Author Topic: Assorted questions  (Read 28695 times)

Offline nadia.skylark

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Re: Assorted questions
« Reply #15 on: June 05, 2019, 01:52:05 AM »
And does anyone have a good Nutcracker-related catch for a rat-type lycanthrope? I feel like just "nutcrackers" isn't a very good one.

Offline Sanctaphrax

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Re: Assorted questions
« Reply #16 on: June 05, 2019, 03:10:39 AM »
The nutcracker was a transformed prince of some kind, wasn't he?

Royalty might be an appropriate Catch.

Offline nadia.skylark

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Re: Assorted questions
« Reply #17 on: June 05, 2019, 03:36:43 AM »
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The nutcracker was a transformed prince of some kind, wasn't he?

Royalty might be an appropriate Catch.

Thanks! Some kind of supernaturally-enhanced royal blood catch would be really cool.

Offline g33k

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Re: Assorted questions
« Reply #18 on: June 05, 2019, 04:54:03 AM »
Thanks! Some kind of supernaturally-enhanced royal blood catch would be really cool.
Royalty isn't so common these days that I think you need to add the "supernatural" extra. 

OTOH, if you include "all descendents of" it's... kind of common, actually, and NOT that much of a Catch.  Everyone with ancestors in Europe (or who came from Europe in the past 2-3 centuries) is a descendent of Charlemagne.  Everybody alive is descended from Nefertiti.

I'd go with "heir to the throne" -- even if the throne was gulped up by an aggressor 1100years ago, if the reigning monarch had a clear and unambiguous heir who survived (and so on down the generations), such that the laws of the (no longer existing) realm would hold "Joe the warehouse guy" to be the True Heir... Then Joe would be incredibly dangerous to these were-rats.

Offline nadia.skylark

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Re: Assorted questions
« Reply #19 on: June 05, 2019, 05:11:01 AM »
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Royalty isn't so common these days that I think you need to add the "supernatural" extra. 

OTOH, if you include "all descendents of" it's... kind of common, actually, and NOT that much of a Catch.  Everyone with ancestors in Europe (or who came from Europe in the past 2-3 centuries) is a descendent of Charlemagne.  Everybody alive is descended from Nefertiti.

The idea was that because everyone has some kind of royal blood, you'd have to do some sort of ritual to mystically enhance it, which would involve making yourself more like the ruler whose blood you're invoking. I was thinking something sort of similar to temporary sponsored magic, where you get a minor advantage (in this case, you fulfill the catch for x time; in the case of sponsored magic, you get to supercharge your attack spell with a thunderstorm) and in return you're hit with a compel to act in a certain way or do something.

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I'd go with "heir to the throne" -- even if the throne was gulped up by an aggressor 1100years ago, if the reigning monarch had a clear and unambiguous heir who survived (and so on down the generations), such that the laws of the (no longer existing) realm would hold "Joe the warehouse guy" to be the True Heir... Then Joe would be incredibly dangerous to these were-rats.

That might work better, yes. What value would you put on this catch?

Offline nadia.skylark

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Re: Assorted questions
« Reply #20 on: June 05, 2019, 05:33:17 AM »
How much refresh would a power that links two characters and allows them to draw on each other's power cost?

Offline g33k

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Re: Assorted questions
« Reply #21 on: June 05, 2019, 09:57:00 PM »
The idea was that because everyone has some kind of royal blood, you'd have to do some sort of ritual to mystically enhance it, which would involve making yourself more like the ruler whose blood you're invoking. I was thinking something sort of similar to temporary sponsored magic, where you get a minor advantage (in this case, you fulfill the catch for x time; in the case of sponsored magic, you get to supercharge your attack spell with a thunderstorm) and in return you're hit with a compel to act in a certain way or do something. 

Since everybody has it, the issue of "royal blood" is a non-issue.  It's just a narrative trapping, a research-element you need to turn up, so that you can invoke / enhance it.

This makes it not really fulfill the elements of a "catch" imho:  the info may be hidden or obscure, but the necessary royal blood is EVERYWHERE, literally; there are no people -- zero -- without it.  It's like the Catch being "air" or something.
 
Also, I'm not wild about attaching a Ritual prerequisite to a Catch.  Mechanically, it makes "has done the ritual (maybe within <X> time ?  Does it expire?)" the actual, game-mechanical Catch, which... I dunno, I guess it works?  I have a gut instinct saying its a problem, but I can't articulate it.
 
« Last Edit: June 05, 2019, 10:02:36 PM by g33k »

Offline nadia.skylark

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Re: Assorted questions
« Reply #22 on: June 05, 2019, 11:40:24 PM »
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Since everybody has it, the issue of "royal blood" is a non-issue.  It's just a narrative trapping, a research-element you need to turn up, so that you can invoke / enhance it.

This makes it not really fulfill the elements of a "catch" imho:  the info may be hidden or obscure, but the necessary royal blood is EVERYWHERE, literally; there are no people -- zero -- without it.  It's like the Catch being "air" or something.
 
Also, I'm not wild about attaching a Ritual prerequisite to a Catch.  Mechanically, it makes "has done the ritual (maybe within <X> time ?  Does it expire?)" the actual, game-mechanical Catch, which... I dunno, I guess it works?  I have a gut instinct saying its a problem, but I can't articulate it.

Yeah, I think the "royal heir" thing works better.

Offline Sanctaphrax

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Re: Assorted questions
« Reply #23 on: June 06, 2019, 03:00:44 AM »
How much refresh would a power that links two characters and allows them to draw on each other's power cost?

