Worf effect or equivalent? If we're too recurring, other Echoes end up using us to establish their stakes or whatever, and we spend all our time getting beaten up.
On the other hand, if we select the right tropes ("comically mad wizard" recurring villain, for example) our Echo would have to ensure that we're always ready for the next fight. Which, since we're a comically mad wizard, would involve being fully healed and all chipper and everything.
That's an even better setup for a sitcom. In particular, it has an exit - that show can only end with the main character finally finding a suitable partner that can get past the utilitarian garb and the non-obvious benevolence to actually stay with her.
Two points:
1. The dragon dropping the artifact into the Volcano is quite different than a Quest, even if the end goal is the same.
2. As long as someone else takes the darned thing, it doesn't matter whether or not they ultimately succeed.
"Never ultimately succeed" isn't unworkable as a downside as long as it comes along with plenty of cool toys and job satisfaction. See Dr. Doofenshmirtz from Phineas and Ferb, for example.
Agreed. The character wants to use her powers to rule for the benefit the people of the country. That goal should be fine from an abstract perspective, but the Echoes are playing merry hell with the premise.
"Never ultimately succeed" isn't unworkable as a downside as long as it comes along with plenty of cool toys and job satisfaction. See Dr. Doofenshmirtz from Phineas and Ferb, for example.
In fact, all you really have to do is redefine success. Instead of caring about whether you take over the world, you care about whether you've continued the story successfully and properly. Far better feedback loop and more satisfying besides.
This character has an additional difficulty, of course, in that she wants her people to be happy too. There are not very many evil sorceress at all that take good care of the people under them. That may exclude the "Mad Wizard" ploy entirely, in fact.
This character has an additional difficulty, of course, in that she wants her people to be happy too. There are not very many evil sorceress at all that take good care of the people under them. That may exclude the "Mad Wizard" ploy entirely, in fact.
Minions are not always disposable. Any clever mad scientist or "evil" wizard knows how to treat his/her underlings with some respect (why waste resources?). Examples:
The Mayor from Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Gru from Despicable Me
Grand Admiral Thrawn from the Star Wars extended universe
Many Sparks from Girl Genius
Some of the Overlords from Disgaea
The Undersiders from Worm
Some villains achieve this by giving the appearance of mistreating their minions (e.g. by insulting them) while actually spending the effort to make sure that they are well taken care of. We could make sure that stories are spread far and wide about the "evil" and "vicious" sorceress who keeps her people in line by unspeakable horrors and none survive who oppose her!
Some of her minions are ghosts, everybody else wears black or purple clothes, gasp!
Everybody's content, nobody opposes her.
Such rumors would keep away the hero wannabes who can't actually stomach real danger. The actual heroes (and the idiots) would still show up, of course, but if they're actual heroes, then they would talk to some of the natives and realize that the sorceress isn't as bad as the rumors make her out to be. And the idiot heroes who don't bother to find out the truth? Can be squished without too many consequences.
The Evil artifacts that continue to show up would still be a problem, of course. Maybe we could let the heroes handle them? "Oh woe is us, for the sorceress has been possessed by (or came into possession of) an Evil Spork of Doom! She was once such a benevolent ruler, are you the hero who can save her from its cruel embrace?"
[1] The Evil Sorceress
[4] The Misunderstood Artifact Guardian
[3] The Sorcerer's Apprentice
[5] A Tragic Hero
[2] A Soon-to-be-captive Princess
For Sorceress we try and go Arachnia style (since this is based on Lackey), for Princess we could copy the very unpropper Princess Cimorene ( of The Enchanted Forest Chronicles), the Apprentice better seek a new master, the Guardian needs to find the true Mount Doom and the Hero needs help.
Winner: [1] The Evil Sorceress
Over the years, you've compiled a respectable number of magical abilities. Whether they'll be enough to get you out of your current predicament remains to be seen.
Vote as a plan. You have sixteen (16) points to spend, excluding the free ones for darker magics. Cost is not necessarily indicative of usefulness.
Mundane Skills & Knowledge
[] Food Preparation (1) You know how to tell what parts of an animal carcass are to be discarded, which bits to remove and put to the side, how to clean the entire thing, and how to do the same for assorted vegetables and spices.
[] Cooking (1) You can make your own food without the need for servants. Of course, that doesn't necessarily mean you want to, but at least you have the option. A bit of magic often helps with the taste, too.
[] Logistics (1) You know all the various little things that are needed to keep your little corner of the world intact. Happiness is optional.
[] Politics (1) You knew what the political landscape was five years ago and you know how to find out what it's like now.
[] Cleanup (1) You're quite good at doing your own laundry and generally cleaning up after yourself.
[] Haggling (1) You can avoid being cheated at a market stall. Of course, turning people into frogs could probably serve the same purpose, albeit with the side-effect of people wanting to burn you at the stake.
[] Swordplay (2) According to your aunt, nobody ever expects a spellcaster to start swinging around a sword half her own height. You hope you never need this; you're no expert and it would probably only be good for buying time against someone who is one.
