Author Topic: Request A Character  (Read 166842 times)

Offline PirateJack

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Re: Request A Character
« Reply #75 on: December 20, 2014, 12:55:20 PM »
I can't comment on accuracy to the source material, but the Aspects and the stunts look pretty cool. And unless I miscount he actually bought an Average level in every single skill the honest way, which I like.

25 skills means 25 points to buy Average in every skill. Didn't occur to me to do it any other way.

Quote
The Power stuff is a little iffy. England isn't really a valid Demesne, and I wouldn't let someone use that item if I was GMing. It's too much like an IoP. Also, unless I misread, he ought to have a bunch more specializations.

The Raven King is essentially a god-like figure in the story and is magically linked to the entirety of Northern England. He was the one who struck up a bargain with the hills, trees, streams and sky to allow English Magicians to use magic, and has full control over all of them.

(click to show/hide)

As for specialisations, I think I've counted right. 20 specialisations with Divination Power and Control taking the +4 spots with the others working their way down. It costs 10 specs to build a skill column up to +4, so two columns of such works.

(click to show/hide)

An interesting figure, is the Raven King.
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'cause it feels sooooo good when I stop..."

Offline Sanctaphrax

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Re: Request A Character
« Reply #76 on: December 20, 2014, 10:52:10 PM »
The Raven King is essentially a god-like figure in the story and is magically linked to the entirety of Northern England. He was the one who struck up a bargain with the hills, trees, streams and sky to allow English Magicians to use magic, and has full control over all of them.

Okay. He still can't take England as a Demesne. Demesnes have to be in the Nevernever, and from a power level perspective control over England is worth a lot more than 1 Refresh.

As for specialisations, I think I've counted right. 20 specialisations with Divination Power and Control taking the +4 spots with the others working their way down. It costs 10 specs to build a skill column up to +4, so two columns of such works.

Oh, I see. I was reading each of those double specializations as a single one.

Offline Sanctaphrax

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Re: Request A Character
« Reply #77 on: December 20, 2014, 11:55:30 PM »
Arlen Bales (Scuba Diving)

Not sure about the Aspects. Let me know if they're off.

For the rest I'm going by what you guys told me. There's a fair bit of guess-work in his skills.

I made Arlen's warded-item-crafting skills a stunt since it sounds like producing wards is a commonplace activity in his world. For situations where that's not enough, he has Sponsored Magic.

I'm not sure exactly how his demon-eating works or how serious a weakness his reliance on it is. Here I assumed it's a constant issue that constrains and weakens him significantly. So I gave him a 50% rebate on the affected Powers. Which might be too generous, but needing to constantly eat demons sounds like a significant weakness to me.

High Concept: The Rune Painted Man
Trouble Aspect: Scared Of My Stolen Power
Other Aspects: Messenger, Married To Renna, Magical Super-Horse, Reluctant Deliverer, On A Mission
Skills:
Superb: Fists, Survival, Lore
Great: Bows, Presence, Athletics
Good: Endurance, Conviction, Discipline
Fair: Alertness, Rapport, Intimidation
Average: Scholarship, Empathy, Investigation
Stunts:
Speech Maker (Presence): Use Presence, unmodified, to make speeches.
Master Of Wards (Lore): Use Lore to manufacture wards and warded items.
Powers:
Limitation (Only against demons) [+1]
  Holy Touch [-1]
  Blood Drinker [-1]
Limitation (Must eat demons to fuel powers) [+10]
  Supernatural Strength [-4]
  Inhuman Speed [-2]
  Supernatural Toughness [-4]
  Supernatural Recovery [-4]
  Gaseous Form [-3]
  Sponsored Magic (Wards) [-4]
Total Refresh Cost:
-14
Refresh Total:
3

To-do:

-Goku
-Aang
-Father
-The Dragon (from the Paranet Papers)
-Nia Ofumbe

Offline sdfds68

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Re: Request A Character
« Reply #78 on: December 21, 2014, 01:27:34 AM »
That actually looks really good. To me at least.

