Character Creation Thread

Put my character in the library but for my fellow players here is a link to Torbern.

As for why I am in or headed to Barrelwaight, I was thinking it was the last place I remember my master went before going on the adventure that killed him. Torbern headed there because a chunk of his memory is foggy and he wants to learn if he needs to seek revenge for his master or if he can figure out what his masters last quest was so he can complete it.

Something like that, but I look forward to what you have foolsmask as it sounds like you have ideas on connecting us all.

@qralloq What are your thoughts? Any back story you wanna see, were our masters rivals or friends ya think?

I do, and your idea works perfectly. I want to hear from the others that they are on board with things and then we can get this game rolling I think.

I can't wait :-)

I'll post some stuff tonight, THEMeeple, and try and weave us together through a series of cleverly constructed ... er, well, I'll post something anyway that builds on your stuff.

I think I can work with that if THEMeeples is in agreement. Would you say Fenwick isn't sure if he can trust Torbern? That they are travelling companions more out of need than desire? Yes or no is fine I just want to establish the relationship at the beginning of the story.

I think that sounds fun! Would the familiars think the same as the masters? As in Fenwick would see Torbern as a friend, while Torbern is leary because he thinks of Fenwick as a rival?

I think familiars, especially freed but sentient familiars like your characters, would be free to decide for themselves. You are, or were servants to your masters. You had to do what they said because their will was part of what fueled your existence before they died. But in the end you are your own 'person'. Servants do what their masters say, but form their own opinion. Your master may have disliked another caster, but you may not have cared less.

So, I think you are free to choose how your character reacts to any given situation.

Apologies for my slow post rate but I'm visiting Chicago through the fifth and only have my phone to post. I am happy to run with the proposed connections and excited to see what will come about. It's also nice to see Lystera having some impact on the setting. Heroes will have incentive to hunt Teasel down and drive some compels.

As for aspects, here are some examples for invokes/compels:

Lich Lystera's Unwitting Phylactery
Invoke: channeling some of Lystera's power or knowledge
Compel: in order to truly kill Lystera Teasel must be destroyed as well, Lystera might have plans for her old familiar

Between the Realms of the Living and Dead
Invoke: sense, communicate with, bind, and etc. spiritual presences
Compel: vulnerable to intrusive spirits, haunting, charged with delivering messages and omens

Light as a Feather, Stiff as a Board
Invoke: partial rigor mortis from necromantic enchantments to extend her life and vitality make her stronger and more resilient than she appears at first blush
Compel: her body is stiff and less reflexive than it once was, the air of undeath can agitate more sensitive natural animals

Great image for Coco. And compared to Teasel it will be great...black and white.

OK...I think that's everything I needed. Don't hesitate to ask further questions after I've started the roleplay. If you want to tweak things or new thoughts come up we can still do so.

I will post either later today or tomorrow. Got a few things to do which include going to see Avengers:AoU, so it may be a few hours.

Have fun :-)

Hi all! I'm hoping to get my character fleshed out today because I fear I might be delaying the game and I certainly don't want to spoil anyone's fun! I already have a pretty good idea of my character's background, and what I want it to be able to do, but am still a bit confused what belongs where and how to phrase things better mechanically. As before, please forgive the noobness :-)

DIGINUS
Brass & Steel Automaton who served as its master’s Artificer and Master of Doors.



APPROACHES:
Careful (+3), Clever (+4), Flashy (+1), Forceful (+0), Sneaky (+1), Quick (+2)

BACKGROUND:
When the Storm Dragon Vrexoeis had reached his second millenium he resolved to craft a clockwork body that he could imbue with his life-force and his vast arcane power. He would shed his mortal form and inhabit this new body that he could improve and evolve, thus achieving immortality. But first he needed to experiment. He worked tirelessly in his sky citadel and created a miniature automaton of brass & steel, and infused it with his will and placed in it a shard of his Storm Magic. He named his clockwork homunculus Diginus and made it his Chief Artificer and Master of Doors.

So here's where I haven't set anything in stone because I guess this is where connections are made with the world and the other characters, directly or indirectly.

So:
Vrexoeis the Storm Dragon causes his sky citadel to descend. Where does he land it? Right next to Valarin? In the Waste of Dual'tioth? The Fire Fields? I'm thinking maybe up North on a mountaintop in the Dwarven Holds. He makes a deal with the dwarves: they provide him metals, he gives them wondrous machines.

