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The Dresden Files => DFRPG => Topic started by: srl51676 on February 27, 2010, 06:21:05 AM
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Ok I just had a thought. would it be possible to work a character that had little or no physical being such as a ghost of being of pure spirit like Bob (at much reduced power OFC). This was just a spur of the moment idea thought I would just throw it out there.
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I think it would be a great idea for a secondary character who can accomplish things that your more fleshy primary character could not. I think someone brought an idea like this in one of the Rick Neal Q/As as being better as an aspect rather than an NPC or a full on PC. The limitations might be a bit much for being a primary character though (no going out in daylight without a host, etc).
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Ok I just had a thought. would it be possible to work a character that had little or no physical being such as a ghost of being of pure spirit like Bob (at much reduced power OFC). This was just a spur of the moment idea thought I would just throw it out there.
Completely intangible characters are costly (in terms of the power set), and speaking as someone who has run a game for a player who wanted one (in a much earlier version), they're very, very difficult to wrangle alongside a regular play-group.
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I have 2 character concepts that I've thought about.
1. A character who's main motivation is to disseminate as much information about the magical world at large to the general public. This includes street corner 'performances' in which they gather a crowd and performs acts of harmless but undeniable magic.
2.A sort of artificer who's particular talent in magic is making enchanted items and is obsessed with discovering a way around the murphyonic field.
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1. At what point does magic become "undeniable"? When it puts men on the moon? When it systematically kills millions of people? ::purses lips:: People are resolute ostriches, man.
2. An artificer specializing in enchanted items would be extremely straightforward to create. There's a stripped down kind of Thaumaturgy that's practically tailor-made for this purpose.
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I would say opening a rift to the nevernever and flat out vanishing before someone's eyes is pretty near it. Calling up winds to come in from different directions, or making a tiny whirlwind. If I saw someone do that I'd be sold.
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I would say opening a rift to the nevernever and flat out vanishing before someone's eyes is pretty near it. Calling up winds to come in from different directions, or making a tiny whirlwind. If I saw someone do that I'd be sold.
Actually, I'm pretty sure that, with modern techniques, good stage magicians in real life can duplicate the visual effects of both of those. If I saw them on a random street corner, I might be convinced (a good stage magician wouldn't waste the prep-work necessary for those kinds of things like that), but a fair number of people really wouldn't be.
Still, it's a goal, maybe not an achievable one, but progress could be made towards it.
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1. A character who's main motivation is to disseminate as much information about the magical world at large to the general public. This includes street corner 'performances' in which they gather a crowd and performs acts of harmless but undeniable magic.
I guess the concern I have with this character concept is that if your character ever "wins" then the campaign "loses." In other words, the Dresdenverse is kind of neat because of the assumption that there is magic but no one knows about it and no one believes in it. Once you get to the point where the world says "hey, there is magic" and everyone decides to learn a few spells, you have a very different campaign. A lot like the MagiTech sourcebook for TSR's Amazing Engine game system. Could be fun, but I'm not sure it's Dresden-like anymore.
Just my two cents.
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Actually, I'm pretty sure that, with modern techniques, good stage magicians in real life can duplicate the visual effects of both of those. If I saw them on a random street corner, I might be convinced (a good stage magician wouldn't waste the prep-work necessary for those kinds of things like that), but a fair number of people really wouldn't be.
Still, it's a goal, maybe not an achievable one, but progress could be made towards it.
Yeah, that's pretty much what I was getting at. Could certainly be a fun character idea, but probably he shouldn't succeed, or be well liked by the supernatural community. Keeping in mind that "calling in the mortal authorities is like setting off a tacnuke", trying to tell everybody everything is like losing tic-tac-toe in the situation room. I'm guessing the attempts don't go over well. =)
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Seriously, have you never watched Mind Freak? For every one convert you'd have a dozen people quickly putting it out of mind and fifty saying Chris Angel does it better.
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Seriously, have you never watched Mind Freak? For every one convert you'd have a dozen people quickly putting it out of mind and fifty saying Chris Angel does it better.
