My first "official" Philsys character.

[Lord McBastard]

name: Aces - age: real old - eyes: varies - hair: varies but usually very light
height: 5'7

Background: Aces is in actual fact the physical embodiment of Lady Luck. She has manifested herself in Gaera many times throughout history, especially when she is bored. This time around she is attempting to use her powers more subtley and less like a sledgehammer as she always has in the past. She is attempting to try this "being mortal" thing that so many people seem to be a part of.

Aces usually appears to be a young woman, she wears a belt with all manner of coins fastened to it. Her staff is of indeterminate length with a floating and rotating coin between the staff's prongs, the coin is part of the staff and cannot be removed. She generally feels that any problem can be solved with some kind of game or gamble and reacts to most situations that way. Lord McBastard  at: 12/27/03 5:03 pm
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[Jak Snide]

Since I see absolutely nothing wrong with the concept (rather liking it, actually) I'll deal with the system stuff.

Quarterstaves and the like generally have a high PA bonus. Perhaps the AT/PA mods should be 1/ 3 for the Staff of Fate?

Secondly, [s]Evasion applies to melee attacks, I take it? Or does it apply to dodging in general, with less focus on direct PA bonuses in combat?

Lastly "Heads or Tails" may need to have it's MP value raised. I'm unsure though, so I'll wait for someone else to comment on it.

Otherwise I see no problems, except that her AT/PA after modifying for skill is too high, although I'm guessing that you're factoring in evasion. In that case, you should probably put the PA after evasion is added in brackets next to the "primary" AT/PA, like 9/8 (12) to show that evasion isn't a straight off bonus, since it won't work against all attacks, such as ones where she has no chance of dodging.

Then again, seeing who this is, I'm sure she'll be able to find all sorts of ways to avoid the unavoidable.

[Lord McBastard]

The Staff of Fate, I actually just rolled a 2d6 and got a 3 and a 1, so I just said that was its mods, because they would be random.

Evasion I think I just picked off the skill list, and I assumed it was for everything, have to tweak it later.

"Heads Or Tails?" Brian brought this up already, have to tweak the MP cost. I just threw down a value and planned to perfect it later, I figured the MP cost would be somewhat low because if she decides to cast something like Dragon Soul Beam there's a one in two chance she'll nuke herself. <p><div style="text-align:center">

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"Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wagh'nagl fhtagn"-Call of Cthulhu</div></p>

[Jak Snide]

Have to say, that's possibly the best way I've seen weapon stats determined.

Also, how much is she distancing herself from her other divine aspects, like contacts, knowledge etc?

Edited by: Jak Snide&nbsp; at: 12/11/03 2:00 am

[Lord McBastard]

Basically you couldn't tell she was a demi-goddess, another god could and possibly a very powerful supernatural creature. She lies quite well and even if you could catch her in a lie, there'd be no real way of discovering the truth.

As for knowledge, she knows she's a goddess, she's not going to tell anyone, but she knows. In general I think gods would have very few skills and instead rely on their magical and supernatural abilities, so Aces is no different. As you can tell by her skills she has magical skills and gambling ones, and that's really about it. <p><div style="text-align:center">

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"Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wagh'nagl fhtagn"-Call of Cthulhu</div></p>

[Uncle Pervy]

Some questions and comments.

-Not all knowledge is skills, I find. There are things like the workings of magic, history, and stuff in general that a divinity observes throughout the course of existence. Also, there is the issue of the contacts, alligiences, and so on a divinity will have. Both of these represent a lot of potential for abuse, and I am curious as to how you will curb it.

-It is established that the gods of Gaera cannot meddle too directly in mortal affairs or largescale events. So, I hope that this is kept in mind when using Aces.

