My first attempt at creating a character… I’m not confident of the limitations and generating more powers/bonds… I get both, right?
Shadowman
As a child he was terrified of dark places. His father tried to break him of his fear by making him confront it. Locked in closets with nothing to do he worked on his fear of the dark, focusing, examining shadows until he found he could enter the shadows or make them solid.
Travelling in the Shadow Space, the dimension accessed by stepping through shadows, he discovered it was populated with strange creatures. Realizing that these creatures were the rational reason people fear the dark, he made it his life’s work to defend our world from them.
Years ago, his investigations lead him to believe that there is a weak point in the City that might let Shadows through. He’s spent a decade at the City University as a Professor of Philosophy.
Choose Stats:
Smash: -1 Influence: 0 Maneuver: +2 Protect: +1 Investigate: +1
Summary of powers
Manipulate shadows, Become shadow. Empathetic philosopher.
Power Profile
2 Simple – hide in shadow, become insubstantial
2 Difficult – Bind with shadows (ranged attack to apply the condition Bound), Hide another
Borderline – Move through shadow space (all shadows are linked in the shadow world)
Possible – Inspire fear with moving shadows
Impossible – Strangle people with their own shadows (he’s got a mental block against it).
Limitations: 3 points for 3 extra bonds and 1 simple and 1 difficult power.
Requires Shadows: in pitch black or when there is no shadow he cannot use his powers.
One Thing at a Time: He cannot both Manipulate Shadows and Become Shadow. To do one requires releasing the other.
Philosopher: He will not kill.
Origin Book: What I Know
A Dedicated Life: Years of studying shadows and the dark have shown him a world that few if any others know about. Shadow Space is a world; and one children are right to fear. Strange creatures live in the shadows and occasionally escape or at least reach into ours.
-The powers my knowledge grants me are an understanding of the physical and spiritual nature of shadows, shadow creatures, and the Shadow Space.
-The burden of my powers is to guard against invaders from the Shadow Space and not to let the Darkness in.
Expert in the Field: When you first encounter an important creature, location, or item (your call) tied to your secret knowledge, roll+Investigate. On a 10+, tell the group what it is, the EIC will tell you something interesting about it. On a 7-9, the EIC will tell you something interesting about it, which may or may not be entirely true (EIC’s call).
Do, Teach: When you impart your knowledge to another character, play out a scene of you teaching or training them. The next time they recall what you taught them, they may turn a 6- result into a 7-9 or a 7-9 result into a 10+.
Suggested Foes:
The Adversary: The Shadows lurk in Shadow Space. They are beings of chaos; they have no fixed form, they seem to have no organization, they have only hunger. If they have any other motivations you’re not aware of them.
Drive Book: Protect
Book available to open when:
-You establish that you grew up, are accepted or know a particular area or community of the city very well.
Back of my Hand: You know the shadows of the City like the back of your hand. When you need to get somewhere quickly, fade into a shadow and roll+Maneuver, on a 10+, you get there just in time. On a 7-9 choose one:
• You’re in trouble with you get there
• Trouble finds you on the way
Bonds: 3+number of players
the City 2
the Police 1
Others…
Looks good David! Just a couple suggestions for Powers:
Power Profile
2 Simple – hide in shadow, become insubstantial
2 Difficult – Bind with shadows (ranged attack to apply the condition Bound), Hide another
Borderline – Move through shadow space (all shadows are linked in the shadow world)
Possible – Inspire fear with moving shadows
Impossible – Strangle people with their own shadows (he’s got a mental block against it).
For Difficult, you don’t need to limit yourself to a ranged attack that applies a certain condition. You can just leave it at “use shadows to bind others.”
For Possible, I feel like you’re really selling yourself short there. I mean, even just by becoming insubstantial you might frighten someone, right? Maybe something like, “plunge someone into the shadows to make them relive their greatest fear” or something? If that fits with what you were aiming for.
For Impossible, maybe put “Kill someone via the use of shadows,” or “To kill someone with the shadows without losing a piece of myself to the shadow” or something, but that doesn’t really tell us what your limits are for shadows – it’s more of a personal moral code, which is fine, but it’s nice to have a ceiling I think. Maybe something like “Blanket the city in shadow” or “Cover the sun with shadow in a dark eclipse” or something – since that is more helpful in telling us how far you can push yourself in terms of your powers rather than your moral fiber – either way works though.
Thanks! Always looking for advice! I see what you mean about going bigger…
And the limitations generate both extra powers and more bonds, right?
Yep!
David Wetzel Bizarre. I was thinking of building a similar character.
+Christopher Meid I know, the Shadows whispered your thougths to me… 🙂
(very new to google plus… not sure how to put people’s names in here)
One of the things I miss in the book (and arouse in the playtest) is some advice like that about how to make a good power profile.
I’ll see about adding some thoughts on that then, anything in particular, or does the advice that I give out in the community cover it?
David Wetzel To add Person’s name, click the + or @ and start typing the name. The person’s picture and full name should pop up in a list, and you choose it. It’s that simple.
Yeah, your shadows are whispering better and quicker than mine. 😉
Christopher Meid Thanks for the remedial Google+ 101!
🙂