Custom Templates

[Sanctaphrax]

We don't have a thread for new Templates, so I'm making one.

The first three posts in this thread will be used to store brief descriptions of the Templates, and links to their complete write-ups. Anything that might require special GM attention will be noted in a warning.

I doubt I'll need the other two posts, but...eh, reserving posts is easy.

If you've got a Template you want indexed, just post it here.

The Templates:

Agent Of Fate (Minimum [-6] Refresh): An emissary of Fate, who manipulates probability to ensure things go according to Fate's plans. Warning: includes homebrew Powers.

Amber Court Vampire (Minimum [-11] Refresh): A rare type of vampire from Ethiopia that takes its power from a piece of hunger-spirit-infused amber that is where its heart should be. They eat human hearts and can acquire the abilities of their victims when they do so. Warning: contains Power not designed for PC use.

Arkanthrope (Minimum [-5] Refresh): An ursine variant of the traditionally-lupine lycanthrope.

Benandanti (Minimum [-7] Refresh): Magic-wielding shapeshifting holy champions. Warning: Human Form applies to an unspecified set of their Powers and though it is said not to provide a discount it must provide a discount for the minimum Refresh cost to be correct.

Black Court Initiate (Minimum [-4] Refresh): A person who's been infected, but not fully turned, by a vampire of the Black Court.

Bloodthirsty Weapon Bearer (Minimum [-1] Refresh): A person with an evil blood-drinking Item of Power that gives them power and tells them to kill people.

Centurion (Minimum [-1] Refresh): An adaptation of the Spirits from Spirit of the Century to the DFRPG.

Changeling (Minimum [-2] Refresh): An adaptation of the changelings from the Old World of Darkness to the DFRPG. Warning: contains a bunch of homebrew Powers.

Cintran Elf (Minimum [-3] Refresh): An adaptation of the elves from the Shannara series to the DFRPG. Warning: requires purchase of a mortal stunt, the cost of which is not included in the minimum Refresh cost for some reason.

Claviger (Minimum [-5] Refresh): A person bound and empowered to be a specific city's keeper by a magical "Key" that takes the form of an archaic melee weapon. Warning: contains sketchy Catch and possible-overcosted Supernatural Sense.

Crow (Minimum [-6] Refresh): A Template based off of the main character of the movie version of The Crow. Warning: refers to Marked By Power as Emissary of Power.

Diamond Court Vampire (Minimum [-8] Refresh): A type of vampire inspired by the Twilight novels.

Demon (Minimum [-4] Refresh): An adaptation of the demons from the Old World of Darkness to the DFRPG. Warning: includes homebrew Powers, some of which have not yet been written.

Dhampir (Minimum [-1] Refresh): Half human, half Grey Court Vampire (Type A).

Dragonborn (Minimum [-6] Refresh): Someone descended from one of the great Dragons. Warning: Template includes homebrew Human Form variant, Template allows the unwise to purchase Claws and Breath Weapon together.

Elf (Minimum [-4] Refresh): One of Santa's elves. Warning: refers to Marked By Power as Emissary of Power and is generally vaguely written.

Gargoyle (Type A) (Minimum [-8] Refresh): An adaptation of the gargoyles from Gargoyles to the DFRPG. Warning: includes homebrew Power of questionable quality.

Gargoyle (Type B) (Minimum [-1] Refresh): An adaptation of the gargoyles from Gargoyles to the DFRPG. Warning: includes homebrew Power of questionable quality and Physical Immunity with an incredibly broken Catch.

Ghost (Minimum [-4] Refresh): A ghost. Pretty self-explanatory. Warning: includes homebrew Power.

Ghoul (Minimum [-3] Refresh): A person empowered by vampire blood.

Green Court Vampire (Minimum [-15] Refresh): A type of vampire that feeds off of the land itself. Probably not appropriate for PC use. Warning: includes overpriced homebrew Power.

Grey Court Vampire (Type A) (Minimum [-5] Refresh): Another type of vampire. Inspired by the vampires from Let The Right One In. Warning: includes homebrew Power.

Grey Court Vampire (Type B) (Minimum [-4] Refresh): Yet another type of vampire. Human by day, blood-sucking monsters by night. They reproduce by interbreeding with humans; children that share the sex of the vampire parent are vampires, children that share the sex of the human parent are humans. Warning: Human Form with an involuntary change is valued at +1 for some reason. Claws is referred to as Fangs.

