The New World: A Cataclysmic Birth (A Superpowered RP, Closed)

EmperorZuma

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[HEADING=1]The New World[/HEADING]​
[HEADING=3]A Cataclysmic Birth[/HEADING]​

We live in the world of today, a world of "normalcy", where the fantastic and awful exist usually in works of fiction. In the city of Portsfield, we go about our daily lives, consumed in our own affairs. We do as we have done for our entire lives, probably not spending more than an random thought about the working of the universe around us.

However, a change coming, a change so drastic, and on such an enormous scale that no one will ever be able to forget where they were during the days to come, if they survive them. How will you react to the world after the Cataclysm?

[HEADING=3]Notes[/HEADING]

1. This Roleplay will be a sandbox-type game set on an Earth much like our own, but not for much longer. Soon, the people of this world will find that a minority have been gifted with extraordinary powers. How will the world react? Are these gifted individuals a blessing or a curse on mankind? These answers and more are up to you.

2. As you've probably already seen, this will be a sort-of origin story for the player-characters. However, it has one big difference, your power isn't up to you. Instead of putting a power in your character sheet, you will make a separate "Power Sheet" that will describe a power of your own design. When the game begins, the powers will then be randomly distributed among the characters.

3. ALL POWERS POSTED WILL BE PUT IN A COLLECTIVE POOL TO BE DISTRIBUTED FROM. This means that it's possible for your power to end up being used in the RP, even though your character was not accepted. I know this seems unfair, but I need to do it to create a "backlog" of spare powers to give out to players who don't feel like they can work with the initial power they're given.

[HEADING=3]The City[/HEADING]

Portsfield is a large city in western Oregon, bordering the Pacific Ocean. Founded all the way back in the days when Oregon was a territory shared by the British and Americans, it has had its ups and downs throughout the centuries. Recently, it has just found stability after the downturn in 2008, thanks to a costly revival of its tourist hot-spots. In one case, the city created a new one, the "Mall of the West". However, the effects of the economical turmoil can still be felt in some of the poorer districts, effects like homelessness and crime.

At the moment, the city is most noted for it's esteemed New Western University. Originally founded in 1888, the campus was almost destroyed in 1978 after a fire that resulted from a tremor breaking a gas line. When it was rebuilt, the influx of funding allowed it to expand several of its programs and now it sits on the top ten of several academic fields places of study. It serves as a magnet for promising students throughout the country, many of whom choose to stay in Portsfield and contribute with the knowledge they've gained. This has created a strong relationship between the city and the college, to a degree that several of the city's past mayors were former deans.

Another notable location is nearby Mt. Highfort, which serves as a geological oddity. Basically a giant igneous rock, it is believed to have been formed underground as a pocket of cooled magma that was later revealed by erosion, but its location doesn't seem to support this theory. Compounding this curiosity is the relation it has to the region's history. It served as an object of worship for the Native Americans that used to live in the area, an unknown tribe even carving out a home at the base of it and leaving strange artifacts with no discernible purpose. As Europeans settled in, the mountain had a less-mystic purpose: serving as a fortification for the settlers, hence the name. Today, it is a subject of an Institute of Scientific Study and Advancement (ISSA) investigation, as they seek to find out how the mountain formed and why it seemed to demand such attention.

All in all, Portsfield is a city that is well-established, bearing an interesting past, but is otherwise not very noteworthy in the grand scheme of things. However, with what's to come, that can all change...


Downtown Portsfield- The cultural and administrative center of the city, downtown contains city hall, several museums, and stage theaters. It also contains the "Portsfield Centre for the Arts", which caters to all sorts of artistic tastes and houses exhibits that tour the world. The police are headquartered here, though their precincts on the mainland are more heavily staffed, due to downtown's remoteness from the rest of the city. The island is accessible mostly through the Portsfield Subway system, but there are several bridges connecting it to Riverside.

Riverside- The commercial center for the city, Riverside the the most affluent part of Portsfield. It contains most of the headquarters of the businesses that operate in the city, along with high-rise apartment and condo buildings to house the people that work there. It also contains the "overflow" from downtown, leading to some of the-relatively-cheaper apartments to house artists rather than office workers. The Mall of the West is located here, massive in size and containing a shop for almost every want an need. It also has a theme park on the inside, which even has water park rides.

Plainview- The melting pot of the city, Plainview sits in the position of containing whatever doesn't fit into the other districts. It houses the workers of Riverside who can't afford to live in the expensive apartments by their work; it houses the people desperate to leave the poverty of Backfield and The Sprawl behind; and it houses all the students who attend New Western, where the campus is situated. The average citizen of Portsfield probably lives in Plainview, which caters to its inhabitants by providing the same accommodations a person of median income can expect: parks, community centers, and a few malls.

North Beach- A district mainly built with tourism in mind, North Beach is practically two different places, depending on the season. In the summer, the place with swamped with tourists who want to visit the beach, or have a cheap place the sleep after a full day of shopping in Riverside. However, for the rest of the year, the place caters to only a small number of off-season travelers. During this time, most of the businesses are sustained by giving special deals to locals wanting to escape the trappings of the poorer districts.

The Harbor- Portsfield's connection to the world, the Harbor serves as a source of constant revenue for the city through the shipping industry. The entire district is built with this in mind, full of warehouses, storage facilities for fuel, and other services for the ships that come through and the trucks that unload them. There are few residential areas in the district, with most workers commuting from Plainview.

South Beach- Asserting itself as the travel hub of the city, South Beach is the bastardized offspring of North Beach and the Harbor. Originally, it served as the home of Skyfield Airport, and housing for the Harbor workers. However, the city council wanted to try and expand the business that North Beach brought in, so they attempted to hastily construct a cruise-liner port and new beachfront properties. This ended poorly, as several criminal organizations took interest in the contracting and used the opportunity to dig roots into the city. The Yakuza and the Russian Mafia both dug deep roots into Portsfield, where they have remained. Today, South Beach now serves a the tourist destination for those who find they can't afford North Beach rates, as well as the place anyone coming in on a cruise ship or flying in through Skyfield get a bittersweet taste of Portsfield.

Greenfield- Protected land surrounding Mt. Highfort, Greenfield serves as a beautiful place for anyone in Portfield to spend a daytrip visiting. There are several small towns scattered here and there, built in the early 1900's, before the area became protected by city ordinance. Preserved, these towns provide an opportunity to see a time before the modern area, though the locals dislike being oddities to be gawked at by the city-dwellers. Regardless, most of the district is pristine, ranging from dense forests to open fields. Greenfield serves as a Portsfieldian's escape from reality.

Backfield- A poorer part of Portsfield, Backfield serves the city as the home for many of the city's low-income workers. Composed of mostly suburban neighborhoods, the district is a maze of twisting roads and a nightmare for the police to patrol, giving rise to gang violence. It is unknown if it started in Backfield, or spilled over from the Sprawl, but gang crimes have come to be a constant thorn in the people of Backfield's side. However, the problem is well managed, though not under control, and Backfield is considered a viable place to live for those not able to live in the other districts.

The Sprawl- Officially called "Clydesfield", in recognition of the city's chief founder, the Sprawl is suburban hell spawned from hard times. In the late 1890's and early 1900's, when the Harbor began to boom, the Sprawl became the manufacturing center of the region, almost matching Riverside in the wealth from the goods made and sold there. However, during the Great Depression, most of the businesses in the district went bust, and the area has never really recovered. It did see an upturn of activity in time of prosperity for the nation, but never could hold onto success. Today, it is a hotbed of criminal activity, with gang violence, corruption, and drug trafficking all common problems. Anyone who ends up in the mess of abandoned factories and housing nightmares does so because they had no where else to go.

