The Dresden Files > DFRPG Resource Collection

Spare Character Concepts

<< < (39/47) > >>

Hick Jr:
This interpretation comes from a lot of different things. I just finished reading the Sandman and Hatter M, and this is a Grimmer* interpretation of the maniac milliner. I wrote him up as a playable character in a Scuba Diving game, but I figured I might as well post him for public use.
*I hope you cringed as much reading that as I did writing it.

Power Level
Scuba Diving (17 refresh, 45 skill points, Fantastic skill cap)
Templates
Changeling, Sidhe Knight

Name
Madrigan Millineros Theophilus Carter (“Mad”, to his friends)
High Concept
The Mad Hatter
Trouble
“We’re All Mad Here”
Other
Jack of Spades; Nightmare Child; Not Actually A Very Good Milliner; Charming, Until I’m Not

Skills
Fantastic: Conviction, Weapons
Superb: Discipline, Lore
Great: Stealth, Intimidation, Athletics,
Good: Alertness, Endurance, Might
Fair:, Performance, Presence, Craftsmanship
Average:Investigation , Rapport, Resources

Stress
Social:000
Mental:0000 +1 mild consequence
Physical:0000(0000) and Armor:2, or 3 if wearing the Cloak.

Stunts
Weapon Specialization (Swords): You know how to attack effectively with a specific type of weapon. Choose a type of weapon. Your attacks with that type of weapon inflict two additional stress.

Powers
Dream Eater [-1] (Emotional Vampire, only works on sleeping people)
Oneiromancy [-5]
Refinement [-3]
Marked By Power [-1] (Wonderland)
Inhuman Strength [-2]
Supernatural Toughness [-4]
Inhuman Speed [-2]
The Catch [+3] is pure iron.
Total Refresh Cost: -16
Fate Points: 1

Focus Items (10 Slots)
Ring of Ivory (Oneiromancy +3 Offensive Control)
Ring of Horn (Oneiromancy +2 Offensive Power)
Mirror-Glass Bracelet (Oneiromancy +2 Defensive Power, +3 Defensive Control)

Mundane Equipment
A rather beat up old top hat, of which he is very fond. ("Why? Because it's my bloody hat. It isn't magic and it certainly isn't a crown. Ask to try it on again and i'll swallow your mind like a gumdrop, mortal.")
(really he has killed people over this hat)

Technically, Vorpal and the Cloak of Empty Mirrors. He carries them often. The Vorpal Sword is a blade like no other- If you put a dozen swords of every sort into a crucible, and melted it down, distilling them, Vorpal would be at the bottom. It does, indeed, go snicker-snack. It's blade is made of mirror-glass that never reflects exactly what it's meant to, and the pommel, hilt, and crossguard are the bones of a long forgotten god. The Cloak of Empty Mirrors, which he wears almost all the time if he can get away with it, is a knee-length black duster with no mantle. It swallows light and reflects a starry void. In the bottom four or five inches, sullen emerald-indigo dreamfire burns.

Possible Spells and Rotes

Dreamfire Sandstorm
Type: Oneiromancy Evocation, attack
Shifts: 8
Control: Rote
Duration: 1 action
Opposed By: Target Athletics, magical block
Effect: The more violent side of conjuring dream-stuff. Emerald-indigo Dreamfire, black sand and mirthless shadows scour at the target. Weapon:8 at Legendary attack.

The Dream Hunters
Type: Oneiromancy Evothaum, Summoning
Shifts: 10 (requires an invocation or sponsor debt)
Control: Rote
Duration: An hour.
Effect:  Calls up two Nightmares to vex, beguile, or simply kill a target. Nightmares can look like almost anything- they’re spun from raw dream-stuff and imbued with animating intelligence. Whether or not they’re golems is up to your interpretation of what oneiroplasm is, but their stats are identical to those of the Fetch known as Hammerhands (OW 42). The Oneiromancer creating the Nightmare gives it a Name following it’s creation, and thus it is bound to his will. (Mechanically, I don’t have to go through the whole discipline vs. conviction. I’m it’s daddy.) If you want the Nightmare to target a specific person (a Nightmare of this sort is called a Nemesis), it requires several symbolic links to them (blood, hair, skin, spit) and gains several powers- Supernatural Sense of it’s prey’s location, Human Guise into the target, it’s building block abilities all move up one tier, and it gains the ability to pierce the target’s Catch with it’s natural weapons. A few Nemesi may have Modular Abilities and True Shapeshifting- these are the Sidhe of the Nightmares, and are not created, but called, and even then, not easily. (The March Hare, for example, is a Sidhe of the Nightmares.)