Grey Court Vampire (Type C) (Minimum [-15] Refresh): A memory-eating vampire. Warning: contains homebrew Powers and Powers not designed for PC use.

Grey Court Vampire (Type D) (Minimum [-2] Refresh): A person who sucks blood and can turn into a bat, but only at night. Warning: Blood Drinker is affected by Feeding Dependency for some reason, and though it doesn't actually say so it looks like the Template is meant to contain two instances of Human Form.

Halfblood (Minimum [-6] Refresh): An adaptation of the demigods from the Percy Jackson series to the DFRPG. Warning: significant Catch is inexplicably given no value. Minimum Refresh cost is either wrong or meant to imply that there are Musts beyond those mentioned.

Half-Ghost (Minimum [-4] Refresh): A person whose DNA has been crossed with ectoplasm somehow. Warning: includes both Ghost Speaker and Spirit Form, includes Human Form without making it clear what it applies to, includes a Power not designed for PC use, includes one-element Evocation, and either applies Human Form to Spirit Form or is written under the understanding that Spirit Form is optional.

Hedge Witch/Wizard (Minimum [-3] Refresh): A limited spellcaster specialized in ritual magic.

Hellmouth Vampire (Minimum [-7] Refresh): An adaptation of the vampires from Buffy The Vampire Slayer to the DFRPG. Warning: includes a homebrew Power of questionable quality and some weird extra Catch mechanics. Minimum Refresh calculation is incorrect.

House Malgus Vampire (Minimum [-8] Refresh): A wrath-eating vampire from an outcast House of the White Court, with default Powers that differ slightly from the normal White Court set.

Hunter (Minimum [-2] Refresh): An adaptation of the hunters from the Old World of Darkness to the DFRPG. Warning: includes homebrew Powers of somewhat questionable quality.

Immortal (Minimum [-2] Refresh): A Highlander-style Immortal. Human-like, but very quick to heal and hard to kill. Subject to strange rules. Warning: template includes homebrew Powers of questionable quality and a rather sketchy Catch.

Jade Court Vampire (Type A) (Minimum [-5] Refresh): People who, after dying, went to hell and then escaped back to our world. They eat the qi of others, and must be careful to keep their own qi in balance. Inspired by the Kuei-Jin from the Old World Of Darkness. Warning: includes confusing and incomplete rules for qi balance.

Jade Court Vampire (Type B) (Minimum [-10] Refresh): Vampires that eat magic. Warning: contains homebrew Powers.

Jade Court Vampire (Type C) (Minimum [-7] Refresh): Asian vampires aspected towards either Yin or Yang.

Jade Court Vampire (Type D) (Minimum [-6] Refresh): Vampires that eat people's internal organs. Their heads and internal organs can fly around, leaving the rest of their bodies behind. Warning: contains Wings without wings and slightly vague Catch.

Knight of the Word (Minimum [-6] Refresh): An adaptation of the Knights of the Word from the Word & Void series. Warning: includes strangely-costed Item of Power that grants spellcasting.

Kuei Jin (Minimum [-5] Refresh): An adaptation of the Kuei Jin from the Old World of Darkness to the DFRPG. Warning: long list of options includes Greater Glamours and homebrew Powers of with slightly questionable costs.

Leprechaun Changeling (Minimum [-1] Refresh): A variety of changeling, with a leprechaun as the fey parent.

Lycanthrope (Minimum [-6] A classic movie werewolf. Inspired by the werewolves from Monster Hunter International. Warning: contains questionably-written homebrew Powers.

Mage (Minimum [-6] Refresh): An adaptation of the mages from the Old World of Darkness to the DFRPG. Warning: includes homebrew Power.

Mystic Martial Artist (Minimum [-4] Refresh): A person with mystical martial arts skills. Warning: includes homebrew Modular Abilities variant.

Orc (Minimum [-14] Refresh): Freakishly powerful goblin changelings. Inspired by the orcs from Discworld.

Pale Court Vampire (Minimum [-12] Refresh): Yet another type of vampire. These ones are ghosts that have acquired a measure of free will by consuming the dreams of mortals. Warning: contains homebrew Powers of questionable quality, an odd variant of Feeding Dependency, and both Ghost Speaker and Spirit Form on the same character.

Puella Magi (Minimum [-1] Refresh): An adaptation of the magical girls from Puella Magi Madoka Magica to the DFRPG.

