Eleanore's Request (Fantasy MnM 3E, Recruiting)

lol actually the transmuter/swordsmith is based on a campaign my friend ran combining alchemist and benders. Twas really fun.

Jemal: So he can't actually do anything dragony? That sounds more like a "can't" than a deliberate choice... Hm. Could he be imprisonned/cursed/limited to his human guise? Maybe as a life lesson handed down from his dying mother? A curse from his jealous brother when he stepped into power (or someone else taking advantage of the confusion during the power exchange)? Perhaps more in tune with his apparent carefree attitude, maybe he engaged in a dare/bet/challenge with another dragon? ("Oh yeah? Well I bet you couldn't last 30 years as a human." "Oh yeah? Well I could sure last a lot longer than *you*!" ). His whole dragon heritage could then be represented by a simple complication: Insists he's a dragon but can't back it up in any way (wether it's because he plain *can't* or because doing so would loose him the bet).

SuperZero: Did you get the PM I sent you on B's possible Dark Past?

I'm still trying to get my Shamaness stated up but work is surprisingly busy, (Well not surprising, first of the month and a friday)

I was thinking of the curse thing early on, but I don't really know enough about the silverscales to do much with that. It really depends on how they work, whether any of them are evil, etc..
Plus I lean more to him not changing b/c of the consequences, rather than an actual impossibility.

[MENTION=9026]Jemal[/MENTION]: Related to Silverscales? That could be interesting.
Feel free to create your own setting details, though. I just included some NPCs that are both plot-relevant (or related to them--the queen's probably not relevant herself, but when talking to the princess she might come up so what the PCs know about her might be) and well-known.
I think I'm okay with the suitably descriptor-limited Variable power.
And you don't need to spend points on aging immunity unless it includes immunity or resistance to magical aging and such. Immunity to normal aging is more of a flavor thing or justification for knowledge and skills than something that comes up directly.

[MENTION=63746]Binder Fred[/MENTION]: I saw it. Guess I neglected to actually reply--I apologize. Looks good.

Baclava, Thorn King version

M&M 3rd Ed, Power Level 6/90 PP
Race: Human
Sex: Male
Age: 19
Eyes: Stormy Blue (were chestnut brown before the Thorn King invaded)
Hair: Medium length, blondish and curly. Darker beard stubble
Marks: Ilsing brand across left eye. Dragon "prison tattoo" on left shoulder. Burn mark on plexus where the King entered.

Ini: +1
Condition: Full health
Hero Points: 1
Mv: 30'/15' with armor

Abilities: 28 pp
Str: 4
Sta: 4
Agi: 1
Dex: 2
Fgt: 4
Int: -1
Awe: 0
Pre: 0

Defenses: 11 pp
Dodge: +4 (1 Agi + 3) Vulnerable /2, Defenseless 0
Parry: +4 (4 Fgt + 0) Vulnerable /2, Defenseless 0
Toughness: +8 (4 Sta + 4 Armor, Impervious 8)
Fortitude: +8 (4 Sta + 4)
Will: +4 (0 Awe + 4)

Offense
Unarmed +6 Close, DC 19 Toughness, Bludgeoning
Grab +6, +4 vs Str or Dodge, Can initiate Free on successful Unarmed
Sword +6 Close, DC 21 Toughness, multiattack, Slashing
Bow +6 Range(60',150'(-2),300'(-5)), Crit 19-20, DC 21 Tough, Piercing

Skills: 40 r = 20 pp
Athletics 11 (+4 Str) = 15
Expertise: Cabinetmaker/woodworking 3 (+2 Dex/-1 Int) = 5/2
Expertise: City knowledge/Streetwise 6 (-1 Int) = 5
Investigation 6 Limited (Search and Gather Info(Criminals)) (-1 Int) = 11
Intimidate 10 (+0 Pre) = 10
Ranged Combat: Forearm Bows 4 (+2 Dex) = 6

Advantages: 10 pp
Close Attack 2
Diehard (Autostabilize on following round)
Equipment 1 (5 EP, see below)
Fast Grab (Can initiate a Grab check as a Free action after successful unarmed attack)
Improved Grab (One-handed, not vulnerable while grabbing)
Great Endurance (+5 vs fatigued, suffocation, starvation, thirst, hot and cold environments)
Set-Up 2 (2 allies can benefit from Startle)
Startle (Use Intimidate to Feint (Target Vulnerable TENT))

