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> Running mage is running., No, that's not a memetic reference.
Tanegar
post Nov 27 2010, 02:25 AM
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Concept: An old (55+) ex-wage mage fleeing from corporate assassins after uncovering a monstrous experiment.

Background:
[ Spoiler ]


Build:
[ Spoiler ]
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mmmkay
post Nov 27 2010, 02:46 AM
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one bullet and he's down and can't get up*... infirm is really terrible**

*after taking damage you'd probably fail the get up test: body+willpower (2)... reaction 1 means you're a dog to all things nonmagical

**without levitate I'm not sure how you're going to substitute for climbing and general stealthiness
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jaellot
post Nov 27 2010, 03:25 AM
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This is awesome. Love this concept, even before clicking the Spoiler for his background. Sounds like a ton of fun waiting to be had.
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Whipstitch
post Nov 27 2010, 03:47 AM
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My least favorite thing about Infirm is the sheer number of "mental" disciplines it hurts. Remember, it says Physical Skills, not just Physical Skills linked to Physical Attributes. This means that by strict RAW you can't default Physical Skills like Perception, Tracking, Shadowing or Navigation either. So while the character above has Perceptive, an Intuition of 5 and a background that makes him sound sharp as a tack despite his age, by RAW he is basically Mr. Magoo-- his Perceptive quality won't even come into play unless he is on the Matrix or learns Assensing or pays double to pick up Perception. It's really too bad, since I do think there's a place in the game for a "You're just not as fit as you used to be" Quality. I just think Infirm is too harsh to really fill that niche as written.
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Critias
post Nov 27 2010, 03:48 AM
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Neat concept, but that's...well...pretty min/maxed. If you're okay with it and your GM's okay with it, though, knock yourself out. Looks like a cool background/personality to play.
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Glyph
post Nov 27 2010, 04:28 AM
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A few things seem a bit off. Thunderbird seems a bit wonky for someone who was a company man for many years - it just doesn't seem like the kind of mentor spirit that would be compatible with that. It is very strange that an academic mage such as this would not have an assensing skill. Infirm has already been touched upon - including the fact that his perceptive quality is useless since he cannot default to assensing or perception.

I'm not sure I would call him min-maxed. He looks that way at first glance - a lot of low stats and a lot of high ones. But half of the high mental ones aren't doing him much good, while the low physical ones make nearly any combat engagement nigh-suicidal. I know you were trying to approximate an older man, but honestly, I think the concept would work better as a support mage with more than that bare-bones allocation of spells.

I like the concept, a lot. But the execution of it has created a character who has, frankly, too many glaring weaknesses and vulnerabilities. Again, this would be less of a problem if he were more of a support mage.
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Tanegar
post Nov 27 2010, 04:59 AM
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A big part of the problem is that 400BP is ridiculously tight for magicians. I could drop the two extra points of Edge to gain, say, Assensing 3 and Perception 2.

I'm not averse to dropping Infirm, because it is such a hideously crippling quality, but then I have to come up with 20BP worth of other appropriate negative qualities because I just don't have 20BP to spare.

I see Thunderbird as an appropriate mentor for a corporate climber; remember, he wasn't some workaday wage-mage, he was a a low-to-mid-level executive in an important and highly funded division, with dozens of other magicians and probably hundreds or thousands of mundane employees reporting to him. You don't get to a position like that without the kind of strength that Thunderbird respects. I also like Thunderbird's disadvantage (composure test to avoid responding to an insult in kind) for a proud-wizard-brought-low kind of character.
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Karoline
post Nov 27 2010, 05:10 AM
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I back the dropping of infirm.

I mean, otherwise you are completely unable to do any sort of sneaking.

You literally can't see or hear anything.

And a ton of other things. Maybe take stuff like Incompetent (Running) and Incompetent (Palming) and two others. You get the same number of BP and it is a decent representation of being old and unable to do those things without completely destroying your ability to function.
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Glyph
post Nov 27 2010, 05:36 AM
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The Records on File and Vindictive qualities would both suit him rather well. And you don't really need any qualities to simulate his age - his low physical stat do that all on their own.

You know, sometimes I really wish Impaired (Attribute) wasn't stuck in the SURGE section, as it would fit a lot of characters like this one, physically, or something like an uneducated ork from the Barrens, mentally - representing stunted development, preventing the character from ever reaching their normal full potential. Ah, well.

Anyone else appreciate a title like "running mage is running", for a character who can't actually run? (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)
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Karoline
post Nov 27 2010, 05:44 AM
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Infirm actually does allow running (oddly enough) just not sprinting.
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Thanee
post Nov 27 2010, 07:38 AM
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QUOTE (Tanegar @ Nov 27 2010, 05:59 AM) *
A big part of the problem is that 400BP is ridiculously tight for magicians.


Only if you insist on maxing out everything... (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wink.gif)

Bye
Thanee
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Whipstitch
post Nov 27 2010, 12:45 PM
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QUOTE (Glyph @ Nov 27 2010, 01:36 AM) *
You know, sometimes I really wish Impaired (Attribute) wasn't stuck in the SURGE section, as it would fit a lot of characters like this one, physically, or something like an uneducated ork from the Barrens, mentally - representing stunted development, preventing the character from ever reaching their normal full potential. Ah, well.


An alternative that I've suggested before in other threads on aging is seeing if the GM is willing to lift the gear requirements on Biosystem Overstress and give it a name change. Doubling Healing Intervals and halving the time before you start taking Fatigue damage isn't fun, (particularly when you consider Drain's chip damage) but it's still far more playable than Infirm is and it makes a fair bit of sense for an older runner. Aging is essentially the body failing to renew itself like it once did, after all, and fiction is rife with old guys who are fearsome opponents but cannot use their powers without grumbling about it the next morning.
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KarmaInferno
post Nov 27 2010, 02:11 PM
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Mebbe take Asthma and another five-point flaw instead of Infirm.

That's what I did on my 'grumpy old merc' character.



-k
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pbangarth
post Nov 27 2010, 03:56 PM
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QUOTE (Whipstitch @ Nov 27 2010, 07:45 AM) *
An alternative that I've suggested before in other threads on aging is seeing if the GM is willing to lift the gear requirements on Biosystem Overstress and give it a name change. Doubling Healing Intervals and halving the time before you start taking Fatigue damage isn't fun, (particularly when you consider Drain's chip damage) but it's still far more playable than Infirm is and it makes a fair bit of sense for an older runner. Aging is essentially the body failing to renew itself like it once did, after all, and fiction is rife with old guys who are fearsome opponents but cannot use their powers without grumbling about it the next morning.
I like this one! Worth 10 BP, so throw in Weak Immune System for 5 more and an Allergy for 5 and you have a pretty good simulation of the physical challenges of someone who has lived a long time in a toxic environment (which is everywhere), for the same 20 BP as Infirm.
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Tanegar
post Nov 27 2010, 05:20 PM
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Build edited. Threw out Infirm in favor of SINner (Criminal), which I wanted from the start, and Records on File (Ares). When Merlin fled from the killers sent to cover up Project Bloodstar, Ares flagged his corporate SIN for corporate espionage and theft of corporate property. Also reduced Edge from 4 to 2 and used those 20 points to grab Assensing 3 and Perception 2.
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