Name:

Age:

Gender:

Appearance:

Profession:

Biography:

Notes: (Anything worth noting about your character that doesn't fit anywhere else)

Name: (For reference)

Power: (The source of power can be from either within or without. A person can be mutated to obtain the power or it can come from an object. Even then, the power can come from elsewhere. If you want, you can also detail how this power can "grow" with experience or usage. Use your imagination!)

Physical Effects: (Does the use, or existence, of this power effect the person's appearance? If not, feel free to just delete this part)

Weakness:

Name: Drake Barr

Age: 20

Sex: Male

Appearance: Quite tall for his age, Drake tries as hard as he can to blend into the crowd. His short black hair, brown eyes and few blemishes on his pale face helping somewhat. He is lucky enough to have a form in good proportion, not having to deal with the lankiness some tall people end up with. As for clothes, he usually wears a neutral-colored button-up shirt open to reveal a white undershirt, or otherwise neutral to dark colored shirt. Along with that, he wears some baggy blue jeans and a pair of faded brown shoes.

Profession: Unemployed (College Student)

Biography: Drake was born in North Texas, away from the bright lights of Dallas. His childhood in a small town is your run-of-the-mill tale, with the only noteworthy aspect being his failure to live up to the expectations of others. His height made him perfect for basketball, only for everyone to find, after he joined the team, that he sucked. His build was also good for football, but that venture ended with the same result. He was good enough at academics, but only passed each class by the skin of his teeth because he almost never did homework.

Because of his "failings", and his small number of friends, Drake was constantly bullied, sitting him right on the bottom rung of his middle school and high school social ladders. After a few of altercations landed him in detention, Drake began to simply take the abuse. It did get the easily distracted bullies bored, "making" them stop. However, some didn't, and their torture gradually got worse and worse, slowly building pressure under his cap.

Eventually, this led to a predictable result, only with more drastic consequences. Drake's fury unleashed on an unexpected target, and in a town where rumors spread like wildfire, his bad school life expanded into a living hell. Even though the county court was satisfied with a fine, and the school with some time spent at an alternative location, the town wasn't, and their revenge ranged from angry stares to vandalizing his property and home. The only saving grace for Drake was that his incident happened near the end of his Senior year.

Drake didn't attend graduation at the end of his public school life, instead spending the day, and some days afterward, on the road to Oregon. Even his parents were surprised when New Western's acceptance letter came in the mail, but they didn't question the excellent opportunity for Drake to start over. Out of curiosity, they asked Drake before he left what major he chose, and the answer's irony wasn't lost on them: Pre-Law.

With a clean slate, Drake has been stepping on eggshells, even though he's been in Portsfield for almost two years. The only people he talks to for any good length of time have been his professors.

Notes:

1. Drake lives with a wealthy friend of the family in Riverside as he studies in New Western, he commutes using the subway.

2. He doesn't yet have a job yet, but it looking for one in his off-time. Currently, he's focusing on finding a desk job on-campus.

3. Drake has light psoriasis, leaving patches of scaly skin behind his ears and on his back. He's self-conscious of these and doesn't like people noticing them.

Name: Plant Symbiosis

Power: The subject's body becomes plant-like in nature, not only allowing flora to inhabit it, but also allowing for the subject to control the plants that "connect" to him/her. The subject also exhibits an ability to "sense" other nearby organisms, flora or fauna. The more accustomed the individual it with the nerve connections, the more control the subject can enforce upon the plants they are connected to, even to the point where they can grow and adapt as the subject wills. The ability to "connect" can also be trained, to the point where the subject can "interface" with larger plants, like trees, and manipulate them for a time.

Physical Effects: Initially, the subject's skin will become a shade of green commonly seen when a human being is ill. However, as time progresses, the subject will resemble a human less and a sentient plant more, down the the cellular level. At the later stages, when the subject is "more plant than human", they will no longer be confined to a humanoid shape. Their figure and form will be by their own design. As the effects progress, the subject's body gains the ability to regenerate injuries much faster than the normal human.

Weakness: The subject is vulnerable to sudden changes in environment, and temperature extremes. For example, they will react slowly and even move slowly in the cold, and will be in a state of constant thirst in dry climates. Darkness, or a long time spent in artificial light will also slow them down (though the subject will rarely tire in daylight). Finally, fire will have a brutal effect on the subject, especially when the physical effects are fully manifest.
 

EmperorZuma

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avouleance2nd said:
I'm interested but just a quick question/ suggestion

Once powers are assigned is there a chance to modify them based on the character receiving them? For example taking into account non powered skills or personality traits, a person who was more aggressive might receive a version of the power with enhanced offensive potential or if a person has skill with a particular tool/weapon they might be able to enhance their powers.

Using the power you posted as an example

Both players would receive the base power as listed but let?s take two demo characters.

1-Person one is physically strong and a gentle giant type as such their power is modified like so, their plant form has a thick bark like armour and they are able to regenerate from injuries more quickly when exposed to direct sunlight. On the more active side of things they might be especially good at disabling enemies grabbing them with roots and branches non offensively.

2-Person two on the other hand is more aggressive their plant skin is weaker but thickly thorny and they can use their powers to release deadly spores. They may have similar regeneration ability to person 1 but instead of being triggered by sunlight person 2 breaks down the corpses of living creatures to provide nutrients. If person 2 is skilled with a gun then maybe they can recreate their weapon by launching hard seeds with great speeds.

Also as another question can we submit powers without characters? I?d like to submit a character anyway but I might have more powers ideas than character concepts.

EDIT

This way everyone get's some say in their powers while still preserving the idea that just because you powers are out of your control your actions aren't. Also help make the characters and powers feel more connected.

While there's some fun dissonance in having character's personalities and powers totally mismatched it feel like this would prevent people getting powers that don't work with their character or play style and also provide an alternative to re-rolling new powers (meaning the total pool doesn't need to be as big).
A good idea, I was thinking that there would be "room between the joints" to work out since the player wouldn't have the complete picture of what the person who wrote the power intended. Yes, smaller details like that will work, so long as the concept of the power isn't completely altered (Passive Regeneration is actually supposed to be in the Plant power regardless...knew I let something through the cracks).

As for posting more than one power...I think that depends on how many people want to join. If the number is lower than I expected, then I'll start allowing multiple power sheets per person.
 

hiei82

Dire DM (+2 HD and a rend attack
Aug 10, 2011
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EmperorZuma said:
A couple of questions.

1) What are the main industries of the city? NYC is known as a financial city, Washington DC is the city government built, Seattle is a tech hub, etc; What's Portsfield known for?

2) What's the theme of the game? Are you going for Golden-Age superheroics where the heroes spout terrible puns all day, Dark age blood and gore running in the streets, or the modern somewhere in the middle?

3) I'm assuming the Cataclysm is the event that gives people their powers; what kind of event is it? I'm trying to make powers, but I don't wanna make something magic based if the cataclysm is like a chemical plant leak (or science based a gate to hell opens) so the power fits with the game setting.

In the mean time, I have a power below that may or may not work as bribery thanks for answering the questions.


Name: Mystical Destiny

Power: Whether the Mystical Potential always existed inside you and was awakened by the Cataclysm or gifted to you that day is unknown, what you do know is when the events of the Cataclysm unfolded, the power of the multiverse flowed through you, granting you power above that of a mere mortal. You can call upon and channel this power through incantation to cause many possible effects, though all along a single theme related to the details of your personality or the conditions of the cataclysm (i.e. if your character works on as a stage hand for a band, you may gain illusion spells or if the cataclysm brought flaming debris down upon you, you may gain fire spells.) One branch of spells is chosen upon receiving the power; it cannot be changed.

