Author Topic: White Court NPCs and not being super akward  (Read 10860 times)

Offline Jancarius

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Re: White Court NPCs and not being super akward
« Reply #45 on: March 24, 2011, 06:08:34 AM »
So a WCV can just literally life drain someone to death with physical contact?  My players may want to explore that as a combat application later... Though I was also of the understanding they needed the emotion to DO the pull, but is that not the case?

Offline devonapple

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Re: White Court NPCs and not being super akward
« Reply #46 on: March 24, 2011, 06:33:14 AM »
Feeding Touch. Physical contact is where it’s at for a satisfying, long-term meal. When a victim is in the throes of an eligible emotion (usually easy for a White Court vampire using his Incite Emotion ability, page 172), you may draw some of his life force out of him to sustain you. This is done as a psychological attack with an appropriate skill (usually Deceit or Intimidation). If you have the Incite Emotion ability, inciting the emotion and feeding on it may be done as a single action, based on a single roll."

So the WCV enters conflict with the victim, and attacks using Deceit/Intimidation/etc. It deals straight Mental stress, and the victim defends with whatever makes sense. If the victim isn't already experiencing the right emotion, the WCV can use Incite Emotion (YS173) to place that Emotion as a temporary Aspect. And if they are powerful enough, this can even be done at range, or with multiple emotions.
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Offline Tedronai

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Re: White Court NPCs and not being super akward
« Reply #47 on: March 24, 2011, 06:37:01 AM »
Can the feeding also be done at range, given the appropriate upgrade to Incite Emotions?  I was never quite clear on that, but based on the novels, I would suspect not.
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Offline devonapple

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Re: White Court NPCs and not being super akward
« Reply #48 on: March 24, 2011, 08:28:33 AM »
Can the feeding also be done at range, given the appropriate upgrade to Incite Emotions?  I was never quite clear on that, but based on the novels, I would suspect not.

It's not clear to me, either. We should search the board to see if this has been established already.
"Like a voice, like a crack, like a whispering shriek
That echoes on like it’s carpet-bombing feverish white jungles of thought
That I’m positive are not even mine"

Blackout, The Darkest of the Hillside Thickets

Offline sandchigger

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Re: White Court NPCs and not being super akward
« Reply #49 on: March 24, 2011, 02:21:45 PM »
Quote
Didn't Lord Raith claim to be able to do that?

Yes, it was referred to in the books as the kiss of death and it was implied (if not outright stated) that the tradition was started by Lord Raith.

Quote
Can the feeding also be done at range, given the appropriate upgrade to Incite Emotions?  I was never quite clear on that, but based on the novels, I would suspect not.

I'd say it could be done at least at a small range, as seen in White Knight where
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I may well be silly, but I am never moronic.

Offline Jancarius

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Re: White Court NPCs and not being super akward
« Reply #50 on: March 24, 2011, 07:38:58 PM »
How should I define True Courage?  I decided for now to make him something along the lines of this below:
Antonio Skavis
High Aspect: White Court Out For Bloody Red Revenge
Trouble:  Revenge Tunnel Vision
Stress
Physical (Endurance)
Mental (Conviction)
Social (Presence)
Armor:
Refresh Cost -10 Skills
Stunts and Powers
Emotional Vampire (-1)
Human Guise (0)
Incite Emotion (Despair, Lust, At Range, Lasting Emotion) (-4)
Feeding Dependency (+1)
   Inhuman Recovery (-2) Catch: True Love/True Courage (0)
   Inhuman Speed (-2)
   Inhuman Strength (-2)
Skills
Great(+4): Deceit, Presence
Good(+3): Intimidation, Resources, Fists, Contacts
Fair(+2):  Athletics, Alertness, Discipline, Endurance,
Average(+1):  Weapons,  Lore, Conviction, Rapport,
« Last Edit: March 24, 2011, 08:01:36 PM by Jancarius »

Offline sandchigger

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Re: White Court NPCs and not being super akward
« Reply #51 on: March 24, 2011, 07:54:27 PM »
Shouldn't it be -4 for Incite Emotion?

-1 for first emotion
-1 for second emotion
-1 for At Range
-1 for Lasting
I may well be silly, but I am never moronic.

Offline Jancarius

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Re: White Court NPCs and not being super akward
« Reply #52 on: March 24, 2011, 08:01:17 PM »
Er yes

Offline Jancarius

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Re: White Court NPCs and not being super akward
« Reply #53 on: March 25, 2011, 03:43:23 PM »
And his backstory.  Do I have to put a disclaimer or anything, BTW, if I want this to be licensed in the way that anyone can crib it for their games, but not for profit?

