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The Dresden Files => DFRPG => Topic started by: Amseriah on February 12, 2011, 09:03:00 PM
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Ok, please stick with me for this. If a someone who wasn't a scion, changeling, had wizard's constitution, or marked by power; picked up sponsored magic somehow, would it be a possible for changes to occur to their body because of the alien energies flowing through them? The character in question has been gifted with Summer Magic but is a Knight of the Cross. People who become Fae Knights have to take Marked by Power which I could see as having a secondary trapping of filtering the energies associated with the sponsor so that they don't completely screw up the mortal vessel. If someone didn't have that to refine the energies or a better than human constitution to take care of the damages, could they begin to change physically in a way that would befit the sponsor? Seelie/Unseelie would become slightly fae like in appearance, and depending upon whether they took any powers could possibly be mistaken for a changeling. Locations could cause the person to look more in line with the "feel" of the location (volcanos could appear to have embers in their eyes, skin could become ashen, etc.), Hellfire wielders might begin to look demonic, and Soulfire users could appear to be angelic.
What are your thoughts on this? Mechanically I could see this as a way to justify buying creature powers and possibly at a very advanced stage inhuman-supernatural stats. Fluff-wise, it could be a very interesting story to see this character change the more they use their power, and further separating them from humanity (actually, you could buy off debt with mutations-non power mutations that is, you don't get anything for going into debt).
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Sure, why not? I would lean towards saying it isn't true to the books, but that's a minor quibble (admittedly the books don't go over this sort of thing much).
That said, he has been granted summer magic. He can use the biomancy to augment himself or perhaps get himself augmented in exchange for a favor. No need to come up with a "magic is warping him" thing to get him altered. Also, changing yourself violates no Laws.
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How could a knight of the Cross have summer magic? That would be a servant of two masters.
I would not let a player have both. A person would have to give up the sword to have summer magic imo.
Anyway, as for "mutations", I would actually run that as a thematic reason for the "Marked by Power" power.
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A Knight of the Cross with summer magic actually sounds interesting to me. Especially to roleplay a character like that, having these new powers that you weren't expecting and having to deal with them. Could be fun to roleplay something like that :)
As for the mutations caused by summer magic: Why not? If your group and especially your GM( and the player playing the Knight) think its ok; go with it. It could make things more interesting for the whole group. And there is nothing in the rules that says it isn't possible for sponsored magic to cause mutations!
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A Knight of the Cross with summer magic actually sounds interesting to me. Especially to roleplay a character like that, having these new powers that you weren't expecting and having to deal with them. Could be fun to roleplay something like that :)
As for the mutations caused by summer magic: Why not? If your group and especially your GM( and the player playing the Knight) think its ok; go with it. It could make things more interesting for the whole group. And there is nothing in the rules that says it isn't possible for sponsored magic to cause mutations!
Indeed. My character has sponsored magic and I am using "mutations" or sorts as a thematic reason for him to get supernatural physical powers.
One of the side effects of him constantly channeling so much alien power and being around so much magical power is that his body is slowly but surely changing to be more and more supernatural.
I plan on RP this in the future as my character starts to worry that he is losing touch with his humanity.
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How could a knight of the Cross have summer magic? That would be a servant of two masters.
A Changling KotC, I do not see why not.
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A Changling KotC, I do not see why not.
Changelings don't automatically get Summer or Winter magic. It's something that is specifically gifted to a certain individual or wrested from ancient knowledge by someone or something of power.
I suppose it could be more than possible to be born with magic similar to sponsored magic, but I would call it something different. Sponsored magic by definition involves being tied to something that may have designs or agendas different than your own. Otherwise the sponsored magic compels wouldn't have any purpose.
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I suppose it could be more than possible to be born with magic similar to sponsored magic, but I would call it something different. Sponsored magic by definition involves being tied to something that may have designs or agendas different than your own. Otherwise the sponsored magic compels wouldn't have any purpose.
I wasn't so much thinking of Seelie Magic as Sponsored Magic (p183 and 290 YS) as much as Faerie Magic (p166 YS).
Thus the Changling could be born with Seelie Magic (Faerie Magic) and not have it as Seelie Magic (Sponsored Magic).
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That said the guy is clearly not a scion going by the OP. Normal mortal...more or less. Yeah, Summer Magic and being a Knight of the Cross is really odd, but if it works for the OP's group, then no harm done.
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He got Summer Magic because he helped out Titania in a massive way. As a reward she gifted him with it...he is also betrothed to the Summer Lady.
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He got Summer Magic because he helped out Titania in a massive way. As a reward she gifted him with it...he is also betrothed to the Summer Lady.
Lily?
I thought she was with Fix?