Physical Effects: When casting spells, glowing blue runes appear, covering your body in arcane symbols of power. When not casting, a single glowing rune still exists somewhere on your body. The moment you cast a spell, one rune of power appears on each eye; indicating the spell's ready to fire. While casting, a voice whispers in your mind; tempting you with greater magic power if you'll but "make a deal."

Weakness: Your spells all require significant concentration to cast/maintain and it takes time to cast. Where this power grants variety of power possibilities; the cost is requiring significantly more effort and time to manifest the power. For example, if you received plant magic while another player received plant powers, their powers would manifest much more quickly and be much easier to maintain.

While you can call upon external power to create spells, there's a limit to how much power you can channel before losing control of the spell.
 

EmperorZuma

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hiei82 said:
A couple of questions.

1) What are the main industries of the city? NYC is known as a financial city, Washington DC is the city government built, Seattle is a tech hub, etc; What's Portsfield known for?

2) What's the theme of the game? Are you going for Golden-Age superheroics where the heroes spout terrible puns all day, Dark age blood and gore running in the streets, or the modern somewhere in the middle?

3) I'm assuming the Cataclysm is the event that gives people their powers; what kind of event is it? I'm trying to make powers, but I don't wanna make something magic based if the cataclysm is like a chemical plant leak (or science based a gate to hell opens) so the power fits with the game setting.

In the mean time, I have a power below that may or may not work as bribery thanks for answering the questions.


Name: Mystical Destiny

Power: Whether the Mystical Potential always existed inside you and was awakened by the Cataclysm or gifted to you that day is unknown, what you do know is when the events of the Cataclysm unfolded, the power of the multiverse flowed through you, granting you power above that of a mere mortal. You can call upon and channel this power through incantation to cause many possible effects, though all along a single theme related to the details of your personality or the conditions of the cataclysm (i.e. if your character works on as a stage hand for a band, you may gain illusion spells or if the cataclysm brought flaming debris down upon you, you may gain fire spells.) One branch of spells is chosen upon receiving the power; it cannot be changed.

Physical Effects: When casting spells, glowing blue runes appear, covering your body in arcane symbols of power. When not casting, a single glowing rune still exists somewhere on your body. The moment you cast a spell, one rune of power appears on each eye; indicating the spell's ready to fire. While casting, a voice whispers in your mind; tempting you with greater magic power if you'll but "make a deal."

Weakness: Your spells all require significant concentration to cast/maintain and it takes time to cast. Where this power grants variety of power possibilities; the cost is requiring significantly more effort and time to manifest the power. For example, if you received plant magic while another player received plant powers, their powers would manifest much more quickly and be much easier to maintain.

While you can call upon external power to create spells, there's a limit to how much power you can channel before losing control of the spell.
1) Portsfield is known for it's contribution to the arts, along with being a hub of commerce in the global trading network (both with physical goods and digital services). New Western also makes it a kind of "college city", thanks to the entanglement between the city and the university.

2) Somewhere in the mix, though definitely skewing further away from the grimdark theme.

3) The Cataclysm is a global event that brings a new energy into the world. This energy serves a general purpose of being the catalyst for what's to come, and can be considered magical in nature, from a human perspective.

4) The power is interesting, though maybe too open-ended. You seem to leave what the power entails almost entirely up to whoever gets it, and I don't quite understand the weakness regarding the subject's relation to other people with the same kind of power.

If I could recommend, another direction taken with the "mysterious voice" is a better way to go. Things like spirits and the like can exist after the Cataclysm, or are brought to a level where they can interact with humans and the physical plane. A person fighting off possession by a malevolent spirit, while at the same time having access to its power would certainly be interesting.
 

hiei82

Dire DM (+2 HD and a rend attack
Aug 10, 2011
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EmperorZuma said:
hiei82 said:
A couple of questions.

1) What are the main industries of the city? NYC is known as a financial city, Washington DC is the city government built, Seattle is a tech hub, etc; What's Portsfield known for?

2) What's the theme of the game? Are you going for Golden-Age superheroics where the heroes spout terrible puns all day, Dark age blood and gore running in the streets, or the modern somewhere in the middle?

3) I'm assuming the Cataclysm is the event that gives people their powers; what kind of event is it? I'm trying to make powers, but I don't wanna make something magic based if the cataclysm is like a chemical plant leak (or science based a gate to hell opens) so the power fits with the game setting.

In the mean time, I have a power below that may or may not work as bribery thanks for answering the questions.


Name: Mystical Destiny

Power: Whether the Mystical Potential always existed inside you and was awakened by the Cataclysm or gifted to you that day is unknown, what you do know is when the events of the Cataclysm unfolded, the power of the multiverse flowed through you, granting you power above that of a mere mortal. You can call upon and channel this power through incantation to cause many possible effects, though all along a single theme related to the details of your personality or the conditions of the cataclysm (i.e. if your character works on as a stage hand for a band, you may gain illusion spells or if the cataclysm brought flaming debris down upon you, you may gain fire spells.) One branch of spells is chosen upon receiving the power; it cannot be changed.

Physical Effects: When casting spells, glowing blue runes appear, covering your body in arcane symbols of power. When not casting, a single glowing rune still exists somewhere on your body. The moment you cast a spell, one rune of power appears on each eye; indicating the spell's ready to fire. While casting, a voice whispers in your mind; tempting you with greater magic power if you'll but "make a deal."

Weakness: Your spells all require significant concentration to cast/maintain and it takes time to cast. Where this power grants variety of power possibilities; the cost is requiring significantly more effort and time to manifest the power. For example, if you received plant magic while another player received plant powers, their powers would manifest much more quickly and be much easier to maintain.

While you can call upon external power to create spells, there's a limit to how much power you can channel before losing control of the spell.
1) Portsfield is known for it's contribution to the arts, along with being a hub of commerce in the global trading network (both with physical goods and digital services). New Western also makes it a kind of "college city", thanks to the entanglement between the city and the university.

2) Somewhere in the mix, though definitely skewing further away from the grimdark theme.

3) The Cataclysm is a global event that brings a new energy into the world. This energy serves a general purpose of being the catalyst for what's to come, and can be considered magical in nature, from a human perspective.

4) The power is interesting, though maybe too open-ended. You seem to leave what the power entails almost entirely up to whoever gets it, and I don't quite understand the weakness regarding the subject's relation to other people with the same kind of power.

If I could recommend, another direction taken with the "mysterious voice" is a better way to go. Things like spirits and the like can exist after the Cataclysm, or are brought to a level where they can interact with humans and the physical plane. A person fighting off possession by a malevolent spirit, while at the same time having access to its power would certainly be interesting.
I was going more for a "deal which the devil" idea since magic is most interesting when it's got the arguably evil feel to it.

I wasn't sure how to restrict the power besides the conditions of the character. Magic spells are kinda open by definition.

The weakness idea was that where someone with plant powers has inherent ability with plants and can therefore do what they want with plants easily, a magic user has an extra step in the process -channelling the magic into plants in this example - and therefore needs to put in more effort and more time than their contemporary.
 

EmperorZuma

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hiei82 said:
I was going more for a "deal which the devil" idea since magic is most interesting when it's got the arguably evil feel to it.

I wasn't sure how to restrict the power besides the conditions of the character. Magic spells are kinda open by definition.

