List of things character aspects should cover:

• Anything important to the Character

It's really rather difficult to list aspect 'groupings' as they could be literally anything. Basically an aspect should link to something; events, people, objects or ideas, that helped shape the person that the character became. These shouldn't be something transitory or mundane, but something that is critical to the person that they are, that if changed would literally shake the character's world to the core. As an example Harry has the aspect of "My Mother's Silver Pentacle", which to most people is just a nice trinket, it isn't itself magical or even particularly unique, but what it represents is important enough to Harry that it's loss or destruction would probably be a hefty blow.

I'd be hesitant to apply any constraints to character aspect choice such as 'you must have a "social aspect"' etc. as in many cases character concepts might not have room for such constraints.

I know this wasn't really what you were looking for, but I think that attempting to codify "types" of aspect is somewhat of a waste of time. Particular aspects can, and often do apply in innumerable situations, and an aspect that might on the surface apply stringently to a particular situation, can, in the hands of an imaginative player be used far outside that arena. The trick, as I believe YS states, is to be flavorful and descriptive.
Your character isn't just "Strong as an Ox", he's got the "Strength of an Olympian Demigod", suddenly a purely physical aspect can be applied to a myriad of situations applicable to History, Religion, Mystical/Mythical Knowledge, or even excessive drinking ("Yeah I used to go partying with Dionysius...This ain't nothing.").

My initial gut reaction was just Demonic Copilot with a relevant aspect that could be invoked for "my entity knows this stuff" situations, but if you want it to develop then, yeah, I'd agree with Sanctaphrax, some variation of companion rules would be best.

SotC rules would likely work pretty well here. I'd create it as (initially at least) an Average Quality Companion, with the Mental and Social Scopes, a couple of Advances dropped into Skilled (to mimic its initial mental abilities), Communication and 'Keeping Up' (to mirror the fact that the entity is always present and can communicate telepathically with the host).

I'd allow the host to spend his own refresh into advance the entity, for skill points I'd just use the advances from the companion stunt, allowing the host PC to purchase additional skills through further purchases of the stunt (I'd also suggest mandating that these skills follow the 'skill pyramid' format, as I don't think the original rules do)

I think based on SotC's costing that would be 2 stunts (1 for the Companion with 3 free advances and 1 for 3 more advances), not sure what it'd be on the draft rules from the forums.

I'd also suggest that the character pick up a couple of stunts to show the companions abilities (the fact that these actually belong to the companion doesn't really matter as the entity cannot act independantly and is non-corporeal anyway), I don't know how it'd play out in a DFRPG game but the total recall ability seems like an application of the 'Studied Recall' stunt from SotC, and the language abilities sound like 'Gift of Tongues' from the same source. To me they seem a little more powerful than the usual DFRPG stunts, more into the realm of supernatural powers, so I'm not sure how I'd cost them here.

This topic has raised an interesting thought problem, I'd wonder if the Sight would even work for a blind wizard, or if it did, how it would manifest, would the ability simply tag onto another sense instead?

My understanding (and I'm sure someone will tell me if I'm way off base) is that the Sight 'simply' takes the metaphysical nature of the wizards immediate area, along with the input of all senses and channels that into a visual image that a mere mortal mind can comprehend and hopefully interpret.

Assuming that the Sight translated whatever the input was at least partially into some form of imagery, would a blind wizard be able to actually utilise that imagery in a useful way? Wouldn't interpreting the visual constructs require some form of reference point regarding what things actually look like, not a problem for someone who was sighted at some point in their life (though as mentioned they would probably heal anyway through Wizard's Constitution), but for someone who was born blind, some of the esoteric imagery that usually accompanies a viewing through the Sight would likely be entirely incomprehensable.

I'm pretty much basing all of this on the line in YS on pg 223:

"When you open your Third Eye, you perceive everything about the world visually"

Any thoughts, or am i massively overthinking things here.

NB: As a plus, the character would presumably be immune to Soulgazes.

Apologies if I was unclear.

