Character Creation Thread

That sounds awesome. Thank you.

I will try and get the rest of my character worked out soon, pretty sure I know what I want to do with what's been left off.

Oh, also so glad ya liked the guild. Looking forward to hearing more about the setting, I'm liking how fate let's ya incorporate player ideas.

Sorry everyone, going to have to bail on this one. Hope everyone has a good time with it!

Hi all! Like a few other people on here I've never tried Fate before but have always wanted to. I've started reading the rules but still trying to digest it. So anyway my initial character idea is a tiny automaton. Are we staying small the whole campaign? You see I imagine this little fella constantly trying to improve/augment himself. Yeah, I just watched Avengers: Age of Ultron haha!

First off...I am so envious that you live in a country that got Avengers before the US. Secondly, yes the idea is to be small throughout the campaign. However, the idea of a "self improving machine" is fine, but maybe the focus should be somewhere else besides physical form. Perhaps it could have the goal of proving itself the best at its type of magic? Or something else...maybe your master had a theory that others laughed at him/her for believing and you have dedicated your existence to proving it. Just some thoughts.

^Haha yes, I've seen it twice already :-)
^I'm thinking he's constantly adding stuff to himself like a swiss army knife. And yes, growing in his magical abilities as well.
^That's interesting. Yes, perhaps something along those lines.

To be honest, being totally new to Fate, I'm kind of struggling with the character creation. Reading the previous posts on this thread and how Fenwick the Faun and Torbern the oddity are being developed, I can't quite get a bead on where to put my Aspects and Stunts on the spectrum of epicness, of that makes sense.

Here are some of my ideas:

My master was once a sorcerous blue dragon who crafted a brass & steel body to contain his heart/essence. The shard of his power that has remained with me after his destruction (haven't worked that destruction part out yet) allows me to wield a portion of his Storm Magic. So for Stunts and stuff should I be thinking up minor stuff like magnetism or minor acts of telekinesis, or can I throw lightning bolts? How big or small should I go with this?

Here's what I've got so far.

Diginus, the brass & steel automaton

See that key? I'd like to work that in somehow. Maybe it's the only way to get into my master's tower and his rivals want it. Or maybe the key opens all locks in existence!

So sorry for being such a noob! Thanks in advance for the help. :-D

I'll copy over my charater for completeness....

Coco Nuts

High Aspect
Mindblowing Cockatoo who was his masters receptionist

Trouble
(Slightly) coocoo

Aspects
Imitation is the game
Vicious beak

Skills
Careful (+1)
Clever (+4)
Flashy (+3)
Forceful (+0)
Sneaky (+1)
Quick (+2)

Extras
Because Coco is a mindbender he/she can
- tell if you are lying,
- implant suggestions
- read feelings
- understand all languages

Stunts
Charm Human/Monster (once per session)
Human interaction specialist (+2 on cleverly overcoming in human interactions)
Perfect voice imitation (for 1 fate point perfectly reproduce previously heard sentence)

Background/Notes
* His mistress was the local witch specializing in healing mental issues with powerful telepathy and mind control
* Her cockatoo served as receptionist
* In some strange magical accident the mind of the mistress was completely wiped out leaving her a helpless hull
* Coco still lives with her in a small hut
* It is unclear if the humans help the old helpless lady out of kindness or are somewhat mentally steered to do so by her faithful familiar or both.
* Coco knows the mind and soul of the mistress is gone, he felt the bond break. But he still feels loyalty to the mindless remains.

I'd also like to clarify what "implanting a suggestion" means to me. I am thinking of a feeling, an urge, a tendency as opposed to a clear thought or command. It is a lesser more subliminal form of telepathy without words, talking to feelings and instincts.
Imagine someone Coco hates is on a stage givin a speech...
Telling him to make a fool of himself wouldn't work as a suggestion but somthing like "You feel a strong itch in your balls" might do the trick :-)
By understanding all languages I don't mean knowing the exact meaning and nuances of e.g. chinese words. This is an empathic/telepathic trick, too. Coco can get the general gist and intentions direcly from the mind of the speaker. This is the same way he detects lies. They cause an incongruency in the intentions and feelings of the speaker.