Then:
In time, the dragon's new clockwork body is complete. But he never gets the chance to use it. The great wyrm goes out hunting one day and never returns. No one knows what became of him. His clockwork creation still lies lifeless in the citadel.

Or:
The dragon goes out and is killed in spectacular fashion. His clockwork creation still lies lifeless in the citadel.

Or:
The dragon sheds his mortal form and dons his glorious new body, then performs wonders for all the realm to see. His eventual destruction at the hands of sorcerous rivals is motivated by envy & greed.

Either way:
No one can get in or out the Storm Dragon's citadel because no one has the Key, and powerful magical wards prevent intrusion by force or cunning.

TROUBLE: Key to a Hoard of Wealth and Power

OTHER ASPECTS, STUNTS, AND EXTRAS:
So Diginus is basically three things: A Storm Mage, an Artificer, and a Master of Doors. (I just want to mention that I know nothing about the Artificer class from D&D, nor was I aware until a few minutes ago that there is such a thing as a Storm Mage prestige class also in D&D. So I am defining both those terms differently for our fiction.)

So:
As a Storm Mage Diginus can manipulate the weather, is immune to ill effects of inclement weather, can summon & command Storm elementals, and can manipulate metal objects, even from a distance. Yeah, hes Magneto and Storm rolled into one.

As an Artificer he has the right tool for every job. I have his idea for an aspect: "It Ain’t Broke But I Can Fix It!" He's really good at fixing stuff, including himself, but he has difficulty resisting tinkering with anything mechanical he comes across.

Besides being the Key to the citadel, as Master of Doors Diginus can unlock any door, even magically barred ones. In addition, he can create doors where none exist. He can grant passage to his allies, and deny it to foes.

I understand the Extras are tricks that can be pulled any time, Aspects need to be double-edged, and Stunts are limited-use or are activated at cost. So what goes where, and how? I assume the more powerful stuff should go in Stunts.

It's really rough so I am very very open to your ideas!

Thanks!

Jabes - Its looking good. I'll try to answer your questions as best I can. If I say something that doesn't fit, that's fine we can talk it out. First, since the magic is sort of the thing with this game I will start there. What you put down for Storm Magic is great. You have four solid "traits" there that are fine with me. If you like it you can basically copy/paste that into the Extras box. There will be rolls involved in doing that stuff but these are things you can do that not many other people can. So if you want to make it rain, I might say "That is a +2 difficulty task." Then you choose your approach and make the roll. If the total is +2 or better you get exactly what you want. An enchanter can't do that without further circumstances. Make sense?

The Master of Doors could go in two places. If you used the Fantastic type form then you could make it a part of your "race" and all automatons like you would have that ability. It could also be a stunt. A good, useful stunt. I would suggest (if you choose to make it a Stunt) to make it a "spend a Fate point to bypass (overcome) any obstacle that functions like a door." This would mean you could never be locked up as long as you had Fate points to spend, but a rock slide would block your path as normal. Catching on? Stunts are sometimes tricky.

Finally you have two great Aspects and a great Trouble. The Artificer "It Ain't Broke..." is a good Aspect for representing your skill with machines and such. The sentence under your character name, above that awesome picture, is a great High Concept aspect. I've got ideas on how I can compel it. Do you have ideas on how to invoke it? We can talk about that more if need be. Your trouble is great, so don't change that. You have two more aspects you can fill in, but you don't have to. We can fill them in as you get into the game.

Let me know if you have any other questions.

Cool, cool, cool. Then I'm good with everything. Torbern and Fenwick will travel together, Tobern viewing Fenwick with caution as he remembers his master was a powerful rival but knows he needs allies.

Thanks for all the help!

Ok here's a thought: How about my former master, Vrexoeis, was destroyed by the Fulgurite Sodality? Because Power & Riches! Dun dun duuuun! Let's say not Torbern's & Fenwick's masters but some other faction in the organization. So they managed to kill Vrexoeis but his citadel is sealed up tight and no one is powerful enough to get in by force, magic, or cunning. Unless they get their hands on the Key. Damn, I'm making this a very dangerous world for Diginus! :-D Nobody knows he exists though (or do they?) and they don't know he's the Key (but they might find out!)

Well Jabes...I have one word for you in response to those ideas........

Spoilers.


If you're a fan of the modern incarnation of Dr. Who, you get that.

