Heroic Souls - Urban Fantasy High Powered Brawler RP - Interest Check

I'm glad to see Blood of the Divine "back", that RP had a lot of potential and it's nice to see it hasn't gone to waste.

About the stats, it'd be good to know just how much these points reflect on our characters' abilities as well. For example, how strong would an Heroic Soul with a Strength stat of 3 be? I remember something of this sort in Blood of the Divine.

Also, how can an Heroic Soul have a follower? They are not rulers. Unless I got it all wrong and you meant it in another way.

edited 16th Jun '14 2:33:19 PM by Rapier

Rapier: You are not rulers, but you can have allies, monsters or other kinds of entities under your control to help you fight. Imagine some sort of druid with an animal companion or the very homunculus discussed before. You could be a witch with a coven of lower powered helpers. That kind of stuff.

As for limits and averages... Lets see...

I think I shall be putting a limit of six on both magical and physical attributes. Thus, the most you can expend there is six points. At one point in physical skills, you are on par with the very peak of all mundane fighters, with one point in magical skills you are above all mundane spell casters by actually being able to use magic. 2 points allow to perform super human feats of strength and agility, in three you are getting ridiculous and so forth.

As for the rest of the skills... Hmmm... lets put 2 or 3 points into magical equipment to have multiple weapons with different attributes or defensive gear or a single, very strong magical artifact. One point for summons, one for pacts, two for vitality, one for special abilities and you start by default with one source of power though no extra point there. Giving lets say.... 5 points to spend on both physical abilities and magical ones we have about a total of... 13 points for character creation a nice and ominous number. What do you all think?

Hmm... I would ask you to make it so that we can max out physical or magical. If we can use points from the other things then there's no problem though

You can use points from other stuff to max out magical and physical.

Sounds good to me. Let me test it:

[13 points]

Strength - 3 Magic - 3 Magical equipment - 3 Summons - 0 Pacts - 1 Vitality - 2 Special Ability - 2 (1 by default)

... Yup, no problems.

How does a pact work?

Hmmm good question.

I'm thinking Pacts are a way of getting more points worth by getting drawbacks associated with making a Pact with a stronger being. When making a Pact you usually get a new Source of Power related to it and perhaps another point to expend in either summoning your contracted being to help (Example being Bayonetta's pact with demons, which allow her to summon through her hair visages of the demons she has contracted to strike at her enemies) or perhaps an artifact.

However a pact's benefit manifest themselves as two points worth in something else but at a cost. Either in loyalty, hunting down a quota of their enemies, your soul getting dragged to hell, becoming one of the species of your contracted, retrieving an artifact for them and other such costs.

As for sources of power, every Heroic Soul has a default one which is their own internal energy, the named Heroic Soul. It's what powers their exploits and supernatural abilities granting them magical energy either to sustain their overpowering physical might or their spells. Now, what does it help you to have more than this one? Lets call them Overlimits. By tapping out completely for a day your power source, your can do awesome exploits, power up mighty finishing moves, get a boost to one of your stats and other such things. However, by tapping it out, you're severely weakened afterwards. If you have two though, you can do an overlimit and still be strong enough after taking a light breather to go on.

So for every point put in Pact we get 2 more to put somewhere else except for Pact? I so I suggest a maximum cap on Pact

edited 16th Jun '14 4:33:04 PM by Clawthewolf

What about our Overlimit being triggered by other means, like sheer rage or something causing our powers to flair up? Like, as an example, a Pyromancer who's been seeing his family die one by one and with the latest death it just causes him to snap resulting in extremely enhanced spells.

In addition, what exactly would you consider Hal's Humonculus? Speaking of, she and her "siblings" all possess an element (Like Lightning, Ice, Psychic, etc) which filters their master's magical abilities into their own version. So she basically gets the ability to control metal relatively freely. Though other examples would be like if the master can cause explosions with the line of their sight, the Humonculus adapts that (So she would cause metal spikes to appear from thin air, while the Lightning one would cause lightning and the Psychic one would cause illusions doing so).

