Nocte Caelum: the world's premier magical academy, a school for the best and brightest in upcoming adventurers, treasure hunters, monster slayers, and more. It's located a short distance from the city of Cetus, a rich and influential port city, the only place for many miles in either direction for a ship to safely put ashore. The problem lies on the other side of Nocte Caelum: the warped magic zone of the Desolation provides home for monsters and worse, and has since its appearance 20 years ago. Even that is not all bad, though: in addition to monsters, sometimes incredibly useful materials or wild magic can be found here. * * * * * * * * * So what is this? This is a 'magical academy' setting, in the vein of Mana Khemia, A Certain Magical Index, RWBY, Naruto's early arcs or Harry Potter, although it's got the serial numbers filed off and isn't really any of those, exactly. Make friends, don't flunk, fight monsters, and learn to be a wonderful magician. Keeping a good reputation is almost as important as being able to win a fight. I'm not limiting this to those who already know me, but if for some reason this garners a lot of attention, I may pick just a few people; I'm thinking 4-5 is ideal for the game. We'll play in Fate Core, a simple system suitable for story-centric and action-packed games. That's what we're going for. If you don't know the system, ask me about it. It's simple enough to be taught pretty quickly. Fate Core is also very malleable, so here's our basic character outline and rule changes: Aspects High Concept: This aspect should be something central to your character's identity. Trouble: What's the biggest problem dogging you? Is it a personality flaw, or something you're just bad at, or perhaps something external? Core Magic: This aspect tells me what type of magic you're most adept with. It needs to be a theme of some sort, but it doesn't have to be anything standard. See also stunts. Free Aspect: You get two of these. Tell me something else about your character. It can be anything relevant, preferably something with fun plot hooks to use. Skills Everyone gets 3 skills rated at +1, 3 at +2, and 2 at +3. Pick from the skills below to fill your skills out. In addition, magic skills can be created, and you should probably have at least one which ties into your Core Magic aspect. A magic that is rated +2 can, twice per story, be increased by +2 for one roll. A magic that is rated +3 creates situation aspects on a success with style, instead of a boost. Your first magic skill is free; all others cost 1 refresh. All magic skills come with a related stunt. Skill List Athletics Book Smarts (Lore) Combat (replaces Fight or Shoot, as appropriate) Conversation (replaces Deceive, Provoke and Rapport) Crafts Investigate Notice Popularity (whole number added to social stress boxes) Physique (whole number added to physical stress boxes) Sneak (replaces Burglary and Stealth) Understanding (Empathy and social defense) Stunts You get one free stunt from your first magic skill and one general free stunt, which may or may not also tie in to your magic. Adding stunts cost refresh as normal. Feel free to create your own stunts, and/or ask for input. Stress and Consequences Physical Stress [ ] [ ] Social Stress [ ] [ ] Mild Consequence (-2): Moderate Consquence (-4): Severe Consequence (-6): Refresh You have 3 Refresh to start. Equipment In proper RPG style, we'll have a bit on equipment, for combat and for physical exploration. You have 4 points to start with, and can apply them thusly: Damage: Whether martial arts, a destructive curse, or a weapon, you do a lot of damage. For each point here, you gain a point of weapon, starting from 1 and going up. This is a damage floor: even on a tie, you do your weapon in stress. Armor: Instinctive dodges, thick armor, or an enchanted cloak keep you safe. Your first point here gives you armor 4, and each point decreases it. This is a damage ceiling. Unless the enemy succeeds with style on an attack, the maximum stress they can deal is your armor rating. Armor ratings trump weapon ratings, unless the attacker succeeds with style. Useful Gadget: For each point, you have a useful gadget which has some advantage