-If Aces is supposed to be mortal, why does she have an arse of Divine innates? Given that any sort of death would probably just mean reforming in her homeland and not being able to manifest directly for awhile; which divinities normally don't do all that much to begin with, what's the point of going as a mortal when you have a lot of innates no mortal should? <p>------------------
Greetings, large black person. Let us not forget to form a team up together and go into the country to inflict the pain of our karate feets on some ass of the giant lizard person.
</p>

[Lord McBastard]

In the case of Aces, things don't interest her for very long, she is attempting to increase her attention span by living a finite amount of time. She wouldn't bother to learn about history or the workings of magic, simply that it works. Her only umbrella knowledge is gambling, gaming, and how to cheat, which I can't see much potential abuse for that.

As for alliances and contacts, quite simply no one likes her. The only people that would, are people that she has arbitrarily decided not to recind her blessing. Otherwise she is incredibly untrust worthy as her decisions are generally random. Plus anyone that happened to know her deitous form wouldn't believe that some random woman who appears to be some form of Chaos priestess is infact the Demi-goddess of luck.

Gods not meddling. Well, that in itself is contradicting isn't it? The God of death takes a pretty direct hand in events, with death and all. However, in her present form she is mortal, she takes her lumps as a mortal. As well I'm sure arrangements could be made with Ishtar and Primaer to allow for experimentation as a mortal, as long as godlike power is not wielded or that she attempts to carve herself out a kingdom.

As for the last, she has two innates, whereas your own character Enlil has six. Aces two innates are basically the fact she's lucky, that's it. Someone happening to be unnaturally lucky is not something you could describe as a divine trait. Knowing everything would be a divine trait. <p><div style="text-align:center">

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"Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wagh'nagl fhtagn"-Call of Cthulhu</div></p>

[Uncle Pervy]

Innates from being an angel, yes, which is not a mortal. Point given, though.

A note: Charmed life seems to be invulnerablity from death by stupid. My thinking is that this should be incredibly expensive. Daikon's [Voidknight's] Luck tech, which was 20 TP to get essentially the same effect; sadly I lack his sheet.

Heads or Tails should have an MP cost equal to the spell being cast, if not more. Otherwise she can use inhuman mana-draining stuff for cheap. <p>------------------
Greetings, large black person. Let us not forget to form a team up together and go into the country to inflict the pain of our karate feets on some ass of the giant lizard person.
</p>

[Shinigori V2]

Heads or tails should be dependant on the spell, yes.

Also, as far as the Charmed Life thing seems to go...

There aren't always things that are immediatly stupid. I'll point out Vince's actions in Fury of the Storm. While not immediatly stupid for those around him, his actions ended up getting him killed because Vani didn't like what he said. It's highly conditional, and for that, shouldn't work all the time. <p>

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<div style="text-align:center">Why Barius has no Christmas.</div></p>

[NebulaQueen]

Hmn...Charmed Life reminds me of a skill in Gurps. Said skill pretty much worked like this: your character has above average common sense. Meaning, if the player does something stupid, that the character most likely would not do, the GM would prod the player and go, "Say, how about you reconsider that move?" While it doesn't prevent all bad happenings and instances of character death, it does allow the player some leeway when they make dumb mistakes (GM's discretion, of course).

If Charmed Life isn't going to be removed, then I think that it should be tweaked to work more like this. Basically, it won't prevent all bad things from happening to your character, but if the GM is willing to go with it, then it can help save Aces from some really bad judgement calls on the part of her player. There could also be a TP cost per use of this skill, to be decided by the GM depending on the situation.

Basically, it shouldn't be a permanent Get Out of Jail Free Card. However, it can be worked to prevent some snafus on the part of the player, providing that the player does not abuse this and the GM has no problems with said skill.

[Lord McBastard]

I think you're misunderstanding the purpose of Charmed Life. Charmed Life is there to protect Aces from herself. Because she will make suicidally stupid mistakes. Along the lines of "Okay so the room is filling is acid, there's the door to my left, but a bag of coins to my right. I'm pretty confident I can grab the coins and make it out in time". If within a couple of hours she kills herself doing something stupid, she's not going to learn much, but if her luck can save her life, she'll have a much longer life time. She's inexperienced and mortal is a big step for her.
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"Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wagh'nagl fhtagn"-Call of Cthulhu</div></p>

[Kelne]

Yeah, but if she basically gets bailed out of every truly stupid act by luck, how will she ever learn self-preservation? Then again, some people truly do lead charmed lives... <p>"80% of my so-called friends would happily push me in front of a bus. Of course, the next time I saw them, I'd be driving the bus." - David McPhale, as Rob Muldoon</p>

[Lord McBastard]

Aces isn't incredibly bright, so self preservation doesn't really occur to her. It did when she was a demi-goddess, but the fact that she would have to learn self-preservation did not. Plus, I would hope the demi-goddess of luck would be lucky, otherwise what the hell?