My primary concern with the "companion mob" was that it might be too powerful if each one is a full statted companion. This might extend from on misunderstanding on my part regarding the concept, but it would appear to me that one PC could in effect create an entire party of fairly powerful npcs that follow them around.

My thought was that this would be putting too much power into the hands of 1 PC ("My main character stands back issuing orders whilst his Wizard cohort blasts the enemy with a fireball, his mercenary hireling snipes at the opposition leadership and the werewolf that's taken to following him around rips whatever is left to pieces...oh look they're all dead") I can see allowing characters 1 fully statted companion. But when a couple of stunts can net you an entire party of characters that can concievably do anything the other players characters can, I could see it stepping on some toes.

Thus I thought that if a player wanted a PC that's in effect the Gang leader, Cult Messiah or other controller of a large number of devoted followers then the rules already in DFRPG for minions might work best, allowing a group of 'disposable' mooks that could be summoned (not necessarily in the magical sense) as needed, would need minimal statting and are squishy enough that they can't simply be used to pound any conceivable threat into paste whilst the PC's stand back and twiddle their thumbs.

The rest was just an attempt thrown out during my lunch break to see if some form of stunt could be built to allow for this, I've not looked at my copy of YS so I can't see how much of what I remembered about the minion rules was correct, or even if what I proposed is practicable.

If I was incorrect in my interpretation of the 'Companion Mob' you mentioned then most of what I proposed could probably be thrown out...still like the Quirk idea though.

@ Sanctaphrax:

Thanks for the welcome and I apologise to everyone in advance for the very long post.

Regarding bonuses for raising skills through the tiers, there is often a bonus, but the effect it has varies from skill to skill.

In the same way that Wild Talents, Mutants & Masterminds or Champions break superpowers down into component parts that can be welded together to allow players to create various superpowers, Kerberos Club breaks the individual skills down into trappings to a much greater degree than DFRPG or SotC does (Although it also contains the Common 'mundane' skills). It is these individual trappings that are given tier bonuses.

Note: Tiers run through a list of named levels similar to Skill Levels:
(From Low to High)

Mundane
Extraordinary
Superhuman
Ascendant
Godlike

Each tier of difference will replace an additional DF with a D6 (thus although a competition between tiers only 1 or 2 levels apart can be close with weaker combatants winning with luck and the judicious use of aspects, where a high level tier competes with a low level tier it is almost guaranteed a win. (Avoiding a 'Joe Average managed to kill Galactus' scenario, or one in which high powered characters must have insanely large skill pyramids)

As an example of how trappings are applied, the 'Science' skill is made up of the trappings of 'Craft', 'Information', 'Research' and 'Treatment [Physical]'. At "Mundane" (normal) skill level, this allows you to create temporary inventions (given the appropriate time to make them)(Craft), quickly remember useful scientific facts from character memory (Information), research knowledge methodically using an appropriate workspace or library (Research), and treat physical injuries  under medical conditions(Treatment[Physical]) as if you were a Scientific professional.

At "Extraordinary" and higher the trappings gain additional bonuses, for example an Extraordinary Crafter can create inventions which utilize skills at Extraordinary level, and can spend a fate point once per story arc to spontanously reveal a previously undisclosed device that their character had been working on 'off screen', which acts as a piece of Equipment with two improvements. A person with Godlike Treatment can literally raise the dead, making a skill roll vs a Godlike tier target of +10 (so those lovely D6's don't count) to return to life a character who had the taken out condition of death (with the consequence of a rewritten aspect for the restoree - something along the lines of "Looked beyond the Veil of Death" or "Haunted by his own Mortality" might be appropriate)

Each skill can have a number of these 'Tier Benefits' equal to it's skill rating, which are selected at character creation/advancement, as not every trapping has Tier Benefits and not all of those that do have a benefit for each Tier, for skills made up of small numbers of trappings it is comparatively easy to select attached benefits. However if you try to create one 'catch-all' skill with numerous trappings, selecting the bonuses can become more tricky.

One trapping of particular interest for this topic is the 'Minions' trapping. Whilst the 'Companion' gift I mentioned earlier allows the PC to have a permanent follower, the Robin or Alfred to the PC's Batman, the Minion trapping allows the character to call forth temporary allies or duplicates to assist them (text copied below).