that does not overlap with a skill. For example, you might have a hookshot to pull yourself along or a compass that always points back to Nocte Caelum no matter how strange the Desolation becomes. Code: [u][b]Name[/b][/u]: [b]High Concept[/b]: [b]Trouble[/b]: [b]Core Magic[/b]: [b]Free Aspect[/b]: [b]Free Aspect[/b]: [b]Skills[/b]: +1: +2: +3: [b]Stunts[/b] Physical Stress [ ] [ ] Social Stress [ ] [ ] Mild Consequence (-2): Moderate Consquence (-4): Severe Consequence (-6): Refresh: 3 Equipment: Example characters: Spoiler (Move your mouse to the spoiler area to reveal the content) Show Spoiler Hide Spoiler Name: Eliza Rouge High Concept: Stern Adjudicator of Order Trouble: Too Proud to Back Down Core Magic: Infinite Knight's Paraphenalia Free Aspect: Famed Mistress of Swords Free Aspect: Proper Behaviour is The Only Way Skills: +1: Book Smarts, Investigate, Popularity +2: Athletics, Combat, Notice +3: Knight's Paraphenalia, Physique Stunts Adaptive Summoned Armor: Eliza can, as a supplemental action, switch to an armor more suited for her current foe, giving her either +1 weapon/+1 armor or -1 armor/-1 weapon until she switches again or until the scene ends. Catch Misbehavers: Eliza gains +2 to Empathy when using it to identify other student's ill actions. Physical Stress [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] Social Stress [ ] [ ] [ ] Mild Consequence (-2): Moderate Consquence (-4): Severe Consequence (-6): Refresh: 3 Equipment: Weapon 2 Armor 3 Spoiler (Move your mouse to the spoiler area to reveal the content) Show Spoiler Hide Spoiler Name: Olibanum High Concept: Solitary Master of Magic Trouble: Sickly Nature Core Magic: One-Week Magic Free Aspect: Always Has Her Nose In A Book Free Aspect: Forever Unexciteable Skills: +1: Crafts, Notice, Understanding +2: Investigate, Popularity, Sneak +3: One-Week Magic, Book Smarts Stunts Omni-Aimed Laser: Once per scene, Olibaum can target all enemies involved in a fight with a single attack roll a fate point. Laziness: If the writer were feeling more inspired, he'd put another stunt here. Physical Stress [ ] [ ] Social Stress [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] Mild Consequence (-2): Moderate Consquence (-4): Severe Consequence (-6): Refresh: 3 Equipment: Weapon 2 Armor 4 Tome of Monster Lore (always know a useful fact about any monster encountered)
Here's the start of one... Work In Progress (Move your mouse to reveal the content) Work In Progress (open) Work In Progress (close) Name: Niobe Tarnell High Concept: Only Daughter of the Tarnell Water Mages Trouble: Overly-Trusting Core Magic: Water Magic Free Aspect: Not Just a Pretty Face Free Aspect: I Don't Like Violence Skills: +1: Popularity, Physique, Notice +2: Sneak, Conversation, Book Smarts +3: Understanding, Magic: Water Stunts - Water-Powered: "Magic: Water" can replace Combat checks when she is near a large body of water or during rain. - Physical Stress [ ] [ ] [ ] Social Stress [ ] [ ] [ ] Mild Consequence (-2): Moderate Consquence (-4): Severe Consequence (-6): Refresh: 3 Equipment:
Name: Miriam "Mira" Lowell "Hey, sup, Mira here. First week of classes have been ace, already picked a fight with the Queen Bee of NC. Yeah, don't worry, everything's fine. She wasn't much of a fight, fireballs and void blasts don't mean a thing when I can bounce them back at her. I learned from the best, after all. I uh, don't be surprised if you get a letter from the school about it. Girl was hazing a new kid, I wasn't gonna let her get away with it. Gave her that cool-ass death gaze after the proctors broke us up, learned that from you too. Anyway, aside from detention, I'm totally enjoying myself here, found some new friends and even some flunkies to follow after me. I know full moon's coming, so I'm taking care not to make myself even more trouble when it comes. I can control this, I promise. And I'll make you proud, mom, you'll see. Hope to see you back from the other side soon. Still can't believe the whole Desolation's right between us. Love you, ~Mira <3" High Concept: Werewolf Fashionista You could say that lycanthropes are sort of an offshoot of the beastmen, a tribe of humans that can change into large, slavering