Eldritch City (3E MM)- OOC

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Doctor Malsyn
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Re: Eldritch City (Recruiting, 3E MM)

Post by Doctor Malsyn »

Jeaze, am I the only guy here who likes a bit of intimacy? ;)
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Heritage367
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Re: Eldritch City (Recruiting, 3E MM)

Post by Heritage367 »

Doctor Malsyn wrote: Fri Dec 15, 2017 7:19 pm Jeaze, am I the only guy here who likes a bit of intimacy? ;)
Hey, I love exploring romantic storylines; I could have gone as high as 15 on my list, but I want to do the other stuff more.
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Doctor Malsyn
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Re: Eldritch City (Recruiting, 3E MM)

Post by Doctor Malsyn »

Heritage367 wrote: Fri Dec 15, 2017 7:24 pm
Doctor Malsyn wrote: Fri Dec 15, 2017 7:19 pm Jeaze, am I the only guy here who likes a bit of intimacy? ;)
Hey, I love exploring romantic storylines; I could have gone as high as 15 on my list, but I want to do the other stuff more.
Hahah, that's fair enough. I'd be just fine with romance taking a general backseat in comparison to things like Mysteries and the supernatural, if this survey is to set the general overall tone of our adventures.
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Spectrum
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Re: Eldritch City (Recruiting, 3E MM)

Post by Spectrum »

One of the nice things about my game style, at least at the beginning, is the ability to tell separate stories around each character.
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EpicEclipse
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Re: Eldritch City (Recruiting, 3E MM)

Post by EpicEclipse »

So I am contemplating some alternative ideas since my first one is a little more low end superhero while everyone else is building more street level heroes. The concept is just too high end to really dumb it down some, better to try a different concept.

The three I am looking at which are much more street level are;

1)
Someone from a family that sort of stands as a keeper of the codex, an unofficial guideline of acceptable behavior for non-humans in a human-dominant world with understanding that many supernatural entities are far stronger than any average human. This family in particular hunts down those that act in defiance of the code with a sacred weapon passed down through the generations called Sever, a knife able to cut anything. Period. If it is something, Sever can cut it, and wound it. It is considered a dangerous weapon to all manner of supernatural creatures.

2)
Back to the other of the two original ideas I had of a mythological weapon that has, over time, somehow collected enough magic to become aware and even create a human body for itself. Having given the idea more thought, I am looking at the Masamune blade Yawarakai-Te. A blade he forged when challenged by his pupil Muramasa. Appropriately named "Tender Hands", this blade would not cut that which was undeserving or innocent. In human form, he would be a sort of modern day samurai that could manifest is blade form able to cut evil and would use sword techniques that are infused with some magic but otherwise no other real special powers. (This one would come along with an enemy in the way of Muramasa's sword for the same challenge, an evil blade that cuts all things indiscriminately, Juuchi Yomasu "10,000 Cold Nights".)

3)
From the old world of darkness Demon the Fallen, a fallen angel escaped from Hell where those angels that defied God's will were sent for millennia. These fallen escape through the weakened and dying souls of mortals whom they then possess. The human souls, already weak or dying fades away shortly after, leaving a new driver in the seat and the body infused with angelic energy, granting access to angelic powers called "Lores" which are specific to the different circles of angels. (I don't have a specific circle in mind yet as I need to review my pdf of the book to see which had what Lores, but I am thinking wind)

3 I am still a little iffy on being on the higher end of street level. I can also edit it to a different form of fallen from another game called Kingdom Come (that was inspired by oWoD just using different lore for what the Fallen are and their powers. So I guess a 4th option is something from that which would be fitting as well. But it would sort of depend on Spectrum there since each version has a slightly different take on fallen angels which are not exactly compatible with one another.

In old world of darkness the Fallen were sent to Hell. In Kingdom Come they were imprisoned in bodies of clay, destined to reincarnated for eternity amongst humanity, ignorant of their angelic origins until one day they awaken to their power, still with little more than fragments of memory from their multitudous past lives, but lighting up like a beacon for both Heaven and Hell that want to destroy them.