The weakness idea was that where someone with plant powers has inherent ability with plants and can therefore do what they want with plants easily, a magic user has an extra step in the process -channelling the magic into plants in this example - and therefore needs to put in more effort and more time than their contemporary.
Well, you could either restrict the power by either enforcing your own set "school" of magic on it, or have the spells cast have some effect on the user as well. Like, they can cast fireballs, but they have no inherent protection from the ball's heat as they conjure it. Or, a conjurer that needs to use a finite resource to make his tools...like blood, though that kind of makes me hypocritical. Regardless, the fact that stuff like magic is new to humanity means that lack of knowledge of it, or that the energy is unstable when humans channel it could be the source of a weakness.

A deal with the devil kind of thing could also go in another direction, and perhaps can be the source of the weakness. Like, the "devil" is the source of the power in the first place, and the weakness could stem from the deal struck.
 

hiei82

Dire DM (+2 HD and a rend attack
Aug 10, 2011
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EmperorZuma said:
hiei82 said:
I was going more for a "deal which the devil" idea since magic is most interesting when it's got the arguably evil feel to it.

I wasn't sure how to restrict the power besides the conditions of the character. Magic spells are kinda open by definition.

The weakness idea was that where someone with plant powers has inherent ability with plants and can therefore do what they want with plants easily, a magic user has an extra step in the process -channelling the magic into plants in this example - and therefore needs to put in more effort and more time than their contemporary.
Well, you could either restrict the power by either enforcing your own set "school" of magic on it, or have the spells cast have some effect on the user as well. Like, they can cast fireballs, but they have no inherent protection from the ball's heat as they conjure it. Or, a conjurer that needs to use a finite resource to make his tools...like blood, though that kind of makes me hypocritical. Regardless, the fact that stuff like magic is new to humanity means that lack of knowledge of it, or that the energy is unstable when humans channel it could be the source of a weakness.

A deal with the devil kind of thing could also go in another direction, and perhaps can be the source of the weakness. Like, the "devil" is the source of the power in the first place, and the weakness could stem from the deal struck.
Edited the power to have a hard limit on the number of spells per day and over the lifetime of the caster; limit to be set by you. Sort of requires a limited resource (I went with soul-stuff instead of blood; made more sense thematically to me).

Let me know if you have any other changes in mind.

Name: Mystical Destiny

Power: Whether the Mystical Potential always existed inside you and was awakened by the Cataclysm or gifted to you that day is unknown, what you do know is when the events of the Cataclysm unfolded, the power of the multiverse flowed through you, granting you power above that of a mere mortal. You can call upon and channel this power through incantation to cause many possible effects, though all along a single theme related to the details of your personality or the conditions of the cataclysm (i.e. if your character works on as a stage hand for a band, you may gain illusion spells or if the cataclysm brought flaming debris down upon you, you may gain fire spells.) One branch of spells is chosen upon receiving the power; it cannot be changed.

Physical Effects: When casting spells, glowing blue runes appear, covering your body in arcane symbols of power. When not casting, a single glowing rune still exists somewhere on your body. The moment you cast a spell, one rune of power appears on each eye; indicating the spell's ready to fire. While casting, a voice whispers in your mind; tempting you with greater magic power if you'll but "make a deal." In addition, casting spells comes at a cost. Everytime you cast, a small piece of your soul is stripped away and taken to places unknown. This limits the number of spells you can cast per day and over your lifetime. (Limit set by GM)

Weakness: Your spells all require significant concentration to cast/maintain and it takes time to cast. Where this power grants variety of power possibilities; the cost is requiring significantly more effort and time to manifest the power. For example, if you received plant magic while another player received plant powers, their powers would manifest much more quickly and be much easier to maintain.

While you can call upon external power to create spells, there's a limit to how much power you can channel before losing control of the spell.
 

EmperorZuma

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hiei82 said:
Name: Mystical Destiny

Power: Whether the Mystical Potential always existed inside you and was awakened by the Cataclysm or gifted to you that day is unknown, what you do know is when the events of the Cataclysm unfolded, the power of the multiverse flowed through you, granting you power above that of a mere mortal. You can call upon and channel this power through incantation to cause many possible effects, though all along a single theme related to the details of your personality or the conditions of the cataclysm (i.e. if your character works on as a stage hand for a band, you may gain illusion spells or if the cataclysm brought flaming debris down upon you, you may gain fire spells.) One branch of spells is chosen upon receiving the power; it cannot be changed.

Physical Effects: When casting spells, glowing blue runes appear, covering your body in arcane symbols of power. When not casting, a single glowing rune still exists somewhere on your body. The moment you cast a spell, one rune of power appears on each eye; indicating the spell's ready to fire. While casting, a voice whispers in your mind; tempting you with greater magic power if you'll but "make a deal." In addition, casting spells comes at a cost. Everytime you cast, a small piece of your soul is stripped away and taken to places unknown. This limits the number of spells you can cast per day and over your lifetime. (Limit set by GM)

Weakness: Your spells all require significant concentration to cast/maintain and it takes time to cast. Where this power grants variety of power possibilities; the cost is requiring significantly more effort and time to manifest the power. For example, if you received plant magic while another player received plant powers, their powers would manifest much more quickly and be much easier to maintain.

While you can call upon external power to create spells, there's a limit to how much power you can channel before losing control of the spell.
Hmmm, using the soul as a resource is difficult to set a limit on, as it seems to emphasize (or maybe some sort of "weight") on the spells cast. I mean, you couldn't really "train" your abilities because you're constantly losing part of yourself because of the trappings of the power.

Along with that, I still can't say if I like leaving the specific ability of the power up to the character. You see, I planned to have the powers divided at around the start of the RP, so players could have some time to plan out how their characters would react to the powers. This means that if someone ends up will your power, they pretty much get their pick of the litter in terms of abilities, which I find is a kind of unfair advantage compared to what the other players are probably going to end up with.

EDIT: A thought, though it is somewhat different than your idea, what about a person who's power lies in being able to make deals with devils? The person's "natural" ability is to bring demons into the physical plane, who can have a variety of powers, but the catch is that they demand a price for services rendered? For weaker demons, it can be something like a physical item, while for others it's something with more...attachment, to the subject?
 

hiei82

Dire DM (+2 HD and a rend attack
Aug 10, 2011
2,463
0
0
EmperorZuma said:
hiei82 said:
Name: Mystical Destiny

Power: Whether the Mystical Potential always existed inside you and was awakened by the Cataclysm or gifted to you that day is unknown, what you do know is when the events of the Cataclysm unfolded, the power of the multiverse flowed through you, granting you power above that of a mere mortal. You can call upon and channel this power through incantation to cause many possible effects, though all along a single theme related to the details of your personality or the conditions of the cataclysm (i.e. if your character works on as a stage hand for a band, you may gain illusion spells or if the cataclysm brought flaming debris down upon you, you may gain fire spells.) One branch of spells is chosen upon receiving the power; it cannot be changed.

Physical Effects: When casting spells, glowing blue runes appear, covering your body in arcane symbols of power. When not casting, a single glowing rune still exists somewhere on your body. The moment you cast a spell, one rune of power appears on each eye; indicating the spell's ready to fire. While casting, a voice whispers in your mind; tempting you with greater magic power if you'll but "make a deal." In addition, casting spells comes at a cost. Everytime you cast, a small piece of your soul is stripped away and taken to places unknown. This limits the number of spells you can cast per day and over your lifetime. (Limit set by GM)

Weakness: Your spells all require significant concentration to cast/maintain and it takes time to cast. Where this power grants variety of power possibilities; the cost is requiring significantly more effort and time to manifest the power. For example, if you received plant magic while another player received plant powers, their powers would manifest much more quickly and be much easier to maintain.