Chris angel is all TV trickery. canned audiences and such. Sorry for derailing the thread here.
Here's another one.
A powerful telekinetic whose spells are built strongly around his internal visualization of ropes and pulleys.
-Making like a lasso movement with his hand and then yanking a fire hydrant out of the ground and using it as the weight for a meteor hammer.
-invisible zip line only he can use.
-other ropey things.
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Was thinking about a minor talent that could summon a monstrous form. Basically creating an eight foot+ ectoplasmic suit of armor complete with extra strength and maybe weapons (claws and spikes). Would work as a PC or villain.
chiTROUBLEina
Killer tag ;)
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Over-influenced by reading Lucha Libre HERO, but a mystical luchador along the lines of El Santo (or some of the example Technicos in LLH) could RAWK in a Dresden Files game.
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Chris angel is all TV trickery. canned audiences and such. Sorry for derailing the thread here.
Not so much. My wife and I went to one of his shows. Not TV trickery, and we were definitely not canned.
Thread re-railed. ;D
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1. A character who's main motivation is to disseminate as much information about the magical world at large to the general public. This includes street corner 'performances' in which they gather a crowd and performs acts of harmless but undeniable magic.
It's almost begging for an aspect like "Why won't you believe me?" Something where the guy is always right and knows something especially when it seems outrageous.
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I am working on a character idea and wanted some feed back.
He would be a changeling or focused practitioner who was raised with a knowledge of the supernatural and trained in power but walked away from it to become a cop. Why depends on the choice of Changeling or Practitioner. He is dragged back in when he is banished to the local SI unit where he is forced to confront the magical world and develop his powers. Imagine harry escaping Justin and in order to avoid the doom joins the cops or the army and swears off magic. Or Rudolph being forced to use forgotten power to save Murphy from Kravos or MacFinn. He is intended for a waist deep game. does this sound workable?
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Very workable!
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A powerful telekinetic whose spells are built strongly around his internal visualization of ropes and pulleys.
-Making like a lasso movement with his hand and then yanking a fire hydrant out of the ground and using it as the weight for a meteor hammer.
-invisible zip line only he can use.
-other ropey things.
Hey, I really like this one! I'm either going to use this as an NPC or offer it to one of my spellslinger players.
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I have two that I would love to play (assuming I can ever find a game).
Bounty-Hunting Sourcerer
This poor bastard watched his childhood friend get murdered by a troll, and ended up with the murder rap. While in juvie (wasn't tried as an adult) learned everything he could about the supernatural and coped with his budding talent for magic.
I can't really flesh him out too much without the books, but wanted his major flaw to be
Problem with Authority
I also wanted him to act as a kind of father-figure to the minor talents and other spooky have-nots, and have a deep seeted hatred of the White Council.
I see him as being mostly about thaumaturgy, with a lesser talent for evocation.
Items include a jacket with a drop pocket rigged to dump its contents into a bubble of the never-never, to be retrieved later, and a magic cell phone that's linked with a "real" old school house phone. It would work more like a cordless than an actual cell, but the range would be the entire city.
Also...
Cursed Faery Assassin
Jak O' Shadows
This guy is all speed. As many points as I could dump into it. Weapons (knives mostly) would be a primary skill along with guns and stealth.
As far as back-story, Jak's father made a deal with one of the wild fay, money for his first born child. The father was liquored up and their deal was consummated. Sadly, this was a case of a mortal trying to pull one over on the fae. See, Jak's dad had already had a child, one that died of SIDS. The wild-fae woman (I don't have a name for her, sorry) he had bartered with and impregnated was, of course, bound by the word of their bargain and released their changling child (Jak) into his fathers custody.
The problem is she got even, cursing their child to need to kill, and to need to be payed what he's worth. So here we have Jak, the reluctant changling assassin. I see him as turning over most of his earnings to charities. Trying to do as much good as possible with the evil that is (for him) necessary.