The limitation actually seems appropriate to me, both refresh wise and thematically. Because, well, he does actually spend all of his nights demon hunting. It's easy for him, since they're literally everywhere.

Offline Sanctaphrax

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Re: Request A Character
« Reply #79 on: December 21, 2014, 01:46:18 AM »
That actually looks really good. To me at least.

The limitation actually seems appropriate to me, both refresh wise and thematically. Because, well, he does actually spend all of his nights demon hunting. It's easy for him, since they're literally everywhere.

Glad you like it!

If hunting demons is easy, though, it really shouldn't give him 10 extra Refresh.

That aside, here are some rough notes for the super-characters. Posting them here because it's the easiest place to store them.

Once I'm done these, I think I'm going to retire this thread again.

(click to show/hide)

PS: Biscuits Oliva is a character from a manga I like. Nobody asked for him, but I feel like writing him up.

Offline PirateJack

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Re: Request A Character
« Reply #80 on: December 21, 2014, 02:25:33 PM »
Okay. He still can't take England as a Demesne. Demesnes have to be in the Nevernever, and from a power level perspective control over England is worth a lot more than 1 Refresh.

There is no Nevernever in this setting, at least not comparable to the Dresdenverse. There is Faerie and there is Hell, but they're no more innately magical than Earth is.

As for cost, what would you recommend for an England sized Demesne?
Quote from: JoeC
"Why are you banging your head against the wall?
'cause it feels sooooo good when I stop..."

Offline Sanctaphrax

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Re: Request A Character
« Reply #81 on: December 21, 2014, 09:44:46 PM »
Something ridiculous. The ability to transform a major nation into a giant ice cream cone should be very expensive.

I'm not sure if Demesne is really the right Power here, though. It's not the only way to represent magical control over an area.

Offline PirateJack

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Re: Request A Character
« Reply #82 on: December 21, 2014, 11:00:55 PM »
Point. I guess we're running into the problem of different settings having conflicting rules. Magic in the Strange and Norrellverse is absolutely powerful and is not beholden to physics in even the tenuous way Dresdenverse magic is. Then again, I suppose most aspects of this can be attributed to thaumaturgy as much as Demesne. Might add in a new stunt instead of it.
Quote from: JoeC
"Why are you banging your head against the wall?
'cause it feels sooooo good when I stop..."

Offline Taran

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Re: Request A Character
« Reply #83 on: December 21, 2014, 11:24:30 PM »
Why not set it up as part of a limitation or as a Ley-Line or Genus Loci that he's attuned with?

Or maybe he is the Genus Loci.  I'm not sure how the mechanics of such a thing would work in reverse, but he could sponsor powers in return for debt.  He can use that debt to power spells or get people to do what he wants.  Not sure how that would work in an actual game, mechanically speaking, So maybe it's just a simple 'contacts' stunt where he can make crazy-assed declarations about people owing him debts of all sorts.

Another way is to make England Power a whole bunch of his Focus items...

Just throwing out ideas

Offline PirateJack

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Re: Request A Character
« Reply #84 on: December 22, 2014, 12:42:38 AM »
Trying to remain true to the setting, there are no ley lines, though there are Fisher King style Faerie Kingdoms. As for Genius Loci; magic is in everything and everywhere, and magicians merely persuade the natural elements to do as asked rather than enforce their will upon them (though after the decline of English magic this was not much understood). The Raven King was such a powerful magician that England itself did as he asked, though not without occasional quarrell.

The Raven King is also less of a source of magic, more of a... conduit. When he's around he makes other magicians capable of performing magic, though he doesn't appear to gain anything from it. Perhaps it's because he is both a magician and King, which the book makes a big deal out of. His reign is heavily romanticised by the time of the story's events and even his harshest critics still hold themselves loyal to the Raven King.

It kinda fits, but I don't think it's true to the book's themes on magic. I wanted to give him demesne because he owns Northern England. It's his by right as King and the land itself acknowledges that. That said, all the effects in the story could quite easily be modelled through thaumaturgy so perhaps it's not quite necessary.
Quote from: JoeC
"Why are you banging your head against the wall?
'cause it feels sooooo good when I stop..."

