Okay, thoughts on how to make this concept potentially work. Personally, I don't think it's the toxic part that is the biggest hindrance, but the poisoner part. Anyone who wants to spread pollution is going to get pegged as a bad guy, sorry.

But toxic could work if, for example, your guy is someone from a place like glow city, or some other polluted cesspit. He awakened there, and he summoned spirits of sludgy goo, smoke, and whatnot, because that's what was there. Instead of someone who wants to go around dumping sewage into rivers or sabotaging refineries, he could simply be someone whose magical talent was warped by his environment. From there, it would be a simple matter of tweaking the spirits/powers to get something balanced.

The hardest part would be introducing him to the other PCs in a way that would make them sympathetic to him, rather than out to either kill him or turn him in for a bounty. Maybe they could be on some mission that takes them to his polluted home ground, and he acts as a guide or helps them.

He wouldn't really be like the toxics in the book, but I think everyone has poked enough holes in how unworkable those are in a game. But if you just want a toxic "theme", rather than the whole poisoner attitude, then it could be doable. I concur that it could be tough finding a GM willing to do the extra work on this, though.

Finally a sensible suggestion! I really like this idea. I can't wait to see the OP's reaction to someone actually listening to him for once.

If you ran a game in Glow City or somewhere like that, you might even be able to summon spirits without getting lynched!

Everybody listened to him. He just didn't like the answers he was getting.

I disagree, at least in part. They got stuck on "Toxic ugh bad icky evil" and didn't seriously consider ways to CHANGE toxics to make them work as PC's. Toxics as written wouldn't work, but the OP specifically asked for ways to change them to be more party-friendly.

At which point...well...what's the point? When you take something like a Toxic and change it enough to make it playable (and nondisruptive), it's no longer really a Toxic, and you're not doing anything you couldn't have done with existing rules.

I'd really really like to drive a Porsche, but they're not wallet-friendly enough for me. If I just put a Porsche logo on my wife's Ford Focus, though, it might be "more wallet-friendly," but I'm not really driving a Porsche any more, am I?

I think it depends heavily on what part of toxics interests you. The OP seems to be more interested in the flavor of someone who likes pollution, which I think might be doable in the right setting with the right tweaks. It wouldn't be for everyone, and most GM's probably wouldn't be up for it, but I think it could be done in a sane and mutually agreeable manner.

This discussion is analgous to me saying "I want to roleplay a rapist but without the 'rape is evil' schtick."

It isn't possible and just plain silly. Sometimes it really does fall to the GM to just stamp a dumb idea on the head by saying "no".

- J.

This is how I was perceiving it. I was getting worked up and stubborn because people kept telling me how Toxics were bad, why they were bad, and why playing the 'normal' or 'baseline' concept of a Toxic wouldn't work. That's not what I wanted. I wanted ideas on how it could be possible to try and make a Toxic playable. My main thought process was changing the toxic mentality, because really.. that's what it seems to boil down to. Similar to what Glyph stated, I wanted a ''toxic theme'', but could be considered something like a ''half-Poisoner''. The part where one believes that pollutants are the new nature, the new elements, but he's not out to actively kill people and pollute areas that would cause direct harm to people, simply because it is not in that character's nature. The character himself isn't that type of ''evil'', he just has an affinity for something that is ''evil'' to other people.

Critias' comment on the whole Porsche thing, would actually be (somewhat) similar to what I wanted to do. If this ''Half-Toxic'' I wanted to create shouldn't really be branded as a ''true Toxic''.. I couldn't care less. If I outfitted my car to look like a Porsche, but it really wasn't, that doesn't bother me. Maybe I like the design, or the appearance, maybe a few parts that the Porsche has might work well with the car I already have. I'm not explaining this very well, and this can easily be turned around on me.. but oh well.

The Jake is getting close too. I would be the rapist. I would be the rapist who likes the concept and idea of rape, but is not out to actually rape people. Given though, rape is a bad analogy for this. I imagine there's a difference between someone who's forcing someone into an certain 'activity' than someone who simply enjoys the company of toxic spirits and environments. I still prefer the comparison to ghouls. Many ghouls are ''bad'' and rip people apart for dinner. Other ghouls aren't as ''bad'' and are actively attempting to find their place in a civil society, some are a little 'inbetween', by doing ''bad'' things while progressing a political side that can be perceived as a more ''good'' attempt to reason a possibility that ''Maybe, all Ghouls aren't bad?''. The idea is that it's not as ''black and white''

Regardless, after doing a little examination of the thread... I have been very stubborn about this, and these gentlemen have been trying to flash light into the eyes of a kid wearing sunglasses, if that makes any sense. I apologize for that, I haven't been understanding. I'll go out and try to get some experience under my belt and (maybe) come back to this subject when I have a better grasp of how things work. Chances are I'll always try to figure out a way to do this... but that's just the way I am, and if I can't be done then maybe I'll have to do a little 'run of my own

On that note, I have one last question(s). How should I go about getting that ''experience''? What would be the most efficient way to squeeze myself into a group somehow? How many GMs would really be willing to help a kid like myself through his first game? I would definitely need some assistance, there's a lot of stuff to remember in these books.

This isn't what he wanted to play, though. He said as much in his own post. He wanted to play a Toxic Shaman. If he wanted to play a Glow City resident who had magic that manipulated his polluted environment, he's no longer playing a Toxic Shaman. This is a semantic difference, but it's an important distinction. There are worlds of difference between "I want to play this archetype that is restricted in the setting to NPCs only because of the following reasons in the setting" to "I want to play a character that lived in a toxic pit for a while."

The difference is most ghouls did not have a choice to become what they are (although I know they exist, most aren't without reason - e.g. some souls trapped in Bug City). All toxics, at the end of the day, made the conscious decision to become what they are.

Re: experience,
Try and find an online game if you cannot find gamers in your area. But gaming stores are a good place to start for table top games as well as any local conventions.

- J.

I live in the mountains, and as far as I know, there's no sort of gaming store within a 2 hour drive. =(

Would these forums be a good place to search for online players? I looked through the GM/Player Registry and it seems most of it is dedicated to local games.

Gaming stores are a place to start meeting people. You wouldn't always game there. But the short of the long is your need to broaden your social group and that will most likely require travel of some kind or another.

Another possibility would be to post in the registry. A lot of people run online games here. However that's a bit beyond my realm. If you were in Melbourne, Australia, I could help you out (no you cannot play a toxic ).

- J.

Nah, Southern California.

Damn, I guess I'll have to settle for that Blood magic Insect Shaman I've been working on.

Having lived in LA for about a year I can honestly say that you are DEFINITELY not going to find a group without being able to drive.

- J.

Anywhere near Camp Pendleton?... there use to be a really good game store in San Clemente... lots of peoople used to gather there...

I agree, but let's face it, the toxic shamans in the book are not playable as PCs unless it is some kind of variant campaign from the start. He seemed to be wanting pollution-themed "flavor" for his character more than anything, so I made some suggestions along those lines. I agree that such a character wouldn't really fall into the toxic category, although he still might get mistaken for one.

Camp Pendleton is quite a ways off from where I'm at. Lake Arrowhead's the name. If I still lived in the Hemet/Temecula area, I might've been able to head down there every once in a while, I got buddies with family near there who would like to make a trip down in that direction every now and then.

Ahh, well, thought that I would offer a ray of hope, but alas, you are too far away...

Keep the Faith