Monday, February 25, 2013

Kethranmeer: FATE Style

I talked about a FATE a bunch, and decided to do this for shits and giggles and also to experiment with the system. This would kind of be him just prior to his death at the end of The Rebellion Arc.

Name: Kethranmeer
Description: He's a Soulless turned Rankethlek that has no face. He's big and metal and rusty and wields two hammers in combat, a heavy maul with a head of blackstone and a lighter wolf-iron hammer that he can throw if he needs to. He's a bit rusty and noisy, and his hide is a mishmash of weld marks, iron, copper, tin, and various other metals. Despite the rust and weld marks, he is still a pretty imposing figure. 

Aspects
High Concept: Metal Warrior Growing Weary of Slaughter
Trouble: Built His Sons From His Own Flesh
Aspect 1 (Solo Adventure): Died Once, Came Back With a Heart of Lightning
Aspect 2 (Group Adventure): Always Backs D'alton
Aspect 3 (Group Adventure): Knows a Thing Or Two About Sorcery


Skills
Superb (+5): Fighting
Great (+4): Physique
Good (+3): Contacts, Crafts, Will
Fair (+2): Athletics, Contacts, Intimidation, Notice
Average (+1): Burglary, Lore, Resources, Stealth


Stunts
-Armor of Fear: Use Intimidation to defend against Fighting attacks, but only until you are dealt a stress by an attack.
-Heavy Hitter: When you succeed with style on a Fighting attack, you gain a full scene aspect with a free invocation, instead of just a boost.
-Tough As Nails: Spend a fate point and reduce the severity of a consequence by one step once per session.

Refresh: 4 (meaning that at the start of each session Kethranmeer starts with four fate points)

In addition to his basic attributes, Kethranmeer had some special items.

Blackstone Maul
This crude looking hammer has a rectangular head of blackstone that was fashioned by the Fremwighta as a gift for Kethranmeer when The Robust Five worked for them and killed a bunch of drunken Fell Human teenagers. Long ago, and now more and more frequently, the Glenwighta were able to mine blackstone and use it to construct cities that were resistant to sorcerous assaults. It has the following aspect:
 -Bane To All Sorcery

Ash Grease
Ash grease is a concoction Kethranmeer came up with to aid him in stealthy endeavors, partly so he could keep up with D'alton if he needed his help in some second story work, and partly so he could keep quiet while his friends and allies were sleeping in the mansion and he moved about the mansion never sleeping and working on freeing his sons. It has the following aspect:
 -Surprisingly Effective At Keeping Over A Quarter Ton of Rusty Metal From Being Shiny And Noisy

Now, this version of Kethranmeer is definitely not as "powerful" as 15th level Fighter Kethranmeer. This is because of the process of leveling we used in The Rebellion Arc and because of FATE's more restrained means of character improvement. Kethranmeer's attack progression with a full attack action was +28/+23/+18 and dealt 1d10+27 bludgeoning damage with a critical of 19-20/x3. The blackstone maul granted a +4 bonus to saves vs. sorcery, spell resistance 18, and halved the bonuses to AC that stemmed from magical effects when Kethranmeer attacks a target with the hammer. The ash grease gave him a bonus to Stealth checks by lubricating his rusty joints and dimming the reflective nature of his metal flesh.

So how would I use or GM this version of Kethranmeer? The skills and stunts are fairly self-explanatory. I think I'd invoke the high concept any time I felt that being made of metal would help with a defense roll or something. I think I'd compel it any time I wanted to complicate things and make him back down from a fight or only enter into battle reluctantly. I can also envision using it if someone used something electrical in nature on him, whether it be a spell or like a lightning gun, to make the attack have an easier time of hitting him. 

His trouble has a fairly narrow focus, which isn't exactly great. But I think I could easily figure out some ways to compel it based on his concern for his sons and the well being of the Rankethlek. I suppose I could use it to base compels of weakness on it, as he did replace his wolf-iron bits and pieces with inferior metals. Or have a joint or rusted knee or spring stick or creak or something if he was trying to avoid alerting enemies to his presence. The trouble can probably be refined a bit, but we'll leave it for now.

I think the Died Once aspect could be utilized any time I'm trying to show that Kethranmeer isn't exactly accustomed to being afraid. I mean, who cares about a mean looking enemy's snarling face trying to use Intimidation on you when you were chewed up and spit out by a dragon and then died and were reborn, then became a monstrous beast of metal and anger till a friend brought you back to sentience. I could probably find a way to invoke it on Craft checks involving electricity as well. I suppose as a GM I could also compel the aspect based on Kethranmeer's fear of returning to the beast-like state The Robust Five found him in initially or to offer up something like PTSD style complications.

Always Backs D'alton is pretty versatile as something to invoke or compel. Any time I want to complicate things by D'alton being in danger and Kethranmeer storming off to rescue him or aid him in something he doesn't really approve of, compel time. I can also see invoking it any time D'alton might be in danger, say like if an enemy is really giving D'alton a run for his money and Kethranmeer needs to unleash some pain so he can help his buddy out.

Knows A Thing Or Two About Sorcery might be pretty handy to invoke when using Will or Lore or something to defend against sorcery or to identify what some weird runes mean or something. Might also help him figure out if anyone is lying about sorcery (I'm looking at you, Derf). I can also see invoking it to help identify the abilities of a mysterious magical item or perhaps to figure out an enemy sorcerer's spellcasting methods to better defend against them or create an advantage against them.

The hammer aspect might be useful in allowing him to use Fighting to pierce magical protections defending a sorcerer or to use Fighting to defend against sorcerous attacks. Using Fighting to defend against magical attacks might need an additional note or ability added to the aspect though, but we'll leave it as is for now. The ash grease could be invoked when using Stealth or to defend against Notice checks and that sort of thing. I am aware that the ash grease has a ridiculously long name for its aspect. I would probably try to shorten it if this were anything more than an exercise in experimenting with a new system.

So I guess that is how I would represent Kethranmeer in the FATE system. I'm obviously a newb with this system, so some of my aspects and the possible uses of them I've suggested might be off or inappropriate in their interpretation. Regardless, I think this is a fun system with a whole metric shit ton of versatility. Aside from referring to the rules frequently to make sure I understood them appropriately and advanced his power properly, it was fairly easy to make him and I think I'd have just as easy of a time if I tried to make something based on sci-fi or mystery or action themes instead of fantasy.

Good times. 

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