Offline sdfds68

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Re: Request A Character
« Reply #85 on: December 22, 2014, 02:37:56 AM »
Maybe he just has some kind of location specific upgrade to Thaumaturgy? But one that's appropriately over the top for a wizard king that successfully invaded hell and yanked the moon out of the sky.

Offline Sanctaphrax

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Re: Request A Character
« Reply #86 on: December 22, 2014, 03:32:56 AM »
So what exactly does his kingship let him do?

The feats you listed are all possible with a big enough ritual. So maybe a few ranks of Large-Scale Spellcasting attached to an "only in England" Limitation would work.

Offline Sanctaphrax

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Re: Request A Character
« Reply #87 on: December 22, 2014, 05:24:27 AM »
Alright, now to get started with the superpowerful characters. I'll be posting a fair number of these, and for those who want more there are plenty scattered across the forum and the wiki. I can probably rustle up some links if anyone asks.

First up, the Dragon and Biscuits Oliva.

The Dragon (Deep One)

You can read about this guy here.

He's pretty massively powerful, but he's not really a fighter. More of a kingpin, really. Much of his power is in the massive network of minions and resources that he's built up, and he hasn't been in a real fight in a long time. He also relies heavily on his reputation to scare people. So he's not all-powerful, not by any stretch of mind.

I left out the adjectives on the physical stats he gets in Las Vegas because, with his Feeding Dependency, his power is gonna fluctuate. The important thing is that he gets one extra level of everything while in Vegas.

His Supernatural Sense is extremely powerful, so rolls with it should be difficult.

High Concept: Red Court Master Of Las Vegas
Trouble Aspect: Demonic Pact
Other Aspects:
Skills:
Epic: Presence, Contacts
Fantastic: Resources, Lore
Superb: Conviction, Discipline
Great: Deceit, Athletics
Good: Empathy, Rapport, Endurance
Fair: Might, Fists, Alertness, Intimidation
Average: Scholarship, Investigation, Stealth
Stunts:
The Weight Of Reputation (Presence): May use Presence to intimidate people who know his reputation.
Unflappable (Presence): May use Presence for the social defence trapping of Rapport.
Lush Lifestyle (Resources): May be assumed things to own things with value up to Resources.
The Boss (Contacts): May use Contacts to have obedient minions.
Las Vegas Kingpin (Contacts): +1 to Contacts within Las Vegas.
Acute Supernatural Senses (Lore): +2 to Lore for Supernatural Senses.
Powers:
Sponsor [-0]
Marked By Power [-1] (Himself, and the demon of Vegas)
Supernatural Sense [-3] (Can sense everything in Las Vegas)
Flesh Mask [-1]
Addictive Saliva [-1]
Natural Weaponry [-1] (Vampire claws and fangs)
Blood Drinker [-1]
Evocation [-3]
Thaumaturgy [-3]
Refinement [-1]
Feeding Dependency [+1] (Blood)
  Cloak Of Shadows [-1]
  Inhuman Strength [-2]
  Supernatural Speed [-4]
  Limitation [+2] (Toughness powers are pierced by sunlight and holy stuff. His belly isn't armoured.)
    Supernatural Toughness [-4]
    Supernatural Recovery [-4]
Limitation [+3] (Only while in Las Vegas)
  Strength [-2]
  Speed [-2]
  Limitation [+1] (Holy stuff pierces Toughness powers.)
    Toughness [-2]
    Recovery [-2]
  Sponsored Magic: Hellfire [-2]
  Refinement [-6]
Magic:
Evocation Outside Vegas (Fire, Water, Spirit): +1 water power, +2 water control
Evocation Inside Vegas (Fire, Air, Water, Earth, Spirit): +1 spirit control, +2 water power, +3 water control
Thaumaturgy Outside Vegas: +1 diabolism complexity
Thaumaturgy Inside Vegas: +1 diabolism control, +2 diabolism complexity
Foci: sapphire ring (+1 offensive water power and control while in Vegas), ruby ring (+2 diabolism complexity while in Vegas), opal ring (+1 defensive water power while in Vegas)
Enchanted Items: business suit (armour 3 against physical attacks), amulet (armour 3 against mental attacks), 6 potion slots (strength 6)
Total Refresh Cost:
-45
Refresh Total:
-7