They're also designed to assume their master's idealized self (if the same gender) or idealized love (if opposite). However their creator didn't account for things like transgender or asexuality for example, so their creation goes off the rails when their master fills one of those roles. Generally, this tends to result in completely random outcomes and the persona will initially assume they're the master's idealization. Oh, and each Humonculus has a set gender (besides maybe one).

By the way, would it be okay if I went into more detail regarding her siblings so other characters could end up using them?

Well, on Pacts I shall be playing the Patrons of the Pact, also deciding drawbacks, exigences and the like so having too many pacts (Or a stronger Pact, you can spend more than one point on the same Patron to have a closer bond) will eventually get... lets say troublesome.

But yes, a maximum of 3 points in Pact seem good. As for Overlimits, you should be able to trigger those when you want, though external factors could trigger them as well as the mentioned rage.

As for the Homunculus I'm seeing them as a multiple point worth of a Summon or Minion.

edited 16th Jun '14 5:04:44 PM by daltar

What if your magic equipment is summons? Like, summoning a demon in the form of a gun or sword?

EDIT: Also, do we have to expend points for our basic Source of Power, or only for additional ones?

edited 16th Jun '14 6:18:19 PM by KSPAM

It depends. If it's a demon turned into a sword that remains that way all the time and you consider it an item, then it's a Item. If it's something you summon from time to time and lets say that it's somewhat... unstable as a weapon, like it doesn't remain in that form all the time, then it's a summon.

And you get the Heroic Soul source of power instantly, no points expended there.

Well, they can't be dismissed and until someone "kills" them one of those Humonculi would continue to wander around even if their master died. In addition, they generally just wouldn't be considered a summoned entity. Plus, the only person they actually obey would be their master and that's just because of their programming. So for the most part Hal's Humonculus would be following him around everywhere and while she could disguise herself as a weapon she's completely stuck in whatever world she happens to be in currently.

By the way, could our Overlimits have some elements of a One-Winged Angel or would that be something different?

They can have elements of One Winged Angel.

Double post to add, I won't be accepting people wielding Magical Artifacts which are protagonist in their own myth. No getting Excalibur, The Holy Grail, Thor's Hammer or anything like that. You may use like small pieces of them in the forging of your own weapon and I encourage coming up with your own stuff and they may be linked to historical figures like the Scepter of Cleopatra or the Armor of Scipio.

Interested. I'm kind of picturing a tag team consisting of a skinny, weak guy and a giant burly frankenstien-esque monster.

edited 16th Jun '14 10:52:31 PM by TroyandHawk

Here's a thought. You said players wouldn't get things like Bayonetta's best summons... but that was before you established the Overlimit mechanic. Would Bayonetta's best summons be achievable with Overlimits?

Expressing interest. On a scale of "Troublesome" to "Every single gods, devils and their servants out for this guy's blood", how would you rate a guy who put all 13 points in Pacts? Assuming I can negotiate my way out of the 3 point cap hard limit, that is.

Vampiric One: Not enough still, given that Bayonetta still needed Jeanne's help to summon the Queen from Hell. I'd reckon they both needed to use their equivalent of Overlimit.

Pblades: Depends really, if anything he would be owned by a ton of people or 100% and more by a single one. The tricky part would be getting enough entities to do Pacts with that are not mutually excluyent. Still, not certain about allowing the limit to be removed.

By the way, do we get a free Vitality point?

Shame. I was banking on a Constantine Gambit, some guy who got in over his head and decides to sell his soul to multiple people.

Reexpressing interest, in case my silence has been counted as pulling out.

Hmmm now that I think it, no free vitality points. Now, I shall give you all the character sheet to fill.

