First attempt at making a "monster" opponent - thoughts, comments?

[Chris_Fougere]

Now that our group has gotten used to things (both in game and out of game), its time to start introducing some larger threats.  One of our City Themes is the struggle between long established power blocks (notably the white court) and newcomers.

While the WC holds significant political power and has ties to old, family run businesses, most of the newer interested parties tend towards sleek, modern business models (and in one case is tied to our city`s new convention center).  This is one such individual (and her goons).  Raveena is a Rakshasa, a magically adept shapeshifting creature.  Her preferred form is of an attractive Indian businesswoman (Raveena) but she also has a male alter ego (Kedar).  Her true form is unknown, it could be the multi-armed, multi-headed beast form she uses in physical combat, it could be the small, winged insect like form she uses for spying.  She is a skilled spell caster, but has no capacity for rituals.

Raveena/Kedar
Ravena
High Concept - Rakshasa Warlord
Trouble - Driven By Power

Aspects - Wisdom of the Ages; Drop Dead Gorgeous, Do Not Test Me, Scheming is second nature, Fiesty Little Minx

Skills
Average - Empathy, Might, Weapon
Fair - Alertness, Athletics, Rapport
Good - Lore, Presence
Great - Conviction, Deceit
Superb - Discipline, Resources

Powers - True Shapeshifting (-4), Evocation (-3), Modular Power (-8), Supernatural Recovery (-4), Catch (+3) - Total Refresh -7

Physical 00
Social 0000
Mental 0000

Raveena`s Goons are the Naga.  Human snake hybrids with venomous bites.

High Concept - Naga Goons
Other Aspects - Fast Fuckers
Skills -    Athletics: Superb
   Fists: Great
   Stealth: Good
   Intimidation: Fair

Claws (-2), Venomous (-2), Human Guise (0), Inhuman Strength (-2), Inhuman Speed (-2)

Combat Stats - Great Initiative, Superb Defense, Great Offense (+2 damage and venom)

[polkaneverdies]

My quick math said she is refresh 16. You have her listed as -7. Is that in comparison to the level of your campaign or just a typo?

[tetrasodium]

If the players don't already know that she is without a doubt Kedar... One way to do it would be to make him a separate NPC with similar  but slightly different stats/powers/aspects/etc and let them go about doing things like tracking down her second in command and dealing with his wing of te organization with the intent of weakening her power base then tweak her a bit based on how they dealt with him.  You could even reveal the two to be mtes or somethinglike the Eebs were to add an extra aspect that gives her a leg up against the PC's depending onn how they deal with him if you do that.  Another possibility if you go that way is maybe he makes the same sort of security mistakes as daddy Raith but her take on security is more like Laura's

[Chris_Fougere]

My quick math said she is refresh 16. You have her listed as -7. Is that in comparison to the level of your campaign or just a typo?

Yeah its in comparison to the campaign level (Refresh 9...between Chest Deep and Submerged).

[Chris_Fougere]

If the players don't already know that she is without a doubt Kedar... One way to do it would be to make him a separate NPC with similar  but slightly different stats/powers/aspects/etc and let them go about doing things like tracking down her second in command and dealing with his wing of te organization with the intent of weakening her power base then tweak her a bit based on how they dealt with him.  You could even reveal the two to be mtes or somethinglike the Eebs were to add an extra aspect that gives her a leg up against the PC's depending onn how they deal with him if you do that.  Another possibility if you go that way is maybe he makes the same sort of security mistakes as daddy Raith but her take on security is more like Laura's

The NPC hasn't been introduced yet.  The PCs have stumbled upon the beginnings of the plot and at the end of last session began seeing if they could track things down to a source.  My plan is to have the source be an expendable underling so that Kedar can be on the scene as another "hero" (and I use that term loosely) to aid the PCs (but not steal their thunder...that's always bad) so they come to see him as an ally.  We have one Wizard and he's very, very hesitant to use The Sight so that should be okay.  Its even easier to manipulate the PCs since Raveena's main goal is the ousting of the WCV in control of the city and things to this point have painted him as a bad guy.  Mostly because our PC WCV is his daughter and they are not on good terms...she won't even speak to him on the phone but makes other PCs call him when they need something.  So having an ally who is working towards similar goals but for very, very different reasons should make for an interesting few sessions.

[wyvern]

Looks fairly good, though I've got two suggestions.