BTW: Coco is a little crazy... Working for a mindbender was not healthy in the first place and the severing of the bond did more damage to his sanity. Cockatoos are a little crazy anyway.
He is a typical cockatoo... He loves imitating for better and for worse, has a weird sense of humor and likes to play tricks on people. He has very a very vivid feather crown that constantly displays his exitement level. He likes to be the center of attention and is a real drama queen.

@Jabes.plays.RPG I think you are off to a good start here. No worries for noon questions. We all start somewhere. And Fate is a game where players ask questions, a lot.

The thing about aspects is they are intended to describe your character's thoughts, feelings, attitude, and outlook on the world. Or "The World's" thoughts, feelings, attitude , and outlook on the character. They need to be double edged swords. Meaning they are both good and bad for your character depending on the situation. For example let's look at Indiana Jones. He has a saying: "It belongs in a museum!" If this were to be one of his aspects (catchphrases totally work as Aspects), the player could use it to get a boost or re-roll any time he is dealing with a situation where an artifact is going to be locked away or sold for profit rather than going to a museum to be studied and admired. But let's say that artifact is surrounded by a platoon of soldiers with machine guns at the ready. The safe thing to do would be to walk away and let the bad guys keep it. The heroic thing would be to rush in there and grab the artifact. As the narrator I could offer Indy's player a Fate point to compel him into acting. The player does not have to take the risk, but would not gain the reward. Make sense?

So you have to decide what it is that drives Diginus to act. I think you've set yourself up for a great High Concept by being "An Automaton with the Heart of a Storm Dragon." We can both use that to make you act in scenes where ferocity and courage are needed.

You mentioned you might be the key to your former master's old citadel. Perhaps whatever killed the dragon left behind the hoard of treasure or some other great power or secret. Your Trouble could be "Key to a Hoard of Wealth and Power." I can only imagine this would be helpful when trying to get into the citadel, but thrives and explorers who learn your secret would be on your trail constantly.

You also spoke of self-improvements. That your character might be like a Swiss Army knife. That's another great aspect, although the Swiss Army doesn't exist in this world so maybe "Multi-Armed Tool-Clanker" might cover it. You get a bonus when a tool is helpful, I can compel you to say you don't have the exact tool you need at that time.

As you get XP you will get the opportunity to adjust these aspects as your character grows. Not physical growth mind you, but 'grows as a character'.

Stunts are a different ball of wax. You asked about how epic they can be...the answer is "pretty much as epic as you want without breaking the story." So, no you cannot transform into a god and end the world with a Stunt. That is an end game event that could happen, but not a thing you can do with a simple stunt. Some examples of the high end stunts we have so far are "Avoid one hit, no matter what." and "Get a free aspect with two invokes, no roll required." And now I'm trying to translate "Charm Monster" from D&D into Fate. So this is the type of thing you can do in a once per session type of Stunt. It can be epic but not world shattering.

Other stunts are a +2 in certain situations. They are like invoked aspects, but have a much more narrow application. So you pick an approach and a situation where you are good at using it. It might be Cleverly avoiding a melee attack, or Sneakily using one of your four magic powers.

The site Fate-SRD.com has a lot of examples. Feel free to look at Fate Core Skills&Stunts. They provide at least 3 examples with each skill. We are using Fate Accelerated but it isn't to big of a switch to change a skill into an Approach and tweek the wording. Some Stunts aren't appropriate, but if you like an affect from a stunt, we can work together to get you what you want within the game rules.

@chocokiko - Still think it looks good. Thank you for clarifying what you intended with the suggestion magic fact. It works for me. In game it might require a roll depending on how far your suggestion is pushing against their motives at the moment. Making someone flub up a speech isn't that big of a deal. Making an assassin who is sneaking up on his target bark like a dog and alert the target would be harder. But I think we are on the same page. If during play you think I'm being to hard on the difficulty let me know we can negotiate. The same goes for languages. I don't have a complete list but I will decide on four or five languages common to the area, you can have those for free. As they get more obscure then rolls to figure them out will be required and they will get harder as they get more obscure.

