You're awoken by a loud crash coming from the room beside yours. After taking a moment to still your beating heart, you realize it was the crash of glass breaking. "Jack ?" You call out. "You okay?"
No one answers. Huh. Maybe you should check on him? You stand, yawning, then check the time. Huh. It's one AM. He said he'd be home late, so he's probably still out. Still, might as well check. Hm. You should probably grab your focus, you might have to fix something, and you'll be damned if you do it like a plebian mortal.
What is it?
[ ] A wand with a powerstone.
You're a Wizard. Someone who studies ancient tomes and researches your next spell, magic is something you tore from the world with pure willpower and study. Each spell must be learned individually, and you're still a beginner. Spells drain your physical reserves, tiring you, but in return, can be cast far more quickly than Ritualists, and have nearly as wide a variety.
[ ] A staff, made of strange and obscure materials.
You're a Ritualist. Someone for whom magic is a ritual, involving symbology and astralization. While your magic is flexible, it's slow and dangerous, with more powerful spells taking longer, and having greater and greater chances of backlash. If you're stuck in a fight, you mostly rely on a limited number of precast rituals, triggered on the fly, and magic items, temporarily enchanted. On the other hand, there's few problems that can't theoretically be solved by throwing enough magic at them. Of course, whether you can gather that much magical energy before blowing yourself up...
Pick 1.
[ ] Ritualist: Energy.
[ ] Ritualist: Body.
[ ] Ritualist: Mind.
[ ] Ritualist: Undeath
[ ] Ritualist: Spirits (As in creatures of spirit such as demons, not ghosts. Those are undead.)
[ ] Ritualist: Luck.
[ ] Ritualist: Matter.
[ ] Ritualist: Metamagic.
[ ] Ritualist: Crossroads.
[ ] A rather nice stick.
You're a Sorcerer. Your focus is actually completely unimportant, but it makes more of a threat than pointing your finger at someone. You're more a Superhero than a "proper" wizard, in that you have a rather limited number of abilities, but unlike the other three types, there's nothing stopping you from going all-in, all the time. On the other hand, your all-in, while greater than a Wizard's, is still less than a master Ritualist.
Pick 1.
[ ] Sorcery: Fire.
[ ] Sorcery: Water.
[ ] Sorcery: Earth.
[ ] Sorcery: Air.
[ ] Sorcery: Aether. (Raw magic, metmagic. Less capable of pure combat, but can actually use counterspells and wards.)
[ ] Sorcery: Void. (Destruction/Negation. Absolutely no defensive or helpful abilities.)
[ ] Sorcery: Body.
[ ] A small book of Names.
You're a summoner. Having decided that actually casting spells is for other people, that is, people who aren't you, you instead began learning the fine art of Summoning. You can forge contracts with powerful creatures, and summon and bind them to do your bidding. In return, you owe them a payment of energy, which regenerates rather slowly. Summoning isn't something that can be done in combat time, but creatures that are summoned can be bound to objects, to be pulled into reality at will. Your book is one such object, containing a minor beast of Light.
Pick 1.
[ ] Summoner: Pact Maker. You summon a creature and negotiate a term of service.
[ ] Summoner: Binder. You summon a creature and forcibly bind it, overriding it's free will.
[ ] Summoner: Invoker. You summon, it attacks, it's gone. This can be done at combat speed.
Focus in hand, you set out, making your way to your little brother's room. You knock politely, as he yelled at you the last time you didn't, but once more, he fails to answer. Well, that's to be expected, he's probably not home yet. You shrug and open the door to reveal utter devastation. The entire room has been upturned. You can feel the fading remnants of Fey magics lingering in the air, most focused around the shattered mirror. A portal spell, you quickly deduce, using it as a component. Jerk. Now you're going to have to punch them in the face to show them why they shouldn't. Whatever, you'll do that later.
Ugh. You should probably tell Jack about this once he get's home th- you freeze as you happen to glance out the window. His car's here. He's home. And he's not in his room. Hold on, don't panic yet. You're above such things. "Jack!" You can out. Maybe he's just not up here? That's possible, right? "Jack! Where are you?" He still doesn't answer.
You shove your hand into your pocket, and quickly dial him. You're not about to look around the house when you don't have to, and the boy keeps his phone on him all the damn time. You're pretty sure he takes it into the shower.
Ring.
Ring.
Ring.
"I'm Sorry. The number you are calling is not-"
You hang up. No reason to panic yet. His phone might not be working for some reason. That happens, right? Either way, you're looking around the house first. You quickly check the rooms on this floor, and after confirming they're empty, make your way downstairs to poke around the first floor. Empty. Basement. Empty.
You notice your fist going white as it clenches around your focus. It looks like you're going to have to get him back, and may whatever gods exist have mercy on the one who took him. You head back to his room, taking one last look around and letting your gaze fall upon one of the shattered shards of mirror. Your own face looks back at you.
[] What gender are you?
[] What do you look like? (Note, you're 26 years old.)
[] What's your name?