Antonio grew up as very much a bad kid, but the kind of bad kid that all the teachers loved and whose bullying was done through carefully placed words rather than fists.  He and his younger brother, Elias, often made snide fun of other kids when they were young, enjoying the misery they brought to others.  Because both were outwardly good looking and charming, no few people flocked to them for attention, and the brothers took full advantage of this to get whatever they wanted.  When Antonio was about 16, he seduced the Val Victorian of his school, and after a year of dating, slept with her.  He fed on her completely, leaving  her dead body behind him in an initial panic.  Members of House Skavis had been watching him, and came to him within hours, informing him of his now fully realized true nature, and his brother shared the potential.  Antonio, still in a rush from his first kill, agreed to help push Elias into the same situation. 
   Both Elias and Antonio feed off lust as well as the normal Skavis despair, and like to mix both whenever possible.  They will often seduce models or actresses (women in high pressure beauty-related careers), and do everything they can to break down the woman’s confidence while still keeping them on the hook.  The brothers hold themselves back from fully feeding on the women at first, using the steady weakening of their will from the life draining powers of the White Court to push them closer to the edge, until eventually, the girls either kill themselves or are completely drained in one full feeding. 
   Like all White Court vampires, Antonio and Elias like to work from the shadows and through thralls and others.  To attract food however, they each began to involve themselves in different agencies.  Antonio started a fashion line of clothing.  He has done well in that regard, and has a few successful product lines.  When operating in the mortal realm, Antionio and Elias go by the last name Delgado.  Elias decided to focus his interests more on the pharmaceutical testing route, and would often feed off patients in the ‘placebo’ category of anti-depressants to… modify the results of the tests for his company. 
   Recently, however, Elias was killed in the Paris undercity by a pair of sorcerers.  Antonio flew into a rage when he found out, and has rededicated his time and effort entirely into finding and having his revenge on the two people responsible for his brother’s death.  After a not insignificant investment of money and favors, he has tracked Melody and Lucian DeLacois to Denton, Texas, and has just arrived in DFW.  It will not be enough to just kill them for Antonio.  He wants to bleed their souls dry and watch as they draw the knife across their own throats as they crawl through the ruin he intends to make of their lives.

Offline Richard_Chilton

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Re: White Court NPCs and not being super akward
« Reply #54 on: March 25, 2011, 05:02:32 PM »
If you really want a sadistic villain, here's something you might try:
Have him convince one of their relatives/loved ones/friends/whoever he plans to kill first that the PC are behind everything.

There's getting a video of a loved one dying in pain, then there's getting a video of a loved one dying pain who had been convinced that the PC is responsible for the torture and death.

And the worse bit? The PCs are responsible.  If they hadn't killed that WCV's brother then this wouldn't be happening to their loved ones.  "We warned him what would happen.  We told him that if he hit us then we would hit him back - but he was arrogant.  He knew we were coming for you and didn't bother trying to protect you.  It's almost as if he wants you to suffer.  Why does he want you to suffer?" - that sort of thing can work.

But dealing with torture and death can be as bad (or worse) than sex - so make sure your group is okay with the details.

And remember to borrow from other sources for descriptions of what is happening.  The best psych torture I've ever read was in a Draka book.  They had one device - a modified electric chair - that has to be the most disturbing thing in literature.  I can't see ever using it in a game - but it could be used in a Dresden one as a combined social/mental/physical take out (yes - it operated on all three levels).

Richard

Offline Tedronai

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Re: White Court NPCs and not being super akward
« Reply #55 on: March 26, 2011, 12:18:14 AM »
It's not clear to me, either. We should search the board to see if this has been established already.

I did some digging.  I certainly couldn't find anything, but maybe it's just buried deeper, or using slightly different language, I don't know.




Another question, semi-related:
In the absence of Lasting Emotion, what kind of consequences should a combined Incite+Feed roll be inflicting?  And should such a consequence be capable of counting for the emotion being present in subsequent exchanges?


edit: on second thought, I think these questions are sufficiently divergent from the original topic of this thread, that I'll create a new thread for them, and any other like them that may come up in the pursuing these
« Last Edit: March 26, 2011, 04:10:33 AM by Tedronai »
Even Chaotic Neutral individuals have to apologize sometimes. But at least we don't have to mean it.
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Offline Jancarius

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Re: White Court NPCs and not being super akward
« Reply #56 on: March 26, 2011, 07:01:13 PM »
How do you guys handle 'long distance' social challenges?   IE, Antonio starts a smear campaign claiming that Lucian is a pedophile/murderer/arsonist/jaywalker.  Now I assume this would induce social stress on Lucian, but how does he 'counter' it?

Offline AlexFallad

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Re: White Court NPCs and not being super akward
« Reply #57 on: March 27, 2011, 01:20:26 AM »
As far as RPing seduction, I highly recommend a viewing of The Community's D&D episode.

Just sayin'...

Everyone at the table watching beforehand might help lighten the mood :)

Offline Jancarius

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Re: White Court NPCs and not being super akward
« Reply #58 on: March 27, 2011, 05:23:29 AM »
As far as RPing seduction, I highly recommend a viewing of The Community's D&D episode.

Just sayin'...

Everyone at the table watching beforehand might help lighten the mood :)
We all watch Community, and yeah, the sort of Jeff-Abed awkwardness is what I wanted to avoid.

Offline noclue

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Re: White Court NPCs and not being super akward
« Reply #59 on: March 27, 2011, 09:17:58 AM »
First, wow. With that group dynamic, do whatever you need to do to keep the peace.

There's really no badge of honor for roleplaying uncomfortable stuff. Just drop the curtain before the embarassing stuff starts and let that all be "offscreen" if you want.