Character ideas for Spencer

[Sveja]

I lowered and eliminated a number of skills, upped melee weapons to 4, upped and reworked artisan talents, upped knowledge talents to 2 (really I want higher yet for those, but at least some investment seems better), got rid of evaluate (initiate option Song smith), picked up Tracking (Novice option Horror Stalker).

[Sveja]

Adding a breakdown of remaining skills and why I would like to have them:

Animal Bond: 1
I like having a familiar, and need to build an animal's loyalty so that it will become a familiar.

Bribery: 2
Spy Master skill - bribery is an excellent way to buy favors rather than to influence. There is no talent equivalent, and when dealing with potential informants, city guards, etc this seems to be a subtle and useful tool to have in the arsenal.

Climbing: 1
When you have to climb, you have to climb.

Fast Hand: 2
Least justifiable skill purchase in the whole lot, but I like the combination of deception and quick-hands for this character.

Forgery: 2
Spymaster skill, there is no talent equivalent and is another subtle way of getting things done. Allows forging of anything that I can make, and that is going to wind up being quite a bit.

Lock Picking: 2
Spymaster skill, not perhaps entirely necessary since I don't intend to be an amazing thief or spy myself, but quite handy to have and we have no one in the party who can open locks as far as I am aware.

Lip Reading: 1
Spymaster skill, more or less equivalent to the talent and an excellent way to eavesdrop in a social setting, although I will have to level it up quite a bit beyond this to be reliable versus social defense. (Will likely merge with Songsmith Journeyman Option talent eventually)

Research: 2
Seems like the sine qua non of this character, should perhaps be higher but will eventually merge with the talent (Horror Stalker Journeyman Option).

Rhetoric: 1
No equivalent talent, not essentially a social skill but a very helpful one for an investigator trying to figure out the truth.

Search: 2
Spymaster skill, somewhat similar to lock picking, a potential candidate for elimination if I really want more skill points.

Streetwise: 2
Spymaster skill, like bribery a subtle way to gain information and interact with many of the people Brux likely deals with in his official and unofficial capacities. No talent equivalent, although Etiquette may be usable in some situations.

Swimming: 1
When you've got to swim, you've got to swim.

Trap Initiative: 1
When you've got to initiative traps, you've got to initiative traps.

[Sveja]

Tentative Character Pic: (Joel and Tom will get this one)



(I haven't been able to find one I like yet, artists have a tendency to always draw male elves with very long hair, and Brux's hair is mid-length and messy).

[ehren]

Jul 30, 2013 21:03:27 GMT -5 Mawaris said:

Jul 27, 2013 14:38:44 GMT -5 Sveja said:

Skills
Poetry: 2
Acting: 1
Singing: 1
Songwriting: 1

Knowledge (Horror Lore): 1
Knowledge (Elf Lore): 1

Language: 2 (Dwarven, Elven)
Animal Bond: 1
Bribery: 2
Climbing: 1
Conceal Object: 2
Conversation: 2
Downstrike: 1
Fast Hand: 2
Forgery: 2
Lock Picking: 2
Impress: 1
Lip Reading: 1
Melee Weapons: 2
Pick Pockets: 1
Research: 2
Rhetoric: 1
Search: 2
Seduction: 1
Slough Blame: 1
Streetwise: 1
Swimming: 1

A few notes on the skills here in particular...

Just in general, you're putting a lot into skills, and you're already spread really thin for legend points with three disciplines, so although you can do a lot of stuff you're going to be bad at a lot of it. All these skills are practically like adding a fourth discipline. Make sure it's worth it in all cases. You could drop a few of these and easily be a 4th circle Nethermancer or Horror Stalker.

Also, make sure things are going to be useful with a low number of ranks, or make sure you're actually committed to raising that skill frequently. Anything that is rolling against a defense in particular is going to get harder and harder. Slough Blame in particular stands out here; it rolls against social defense, so it often isn't going to be very easy with just 2d6, and there are potentially bad consequences for failure. (Just for examples, to use it against Mawaris requires an 11; to use it against the whole party would require a 14. Yay, it's hard to Slough Blame on us! But only takes a 7 against just Mes or Mal, I guess.).

Language is actually two separate skills, Speak and Read/Write. You don't learn Read/Write for Elven automatically so you'll have to pay for that. BUT, you also have both of these as talents, and so these skills merge with the talents.

I would drop Downstrike. It's very situational, and you don't have any of the talents or spells that make it more frequently useful. And with just one rank it isn't worth trying to plan around, just for one extra step of damage.

