Author Topic: Advice on my first character concept  (Read 5360 times)

Offline Haru

  • Posty McPostington
  • ***
  • Posts: 5520
  • Mentally unstable like a fox.
    • View Profile
Re: Advice on my first character concept
« Reply #15 on: July 09, 2011, 10:57:31 AM »
If you want the mirror with you at any time, you could make it a small mirror in a locket, that your character is wearing around his neck. When he changes, the necklace will change into a collar with the locket hanging from it, indicating, that you are indeed a "dead god's plaything".
“Do you not know that a man is not dead while his name is still spoken?”
― Terry Pratchett, Going Postal

Offline Masurao

  • Conversationalist
  • **
  • Posts: 282
  • Liberate tetemet ex inferis!
    • View Profile
Re: Advice on my first character concept
« Reply #16 on: July 09, 2011, 11:02:54 AM »
If you want the mirror with you at any time, you could make it a small mirror in a locket, that your character is wearing around his neck. When he changes, the necklace will change into a collar with the locket hanging from it, indicating, that you are indeed a "dead god's plaything".

A nice touch, though it would change the One-Time Discount to +1, I'm guessing?

Offline Haru

  • Posty McPostington
  • ***
  • Posts: 5520
  • Mentally unstable like a fox.
    • View Profile
Re: Advice on my first character concept
« Reply #17 on: July 09, 2011, 11:07:24 AM »
A nice touch, though it would change the One-Time Discount to +1, I'm guessing?
Oh yes, of course, I forgot to mention that.
“Do you not know that a man is not dead while his name is still spoken?”
― Terry Pratchett, Going Postal

Offline UmbraLux

  • Posty McPostington
  • ***
  • Posts: 1685
    • View Profile
Re: Advice on my first character concept
« Reply #18 on: July 09, 2011, 01:55:15 PM »
Good question, forgot to mention it and it could reasonably affect the pricing of the item. In my imagination the mirror would become part of the changed shape, with a nice visual effect of it turning into smoke or some tar-like substance covering the character's body as it changed. Hence the color black for the jaguar. So, should that change the cost of the Item of Power?
Yeah, if you don't have the inconvenience of dealing with an item you shouldn't get an item discount.  It's an interesting trapping for the standard power(s) rather than an Item of Power. 

As others mentioned, smaller items like a necklace or collar could be carried by the jaguar but would also give a smaller discount.  As GM, I like the larger mirror which gets left behind - it presents choices your character will need to make.  When and where can I use my power?  Where does a jaguar sleep in the City?  Am I responsible for what others might do with the mirror if they get hold of it for a while?  It's also a good fate point generator.  :)

--
“As our circle of knowledge expands, so does the circumference of darkness surrounding it.”  - Albert Einstein

"Rudeness is a weak imitation of strength."  - Eric Hoffer

Offline Masurao

  • Conversationalist
  • **
  • Posts: 282
  • Liberate tetemet ex inferis!
    • View Profile
Re: Advice on my first character concept
« Reply #19 on: July 12, 2011, 12:17:57 PM »
So this then is the 'finished' character concept. All I need to do know is write his backstory a bit more detailed. Thanks for all the help with this one, peeps!

No-Names the Concept
(made at Feet in the Water level)

High Concept: Tezcatlipoca's Adopted Cub
Trouble: Am I a dead god's plaything?
Background: Hunter of What is Hidden/Can't resist a mystery
Rising Conflict: When you look into the Abys and you look into the Smokeless Mirror
Story: Afraid to bear my fangs


Skills:
+4 Scholarship
+3 Investigation
+3 Discipline
+2 Lore
+2 Conviction
+2 Alertness
+1 Athletics
+1 Endurance
+1 Survival
+1 Contacts

Powers and stunts:
Item of Power (the Smokeless Mirror) -4
One-Time Discount (+2) - it's an obsidian mirror
It Is What It Is - it's an obsidian mirror
Unbreakable - it can be broken/shattered, but the pieces reattach when held together. If seperated for more than a scene, or over a larger distance, the fragments would turn into smoke and drift back to the largest remaining part, or so I imagined it.
Imparted Abilities:
   -Beast Change (black jaguar) -1
   -Human Form +1, affecting the following:
   -Inhuman Speed -2
   -Inhuman Strength -2
   -Inhuman Recovery -2
   -Inhuman Toughness -2
   -the Catch: gold +3 (Tezcatlipoca is a god of the night, gold is the 'sun metal' and was quite common in Aztec-times)
   -Claws[/i] -1 (claws and teeth)

Echoes of the Beast -1

Beast Change Skills:
+4 Fists
+4 Stealth
+3 Athletics
+3 Alertness
+2 Endurance
+2 Might
+1 Survival
+1 Intimidation (I know technically social skills shouldn't become higher, but it seemed appropriate, as a kind of physical intimidation)

Offline Holocron.Coder

  • Participant
  • *
  • Posts: 58
    • View Profile
Re: Advice on my first character concept
« Reply #20 on: July 12, 2011, 04:24:30 PM »
As a side, if the broken pieces, after separated for a time, turn to smoke and reform at the biggest piece... then, with a bit of thought yields this process:

1: Transform
2: Break the mirror
3: Grab the biggest piece and carry it, somehow (leather satchel on animal, etc)
4: Reforms at end of scene
5: Transform back

It kinda renders moot the point of the mirror being bulky and troublesome. Though, I suppose you could just agree to never do that... ::)
DV HolocronCoder v1.2 YR3 FR1.5 BK++ RP+++ JB++ TH+ WG+++ CL+ BC+ MC+++++ SH[Murph++ Molly+ Thomas---]

Offline Haru

  • Posty McPostington
  • ***
  • Posts: 5520
  • Mentally unstable like a fox.
    • View Profile
Re: Advice on my first character concept
« Reply #21 on: July 12, 2011, 04:51:13 PM »
Item of Power (the Smokeless Mirror) -4
Unbreakable - it can be broken/shattered, but the pieces reattach when held together. If seperated for more than a scene, or over a larger distance, the fragments would turn into smoke and drift back to the largest remaining part, or so I imagined it.

Now this has been bothering me from the first draft. If the mirror turns into smoke, why is it called smokeless? It just seems weird to me.
“Do you not know that a man is not dead while his name is still spoken?”
― Terry Pratchett, Going Postal

Offline Masurao

  • Conversationalist
  • **
  • Posts: 282
  • Liberate tetemet ex inferis!
    • View Profile
Re: Advice on my first character concept
« Reply #22 on: July 12, 2011, 05:06:23 PM »
Now this has been bothering me from the first draft. If the mirror turns into smoke, why is it called smokeless? It just seems weird to me.

Haha, well, don't ask me, the Aztecs or Olmecs came up with Xp It's one of the names for Tezcatlipoca, I believe.

Offline Haru

  • Posty McPostington
  • ***
  • Posts: 5520
  • Mentally unstable like a fox.
    • View Profile
Re: Advice on my first character concept
« Reply #23 on: July 12, 2011, 05:21:39 PM »
Haha, well, don't ask me, the Aztecs or Olmecs came up with Xp It's one of the names for Tezcatlipoca, I believe.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tezcatlipoca
Quote
His name in the Nahuatl language is often translated as "Smoking Mirror" and alludes to his connection to obsidian, the material from which mirrors were made in Mesoamerica and which was used for shamanic rituals.

Mystery solved, I believe ;)
“Do you not know that a man is not dead while his name is still spoken?”
― Terry Pratchett, Going Postal