While you can call upon external power to create spells, there's a limit to how much power you can channel before losing control of the spell.
Hmmm, using the soul as a resource is difficult to set a limit on, as it seems to emphasize (or maybe some sort of "weight") on the spells cast. I mean, you couldn't really "train" your abilities because you're constantly losing part of yourself because of the trappings of the power.

Along with that, I still can't say if I like leaving the specific ability of the power up to the character. You see, I planned to have the powers divided at around the start of the RP, so players could have some time to plan out how their characters would react to the powers. This means that if someone ends up will your power, they pretty much get their pick of the litter in terms of abilities, which I find is a kind of unfair advantage compared to what the other players are probably going to end up with.

EDIT: A thought, though it is somewhat different than your idea, what about a person who's power lies in being able to make deals with devils? The person's "natural" ability is to bring demons into the physical plane, who can have a variety of powers, but the catch is that they demand a price for services rendered? For weaker demons, it can be something like a physical item, while for others it's something with more...attachment, to the subject?
That was the point. The power's main advantage is that it's a wild card power. You get control in what the character can do, but at the cost that it's weaker and more costly than the power would be without the choice.

I don't personally care for the demon summoner thing just because it takes away from the mystery. Demons and monsters are at their best when their goals and appearances are unknown. The way I built it preserved the mystery. What is this thing living inside your mind, tempting you with power you cannot hope to understand? When their out in the open and known; they become boring and mundane. "Oh, another demon... This one with a squid face."

Make any sense.

If the power is that big a problem, I'll just withdraw it.
 

EmperorZuma

New member
Jul 16, 2009
527
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0
hiei82 said:
That was the point. The power's main advantage is that it's a wild card power. You get control in what the character can do, but at the cost that it's weaker and more costly than the power would be without the choice.

I don't personally care for the demon summoner thing just because it takes away from the mystery. Demons and monsters are at their best when their goals and appearances are unknown. The way I built it preserved the mystery. What is this thing living inside your mind, tempting you with power you cannot hope to understand? When their out in the open and known; they become boring and mundane. "Oh, another demon... This one with a squid face."

Make any sense.

If the power is that big a problem, I'll just withdraw it.
It makes sense, but, putting aside that the voice in the character's head is at the mercy of the player's intentions (from a writing standpoint), it just seems the details and implications of the power make it hard to feel out and gauge if it risks breaking the game.

However, in light of our discussion, I think the previous incarnation is actually better; so long as the fact that the subject is objectively weaker than others is explicitly stated. Going back to look at it, I think it was implied, but I would feel better if it was stated clearly.
 

booksv2

New member
Aug 17, 2012
632
0
0
Name: human taser

Power: A large amount of electricity jump starts the persons system and the natural electricity(14 volts) in the human body becomes several thousand times more powerful(2800 volts), resulting in the ability to store electricity and expel it from themselves. The more it is used and the longer the larger the areas in the body that store the electricity will grow, how fast and large are dependent on each person.


Physical Effects: First visible effect would be that the hair on said person stands up now without any help, and it takes a major effort to get it to lay down.
Second effect is when touching another person skin to skin something like when u zap someone happens, but the larger the amount of power stored in the person the greater the zap, roughly a 2% leakage of the total voltage stored in the body.

Weakness: Must be grounded, which means in some way s/he has to be touching the ground, even so small as a wire touching him/her or who they are touching is touching ground. Without this s/he won?t be able to use electricity at all.
When in water the voltage is slowly sapped from the person as it is bled off into the water and the surrounding ground.

Note: 10V can destroy an electronic, no not so it?s smoking but so it doesn?t work. 1300V to be felt on you're skin, usually when touching someone else. 1800V to be heard, sounds like a small zap. 2400ishv to be seen, a small jump of static electricity can be seen jumping from one thing to another.



i'll see about posting a sheet for a character. really wish i was getting this power, i have so many ideas about it.
 

CrazyGirl17

I am a banana!
Sep 11, 2009
5,141
0
0
Looks interesting, lemme give it a try...

Name: Leon "Rush" Vargas

Age: 17

Gender: Male

Appearance: Latino, about 5'7, with black hair gelled into spikes with red tips and brown eyes. Leon also has metal studs in his ears and tribal-style tattoos around his wrists and on the back of his neck, plus a tattoo of a winged Chinese dragon on his back. He usually wears a white and gray t-shirt with what looks like a sketch of the grim reaper on it, white and gray camouflage pants, black and white sneakers, a dark gray hooded jacket, black finger-less gloves, and a black leather belt with metal studs.

Profession: Student

Biography: Born and raised in the Backfield district to Puerto Rican immigrants, Leon learned from an early age how to defend himself and not to trust anyone other than himself, and maybe a few people close to him. And his home life wasn't any better, with his father working 9-to-five in order to put food on the table, and his mother usually in a drunken haze. Basically, Leon ran with a bad crowd, being arrested more times than he can be bothered to remember.

Then everything changed about three years ago when his Uncle Dominic (a noted scientist) cane to the city to work at one of the big labs in Downtown Portsfield. Seeing the kind of situation his nephew was in (and having come from a similar background), Dominic offered to take the boy under his wing, and Leon's parents, tired of dealing with him, agreed.

Too bad no one asked Leon what he thought of the matter.

The next thing he knew, Leon was whisked away to a world far beyond what he was used to. And quite frankly, he didn't care for it. Yes, he now had access to the luxuries his former life had lacked (and he has taken advantage of it often), but he'd strongly prefer to be with his "homies" doing his own thing, instead of being constrained by rules and laws.

For now, though, Leon is stuck here, whether he likes it or not.

Notes: Leon always carries a switchblade with him, which he claims was the first thing he ever stole. Also, Leon is a decent street brawler, and knows a bit of street skills like picking locks, spray painting, and hot wiring cars. He does know some Spanish, but hardly ever uses it. Finally, for the past few years, Leon has been a practitioner or parkour, which comes in handy when he's trying to make a quick get away, hence his nickname He's fairly decent at it, but not without gaining a few scars in the process.

Name: Kinetic Energy Absorption

Power: The user gains the ability to convert kinetic energy from movement into various forms, such as enhancing speed/strength/durability & healing, with enough kinetic energy stored up, one could theoretically propel themselves through the air or shoot energy blasts

Physical Effects: The user's hands/feet glow blue when using this power, otherwise it doesn't do much else physically.

Weakness: This ability requires physical contact, and the user is unable to able to absorb kinetic energy while being restrained or incapacitated. Also, absorbing energy does not make the user invulnerable to damage, and is unable to absorb enough kinetic energy from something that is causing them harm, they will be vulnerable.

That's what I got so far, lemme know if I need to make changes.
 

EmperorZuma

New member
Jul 16, 2009
527
0
0
booksv2 said:
Name: human taser

Power: A large amount of electricity jump starts the persons system and the natural electricity(14 volts) in the human body becomes several thousand times more powerful(2800 volts), resulting in the ability to store electricity and expel it from themselves. The more it is used and the longer the larger the areas in the body that store the electricity will grow, how fast and large are dependent on each person.


Physical Effects: First visible effect would be that the hair on said person stands up now without any help, and it takes a major effort to get it to lay down.
Second effect is when touching another person skin to skin something like when u zap someone happens, but the larger the amount of power stored in the person the greater the zap, roughly a 2% leakage of the total voltage stored in the body.

Weakness: Must be grounded, which means in some way s/he has to be touching the ground, even so small as a wire touching him/her or who they are touching is touching ground. Without this s/he won?t be able to use electricity at all.
When in water the voltage is slowly sapped from the person as it is bled off into the water and the surrounding ground.

