Sure. It's full now, though. Check out the few questions in post #34 when you have the time, please.

 

Questions first:

1. Very. Through Cold Days in the novels, and through Bombshells in the short stories.

2. Meh. I've spent the last 3 days devouring everything I could in my spare time, but there are some gaps. Good enough, I'd think.

3. Balanced seems good; I don't have a particular preference on focus.

4. Depends on power levels. If we go snorkeling, then epic-ish seems appropriate. If we go lower than that, whatever feels right to you.

5. Snorkeling works best for the character I built, so that's my vote, although I am certainly willing to come up with a new concept if the consensus is that we should go lower.

And I like the system that's in place, especially for higher level characters. If we went low end on characters, then I would be amenable to a bigger chance for death, but I'd prefer to stick to the system, I think.

Back to the character stuff from last night: I finished that character (well, as far as you can go with solo creation), and I thought I'd let you glance at it. Even if we decide on different power levels or it is otherwise unworkable, it'll still be nice to get some experienced feedback. So yeah:

Power Level: Snorkeling (13 refresh, 40 skill)
Name: Anselmo Castillio
High Concept: Hand of Hephaestus
Trouble: Demanding Master
Other Aspects: Iron in these Bones, Subtle as a Warhammer, - , - , -

Description: Appears early-mid 30s, around 6'4", muscular (especially upperbody), thick dark hair and facial hair. Bit rough looking. Dressed in slightly dated clothes.

Skills:
5 - Endurance, Craftsmanship
4 - Might, Weapons, Conviction
3 - Discipline, Athletics, Lore
2 - Presence, Alertness, Intimidation
1 - Contacts, Fists, Resources

Powers:
[-4] Supernatural Toughness
[-2] Inhuman Recovery
[+2] Toughness Catch: Ice/Cold. (Easily Available)
[+1] Toughness Catch: Researchable.
[-4] Supernatural Strength
[-4] Vulcanomancy (Sponsored -and slightly twisted- by Hephaestus)
[-1] Marked by Power

Does that look okay, as an exercise in character building if nothing else?

Also, on the subject of metal manipulation: the idea is that he is skilled at working metal, altering magnetism, etc. more than anything else. As such, I'd like to be able to do things like use crafting instead of lore for conjuring weapons (which Vulcanomancy allows to be handled as a slightly empowered version of the Thaurmaturgy spell at Evocation speeds), as well as to be able to use magnetism to shoot crafted weapons at enemies, possibly even divert (or slow, at least) gunfire with, etc. Besides that I intend for him to be a very physical character, aside from maybe a bit of defensive earth magic and a (very) rare sponsored blast from the big guy.

One final question: in situations where time is not an issue, that character would be able to take advantage of Hephaestus's resources, correct?

 

1. Very familiar. Not too high on the side books but completely familiar and up to date on the main series.

2. Not at all, but I will be able to follow within the next couple days and progressively more familiar as time goes on.

3.

4. Epically Dark with a dash of Mystery.

5. Can't say, as I'm not familiar with the game terms, but I generally prefer a pretty high power level in my games, even if they don't start out that way initially.

 

I can easily see possible compels, but how do you envision yourself invoking this one?

I'm guessing the bolded bit is a typo and should have been Craftsmanship, right? If that's the case, yeah, that's fine. A clarification, though, since I'm not sure what you meant with that last bit: if you're using Vulcanomancy as sponsored magic, then it's all sponsored (conjuring weapons, using magnetism, etc.), with everything that comes with it.

As long as he's willing and what you're looking for fits his agenda, then correct. Plus debt.

---------- Post automerged at 12:42 AM ---------- Previous post was at 12:36 AM ----------

Why? That's well within the limits of sponsored magic.

 

We established it's not going to involve magma and lava, actually. Only earth magic, magnetism and conjuring metals (which is the thing that somewhat stretches it, but I'd allow it). So, maybe he should change the name, but the flavour is pretty clear, no?

 

Ahh, this was a bit of a sticking point. It does have some connections (I intend for his weapon of choice to be a warhammer, I could use it for intimidation, breaking things down, etc.), but it was a counterbalance of sorts to Iron in these Bones, which I thought was rather more suited to invokes than compels.

It was a typo, sorry. And the whole mechanics of sponsorship was something I was curious about, actually. I assume that the quoted bit means that every time I cast anything, it is fully drawn from Hephaestus? I wasn't sure if taking it meant he granted me powers and I was essentially a wizard in my domain, so to speak, albeit with a higher power willing to offer extra juice for debt if it worked to his benefit, or if every spell I cast was calling on him and simply shaping his power. Which is it, exactly?

I'm sensing a pattern... If this character ever sees a real game, he's going to be Hephaestus's bitch.

Yeah, that's not a super name for it. I basically bastardized/further specialized this

which, admittedly, is a homebrew from http://dfrpg-resources.wikispaces.com/Sponsored+Magics, so if you guys want to disallow it I'd understand. But that's the inspiration for the magic, sans the parts concerning evocations not involving earth and metal. I just never changed the name. I'm quite alright with Sponsored Magic (Hephaestus), though.