Depends entirely on what drawing on each other's power entails.

Offline nadia.skylark

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Re: Assorted questions
« Reply #24 on: June 06, 2019, 04:25:22 AM »
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Depends entirely on what drawing on each other's power entails.

Basically, I'm trying to create something similar to the vampire marks from Anita Blake, only less strong and without all the crazy sex stuff that accompanies them, and also making getting the marks more interesting than just "vampire gives them to you."

My idea is that I'm creating a dhampir (defined here as a being created when a pregnant woman is Turned into a blampire--when she gives birth, the child is a dhampir) who is something like a cross between Jean-Claude from Anita Blake and Stefan from the Mercy Thomson series. The way dhampirs work in this story is that, so long as their mother is still alive, they are forced to obey the master vampire that turned her (non-master blampires can't create dhampirs) and dhampirs have a limited amount of supernatural ability (inhuman powers and maybe a negligible amount of magic, basically) but if they kill the master that created them, they 'unlock' the ability to develop their powers further (the idea for this comes from a WoJ that blampires gain power by killing people). Also, because their natures are so unbalanced in favor of death and darkness, all dhampirs are drawn to sunlight, despite the fact that it kills them.

This dhampir is no longer obligated to obey his master, but that master is still alive. So this dhampir decides to convince my character to trust him (via asking for help with stuff my character would want to get involved in, offering his help to her practically free of charge, and generally being nice and helpful) in order to manipulate/convince her to perform a ritual that would give him both an ally and more power in order to kill his master, and also would allow him to walk in sunlight, to some extent.

In the course of this, they become friends, and they end up binding themselves together with the five elemental Marks, for various reasons.

The Water Mark is placed by the dhampir/vampire sending his energy into a person, causing some of their energy to flow back into him. This has a mild healing effect when it happens, but not long-term. Without this or the Earth Mark, however, the other Marks cannot be taken.

The Earth Mark is an exchange of blood between the vampire/dhampir and a person. This allows the person to keep functioning for a scene even if they are badly injured (basically, it works similarly to Harry's bear belt buckle).

The Air Mark is triggered by looking into the vampire/dhampir's eyes--which normally allows a blampire or a dhampir access to your mind, and is sort of like them having your Name in terms of problems blocking it--and having the will to take control of the connection and reach back rather than succumbing or breaking the link. This allows the dhampir/vampire and the person to speak mentally when they are close to each other or in each other's dreams.

The Fire Mark is triggered by the vampire/dhampir allowing a person to pour faith magic into them and accepting it (essentially allowing themselves to be taken out) and allows both of them to know when the other is lying to them, and allows them to sense extremely strong emotions in the other.

The Spirit Mark is triggered by the vampire/dhampir jointly casting a (strong) spell together, and can only be taken by someone who has at least one of the Earth/Water Marks and at least one of the Air/Fire Marks. It allows either of them to be able to find the other no matter where they are (if you're too far away, you may only get a vague direction, but you can follow that to get closer).

When someone has taken all five Marks, they can draw on the vampire/dhampir's power, and the vampire/dhampir can draw on theirs. What this means for the living person is that if the vampire/dhampir has supernatural speed and/or strength, the person can draw on the inhuman version of one of those (but not both at once, and you can't switch mid-scene); can draw on any spellcasting abilities that the dhampir/vampire might have, but with an effect like Demonic Co-Pilot; and can gain shifts for necromantic spells by inflicting physical stress or consequences on the vampire/dhampir if they don't resist. What this means for the vampire/dhampir is that they can heal themselves by drawing energy from the person (inflicting physical stress, or optionally mental if the person is a spellcaster)--the person cannot resist this, which can be a problem in a fight; can draw on any spellcasting abilities that the person may have (or possibly other supernatural powers, if they have those); and gains armor:1 or 2 (I don't know which it should be yet) against any attacks made with their Catch.

Offline Sanctaphrax

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Re: Assorted questions
« Reply #25 on: June 06, 2019, 10:00:07 AM »
The effects of the individual marks sound like they'd be best represented through Aspects.

For the effect of all the marks together, perhaps you could use Variable Abilities with a Limitation.

...well, damn. Looks like the wiki's been overrun with spambots. And here I was thinking being preposterously obscure would protect us.

Well, it should be possible to revert to an earlier version. Gonna be a pain in the neck, though.

Offline g33k

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Re: Assorted questions
« Reply #26 on: June 06, 2019, 04:27:42 PM »
...well, damn. Looks like the wiki's been overrun with spambots. And here I was thinking being preposterously obscure would protect us.

That's the thing about bots & spiders & other automation.
They follow ALL the links.

Offline nadia.skylark

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Re: Assorted questions
« Reply #27 on: June 13, 2019, 01:33:44 AM »
What kind of wishes should a wish-granting flounder be able to grant in the Dresdenverse?

Offline Sanctaphrax

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Re: Assorted questions
« Reply #28 on: June 14, 2019, 05:19:49 AM »
I have no idea what the canon answer is, but if I was running the game I'd say that the flounder can grant any imaginable wish partway. No matter what you wish for, you can get a slipshod and incomplete version of it.

Dunno why, but that kind of thing just feels flounder-y to me.

Offline nadia.skylark

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Re: Assorted questions
« Reply #29 on: June 14, 2019, 12:59:28 PM »
Perfect! That makes a lot of sense, and also solves the problem of why it's being used the way it is.

I'm trying to come up with 12 demonic lords, and right now I can only think of 3: the demonic lord of emptiness, the demonic lord of deception, and the demonic lord of pain. Can you think of any others?