Pick Pockets is another really risky one to ever use with just 1 rank, especially with only step 6 Dex. A d12 opposed by your target's perception? Against many targets, you stand an even or higher chance of getting caught.

Melee Weapons has been discussed. But also consider that the 500 LP you're dumping into that could instead raise your Melee Weapons Talent (or any number of other talents) to rank 4.

All this said... there are a few other skills that are often worth having, no matter how many ranks you have in them. Trap Initiative and Sprint come to mind here. There may be others.

I agree with Joel a lot here. If your character is going to be avoiding combat Down Strike doesn't make sense (especially if you don't also get Great Leap). Even though we've been playing for awhile (both real and game time), we haven't found a lot of time to increase skills.

All this said, I like that you are thinking about how to fill in some gaps.

[ehren]

Jul 31, 2013 18:00:20 GMT -5 Sveja said:

Adding a breakdown of remaining skills and why I would like to have them:

Animal Bond: 1
I like having a familiar, and need to build an animal's loyalty so that it will become a familiar.

Bribery: 2
Spy Master skill - bribery is an excellent way to buy favors rather than to influence. There is no talent equivalent, and when dealing with potential informants, city guards, etc this seems to be a subtle and useful tool to have in the arsenal.

Climbing: 1
When you have to climb, you have to climb.

Fast Hand: 2
Least justifiable skill purchase in the whole lot, but I like the combination of deception and quick-hands for this character.

Forgery: 2
Spymaster skill, there is no talent equivalent and is another subtle way of getting things done. Allows forging of anything that I can make, and that is going to wind up being quite a bit.

Lock Picking: 2
Spymaster skill, not perhaps entirely necessary since I don't intend to be an amazing thief or spy myself, but quite handy to have and we have no one in the party who can open locks as far as I am aware.

Lip Reading: 1
Spymaster skill, more or less equivalent to the talent and an excellent way to eavesdrop in a social setting, although I will have to level it up quite a bit beyond this to be reliable versus social defense. (Will likely merge with Songsmith Journeyman Option talent eventually)

Research: 2
Seems like the sine qua non of this character, should perhaps be higher but will eventually merge with the talent (Horror Stalker Journeyman Option).

Rhetoric: 1
No equivalent talent, not essentially a social skill but a very helpful one for an investigator trying to figure out the truth.

Search: 2
Spymaster skill, somewhat similar to lock picking, a potential candidate for elimination if I really want more skill points.

Streetwise: 2
Spymaster skill, like bribery a subtle way to gain information and interact with many of the people Brux likely deals with in his official and unofficial capacities. No talent equivalent, although Etiquette may be usable in some situations.

Swimming: 1
When you've got to swim, you've got to swim.

Trap Initiative: 1
When you've got to initiative traps, you've got to initiative traps.

This list makes a lot of sense (especially the Forgery part), I would take issue with Climbing though. There are a lot of ways around it. Mes will pick up Levitate, and already has a spell that adds to Climbing. Swimming also falls into the same catagory in my opinion. We'll have spells that can get around having to do it, and the most dangerous body of water is only a shallow and slow river in the Kaer (at least from my understanding). My 2 cents.

[Mawaris]

Actually I've been thinking about getting Climbing just because of the last encounter, where it might have been handy. It is most useful with many ranks though, since rank determines your speed. So 1 rank is not all that useful. But I understand getting it even at that, since I've thought about getting it myself.

[Sveja]

Swimming also looks like its only strictly required for Windlings

[GM / Malinous]

Aye. Climbing is actually very important.
You move a max of RANK hexes (if not yards), maximum of your speed.
So without the skill or the talent, you move very slowly no matter how high your roll (I'd probably add a yard per success level, but still).

[Sveja]

Disciplines: Nethermancer 3, Horror Stalker 3, Songsmith 2

Dex: 14 (6)
Str: 14 (6)
Tou: 12 (5)
Per: 16 (7)
Wil: 17 (7)
Cha: 16 (7)

Physical Defense: 8
Spell Defense: 10
Social Defense: 10
Mystic Armor: 3

Death Rating: 74
Uncon. Rating: 54
Wound Threshold: 9
Recovery Tests: 2

Talents
Karma Ritual: 3
Nethermancy: 4
Durability (8/6): 5

Astral Sight: 3
Read/Write Magic: 3
Spell Casting: 4
Frighten: 4
Spell Matrix: 3
Spell Matrix: 2
Spell Matrix: 1
Spell Matrix: 1