 

1) I've read up to Cold Days, read all the side stories that came out before 2013, meaning everything other than Bombshells.

2) Passingly. I "know" the mechanics, but haven't played in them.

3) Balanced. Could shift theme from campaign to campaign, perhaps, if it works out.

4) Dark. Epic.

5) Chest Deep => Snorkelling

 

The latter.

Pffff... as if your Trouble "Demanding Master" didn't make it clear, already.

I'd be fine with what we reached in this thread. That said, I believe we're going to start at Chest Deep, seeing that everyone seems to be okay with it, unlike Snorkelling. So, that general PC concept should be seriously nerfed to fit the power level, if you still want to go with it. Sorry.

Alright. We can go on, now, and start brainstorming the city we're going to play in. Again, this should be a collaborative process, so feel more than free to throw out ideas you'd want to see implemented. Nominate a city (or more) and list all the reasons why you'd like it to be our setting. Even just "Indianapolis, because it's where I live and I know it well" works, although it would be great if you expanded on it a little and dug deeper. Also, if you see something inspiring in one of the other "submissions", go right ahead and put your two cents in.

As for useful resources you might want to have handy: these are fillable character and city sheets and this is the Character Manager you can tinker with to try out templates and concepts. Have fun!

 

Hey, I knew the power level could be lowered from the beginning, so that's hardly the end of the world. I do have a question about an alteration, though: could I take a lesser version, called, say, Born of the Forge (sponsored) [-3] that would grant me the weapon conjuring and magnetic powers, and completely neglect all any magic not related to metal (ie drop the earth and even a possibility of a boom evocation or large scale tharmaturgy for a refresh)?

Does the Conviction stat work the same for sponsored magic (insofar as summoning the power to do something)?

 

Hmmm... I'm gonna say no to this, unless we restrict magnetic powers to just Thaumaturgy spells (granted, with Evocation's method and speed when appropriate).

Yep.

 

I figured--in a way, that's sort of the point. Actual risk, and the idea that you could very easily die in a situation would force us to slow down and play carefully, and avoid any LEROY JENKINS'ing.
I just like the added touch of realism. Characters dying means having to create a brand new one from scratch, a huge hassle, etc.

Still, I think I did word it somewhat badly. Jon actually said exactly what I want in one sentence:

Up to, and including, death, torture, and anything horrible fits the situation.

Like Stojil (cool name btw, where'd come from?) said, I'm up for a higher stakes game, but I will bow to what the majority wants.

I think the Fate Points system provides enough of a security blanket against it, anyway.

 

Alright, that's fair. Last stab before I quit pestering you and do something a little more mainstream: Could I keep that same thing (Born of the Forge, -3) and have any magic aside from weapon conjuring only effect the metal that I personally have created as a limitation?

 

It's a character from the fantastic Malaussène series by Daniel Pennac.

Yes, but I should point out that your suggestion is basically a restriction on my restriction. Seeing that time is not an issue, the only drawback for sponsored Thaumaturgy compared to normal Evocation is the need of symbols (i.e. the links), but it would be pretty easy for us to establish that you do have those when it comes to your own weapons/metal tools/whatever, no?

On the other hand, if you go with your suggestion, you preclude yourself from ever performing sponsored Thaumaturgy on things you could easily gain a link to.

 

Harry: "Self-employment is a harsh mistress."

Bob: "I'll tell you who's a harsh mistress!"

Harry: "Shut up, Bob."

Bob: :awesome

Me: :awesome

Harry: ...:awesome

Bob: :awesome

(...Sorry about this.)

 

Yeah, I need to to learn how to reading comprehend. I was in a hurry to make class this morning, and completely passed over the part about using thaumaturgy with evocation's speed and methods (for the situations that are appropriate).

My issue for just thaumaturgy was that in my head, this character (whose back story has been completely changed as a result of him being de-powered) is of a lineage blessed by Hephaestus to sporadically produce an emissary of Hephaestus (I'm thinking like once every 4 or 5 generations), blessed with gifts that make life as blacksmith easier (inhuman strength, toughness, and recovery), an astounding metalworking ability, and access to a bit of specialized magical power (which would be the weapon conjuring and thaumaturgy we've defined) in return for debt to be discharged as Hephaestus sees fit.

Thing is, there's no real place for lore in that besides maybe some specialized stuff about the big guy (and honestly, I kinda intend for his family to have lost the "old ways" (, so even that would be a stretch), which, in the reasonably brief reading I did, seems to kinda neuter thaumaturgy for complexity. If I can use his discipline, conviction, craftsmanship to handle conjuring and combat applications, though, I'm sure that I'll be able to manage.

Edit: oh, and I'll put New Orleans out there for a city. Rich history, supernatural connections, voodoo bad guys are still viable at chest deep... There are more reasons, but I have to head to my next class now, so I'll just put it out there for now and see what everybody else thinks.

 

Roanapur is a great idea.