Minions:

A skill with this trapping can be used to call forth allies
of some kind—functionaries, bodyguards, supernatural
entities, or whatever else is appropriate to the skill’s theme.
By default, these allies must contacted by ordinary means,
such as a messenger or a telegram, and arrive under their
own power by conventional means. In some cases, this may
preclude their arrival altogether, such as if you’re trapped
in a prison with no way to contact the outside world. To
alter any of these parameters, take the Unusual Extra, once
for each alteration.

With a Fate Point and proper justification, the Minions can
arrive more quickly than would otherwise be considered
reasonable. Perhaps your operatives were already on the
scene, blending with the crowd until needed, or maybe that
crate over there just happens to contain a half-dozen of your
Robotic Soldiers, waiting to be shipped out.
Regardless, Minions cannot be called more than once per
scene, and the allies generated by it disperse or disappear,
as appropriate, once the scene is through.

Roll the skill against a difficulty of Mediocre (+0), and
spend the shifts obtained to produce your Minions. An
Average-quality Minion costs 1 shift, a Fair-quality
Minion costs 3 shifts, and a Good-quality Minion costs
5 shifts. All Minions must be of the same quality.

For 2 skill points, you get Simple Minions. Instead of
giving them skills, simply assign scopes, Physical, Mental,
or Social, according to their intended purpose within the
scene. A scope is a broad skill that covers a variety
of mundane functions. An Average Minion has one scope
at +1, a Fair Minion has one scope at +2 and one scope at
+1, and a Good Minion has one scope at +3, one at +2, and
one at +1.

For twice the cost, 4 skill points, the character can call
on Advanced Minions. These Minions can have full skill
pyramids of one, three, or six skills: one Average (+1) skill
for Average-quality Minions, two Average (+1) skills and one
Fair (+2) skill for Fair-quality Minions, and so on, using skills
instead of scopes. Advanced Minions are more customizable,
but also require more attention from the player to implement.

Each minion has a stress track equal to its quality. An
Average-quality Minion can take 1 stress, a Fair-quality
Minion can take 2, and a Good-quality Minion can take 3.

Minions cannot take consequences—once their stress
track is exceeded, they’re Taken Out. To obtain a
specific ally, such as an assistant or valet,
use the Companion Gift.

During a conflict Minions summoned by a power are
considered to be a single entity, receiving a +1 bonus to
skill rolls for each Minion in a group beyond the first.
Additionally when stress is dealt to a group of Minions it
is dealt to the group as a whole, divide the stress by the
stress track threshold of the minions and drop any
remainder, that is the number of minions Taken Out.

A specialized form of the Minions trapping, Duplicates, can be
used to create clones or identical copies of oneself. See the
sidebar for details. (Details below)

Tier Bonuses:

Superhuman Tier: By rolling the skill against a Superhuman difficulty
of Mediocre (+0), one of the Minions’ scopes or
skills can be upgraded to the Extraordinary Tier.

Ascendant Tier: As Superhuman Tier, but roll against
an Ascendant difficulty of Mediocre (+0) to upgrade one of the
Minions’ scopes or skills to the Superhuman Tier, or two
scopes or skills to the Extraordinary Tier.

Godlike Tier: As Superhuman Tier, but roll against
a Godlike difficulty of Mediocre (+0) to upgrade one of the
Minions’ scopes or skills to the Ascendant Tier, one
scope or skill to the Superhuman Tier and one other to
the Extraordinary Tier, or three scopes or skills to the
Extraordinary Tier.

Duplicates:
This is a specialized form of the Minions trapping,
one that can only be used to create copies of the
character. The duplicates arrive instantly, however
they’re created; for “slower” duplicates, take a Flaw
to that effect. Roll the skill against a difficulty of
Mediocre (+0), and spend shifts obtained to create
duplicates. An Average-quality duplicate costs 1
shift, a Fair-quality duplicate costs 3 shifts, and a
Good-quality duplicate costs 5 shifts. All duplicates
must be of the same quality. The duplicates
have one skill per rating available, as per their
quality (for example, a Fair duplicate has one +2
skill and one +1 skill). Only Strange skills can have
this trapping, and no duplicate can have a skill with
the Duplicates trapping.
A duplicate’s skills are limited to those belonging
to the character, and no duplicate can have a skill
rated higher than the character’s equivalent skill.
For duplicates that are radically different from the
character, such as past and future versions of the
same person, or duplicates called forth from alternate
dimensions, use the Minions trapping instead.

