Starmage21
Dec 21 2010, 03:42 AM
QUOTE (Ryu @ Dec 20 2010, 04:22 PM)
I would prefer to have more spells, and therefore more swiss-army-knife utility, over two dice that wonīt matter in the end on two common tests. We tend to end on the munchkin side of things, and a dp 6 will not get you anywhere relevant. We also tend to be short on players recently.
Well he's already a dragon. If necessary, he can take his natural form and take on spirits and vehicles.
Ramaloke
Dec 21 2010, 03:45 AM
He is theoretically a dragon, I havent actually gotten my GM to approve it, unfortunately this is the season to not have time for games
. Hopefully the new year will bring a game where I can play this thing and give you guys some actual anecdotes of my experience.
Ryu
Dec 22 2010, 12:21 AM
QUOTE (Starmage21 @ Dec 21 2010, 04:42 AM)
Well he's already a dragon. If necessary, he can take his natural form and take on spirits and vehicles.
To a certain extend, yes. Everything nimble has a solid chance of avoiding the attack, so stronger spirits require another strategy.
The karmagen version is fine! I see no problem playing next to that beast.
MK Ultra
Dec 22 2010, 02:30 PM
I happen to be cooking up an amnesia-character for one of my players at the moment as well. This one however, will not know that heīs a dragon - same as the player, who agreed to play an amnesia character without any knowledge about it, only asking for it to be a latent drake (i think he will be happy with the true dragon, once he finds out) and some other things that he explicitly does not want..
I think the april fools rules are usable, but they are not balanced, especially because of the dragon-magic rules. To offset that, I want him to be a total beginner magic-wise (after all, he forgot everything and thus has to re-learn it all, from a very low level - still not sure how low). I am also still on the fence about making him a hacker ... at least part time. If for the only reason that I can conveniantly include him in whole-group all-matrix adventures, if I decide to do one at some point. So this character will probably have decent attributes in metahuman form, but next to no skills. Otoh, I plan to hold back some of the karma/bp as well, so I can make him level a bit faster (albait from a low start) by 're-discovering' abilities in flashback sessions.
back on topic:
As mentioned above, I think a dragon will not be ballanced, if it focuses on magic - unless MAYBE, if totally incompetent in most other things (talking just awakened with Uneducated, Computer Illiterate and Uncouth, no streetwise - maybe also Infirm (still unused to being in metahuman form) here). Otherwise, either fokus on hacking as mentioned above, or make it aspected, so the powerfull (all spirits) dragon summoning is not so much of a topic.
Even if you think its managable, on the account that 'I donīt want to use the dragon form', then you should drop the metahumanform+equipmentstorage combo, just have a handbag for your gear when in dragon form, or leave it behind - fashion spell can help with 'storing' cloths and adapting the bag or have a cloth-shaped ally spirit. As a GM I never allow this kind of transformation-with-gear magic. Further, I think transformation spells should not double as mask spells. In my games, every person has a destinctive look even in transformed form (same dog, same ork, same shark, etc.) sometimes with destinctive features (if the target has a destinctive style - which every dragon has by definition. If you want another look, get a separate spell.
I also think Mentorspirits dont realy fit dragons, but that might be a matter of taste.
That said, if your gm/group is happy with it, have fun. If you dont play to the dragons strengths too much, it might be fun for everyone.
Draco18s
Dec 22 2010, 04:47 PM
QUOTE (MK Ultra @ Dec 22 2010, 09:30 AM)
I happen to be cooking up an amnesia-character for one of my players at the moment as well. This one however, will not know that heīs a dragon - same as the player, who agreed to play an amnesia character without any knowledge about it, only asking for it to be a latent drake (i think he will be happy with the true dragon, once he finds out) and some other things that he explicitly does not want.
Hehe, nice.
Ramaloke
Dec 22 2010, 05:01 PM
One thing thats important but doesn't hold much water when we are talking "TO" or theoretical optimization is: The Gentleman's Agreement.
I know it sounds trite but there is a certain agreement between mature players not to break the game and limit everybody else's fun. For that reason I'm not terribly concerned about draconic magic.
As far as your amnesiac player, sounds awesome, tell us how it goes!
Ramaloke
Jan 1 2011, 08:14 AM
Ok, so I've been given the OK to play this in a game, a 900 Karma game (
). Any suggestions?
Critias
Jan 1 2011, 09:49 AM
You've got 900 karma. How many suggestions do you need?
Starmage21
Jan 1 2011, 04:18 PM
LOL 900 Karma.
I'd say just fix the imperfections you have coming out of chargen (lack of spells and skills), and focus on magic and physical combat abilities. At 900 Karma, youre going to take your true form more than once or twice in the game just to avoid being killed I bet. Be prepared to do combat with drones and vehicles. Buy that awesome draconic metamagic!
Draco18s
Jan 1 2011, 05:20 PM
How much karma after the "dragon" bit?
Ramaloke
Jan 1 2011, 08:40 PM
QUOTE (Draco18s @ Jan 1 2011, 12:20 PM)
How much karma after the "dragon" bit?
575 after paying for Eastern Dragon.
Translucent Wolf
Jan 1 2011, 08:44 PM
You want suggestions?
Use 'Slow' spell from War.
Might want to make a custom spell version of it, like you did for your Shapechange. Mainly, do what you did with your spell. Add power, and lessen drain. Those go well together.
Package your ideas as a spreadable food product, and call it Ramaloke-Whiz.
Sephiroth
Jan 2 2011, 12:00 AM
QUOTE (Translucent Wolf @ Jan 1 2011, 03:44 PM)
You want suggestions?
Go mage.
He's a dragon. He's a mage by definition.
With that much karma, metamagics like Flexible Signature and Quickening become much more useful. I definitely recommend looking into those.
Now
Ramaloke, as a dragon, you of course have a very high range for your mental attributes. I'm interested in knowing how your GM would plan to handle a character who is by its very nature brilliant, if you chose to up your mental attributes to a level more appropriate for an adult dragon. As I'm sure you know, playing a highly intelligent character gets increasingly difficult without at least a little bit of metagaming as you up the PC's intelligence.
Starmage21
Jan 2 2011, 05:30 AM
QUOTE (Sephiroth @ Jan 1 2011, 08:00 PM)
He's a dragon. He's a mage by definition.
With that much karma, metamagics like Flexible Signature and Quickening become much more useful. I definitely recommend looking into those.
Now Ramaloke, as a dragon, you of course have a very high range for your mental attributes. I'm interested in knowing how your GM would plan to handle a character who is by its very nature brilliant, if you chose to up your mental attributes to a level more appropriate for an adult dragon. As I'm sure you know, playing a highly intelligent character gets increasingly difficult without at least a little bit of metagaming as you up the PC's intelligence.
That's what the dice and GM hints are for. And knowledge skills too. Its very common for people to play charcters who are more intelligent or socially apt than they themselves are. In the world of rpgs which do not contain prescripted events al la movies, systems need o be in place to assist.