I am not going to tell anyone how to play their game, it just seems weird to me that someone could be not only a follower of the White God, but a Knight of the cross to boot... and still have Seelie sponsored magic.
The White God is pretty hardcore about no idols, false gods, more than one master, etc.
It would be kind of like the Pope going to skyclad Wiccan rituals and everything somehow still being cool.
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Sure, why not? I would lean towards saying it isn't true to the books, but that's a minor quibble (admittedly the books don't go over this sort of thing much).
That said, he has been granted summer magic. He can use the biomancy to augment himself or perhaps get himself augmented in exchange for a favor. No need to come up with a "magic is warping him" thing to get him altered. Also, changing yourself violates no Laws.
That being said, what precisely is the characters changeling heritage? Is the idea of the mutations for them to drift toward full fae status, away from their human half, or to take on some weird and unexpected traits? You could just play it like the changelings in Summer Knight, not sure if they wanna "join the family business", then mix in the obligations towards God. Somehow I see the dual summer court/white god service as having a very lion, witch, & wardrobe feel to it that generally works until some weird fae thing becomes an issue.
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He doesn't serve Titania at all, he was gifted the power permanently. He doesn't go into debt and views it as a tool. Besides, he isn't Christian so he doesn't really view the Word to be important but the Spirit. Like Sanya in a way...he does good things but isn't convinced that there is a God. Oh and we aren't in Canon Dresdenverse Lily isn't the Lady.
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::Shrug:: Ok fair enough.
Sounds a little munchin to me, though.
Consort to the Summer Lady, AND Knight of the Cross, AND sponsored by Summer.
Oh, but the Summer magic is free.
And oh, but he's not actually a Christian.
And oh, he'll be probably getting supernatural strength soon too to add +2 or +4 to the already completely super-catch Sword of the Cross.....
::)
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The White God is pretty hardcore about no idols, false gods, more than one master, etc.
Most followers of Abrahamic Religions tend to be like this. As far as we can tell in the Dresden Files, the White God cares more about your ethics/heart than anything else. Heck, Shiro was only even technically a Christian in the barest of senses. Michael, as far as we know, is/was the only practicing Christian among the Knights of the Cross. The White God clearly doesn't sweat the small stuff like religious beliefs or whatnot...what counts is your ethical core and how important that is to you (essentially). Pretty utilitarian of him.
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Most followers of Abrahamic Religions tend to be like this. As far as we can tell in the Dresden Files, the White God cares more about your ethics/heart than anything else. Heck, Shiro was only even technically a Christian in the barest of senses. Michael, as far as we know, is/was the only practicing Christian among the Knights of the Cross. The White God clearly doesn't sweat the small stuff like religious beliefs or whatnot...what counts is your ethical core and how important that is to you (essentially). Pretty utilitarian of him.
Indeed.
I'm just at a loss as to how someone could be a self-sacrificing hero, traveling the world and doing good for all and still somehow be involved in one of the fae courts (the most hedonistic and self-centered powers in the DV) at the upper levels at the same time.
The RAW even reminds players that playing a Knight involves a huge amount of dedication and sacrifice.
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Indeed.
I'm just at a loss as to how someone could be a self-sacrificing hero, traveling the world and doing good for all and still somehow be involved in one of the fae courts (the most hedonistic and self-centered powers in the DV) at the upper levels at the same time.
The RAW even reminds players that playing a Knight involves a huge amount of dedication and sacrifice.
There are nice parts of Summer that would get along with Knights of the Cross fairly well. Perhaps the player sticks to that or they are just emphasizing that part in their campaign. Or perhaps they have good reasons for getting involved, don't want to say "no" to a gift, and this provides an interesting conflict for future sessions. Me no knows.
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There are nice parts of Summer that would get along with Knights of the Cross fairly well. Perhaps the player sticks to that or they are just emphasizing that part in their campaign. Or perhaps they have good reasons for getting involved, don't want to say "no" to a gift, and this provides an interesting conflict for future sessions. Me no knows.
Well, it doesn't make sense to me at all but I do believe the combination would provide some bad ass role playing opportunities.
If the character is as conflicted as he would be as per our archetype examples in the novels, it should make for an interesting campaign.
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Alright, I avoided posting the story of the character because it is kind of convoluted. The out of game reasons for this are that he was originally the Summer Knight, but every single one of the players hated the Fae and in order to keep people reasonably happy I decided to work with the GM to figure out a way to get out of that template, at the same time I settled onto an aspect that was Code of Honor, it is a Code of Honor that was given to medieval knights according to the Song of Roland. So the GM and I decided that he should start making a transition towards being a Knight of the Cross instead. Well we are sort of loosely adhering to cannon so at the time all 3 swords were accounted for, but my GM had learned of a Rom legend regarding a 4th nail. So he came up with this story for me.