Equipment:
- Standard adventurer Gear (backpack, torches, rope, looting bags, field rations, water, winter blanket, wood-chopping axe)
- Magic Fire Starter (Damage 1, Precise, Distracting, [Fire]) on his belt. Tiny dead and stuffed fire-lizard; copper rod down its gullet turns hot when lizard is squeezed; captured from the goblins during their last adventure. 1EP
- Healing Potions X 5 (Healing 1, Linked +12 Healing Skill, both Unreliable 5 uses). Gifts from DarwinofMind's character? 4 Ep.

Powers: 21 pp
Thorn King's Soothing Aura (Immunity to Fear effects) 1PP [Faerie Magic]
Quilled armor (Protection 4, impervious 7, Quirk Heavy Flat(-1 to Mv rate), Removable Flat) 8PP [Steel]
Impressive (Teamwork, Limited (Deception, Intimidate, Persuasion, Stealth), Subtle Flat, Removable Flat (Armor), 1PP; Skill Mastery (Deception, Intimidate, Persuasion), Removable Flat (Armor), 2PP)) 3PP [Faerie Magic]
Physical Attack Array: 6PP base + 3 Alternate powers = 9PP
- Bastard Sword (Str-based Damage 2, Multiattack 6, Easily Removable 2 Flat) 6PP [Slashing]
- Forearm Quills (Str-based Damage 2, Ranged 6, Diminished Range Flat, Increased Crit 1 Flat, Easily Removable 2 Flat) 6PP [Faerie Magic, Piercing]
- Dungeon Smasher (Weaken Toughness 6, only affects Objects +0, Linked to unarmed-attacks, Side-Effect (Affliction Fort 6 (Dazed, Disabled, Incapacitated), Penetrating 3 Flat) If he fails to smash the object (i.e. get at least 2 degrees of success), he risks seriously hurting himself (slamming into a door/wall instead of going through it, falling debris, etc). 6PP [Bludgeoning]
- Line Drive (Str-based Damage 2, Line Area 6 (5'X30'), Grab-based; Linked Leaping 2, Attack+0) Pick-up bulky object or person of opportunity and toss/kick it into his foes. 6PP [Bludgeoning]

Costs: Abilities (28) + Defenses (11) + Skills (20) + Advantages (10) + Powers (21) = 90 Total Cost

Complications
- Awakening of the Thorn King: Speaking in tongues, irresistible urges, sleepwalking, momentary or prolonged loss of body control.
- Hunted by the Law: Escapee from the Ilsing prison-dungeon.
- Hunted by Allies of the Thorn King: He doesn't know, but he strongly suspects that freeing the fae will involved the death of his unwilling prison...
- Though Shalt Not Lie! : No lie may cross his lips while the Thorn King is awake.
- Running Out of Quills : The Thorn king can usually regrow all of Baclava's forearm quills in an hour or two. In range-combat-heavy encounters (or in circonstances negatively affecting faeries or natural healing/growth), this is often not enough.

Shayuri said:

Adoption is possible.

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Any volunteers, [MENTION=9026]Jemal[/MENTION], [MENTION=33]DarwinofMind[/MENTION]? From the little we know about her, your Bog Witch might be the best fit, DoM... Maybe *Aridha* is the "spirit" that's been pushing you to help the party/the community?


Jemal: Well, it's just that transforming into a dragon and/or being able to claim direct blood relation with the leader of the country we're in would seem to be *very big* advantages, things that could simplify your PC's (and the party's) lives no end at various points in any concievable adventure. The consequences not to would therefore need to be weighty enough to counterbalance that, hence my suggestions... In addition and thinking about it some more, if, as you say, you go with "can but shouldn't" (for X and Y reasons), maybe you could negotiate something with SuperZero to the effect that you *can* break cover, show your full might as a dragon without spending any points, but then your charater becomes an NPC after that scene? (Sort of a mega Hero Point with a moral dilema attached ("*Should I* use it here and save their lives...?"))... With liberal amounts of foreshadowing, that could be a very fun character to play.

I think you are under the impression that I intend to use my background in some sort of attempt to gain free powers. That's not exactly how it works in M&M.. a background can be anything, but you still only get the specific powers you pay for, everything is in the description and circumstance.