The only other qualm is Heads or Tails. And I feel an absolute value is necissary, as most major mana eating spells have an effect you don't want to miss, or you wouldn't want on yourself. I would suggest that the GM could declare the opposite effect of the spell occurs, such as when you attempt to enchant a weapon you curse it instead.

Examples of botched casts:
Create Golem, it misses and potentially a Golem that wants to see her dead is created, or potentially a golem made out of the weakest most abundant material. Either way she's just spent a bunch of mana on something useless or harmful to herself.
Massive Attack Spell, nuke yourself or your friends, that ain't good.
Ressurection, if the GM was really feeling mean he/she could declare that something big and nasty died nearby, and you brought it back, hungry.

I would say increasing the MP value is probably a good idea, I'll talk to Brian about it tomorrow or something. <p><div style="text-align:center">

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"Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wagh'nagl fhtagn"-Call of Cthulhu</div>
<div style="text-align:center">Lex: "You know I'm wanging this argument!"</div><div style="text-align:center">Me:" ....did you say wanging...?"</div><div style="text-align:center"> Lex: "WINNING!"</div></p>

[Uncle Pervy]

So what you are saying is that you want a Goddess of Luck, but don't want the risks of that luck? Given that potentially she can rip off multiple mass heals and the like for cheap, I'm thinking it should be at least the spell's cost. The fact that it might not work like it should is really a small price to pay given she can cast any spell at any time without any sort of training in that magic. Otherwise, it's godmodey as all fuck. <p>------------------
Greetings, large black person. Let us not forget to form a team up together and go into the country to inflict the pain of our karate feets on some ass of the giant lizard person.
</p>

[NebulaQueen]

Remember, not all luck is good luck. Good luck can come in and help her, but that also means that bad luck can come in and screw her over. <p>

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<span style="font-size:xx-small;">
"Hello, I'm Troy Mclure! You may remember me from such realms as Hell, and Gaera!"-Shinigori, OOC</span></p>

[Lord McBastard]

I'm not exactly sure what point you're trying to make Pervy. But.....she already has healing spells, why would she risk botchingit. As I said the reverse effect could occur.

"Okay I'll heal you!"
*foosh* YAARRRRGGGGG! x.x
"....sorry...."

The fact that she'll possibly kill herself is a small price to pay for the potential to cast a spell that she has no knowledge of, despite the fact she could mis-cast or that the target may resist.

So yeah.....no risks of luck? <p><div style="text-align:center">

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"Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wagh'nagl fhtagn"-Call of Cthulhu</div>
<div style="text-align:center">Lex: "You know I'm wanging this argument!"</div><div style="text-align:center">Me:" ....did you say wanging...?"</div><div style="text-align:center"> Lex: "WINNING!"</div></p>

[FlamingDeth]

She might risk it just on a whim if she's really that random, but that comes down more to actual roleplaying than it does techs and the like. <p><center><table border=0><td></td><td>

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I don't know what the hell this thing is, but the chicks dig it.

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[Lord McBastard]

Yes it is entirely possible she may attempt to show off.

How would Heads or Tails? costing 3d4*5 MP sound to everyone?

<p><div style="text-align:center">

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"Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wagh'nagl fhtagn"-Call of Cthulhu</div>
<div style="text-align:center">Lex: "You know I'm wanging this argument!"</div><div style="text-align:center">Me:" ....did you say wanging...?"</div><div style="text-align:center"> Lex: "WINNING!"</div></p>

[Capntastic]

Why exactly does the staff increase it's AT/PA every level? Especially considering the AT/PA gains are already higher than a normal staff would be, and stack with skill in staves as well. In a few levels, her AT/PA with that thing would be crazy high. Shouldn't there be some sort of compensation for starting out with a magic weapon of that sort?