• Name:
• Age:
• Species:
• Gender:
• Appearance:
• Personality:
• Backstory:
• Stats: (13 points to distribute as you wish)
  • Physical Might: Maximum of 6, spending a point here increases roughly all aspects of your physical skills, though you may spend a point and say only, say, speed and get a greater bonus to speed at the cost of not increasing anything else.
  • Magical Skill: Maximum of 6, spending a point here increases roughly all aspects of your magical arts, though you may spend a point and say only, say, evocations and get a greater bonus to it at the cost of not increasing anything else.
  • Magical Equipment: No maximum on the kind of toys you can have with different abilities. A particular item may be worth than one point if its abilities are very strong, but never over 3 points worth. I'll be keeping and eye here.
  • Summons or Minions: No upper bound, you can spend as many points here as you wish and some summons may be stronger than one point worth with no upper limit.
  • Pacts: Pacts bestow upon you a disadvantage and places you in service of a stronger entity. I set the disadvantage and RP the entity, just say what kind of being they contracted and I handle the rest. In exchange, you get two points to spend elsewhere. You get a maximum of 3 points to spend on Pacts. You can have a stronger contract with a single entity or many contracts with different ones.
  • Vitality: Your health and how much you can go on when facing adversity. Physical Might includes defense against physical attacks and Magical Skill includes resistance against magical threats, but when those defenses are broken though this is how much you can stand.
  • Special Abilities: Abilities inherent to your character, no upper limit here. Some skills may be worth more points than others.
  • Sources of Power: The batteries that power your supernatural feats and magic, the more you have the easier you can do various supernatural feats. May also be burned for a day to do an overlimit skill. Everyone starts with the Source of Power: Heroic Soul, by default.
• Other: Something else your character has that is not included anywhere else. Where they live, relationships, some possessions or anything else.

I'll recycle my old character from Blood of the Divine, as I liked his concept. I'll fill the rest of the areas later.