For example, you can SAY in your background that you are the CEO of a fortune 500 company, but you may not get ANYTHING from it that might be assumed.. If you don't pay for the status then perhaps you have a bad rep. If you don't pay for the wealth then perhaps you are in the middle of an audit, or all your funds are tied up in a business deal/otherwise non-liquid. If you don't pay for minions then all yoru employees are too busy to do 'other' jobs for you.
HOWEVER, that background can give you the reasoning behind gaining some of these abilities temporarily via a hero point.. you could Spend a HP to gain wealth for a single scene, described IC as you managing to 'liquidate some funds', or gain a rank in Minions as you manage to convince one of your employees to do some dirty work for you during their off time.

Likewise with my 'dragon' form, I would not have the ability to transform into a dragon, would not have the standard dragon longevity, nor any of the contacts/wealth/status/etc usually associated with being a silverscale unless I made some sort of expenditure (Either in power points to 'regain access' to them permanently, or a Hero point/power stunt to gain them for a scene.) For example If I needed to throw my name around I could use a HP to gain status/contacts for a single scene, as i convince someone who i am and ask them to help me out. OR for the dragon transformation I could power stunt a 'dragon form' on my Force Magic array, paying for all the 'abilities' of my dragon form in place of what i would normally be using my force magic for - in that case I would essentially 'loose' my force magic while I was in 'dragon form'.
It would also carry consequences in the form of complications or drawbacks based on me revealing who I am.
It's all one hundred percent things any of our characters could do within the rules, I'm just giving a background reasoning to it.

------

On that note, I've decided to go with the force mage. Will work up the char when I have time. As a heads up to superzero, I intend on making him a bit.. oddly. I'll be giving him a shift from defense to toughness, and he will always be using all-out attack to further drain his active defenses to zero. The idea is he has no idea how to 'dodge' or 'parry'.. he's a mage and a dragon, the concept of getting out of somethings way is pretty foreign to him. Defensively he relies on his powerful force shield and controlling the battlefield. He's mostly focused on Offense though, using all-out attack so it'll seem like his attacks are much stronger. His standard statline will probably be around "Attack +8, damage rank 8, defenses 0, toughness 8." Basically, he's a level 8 character with zero dodge/parry, but his numbers even out to the same as a standard PL 6 character. I think that's an amusing way of working in the whole "he's a powerful dragon mage" thing while still keeping him on the same power level as everyone else.

*EDIT: For anybody wondering as to the math on that, it goes as follows:
Base offense: Attack +4, damage rank 8 = PL 6.
Base Defense: Dodge/parry 4, Toughness 8 = PL 6.
Use all-out attack 4 to reduce dodge/parry to 0 and increase attack to +8.

Jemal said:

I think you are under the impression that I intend to use my background in some sort of attempt to gain free powers.

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Not at all. I'm under the impression that the dragon bits will either be entirely irrelevant if kept secret and unused OR will pose story problems when they are eventually revealed *if* balancing story reasons are not built-in from the start (in the style of "You're a *dragon*/*royalty*? You could have just burnt down the troll/asked soldiers for help in the raid? Mina didn't *have* to die?" Because you didn't have a HP available at the time). You listed a whole series of story-reasons for the CEO not to be able to (easily) use his story-only powers. In this discusion I'm asking what your dragon PC's reasons are for not being able to (easily) use his.

Jemal said:

IOR for the dragon transformation I could power stunt a 'dragon form' on my Force Magic array, paying for all the 'abilities' of my dragon form in place of what i would normally be using my force magic for - in that case I would essentially 'loose' my force magic while I was in 'dragon form'.

Click to expand...

I would tend not to allow a morph power in a force-themed array (unless it was a dragon-shaped force-field or something), especially if there isn't a clear reason why you can't use the other powers while using that one. I can't really see Baclava, for example, deciding to power stunt a morph on his attack array and have the GM's I usually play with agree to it. It could therefore be a good idea to run the idea by the GM before basing part of your background on it (?). Just saying.

Is it possible to have Alternate Effects off of Alternate effects?

So like
Magic 6 (ranged damage)
AE: (Weather control)Enviroment (cold)
AE (weather control) Enviroment (Hot)

The reason for not making Each Weather Control an AE of Magic is I need all of the Weather Controls to be dynamic with each other.