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Messages - ReaderAt2046

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DFRPG / Attaching a Catch to non-toughness Powers?
« on: March 19, 2018, 03:09:22 AM »

So when you take a Toughness power, you can and must attach a Catch that negates those powers under certain circumstances, and you receive a rebate for that Catch. But what about extending that same concept to other powers? Say, for example, you have a changeling who can create Glamours, but because of the Fey origins of her power, anyone touching iron can see through her illusions? Or a demon whose Domination power has no effect on those with True Faith? Is there any reason why this sort of thing wouldn't be possible? It seems like a way to make for some very interesting story moments.

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DFRPG / Help with two new power concepts?
« on: March 02, 2018, 11:01:00 PM »

Ok, so there are two power concepts that I run across a fair amount in my fantasy reading, but that I have yet to figure out a good way of incorporating into the game.

1: Supernatural Luck: You know the concept: A character for whom everything just goes right. He can walk through the middle of a gunfight, and all the bullets just happen to miss him. He goes out for a walk and happens to trip over a briefcase full of money or the crucial piece of evidence to solve the mystery. His car never breaks down, he never gets caught in the rain, and even the birds always miss him.

Now, obviously this would be easy to implement by just giving a character loads of Fate points, but that feels a little too easy. I want there to be a catch to this power, some way in which relying on your power to tip the scales of Fate can come back to bite you. The best idea I've had so far is that taking this power also gives you an Aspect along the lines of "dependent on luck" or "weird luck", and that you cannot buy off Compels related to that aspect.

2: Inhuman Vulnerability: Taking things one step beyond the Catch, this is the case where not only do your powers offer no protection against a threat, but you are far more vulnerable than a human would be. For example, a lot of werewolf stories feature the idea that a werewolf is so vulnerable to silver that the slightest scratch from a silvered blade is death, and even touching it can burn. At the lower end, I imagine you could implement this with a "power" that gives certain attacks extra shifts of strength against you. For the higher end, I'm considering a rule that says that you can't take Consequences to buy off damage from whatever you're vulnerable to. You can still take stress hits (fluff-wise, because stress generally represents strain and near-misses rather than actual harm, crunch-wise because that keeps it from being quite so crazy brutal), but if someone actually lands a hit, they're taking you out.

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DFRPG / Re: Fun Potion Ingredients
« on: December 12, 2013, 04:24:40 AM »

I once had this wizard who was trying to build a Thaumaturgic rite to blow up a local abortuary, and he made this potion-like paste to draw the circle in. I remember the ingredients included his own blood, the shredded flesh of a bunch of the abortuary's victims (retrieved from the dumpster in back), communion wine, and I think he might have gotten the blood of an Unseelie Lord as well. Epic stuff.

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One point that might be relevant regarding the First Law. It's a fairly well-known fact that humans have an instinctive block against killing other humans. This used to be a huge problem for armies, as a lot of soldiers would "freeze" when they needed to kill under extreme stress. So what the army started doing was taking people and retraining their instincts, putting them under extreme stress and making them "kill" dummies and practice targets again and again and again, until their reaction under stress was not "mercy!" but "kill!". I've begun to suspect that breaking the First Law does much the same thing, except much faster.

As the analogy above suggests, I don't believe that this necessarily makes the wizard evil (and I don't think the White Council does either, as suggested by the Doom of Damocles), but it does make him dangerous. Possibly dangerous heroic (like any good soldier), but still dangerous.

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DFRPG / Feedback on star character?
« on: July 12, 2013, 02:46:04 PM »

So after listening to this song: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K7KMRBoqQUg I was inspired to create a character who was literally a shooting star. I'd like your feedback on my design, and just general thoughts.

Therefore, I give you: Bothynus!