Hope that wasn't too garbled. ;D
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2 more.
-A wizard level power who may or may not be White Council, and who believes (similarly to harry) that the Pentacle is the symbol of the different forces of magic bound within human will. His belief however extends to the idea that a balanced understanding of all schools is more important than the strength of your talent.
-A wizard who is an accords lawyer and uses his knowledge to make deals and acquire favors in faerie (this character would make a lot of interactions with the GM a battle of wits.)
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If I ever get to play, I'd go with either:
A. A burned out old wizard (who looks like George Carlin) who has no eyes and no virtually magical ability besides being able to open his third eye. His power is that his memory is so bad that he can stand seeing with the third eye a lot better than most people which lets him keep keep it open during fights which gives him an edge (everyone telegraphs punches etc.). He'd be confused and mumble a lot and you'd never know if its crazy old man mumbling or deep wisdom. He may or may not be the actual original Merlin. He'd probably have maxed out lore and some stunts to help make his weird-ass claims about reality actually come true. He'd also have a stick to thump stubborn young uns with ;)
B. The anti-Harry, basically a loser focused practitioner who is the polar opposite of Harry in most ways. He started off the same way (talented kid adopted and brought up by a warlock) but then the Wardens took his master out and scared the crap out of him instead of apprenticing him (not enough mojo). He's very focused where Harry is a generalist (Enthropomancer, very good at taking out the structural supports of buildings and creating very bad sculpture out of stone), he's a coward where Harry is brave, he's wimpy look where Harry is imposing, he's sneaky while Harry is blunt, he always thinks of a great comeback 10 minutes too late where Harry is a wise-ass. If I got to play him I'd have by "guest star" phase be well "X female character knows him since my character is the sneaky stalker who always follows her around." Basically I'd play him as a loser who either falls into black magic (if the party mistreats him) or tries to turn his life around (if he gets support from the party).
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So a friend of mine and I were discussing the possibility of a Scion as a PC. Something more along the lines of Kincaid rather then Drakul, obviously. But we haven't fleshed out any of the details other than he'll be a "merc with a ton of guns!" His words, not mine. I figured if he wanted to go with someone who packs all sorts of guns he should go pure mortal "demon hunter" who has high resources to afford such guns, but it's his character not mine.
Anyone have any thoughts on having scions as PCs? I was thinking using the Changeling template but replacing "faerie" with "demon" and taking away their Choice.
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I suspect a scion with a powerful/interesting heritage can still draw on enough of that heritage to gain enough personal power to lose what free will they have i.e. lose all their Refresh and become a slave to their (new) nature. In doing so they become much more like whatever it is they are descended from, which is what the Choice is. I've got the same idea for my 'scion of an angel' character; once that last point of Refresh is lost, bam, they become more wholly what they truly are, gain lots more powers to complete the transformation, and go "off the board" towards whatever purpose seems most likely.
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Emmisary of Power seems tailor made for Scions.
One of my first character concepts is "God-blooded Biker Bad Boy with a Magic Hammer".
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Yeah I was thinking that it wouldn't take long until a Scion lost all of their free will, that's why I was thinking of using the Changeling template and as they start developing their power they lose refresh points until they become essentially a demon. I never considered using the Emissary of Power instead, interesting idea. Thanks for that.
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We have also been planing on a Scion of an Angle using the Changeling rules. I see no reason why they should not have the same choice as everyone else. For example when Harry looks at Kincaid with his Sight he sees "he appears as an enormous horned, bat-winged entity carrying a corpse (his appearance on the outside) chained to him." As I see it this represents Kincaid's Human half i.e. his free will restraining his demonic nature. too me this seems like a strong representation of his Choice.
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That's what I thought, but I didn't think that you could really ever get rid of the demon part.
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-A wizard who is an accords lawyer and uses his knowledge to make deals and acquire favors in faerie (this character would make a lot of interactions with the GM a battle of wits.)
This sounds interesting. Johnie "Lance Burton" Cochran, taking names and charging fees.
