Character: Art Khan
Time to shift gears, organize thoughts, and refresh my memory. So, our Blue Rose campaign has officially wound down. The ending was a little anticlimactic, but reasonably suitable, with the party getting to tell their story to the queen and being offered titles/knighthoods. I wonder if everyone else had to ponder that as much as I did in that moment. But that means next week it'll be time to take up the 13th Age game that was pitched late last year for Tuesday night Discord-based play. I did go through the process of making a character, but that was two or more months ago now and I haven't really looked at any of the material since. That makes this a good opportunity to do some analysis.
13th Age itself seems relatively familiar as a D&D derivative. Certainly, there are differences in details, but d20+modifiers against an armor class with a familiar range for abilities makes it less intimidating than something wholly different. There are some notable differences in things like scaling weapon damage and the RP-hook of a "One unique thing," but there's enough common ground there. Of course, expansions shake things up a little bit, and we're using the Amethyst book to bring in higher-tech elements, but the mechanics still don't vary overly much.
Setting is certainly important for building a character that fits well. We've given a future partly-settled Solar System that has gone through at least one population-diminishing plague. Advanced technology exists. Magic exists. Some transhuman races exist. We also have a number of alien races that match fantasy paradigms. And there are rifts that bring further monsters and such. That casts a pretty wide net for character types, though the focus of it seems to be sort of "humans and allies versus monstrous rift incursions." That lends itself in mind to a paramilitary party fighting back the "bad guys," and that was thrown around, but to my knowledge never adopted. In fact, my one worry at this stage is that the characters haven't really been created as a group.
So, I wanted to consider what I did wrong previously. Nova, in the Lords of Gossamer and Shadow game, was not really built as a team player at all and wasn't really invested enough in the long run. Character turnover in that game didn't help, but really there were design issues from the get-go on my part. Llewelyn in Blue Rose actually suffered similar in some ways. He was made to be more group-friendly and fit the more deliberately heroic nature of the campaign, but coming in late made for a struggle, particularly in dealing with the mechanically-connected relationships aspect of the game. He worked okay, but it wasn't ideal.
I want to avoid those missteps, but without tighter chargen between players, I'm not certain I've reached that point. I tried to leave enough "open" about my character that he could fall multiple ways, hopefully into a niche with the others.
The idea that came to mind borrows heavily and shamelessly from anime. After looking through possibilities (enhanced a bit by a liberal tech rating allowed for starting out), I decided I wanted to explore a power armor wearer. Mechanically, there isn't really a massive benefit to that, though there are a few worth commenting on. You can shunt damage to the armor instead of the character, but with the armor in question, only one point per hit and the armor itself only has 20 HP, so that's not a major factor. Better-than-base unarmed damage isn't a big deal when weapons exist. The biggest mechanical benefit is probably the ability to user heavier weapons more easily. Hmm. What can we do with that? Couple it with a warrior-ish class for heavy firepower? Sure. But Amethyst also offers a Mechanics Operator class that has options that include some MacGuyverish techie abilities and a weapon damage increase. Increased damage on a heavy weapon? That sounds like a viable combat approach and a less combat-ish hook. It's good to have one of each, right? I can make the "one unique thing" tied to the armor, which doesn't necessarily make it any better, but makes it potentially more interesting. This all shapes up kind of military-heavy, but I want the option to roll the other way if the squad idea doesn't pan out with the others. Hmm. Okay, so what do I end up with?
That seems to fit the bill of what I was considering along the way. If things go more military, he can follow orders and try to be a good soldier. If they don't, well it's no big loss as he isn't fully trained/enlisted and he will be willing to "play hero" and do the "right" thing regardless of military authority. Being an Earth-born faol (felinoid transhuman) and his inexperience lay some groundwork for discomfort in some situations, which I think is what I want rather than utter confidence (like, say, Nova).
I'm not sure how this will play out longer-term with an android luck-bringer, human sniper, elfish druid shapeshifter, lizardfolk tech warrior, and a pixie swordmage. We'll have to see. Still, I'm amused that I went through all that and essentially came out with a catboy Glitter Boy (of Palladium Rifts fame).
13th Age itself seems relatively familiar as a D&D derivative. Certainly, there are differences in details, but d20+modifiers against an armor class with a familiar range for abilities makes it less intimidating than something wholly different. There are some notable differences in things like scaling weapon damage and the RP-hook of a "One unique thing," but there's enough common ground there. Of course, expansions shake things up a little bit, and we're using the Amethyst book to bring in higher-tech elements, but the mechanics still don't vary overly much.
Setting is certainly important for building a character that fits well. We've given a future partly-settled Solar System that has gone through at least one population-diminishing plague. Advanced technology exists. Magic exists. Some transhuman races exist. We also have a number of alien races that match fantasy paradigms. And there are rifts that bring further monsters and such. That casts a pretty wide net for character types, though the focus of it seems to be sort of "humans and allies versus monstrous rift incursions." That lends itself in mind to a paramilitary party fighting back the "bad guys," and that was thrown around, but to my knowledge never adopted. In fact, my one worry at this stage is that the characters haven't really been created as a group.