Sentinel (Minimum [-6] Refresh): Shapeshifting protectors of the wild. Warning: includes homebrew Powers.

Shadowcaster (Minimum [-4] Refresh): Masters of darkness and shadow. Warning: includes homebrew Powers.

Skinwalker (Minimum [-13] Refresh): A person taught dark powers by one of the naagloshii in exchange for their service. Warning: includes a homebrew Power with a cost that varies from game to game.

Space Marine (Type A) (Minimum [-7] Refresh): An adaptation of the Space Marines from Warhammer 40K to the DFRPG.

Space Marine (Type B) (Minimum [-11] Refresh): A revised set of Musts for Space Marines, made in response to the perceived inadequacies for the Space Marine (Type A) Template. Warning: contains Item Of Power that provides armour 4 for no Refresh cost.

Synthesist (Minimum [-3] Refresh): A person who shares their body with a creature of the Nevernever in exchange for power. Warning: requires the group to come up with a new homebrew Modular Abilities variant for each type of character made with this Template.

Thunderbird (Minimum [-10] Refresh): A person who's learned how to use the powers of the Thunderbirds from native American mythology. Can shapeshift into a huge-ass bird and draw upon the magical power of bad weather. Warning: includes homebrew Sponsored Magic and a homebrew Power which has a cost that varies from game to game.

Undead (Minimum [-4] Refresh): A person who is killed and then summoned back into their own corpse. Warning: assumes compatibility between Living Dead and Inhuman Recovery.

Undying (Minimum [-4] Refresh): A person who cannot be killed, and who recovers quickly from any and all injuries. Warning: template includes a homebrew Power that is in my opinion overpriced.

Valkyrie (Minimum [-5] Refresh): An emissary of Odin or Freya, empowered to act on their behalf in the mortal world.

Vampire (Minimum [-5] Refresh): An adaptation of the vampires from the Old World of Darkness to the DFRPG. Warning: includes homebrew Powers and some canon ones that weren't written for PC use.

Vampire Slayer (Type A) (Minimum [-6] Refresh): An adaptation of the Slayer from Buffy The Vampire Slayer to the DFRPG. Warning: significant Catch is inexplicably given no value.

Vampire Slayer (Type B) (Minimum [-4] Refresh): An adaptation of the Slayer from Buffy The Vampire Slayer to the DFRPG.

Varcolac (Minimum [-3] Refresh): An obscure type of werewolf from Eastern Europe. Warning: slightly sketchy math on the rebates from The Catch and Human Form.

Vesuvian (Minimum [-12] Refresh): A person with the power of a volcano. Warning: includes homebrew Sponsored Magic and a homebrew Power which has a cost that varies from game to game.

Void Nephilim (Minimum [-7] Refresh): Angel scions that are immune to magic for some reason. Warning: Physical Immunity with a Catch that doesn't follow the Catch rules and which may or may not be costed correctly.

Warden (Minimum [-8] Refresh): A person who is empowered by a supernatural bond to a specific location. Warning: Powers which are supposed to function only within the bonded location are not actually limited by location.

Werewolf (Type A) (Minimum [-7] Refresh): An adaptation of the werewolves from the Old World of Darkness to the DFRPG. Warning: long list of options includes forms of Sponsored Magic that have not yet been written.

Werewolf (Type B) (Minimum [-7] Refresh): A mixture of the lycanthrope with the Alpha-style werewolf. Warning: contains error, see post #4 for correction.

Whisper-Tainted (Minimum [-2] Refresh): People infected with the power of an Outsider. Warning: includes somewhat sketchy non-standard Feeding Dependency.

Wyld Hunt Carrier (Minimum [-5] Refresh): A person who acquired supernatural powers by joining the Wyld Hunt for a night. Warning: options include homebrew Sponsored Magic.

Zombie (Minimum [-2] Refresh): An undead person who eats brains. Warning: incorrect minimum Refresh calculation.

[Sanctaphrax]

More space, in case we need it.

[Sanctaphrax]

And some more space, because why not.

Feel free to post now. I believe there was an orc template in the works that would belong here.

[nick012000]

Puella Magi. I stuck it in the Spoiler forum because it references some stuff from Ghost Story and Cold Days.

[Deadmanwalking]

Wow, large portions of that list take me back.

Hunter (Minimum [-2] Refresh): An adaptation of the hunters from the Old World of Darkness to the DFRPG. Warning: includes homebrew Powers of somewhat questionable quality.

