my country badly.

I believe that Linguist gives 4 languages in addition to the standard Scholarship +1.

He should have three evocation elements.

Rotes and foci need more full descriptions.

Character seems very weak given that he is a Regional Commander of the Wardens and supposedly able to enforce the White Council's will across half a continent.

Hah, yeah, my country too, i figured why wouldn;t the council see canada as a backwater mix  of empty wilderness and a few large y for the innate native touneg, am I right? cities? Now that doesn;t mean they have to be right all the time does it?

as for Linguist, so that 4 languages, + 3 for the Scholarship score and +1, probably for the native tounge, am I right?

and a third Element you say?

Rotes and focci I can do alot more with

and BumblingbBear; I will take a look at those other examples and post something more condensed

[beachhead1973]

As for being weak, i'm actually sort of in the dark about how to supply that kind of off-board character progression. dod I just assigned extra skill points and refresh?

The whole thing about Trevelyne is that he IS NOT able to do his job effectively and the council ignores him except for the occasional punishment for failure, which is why he has stopped supplying complete and prompt reports, it doesn't get him anywhere. no one pays any attention to his advice or requests for any form of aid, which kind of sucks for him. if you read between the lines you may notice that there is a very knife-edge aspect (oh, i get it now, should probably work that in) to the character in that he is very close to just going renegade, or seeking aid from some other source.