"All's Quiet On The Supernatural Front," A Dresden Files RP (Signup)

@Millard Southern Germany? Where exactly? ;) Anton is born in Stuttgart, which is Schwaben (while my ET char is born in Freiburg which is Baden

edited 24th Aug '13 5:24:03 AM by 3of4

@Nick, a few of the problems I see:

A 2.5 metre tall, white-haired person who always wears sunglasses would stick out an unbelievable amount. That isn't really the person you'd want to do any kind of covert operations.

I've noticed that he knows a -lot- of elemental spells. Keep in mind that wizards in the Dresden Files universe generally tend to gravitate towards two 'core' elements, with one being one they're very proficient with and the other being one that they're generally proficient with. Your character seems to know spells and advanced iterations of at least four elements: Air (we're assuming sound is a sub-set of air,) spirit (force is a subset of spirit,) earth (which covers gravity and electromagnetism,) and fire.

To use some canonical examples, Morgan is shown to be proficient with earth and fire spells primarily, with earth being his genuine forté. Harry himself obviously has a fire/force thing going on, though he starts out using wind until he realizes that force is more energy-efficient for the kind of magic he's the best at working. Luccio and Molly are both even more specialized, the former being all about controlled fire magic and the latter being all about illusions and veils, both of which are subschools of spirit.

Also keep in mind that most wizards either manipulate energy or matter. Harry and Carlos are both really good at harnessing and manipulating energy and imbuing it with the qualities of their given elements, whereas someone like Morgan or Jarl (from Edge Town, for those of you who're confused) are more about shifting matter. Your character seems like he does both, which seems a little odd. Spellcasting is a reflection of how the character thinks, which is why wizards tend to gravitate towards one or the other.

If you'd like some examples from this RP and Edge Town of what exactly I mean, James, at least from what his spells sheet says, is primarily an earth-based wizard, with a bit of defensive fire magic thrown in. Anton is all about earth and force, with less emphasis on the subtler elements of the spirit school. Leon is spirit/earth geared (assuming his lightning spells are electromagnetic in nature.)

Also, any elements that the wizard isn't proficient with are going to be difficult for him to grasp, especially more specialized or energy-intensive iterations of these spells. Both ice and sound are more advanced extensions of water and air, respectively. You might want to pick one element that your character is specialized in and another that he's generally good at, and then pick one 'advanced' sub-school.

On top of this there doesn't seem to be a whole lot of correlation between his character's behavior and the fact that he's a nephilim. If you're going to have a character who's a scion on some level, the choice of parent has to be more meaningful than simply adding superpowers on top of their already-existing capabilities. There has to be a correlation between the supernatural heritage and the Scion's core personality. I'm not even sure it would feel in character for the Dresden Files' angels to have children, since they seem to have their own mysterious divine agenda going on, which probably doesn't leave much time for them to do the horizontal mambo in the mortal world, and even if they did, the child would probably look mostly human. Angels in the Dresden Files universe, whenever they do interact with the mortal world, look perfectly human, and there isn't much reason why their offspring wouldn't do the same.

So maybe just have him be a vanilla Wizard, then.

As for his spells, he doesn't actually know very much Earth Magic, other than throwing up barriers or the odd spike as an attempt to bolster his defenses.

As a whole, he picked spells generally devoted to inflicting a lot of damage in a short amount of time, with no regard for allies or basic tactical thought.

Basically, I made him someone who is magically Unskilled, but Strong. He possesses all the tact of a brick to the face. He has no connection to any one element or magic because of how disjointed and chaotic his mind is. While this gives him different ways to smash things, that's really all he can do; blast things.

I researched Biblical Apocrypha and found references to Nephilim and their descendants, including references to their descendants being very tall, so I think with this knowledge I can say a descendant of Nephilim would be viable.

edited 24th Aug '13 6:50:21 AM by NickTheSwing

A chaotic mind doesn't work with magic. Magic requires per definition a lot of mental discipline and focus.

edited 24th Aug '13 6:59:15 AM by 3of4

Math, two questions. One, how many spots are still open and how many people are competing for them? Two, does killing someone with the help of a magic buff a la Aristides (or whatever his name was) count as a violation of the First Law?

