Defense focused magician, Beginnings of an idea Options

[Luke Hardison]

I'm just getting started on this concept, but I wanted a little feedback and perhaps some suggestions for more flavor or better effeciency for the whole idea.

Background
Billy Morrison, human, age 27
He uses the street name 'Tactician', or 'Tac' to most of his team mates.
Little Billy was obsessed with the Army when he was young. He wanted to join, but he just couldn't handle the physical work. He tried learning computers to join as a technician or decker, but computers turned out to be even harder to handle than physical work. Billy discovered his magical ability in his early twenties, but by that time he had become bitterly disillusioned with the military, and had completely turned his back on all things militant. To this day he turned sullen and quiet whenever anything pertaining to the military comes up in conversation. His only connection with the military now is his short hair, well kempt appearance, and the set of dog tags he wears around his neck, 'for luck'. We'll get to those later.

Stats (128 Build Points)

[ Spoiler ]

Attributes (52 BP)
B: 3
Q: 3
S: 3
C: 5
I: 6
W: 7

Skills (27 BP)
Active
Conjuring: 6
Sorcery (Spell Defense): 5 (7)
Enchanting: 3
Shotguns: 3
Etiquitte: 4
Computer: 2
Stealth: 3

Knowledge / Language
Talismongering: 6
Background: Computer: 5
Cooking: 4
Greater Seattle Area: 3
Gang ID: 2
Lone Star Tactics: 2
SWAT Tactics: 3
Military Tactics: 5
English: 3 (R/W: 1)
Phillipino: 3 (R/W: 1)
Japanese: 3 (R/W: 1)


Edges/Flaws (-1 BP)
Bonus Attribute (Willpower) (+2)
High Pain Tolerance 1 (+2)
Focused Concentration (+2)
Astral Chameleon (+2)
Computer Illiterate (-3)
Incompetence (Computers) (-2)
Sensitive System (Magically Active) (-2)
Gremlins II (-2)

*I know that's too many for canon, but it's GM ok'd.

Magic
Shaman (Wise Warrior) (30 BP)

Spells:
Stunbolt (6)
Heal (5)
Inc. Reflexes +3 (1)(f)
Mass Blindness (4)(E)
Analyze Truth (1)(f)
Combat Sense (3)(f)
Translate (3)(E)
Physical Camoflage (1)
Improved Invisibility (1)
Physical Mask (1)
Silence (3)(E)
Magic Fingers (1)(f)
Armor (4)
Spell Shield (3)

Resources (20 BP)
Bought: 8 Spell Points @ 25,000 each (for focus bonding and spells)
Spell Defense Focus (2) (his dog tags)

I still have to flesh him out some more, and add my fetishes, lifestyle, armor, clothing, assundry ... but most of what makes him tic is there. If I understand everything correctly, and my character walks around with his minimum of 2 dice allocated to Spell Defense, then when the team is attacked with a Powerball he has 8 dice ready in Defense. Two from Sorcery allocated, two from the focus, +2 dice to Combat Spells (totem) and +2 dice to resist any damaging spell (totem). The Wise Warrior really fit the character profile of tactician, studying the opponents as much as possible and acting to defend his group with Bullet Barrier, Armor, Magic Fingers, Camoflage, Mass Blindness, etc. When alone, he would have 15 dice to resist a combat spell (or 13 for an elemental manip., 11 for a directed illusion), and still have 12 dice to throw into a counter Stunbolt immediately. It was tempting to make him a Sorceror, but the benefits of spirits, banishing, and astral projection were worth much more than the 5 BP's I would have saved.

Thoughts / suggestions? I'm trying to make a playable character with a focus instead of a one trick pony. I chose to make him a bit fetish dependant to represent his relative youngness in magic, and tried to counter it a bit by waiting until gamplay to acquire the standard two or three sustaining foci.

Edit: Continually editing for feedback. EB's point shuffling was very nice. Added the force of my limited barrier spell. Also bought 2 more spell points to get Spell Shield (2). After much reflection, removed Limited Barrier and redistributed the points in Armor and Spell Shield.

This post has been edited by Luke Hardison: Oct 8 2004, 08:53 PM

[Eyeless Blond]

Interesting character concept. I kinda ignored most of the spell defense sections; it's neat how you're basing a character on them.

As for the mechanica, trade "Exceptional Attribute: Will" For "Bonus Attribute Point: Will", save yourself 2 points of Attributes, and use them to bring up Stealth and Ettiquite.

Re: Computer Illiterate: I wouldn't ever let someone take this Flaw and have a computer skill. This kind of thing is for people who were raised in the forest and don't know what a computer *is*, let alone have a 5-ranked background in it. I'd be very wary of this; your GM may well try to screw you with it.

Someone else can comment on the spell section.

[Luke Hardison]

[toturi]

You might want to use Firebringer as a Totem instead. You might want to consider the spells: Deflect, Armour(at a higher force), Spell Shield/Wall. Linked to sustaining foci, all these spells are going to give your magical and mundane opposition a lot of trouble.

I'd suggest dropping the Barrier spell totally.

[Brazila]

I like the idea, but I would cut out the manabolt, or at least drop the force, as it is one of your highest forces. Also consider a spell defense focus.