Biscuits Oliva (In A Submarine)

A man so muscular that, although he's a condemned criminal in America's most secure prison, he's more powerful than the President. He's not exactly imprisoned per se, the government just gives him a luxury apartment in prison so he won't want to leave. Sometimes they he leaves prison to take out especially dangerous criminals on his government's behalf.

Although he's loud and kind of goofy, he's extremely smart and well-read. That would matter a lot in most stories, but he's in Baki the Grappler so the important thing about him is his sheer brute strength.

He looks like this. You can see his ultimate fighting technique here.

High Concept: Strongest Man In America
Trouble Aspect: Loves A Challenge
Other Aspects: A Penthouse In Prison, The Unchained, In Love With Maria, An Excellent Hunter, Oafish But Brilliant
Skills:
Fantastic: Might, Endurance
Superb: Scholarship, Investigation
Great: Athletics, Intimidation
Good: Presence, Conviction, Alertness
Fair: Rapport, Empathy, Discipline
Average: Deceit, Performance, Survival, Stealth, Driving
Stunts:
Brute Force (Might): May use Might to attack unarmed.
Push Around The Government (Might): Use Might instead of Contacts when dealing with politicians, police officers, and criminals.
The Unchained (Might): Use Might to represent his resources, reputation, and political power within the prison he lives in.
Shrug It Off (Endurance): Can roll Endurance and use the result as armour instead of trying to dodge a physical attack.
The Ball (Endurance): Can take a full defence action that gives +3 to Endurance armour rolls. If initiating a grapple the turn after a full defence action, +1 to establish and maintain that grapple.
Powers:
Natural Weaponry [-1] (Fists)
Mythic Strength [-6]
Mythic Toughness [-6]
Inhuman Recovery [-2]
Total Refresh Cost:
-20
Refresh Total:
1

Offline Sanctaphrax

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Re: Request A Character
« Reply #88 on: December 23, 2014, 06:13:39 AM »
No response?

That's a shame. I was pretty pleased with those statblocks.

Anyway, here are Nia and Father.



Father (Deep One)

Dunno if the Aspects here are as good as they could be, but I'm pretty happy with the stunts and Powers. Originally I wasn't sure how to represent his alchemy and how far above other alchemists he is, but then narphoenix mentioned Miracles as a possiblity for the Avatar and I realized it was a perfect fit for Father. He generates powerful spell effects effortlessly and can do some ridiculously impressive stuff given time.

I think this statblock should work reasonably well for Father during any part of the story after he destroys Xerxes, though you might have to change his Aspects a bit depending on which part of the story he's in.

High Concept: Progenitor Of The Homunculi
Trouble Aspect: Seeker Of Perfection
Other Aspects: Consumed The Souls Of Xerxes, Shadow Emperor Of Amestris, Ruthless Schemer, Brother Of Hohenheim, Purged Of Emotion
Skills:
Epic: Scholarship
Fantastic: Resources, Contacts
Superb: Discipline, Conviction, Endurance
Great: Alertness, Presence, Might
Good: Investigation, Intimidation, Deceit
Fair: Empathy, Rapport, Athletics
Average: Survival, Stealth, Fists, Burglary
Stunts:
A Miracle Of Science (Scholarship): Use Scholarship instead of Conviction for Miracles.
Expert On Alchemy (Scholarship): +1 to knowledge of Alchemy, further +1 to knowledge of the Gate and the Truth.
Lived History (Scholarship): +1 to knowledge of history, further +1 to knowledge of Amestrisian and Xerxesian history.
True Ruler Of Amestris (Contacts): +2 to Contacts within the military government of Amestris.
Power Behind The Throne (Contacts): May use Contacts to manipulate the policies of the government of Amestris.
Hidden Existence (Contacts): May use Contacts to defend against attempts to discover his existence.
National Resources (Resources): Take a point of Sponsor Debt to get +4 to a Resources roll. Debt compels involve the consequences of raiding the national treasury, like having people notice he exists.
Powers:
Miracles [-12] (Alchemy)
Miraculous Power x3 [-6]
Undying [-0]
Mythic Toughness [-6]
Supernatural Stoicism [-2]
Mythic Recovery [-6]
Superior Mental Library [-3]
Total Refresh Cost:
-42
Refresh Total:
-4