This is for everyone if there are any setting details you want to see that haven't already come up please feel free to speak up on the setting thread. For example I know that Goblins will be a common threat so Coco Nuts speaks Goblin with no issue.

Some awesome looking character concepts everyone!

If it helps others here is my High Concept: Spell storing Ioun Wyrd Battlemage of the Fulgurite Sodality.
And Spell Extras: Because Torbern is a battlemage he can animate weapons and objects, heal with a touch, create arcane shields and barriers, and imbue attacks with arcane energy.

I may drop the spell storing part if the two stunts associated with it aren't approved by foolsmask. And just so ya know the Dwarven Fulgurite Sodality is a loosely structured brotherhood that has the philosophy of: Magic brings Power, Power brings Riches, Riches brings Respect. The Sodality doesn't specify what type of magic or power is to be obtained but the members all seek to have the largest wealth. They are happy to share knowledge of magic but equally willing to stab another member in the back(secretly of course) if it means a gain in wealth. This group and Ioun Stones(magic gems) have been confirmed by foolsmask to be incorporated into the game.

@foolsmask, I think I have my character sheet done. Let me know if you think anything is unbalanced. I tried to leave a little bit of the background open ended to develop as we explore the world. I was thinking of putting my character in the library, or would you prefer we keep the characters sheets secret?

Nice :-) We seem to have two fighters an one who probably will better stay out of trouble (me). The classic roles a re filled. A meat (stone) shield, a rogue/artisan and a talker and the magician's slot is filled by all of us :-)
I haven't played the talky guy yet. This will be fun and a challenge since I am rather shy and quiet in real live.

Hello, folks!

Introducing Teasel, raven familiar of Lystera, Sorceress of Death! Charged to gather spirits and ghostly fodder for her mistress' rituals Teasel served Lystera until her death at the hands of a well meaning company of heroes. In a last ditch effort to save her mistress Teasel caught Lystera's spirit in her talons and returned the fragmented energy to her corpse. Unfortunately Lystera returned as a wrathful power thirsty lich rather than the poorly understood dabbler in necromancy she was in life. Teasel fled still grasping some of her mistress' spirit not in her talons, but suffusing her very flesh. Teasel expects retribution from her former master for the power she unwittingly took, but Lystera is more than happy to have her phylactery far from her in the case that heroes come once again for her head.

Aspects
Penitent Raven Soul Courier (concept is good, but I'd like nail down better wording)
Lich Lystera's Unwitting Phylactery
Between Realms of the Living and Dead
Light as a Feather, Stiff as a Board

Magic
Because Teasel manifests Spirit Magic she can Reanimate Corpses, Speak with the Recently Departed, Read Psychic Impression on Places or Objects, and Bind Restless Spirits.

Stunts
Because I Commune with the Dead I get a +2 when I Sneakily Create an Advantage when reading psychic impressions in an area suffused with death or undeath, such as a graveyard or the scene of a murder.

Because I have Necromantic Vitality, once per session, at the cost of a fate point, I can reduce the severity of a moderate consequence that's physical in nature to a mild consequence (if my mild consequence is free), or erase a mild consequence altogether.

(additional stunt detailing how she can bind spirits, either changing her lead approach and gaining a temporary aspect detailing the spirit, or placing an aspect on a spirit to denote her control over it--what do you think would be best?)

Drawing inspiration from ravens and their magic as detailed in Secrets of Cats: Animals & Threats (supplement for Fate Core).

@THEMeeples Torben is completely approved. I don't know if Fred Hicks (the creator of Fate) would approve of the two "Spell Storing" stunts but I like them. You spend a Fate point to defend against magic, if successful you create a temporary aspect that activates the other stunt. The only change I'm going to suggest is that you add the last two Action types to it. Because of the limited nature of your Spell Storing I think you could use it to Sneakily Attack/Defend/Create Advantage/Overcome.

As for character sheets I would prefer to have them public, there seems to be little reason to keep them secret, but if a player wants to I won't object. However, last time I checked, the site default is to keep them secret form players in the same game. If you are a player (i.e. not the GM) you can't look at a character sheet even if it is in the library. If you paste the link into a post we can follow the link, but that's about it.