I've long wanted to get into Dr.Who but I find it so daunting! :-)

So for the backstory I'm leaning towards Vrexoeis did get to use his (humanoid) metal body for a few years before he was destroyed. I'm trying to come up with how Diginus met Teasel or Coco and how he/they ended up in Barrelwaight but I've got nothing yet.

As for the character sheet: would it be acceptable to split the Extras between Storm Mage and Master of Doors? Say, two of them are Storm Magic stuff and two of them are doorway things? At first I put all the Storm Magic stuff in that section but I sort of feel like summoning & commanding a Storm Elemental should at least be worth a Fate Point so I'm putting that in Stunts. Same with the weather control because I'm thinking call down lightning, a hailstorm, or a tornado. Stuff like that. So I'm thinking that should be once per session.

I don't know yet how I might invoke my High Concept. Right now it's looking like there's some redundancy? I don't know. It seems like anything I might want to attempt that might invoke being one of the three things in my high concept, it's covered by one of my Extras or Stunts.

Something I have in mind for Master of Doors is creating a door where there isn't one. So I need to get through a wall I just make a door through it. Or I could put a door in the floor. Someone's chasing me, I duck into an alley and put a locked metal door in their way. If I put a door in someone's chest it would be very, very bad for them. I imagine I'd have to touch something to be able to do this. And it would probably have to cost me something. So a Stunt, not an Extra. Wold it fit into the 1st template or would it have to cost a Fate Pt. or be once-per-session?

Oh, and Diginus is homunculus type.

I'm a bit of a sucker when it comes to giving players what they want. I have approved Diginus but I am going to make one last attempt at persuading you to make some changes.

The Magic Extra is intended to represent one "school of magic" that your character can access to do supernatural things using the four action types: Attack, Defend, Create an Advantage, and Overcome. You get for "facts" to define your special affinity with this magic. Summoning Storm Elementals totally falls within the guidelines of what a "Storm Mage" could do. The most likely scenario i can for see would play out something like this: On your turn you state you want to summon an elemental, this would be Creating an Advantage. If you are trying to summon an elemental in line with the current weather, it would be a low difficulty (like +0). Assuming you are successful you would then have a scene aspect that you could use on future turns to spend Fate Points on gaining the usual benefit. You would not gain extra actions, but you would be able to describe how you and the elemental worked in tandem to zap an enemy with a lightning bolt or whatever else you and the elemental want to do. No one else would be able to describe having the elemental do what they command, but they could use it as an Aspect as normal. Maybe they shove somebody into the elemental or use it as cover against an attack.Your enemies would have to use Overcome the elemental to banish it or kill it, actions they wouldn't be using to attack you or your allies.

Next you say you want to be able to unlock and open doors, and shut them and perhaps magically lock them. That is a very cool thing that magic users would do, however, it seems rather limiting for a "magic fact" when looking at how it could be used in-game. Sure, opening a locked door is Overcoming a obstacle (scene aspect, perhaps). Shutting a door could be a defense if the door then separates you from your enemy. Magically sealing the door would qualify as Creating an Advantage as well. But, all of these lack the versatility you may desire. There will not always be a door to use. How would an attack action be used to with this type of magic? Of course you don't have to have all the action types covered with every "magic fact" but you need to think about this type of thing in order to make your character viable. Additionally, the 'magic facts' require rolls to accomplish the action associated with them. If you want to be able to do a thing reliably, that is every time you want to, you need a Stunt. As it is now you are only going to have a chance, not a sure thing. Spending Fate Points makes more sense to me. Manipulating metal could totally be a thing done with Storm Magic, but there may not always be metal present, except your character's own body.

You also talked about creating doors out of nothing. Another magic trick that would be interesting, but doesn't seem to be covered simply with being able to open and close doors. If however you wanted to make some changes, I might suggest that you change your Magic to something like "Portal Mage". Then you could make your 'magic facts' something like: Teleport (self & others)l; Create Doors from nothing; Lock and Unlock Doors, Magic or Mundane); Manipulate Objects from a Distance. Then you could have your Stunts deal with storm magic that your master used. You could totally have learned the trick of Summoning a Storm Elemental and instead of rolling dice like the above example, you just Create the Advantage without rolling. Additionally you could make Immunity to Inclement Weather a Stunt. It comes up so infrequently, that it provides a focused, limited ability. It would require no Fate points or rolls. your just are immune to high winds and rain. and it makes sense, because a dragon using rain with a metal automaton familiar, well he'd want to protect it. So in this case Stunts would represent little tricks you learned from your master.

So let me know what you think about these ideas.