Either way it adds world building I suppose.
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Doctor Malsyn
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Re: Eldritch City (Recruiting, 3E MM)

Post by Doctor Malsyn »

Just a scant thought, but I imagine holding a blade that cut _everything_ indiscriminately would be a very nerve-racking experience. You might have an accident and lob off your own arm or something similar.

Maybe Server reacts to intent rather then it's raw curring power? So you'd have to _want_ something cut in order for it to work. That would even allow you to purposefully hold back if it was needed too.

Take those as you want though, it was just what I wad thinking upon reading 1. They all sound pretty cool and have their own merit s.
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EpicEclipse
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Re: Eldritch City (Recruiting, 3E MM)

Post by EpicEclipse »

The only thing safe from a blade that can cut anything is it's own hilt. But those are really good ideas Doc. I'll keep them in mind if I go with 1. Personally i am leaning mostly towards 2, then 1 then 3/4.

Mainly because I have more ideas for a magic-infused sword technique style than I do for 1 besides Sever itself and the general idea of this family being protectors of a codex, though it does offer some world building by introducing the codex and the politics that would obviously come with it. (As I recall, such a thing exists in the Dresdenverse, but I am hazy on the details, but that is where the idea came from)

I read about the contest of Muramasa and Masamune and thought it would make for an interesting concept to bring to life as humans. Mix in some magic and it gives me a fairly dynamic character with potential for a quirky personality and a level of combat ability I am comfortable with for street level.

The fallen angel idea, regardless of which version to go with has lots of potential in a world building aspect, but both follow the line of God being kind of a jerk. (Not all fallen think that and some want to try and regain His good graces and return to Heaven, though not all fallen are convinced that that is even possible. Others still just want to try and make the most of the situation since they are essentially humans with powers, making them better than humans and able to manipulate them to at least some degree, or at least live easyish lives, if you don't count laying low from angels and demons that want to wipe you out as something that should not exist)

Nice thing though is they can all work on the same idea of working a bar by day. I like idea of a bar that tends to have the "wierd" as common patrons. Good for Intel gathering (Contacts, Well Informed, maybe even connected)
Zero Prime
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Re: Eldritch City (Recruiting, 3E MM)

Post by Zero Prime »

Just curious if the thread is still open for recruitment, as I had an idea for a character.

In the vein of In Nomine, I was curious if a Divine Agent would have a place in Eldritch City. I was thinking along the lines of an on-the-take cop, who, in a moment of crisis, gave his life to save his partner from those who had been buying him off. He was then returned to the mortal coil, with an imperative to carry on with the work of the divine.

I have one ability that may be ... difficult, but was curious if we could make it work ...
Blood calls for Blood (Super-Senses 7) (acute, detect: Murderers (Mental) 2 (ranged), extended 2 (-1 per 1k ft), tracking 2 (normal speed); Distracting, Limited (Source: Blood of the Victim))
It seems like a neat power, with Acute it would let me pick out a killer in a crowd of killers, if I had contact with the blood of one of his victims, but I wouldn't necessarily know who it is until I got into visual range. Anyways, just a thought exercise at the moment, but if we're still open for recruitment I can work on a sheet.
Flynnarrel
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Re: Eldritch City (Recruiting, 3E MM)

Post by Flynnarrel »

Interesting ability ZeroPrime, but it would negate a lot of the investigation in an investigation-based game.
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Heritage367
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Re: Eldritch City (Recruiting, 3E MM)

Post by Heritage367 »

I'm considering putting Mind Reading, Mental Communication, two Afflictions and Concealment all in one array to free up some points; does that seem like putting too many eggs in one basket? It seems to me you would usually only use one of those at a time.
EpicEclipse
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Re: Eldritch City (Recruiting, 3E MM)

Post by EpicEclipse »

You could still use the ability with a slight tweak though, and not ruin all the investigation aspects though. Make it so you can't pin a specific murder to a murderer.