These aren't really the traits you'd want in a spy, either. With a spy, the important thing is not to be seen, not how many people you can deck in a relatively short period of time. Doubly so with a wizard spy where killing a mortal would be breaking the First Law.

What an oddly specific question. I'd say that's a very, very, very, very, very, very, very dark grey area, and that it entirely depends on how lenient your local Warden is.

Also, there's one spot open, with one potentially being opened within the first week or so of the RP if I find out that I can handle that many storylines at once. There are four people sending me applications right now.

edited 24th Aug '13 7:11:48 AM by math792d

@ 3of4: All these rules, regulations and requirements...seriously, they're way too stifling.

I might just decide to bow out of this one gracefully, as the rules here don't let me have fun.

edited 24th Aug '13 7:10:18 AM by NickTheSwing

To the second: Its a Grey-Black Issue. Generally most Warden and Wizard will go with "Yes."

Generally (not any official source, just a helping question) is the question "is the intent of the spell meant to help you kill him."

If you buff your strength enough to bash in someone's skull its a clear Law Violation, for example.

Even indirect kills (You make someone trip, which lets him fall out of a window) counts as Violation.

Thats naturally up to you, but roleplaying means working within the given rules of a setting.

edited 24th Aug '13 7:10:10 AM by 3of4

Yeah, gonna leave. Just trying to come up with anything fun, but sticking within so many rules is making my brain hurt.

I just can't make anything to adhere to so many, many rules.

edited 24th Aug '13 7:17:01 AM by NickTheSwing

Such is the price of lore-friendliness. So say you do like that guy and use force magic to make yourself faster, for general purposes. Would, say, gutting someone with a sword make the local Warden grumpy? More importanly, how likely would it be to make you go coocoo?

Depends on the situation...overt law breaking (or rules lawyering around the laws) is a pet peeve of mine though.

It depends on intents and circumstances. If you used that super speed to stab a guy under circumstances where:

1) You were deliberately using your magic to kill that person.

And 2) You were absolutely certain that you could not have reached that person by mundane means fast enough.

Then yes, you broke the First Law.

x12

As someone that's never been to Germany, I'm leaving details on his home deliberately vague in order to avoid Artistic License – Geography.

What if you're a Scion? My guy has Super-Speed and I'm a little curious if that will count as Lawbreaking for a guy that isn't fully human and whose powers aren't normal magic. I just don't want Karl to lose his head to the first Warden he runs into.

edited 24th Aug '13 10:18:34 AM by Millardkillmoore

If its normal Super-Speed afforded by your physiology its okay.

if you use a Magic Spell for it: Off with your head.

Inherent abilities are fine.

Some kinds of sponsored magic -might- be fine, but until we have Word of God on that I want to keep that vague

Ok. No problem. Everything ok with Karl's (hopefully) finalized sheet?

edited 24th Aug '13 10:19:31 AM by Millardkillmoore

It's cool, and it's on the approved characters list.

@Millard: Yeah, only mortals/humans that use magic fall under the WC's jurisdiction, really.

edited 24th Aug '13 10:42:46 AM by Patty

Quick question:

How many people who aren't already on the approved characters list are still interested in joining? Just so I have some idea.

I'm interested in joining

I'm interested in joining. Writing up character, now. I'm thinking an ex-Nazi who barely survived the Night of Long Knives or a demon who used to be bound to the Nazis but got freedom. Not sure, yet.

Question: Would I be able to have a Blackened Denarii Char or would that be overpowered?

edited 25th Aug '13 10:03:15 PM by deathpigeon

It's alive!

Please don't think I'm trying to snub you, deathy, I just said to myself that I'd keep this open for a somewhat limited timeframe, and you got in a little late.

Mr Didact, your character's been approved (though there might still be a little fine-tuning left to do,) and you're our last player for now, enjoy.

Discussion thread is here.

...I'm still interested. ;_; Too bad I couldn't work anything out. Oh well. Maybe next time.

edited 28th Aug '13 6:21:40 AM by maxyrama