Nia Ofumbe (Deep One)

Normally when I make a specialist with Refresh to spare, I look for custom Powers that fit their speciality. Domination/Enthrallment is pretty redundant with psychomancy, but Telepathy without the attack upgrades has pretty good synergy with spellcasting.

Her Supernatural Sense doesn't let her read minds, it lets her see them. If an intelligent being is on the other side of a brick wall, Nia can sense their presence and target them with effects that require sight.

Her Sponsored Magic gives her psychomancy evothaum and makes her magical mental attacks inflict +2 stress. Exactly how that extra benefit works depends on how you interpret the rules for mental attacks with magic.

Supernatural Mental Resilience gives her 2 extra mental stress boxes. She can use them to cast.

I made a few small additions to her personality and backstory while writing her Aspects. First, I added the idea that she left home partly to escape her powerful enemies and establish a powerbase somewhere where nobody knew her. For her personality, I gave her a fake-friendly loathing for everyone and a worldview in which the world is basically a pyramid of ownership. There's no way to change the system, the best you can do is be the oppressor above all other oppressors. She doesn't think she's a bad person; as she sees it, her domination is actually less monstrous than the normal order of society. After all, she's not a rapist and she only kills or hurts when she has an actual reason.

High Concept: Psychomancer-Queen Of Haiti
Trouble Aspect: Must Be In Command
Other Aspects: Associate Of Kemmler, "Just Another Vaudaun Priestess", Enemies Back Home, Smiling Contempt, I'm The Lesser Evil
Skills:
Epic: Discipline, Contacts
Fantastic: Conviction, Lore
Superb: Resources, Deceit
Great: Scholarship, Alertness
Good: Presence, Endurance, Athletics
Fair: Performance, Investigation, Survival, Stealth
Average: Rapport, Intimidation, Fists, Empathy
Stunts:
Tactical Telepathy (Discipline): May use Discipline to dodge physical attacks from characters with minds and Discipline lower than hers.
Telepathic Trash-Talk (Discipline): May use Discipline for social attacks which play on weaknesses discovered through Telepathy.
Empire Of Thralls (Contacts): May use Contacts to represent having brainwashed slaves as well as having normal associates.
The Centre Of My Power (Contacts): +2 to Contacts in the area around her plantation.
Harmless (Deceit): +2 to appear less important, powerful, and dangerous than she is.
Powers:
Telepathy [-2]
Supernatural Sense [-1] (Sense minds)
Supernatural Mental Resilience [-2]
Wizard's Constitution [-0]
The Sight [-1]
Soulgaze [-0]
Evocation [-3]
Thaumaturgy [-3]
Superior Psychomancy [-2]
Lawbreaker 3 [-2]
Lawbreaker 4 [-2]
Refinement [-18]
Magic:
Evocation (Air, Earth, Spirit): +1 air power, +2 air control, +3 spirit control, +4 spirit power
Thaumaturgy: +1 necromancy complexity, +2 crafting strength, +3 psychomancy control, +4 psychomancy complexity
Foci: loom (+2 crafting strength), bracelets (+2 offensive spirit power and control), black staff (+5 psychomancy complexity), white staff (+5 psychomancy control)
Enchanted Items: simple-looking clothes (physical armour 5, 5 uses/session), amulet of calm (mental armour 5, 3 uses/session), 7 potion slots (power 10)
Total Refresh Cost:
-41
Refresh Total:
-3

Offline Sanctaphrax

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Re: Request A Character
« Reply #89 on: December 24, 2014, 08:00:10 AM »
And now, I'm done. Well, unless someone points out something that I should fix.