The idea of using the blood fo a victim is neat, but have it just be the fuel to the power, not a linking point to a specific murderer. Basically, you use the blood of a victim, and suddenly you can sense everyone who has murdered. Then you still have to figure out who dunnit. Investigation narrowed, but not ruined. (And THAT is if we're looking for a murderer at all. Keeping in mind "murder" is a very specific thing. Killing in self defense or by accident isn't the same as murder which hold intent to murder, which is an important distinguishing factor that I am certain Zero knows as considered with the power he suggested)
pathfinderq1
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Re: Eldritch City (Recruiting, 3E MM)

Post by pathfinderq1 »

And don't forget- sometimes finding the actual killer is only part of the problem. Were they mind controlled? possessed? And who ORDERED the killing?

Or did they honestly believe that the "victim" was some kind of horrible monster who had to be stopped, for the greater good? (and were they right?)
EpicEclipse
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Re: Eldritch City (Recruiting, 3E MM)

Post by EpicEclipse »

Yeah, so basically if you have caveats that keep it from letting you beeline to and single out a specific victim's murderer, it's not too bad at all.

On my own submission, I am going to try and build the living Yawarakai-Te. I have some neat ideas for the sword form and his sword techniques. I think he'd work well in a bar setting, talking to people, learning about this modern world. I picture him being a lot like Katsumoto from The Last Samurai. An honorable warrior with a keen interest in learning. Gentle, true to his blade name which translates to Tender Hands and the legend of his creation, he "cuts only that which is deserving."
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Bill from Accounting
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Re: Eldritch City (Recruiting, 3E MM)

Post by Bill from Accounting »

Image
"I hate pants."

DARWIN
PL 8


Age: 7
Height: 7'3"
Weight: ~400 lbs.
Eyes: Blue
Hair: None
Race: Korbal
Alignment: Neutral

ABILITIES: STRENGTH 7, STAMINA 7, AGILITY 3, DEXTERITY 2, FIGHTING 5, INTELLECT 1, AWARENESS 2, PRESENCE 0

SKILLS: Athletics 4 (+11), Close Combat: Unarmed 4 (+9), Expertise: Survival 5 (+6), Expertise: Tactics 7 (+8), Expertise: Magic 7 (+8), Intimidation 8 (+9), Perception 5 (+7), Ranged Combat: Throwing 2 (+4), Stealth 3 (+4)

ADVANTAGES: All-out Attack, Diehard, Extraordinary Effort, Fearless, Great Endurance, Improved Critical (Unarmed) 1/2, Languages (Base: Tuchank, English), Luck (Recover), Power Attack, Ranged Attack 2, Takedown, Ultimate Effort (Will)

POWERS:
Korbal Size: Growth 2 (+2 STR +2 STA, -1 Dodge/Parry, -2 Stealth, +1 Intimidation, +2 Mass; Innate, Permanent); 5 pts
Scaly Hide: Protection 2, Impervious Toughness 5; 7 pts
Korbal Physiology: Senses 3 (Scent [Acute, Tracking], Low-light Vision), Immunity 12 (Aging, Life Support, Sleep; Limited to Half Effect), Speed 1 (4 MPH), Leaping 1 (15 feet), Swimming 1 (1 MPH), Movement 1 (Wall-crawling), Regeneration 2 (1 every 5 rounds), Enhanced Trait 3 (Diehard, Great Endurance, Luck [Recover]); 19 pts
Knowledge Imprints: Comprehend 3 (Languages [Read All, Speak All, Understand All]; Limited to Interplanar Languages Only); 3 pts
Claws: Enhanced Trait 1 (Improved Critical [Unarmed]); 1 pt
Rage: Immunity 2 (Critical Hits; Limited to When Angry Only), Enhanced Trait 4 (Extraordinary Effort, Fearless, Improved Critical [Unarmed], Ultimate Effort [Will]; Limited to When Angry Only); 3 pts

EQUIPMENT:
NONE

OFFENSE:
Initiative +3
Unarmed +9 [Claws +7]

DEFENSES:
Dodge +7 [DC17] Parry +7 [DC17]
Toughness +9 (+3 Impervious), Fortitude +9, Will +6