High Concept Aspect: A Star Fell From Heaven
Trouble Aspect: Not Of This World
Background Aspect: Brighter Than A Shooting Star
Rising Trouble Aspect: Fallen To Earth.
First Story Aspect: Fill The Darkest Night With A Brilliant Light
Guest Star Aspect 1:
Guest Star Aspect 2:

5: Athletics, Weapons
4: Lore, Conviction,
3: Endurance, Discipline
2: Presence, Alertness, Performance,
1: Might, Scholarship, Survival, Investigation, 1 blank
Stresses: Mental 0/4, Physical 0/4, Social 0/3
Powers and Stunts: Breath Weapon (Light/Heat, -2), Searing Fists (use Breath Weapon for Brawling, -1), Inhuman Speed (-2), Inhuman Recovery (-2), Catch (Stone or Earth, +1), Brilliant Light (-1, Bothynus acts as a high-power light source. Can make maneuver or block rolls at Conviction+2 using this light.), Human Form (+1), covering: Supernatural Speed (-4, replaces Inhuman Speed), Flight (-1),
Adjusted Base Refresh: 1.

Some notes:

1. I left his Guest Star Aspects blank because they'll depend on the story he finds himself in.

2. Bothynus's Human Form rebate indicates that he becomes faster and gains the ability to fly by shifting into Orb Form (in which he becomes a orb of light and heat a couple of feet across).

3. Regarding his Catch, metal and most forms of glass don't trigger it, but obsidian does. I rank it total as a +2 (because finding Stone or Earth is easy, but knowing to use them isn't.)


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DFRPG / Re: Possible benefits for Sponsored Magic: Greek?
« on: July 12, 2013, 02:25:24 PM »

Let's see. If I remember my Lore correctly, Hecate is the goddess of magic, so I'd have her magic give a +1 complexity on any form of Thaumaturgy. Hades, I'd probably use the same bonuses as Kemmlerian Necromancy.

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DFRPG / Re: HomebrewAt2046
« on: July 04, 2013, 08:53:31 PM »

Because it says so in the rules? From the Physical Immunity Description
Quote
You take no stress and no
consequences from physical attacks and other
harms, unless someone satisfies your Catch.

8
I think this is more my problem with the system then - the scope of which players have control of the story is a bit much for my tastes. I like to keep players declarations within reason - 1 fate point is enough to make small declarations (an object that makes sense being in a location is explicitly there, someone forgot to lock a door, etc.) not huge changes such as might rule out any obstacles I may have planned out for the PCs, such as the item no longer being in the possession of the bad guy, or X character knowing where and what the PCs are after.

Well, that's easy to handle. There's no rule that you have to accept a declaration, even a FP one. In fact, the rules on the subject say
Quote
This gives you the ability
to create things in a story that would usually be
under the GM’s purview. Typically, these things
can’t be used to drastically change the plot or
win a scene.
Declaring “Doctor Keiser drops dead of
a heart attack” is not only likely to be rejected
by the GM, it wouldn’t even be that much fun
to begin with. Declarations are better suited
to creating convenient coincidences.
Does your
character need a lighter (but doesn’t smoke)?
Spend a fate point and you’ve got one! Is there
an interesting scene happening over there that
your character might miss? Spend a fate point to
declare you arrive at a dramatically appropriate
moment!
Your GM has veto power over this use, but
it has one dirty little secret. If you use it to do
something to make the game cooler for everyone,
the GM will usually grant far more leeway than
she will for something boring or, worse, selfish.
As a general rule, you’ll get a lot more lenience
from the GM if you make a declaration that is in
keeping with one or more of your aspects. For
example, the GM will usually balk at letting a
character spend a fate point to have a weapon
after he’s been searched for them. However, if
you can point out that you’re Always Armed
or describe how your Distracting Beauty
kept the guard’s attention on inappropriate
areas, the GM is more likely to give you some
leeway. (This is much like invoking an aspect,
but without a die roll.)

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DFRPG / Re: HomebrewAt2046
« on: July 04, 2013, 02:26:55 PM »
I disagree. Full immunity to magic costs only 3 Refresh. Spell Resistance is too weak, compared to that.

Thing is, Physical Immunity (Magic only), which is what I assume you mean, only protects you from spells that inflict stress or consequences. SR is designed to also render you resistant to Maneuvers and possibly let you push through magical blocks.