James was destined from the time of his birth to be a Knight of the Cross but was also born a Changeling, one of the most powerful Denarians discovered this and enacted a plan to try to take out potential sword bearers from play, the Knights of the Cross being their biggest threat. The Archangel Uriel, discovered this plan and also knew that Titania had in her possession the legendary 4th nail of the Cross but she wouldn't part with it without some payment. Uriel while discovering this also discovered that the Denarians were planning to capture Titania and trap her power causing a war between the Courts that would destroy the world. So together he and Titania hatched a plan to set James up as a decoy Summer Knight, allowing the Denarians to think that their plan of taking James off the board as far as being a KotC was a success. James would get all of the powers associated with being the Summer Knight temporarily while he did his duties to the Summer Court. Upon the Denarians attempting to take Titania out, James would rescue her from her imprisonment and find the people who hatched such a heinous plan. At the completion of this quest, Titania would release James from his geas and role as the decoy Summer Knight, and would relinquish the 4th nail to him so that a 4th sword could be forged and she would allow him to continue to make use of the magic of her Court. He Chose to be human after the quest was completed so as to further remove himself from the influences of the Fae Courts (and because I needed to free up refresh to buy the True Faith abilities).
So that is the story behind why I have Summer Magic and am a KotC...I am not trying to be a power gamer in this, I just really like the fluff (if I wanted to be a power gamer I would take Soul Fire instead), and I am not using it as a way to cheat and get inhuman or supernatural stats (although if I ever get the refresh to afford them I might try to pick them up, but that is very unlikely). I unfortunately just love characters that are flawed in some way, and the idea of playing a mortal Knight of the Cross who wields Summer Magic but is being slowly warped by the powers that he is using was too good to pass up.
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I liked the idea even before you posted the whole story, and now I think its even better :)
Flawed characters are fun to play! I like such characters also. You and your GM came up with a really good story for your character.
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Ty. :)
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It's a great idea. I may be bias, because we have a similiar character in our group. The "4th Knight of the Cross" - and role played the making of the sword. You got the 4th nail, now you need to find a master sword's smith - who has true faith, and then convince him to forge you the sword - while working the nail into the hilt... Anyway it was a great game session just getting the sword made as the fallen, using vampires, attacked the forging area -- and had to be defended by the group -- over a period of hours the attacks got - more interesting. It was one of the funnest game lines I've been in. So - for my 2 cents worth -- great idea.
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It's an interesting character.
Oh well - like I said, I won't judge anyone's character. My character is a homophobic wanna-be womanizer who just likes to blow things up and has the social skills of a rattlesnake. lol
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James was destined from the time of his birth to be a Knight of the Cross but was also born a Changeling, one of the most powerful Denarians discovered this and enacted a plan to try to take out potential sword bearers from play, the Knights of the Cross being their biggest threat. The Archangel Uriel, discovered this plan and also knew that Titania had in her possession the legendary 4th nail of the Cross but she wouldn't part with it without some payment. Uriel while discovering this also discovered that the Denarians were planning to capture Titania and trap her power causing a war between the Courts that would destroy the world. So together he and Titania hatched a plan to set James up as a decoy Summer Knight, allowing the Denarians to think that their plan of taking James off the board as far as being a KotC was a success. James would get all of the powers associated with being the Summer Knight temporarily while he did his duties to the Summer Court. Upon the Denarians attempting to take Titania out, James would rescue her from her imprisonment and find the people who hatched such a heinous plan. At the completion of this quest, Titania would release James from his geas and role as the decoy Summer Knight, and would relinquish the 4th nail to him so that a 4th sword could be forged and she would allow him to continue to make use of the magic of her Court. He Chose to be human after the quest was completed so as to further remove himself from the influences of the Fae Courts (and because I needed to free up refresh to buy the True Faith abilities).
The question this raises for me is what is wrong with Titania? First she's captured, after being forewarned, by beings that are nowhere near her power level in the nevernever. Then she relies on an outsider playing at being the Summer Knight to rescue her. Finally she not only gives him a powerful artifact but also permanent access to the powers of the Summer Knight without any allegiance to her court. Where was the actual Summer Knight during all of this?
The most interesting thing about the whole thing to me, assuming no parts of it are retconned, is that she purposely decreased the powers of her court. By giving power away with nothing in return she's creating an imbalance between the courts. It seems she's become as batty as Aurora was.
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We actually do not know what titiana was thinking, but it sounds reasonable to me that she would give anyone summer magic in a deal especially a kotc. He will have to borrow fate chips someday, and she will get to have him as a tool on rare oocations.
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The question this raises for me is what is wrong with Titania? First she's captured, after being forewarned, by beings that are nowhere near her power level in the nevernever.
Uriel is involved, so we can assume Lucifer was helping out the Denarians.