COMPLICATIONS:
"I am korbal... enough said.": Like many members of his race, Darwin has a natural desire for violence. Created with the goal of being the perfect soldier, he often tries to do what he was made for: fight and determine the strongest. If severely injured or provoked, Darwin can fly into a blind rage, at which point he will fight until he or his opponents are incapacitated.
"You are the only human I like.": Darwin loves his "mother", Lani. She is the one person whom Darwin regularly listens to and he has never thought about eating her. Well, just once anyway.
"Why is it always 'Darwin, no'?": Darwin knows things from his imprints, but lacking a proper korbal upbringing, he is both naive and highly unpredictable. Since he isn't familiar with Earth customs either, Lani has tried to curb his violent impulses by getting him interested in cooking and music. She told him that these are activities befitting a warrior, and Darwin can be convinced to try almost anything if given similar reasoning.
"I am probably handsome for my species.": Darwin has a monstrous appearance. He cannot blend in with normal society without making an effort to conceal himself.
"I already have a mother. Might as well have a father.": Darwin has a goal of figuring out the magical training in his brain to learn plane shifting, so that he may find other members of his race and his "father", Warlock Reeko.
"Interplanar Defense Bureau? Never heard of them.": The IDB handles any crime that crosses multiple Material Planes. Darwin was illegally plane shifted to Eldritch City, and they are seeking him as well as the rest of Warlock Reeko's rejects. Creatures from other planes already on Earth may also be attracted to Darwin.
"Why are you always writing in that notebook?" Lani truly cares for Darwin, but she is also interested in him scientifically. She has secretly been recording him and writing down her observations with plans of releasing her findings one day. If Darwin found out, he would feel like he was being used.

Abilities 46 + Skills 16 + Advantages 6 + Powers 38 + Defenses 14 = 120
A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE KORBAL

The cosmos teems with a multitude of worlds as well as myriad alternate dimensions of reality, called the planes of existence. The relatively mundane realms are the Material Planes. Beyond those planes are domains of raw elemental matter and energy, realms of pure thought and ethos, the homes of demons and angels, and the dominions of the gods. The worlds of the Material Planes are infinitely diverse. They include magic-wasted desert planets and island-dotted water worlds, worlds where magic combines with advanced technology and others trapped in an endless Stone Age, worlds where the gods walk and places they have abandoned.

On one plane exists a species of large reptilian bipeds known as the korbal. The korbal are native to a world known for its harsh environments, scarce resources, and overabundance of vicious predators. The korbal managed to not only survive on their unforgiving homeworld, but thrived in the extreme conditions. The korbal were discovered by the keshians, a race from a different plane. The korbal were liberated from their primitive state by the keshians, who uplifted the race by giving them advanced magic and relocating them to a plane not cursed with lethal levels of radiation, toxins or deadly predators.

Without the harsh conditions of their homeworld to keep their numbers in check, the korbal population swelled to unprecedented numbers. Overcrowded and running out of resources, the korbal spread out to forcibly claim other planes—planes already inhabited. War broke out soon afterward. The resultant war continued for nearly three centuries. The korbal sustained massive casualties, but their incredible birth rate kept their population steadily increasing. Victory seemed inevitable. In desperation, the palavenians unleashed the Scourge on the korbal: a dark curse created by the keshians. The Scourge caused near total infant mortality in the korbal species.

No longer able to replenish their numbers, the korbal were forced to accept terms of surrender. Korbal numbers have steadily declined, leaving them a scattered and dying people. Faced with the certainty of their extinction as a species, most korbal have become individualistic and completely self-interested.
CASE NO. 530885
IN THE HEADQUARTERS OF THE INTERPLANAR DEFENSE BUREAU
TRANSCRIPT OF INTERVIEW OF REEKO

Reeko: It’s about time. I will not wait while you question those idiotic killers.

IDB: Warlock Reeko. You don’t seem particularly grateful for us saving you.

Reeko: You may claim to be here to help, but agents of the Interplanar Defense Bureau are not a sign of gentle change. Surprised? All korbal should know of you. Do I need to revisit your people’s actions in Hoc?

IDB: I’m sure you’re eager to retell the story.