[FlamingDeth]

Probably a bit less than that, and at least half the normal cost of the spell that she's ganking for her own nefarious purposes. <p><center><table border=0><td></td><td>

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I don't know what the hell this thing is, but the chicks dig it.

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[Lord McBastard]

Well....it's a magic staff, and it magically get's better as you increase in level, through magic you see.

After a few levels there's the potential her AT/PA will be slightly higher than normal.

As for compensation for having a magical item...no. No one else tends to have them because this isn't DnD where you start with nothing.

I personally would like to keep a standard value, as it could potentially be a disadvantage. If you want to cast Fire 1, then it'll be more expensive than the spell would normally be possibly by alot. Perhap 2 MP per rank required to cast the spell, or maybe something like that.. <p><div style="text-align:center">

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"Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wagh'nagl fhtagn"-Call of Cthulhu</div>
<div style="text-align:center">Lex: "You know I'm wanging this argument!"</div><div style="text-align:center">Me:" ....did you say wanging...?"</div><div style="text-align:center"> Lex: "WINNING!"</div></p>Edited by: Lord McBastard&nbsp; at: 12/24/03 4:50 am

[Blackwind Isao]

Slightly high? By level 5 you'll have most fighters beat out on both and all you'll have to do is roll semi-average. That doesn't even account for possible addition due to ranks and/or stat increases. If you want to go this route I'd probably suggest a +d2 or d3 every 4ish (give or take one) levels.

Half of spell cost of spell to be ganked is a standard cost for a spell at present as it is the standard for some counterspelling spells (approved by Jak). 50% Mp cost for a 50/50 chance sounds actually fairly balanced to me, but what does the n00b know?

- Blackwind.

Edited by: Blackwind Isao at: 12/24/03 5:12 am

[Uncle Pervy]

Most major magical items started out with are earned via RPs in Freestyle, Dragon King and Maru being examples. And oftentimes, a powerful item is balanced with some sort of IC loss. In Enlil's case, she lost half her starting skill points, due to youth, in exchange for Maru and her innates.

<p>------------------
Greetings, large black person. Let us not forget to form a team up together and go into the country to inflict the pain of our karate feets on some ass of the giant lizard person.
</p>

[Lord McBastard]

Blackwind Isao/White Charisma: Considering how most fighters are, no she won't. By level 10 she might be on par with a fighter when it comes to defending and striking. I'm not sure what Counterspelling has to do with his Tech, except that counter spells don't have a half in half chance of making a spell go catastrophicly wrong.

Pervy: Most and oftentimes. Not in this case. <p><div style="text-align:center">

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"Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wagh'nagl fhtagn"-Call of Cthulhu</div>
<div style="text-align:center">Lex: "You know I'm wanging this argument!"</div><div style="text-align:center">Me:" ....did you say wanging...?"</div><div style="text-align:center"> Lex: "WINNING!"</div></p>

[Blackwind Isao]

On counterspells: Counterspells are a bit more like this than you'd like to think. They may not have a 50/50 chance of making something go compleately wrong (though variable chance on die rolls makes it roughly 50/50 against a rank 4 spell and a mage of equal casting ability), if you bomb the counter you are getting hit. It's a rough coralative but it fits.

On the staff: After four level ups (that would be level 5) and taking average d3 rolls you now have 6 points to spread between AT/PA. Most fighters will tend to chase after COU, STR, DEX or AGI (I would suspect) as well as dump ranks into fighting ability. Given a 50/50 chance (for a fighter) of gaining one of stats per level and placing appropreate skill ups per level all you have to do is place a point here or there into your staff skill to beat them out not to mention the possibility of stat increase.

On Playability: I haven't been arround long enough to know where the line gets drawn on the phenominal cosmic power / itty bitty living space tradeoffs but it would seem that something should be required here. The mechanics behind the staff are a bit skewed without one.

- Blackwind.