We have also been planing on a Scion of an Angle using the Changeling rules.
Please tell me you meant an angel. It'd be a challenge to play someone who was half trapezoid. :D
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Maybe he's just a little non-Euclidean?
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Or a new form of living geometry O.O
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heheh yeah spelling has never been my strong suit. As you may have noticed I started this thread and misspelled weird (in my defense I before E except after C). However now that you mention it a scion of "Flat Land" would be interesting for those of you not hardcore nerd enough to get the ref check out this link. To a book my 5th grade math teacher read to us in class. (Thanks Mr. Frankovitch)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flatland (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flatland)
or check out this video of the concept behind it
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BWyTxCsIXE4 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BWyTxCsIXE4)
However this might be pushing the weird character envelope a bit. ;D
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Oh yeah, that's pushing the envelope. But if I were a GM I'd allow it!
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I seem to remember an old "Rifts" spell that turned the character 2d for a brief amount of time. Good luck with it as a life condition.
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One weird character idea I had was a D&D or Arcanos Character that has been summoned from the Nevernever by the accumulated magic of his/her player.
The character isn't meant to Break/Bend the Laws of Magic or anything, just as a WTF character.
Feedback?
What class would work best?
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What class would work best?
Paladin, Cleric, or other Divine class, because building it actually works out right (Champion of God package plus Sponsored Magic with a focus on healing works quite well) or a mundane class like Fighter or Rogue (built with mundane stunts and maybe an Item of Power or three). Wizards and other Arcane classes would run into major issues with conflicting magic systems and the Laws of Magic.
Also, that sounds both hilarious and awesome. Particularly if the original player is another PC with magic of some sort. Imagine Harry's barbarian come to life...
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One weird character idea I had was a D&D or Arcanos Character that has been summoned from the Nevernever by the accumulated magic of his/her player.
The character isn't meant to Break/Bend the Laws of Magic or anything, just as a WTF character.
Feedback?
What class would work best?
Great Idea interesting, funny, and playable. I agree with deadman that you should avoid arcane casters but otherwise no problems
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Was thinking of a shape-shifter that could split into separate beings. Along the lines of forming a pack of wolves or a school of piranha, but I'm not sure how to implement it.
Suggestions?
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@MrSleep If it were my game I would limit you to very small creatures nothing bigger than a fish or rat other than that I'm not sure I don't know the damage system well enough to figure it out yet.
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Yeah, I honestly think we need the rules before we can work out how to do that one mechanically. Cool idea, though.
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I think that becomming a swarm of smaller creatures is doable as long as it doesn't break the action economy (as in, I split up into 10 rabbits and each of them do completely separate things, I'll now roll for each of them in turn!). As long as they act as one unit and stick together it should be easy to implement.
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I think that becomming a swarm of smaller creatures is doable as long as it doesn't break the action economy (as in, I split up into 10 rabbits and each of them do completely separate things, I'll now roll for each of them in turn!). As long as they act as one unit and stick together it should be easy to implement.
Yep, that's where I'd go. If you wanted to simulate some of the advantage of being able to cover more ground and/or more area, add in things like Hulking Size and Inhuman Speed. But we're not fans of the multiple action idea in general (though you could maybe bend that rule a little if you're doing this as a bad guy intended to "single-handedly" face down an entire PC group).
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I seem to remember an old "Rifts" spell that turned the character 2d for a brief amount of time. Good luck with it as a life condition.
There is one for becoming a 4D being as well...
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Yeah, I honestly think we need the rules before we can work out how to do that one mechanically. Cool idea, though.
Can't take the credit on this one. Stole it from Erikson/Esselmont. In the Malazan books the shape shifters that have a single alternate form are Soultaken, the ones that can split into a pack or swarm are D'ivers.
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There is one for becoming a 4D being as well...
God, I haven't played that game in years. I was so excited when I saw they had a 4th Edition book out. I'd hoped they'd overhauled the system, but no. It remained pretty much the same.
I always have loved the setting of Rifts, but that freaking system is pain.