Note: 10V can destroy an electronic, no not so it?s smoking but so it doesn?t work. 1300V to be felt on you're skin, usually when touching someone else. 1800V to be heard, sounds like a small zap. 2400ishv to be seen, a small jump of static electricity can be seen jumping from one thing to another.



i'll see about posting a sheet for a character. really wish i was getting this power, i have so many ideas about it.
Hmmm, looks okay to me. Out of curiosity, is this power inspired by the InFamous video games?

CrazyGirl17 said:
Looks interesting, lemme give it a try...

Name: Leon Vargas

Age: 17

Gender: Male

Appearance: Latino, about 5'7, with black hair gelled into spikes with red tips and brown eyes. Leon also has metal studs in his ears and tribal-style tattoos around his wrists and on the back of his neck. He usually wears a white and gray t-shirt with what looks like a sketch of the grim reaper on it, white and gray camouflage pants, black and white sneakers, a dark gray hooded jacket, black finger-less gloves, and a black leather belt with metal studs.

Profession: Student

Biography: Born and raised in the Backfield district, Leon learned from an early age how to defend himself and not to trust anyone other than himself, and maybe a few people close to him. And his home life wasn't any better, with his father working 9-to-five in order to put food on the table, and his mother usually in a drunken haze. Basically, Leon ran with a bad crowd, being arrested more times than he can be bothered to remember.

Then everything changed about three years ago when his Uncle Dominic (a noted scientist) cane to the city to work at one of the big labs uin Downtown Portsfield. Seeing the kind of situation his nephew was in (and coming from a similar background), Dominic offered to take the boy under his wing, and Leon's parents, tired of dealing with him, agreed.

Too bad no one asked Leon what he thought of the matter.

The next thing he knew, Leon was whisked away to a world far beyond what he was used to. And quite frankly, he didn't care for it. Yes, he now had access to the luxuries his former life had lacked (and he has taken advantage of it often), but he'd strongly prefer to be with his "homies" doing his own thing, instead of being constrained by rules and laws.

For now, though, Leon is stuck here, whether he likes it or not.

Notes: Leon always carries a switchblade with him, which he claims was the first thing he ever stole. Also, Leon is a decent street brawler, and knows a bit of street skills like picking locks, spray painting, and hot wiring cars. Finally, for the past few years, Leon has been a practitioner or parkour, which comes in handy when he's trying to make a quick get away. He's fairly decent at it, but not without gaining a few scars in the process.

Name: Kinetic Energy Absorption

Power: The user gains the ability to convert kinetic energy from movement into various forms, such as enhancing speed/strength/durability & healing, with enough kinetic energy stored up, one could theoretically propel themselves through the air or shoot energy blasts

Physical Effects: The user's hands/feet glow blue when using this power, otherwise it doesn't do much else physically.

Weakness: This ability requires physical contact, and the user is unable to able to absorb kinetic energy while being restrained or incapacitated. Also, absorbing energy does not make the user invulnerable to damage, and is unable to absorb enough kinetic energy from something that is causing them harm, they will be vulnerable.

That's what I got so far, lemme know if I need to make changes.
A fine character and a fine power, it would be interesting to see how whoever gets this power "charges" their abilities.
 

booksv2

New member
Aug 17, 2012
632
0
0
EmperorZuma said:
Hmmm, looks okay to me. Out of curiosity, is this power inspired by the InFamous video games?

no, this started as electro-kinesis and morphed over to this halfway through. i had a computer class and learned a lot of interesting things about electricity, some of them are hilarious and some deadly. which is why i want this power for the game, cause i had ideas already but with the whole power switching thing it'll be interesting to see what others do with it.
 

booksv2

New member
Aug 17, 2012
632
0
0
Name: Cameron Jacques

Age: 22

Gender: male

Appearance: 6 foot tall man with thin body and thin muscles. Short brown hair and green eyes over a mouth usually half smiling just at life. Arms thin but strong from working in the shop for years. Cowboy boots with jeans tucked into them, a leather belt around his waist. Short sleeve shirt with a picture of a flaming bird on it under a leather coat which is open and very faded and worn. Several inside pockets with a pen and notepad in one and a small knife and flashlight in the otherside.

Profession: shop owner. (half owner, other half owned by yakuza under boss)

Biography: Born to a middle class family, his mother died giving birth to him. His father did the best he could with this new boy he was given, but was unable to do everything he wished being the owner of a little shop in the south beach. When Cameron was 10 he started helping with the shop, doing little things and messing up half the time but learning and over the next few years he became as good as a shop owner?s son would expect to be. When he was 16 his father was hospitalized when he refused to sell half the shop to the yakuza, signing the papers in the hospital 2 days after waking up to over 20 broken bones.
After the shop was half owned by the yakuza Cameron started seeing more and more of different yakuza people and curious learned about what they did and do. When Cameron was 19 his father had a heart attack and died on the way to the hospital, non-revivable. Ownership of his half of the shop fell to Cameron and he hired some people to work and keep the store as he mourned and spent the next few years spending more time out of the shop and walking the streets of south beach, watching the yakuza and Russians do their business in the different areas, wearing his fathers jacket as he does.

Notes: 2 story building, first floor shop and second floor small apartment.


questions, comments, love notes, hate mail.
EDIT
 

EmperorZuma

New member
Jul 16, 2009
527
0
0
booksv2 said:
Name: Cameron Jacques

Age: 22

Gender: male

Appearance: 6 foot tall man with thin body and thin muscles. Short brown hair and green eyes over a mouth usually half smiling just at life. Arms thin but strong from working in the shop for years. Cowboy boots with jeans tucked into them, a leather belt around his waist. Short sleeve shirt with a picture of a flaming bird on it under a leather coat which is open and very faded and worn. Several inside pockets with a pen and notepad in one and a small knife and flashlight in the otherside.

Profession: shop owner. (half owner, other half owned by yakuza under boss)

Biography: Born to a middle class family, his mother died giving birth to him. His father did the best he could with this new boy he was given, but was unable to do everything he wished being the owner of a little shop in the south beach. When Cameron was 10 he started helping with the shop, doing little things and messing up half the time but learning and over the next few years he became as good as a shop owner?s son would expect to be. When he was 16 his father was hospitalized when he refused to sell half the shop to the yakuza, signing the papers in the hospital 2 days after waking up to over 20 broken bones.
After the shop was half owned by the yakuza Cameron started seeing more and more of different yakuza people and curious learned about what they did and do. When Cameron was 19 his father had a heart attack and died on the way to the hospital, non-revivable. Ownership of his half of the shop fell to Cameron and he hired some people to work and keep the store as he mourned and spent the next few years spending more time out of the shop and walking the streets of south beach, watching the yakuza and Russians do their business in the different areas, wearing his fathers jacket as he does.
He as home above the shop when the Cataclysm happened.

Notes: 2 story building, first floor shop and second floor small apartment.


questions, comments, love notes, hate mail.
The sheet is okay from a character standpoint, but the last sentence needs to be removed. The game will begin before the Cataclysm, so while you can have Cameron be at his home when it happens, you shouldn't have it in the bio.
 

hiei82

Dire DM (+2 HD and a rend attack
Aug 10, 2011
2,463
0
0
I'm withdrawing the Mystic power to replace it with something different (and hopefully better)

Name: Immortal Soul

Power: On the day of the Cataclysm, you died. Something launched a stop sign into the air, slamming it into your forehead; pole first. Blood and brain matter whet everywhere; it was pretty gruesome really. Strangely though, at that moment, death had become an illusion; leaving you alive (and in significant pain). You eventually managed to pull the sign from your brain. The moment you did, your vial organs and muscles stitched together, keeping you alive indefinitely. Of course, non-vital pieces did not regenerate - such is unlife.

