The Dresden Files > DFRPG
Changeling Questions
Dragon_Blooded:
--- Quote from: JosephKell on May 09, 2010, 10:28:54 PM ---As Luminous said: YS75 "If taking on another ability reduces your character's refresh to zero or otherwise fulfills all the "musts" of a faerie of the appropriate type, the changeling's Chice is made and he becomes a full faerie, never mortal again, and now fully subject to the will of the Faerie Courts."
The underlined portion means "If you now have all the powers of your fae parent, you are now fully fae (an NPC)."
--- End quote ---
This is your assumption, not something that's explicit on the text. Actually, the fact that the text specifically points out that a Changeling that chooses to become a full faeries "often becoming an NPC as his power costs rise to exceed his refresh" suggests that NPC-dom is a consequence of running out of refresh and not something that always happens to Faerie PCs, otherwise that "often" would have been and "always", and the note about running out of refresh wouldn't be necessary.
Also, for all the talk about monster characters not having full will and going against the novels themes, White Court Vampires are full monsters that only look (but are not) human, and are explicitly suggested as a PC template for high refresh games. Which makes perfect sense, since Thomas would obviously be a PC. Heck, Mouse is suggested as a possible PC, and he's clearly not human.
Eduardo Penna
luminos:
--- Quote from: Dragon_Blooded on May 10, 2010, 03:24:37 AM ---
Also, for all the talk about monster characters not having full will and going against the novels themes, White Court Vampires are full monsters that only look (but are not) human, and are explicitly suggested as a PC template for high refresh games. Which makes perfect sense, since Thomas would obviously be a PC. Heck, Mouse is suggested as a possible PC, and he's clearly not human.
Eduardo Penna
--- End quote ---
Except White Court Vampires are not full monsters. They are human. They have a demon that shares space with their soul, but they are in fact human.
Charlemagne XXXIII:
--- Quote from: drnuncheon on May 10, 2010, 02:57:21 AM ---If the Choice was meant to make them go NPC, then they would be specifically noted (like the Red Court Infected on page 80).
Keep in mind that most of the fey we see Harry dealing with are those in the upper reaches of power: Mab, Maeve, Leanansidhe. That's some serious refresh cost there. And one changeling we saw go fey became the Summer Lady. There's a lot more leeway at the lower levels - when Morgan is ready to kill Harry in Storm Front for breaking the Fourth Law, the argument is meaningless if Toot doesn't have free will (or something like it).
Last, in the game, the idea of "free will" is a sliding scale. A White Court Virgin in a "Feet in the Water" game who kills using her Emotional Vampire abilities becomes an NPC and loses all of her free will - but the exact same character in a "Chest Deep" game is a viable PC.
--- End quote ---
I fully agree with just about everything said in this post. One thing though, Mab obviously has free will. Lea has free will or she wouldn't have turned against her nature (as a servant of the Winter Court) to plot against Mab. Sure, she isn't a viable PC, but she sure as hell has some elements of free will.
Toot and other unaligned fey obviously have free will, or they wouldn't be able to pick and choose sides. Simply being completely something other than human does not immediately make the character an NPC, just like being human doesn't make them a PC. Mouse is suggested as a potential character for cripes sake and we know he isn't human, or even apparently an actual dog for that matter.
As far as the White Court Virgin who becomes full Vamp and goes below the minimum refresh level would be interesting to see later in the game. Maybe after a certain amount of time and added refresh, the character could be reintroduced, having learned to control her Hunger. Hmmm...
Also, I might be a little biased about the idea of Fey being playable because one of my character concepts is a pixie.
Falar:
--- Quote from: Charlemagne XXXIII on May 10, 2010, 07:00:23 AM ---Lea has free will or she wouldn't have turned against her nature (as a servant of the Winter Court) to plot against Mab.
--- End quote ---
I personally got the impression that the ritual athame that Cowl gave her had her enchanted and that's why she was plotting against Mab.
neko128:
--- Quote from: Charlemagne XXXIII on May 10, 2010, 07:00:23 AM ---Toot and other unaligned fey obviously have free will, or they wouldn't be able to pick and choose sides.
--- End quote ---
Toot was quoted in the books as saying he had the freedom to help Harry because he had not yet been called by either side. In addition, he had a long-standing obligation to Harry - the Pizza deliveries formed, in effect, a contract between them, and he had an onus of debt towards the Wizard. I don't believe he has free will at all. Hell - in Storm Front, Harry makes a big deal out of how he's bound 'round by the Faerie limitations of honesty and the rule of three and all that.
For that matter, it's mentioned a number of times that the Queens and Ladies and Mothers have no option but to follow their nature. Exactly *how* they follow their nature is up for some debate, but their nature is the driving factor there. The Knights are different, being Mortal, but their ties to the court allow some very strong magical compulsions to be laid upon them if desired. But even then the Ladies are almost a bad example - look at their entry, OW41. The Ladies are, very specifically, "the closest to the mortal world", the most closely tied to the Knights, and cannot interfere with the workings of the court in Faerie. I interpret that as, they don't have full free will - they must follow their nature - but their nature is to be the Queen's avatar (so to speak) to the human world... And to be most influenced by it.
Look at the paragraph on OW22 -
--- Quote ---The Knights
can also act in affairs not directly related to
Faerie, making them the primary outlet of the
Faerie Courts for intrigue in the mortal world.
This relative freedom is, of course, enabled
by the fact that Sidhe Knights must be
mortal—i.e., human.
--- End quote ---
...Implying the Queens (including the Ladies) cannot cannot meddle in purely mortal affairs unless the Court is already involved with them.
I dunno. I see it this way. We know that anyone who hits zero refresh is considered non-mortal and an NPC - their nature has overtaken their will. In my mind, then, the more refresh points of non-mortal-Stunts you have, it's more of a "sliding scale" of nature vs. free will. A full RCV or WCV is higher refresh than an infectee or a virgin, and have less free will than them - their nature has overcome more of their being. A Wizard, while mortal (or close enough) and with Free Will, is a slave to his nature - and his nature reinforces his existence as a Wizard. A Werewolf is slave to his beast - his nature - as much as any Demon, even though he retains Free Will. It's not a zero-sum game; it's shades of grey all the way down the line.
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