beasts at will (or is it the other way around?). No one who lives up as a werewolf sees their power as a curse, least of all Mira, who has the time of her life when she roams the plains on four legs. But she's still a city girl from Cetus. While maybe howling at the moon and feeding on animal meat works awesome for her ancestors, she has a career in fashion to think about. And what's always in style in this city? Adventure gear. All the best models in the city have slain a dragon or two to sell fetching leather armor. Mira can so do that too! Trouble: I Don't Have to Study for This, Right? Mira doesn't even come close as the "best" or the "brightest", not even by a long shot. She mostly got in Nocte Caelum on her mother's fame as an adventurer, with a dungeon hoard of gold to sweeten the deal. The importance of schoolwork doesn't even register to her, so she delegates a lot of the book stuff to her lackeys unless they involve punching or dressing fab while punching. Core Magic: Wild At Heart Werewolf blood runs in her veins, turning her into a fierce and deadly predator even without transforming. Mira's senses are honed to a sharp edge, while her strength can easily match a dozen tough dudes. She also gets a mean temper to match, though, as well as moments of bloodlust and crushing resignation that she will never get to wear silver jewelry. Free Aspect: Stick Up for the Little Guy It's sort of a mantra by now. Mira started as a little runt too, she didn't let anyone bring her down because of that. She'll throw herself between a golem and a newt if she can impart some fighting spirit on the newt. Free Aspect: Pack Leader of the Wolfe Punks They're honestly more like... groupies with a silly name. Mira's pretty popular with the student body (mostly for picking fights) and she doesn't mind abusing that fame to push for what she wants. At the same time, she needs to take care of her Punks too, else she'll just end up looking like a belligerent jerk. Skills: +1: Understanding, Investigate, Physique +2: Wolf Instincts*, Athletics, Popularity +3: Combat, Conversation Stunts Lycanthropy: After spending a Fate Point, Mira can formshift into a large, wolf-like beast for a single scene. While in this form, her High Concept transforms to "Massive Wolf-Beast" and her Conversation skill swaps with Physique in the skill pyramid, with temporary stress boxes to match. If she is attacked by silver weaponry, ignore those temporary boxes when taking stress damage. Pack Alpha: Mira gains +2 to Conversation (or +2 to Combat in wolf form) when her Wolfe Punks are nearby and cheering. Physical Stress [ ] [ ] [ ] Social Stress [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] Mild Consequence (-2): Moderate Consequence (-4): Severe Consequence (-6): Refresh: 3 Equipment: Weapon 2 (partially/fully shifted wolf claws) Armor 4 (werewolf hide) Armoire of Holding (can always produce a fashionable set of clothes for any occasion)
Name: Philliand Despite the horned skull hat and the wild-child vibe going on, Philliand (Phils for short) is 100% human. He's not a very good human, like with the whole small-talk thing and tact, or knowing when to keep quiet about cross-breeding monkswood and roses, but he is still human. His granny picked him up when he was a baby found in her forest and she brought up him with plants and trees and critters. After a while, though, his granny died, so he lived on his own for a few years until a letter from Nocte Caelum arrived, expecting his arrival. Phils gathered his stick, his skull-hat and a few seeds from his gardens, and headed out to see what Granny had intended for him. High Concept: Grandmaster Gardening (G)nuisance Since arriving at Nocte Caelum, Phils was quick to discover that the more general aspects of adventuring—slaughter, pillaging and renown—didn't really appeal to him. On the bright side, though, doing the three staples of do-gooding did give him the chance to branch out and see new sorts of plants and mutations that occurred outside his granny's forest. He's even made his own little illegal gardens throughout campus, particularly by the kraken pools and near the dorms. He's been told to stop, but most of the