One: Give her some more skill points.  What you've got listed there is less than the starting allotment for a 10 refresh PC, and, in particular, leaves her rather vulnerable to social combat - where, judging by her aspects, she should probably be at her best.  For an ancient rakshasa that's intended to be a major villain, I'd suggest something more like this:

+6: deceit
+5: discipline, resources
+4: conviction, presence, contacts, intimidation
+3: alertness, athletics, rapport, lore
+2: burglary, scholarship, performance, weapons
+1: survival, might, empathy, stealth

Two: Work out all of her commonly used alternate forms ahead of time, as well as a couple different could-reasonably-come-up templates (like a flying escape form if things go too badly, etc.)  True shapeshifting is neat, but alternative skill stacks are a pain to deal with on the fly.
(Alternatively, what I do with most of my shapeshifters is to just give them one skill set that applies to all their forms, and make up any skill-based differences using form-specific stunts.  It's a bit more expensive, but that's a non-issue for an NPC, and it makes it much easier to use the character during game.)

[Belial666]

Do note that with True Shapeshifting, what skills she actually has is largely irrelevant; it only takes an action to change her skillset completely. When she is in a social situation, she is going to have social skills at the top. When she wants to duke it out magically, her magic skills are going to be highest. And when she wants to do physical stuff, her physical skills are going to come first.

[Sanctaphrax]

Pretty sure that True Shapeshifting can't raise social or knowledge skills.

Nitpicks: Claws only costs 1 refresh. Naga Goons should have Fantastic defence and weapon 4 attacks according to their stats.

[Michael Sandy]

In a lot of stories, creatures with Shapeshifting often have a distinctive feature that remains that is common to all their forms.

With a creature that powerful, finding out its weaknesses should be a story in itself.

Something to think about:
The players should get some idea about the tactics of their boss by how the minions fight.  Do the minions fight in a hit and run style, breaking and running and regrouping?  Then they will likely realize that the boss, with his/her greater abilities, is very likely to run away and hide and come out again and try to turn the tables on the hunter.

Also, the more powerful the monster, the more they are dominated by and constrained by their nature.  What is it that Rakshasa MUST do?  What MUST they avoid?  Will they be prevented from shapeshifting if impaled by an arrow made of mistletoe, rowan, iron forged by a virgin, inscribed with a particular phrase, etc...

How does a shapechanger respond to mirrors?  Cameras?

One suggestion:  To show off how powerful a foe is, the classic is have the players witness them trashing a known powerful foe.  Say he/she fights a vampire, and the vampire Thinks it has beaten your monster, but it was just playing dead, or it used a decoy, or it comes out of a veil.  Or perhaps the party witnesses the vampire forcing it to flee, and then the vampire turns up seriously dead.

[Chris_Fougere]

Thanks for the input:)

I definitely plan on statting out different "versions" to make the True Shapeshifting/Modular Power easier to deal with.

I'm still working on the catch, because I don't want this to be the D&D version (blessed crossbow bolt) but my searching so far has turned up little on weaknesses.

I thought about more skill points but didn't want her to completely overwhelm the PCs.  Good point about her being weak in social though and something I'll rectify.

For some reason I always assume Claws are -2...

I calculated the Naga's combat abilities before I did some adjusting.

Again, thanks all.  Its my first attempt to use something not out of the book so it sounds like I'm on the right track at least:)

[wyvern]

I thought about more skill points but didn't want her to completely overwhelm the PCs.

This can be really tricky to adjudicate; on the one hand, high skills can make it very difficult to land attacks against someone; players used to systems like D&D can easily get stonewalled by such a foe.  On the other hand, the FATE system is *designed* to reward cooperative action; a group of four particularly clever PCs can spend two exchanges on navel-gazing maneuvers (or ones affecting the scene rather than the target directly) and then launch a single attack at +16.  And if that single attack is also an evocation from someone willing to burn consequences and backlash...

The other thing I'd keep in mind is this: due to the game's concession mechanics, even a completely overwhelming enemy is unlikely to actually kill anyone.  If you err on the low side, the PCs will walk all over their opponents.  If you err on the high side, the worst that's likely to happen is they'll be forced to back off and come up with a smarter way to attack.

[Sanctaphrax]

Dunno if this helps, but I took a shot at statting a couple of Rakshasa on the Generic NPC thread.

Replies #126 and #129.