Powers
Lycanthrope, Afflicted: You were bitten by some shapeshifting monstrosity, now you must bear its curse. You have a beast within you, a creature of bloodlust, hate and destruction that would like nothing more than to run wild and kill all that stands in its path. Normally, you are in control, however some trigger gives the creature within you the boost it needs to shift the balance of power in its favor, if only for a little while. Keep in mind that in Ravenloft, this need not be the full moon. It could be the scent of a specific flower, the tides, a specific lunar phase, a certain emotional state, or almost anything else that you can imagine. However, full moon tends to be the norm. Also, in Ravenloft these changes are very painful, so a high endurance is advised for this power. 30 points
Lycanthrope, Natural: What afflicted lycanthropes achieved through accident, you were born with. Through your bloodline, the souls of the beast and the man have merged, until there is no difference. You are not a man, you are not a beast, you are both, and the distinction simply does not exist for you. However, this comes with a small curse: A hunger for raw flesh from any creature, that you must sate daily. 45 points
Ghost Sight: You are constantly haunted with a ghostly sight. You see the abnormal as though it were completely natural and normal, though this may lead others to believe that you are simply insane. This makes you uniquely suited to fight the forces of darkness, as their most valuable power, that of deception, is robbed from them. Put simply, spirits, ghosts and creatures that have special abilities that make you overlook them are powerless to hide themselves from you. This does not include creatures that physically change, such as lycanthropes, and some creatures may be too powerful for you to see through their cloaks. 10 points
Spellcasting: Pick a type, divine or arcane. This allows you access to spells from that area, and gives you the ability to cast them. However, in this version of the game, spellcasting takes a toll on you, and is limited by your psyche. Put simply, the more powerful the effect, the more psyche points you “lose” until you rest, and as you lose them you become increasingly tired. Also, you start the game with a limited number of known spells, if you are an arcane spellcaster. 20 points
Royal Title: You are considered a lord by whatever creature rules that domain in which you were born. This gives you a certain amount of leverage and influence, and you have friends in high places. But be warned, a Darkonian lord will find himself most unwelcome in Barovia, and vice versa. Also, titles are often handed out in exchange for favors, it is a common joke that nobles can outnumber peasants in some domains. As such, while you are considered royalty, you may not have a surplus of gold, and if your family is rich, then I will need a reason why it is not conveniently accessed by you at this point. 10 points
Allied with the Vistani: Somewhere along the line, you helped a vistani, and now the rest view you with, if nothing else, moderate tolerance. They may listen to your requests, and even grant them if it is convenient. However, the vistani are known for having a swaying attitude, so you would do well not to abuse this arrangement with them. You must have a way of identifying yourself when dealing with the vistani to gain the benefit of this power, usually a vistani necklace or ring that you wear. 20 points.
Half-Vistani: You can only take this if you are human. One of your parents was a Giorgio, or non-vistani, where the other was one of these gypsies. In addition to knowing the vistani’s secret language, you may have a talent for fortune-telling. You start with a tool, a deck of vistani cards, some bone dice, or something to that effect, and you can tell fortunes. Be warned though, males with the power of precognition are shunned, or killed, by the vistani. Also, everyone tends to shun half-vistani, they are known for bringing trouble to the Giorgio and are seen as having “watered-down blood” by the vistani. 10 points.
Telepathy: You can communicate telepathically with anyone that you meet eye contact with, within 30 feet of you. If you wish, you can push, attack their mind, which will result in a psyche battle. Depending on the respective Psyches of the combatants, the winner can do different things, freeze the loser, “mindrape” him (stealing information) or, if he is much more powerful, control him like a puppet for a little while. 30 points
Darklord’s Favor: Certainly a risky power at best, you have some personal contact with one of the true lords of this world. If this is a blessing or a curse is often argued, certainly Lord Azalin’s favor could be useful, but he most always demands some service in exchange. Also, Darklords tend to check up on their favorite…pets I suppose would be the best description. 10 points
Now, don’t go buying your powers just yet, there are two points that I’d like to make. First, you are not restricted to these powers, these are just to get you started. You may invent powers and submit them to me, and I’ll tell you if you can buy them, and how much they cost. However, I'd like to say that I'm not allowing vampires. Next, buying powers comes after the auction, a post that will be up shortly.
7 comments:
This is very thrilling... I'm already dreaming up ideas!!!