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have an Idea for a character but not sure if it is entirely workable.....
Edward Gales,
Descendant of Sir John de Galeis, illegitimate son of the Edward the Black Prince.....
What sorts of aspects would be suitable for a knight of the cross potential? (they are all decendants of Kings and the black prince was in line for the throne)
“Chivalry is in my blood”
With the exception of the sword there is no ‘specific power that the knights have, even Sanya states he is an atheist
I don't see him as a Lone wolf type at all, actually as a decendant of Royality possibly a leader of men, also a warrior and smart. (sort of a Robin Hoodesk, leading his men and working with them not dresden style, going it alone)
Anyway any thoughts would be usefull as I am struggling
PS this is my first post so please help the newbie ;D
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The Edward Gales character is extremely workable. You give him a high concept aspect that describes him as a potential knight of the cross, and consider giving him the champion of god template (http://www.dresdenfilesrpg.com/2008/12/29/champion/) and you have pretty much free reign on giving him whatever aspects you think make him an interesting character.
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A character who uses attacks of pure will. He could use force magic, but mainly he would do stuff like in Storm Front when Harry 'slaps' the shadowman, only a LOT harder.
an interesting flaw/trait for this character is that his will/magic is so powerful that he has a hard time keeping it all in. so even standing near him you can feel the power flowing off of him. Vanilla mortals would be aware of it through a general nausea or feeling of intimidation, and even the most "Leroy Brown" of dogs tend to submit under it's pressure.
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God, I haven't played that game in years. I was so excited when I saw they had a 4th Edition book out. I'd hoped they'd overhauled the system, but no. It remained pretty much the same.
I always have loved the setting of Rifts, but that freaking system is pain.
Its no more of a pain than 1st ed D&D or AD&D. or any other system for that matter. no system is perfect but they all are workable.
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Just had a thought for an interesting character:
Bipolar Techbane
A character that has the mana static minor talent, but can only use it in her manic phases. When she is 'depressive' she keeps a stoic attitude useful for dealing with intimidation and a whole lot of other social and mental situations, but lacks the motivation to do very much. When she is 'manic', her mana static power is active, and almost out of control, plus she is capable of running circles around opponents in a fight during a manic phase.
I figure this character would have all kinds of compels and invokes associated with the aspects dealing with her bipolar disorder. It wouldn't be too hard to make a couple of stunts to give some mechanics for how the character manages the bipolar-ism (make them roll a check against discipline to see if they can get out of a manic state, for example).
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Its no more of a pain than 1st ed D&D or AD&D. or any other system for that matter. no system is perfect but they all are workable.
This reminds me (I'm not picking on Damian here) -- let's please try to keep system advocacy/bashing to a minimum in this forum, please.
A character that has the mana static minor talent, but can only use it in her manic phases. When she is 'depressive' she keeps a stoic attitude useful for dealing with intimidation and a whole lot of other social and mental situations, but lacks the motivation to do very much. When she is 'manic', her mana static power is active, and almost out of control, plus she is capable of running circles around opponents in a fight during a manic phase.
I figure this character would have all kinds of compels and invokes associated with the aspects dealing with her bipolar disorder. It wouldn't be too hard to make a couple of stunts to give some mechanics for how the character manages the bipolar-ism (make them roll a check against discipline to see if they can get out of a manic state, for example).
Fun! You could pull that off with a "shapeshifting" power (Human Form, Involuntary Change), plus Mana Static and Inhuman Speed. Pretty cheap build, right there.
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This reminds me (I'm not picking on Damian here) -- let's please try to keep system advocacy/bashing to a minimum in this forum, please.
Sorry I did not mean to advocate or deride any particular system (just the opposite actually).
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Which is why I was saying I wasn't picking on you. :)
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Which is why I was saying I wasn't picking on you. :)
understood.
Back on track.
(Go easy on me I am not familiar with FATE system so I went with basic concepts)
General concept:
Descendant of a very powerful well connected and decidedly deceased wizard.
