Questions and miscellaneous chatter

So from what I am getting from the book, for the Phase Trio, I am writing the first part of mine and then adding a section to each of their sections. In each section I write, I should interact with their characters and be developing an aspect for myself.

Yep. That's the gist of it.

Would my telepathy use Will or Empathy when reading minds? What about when I'm trying to put thoughts in peoples' heads (Provoke vs Will)? It would seem that Izaac is imposing his Will over people in the latter case, but I don't know. It also seems like his mental powers cover so many skills that I don't know what to prioritize because I'm not sure how his powers would effect each skill.

FWIW it seems rational to me to figure out what your top skill would be, and then most of your stunts/powers around that, like the wizard in the Fate Core book using Lore for magic. So for my character I've decided to use Burglary, as my main deal is getting into places and systems. I think the Fate Core book recommends Will for psychic abilities in general.

In the character thread I've posted my whole character crunch so far for comparison and general commentary!

Of course I'm not the GM, so...

Interesting thoughts. In other games there would be an obvious attack and defense stat. Maybe even a whole rules set for mental challenges. We are building from scratch. So I have a three ideas and I would like more input from you on which you would like...or like to tweek and use

#1: We just use Will for everything regarding "Mental Combat". This is the most simplistic approach and leaves no gray areas to worry about.
#2: You choose an "Offensive" skill and a "Defensive" Skill. Provoke makes sense for a lot of offensive actions...either Stress or getting someone to do what you want, while Will makes sense for defensive actions, protecting your own mind and others.

#3: Making your mental powers three pronged. Power=Provoke, Finesse=Empathy, Resistance=Will. So if you were trying for a "direct assault" on someone's mind it would be a Profile roll, if you were manipulating someone in a subtle way it would be a Empathy roll, and if you were defending against someone else with mental powers it would be a Will roll.

#4: Or just choose which skill makes the most sense at the time. An empathy roll to Overcome a persons attitude and make them less hostile. A Rapport roll to Create and Advantage and make them like you. Provoke to directly assault their minds and Will to defend when they attack back (assuming they have the ability.) This provides the most versatility, allowing you to use the skill that makes the most sense at the time.

So let me know if any of these work for you. You could change the specific skill on any of them if you felt a different skill makes more sense to you. I would say #1 & #2 cost 1 stunt point because you are just making a skill do something slightly beyond what it normally does. #3 & #4 would be worth 2 because you are adding to several skills, but because each skill is not fully "upgraded" and applicable to every situation you don't have to pay 1 stunt for each.

Based on what we've talked about I think Will as your highest skill doesn't make sense, but if you go with option #1 it does. So its up to you if you like any of these ideas. If these inspire something new that I haven't thought of then write that up and I'll look at it.

What about something similar to option 2, but instead of attack/defense it's force/finesse or stealth? Will for anything that's an open confrontation, and Empathy for trying to slide something in unnoticed.

I personally like #4 as that would allow for the most flexibility in how different heroes may attack.

Works for me. Will = Forceful actions, Empathy = Sneaky actions. I like that he is potentially better at one "mode" than the other. I think it really works for the character as well. Even if the difference is only a single number.

One last question. Do his psionics count as one "Power" and telepathy and telekinesis and lockdown etc. are all part of one thing? I'm asking so I can figure out if I need two special effects for all psionics or if I need 6 special effects (2 for each active ability in the set).

I think that's up to you. In comics I've seen examples of each...telepathy and telekentics as one power or desperate and each is usable even if the other isn't.

I feel this is fair because each power comes with a Drawback that I can use whenever I want, but the special effects are options only if you get an exceptional success. I (or you) can trigger a Drawback much more often than the special effects.

So you have to choose how many Drawbacks you want to deal with.

I think limit it to two power sets overall. The telepathy and mind lock are one, the telekenetics could be another...but you could have them as one

Ok, I'll make the special effects less specific then.

OK gang. I'm ready to start the main story proper. Kenny & harlandski, neither of you have added to The Warp's Phase Trio yet. Otherwise characters seem complete. We will start with the first official day on the job, but you can still get your final aspects figured out.

Where there anymore questions?

My bad. I knew I was forgetting something. It should be good now.

OK, so we just filled the last two player slots. Ninjawhat & Protonmule, welcome aboard.

We have the first three characters basically finished, so hopefully we can work the others in quickly. Please ask questions as needed. You can read from the forums so far what we have covered. I will launch the first scene soon and you are welcome to jump in when you think you have an idea, or we can insert you later, whichever works.

Hello Ninjawhat and Protonmule!

I'm not too happy with Dave Evans' / Cyber's story and aspect* from The Warp's phase trio, so I'm happy to delete that, meaning one of you can link up with the Warp. It would also mean I could link up with one of your characters.

* @foolsmask - the aspect "Easy does it" doesn't really add much to my trouble of "Hyperconcentration"

@harlandski - OK, we are still in the early stages so I have no issue with you changing things up some.

Hey guys, pretty excited about these ideas so far! I've been reading the forums, and I'm considering my character, and I'm thinking something physical, since the mental is pretty much covered in the group... I considered social, but a lot of that fall into telepathy, etc. So I'm thinking of a few different ideas...I've always liked Bishop and Gambit from X-Men. The energy absorption and release idea has always been something I like... I also read a lot of Dresden Files, and Harry has these rings on his hands that store kinetic energy, until he releases it. I also like the idea of a "T-1000" type power, almost similar to the video game, "Prototype". My concept is to start with a quiet, meek teenager, who takes a lot of crap from a lot of people, and give him massive physical power of some kind. I like the idea of the internal struggle between personal gain and whats right, the temptation of power, so to speak...

Hey ninjawhat. Yes, I think you're right - we could definitely do with someone physical. Also getting power when you get a beating is a cool idea. I love the Dresden File books too.

OK. I'm back. I guess the Kaleth made some changes to the back end of the site and it made a lot of people have trouble posting, me included. But its fixed now.

@ninjawhat - I like the idea you have there. Bishop was one of my favorite characters back into he day. I haven't read X-men regularly for a long time. My comic buying habits changed a lot when my wife and I had our first kid, I buy two big piles a year now. I don't get to follow stories much. I don't even know where Bishop is in comics anymore. Gambit is fun but never got a good treatment that I read. If you don't mind additional suggestions for inspiration there is also Strong Guy. He has, or had...I don't know his status currently either, the power to absorb kinetic energy and get huge muscles. His drawback was that his skelton was completely normal though. So if he got to big he would collapse under his own mass. He also got a healing factor so when his bones broke, he could come back next issue without any questions.

I want to gently guide you away from one avenue that could come up based on your post. You might already be aware of what I'm going to say. I am unfamiliar with Prototype, but I think the T-1000 is referring to the the Terminator, so I get the idea. It sounds like you want someone extremely tough, and that is great. There is Armor that can be actual armor or really tough skin or a force field or anything in between. It reduces any physical stress your character would take by it's rating. I am OK with a character having this as a power, but would want to start with a limit of Armor:4 to keep things on a certain level. There will be chances to increase over time.

So what I'm saying is I don't want you to have an "unstoppable" character, but a "relentless" type would be fine, someone who can be slowed down, but will eventually get back up and keep going. So I hope this sounds good to you still. Looking forward to hearing more.

Oh and dontnforget to add some flavor to Fuller City by making a Place and Face also