time, he's either too thorny or too good at promising and forgetting to turn over a new leaf for it to stick. Trouble: Video Game Morals It was one of his classmates that told Phils that he was a little bit twisted in the head, but it sorta makes sense. Out in granny's forest, it'd been a pretty simple matter of things getting eaten if they couldn't survive, and things eating other things if they could. That's apparently not the case in Nocte Caelum, but nobody told that to Phils until after he'd nearly poisoned a bully trying to pick on his short size with a nasty spore cloud of Horsetail. Core Magic: Organic Advancement Granny was good at teaching Philliand how to listen and talk to the forest. He got so good at it, before she even knew it, he was talking to dying plants and helping them grow. She eventually started teaching him how to do it proper, and while he couldn't help rocks or metal things out—they never wanted to talk to him—he got good at learning how to guide stuff like plants, animals and even his own body into doing stuff he wanted them to do better. Free Aspect: Refreshingly and Irritatingly Honest, All at Once! None of the plants or animals in Granny's forest ever needed to lie to Phils, so he never learned to lie either. He's used to calling out bad ideas, or just things he doesn't agree with, and praising good ones equally. Tact is really hard. Free Aspect: Hungry for Personal Knowledge Phils has a history of not accepting things as fact until he's tried it out himself. It used to drive his granny crazy before she died, and it's probably still eating at her even now. Anytime that Phils is told something as a fact, he'll refuse to believe it until he's got a chance to see personally. Skills: +1: Sneak, Athletics, Conversation +2: Investigate, Physique, Combat +3: Crafts(Organic){Magic}, Organic Especialization{Magic}* Stunts Self-Especialization: By taxing himself with a Mild Consequence, Phils is able to graft an organic construct onto his own body for a short time in order to achieve an objective. If he needs to get something on a high-up shelf, Phils can especialize his body with leafy wings to hover high enough to reach, and if he finds himself in danger, Phil can turn his hand into a very dangerous weapon akin to a bear's claws. Removing these modifications is a bit gruesome for Philliand's self-taught level, however, and always leaves the affected area sore for a while. Nature Boy: +2 to Conversation with a primal creature or a plant-like being. WHOOOO Physical Stress [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] Social Stress [ ] [ ] Mild Consequence (-2): Moderate Consquence (-4): Severe Consequence (-6): Refresh: 3 Equipment: Fists 1 Armor(Skin) 2 (Made -really- tough due to years of wrestling bears and getting rocks thrown at him)
I like what I'm seeing so far. Eternis - Do you know Fate at all? I just don't know you, so I'd like to get a handle on what you know coming in. So far everything looks good, but I'd let your stunt be something pretty automatic, so you're welcome to put in something more exciting in its place, instead. Hystrix - Well, that's... a concept. Should be interesting. I'd like to see what the shifted skills look like, and while I like the Wolfe Punks, I'm going to be a bit strict on when they're around, because that +2 can be pretty big. Velyoukai - Crafts (Inorganic) probably needs a little more focus. The way I'm looking at Self-Especialization, I think that what you're doing there should take your mild consequence slot to use it, so it's got a definite downside to being able to throw a +3 at something, and I'm going to be a bit strict on it only letting 'specific objective' be something you can throw plants at. 24/7 plant protection is probably not workable as it stands, currently. +5 to hindering without cost is a little high.
It's why they're an aspect, it means "please create drama between them". :) I think the new skill column would go like this: +1: Conversation , Popularity, Investigate +2: Notice, Athletics, Physique +3: Lightbending*, Combat Honestly though, I could do without the magic stuff. Can I drop light bending as an Aspect/Skill and just focus on my shapeshifting ability?