Just A Dream
Type: Oneiromancy evocation, defensive block (veil)
Shifts: 9
Control: Roll Discipline plus relevant foci. Requires sponsor debt/invocation.
Duration: 2 exchanges
Opposed by: Target Discipline
Effect: Dreams are perception, and perception is reality. Alter someone's perceptions, and you alter their reality. You create a phantasm of your nonexistence, acting as a 7-shift veil that can be seen through.

The Knight of Spades
Type: Oneiromancy Evothaum, Conjuration
Shifts: 8
Control: Rote
Duration: A day.
Effect: Children dream of knights and their swords. Knights dream of the perfect blade. Vorpal is what swords dream of. Conjures Vorpal- a Weapon:4, impossibly sharp short sword- and the Cloak of Empty Mirrors, which acts as Armor:3. The other shift is devoted to duration.

Through the Looking-Glass
Type: Oneiromancy Ritual, Worldwalking
Complexity: 7 (must tag a Nearby Mirror, Reflecting Pool, or similar scene aspect)
Duration: a half-minute
Effect: Opens a portal to Wonderland (the Dreaming) or the Nevernever through a mirror.  Because of it’s low complexity and aspect tag, Mad can cast this in about fifteen seconds, less if he pushes himself.
Variations: More shifts leave the portal open longer, but that is really inadvisable. You laugh at the idea of a Jabberwock, until you actually see one.

Welcome to Wonderland
Type: Oneiromancy Evothaum, Psychomancy
Shifts: 8
Control: Rote
Duration: see explanation
Opposed By: target Discipline
Effect: A simple, nonviolent way of ending a conflict. Puts the target to sleep, represented as a direct attack on the mental stress track. It's a Weapon:0 attack at accuracy 8. You're going to sleep for a long, long time. Often used to prepare someone for Dream Eater.

Mirror Images
Type: Oneiromancy evocation, offensive block
Shifts: 8
Control: Roll Discipline
Duration: Usually 2 exchanges, beefed up to 4 with sponsor debt
Opposed By: Target Discipline
Effect: Creates a shifting dreamscape of shadows, sand, and reflections at the edge of a zone. Mechanically, it increases a zone border by 7 shifts, generally to Epic, for 2 exchanges.

Looking-Glass
Type: Oneiromancy evocation, defensive block
Shifts: 8
Control: Rote
Duration: 1 exchanges
Effect: Shadows and reflections bend themselves into a shield to preserve their master. Acts as an 8-shift block or Armor:4 for one exchange.

ONEIROMANCY [-5]
Description: You have mastered the powers of Sleep and Dreams. Far more powerful than most believe, Dreams and Reality are a wyrm biting its own tail- they both tell each other what they are, all the time.
Sponsor: Ancient gods of sleep, the ever-moving moon. Can be self sponsored, but generally among psychomancers, Nightmare changelings, or denizens of Wonderland.
Agenda: “And now to sleep, perchance to dream...”. You put people to sleep and give them dreams or nightmares. Compels to knock people out and eat their dreams. Oneiromancers are cold and proud. Punish those who slight you, slights imagined or otherwise.
Evocation: Oneiromancy evocations involve direct mental assault, shadows, sand, reflections,  perception, dreams, dreamfire, sleep, and the manipulation of oneiroplasm (psychically charged ectoplasm) to create objects.
Thaumaturgy: Oneiromancy rituals involve putting people to sleep, prophetic dreams, sending messages in dreams, and the manipulation of perception. On the darker side, you can call up Nightmares (middling fetches) that take the shape of the target’s worst one.
Evothaum: You gain the ability to use Psychomancy, Summoning, and Conjuration at Evocation’s speed.
Extra Benefits:
-The Dreamtime
Gain the Demesne power when in the Dreaming. It is, literally, the stuff of dreams, and dreams are yours to command.
-Dreamsense
You can use Lore in place of Empathy for the Reading People and Social Defense trappings of that skill.