He was named after his ancestor and both enjoys and suffers from a case of mistaken identity (those pesky denizens of the never never and their difficulty with the concept of human mortality).
problem 1:much is expected of him from the council (not all of it good see below).
problem two: great-great-granpa made a lot of questionable deals guess who has to full-fill the contracts?
problem 3: he suffers the family "curse" of Sorcerous fury: when under high stress or heavily injured he becomes a living dynamo of power and destruction fueled by unbridled rage and uncontrolled magical energy.
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Aspect 1: "You know spies, bunch of whiny little b%*^#$es"
Character has contacts in the law enforcement/spy community, but sometimes has to do them a favor to get what he wants. On the other hand, he can get free meals when he meets his contacts if he has information they are interested in.
Aspect 2: "Good, bad, I'm the one with the gun"
He has a gun. The other guy can gloat all he wants to about being bad, but the character has a gun.
Aspect 3: Son of Hermes
which pretty much makes him a kick-ass thief
Stunts:
You don't mess with Chuck Finley(Intimidation): gets +2 to intimidation when dealing with criminals
Weapon of destiny[chainsaw](weapons): as per the stunt in SotC
Klaatu Barada Necktie: +2 to deceit when interacting with malevolent magical artifacts
I'm bad at coming up with names, so I used a random generator to come up with Bruce Campbell. Its kind of bland, so I'll probably change that part.
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I love the melding of Burn Notice, I almost spat tea all over my monitor :D
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I’ve been toying with the idea of the Jersey Devil as a wyldfae. So if I can sucker someone else into running the game I think I’ll go with a changeling descended from it. He’d have the potential for wings, claws, mythic toughness, inhuman strength, and possibly minor glamours or speed. Personality wise he’d be repulsively true to his word even for a fae, angsty about his increasing inhumanity but unwilling to make the Choice because he thinks of himself as a real life superhero, and incredibly stubborn.
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Aspect 1: "You know spies, bunch of whiny little b%*^#$es"
Character has contacts in the law enforcement/spy community, but sometimes has to do them a favor to get what he wants. On the other hand, he can get free meals when he meets his contacts if he has information they are interested in.
Love it, but man the line is: "You know spies, bunch of b%*^#$y little girls"
Nothing but the best for the patron saint of Badass in B-Movies.
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The character I've been wanting to make is an ex-Knight of the Cross. In my game-universe this is the guy who had Esperacchius before Sanya did. The basic idea for the character is that he comes across a Denarian, bests him in combat, but is forced to let the Denarian off on mercy in exchange for a piece of silver (if you catch my drift). The Now-Powerless Denarian then breaks into the Knight's house, kills the Knight's lover/partner guy, and ransacks the place looking for the coin (to no avail).
Long story short, the Knight loses his faith because it allows injustice like the one mentioned above to run rampant, so he gives up the whole "nice-guy" way of living, hunts down the Denarian, and uses the Sword of Hope in a act of revenge/despair (I.E. kills the Denarian in cold-blood.) Bada-bing bada-boom, the sword is zapped out of his hands like Harry in Grave Peril, and the Knight just leaves it with the body. Somehow the Sword is reclaimed and handed up the lines until the Angel Michael gives it to Sanya, but that's not important to the character.
I haven't got many of the aspects down yet. Maybe something like "Oh, how the Almighty have fallen." or "He had it coming."
I dunno. Just an idea.
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I dunno. Just an idea.
An amazing idea! I really love it!
As for aspects perhaps "Where is God now?". Its an abbreviation of a quote from Elie Wiesel. I think it quite appropriate in the circumstance.
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Yeah, that idea is just made of win. Another possible Aspect might be "All Hope Is Lost." or "I Was Once A Righteous Man." A potentially extremely bitter and depressed character, but assuming he's still fighting evil, still a hero for all that. Doing him as a Pure Mortal with some Conviction, Weapons, and perhaps Endurance or Intimidation stunts would be alot of fun, but so would, say, making him the new Winter Knight.