Physical Effects: You are Immortal. You cannot die under any circumstances. You can still be restrained, knocked out, or subjected to enormous amounts of pain; just life will not end and all your vital parts will stitch back together. Example; if someone shot you in the head through the eye, your brain would heal (because you cannot survive without it) but your eye would not (since you can survive without an eye). You can still heal normally, but significant damage will leave scars.

Weakness: In addition to not-regenerating non-vital parts of your body and the retention of the sense of pain, most of the pleasurable senses of life are slowly fading away. Sounds are less beautiful, colors less vivid, food lacks in taste. Over the next few hundred years - if you're careful - you'll become a motionless and senseless mind trapped in a prison of immortal meat. Needless to say, Immortality is its own curse.

Oh the curse of immortality; Worst. Power. Ever.

Name: Dr. Iskierka Capek

Age: 29

Gender: Female

Appearance: Bright blond hair kept at shoulder length, almost unnaturally bright-blue eye's hidden by a thin pair of glasses, and tan skin. When not teaching, she wears blue blouses that matches her eyes and a mid-length skirts. When teaching, she dresses professionally or in lab clothes as appropriate. Regardless, she wears a white lab coat with more pockets than seems entirely necessary. Within these pockets she normally keeps a number of useful tools (safety equipment, measuring devices, a screwdriver and pocket knife, etc). She carries a pair of prescription safety glasses for when she's in the lab. In addition, her left hand is an advanced prosthesis - the result of an unfortunate lab accident she would "rather not talk about". On her ring finger, she wears a simple golden wedding band that's been burned and distorted by heat.

Profession: Professor of Astrophysics

[b/]Personality:[/b] Iskierka is a genuinely curious about nearly everything. This curiosity is now tempered by grief. She used to be friendly enough, but the loss of her husband has dampened that, and she is cold to those she does not know. In times of focus, her old personality (that of a cheerful, curious, carefree individual) shows itself, but when her mind is unoccupied, she cannot help but think of what she has lost.

Biography: Iskierka Eyzik was born to a middle class family in the northeastern United States. From a young age, she was always more interested in "how things work" than anything else. While children her own age were playing games, she was busy dissecting the same games trying to understand how they worked and how to exploit them; she became very good at winning these games as a result. As she grew older, her desire to learn new things expanded into nearly every field; from science and technology to history, language, and art. Through all these fields she maintained her methodology of understanding the ins and outs of world around her, learning to exploit them, and using that knowledge to be better at it than anyone around her. Throughout her life, she knew of the martian-earth conflicts, but she was sheltered from that full scope of it.

When she finally went to college, majoring in astrophysics, she found herself surrounded by people who were her intellectual equals and betters, and the resources to finally do some real experiments. By the end of her first year, she knew more about the MIT science labs than some of her professors. Her studies gave her grades that were the envy of her peers, save one: Issac Capek - computer scientist. From day one, the two were the fiercest rivals for valedictorian of their class, each trying desperately to out do the other in everything. Yet, at the same time, they were the only ones capable of being the others true intellectual equal. They collaborated often, becoming close friends as well as enemies. Undergraduate lead to Graduate, Graduate to PHD, and still the two were neck and neck for the top prize at MIT. Finally, Iskierka took maters into her own hands, and began experimenting in the ground breaking field of particle aceleration. It was her hope that by perfecting the technology, she would finally wipe the smug smirk from Isaac's face. Unfortunately, her experiments proved her undoing - and on one fateful night - a simple coupling came undone. While the coupling problem proved not her fault, the resulting explosion ruined her hand forever. Out for the rest of her semester, Isaac Capek secured the long fought top spot. At graduation, Iskierka admitted defeat, offering her newly replaced hand in surrender. Isaac on the other hand finally asked her out. Iskierka Eyzik became Iskierka Capek two years later.

For a time, everything in her world seemed to be falling into place: she had her dream job working on state-of-the-art technology for the Department of Defense, a husband she loved, and all she could ever want and need. This all changed in a single night; a crazed man broke into their home and tried to end her and her husbands lives to put a stop to their work. He half succeeded - Iskierka survived but Isaac was not so fortunate. The police killed the radical, saving her life.

Overcome by grief, she left the Department of Defense and moved west; seeking somewhere to live on and hopefully find peace. She took up a teaching/research position at New Western University; hoping to bury herself in work as far from her old life as possible.
 

EmperorZuma

New member
Jul 16, 2009
527
0
0
hiei82 said:
I'm withdrawing the Mystic power to replace it with something different (and hopefully better)

Name: Immortal Soul

Power: On the day of the Cataclysm, you died. Something launched a stop sign into the air, slamming it into your forehead; pole first. Blood and brain matter whet everywhere; it was pretty gruesome really. Strangely though, at that moment, death had become an illusion; leaving you alive (and in significant pain). You eventually managed to pull the sign from your brain. The moment you did, your vial organs and muscles stitched together, keeping you alive indefinitely. Of course, non-vital pieces did not regenerate - such is unlife.

Physical Effects: You are Immortal. You cannot die under any circumstances. You can still be restrained, knocked out, or subjected to enormous amounts of pain; just life will not end and all your vital parts will stitch back together. Example; if someone shot you in the head through the eye, your brain would heal (because you cannot survive without it) but your eye would not (since you can survive without an eye). You can still heal normally, but significant damage will leave scars.

Weakness: In addition to not-regenerating non-vital parts of your body and the retention of the sense of pain, most of the pleasurable senses of life are slowly fading away. Sounds are less beautiful, colors less vivid, food lacks in taste. Over the next few hundred years - if you're careful - you'll become a motionless and senseless mind trapped in a prison of immortal meat. Needless to say, Immortality is its own curse.

Oh the curse of immortality; Worst. Power. Ever.

Name: Dr. Iskierka Capek

Age: 29

Gender: Female

Appearance: Bright blond hair kept at shoulder length, almost unnaturally bright-blue eye's hidden by a thin pair of glasses, and tan skin. When not teaching, she wears blue blouses that matches her eyes and a mid-length skirts. When teaching, she dresses professionally or in lab clothes as appropriate. Regardless, she wears a white lab coat with more pockets than seems entirely necessary. Within these pockets she normally keeps a number of useful tools (safety equipment, measuring devices, a screwdriver and pocket knife, etc). She carries a pair of prescription safety glasses for when she's in the lab. In addition, her left hand is an advanced prosthesis - the result of an unfortunate lab accident she would "rather not talk about". On her ring finger, she wears a simple golden wedding band that's been burned and distorted by heat.

Profession: Professor of Astrophysics

[b/]Personality:[/b] Iskierka is a genuinely curious about nearly everything. This curiosity is now tempered by grief. She used to be friendly enough, but the loss of her husband has dampened that, and she is cold to those she does not know. In times of focus, her old personality (that of a cheerful, curious, carefree individual) shows itself, but when her mind is unoccupied, she cannot help but think of what she has lost.

Biography: Iskierka Eyzik was born to a middle class family in the northeastern United States. From a young age, she was always more interested in "how things work" than anything else. While children her own age were playing games, she was busy dissecting the same games trying to understand how they worked and how to exploit them; she became very good at winning these games as a result. As she grew older, her desire to learn new things expanded into nearly every field; from science and technology to history, language, and art. Through all these fields she maintained her methodology of understanding the ins and outs of world around her, learning to exploit them, and using that knowledge to be better at it than anyone around her. Throughout her life, she knew of the martian-earth conflicts, but she was sheltered from that full scope of it.