Notes
Mad, rather fittingly, is kind of a badass. He’s hitting at Weapon:8 with Vorpal, and with Fantastic Weapons, not many argue about how unfair that is. If they do, certainly not for long. His Oneiromancy isn’t really offensively inclined, but he’s throwing around 8-shift attacks and defenses. His favorite tricks are direct mental assaults that knock people out, calling Nightmares to serve him, and calling his favoured weapons and armor. He dodges at Fantastic and sprints at Legendary. Unfortunately, he’s also mad. As the proverbial hatter. He is the proverbial hatter, as a matter of fact. He's not crazy like a fishmalk, he's crazy like Heath Ledger's Joker. He’s funny and charming until, very abruptly, he isn’t. At all. Then he’s a high-functioning sociopath who’s incredibly violent and very easily bored. Think Cat Sith but with actual human morals. He just ignores them.

Note- Through The Looking-Glass only takes a few seconds because the two extra shifts are devoted to reducing the time spent on the ritual, not keeping the portal open longer.

Sanctaphrax:
Seems like an interesting character.

Sponsored Magic looks decent.

I think he's got 7 extra skill points, though. And he seems to be missing 2 focus slots.

And some of those spells are mechanically flawed. The Dream Hunters, Knight Of Spades, and Welcome To Wonderland all look bad to me.

PS: Might as well toss the spells and Sponsored Magic onto the appropriate list threads.

Ulfgeir:
I figured I could post my character from the campaign I play in if anyone would be interested. Very non-combative. A drawing of her can be found in the Art-section of the forum.
We started at Feet in the Water-level, but I have also made a submerged-lever version so I know the general idea on what to level up her to.


Focused Practitioner (feet in the water level):

Name: Amy Clarke

A young girl who lives up to the stereotypes of Goth girls. She is a follower of the wiccan faith, and is quite proficient in divination. She never goes anywhere without her deck of tarot cards and a small crystal ball and other such typical trappings. She is almost always dressed in elegant black dresses and a leather corset, and often wears heavy black makeup. She has fair skin, and long lush black hair. She has a number of tattoos and piercings. She likes silver jewellery, piercings and tattoos, and always want more of all of the above.

Personalitywise, she is very romantic, and likes to engage in typical girly stuff. Usuallly softspoken and always willing to learn new things. Loves to stand on stage, and can be seen as a bit flamboyant. She is attracted to both boys and girls, and is a bit submissive but very protective of her friends and those she consider to be innocents. She is not afraid to stand up to bigger and tougher things than her to protect those she loves.

Age: 20 years. (Birthday: 17th of June)
Height: 1,67 M, Weight, 53 Kg.

Tatttoos
Left shoulder: A large red rose.
Right shoulder: Stylized theatre masks
Right thigh: Large Asian dragon
Left calf: Lilies wrapping around the leg

Piercings
Each ear: 7 piercings. Top 6 are silver rings, the lowest are dream-catchers of silver
Nose: silver stud on right side
Silver stud in lower lip
Nipples: rings made out of enchanted faerie ice (hard as metal and will not melt, protected so she doesn't get freezeburns from wearing them, but they are cold to the touch.)
Belly button: silver stud
Intimate piercing: ring made out of faerie ice (see description of nipplerings)

Other jewellery
A smooth clear crystal about 5 cm long in an oval drop-shape set in silver, hanging from a thick silver chain around her neck. (This is her focus item)

What you see at a soulgaze:
A scene of thick mist. A shape is moving inside and with a gesture of her hand makes the mists part. Behind her you see ruins from ancient Greece. The woman is Amy, and she is dressed in modern clothing. She has a clear intensive gaze as if she is looking through you. The feeling you get is that she knows more than she should, and that you do not want to awaken her curiosity. She is protective but also has the potential to be ruthless in knowing more. That if she has a way of finding out something she will not let it go. Also clear that she is ruled by stormy emotions rather than cold calculations.

High Concept: Seeress of Secrets
Trouble: Unbelievers in society

Where do you come from:
She grew up with strict parents; Alison and Richard Clarke. Her mother was a teacher, and her father a governmental employee. They always expected more of her and pushed her hard. In school, she often spent time daydreaming, which didn’t go over so well.
Aspect:  Pay attention!