(Note, your parents had no sense of culture when naming the kids. You can be of whatever ethnicity/culture you want, your little bro's name has no effect.)
AN: Yeah, so I've got writers block for my other quest, so doing this in order to get the creative juices flowing again. @Sinistral Sylph will be assisting me, and will probably be joining me as a co-GM later on.
How you act will be the next vote, after we've done character creation.
Anyway, notes:
Sorcerers are the most powerful (in terms of raw destruction, anyway), but have the least versatility. They have 1 or 2 tricks, but mainly they just blow things up with more dakka. Their specialization determines what tricks, and what kind of dakka.
Wizards are the middle. They have a good amount of versatility, and reliable but weak firepower. Their advantage is that if they know a spell, they can use it whenever, but on the other hand, they need to spend time learning new spells. Like, a pretty decent amount of time. 150 hours of studying or so, is what I'm getting at. The problem's that their bigger spells tire them out. While small spells take minimal effort (a candle-flame won't take much for any mage who bothered to learn it, for example), big ones take a lot (A firestorm, on the other hand, is going to knock you out.). The better the mage, the less any individual spell tires them.
Ritualists are the most versatile, but similarly, have the least reliability. Where a Sorcerer has a machine gun that shoots missiles, and a Wizard has a pistol with infinite ammo, a swiss army knife and a I dunno, sniper rifle with a few shots, I guess, you have a rocket launcher and a replicator that takes hours to warm up. On the other hand, given enough time, there's few problems you can't solve, and those problems are usually, basically, "There's another mage of some sort involved here." A ritualist can only "hang" a limited number of spells at a time though, so mainly they do stuff like imitate Dresden Files and enchant their items to autocast a single spell, and then renew the enchantments.
Summoners are masters of delegation. They don't have any magic themselves, so they summon up powerful spirits to go ahead and do things for them. Unfortunately, they're limited by the number of creatures they're aware of. You can't summon a being whom you don't know exists, for example, and sufficiently powerful beings can ignore or even reverse your summons. That's usually a bad thing, but if you're good at fast talk (And of course you are, you survived this long, didn't you?) you can usually convince them to let you go. And most creatures want to be summoned, so it all works out.
Whichever way you decide to go, your main threat is going to be other casters. Werewolves, for example, are badly equipped for enemies who can fly or teleport or whatever, vmapires do badly against summoned earth golems, and firearms tend to fair badly when you just redirect them in mid-air. Of course, individual casters might have problems with individual threats (Sorcerers in particular can't really deal with, say, people with guns other than by killing them first, and summoners tend to cower behind their meat shields no matter what the problem is), but in general, the statement holds.
Anyway, gimme a couple posts to reserve in case of other information I need, and then feel free to start voting, asking questions, whatever!
Edit: Note, the suboptions are what you start knowing, and have trained in thus far. Except for Sorcerers. They just do their one thing, but like I mentioned, they're very good at using that one thing to kill things.
Energy Reserve: 18. Enough to bend reality somewhat hard, letting you throw out a single fireball with the amount of raw damage as a pistol before being exhausted.
Knowledge of the Occult: You're very likely to be able to recall any relevant general information about the supernatural unless it's actively hidden.
--Knowledge of Vampires, Werewolves, and Fey: With these things in your town, you know them pretty well.
Knowledge of Magic: You have a good amount of knowledge of how magic works.
Path of Energy: Your energy magic is your best feature. Good enough to let you toss around fireballs with about the same force as a sniper rifle, or render yourself immune to pistols.
Path of Metamagic: You're good with metamagic, letting you store all but the strongest spells even without any particular prep.
Path of Luck: Good enough for a major boost to hit for about a week. This won't stack, and only affects one person. (That's not as big a bonus as it looks, penalties stack up fast. It will, however, let you stay at a good range.)
Path of Crossroads: Good enough to open an already weak point in reality, but otherwise not so good.
Other Paths: Good enough to... uh... check people over. Maybe heal a light wound. Might not want to do anything more for risk of turning yourself into a newt or something.
Alchemy: You can, technically speaking, brew a potion. It's just a really bad idea. Make a charm instead.
Innate Attack: You've got a 50% chance of hitting something 15 yards away with a spell. Your max luck boost will increase this to 100 yards.
Karate: You're trained in formal martial arts. While you're not spectacular, you can hold your own for long enough to run away.
Research: You can find out anything not obscure without too much work.
Knife: You're better with this than karate.
Pistol: Your range is slightly worse than with spells, but still respectable, 10 and 70 yards respectively.
Driving (Motorbike): You can drive a motorbike. This doesn't mean you can drive a car though.
Area Knowledge: You're familiar with your city, and can look around pretty easily.
Computer Operation: You can actually use a computer, which is better than most supernatural beings you know.
Your parents, Jessica and Isamu, are deceased.
Your older sister, Yuki, is a Hunter and is Out of Town.
You younger brother, Jack, is a student, and has been Kidnapped.
Graphir City is a large city on the north-east coast.