@amalthea Tease is looking good. Feel free to submit a character. You can keep tweaking it. One thing that would help ke is if you could describe a situation where your aspects might be invoked by you or compelled by me. Ive got a thought or two but would like your input on that matter.Also thanks for the built in villain.

Question for qralloq and THEMeeples...I've had a bit more inspiration hit me just now. I'd like to ask if we can connect your characters. Specifically using The Dwarven Fulgurite Sodality. qralloq would it be OK with you if your master was a member or at least in close contact with THEMeeples former master. Qralloq, you never mentioned the race of Fenwick's master...would Dwarf be OK? Or THEMeeples would you be willing to drop the Dwarven aspect...or make it in name only? Like it started out as a dwarven group but opened the door to others as a business strategy?

Question for chocokiko and amalthea...amalthea, we haven't really discussed why your character is in Barrelwaight. I would like to propose that your masters shared a connection. After the accident that turned Lystera into the Lich, her familiar felt drawn to Barrelwaight. The 'Why' isnt clear but you showed up at Coco Nut's hut with her mindless master and you knew you had come to the place you were searching for. The exact nature of that connection I would like to leave clouded for the time being, but I wanted to check with you two before I went ahead with my plan. It will be a big plot point of the story though and I think it will lead to some super cool story if you can trust me.
Chocokiko - I would like to make your maistress's hut the HQ for all the PCs, at least as we get started. Basically like you put in your background your mistress is alive nut mentally gone. A local farm girl comes and checks on her making sure she eats and is clean. She leaves everything alone except what she has to to help the witch. I figure your mistress saved her parents from something that the medics in Barrelwaight couldn't. They were never able to pay exactly so now the girl works to help out. Does this work for you?

Works nicely for me :-)

I thought the mindlessness to be something like only sou, spirit and will is completely gone. The witch is still human in intellect but will do absolutely nothing without some external push. Just sit in any position she is left and stare in the distance. She will walk if lead by hand and will eat while constantly surveilled and talked into exactly what she has to do. But there is absolutely no drive left. Coco sometimes steers her to open the cookie jar if nobody looks and in return makes her use the chamber pot sometimes so there is less cleaning (that would purely be fluff skills with no plot relevance) :-) Something along those lines. He cares for her in his own way but also found it really practical to use her hands :-)

I had some idea that the mind bending witch sometimes worked as a special kind of assasin, too. But with a neutral approach like classic druids. Always seeking to preserve the balance. Helping the mentally disturbed and occasionally reducing a local tyrant to a blabbering idiot. He is still there on the throne so he doesn't leave as much of a power vacuum but he is also not able to abuse his people longer. Maybe then a more level headed prime minister takes over the daily business... Always keeping the balance. Giving and taking, neither good nor evil. I don't know if this idea fits with your plans foolsmask. Please feel free to take it or not or to adapt it as needed. I am very exited about the big reveal and I don't want to spoil your idea.

Actually... THEMeeples...I would really appreciate if we could work on the Fulgurite Sodality. You called it the Dwarven Fulgurite Sodality. Would it be OK to drop the Dwarven, or we keep the Dwarven, but open membership up to anyone magically inclined who can pay the membership fees? Tell me more of your ideas behind it. I have ideas, I just want to make sure I don't ruin any plans you had.

I'm totally okay with Fenwick's master being a dwarf and a member of the Fulgurite Sodality, or any other faction you wish to slot him into.

Great. Now just need to hear from THEMeeples. I wish I could share my character interaction flow chart. To many spoilers though.

@foolsmask we can drop the Dwarven part, I didn't have anything planned except when my character was around dwarves he might have acted different but I can just apply that to anyone he sees using magic. I'd rather let ya run with your ideas. As others have said they are quite good.

I was just wondering if this group knew each other in some way before they all came together.

OK...Great! As for knowing each other, I've got plans for two groups of two as we are discussing here. Fenwick and Torbern are both familiars for members of the Sodality. Next we will talk about why they were in Barrelwaight. I've got an idea or two but don't have time right now to get into it. If you want to discuss it feel free.