This trapping, if appropriately adapted for DFRPG could produce the Naruto-esque duplication power, a charcter who can summon the lesser fae, or a Tarzan style character who can call upon the creatures of the wild to do his bidding.
I'm not sure how one would go about adding it to DFRPG as a skill. The skill portion of Kerberos Club isn't as straight-cut as SotC or DFRPG, involving a skill creation tree that determines how much a particular custom skill would cost depending on the trappings added (for those who have played the game 'Mutant City Blues' it's a very similar concept to the 'Quade Diagram'). Additionally skills can be altered further through the addition of 'Extras' or 'Flaws'.

Extras add refinement to the skill, Tailoring the abilities it grants in a more specialised way, whilst adding to its cost. Examples include

Psychic: which removes physical exertion from those trappings that imply it, causes trappings such as disguise or hide to represent an enforced mental change on the observer rather than physical transformation, and can allow social or mental trappings to represent Psionic abilities such as mind control, clairvoyance or telepathy. (+1 skill point)

Spray: Adds the Spray effect permanently to the skill. (+1 skill point)

Zone: Causes the power to effect everyone within a zone, allies and enemies alike. (+2 skill points)

Range: Effectively increases the range of a skill. Trappings that normally effect the character can effect others within the same zone, trappings without a range can effect targets within 1 zone and trappings already possessing a range can operate over multiple zones. This allows the representation of Preternaturally keen eyesight, Telekinetic Lockpicking and Mr Fantastic style stretching. (+1 skill point)

Unusual [Specification]: This allows the trapping/skill to operate some non-standard way appropriate to the Skill's theme, or provides some minor additional functionality, it allows the removal of implied gear or preparation from a trapping (such as Disguise + Unusual [Eschew  Materials]= Shapeshifting, or Craft + Unusual [Instantaneous]= Ability to build things instantly). This trapping pretty much allows the creation of most weird and wonderful superpowers like Teleportation, Forcefield Manipulation, Flight or X-Ray Vision. (+1 skill point)


Flaws are the opposite of Extras and impose limitations on a skill for a set skill point rebate. Flaws can be either Minor or Major with a rebate of either 1 or 2 skill points respectively. Examples Include:

Charges: Which limits the number of times a skill can be used to its skill rating. A skill with Minor Charges can be used that number of times per scene, whilst as a Major Flaw this limitation is per Session.

Focus: This externalizes the skill as an item, if the item is removed then the skill cannot be used. To be considered a major flaw the character must have an aspect directly tied to the flawed skill.

Snag: A flaw that imposes a limitation on the powers effectiveness. Ie. cannot effect the colour yellow, only works on animals, only works during the full moon etc. The level of the flaw is dependent upon the rarity of the situation/condition.

Taxing: This skill can only be used at the cost of a fate point (Major)

Thats pretty much a breakdown of the Skill/Power creation of Kerberos Club, If anyone is interested in any further information on the Fate edition of Kerberos Club specifically and Hacking the Fate system in general I can heartily recommend http://spiritoftheblank.blogspot.com/.

I'll take a deeper look at costing out a couple of minions/summoning powers through this method and post them later, though I think that the non-standard costing for skills that this would require might make it a little clunky for DFRPG.

Has anyone looked at the 'Strange Fate' rules for companions in the Fate edition of Kerberos Club?
They'd probably take a bit of modification as the rules for skill tiers and 'strange skills' etc might conflict with the DFRPG rules. But it should allow 'powered' companions much more easily than the SotC rules would (I must admit I haven't looked at SotC for a while so can't remember the exact wording of the relevant stunt off the top of my head).