When she finally went to college, majoring in astrophysics, she found herself surrounded by people who were her intellectual equals and betters, and the resources to finally do some real experiments. By the end of her first year, she knew more about the MIT science labs than some of her professors. Her studies gave her grades that were the envy of her peers, save one: Issac Capek - computer scientist. From day one, the two were the fiercest rivals for valedictorian of their class, each trying desperately to out do the other in everything. Yet, at the same time, they were the only ones capable of being the others true intellectual equal. They collaborated often, becoming close friends as well as enemies. Undergraduate lead to Graduate, Graduate to PHD, and still the two were neck and neck for the top prize at MIT. Finally, Iskierka took maters into her own hands, and began experimenting in the ground breaking field of particle aceleration. It was her hope that by perfecting the technology, she would finally wipe the smug smirk from Isaac's face. Unfortunately, her experiments proved her undoing - and on one fateful night - a simple coupling came undone. While the coupling problem proved not her fault, the resulting explosion ruined her hand forever. Out for the rest of her semester, Isaac Capek secured the long fought top spot. At graduation, Iskierka admitted defeat, offering her newly replaced hand in surrender. Isaac on the other hand finally asked her out. Iskierka Eyzik became Iskierka Capek two years later.

For a time, everything in her world seemed to be falling into place: she had her dream job working on state-of-the-art technology for the Department of Defense, a husband she loved, and all she could ever want and need. This all changed in a single night; a crazed man broke into their home and tried to end her and her husbands lives to put a stop to their work. He half succeeded - Iskierka survived but Isaac was not so fortunate. The police killed the radical, saving her life.

Overcome by grief, she left the Department of Defense and moved west; seeking somewhere to live on and hopefully find peace. She took up a teaching/research position at New Western University; hoping to bury herself in work as far from her old life as possible.
An interesting power and a great character. However, do you think it's necessary for the power to appear so suddenly? Personally, I think someone finding that their "life experience" is gradually getting dimmer for no apparent reason would be an interesting read, until finally something happens that they regenerate from and the answer starts to become clear.
 

hiei82

Dire DM (+2 HD and a rend attack
Aug 10, 2011
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EmperorZuma said:
hiei82 said:
I'm withdrawing the Mystic power to replace it with something different (and hopefully better)

Name: Immortal Soul

Power: On the day of the Cataclysm, you died. Something launched a stop sign into the air, slamming it into your forehead; pole first. Blood and brain matter whet everywhere; it was pretty gruesome really. Strangely though, at that moment, death had become an illusion; leaving you alive (and in significant pain). You eventually managed to pull the sign from your brain. The moment you did, your vial organs and muscles stitched together, keeping you alive indefinitely. Of course, non-vital pieces did not regenerate - such is unlife.

Physical Effects: You are Immortal. You cannot die under any circumstances. You can still be restrained, knocked out, or subjected to enormous amounts of pain; just life will not end and all your vital parts will stitch back together. Example; if someone shot you in the head through the eye, your brain would heal (because you cannot survive without it) but your eye would not (since you can survive without an eye). You can still heal normally, but significant damage will leave scars.

Weakness: In addition to not-regenerating non-vital parts of your body and the retention of the sense of pain, most of the pleasurable senses of life are slowly fading away. Sounds are less beautiful, colors less vivid, food lacks in taste. Over the next few hundred years - if you're careful - you'll become a motionless and senseless mind trapped in a prison of immortal meat. Needless to say, Immortality is its own curse.

Oh the curse of immortality; Worst. Power. Ever.

Name: Dr. Iskierka Capek

Age: 29

Gender: Female

Appearance: Bright blond hair kept at shoulder length, almost unnaturally bright-blue eye's hidden by a thin pair of glasses, and tan skin. When not teaching, she wears blue blouses that matches her eyes and a mid-length skirts. When teaching, she dresses professionally or in lab clothes as appropriate. Regardless, she wears a white lab coat with more pockets than seems entirely necessary. Within these pockets she normally keeps a number of useful tools (safety equipment, measuring devices, a screwdriver and pocket knife, etc). She carries a pair of prescription safety glasses for when she's in the lab. In addition, her left hand is an advanced prosthesis - the result of an unfortunate lab accident she would "rather not talk about". On her ring finger, she wears a simple golden wedding band that's been burned and distorted by heat.

Profession: Professor of Astrophysics

[b/]Personality:[/b] Iskierka is a genuinely curious about nearly everything. This curiosity is now tempered by grief. She used to be friendly enough, but the loss of her husband has dampened that, and she is cold to those she does not know. In times of focus, her old personality (that of a cheerful, curious, carefree individual) shows itself, but when her mind is unoccupied, she cannot help but think of what she has lost.

Biography: Iskierka Eyzik was born to a middle class family in the northeastern United States. From a young age, she was always more interested in "how things work" than anything else. While children her own age were playing games, she was busy dissecting the same games trying to understand how they worked and how to exploit them; she became very good at winning these games as a result. As she grew older, her desire to learn new things expanded into nearly every field; from science and technology to history, language, and art. Through all these fields she maintained her methodology of understanding the ins and outs of world around her, learning to exploit them, and using that knowledge to be better at it than anyone around her. Throughout her life, she knew of the martian-earth conflicts, but she was sheltered from that full scope of it.

When she finally went to college, majoring in astrophysics, she found herself surrounded by people who were her intellectual equals and betters, and the resources to finally do some real experiments. By the end of her first year, she knew more about the MIT science labs than some of her professors. Her studies gave her grades that were the envy of her peers, save one: Issac Capek - computer scientist. From day one, the two were the fiercest rivals for valedictorian of their class, each trying desperately to out do the other in everything. Yet, at the same time, they were the only ones capable of being the others true intellectual equal. They collaborated often, becoming close friends as well as enemies. Undergraduate lead to Graduate, Graduate to PHD, and still the two were neck and neck for the top prize at MIT. Finally, Iskierka took maters into her own hands, and began experimenting in the ground breaking field of particle aceleration. It was her hope that by perfecting the technology, she would finally wipe the smug smirk from Isaac's face. Unfortunately, her experiments proved her undoing - and on one fateful night - a simple coupling came undone. While the coupling problem proved not her fault, the resulting explosion ruined her hand forever. Out for the rest of her semester, Isaac Capek secured the long fought top spot. At graduation, Iskierka admitted defeat, offering her newly replaced hand in surrender. Isaac on the other hand finally asked her out. Iskierka Eyzik became Iskierka Capek two years later.

For a time, everything in her world seemed to be falling into place: she had her dream job working on state-of-the-art technology for the Department of Defense, a husband she loved, and all she could ever want and need. This all changed in a single night; a crazed man broke into their home and tried to end her and her husbands lives to put a stop to their work. He half succeeded - Iskierka survived but Isaac was not so fortunate. The police killed the radical, saving her life.

Overcome by grief, she left the Department of Defense and moved west; seeking somewhere to live on and hopefully find peace. She took up a teaching/research position at New Western University; hoping to bury herself in work as far from her old life as possible.
An interesting power and a great character. However, do you think it's necessary for the power to appear so suddenly? Personally, I think someone finding that they're "life experience" is gradually getting dimmer for no apparent reason would be an interesting read, until finally something happens that they regenerate from and the answer starts to become clear.
Eh. I just have a flair for the dramatic. I figured you'd want the powers revealed fairly quickly and, since immortality is a subtle power, the best way i could think of was using the cataclysm to my advantage.

I can change it if you prefer.