On the supernatural end...
It has a Werewolf infestation in the north.
The Vampires rule the east.
The Fairy Court rules the west.
The Council of Mages rules the south.
On the Mundane end, there are 3 Major Gangs in the city.
The Wild Hunt is in the North-West.
The Black Bloods are in the South.
The Bedline Bridge Shadows are in the East.
The Police are Incompetent.
Utilities are Reliable.
The City is Stable but Corrupt.
Your Younger Brother has been Kidnapped by Fairies.
You generally carry things that allow you to enhance gravity or mimic telekinesis for a bit, along with a smattering of slightly longer lasting charms for "ensuring precision" (abusing luck magic like a cheating cheater who cheats).
You can prepare 23 spells.
These are the current ones prepared.
5x Crushing Gravity (Energy): A 3 yard radius has it's gravity doubled for 10 minutes.
5x Slayer's Shot (Energy): A single-target kinetic pulse that slams through them with the force of a sniper rifle bullet. It has shit range in comparison though, maxing at 100 yards.
3x Sniper's Shot (Energy): A single-target kinetic pulse that slams through them with about 2/3 the force of Slayer's Shot. On the other hand, it has a max range of 2,000 yards.
7x TK Grab (Energy): You have TK for the next 10 minutes after this charm is activated. You can lift a max of 300 lb, and at a range of 15 yards.
3x Lucky Day (Luck): A random coincidence protects you from a shot that would otherwise hit you. Anything from a brick falling from the ceiling to your target's shoelaces coming untied and making him trip.
Active Spells:
Lucky Shot (Lesser Luck): You have a boost to hitting your target.
[X] A small book of Names.
[X] Summoner: Pact Maker. You summon a creature and negotiate a term of service.
[X] Male
[X] A tall and slightly scruffy blonde haired man in a tan trench coat. Almost hobo like at times, he can often be seen roughed up in some way or with tears in his already messy clothing.
[X] A Small Book of Names
[X] Pact Maker
Don't really care on name, appearance, and gender. Pact Making seems a bit more costly than Binding short term but means that long term we're not pissing off things we summon, which also gives us better chances with the stronger summons. Evoker just seems odd, and generally would rather just go Sorcerer for similar combat tricks.
No, it's more void as in "I'm removing things from existence." It can be used as antimagic though. I'd claim there's no conceptual casters, but that's... not quite accurate, since most magic falls under a concept. Like, Crossroads for ritualists is portals and doors, despite them only being linked by concepts, instead of physics. On the other hand, they can't do something like memetic Yukari, and move the crossroad/border between living and dead to kill you, if they want to kill you, they'll have to do it the hard way.
Edit: So, uh, I guess there are conceptual casters, but reality's not really willing to let you talk it into much.
No, it's more void as in "I'm removing things from existence." It can be used as antimagic though. I'd claim there's no conceptual casters, but that's... not quite accurate, since most magic falls under a concept. Like, Crossroads for ritualists is portals and doors, despite them only being linked by concepts, instead of physics. On the other hand, they can't do something like memetic Yukari, and move the crossroad/border between living and dead to kill you, if they want to kill you, they'll have to do it the hard way.
Edit: So, uh, I guess there are conceptual casters, but reality's not really willing to let you talk it into much.
Edit: Hold on, let me try this again. Magic is conceptual, but more in that it limits what you can do, rather than allows. So the concept of removal can be used to remove a pane of glass, but it can't be used to remove the "broken" aspect, because that pretty clearly falls under the concept of creation instead. So a Ritualist who uses Body magic can't do mind control, because that falls under the concept of mind. There are edge cases, where an action can be argued to fall under two different concepts, (Metamagic and Void can both dispel), but those are... well, usually straightforward.
So when I said, "Reality is hard to talk into something" I mean that the concepts are pretty straightforward, and what you see is usually what you get, there's no being tricky about it.
On that note, Ritualists and Wizards can learn how to do other things, but that's because my starting options were "What do you already know how to do" not a nasuverse style, "This is the only thing you can ever do." Sorcerers are pretty screwed on that front, but again, they're substituting reliable, massive offense for versatility.
Edit 2: OOC, void Sorcerers already have the ability to shoot balls of unblockable "screw your entire existence" at people. I refuse to let them do all that other stuff as well.
You can if you'd like, but I'm going to be playing them extremely loosely, if only because one of the systems makes it too easy to cast a spell that lets you observe the entire universe, while another gives you the ability to just stand in the middle of the sun for a ridiculously low price, and neither of those are what I want here. They're both interesting narratively though, so...
Yeah.
But while you can't expect the hard numbers to remain the same, the general concepts will.
Alright, so the system is clearly GURPS. Wizard uses the "default" magic system, Sorceror uses sorcery, Summoner uses some variation on Allies, and Ritualist uses Ritual Path Magic. RPM if my favorite system by far, so I recommend Ritualist. It gives us the most flexibility and the most potential to prepare, and is thus the most interesting, in my opinion.