Reeko: Such a tale! Neras threatens the return of the korbal horde by curing the Scourge, undoing the gentle genocide of the palavenians and keshians. But before Neras can deliver his endless troops, in rides the IDB, securing victory through black fire. I like that part. It has weight.

IDB: We make no apologies. It was the most efficient solution.

Reeko: But I approve. Neras’ pale horde were not true korbal. Numbers alone are nothing. The mistake of an outsider, one that my sponsors have also made. I gave them my rejects, but they grew impatient.
---
IDB: You’ve already confessed to many serious crimes: prohibited creation of lifeforms through magic, unauthorized use of plane shift spells, trafficking korbal eggs across Material Planes. Even your own people have turned on you. What were you hoping to achieve?

Reeko: I acquired the knowledge to create one pure soldier. With that, I will inflict upon the Scourge the greatest insult an enemy can suffer. To be ignored.

IDB: Your search for the perfect soldier created a lot of failures. You don’t care about them?

Reeko: I failed no one. My rejects were exactly what my buyers asked for. They were strong, healthy, and useless to me. I needed perfection. If a few thousand are rejected, so be it. My work will purify the korbal. We will not be restored-we will be renewed.

IDB: I thought the korbal ideal was a return to the numbers that threatened the Material Planes.

Reeko: We will not need numbers. My soldier is a template. It is a greater threat than all the phantom siblings that would have been at its flank. The Material Planes still bear the scars of the horde. But they will learn to fear the lance.

IDB: So, you didn’t want to cure the Scourge?

Reeko: Contrary to what survivors claim, the Scourge does not produce strong korbal-the only quality it filters is the ability to survive the Scourge. Every survivor is branded as precious. That’s produced more coddling than your collective teats. I say let us carry the Scourge! Let a thousand die in a clutch. We will defeat it by climbing atop our dead. That is the korbal way.
---
IDB: The Bureau is willing to make an offer to lessen your sentence to just 600 years and provide you protection, provided you give us the name of your buyers…and the whereabouts of your final product.

Reeko: Perhaps I will strike a deal to secure passage. But my soldier is not negotiable. It is the key to my legacy. It is pure korbal. Perfect.
Warlock Reeko was a veteran of the war and a militant radical. He maintained an extreme social Darwinist belief that the effect it had had on korbal natural selection, rather than the loss of numbers, is where the Scourge had performed its greatest damage. To this end Reeko experimented with dark magic, creating and selling a great number of his kind, earning himself a vile reputation among korbal. One of his rejects was mistakenly plane shifted to the Material Plane of Earth instead of to its buyer, and the egg arrived in Eldritch City.

Lani Minella was a young girl who grew up in Eldritch City. She was a shy child who was more interested in music and science than with making friends. Lani came across a mysterious egg on her way home from school one day. Knowing her parents would not approve of it, Lani brought the egg home in secret. When it hatched, she named the newborn reptilian creature Darwin. When she was unable to identify what species Darwin was, Lani had the idea to record her observations of him.

Over the years, it was obvious that Darwin was unique from any other reptile on Earth. He grew at an alarming rate, and seemed to understand simple commands. Lani didn’t realize just how special Darwin was until the day he called her, “Mom.” Shortly afterwards, Darwin went missing, having broken his way out of the enclosure Lani made for him. The girl would not see the korbal again for five years. During that time, Darwin survived on his own in the wilds outside Eldritch City, trying to satisfy his natural desire for violence and make sense of the education he received from Warlock Reeko through magical imprints.

Lani, now in high school, looked out her bedroom window one night and saw a pair of piercing blue eyes staring at her. She hesitantly headed outside to confront the creature. Although he now stood two feet taller than her, the young woman still recognized something about him.

“…Darwin?”

“Hi, mom.”
Last edited by Bill from Accounting on Tue Dec 26, 2017 8:18 am, edited 10 times in total.
Spectrum
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Re: Eldritch City (Recruiting, 3E MM)

Post by Spectrum »

Holiday season is upon me and running me a ragged. Will catch up soon!
We rise from the ashes so that new legends can be born.
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