• Name: Goes by the alias of "Reinhardt". Hates when anyone abbreviates it.
• Age: Stopped counting after he found himself as an immortal. Half a dozen centuries old, give or take.
• Species: Human
• Gender: Male
• Appearance: [1]
• Personality: Reinhardt absorbs his persona as a knight pretty well - he's courteous, steadfast, composed and attempts to be brave whenever he can in the face of adversity, fighting for the weak and innocent. On the outside. Inside, he's not much different, yet there are layers hiding his true self and purposes: he is an idealist with a bit of pragmatism growing even since his "innocence" was broken, who will not hesitate to achieve his objectives, even if the road he wishes to pave is the one leading to Hell. He strictly believes that might makes right, and that he must be "on the top" to ensue everything will go well from there on. Granted, if one is able to cooperate with these... quirks... of his and manages to avoid his Black List, Reinhardt will show himself as an useful ally, ever just and resourceful, devoted to fight for those who need him, granted that they do not stand on his way. He is naturally quiet, emanating a calm and collected aura around him, always direct and straightforward.
• Backstory: Once an human born from a mildly influent noble family, he became the squire of a knight on his early teens and followed him through many journeys and battles. He quickly became fascinated with the idea of protecting and fighting for his father’s lands as well as his country, and his family's influences helped even more. Ambitious, devoted and talented, he became a knight at the age of 19 and fought for many years in the name of his country. It was during that timespawn that he found out the harsh and violent truth behind fighting for the glory and honor of his homeland. He saw many comrades perish in battle, participated in senseless conflicts and wars for dominance and territory expansion... Leading him to question the meaning of it all. Until his time also came, and he found himself laying in a landscape filled with blood and the bodies of his companions, the answer now lying in the tip of his tongue: There is no meaning.
• What seemed to be the end of the knight, however, proved to be the exact opposite: He was granted another chance in death as a Heroic Soul. Unbeknown to him the nature of this "ascension", Reinhardt searched for answers in order to comprehend the new reality where he was tossed in. He found out about the other Heroic Souls, about the lesser and higher deities, and discovered the existance of otherwordly beings. He was quick to grasp that this new world simulated his old reality very oddly: Politics and diplomacy were still tools of great importance. And when he found himself alone in such a huge world, he knew that it'd be better to find someone to swear his allegiance to, increasing his chances of survival and also serving him as a ladder to climb in order to attain power and influence.
• Stats: (13 points to distribute as you wish)
  • Physical Might: 5 - As a war veteran and seasoned soldier, Reinhart inherited the skills he had in life and multiplied them after he became an Heroic Spirit. A master of arms, capable of using both lances and swords peerlessly. He compensates in skill and speed what he lacks in vitality, being pretty much a "Fragile" Speedster in battles.
  • Magical Skill: 2 (+1, from Aelius) - Reinhart's magical skills are subpar, that much he acknowledges. However, magic does not concern him, and he does not feel hindered for this weakness in particular. With Aeleus' help, he is capable of reinforcing his equipment's attributes to a higher level, as a complement to his own inherent ability.
  • Magical Equipment: 0 - He holds no items of legend, opting for ordinary equipment made of iron and steel, yet his armor and weapons are somehow magically enhanced beyond the strengths of their ordinary selves. Whenever Reinhart is using them, their strength and resillience are increased; however, after they're stored, they become ordinary weapons.
  • Summons or Minions: 1 (+1, from Aelius) - After working for Aelius for so long, he decided to bestow upon him a gift: A slender, ethereal horse easily outmatching most competitors on speed. It is also as resillient as a war horse, even if the appearances say otherwise. Reinhart is glad that this fantastical creature eats carrots and grass like any other horse, sparing him the trouble of finding magical ethereal carrots. Only summons it when it is necessary.
  • Pacts: 2 - He has two pacts with two different lesser deities. The first one is Aelius, a weak yet well known deity, influentional among other gods and ruler of bountiful lands. In exchange for protection, Reinhardt offered him his services as a knight. The second one is Gurgurant, a 11 feet tall minotaur-like deity, self-proclaimed King of Warriors. Seeking strength, Reinhardt made a pact with him, in exchange of being one of his warriors to be used in battles, tournaments and wars against other lesser deities.
  • Vitality: 1 (+1, from Gurgurant) - Reinhardt isn't known as the sturdiest fellow. If somehow he is hit hard enough, chances are he's finished. Provided one hits him, that is. Good luck with that.
  • Special Abilities: 2 - One ability is a dimension pocket of sorts, where he stores his weapons, items and all sorts of objects, functioning as a magical backpack of the size of a closet. He may use them to summon his weapons much like a certain King of Heroes, yet unfortunately he cannot send volleys of blades at a target. The other allows him to enhance his equipment already in use, making it stronger and more resillient than their ordinary counterparts. A wooden sword on his hands becomes as edgy and resillient as one made of iron, because Screw Physics, I Have Magic
  • Sources of Power: 1 (+1 from Gurgurant)- After being stroke down in life, he became more powerful than he could ever imagine. His status as an Heroic Soul granted him his powers, honed by the centuries of experience inside the business and a few pacts that Reinhardt does not like to brag about. His other source of power comes from Gurgurant. It is a battle aura of sorts, invisible to those who cannot sense it, that increasingly manifests itself as a battle continues. It serves as an energy substitute, allowing him to continue fighting for prolonged times without any penalty... At the cost of making Reinhardt doubly tired after the battle is over.
• Other: Nothing in particular. He does not live in a fixed place; most of the time, he is traveling the world to fulfill his hidden agenda and those deities' wishes. When he is not busy, which is hard to happen, he can be found in Aelius' realm.

edited 1st Jul '14 2:57:44 PM by Rapier

So far so good Rapier! Like the concept, though from my count, you still have two points to place wherever you wish. Pact gives you two more points.