Two things. #1: This links to the Changeling post, not the Hunter one, and #2: As the author, I'm curious what made the Hunter powers worse than the others? Looking back, I'm pretty sure I overpriced Cleave...but aside from that, they don't look much different from the rest (I freely admit I fudged a fair amount of stuff for almost all of those OWoD Conversion Templates).

[Hick Jr]

Thank you for going through with this. And I happen to have two versions of the Orc thing- One as a Our World esque statblock for a generic orc, and an actual character template. I can post both, but is the former or latter preferred?

This is the template.

(click to show/hide)

Orc

Of all the faeries, perhaps barring the Little Folk, Goblins produce the least changelings. Fae experts say that it’s simply because they are quite hideous to most humans, that it’s outside their naturally psychopathic nature to raise a changeling, or because they simply don’t care for humans.

These are all incorrect.

Goblins, as a rule, breed hideous, misshapen changelings. But occasionally, there is an exception- a scion, a changeling who seems very human is produced.

An orc.

Orcs in their normal, “human” forms, generally look like their King- They have shaggy brown hair, and emerald-green eyes. They’re wiry and limber, built like blacksmiths. In their true forms, they are monstrous. The sclera of their eyes darken to midnight voids, and their pupil and iris turns a deep red. Their hair darkens to the same empty-night black. Shadows in the area twist and bend around their arms and feet, forming claws. They are faster and stronger than even goblins, and are just as quick to heal. They are intelligent and can work in packs. the existence of Orcs are one of the very few things that goblins cannot agree on, as their King refuses to rule on their existence. Some goblins feel that they are abominations, brought about by chance. Others think that they epitomize the race, and attempt to breed more. As only one in fifty unions produces a true orc, there are usually only two to three dozen in existence at a time. It’s unknown whether or not they breed true, but if they do, it will almost immediately inspire a cull-Nobody really wants an entire race even more murderous supergoblins running around. The Erlking uses them as an elite guard, his Huntsman. The ones closer to the mortal world generally hire out as spies and assassins to anyone who can afford their services-they have little or no moral scruples.


Musts
An orc must have a high concept that declares his nature as an orcish changeling (e.g. Half-Orc Hunter, Goblin-Blooded Hitman, Changeling Vigilante). In addition, the character must take all of the following powers.

Echoes of the Beast [-1] (Hunting Hound) Orcs can track by scent, gaining +1 to the Tracking trapping of Survival.
Cloak of Shadows [-1]
Glamours [-2]
Human Form [+1] affecting
Claws [-1]
Supernatural Strength[-4]
Supernatural Toughness [-4]
Supernatural Recovery [-4]
Inhuman Speed [-2]
The Catch [+4] is extreme physical harm, at least enough to produce a Severe consequence. GM adjudicates.  To quote the expert, “There are ways to kill an orc, but there are not many of them and anyone trying them out on a living orc is not going to have very much time to get it right.”


Options
Older or more powerful orcs may upgrade some of their abilities, increasing their Speed to Supernatural, and gaining Greater Glamours. Some orcs gain Beast Change, often to the form of a wolf or hound, and others gain Wyld Magic.


Important Skills
Athletics, Endurance, Survival, Weapons, Discipline, Intimidation, Presence

Minimum Refresh Cost
-14

[vultur]

Do you just post a link here, or the whole template? I had a Valkyrie Template but never posted it anywhere.

[Sanctaphrax]

Okay, I'll add Orc and Puella Magi.

Character examples aren't needed, but feel free to post them.

Post the Valkyrie here or elsewhere, doesn't matter much. I can link to anywhere.

Will fix the Hunter link, thanks for pointing it out.

The Hunter Template has a bunch of things I thought were sketchy. Overstrain looks dangerous, Cleave is dull as toast, Cassandra's Tears without the penalty isn't worth -1, I don't know what those Incite Emotion upgrades are, Healing seems better than Ritual, and there's some unfortunate Stunt-obsoletion there. I would have ignored most of that stuff individually, but collectively it deserved mention.

[Deadmanwalking]

The Hunter Template has a bunch of things I thought were sketchy. Overstrain looks dangerous, Cleave is dull as toast, Cassandra's Tears without the penalty isn't worth -1, I don't know what those Incite Emotion upgrades are, Healing seems better than Ritual, and there's some unfortunate Stunt-obsoletion there. I would have ignored most of that stuff individually, but collectively it deserved mention.