Anyway, I hope you all enjoyed. Feedback is as always welcome.

Goku (Deep One)

Theoretically Goku should be able to destroy planets, but he never actually uses that ability as far as I know so I don't think it should be a Power.

Mythic Martial Arts is new. I just posted it to the custom Power thread.

High Concept: Super-Saiyan Hero
Trouble Aspect: Loves A Good Fight
Other Aspects: Dumb As A Stump, Infectious Optimism, Lousy Husband, Ridiculously Well-Trained, First Among Heroes
Skills:
Epic: Fists, Might
Fantastic: Athletics, Endurance
Superb: Alertness, Conviction
Great: Rapport, Discipline
Good: Presence, Empathy, Survival
Fair: Stealth, Resources, Lore, Intimidation
Average: Investigation, Contacts, Performance, Deceit
Stunts:
Martial Artist (Fists): Use Fists +1 to make Assessments and Declarations regarding combat.
Chi-Sensing Technique (Fists): Use Fists instead of Lore to sense people's power.
Expert Blocker (Fists): +2 to defend against Fists attacks with Fists.
In The Eleventh Hour (Fists): +1 to Fists attacks when he's the only thing that can stop the Big Bad.
He Saves The Day (Fists): +2 stress with Fists attacks when he's the only thing that can stop the Big Bad.
Powers:
Supernatural Martial Arts [-3] (All Techniques)
Kaio-Ken [-1] (Fancy name for Varied Techniques)
Wings [-1]
Limitation (Only to someone whose chi he recognizes) [+1]
  Long-Distance Teleportation [-4]
Mythic Martial Arts [-6]
Mythic Strength [-6]
Supernatural Speed [-4]
Mythic Toughness [-6]
Inhuman Recovery [-2]
Total Refresh Cost:
-37
Refresh Total:
1



Aang (In A Submarine)

This is Aang right after he takes out Ozai. Not sure his Trouble is troubling enough, but he needed space for more normal Aspects and I couldn't think of anything better.

He Incites Effect with Athletics, and doesn't get to use his Speed bonuses while doing so. His Toughness comes from his defensive bending in the Avatar State.

Destructive Effect is an Incite Effect upgrade that adds 4 to your weapon rating. It costs 2 Refresh, and only applies to physical attacks that are resisted with Athletics.

I knocked Aang down from Deep One when I realized that he really didn't need 38 Refresh and Epic skills.

The Avatar State rebate might be too generous. I really have no idea.

High Concept: The Avatar
Trouble Aspect: The Last Airbender
Other Aspects: Goofy But Wise; Frozen For A Century, The Gaang; Won't Kill, But Will Spiritbend; In Love With Katara
Skills:
Fantastic: Athletics
Superb: Discipline, Conviction
Great: Alertness, Lore, Performance
Good: Endurance, Presence, Empathy
Fair: Rapport, Deceit, Stealth, Investigation
Average: Scholarship, Fists, Survival, Might, Intimidation
Stunts:
Counter-Bending (Athletics): +2 to dodge bending attacks.
Increased Skill (Athletics): +1 to hit with bending attacks while in the avatar state.
Powers:
Inhuman Speed [-2]
Incite Potent Avoidable Physical Mass Effect At Range (Airbending, Firebending, Waterbending, Earthbending) [-8]
Large-Scale Effect [-1]
Limitation (Only while in Avatar State) [+7]
  Supernatural Martial Arts [-1] (Enhanced Accuracy, Enhanced Damage, Enhanced Defence)
  Wings [-1]
  Destructive Effect [-2]
  Supernatural Speed [-2]
  Supernatural Toughness [-4]
  Large-Scale Effect [-4]
Total Refresh Cost:
-20
Refresh Total:
1
« Last Edit: December 24, 2014, 06:06:06 PM by Sanctaphrax »