• Name: Soichirō Takenaka/Sammy (also accepts the names "Sweetie", "Malak ha-mawet", and any derivations thereof)
• Gender: Male/Female (her true possessive essence lacks gender, however it displays feminine characteristics with greater frequency than masculine ones)
• Age: Old by human standards/Old by anyone's standards
• Appearance: Soichirou (blame the formatting for me not using the proper accent on the "o" here), and Soichirou when being possessed by Sammy
• Personality:
• History: Soichirō came to Earth more than fifty years ago in a mass exodus of Lunarians after the first photographs of the far side of the moon were taken, increasing the risk that the Lunar Capital might be discovered by humans. Forced to relocate only days after his baptism in the Hourai elixir had been completed, Soichirō was by all means still a child when he arrived on Earth. For the next five decades or so, he and his family moved around from city to city, posing as an ordinary human family which required his parents to find work and him to go to school, posing as a highschool student. This peaceful daily life, as unusual as it got beneath the surface, became the norm as time went on. Mundane even. Until the day Soichirō was suckered into serving as the vessel for a fallen angel of death. A destroying angel calling herself Sammy took up residence in Soichirō's body and his life, forcing him to live a secret THIRD life as a macabre genderbending mahou shoujo, unbeknownst to both his human friends and his alien parents and family. This has caused him no small amount of grief./Sammy's bio incoming, just know that she's an exiled angel of death sent to Earth to perform a series of tasks to reinstate her position, lest she be cast down into Hell like the rest of the wicked fallen.
• Stats:
  • Physical Ability (3): Being both an extrahuman species and a vessel for an angel of death, Soichirō/Sammy have impressive physical might. For the most part, this is spread evenly across the board (i.e. striking strength, lifting strength stamina etc.), however speed seems to be by far their most impressive physical attribute. Sammy claims this is because "you can't outrun death", whereas Soichirō thinks she's just being full of herself.
  • Magical Ability (1): As a Lunarian, a species that is culturally immersed in magic, Soichirō is capable of performing recreational magic but not much else. Sammy is theoretically capable of great feats of magic, but members of the Heavenly Host have been forever forbidden from ever learning or using the heretical pagan magics, and are taught that such "heathen tricks" are beneath them.
  • Magical Equipment (3): The two are immersed in a collection of useful magical artifacts necessary for performing Sammy's duties as one of Heaven's destroying angels. These are the standard issue reaper-scythe, a weapon of many forms that will pass through all obstacles and strike only what the wielder desires it too, the Swords of Damocles, large, arrow-like swords that mark individuals, places, or things for death Final Destination style, bringing unavoidable disaster to them in due time for a more subtle touch, or the [NAME TO BE DECIDED ON ACCOUNT OF LEWDNESS], for when subtlety can go eat a dick and you just wanna ride around town on a burning skull motorcycle or any other kind of 80s heavy metal album cover.
  • Summons (0): No summons to speak of.
  • Pacts (1): With YHWH. This pact signifies the contract between them which will allow Sammy back into Heaven after completing her designated tasks on Earth, reinstating her position as a true angel of death.
  • Vitality (3): Very high, due in part to the resilience being possessed by an angel affords you, but mostly due to the immortal body possessed by all Lunarians which allows them to recover from grievous and ridiculously fatal injuries without complaint. This makes them an incredibly difficult foe to incapacitate or put down, requiring extreme force to put the regenerative qualities of Soichirō's body out of commission (assuming they've already gotten past Sammy's defenses).
  • Special Abilities (1): Soichirō's body is immortal, like all Lunarians who have bathed in the Hourai elixir. He will never grow old or age past the prime of his youth, and will quickly regenerate from any injury, no matter how severe. It can be slowed, but not stopped, requiring the use of exhaustive force to either slow the regeneration to a point where recovery would take too long for them to continue fighting, or destroy them completely in one attack, the only true way to kill them.
  • Sources of Power (1, +1 from YHWH): Can quickly refuel by reaping the souls of humans, a natural ability of God's destroying angels which has been gifted unto the fallen angel Sammy as part of her pact with YHWH.

edited 20th Jun '14 9:03:50 AM by KSPAM