What shaped you:
At puberty, she started seeing strange visions. Some people in her surrounding thought that she was either taking drugs or being crazy. In order to understand what was happening to her, she read everything she could about her situation.
Aspect: Strange visions

What was your first adventure: All the world is a stage
There were lots of mysterious happenings at an old theatre where Amy worked at. Some people claimed that it was haunted. Using her powers of divination, she found that it really was haunted by the ghosts of Clarice Sterling and actor William Reading. Both where shot dead by Clarice’s jealous husband Jonathan after he found out they had an affair, but the incident were hushed down due to his connections.  She got the help of reporter Tim Dobson, to find the whole story as he had access to old newspaper archives. The reason that the ghosts where active was that shady businessman James Howell II tried to put pressure on City Hall to get the theatre condemned in order for him to get approval to tear it down and build luxury apartments there. Activist Imogen Tayler helped organize a successful protest rally in order to save the theatre.
Aspect:  Echoes of the past

Whose path have you crossed: Star Thyme
In “Djinn, Lamp and Monkey” Amy helped a confused girl, who turned out to be a djinn, to find her magical lamp that a monkey had stolen and run away with.
Aspect: There is more between Heaven and Earth…

Who else’s path have you crossed: Mirou Divin
In “Dragon Rising” Amy got a premonition of the future, and tried to help Mirou Divin to avoid the situation. Fate wanted otherwise, as he didn’t heed her warnings, but eventually he managed to return relatively unscathed.
Aspect: Cassandra’s Tears

Powers:
-2 Ritual (Divination)
-1 Psychometry
-1 The Sight
 0  Cassandra’s Tears
 0  Soul Gaze
 0  Wizard’s Constitution

Refresh rate: -4

Skills
Great (4): Lore
Good (3): Discipline, Investigation
Fair (2): Conviction, Empathy, Rapport
Average (1): Contacts, Performance, Presence, Resources

Focus items
Pendant of divination +2 (Complexity: Divination)


Submerged level

Powers:
-3 Thaumaturgy: Complexity (Divination +3, Wards +1), Control (Biomancy +1, Divination +2)
-1 Psychometry
-1 The Sight
-3 Refinement
 0  Cassandra’s Tears
 0  Soul Gaze
 0  Wizard’s constitution

Mortal Stunts:
Finely Tuned Third Eye

Refresh rate: -9

Skills
Superb (5): Discipline, Lore
Great (4): Conviction, Investigation
Good (3): Empathy, Rapport
Fair (2): Alertness, Athletics, Performance
Average (1): Contacts, Driving, Presence, Resources, Weapons

Focus items
Pendant of divination +2 (Complexity: Divination).

Hick Jr:
That's what I get for posting at three in the morning. -_-
It's after a couple milestones.

The focus item "error" was in fact engineered by the Kremlin, a Communist goblin faction led by their iron-fisted dictator, Tsauberon.

I'm justifying those with Evothaum, but what about them is flawed? Knight of Spades follows the Conjuration rules, Hammerhands doesn't have a listed Conviction, and I think that's how a mental assault works.

Edit- Did you want me to put them in the threads, or was it a declaration of intent?

Sanctaphrax:
Bloody goblins. Always getting up in everyone's business.

I meant that you'd post the things to the threads, but I can do it if you'd rather not.

As for the spells...

Thaumaturgy doesn't have a weapon rating. On the other hand, I don't think many GMs would make you spend shifts to extend the duration of sleep.

A mundane weapon 4 sword is probably impossible. Except maybe if it's massive. A mundane armour 3 cloak is also pretty sketchy. Maybe you could conjure such things, but...I wouldn't allow it at that complexity. (This one does depend a bit on the GM.)

The nightmare summoning is the most problematic spell. First of all, it is not reasonable to bypass the normal control process by narrating your summoning to include a Naming. Secondly, I really don't know where you got such a low complexity number from. And thirdly, giving the summon a big stack of extra Powers for no added complexity isn't exactly fair.

Also Human Guise doesn't let you look like someone else.

PS: I prefer to avoid the canonical summoning rules...they're not really very balanced. I can point you to some homebrew if you like.

Navigation

[0] Message Index

[#] Next page

[*] Previous page