So, I wanted to consider what I did wrong previously. Nova, in the Lords of Gossamer and Shadow game, was not really built as a team player at all and wasn't really invested enough in the long run. Character turnover in that game didn't help, but really there were design issues from the get-go on my part. Llewelyn in Blue Rose actually suffered similar in some ways. He was made to be more group-friendly and fit the more deliberately heroic nature of the campaign, but coming in late made for a struggle, particularly in dealing with the mechanically-connected relationships aspect of the game. He worked okay, but it wasn't ideal.
I want to avoid those missteps, but without tighter chargen between players, I'm not certain I've reached that point. I tried to leave enough "open" about my character that he could fall multiple ways, hopefully into a niche with the others.
The idea that came to mind borrows heavily and shamelessly from anime. After looking through possibilities (enhanced a bit by a liberal tech rating allowed for starting out), I decided I wanted to explore a power armor wearer. Mechanically, there isn't really a massive benefit to that, though there are a few worth commenting on. You can shunt damage to the armor instead of the character, but with the armor in question, only one point per hit and the armor itself only has 20 HP, so that's not a major factor. Better-than-base unarmed damage isn't a big deal when weapons exist. The biggest mechanical benefit is probably the ability to user heavier weapons more easily. Hmm. What can we do with that? Couple it with a warrior-ish class for heavy firepower? Sure. But Amethyst also offers a Mechanics Operator class that has options that include some MacGuyverish techie abilities and a weapon damage increase. Increased damage on a heavy weapon? That sounds like a viable combat approach and a less combat-ish hook. It's good to have one of each, right? I can make the "one unique thing" tied to the armor, which doesn't necessarily make it any better, but makes it potentially more interesting. This all shapes up kind of military-heavy, but I want the option to roll the other way if the squad idea doesn't pan out with the others. Hmm. Okay, so what do I end up with?
Arthur Khan had a bright future ahead of him in the sciences well away from any battlefield. His parents were supportive and science-minded faol in their own rights. His life, however, took a turn when one of the mysterious rifts opened near his high school. In the chaos, he stumbled across a suit of distinctly alien armor (like something out of the manga he might draw in his spare time) that seemed to invite him in. With that power, he was able to defeat the beasts that came through the rift and protect his classmates.
By the time the USS military arrived, the dust had settled. They quickly found, however, that the power armor would not operate for anyone save Art himself, having bonded with him in some way. Given the situation, they invited the faol into a military academy, training him as well as studying the suit (designated Xeno Relic X451, though nicknamed Talos) in the process. While the military positioned him as a fire support unit, including giving him a targeting-oriented cybernetic eye and mounting a USS heavy coilgun to the suit, he continued to study more technical and engineering fields as well to be able to maintain and perhaps eventually learn more about this unusual "gift."
While adept in use of weapons, Art has only ever really fought inhuman "monsters," and feels distinctly more vulnerable outside his armor. Under ideal conditions, he probably wouldn't be sent into regular, active duty for another couple years.
That seems to fit the bill of what I was considering along the way. If things go more military, he can follow orders and try to be a good soldier. If they don't, well it's no big loss as he isn't fully trained/enlisted and he will be willing to "play hero" and do the "right" thing regardless of military authority. Being an Earth-born faol (felinoid transhuman) and his inexperience lay some groundwork for discomfort in some situations, which I think is what I want rather than utter confidence (like, say, Nova).
I'm not sure how this will play out longer-term with an android luck-bringer, human sniper, elfish druid shapeshifter, lizardfolk tech warrior, and a pixie swordmage. We'll have to see. Still, I'm amused that I went through all that and essentially came out with a catboy Glitter Boy (of Palladium Rifts fame).
I am sorry I did not see this sooner and am curious if you have had sessions since and how things have played out for Art.
ReplyDeleteWell, last night was actually the first session. So far, I'm satisfied with the character - he's still getting his feet under him, but contributed in the first major combat. In my head, he has opinions about several of the other characters, so that seems like a good start.
ReplyDeleteThe group was part of a military overflight of an occupied/conflict zone that got shot down. PCs survived, NPCs didn't. So the first priority was to get out of the wreckage of craft and buildings. Kobolds were sighted coming in the apparent way out. Instead of fighting through them, though, one character opened up with a rocket launcher, which sort of blew that path to hell, so they had to crawl out another (more environmentally-dangerous) way before getting into relatively intact building structure and being beset by a couple zombies. The -same- character mostly finished them off with a sonic weapon (again in close quarters and confines). Past those, the group ran into a biiig zombie that took a few rounds of everyone's attacks before being finished off. Ewww!
That's where we wrapped. There were some injuries, though the biggest threat to the group seems to be the ranking officer's callous disregard for eardrums and blast damage in unstable, confined quarters.