[] Archery (2) You're no master, but it's often easier to aim a spell when it's attached to an arrow instead of just trying to throw it with no guidance. It goes faster, too. Oh, and you get to hunt fresh food.
Normal Schools
[] Divination Gathering information via magical means. Scrying is the most famous example, but isn't really that useful when you get down to it; you have to be really very lucky to look in on a foe at the exact moment they're talking about something important. If you aren't very skilled at this school, you'll be stuck staring at a bowl of water for hours or days at a time, waiting for some useful tidbit of information to fall into your lap. Experts can use divination to see into the past, and masters can view the most likely futures. Initially easy to learn, then undergoes an abrupt difficulty spike.
-[] Novice (1)
-[] Competent (2)
-[] Expert (2.5)
-[] Master (3)
[] Transmutation Changing things into other things. Turning arrogant princes into frogs and pumpkins into carriages are perhaps the most famous examples, but personal shapeshifting is not to be overlooked. Changes are generally temporary or easy to break unless it's a master doing an altering.
-[] Novice (1.5)
-[] Competent (2)
-[] Expert (2.5)
-[] Master (3.5)
[] Blasting This school of magic has more elegant names, but you prefer to be truthful. Blasting involves bolts of lightning, balls of fire, volleys of icicles, calling down storms, and so on. Difficult to avoid killing with, but undeniably useful.
-[] Novice (1.5)
-[] Competent (2)
-[] Expert (2.5)
-[] Master (3.5)
[] Glamour The ability to alter what the world perceives, this school deals with both illusions and altering the thoughts of other sapient beings. Until you get very good at using illusions, animals, most notably cats, can see through them. When it comes to altering minds, changes are more difficult to detect, resist, and reverse than blatant ones.
-[] Novice (2)
-[] Competent (2.5)
-[] Expert (3)
-[] Master (4)
[] Enchantment The practice of infusing objects with specific purposes, Enchantment is a very expensive school to learn and fuel. The reagents and materials can often be hard to find and you can't exactly enchant something if you don't know how to accomplish that task with normal magic. Thanks to the expense and effective fusion of different schools, this is the most difficult and time-consuming school to learn. Masters are capable of deliberately creating intelligent items, although that can still happen by accident if you make something powerful enough. Especially if an Echo is involved.
-[] Novice (2.5)
-[] Competent (3)
-[] Expert (3.5)
-[] Master (5.5)
"Questionable" Schools (Minimum 1, 4 free points to spend)
[] Life Magic ...Or, as it's more commonly known, Blood Magic. This school of magic feeds off suffering, pain, and death in order to produce raw magical power. Always be sure to wash your hands before and each sacrifice; an awful lot of animals are disease-ridden little pests. This type of magic is perhaps the easiest of all to learn and is often used to fuel other types. Masters of this school can steal the life of others and use it to keep old age at bay.
-[] Competent (1)
-[] Expert (1.5)
-[] Master (2.5)
[] Necromancy The go-to example for when peasants are trying to look for something "evil," Necromancy deals with utilizing formerly-occupied remains to accomplish various tasks. The more complex magics in this school involve the binding of souls into magical vessels; "shades" are one of the most famous examples. The part where some of the magics in this school can also help ghosts be closer to life tends to be ignored or willfully overlooked.
-[] Novice (1.5)
-[] Competent (2)
-[] Expert (2.5)
-[] Master (3.5)
[] Curses This probably has some official name for its school, but if it does, you don't know it. Curses are exactly what they sound like, targeting a given individual with any of a large number of unpleasant effects until the spell is broken. Masters can target entire areas instead of specific individuals. The fae allegedly have their own version of this school, but you haven't been able to get your hands on any texts describing it in anything more than vague terms. You suspect they might just have made it up to get around the negative stigma associated with this type of magic.
-[] Novice (1.5)
-[] Competent (2)
-[] Expert (2.5)
-[] Master (3.5)
[] Conjuration The practice of summoning and binding demons and other assorted spirits to do your bidding. Despite being relatively harmless and only slightly painful if you're careful, demon summoning is considered to be black magic. Summoning unwilling spirits is frowned upon, too, no matter how much they may deserve it. The more skilled you are, the less you need to give in return and the easier it is to make sure the process is safe. Masters are capable of binding a given summon indefinitely regardless of whether or not they were willing in the first place.
-[] Novice (2)
-[] Competent (2.5)
-[] Expert (3)
-[] Master (4)
Master Necromancy should be a given - with all the ghosts floating around, it's the most useful of the 'evil' schools, and a decent sink for our four free points.
Reminder: our choices here will determine which echoes are available for us to try to switch to and our plan needs to consider target echoes just as much as straight utility. For example, if we're loaded up on Curses and Enchantment and don't have anything else, we'll have a really hard time finding a story that isn't Maleficent or the Evil Queen from Snow White.