Glad to hear it. Once again, I’d be careful with your points. I’m going to be distributing them much more than is normally appropriate (because the things that you can normally buy are usually much more powerful) however they still will be far rarer than experience points. Also, if most of these powers you must buy at the beginning of the game. You can’t purchase “natural lycanthrope” or “half-vistani” later because they are things that you are born with. However, feel free to suggest other powers that build off of your current ones if you have more points than you know what to do with later.
Also, once we’re done with the auction, send me your character sheets instead of posting them. I’m sure that you’ll figure out each other’s powers and stuff soon enough, but until then they should be kept private.
Okay, lets see if I understand.
100 points. 4 stats. Powers. Items. Stuff.
Stats: Strength, Endurance, Psyche, Warfare.
Powers: something special.
Items: not normal stuff, something that has a bit of yourself in it.
Stuff: luck, more or less.
We're going to start with a bidding war for the highest in each, but how high is the highest? Exactly what is strength used for, since its most obvious applications would seem to be taken by the others? How exactly do skills work? Do we get a separate point pool for them, or is it the same points, or in some way derivative from the initial 100?
Also, before we can pick powers or come up with new ones, I had been trying to get something about theme, or focus, or at least what sort of tasks are going to be most common. An example: in my game, it seems clear that magic is the point. Every problem that you don't talk your way out of is probably going to be solved with magic. Theme has been less clear, but I'm trying for a semi-realistic feel, and themes involving your place in society, and in shaping that society. Maybe I'm aiming too high, but that's what I try to consider when deciding what to throw in your direction. What will the equivalents be for this game? I don't think we need specifics on storyline, but some idea of where you would like things to go would help.
Okay, let me answer a few of your questions. First, the point of getting the “highest” in a stat is so that the other players don’t top you. You can’t just put more points into something at a whim, you have to match someone else who is higher than you, who you know. For example, if you have fifteen in strength, and Josh has twenty, you can match, but not bypass, him. In this case, Josh is a little bit stronger than you, but not much. However, Josh can secure his lead by trying to match someone else, perhaps an NPC who he knows is stronger than him. Also, there is the secret auction. I auction something off, and only the winner has to pay anything.
Beyond that, you’ve got everything correct. As for the theme, I’m trying to get a nice spread. Basically, the idea here can be seen in the title of this post: It is the quest for immortality. That’s why there are no vampires. You guys will have had at least casual familiarity with a mister Edward Theone, who has summoned you to his estate for unknown reasons. From there, it’s basically a race between you, the NPCs, and perhaps the PCs if you feel like it. No rules, unholy alliances are encouraged. Now, while this will be the running theme of the game, it is far from the only thing that will be going on. I’ll try to keep a nice spread of tasks, fighting, politics, etc. etc.
As for a theme, this is very cloak and dagger. You have no idea who these people are, and they are all competing in this race. Also, I always like to throw the politics of Ravenloft into any game, so you may meet your fair share of Darklords. Does this help you? As for the strength stat, the exact uses for all stats will be up when I put up the auction, but to answer your question quickly, strength deals primarily with hand to hand combat, feats of physical power, and your ability to take hits.
Oh, and as for skills, most of them tend to be derived from the original stats. For example, chess is part of warfare. However, there are many that do not fall into those categories, as I’m sure that you’ve noticed. I like the white wolf character sheet that you posted, however it seems that most of those skills are already included with our stats. I might use that sort of system, with my individual skill choices. However, either way, you needn’t reserve any of these points for that pool of talents, they will be entirely different.
I’m also considering taking yet another leaf out of Amber’s book, and instead of having you list individual skills, to have you talk about your past, and you’ll have nay skills that would naturally result from that. For example, if you were a sailor, you’d have skills with rope, sailing, fishing, etc. etc. But I think that I prefer Dan’s suggestion, it seems a bit more clearly cut. Any preferences?
First off, I'd like to say hello to the existing members of this little blogspot, seeing as this is my first post here. Hello!
Now that that is over with, I'd like to give some input, along with a couple questions.
As far as skills go, they should definitely be associated with the stats. As far as "class skills," I don't really know what to say other than backstory, that is what happens with most semi-freeform RPG's.
Also, what is the typical commoner or NPC number of points in a stat or stats?
Hey, welcome to the crew. I'm personally liking a whitewolf/mage system for skills, but you are correct, most of them are already covered by the stats.
As for points, your stats right now, if you invested nothing, are considered to be "Average." There is a "sell down" option, but it is rarely exercised, as it gives you a rather obvious weakness.
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