Spoiler (Move your mouse to the spoiler area to reveal the content) Show Spoiler Hide Spoiler Name: Wynne High Concept: Top of the Honors Class Wynne is always at the top of all the important academic measures. Highest grades, best papers, adoration of the teachers, but maybe not so much the student body. Trouble: Self-Proclaimed Know-it-All Wynne knows everything. She’s read books, you know! Core Magic: Creation Magic: Transformation Making something out of nothing is the ultimate goal of creation magic. A much simpler, but no less potent, version of Creation magic is Transformation. The art of changing things into other things. All things want to remain in their default state, so the bigger the change, the harder it is to make and the shorter the change lasts. Free Aspect: Chief Editor of The Dualities School Newspaper All the school news that’s worth reading about! Especially the embarrassing ones. Free Aspect: Dabbler in the Physical Arts A girl has to stay in shape somehow. Wynne hasn’t done much with it, but she’s taken a variety of martial arts courses in addition to playing several sports throughout her life. Skills: +1: Athletics, Popularity, Physique +2: Understanding, Magic(Transformation), Conversation +3: Book Smarts, Investigate Stunts The World is my Plaything: +2 to Magic(Transformation) when attempting to change, not make, Scene Aspects. Cute Cat Ears: Wynne’s altered ears grant +2 to Notice checks when sound detection is paramount. Skeletons in your Closet: Wynne knows much about the private lives of others. Once per Scenario, Wynne can declare she has dirt on someone to use as an Advantage on them. Physical Stress - [ ] [ ] [ ] Social Stress - [ ] [ ] [ ] Mild Consequence (-2): Moderate Consequence (-4): Severe Consequence (-6): Refresh: 2 Equipment: Ether-laced Robe (Armor: 3): The fibers of Wynne’s robe were treated with liquid ether during the manufacturing process. As a result, Wynne can manipulate the hardness of her robes in a moment’s notice. Ether Cluster: A piece of solidified ether that is particularly receptive to creation-type magic. Although it can replicate almost any small object, it changes back into its natural state in a day’s time at longest no matter how much magic one puts into it. Know-it-all’s Notebook: Wynne’s personal magic notebook. Not only does it magically store written information, but it can even record sound and visuals! The ultimate tool for studying.
Name: Xavier High Concept: Easygoing Scion of the Lionheart Mercenary Company Xavier, son of Xander of the Lionheart Mercenary Company is kind of a mouthful, but yeah, that's who I am. My old man and his old man before him all the way back to the great-greats have been slaying monsters for the good of all mankind for ages now, sure, but my own experience is currently lacking compared to what people think of me when they hear 'Lionheart Mercenary Company'. Trouble: One Track Mind Once he sets his sights on something he can’t help but to pursue it, ignoring all else, even common sense. Core Magic: Eye of Manat Xavier’s left eye is capable of manipulating the flow of time. After it locks in on its current field of vision it’s capable of slowing everything within it down from normal flow (eye fully open) to completely stopped (eye completely closed). The problem is the “locking in” part seems to be automatic to the extent that he’s forced to wear an eyepatch to make everyday life not a chore. And that aside, the length of the effect seems anything but constant, though he’d be the first to say it’s always been “long enough” for when he’s really in a pinch. Free Aspect: Offensive Defense Xavier deals with his problems by attacking them aggressively, regardless of what they are. A body at rest is a body dying--quite literally when his left eye is involved--so he likes to stay on the move, always advancing toward his problems rather than running away from them. Free Aspect: Say it With a Smile In conversation he’s always honest, even when the truth hurts, but he’s found that no matter what he says it’ll all go smoothly so long as he says it with a smile. Most Likely. Probably. Skills: +1: Conversation, Notice, Physique +2: Athletics, Popularity, Eye of Manat +3: Combat, Understanding Stunts You’re Slow - ‘even when you’re falling’. Upon invoking Eye of Manat, Xavier can make one attack as if it were against an unarmored opponent provided said opponent doesn’t have an ‘armor’ rating such that all the time/immobility in the world wouldn’t make a difference in penetrating it. Don’t Blink - ‘Or you’ll miss it’. Once per scene, for an additional fate point upon invoking Eye of Manat, You’re Slow applies to the entire zone, allowing him to make armor-ignoring strikes on everybody. Physical Stress [ ] [ ] [ ] Social Stress [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] Mild Consequence (-2): Moderate Consequence (-4): Severe Consequence (-6): Refresh: 3 Equipment: Weapon 2 (katana) Armor 3 (reflexes)
