Skimmed things, but I just got back from running my first session of a new game so I'm not feeling like changing mental gears to M&M from Iron Kingdoms tonight. I'll look in depth when I get home from work tomorrow. Overall it looks quite reasonable to me, but I do need to read it with a clear head.
I do have a couple [edit: I mean lots. Seems that I spent more time on the below then planned] of comments on the reasoning behind why I was doing what I was doing, just for peoples information. I know I find it easier tweaking other folks builds when I have some idea of what they were trying to do.
Shock wrote:At first combining Variable and Jalinth makes me twitchy but between the limits and the fact you can keep it on concept, I think that's a good idea too.
I'm forced to agree with Shock. I'm bad enough with power stunts, much less with a variable power.
The idea of a GM who knows me SUGGESTING even a limited variable power surprises and amuses me.
The way the character worked in 2e was the 10PP power in the device added Autofire to Blast, Constricting to Bind, Redirection to Deflect, Knockback 10 to Strike, Knockback 10 to Trip. One set effect that she wasn't able to change. At least without a power stunt. If she has the staff, she has a 30PP power. If she doesn't she has a 20PP power that is still useful, but obviously weaker. Frankly, 99% of the time characters have their devices with them and it's for a reason. If your character is like Iron Man, then losing your device cripples you, and believe me being stripped of all your powers sucks [I make exceptions for things like this adventure where it's a temporary setback for plot reasons]. In PF Zalman had 2 points in one adventure where he had no magic, and in another his magic was limited. Yes, taking down VIPER agents with a blaster rifle you just pulled from their unconscious buddies hands was cool, but playing a PL 5 in a PL 11 game is only fun for short periods of time. Having the staff as it is gives the GM something to take away that would weaken her, but not make her useless. The enemy can disarm her to reduce her threat, but doesn't mean she's out of the fight.
The in-character reason for this was that Zalman (her teacher) does not believe on relying on tools. They are useful, but they can be a crutch that denies you from reaching your true potential. Besides one never knows when one will be stripped naked and tossed into a cell. When Zalman took her under his wing, her entire array was in the device. He trained her until she could cast reliably without the help of the staff.
Fun fact - Aurora's "Storm Staff" doesn't actually have anything to do with storms. She just decided she liked the theme. Her array is all force magic. Her blasts? Magic Missile on steroids. Radioactive steroids.
I wanted Aurora's spell set to be less flexible then Zalmans. Even at character creation, Zalman could do a heck of a lot of different things (See:Boost a.k.a source of Davies' Ulcer
). For Aurora, all her spells are fairly blunt. Blast things, smash things, toss things away, tie them up, or knock them away from hitting you. No scrying, no teleporting, no summoning, no variable powers. Just to keep things a bit easier on the GM. She has the knowledge and training to power stunt much of that, but doesn't have it as part of her normal toolkit.
All in all I wanted a character who was less of a potential headache to GM then Zalman was while still being a wizard. The first plan when TM brought up the idea of me joining FORCE Ops was to have Zalman be on the team. We changed the plan after I thought about it some, and I realized that I didn't want to play Zalman from 150pp again because I'd just be treading over familiar ground and that his powers had a number of gotcha's for a GM. Aurora was a fresh face, who I wouldn't resent for not being able to do what end game Zalman could do, because she wasn't Zalman. Playing his student gives me the best of both worlds. A connection to some of the best fun I've ever had in a RPG ever, and a clean slate without 11,000 posts worth of baggage. While I'm still not quite successful with getting into Aurora's head, I do think she is going to be able to achieve those aims.
The Ferret form is mostly a reference to the series that partially inspired Aurora. She's a mix of two characters from Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha. Nanoha, who does things like
this, is obvious in how she inspired Aurora.
The other character is Yunno, who is a supporting character. At the very start of the first season he is badly hurt (fighting a monster that Nanoha later defeats within 2 minutes of finding out magic is real) and transforms into his alternate form, that of a ferret, to heal. The small form places less stress on his magical core and he is able to focus his power on healing. He stays in that form for most of the first season. I tossed it in mostly as a nod to the series that inspired the character. If you look at the 2e version I had recovery rate (disabled) 1 (recover 1 / 5 hours), recovery rate (injured) 1 (recover 1 / 20 mins). That's purely out of combat healing. It isn't really needed in 3e any more, but I felt the need to leave at least some token in there. If I wanted in combat healing, she'd be a wolverine not a ferret.
Well, that took up exactly as much time as my clothing was in the dryer, so I'm going go to bed. Work in the morning and all. Fly safe folks!