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DFRPG / Re: HomebrewAt2046
« on: July 03, 2013, 02:00:30 AM »

A couple of new things I thought of

First, a new stunt for Wizards: Exclusive Power (needs a better name)(Discipline): You have gained a measure of control over zone-effect spells. When casting a spell that targets everything in one or more zones, you may exclude a number of targets equal to half your Discipline (rounded up) from its effects.

Second, a cluster of powers: Spell Resistance (-2), Improved Spell Resistance (-4), and Greater Spell Resistance (-6). All spells cast on you are reduced in power by 2, 4, or 6 shifts depending on which level you purchased. If this would reduce a spell's power to 0 shifts, it has no effect whatsoever. You may choose to attach a Catch (specifying a certain kind of magic that you are not immune to, or specific circumstance under which your Resistance is negated), but it is not mandatory.

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DFRPG / Re: Thoughts on new vs old wardens
« on: July 01, 2013, 02:19:21 PM »
Yeah, this would probably have prevented them from slipping really severely into racism.

What I really want to know is, how did the White Council transition from the strongly Eurocentric thing it's hinted to have been till fairly "recently" (in wizard-lifespan terms) to the current fairly multicultural Senior Council? Did they "absorb" pre-existing Asian, Native American, etc. wizard-organizations? Did Listens-to-Wind and Ancient Mai start their wizarding career as members of one of those other organizations? (Rashid probably did, if he's as old as hinted... though the Middle East is maybe within the Council's 'original area of influence', given that the Roman Empire controlled parts the Middle East.)

I suspect that magical civilization simply followed mundane. In other words, LTW and his traditions were absorbed into the White Council around the same time and in the same way that Native American culture was absorbed into the European-American culture of the United States as a whole.

12
DFRPG / Re: Thoughts on new vs old wardens
« on: June 30, 2013, 10:22:05 PM »
I think that's a logically sound argument but I disagree with it just the same, on the basis that The White Council doesn't really care about things outside magic, by and large. If Harry Dresden had killed a mortal with an icepick for no discernable reason rather than kill Justin DuMorne with magic in self defense, he wouldn't have found himself under the Doom of Damocles.

I think non-magical morality seems to be something they're fairly disinterested in, as unpleasant as the implications of that are sometimes.

It's not just non-magical morality, but morality period. As Luccio pointed out, the Laws Of Magic aren't primarily about right and wrong, but about control, binding wizards and limiting their danger. The Council stands neutral on matters of right and wrong because it's the only way they know to prevent civil war.

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DFRPG / Re: Law Talk
« on: June 27, 2013, 01:06:28 PM »

Two interesting hypothetical scenarios:

1. Does it break the First Law if you kill someone with a spell intended to be non-lethal? (I.e. Wizard John Conrad has a "mystic Tazer" rote that is intended to paralyze and knock out, but sometimes it can cause heart attacks or otherwise kill, just like with a real Tazer.)

2. Do you get the Lawbreaker bonus on spells that don't technically break the Law again, but are very similar thematically? For example, suppose that pretty early on, before getting rid of his Lawbreaker (First) power, Harry goes up against a Red Vamp and tries to blow it up. Would he get the +1 from the Lawbreaker to his attack rolls?

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DFRPG / Re: Thoughts on new vs old wardens
« on: June 25, 2013, 10:21:37 PM »
Speaking of ancient Wizards...I wonder how the White Council acts when it comes to issues of race and sexuality.

Slavery was legal in America until 1863. That's only 150 years ago, there are people in the White Council old enough to have owned (legal) slaves in their younger years.

I would hope that the international nature of the Council would help with that, but...I'd expect a lot of senior Wizards to be old-fashioned in the worst sense of the term.

Since magical talent is not affected by gender or ethnicity, I'd suspect the Council's "powerism" trumps their racism or sexism.

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DFRPG / Re: Changelings and Seelie/Unseelie magic?
« on: June 25, 2013, 07:21:28 PM »

I would say that the "approval" to use Seelie or Unseelie magic is implicitly granted by the fact of being born a changeling of the right bloodline (reinforced by the fact that, per SK, changelings are considered to be part of the Fae parent's court, and under the authority of that Court's queen).

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