Ah, gotcha. Yeah...Hunter powers were weird and specific enough that balancing conversions got...we'll go with quirky, real quick.

[Sanctaphrax]

Game-to-game translation is hard, eh?

Anyway, just edited the first post. I said that the orc was inspired by Discworld...is that so? It sounded like it but I'm not sure.

Speaking of orcs, I have a couple of quibbles with their stats. I'm pretty sure Echoes Of The Beast is only supposed to give +1. Also, that Catch seems iffy to me. Catches are supposed to negate Toughness, but this one only seems to matter once it's too late for Toughness to do anything.

PS: Found a bunch more Templates here. They will be added soon.

[Hick Jr]

oh, darn. The +2 is a typo. i'll change it.

And given the source material, i find that to be pretty reasonable. my thought process was something like, "Tolkienian goblins are easily-slain mooks in hordes thousands strong. DV goblins are, in Harry's own words, Terminators from Krypton. In Tolkienian literature, Orcs are cooler versions of goblins. Therefore, DV orcs must be even cooler than Goblins."

The catch is..difficult. The orcs they're based on (discworld) were very, very difficult to kill. They could survive being decapitated, supposedly. A mechanical change to striking a certain organ? That's what's described as powering their healing ability in that specific canon. I'd really prefer it not to be just "Cold Iron, +3". Cold Iron should be a +4 (You can find out it hurts faeries with 30 seconds and Wikipedia) and it's really, really generic.

[Sanctaphrax]

Overcoming the healing of an orc isn't enough to be an orc's Catch. A Catch makes irrelevant both Toughness and Recovery.

What you're talking about sounds like take-out narration, honestly.

That being said, I can't really think of a good Catch for Discworld orcs.

[Deadmanwalking]

The catch is..difficult. The orcs they're based on (discworld) were very, very difficult to kill. They could survive being decapitated, supposedly. A mechanical change to striking a certain organ? That's what's described as powering their healing ability in that specific canon. I'd really prefer it not to be just "Cold Iron, +3". Cold Iron should be a +4 (You can find out it hurts faeries with 30 seconds and Wikipedia) and it's really, really generic.

Sure, if you know it's Fae. What's Fae, though? And do they look how you expect? For example, Harry knew the whole thing about Fae and Iron but might as well not have when meeting the Gruffs...because he didn't know these weird goat-people were Fae. The same is true for Winter Ogres (who look like Yetis) or centaurs, or goblins. Or, indeed, for most kinds of Fae, really, especially given their Glamours and ability to appear how they like. Little folk like Toot-toot, matching as they do the popular image of a faerie, might get +4 out of it...but they'd be just about the only ones.

Iron's +2 for availability, but only +1 for research instead of +2 because you need the +1 level of research to know that whatever you're fighting is Fae.

[Hick Jr]

Ah. I hadn't thought of it like that. Thanks, deadman. And the Catch for Discworld Orcs would probably be a direct attack on The Little Brother (the organ that heals them and makes them tough). But there doesn't really seem to be a called shot system in Fate, so that's kind of right out. Meh. Cold Iron just bothers me because it's a ludicrously easy Catch to bypass. It doesn't even need the GM to provide ridiculous reasoning for why the random mook is carrying pope-blessed silver or something, he could just say, "The mobster feeds you one of his car keys. Roll athletics.". It almost invalidates even posessing Toughness or Recovery unless you're in a campaign that's pretty light on mortals.

Edit- Also, allowing the GM to adjudicate exactly what bypasses the Catch really only works if you and your GM can agree on what exactly constitutes "extreme physical harm". Standing next to a grenade, yes. Small caliber gunfire, no. On the other hand, this is an excellent story element- The bad guy figures out he's facing an orc, and starts in with the heavy artillery.

Edit secundus- Rereading Lords and Ladies, would Thunderbolt or Meteoric iron be an acceptable catch? I find it to suitably flavorful, but I'm fairly sure it would only provide a +2.

[Deadmanwalking]

Cold Iron's easy, sure, but it lets you get Toughness powers damn cheap that still apply to most bullets, falls, claws and teeth, and almost all magic. Just off the top of my head.

Meteoric Iron is +1 or +2 depending on amount of research required. It's +1 for rarity and another +0 or +1 depending on how much research there is to find it.