Call of Harrow: 3
Melee Weapons: 4
Steel Thought: 4
Abate Curse: 3
Bear Mark: 1
Silent Walk: 3
Parry: 3
Tracking: 2

Emotion Song: 2
Speak Language: 2 (Human)
First Impression: 2
Performance: 2
Etiquette: 2
Read/Write Language: 2 (Dwarven, Elven)

Familiar Blood Share: 1
Familiar Thought Link: 1
Familiar Animal Possession: 1

Skills
Poetry: 3
Craft (Jewelry): 2
Runecarving: 2
Songwriting: 2
Entertainer (Singing): 2

Knowledge (Horror Lore): 1
Knowledge (Elf Lore): 1

Language: 2 (Dwarven, Elven)
Animal Bond: 1
Bribery: 2
Climbing: 1
Fast Hand: 2
Forgery: 2
Lock Picking: 2
Lip Reading: 1
Research: 2
Rhetoric: 1
Search: 2
Streetwise: 2
Trap Initiative: 1

Spells
Astral Spear
Spirit Dart
Spirit Grip
Command Nightflyer
Undead Struggle
Experience Death

Bone Circle
Ethereal Darkness
Gadfly
Shield Miss
Repel Animal

Dark Messenger
Death's Head
Dispel Nethermancy Magic
Fog of Gear
Pain
Spirit Double
Summon Bone Ghost

Discipline Talents:[/u]

Nethermancer:
Astral Sight: 3
Durability: 5
Frighten: 4
Karma Ritual: 3
Nethermancy: 4
Read/Write Magic: 3
Spell Casting: 4
Spell Matrix: 3
Spirit Talk: 0

Horror Stalker:
Abate Curse: 3
Astral Sight: 3
Bear Mark: 1
Call of Harrow: 3
Durability: 5
Melee Weapons: 4
Karma Ritual: 3
Steel Thought: 4

Songsmith:
Durability: 5
Emotion Song: 2
Etiquette: 2
First Imprssion: 2
Karma Ritual: 3
Performance: 2
Speak Language: 2
Read/Write Language: 2

[ehren]

Aug 3, 2013 19:51:52 GMT -5 GM / Malinous said:

Aye. Climbing is actually very important.
You move a max of RANK hexes (if not yards), maximum of your speed.
So without the skill or the talent, you move very slowly no matter how high your roll (I'd probably add a yard per success level, but still).

but we have 2 spells that add ranks. Crunch climb and Wall Walker, so that almost maxes us out right there (unless we're going to Sprint up the wall).

Also, we'll have levitate soon; and flying carpet eventually. It might be worth 200 lp, but I kinda doubt it.

[GM / Malinous]

The thing with climbing is, if you use both spells, those only add to the roll, not to the rank.

If you roll 1,000,000 on your climbing test and don't have the skill. You move 1 yard!
It's kind of a weakness in the design.
500 LP to get Rank 2 is a bit rough. But it's something. 7 is the max rank you'll ever want.
Not mandatory per se, but a pretty useful skill for that reason.

So, it turns out, I can already fly . . . but only by turning into a bird. Overrated.

[ehren]

I thought the spells added Rank. But it doesn't matter, I'll have levitate soon.

Also, Spencer, you should make a new thread, with Brux's character sheet as the 1st post. It makes it a lot easier to reference.

[GM / Malinous]

Yeah. And metal wings! Although throne of air is hilarious. It's a huge dodge thing with wilforce. Like spirit dodge :-).

The important thing with climbing is not falling. And that we can do with spells. And nnew shoes.

[Sveja]

Aug 6, 2013 22:34:20 GMT -5 ehren said:

I thought the spells added Rank. But it doesn't matter, I'll have levitate soon.

Also, Spencer, you should make a new thread, with Brux's character sheet as the 1st post. It makes it a lot easier to reference.

This isn't a character sheet, as I mentioned somewhere else, I will be making one when I get a chance.

[ehren]

Didn't see your other post about it. I did notice the Brux intro post, but thought you'd want to post a character sheet.

[Sveja]

I will when work isn't killing me - hopefully.

[ehren]

Don't let the Man get you down!

[Sveja]

Joel posted the Horror Stalker details somewhere but I can't find them - does anyone remember where?

I believe that they gain +1 Spell Defense at Second Circle, but I need to double check.

[Mawaris]

www.sr4game.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=cic&action=display&thread=214&page=1

And for future reference it's in the "Campaign Idea Chatter" forum under "Namegivers of Barsaive Excerpts"