Alright, I get it now, or at least I think I do. Lets give this another shot...

Isaac The Brute: Staflos

Power-Strong
Wisdom-Weak
Courage-Average

Appearance-
-As you look upon the tall frame in front of you, you can see he is quite the large build, he stands about six feet high. He has broad shoulders, and a large cloak on him, a hood covers his head, and makes a large shadow on his face. But if you look close enough, you can see that his face is pale, in fact, it is bone like! Looking in his cloak, you see chain armour on his chest, legs, and feet, though some of his body has no chain on it, you can see bone where flesh should be, in fact, Isaac has no flesh on his body what so ever! He has the body of a Staflos, though his mind seems to be intact still.

-Carried in his hand, and rested on his shoulder, Isaac holds a large katana. It is the size enough to be held in either one or two hands, and Isaac holds no shield with him. The katana's hilt is a brown/yellow color, with a carved serpent coming from the bottom of the hilt, and until the hilt stops, and the blade comes, where the hilt and blade meet, is the serpents mouth, the blade coming from it like a great tongue. The blade is silver, glistening in the sun.

-Around Isaac's neck, are two necklaces. One holds a pendent given to him by his parents, the other is a locket, with a picture of his sister.
On his finger is a ring, given to him as a gift by his sister.



Isaac's past-
-Isaac was once the greatest brute a crime lord had. He was the crime lords personal body guard, and was never parted from his master. That is, at least, when he was not preforming a job for his employer. Isaac rarely spoke, and when he did, he offered no joke, but always serious. When his employer asked him to do a job, he preformed it just as he was asked, he never changed the plan, and always pleased his employer. The other men in Isaac's employers gang looked up to Isaac as what they would one day become, strong and respected, and well liked within the gang.

-Isaac, in his younger years, before the gang, lived in a small town where he was the biggest kid there was. Not fat, but strong. He always protected his younger sister, ten years his junior. If you made Isaac mad, you would know it. He had a way to make you lonely, no one would be with you until Isaac got his revenge. You would be worried like you have never been before, no friends, no games, no fun. Not until Isaac was done with you, after that, your life cam back to you slowly, but it surely would. That is if you didn't do anything to his sister, if you messed with with little Sarah, your life as a happy kid was done. Isaac would never forgive if someone messed with his sister, and you knew it too.

-When Isaac was in his early twenties, as a healthy, strong hylian, he worked on his family's farm, and when his father retired, he took over it. Isaac managed the farm for five years, that is when some men came into the farm, and threatened to kill Isaac, and his family(His sister still lived with him, his parents had moved into North Castle.) unless Isaac gave them the deed to his farm. Isaac did not respond in the most polite manner, instead he told them to hang on a second, and came out of the room he entered, with a large sword, and killed most of the men, one managed to escape, and reported what had happened to the crime lord he followed.

-Isaac never told his family what happened with the men, instead he continued to live life just as he used to. Until the day that he went out to town to get some stuff for his sister and him. When he came home, the farm house was in flame. He saw a large group of men standing around, and his sister tied up and in the middle of their group. As he went to see what was going on, the crime lord, standing with the group, instead of exacting revenge for his crew, offered Isaac a job in his gang, in exchange for working with the crime lord, Isaac's sister would be spared, and Isaac would have a good paying job. Isaac took the offer, and for the next five years, worked his way up to the crime lords right hand man.

-Isaac's missions were tough ones, he was given the hardest people to take care of, but Isaac could easily preform his job. The last mission he was given, was to take care of a man who owed a debt to the gang. When Isaac had slain the man, the man managed to utter a few words.
"My father, will take care of you, he'll make you what you are!"
The man then laughed till his voice was cutoff by .
Isaac wondered what it was the man meant by his words, it would not be long until he found out.

-On his way back to the stronghold, Isaac met an old man, who claimed to be the father of the man Isaac had killed, he also claimed to be a necromancer. He bestowed on Isaac a curse. The curse of the Staflos. Instead of making Isaac his minion, the old man left his mind alone, but causing his skin to fall off, and his muscle to disappear, leaving only his skeleton. Black orbs were placed in his eye sockets, allowing him sight, and a spell placed on him granted him the scenes of hearing and speech. Isaac lost consciousness as this happened, and woke up not far from the base of the gang, when he arrived. He was meet with fear. When he claimed to be Isaac, the men he worked with were angry that anyone would claim to be the man they looked up to, and so they attacked Isaac. Isaac won, but found that his skeleton form was still vulnerable, and that blades, and magic still hurt him. When he met with the crime lord, the crime lord had once again seized his sister, he promised Isaac that if Isaac tried to hurt him, his sister would die, he also promised that if Isaac followed, his sister would die of that also. Isaac's care for his sister was enough to stop him from hurting the man who threatened his sister. Isaac left the place, and ventured forth, training with his katana, and venturing around Hyrule, with no place to stay, he wondered around the land with no destination, and no home.

Ideals of Isaac-

Greatest good Isaac has preformed- Isaac has always protected his sister, for thirty years he made sure she stayed safe. He protected her with everything he had, his body, his standing, friends, and respect.

Greatest evil Isaac has preformed- The greatest evil Isaac has done, was fleeing from the goddesses, and making his life on his own, turning from his true path, and falling to the path of his actions. He left the goddesses in the gang, and now seeks to regain the holy wisdom he could have had.

-Sin and Punishment-Sin the failing to do good, and the doing of evil. If one comits a bad deed, or fails to preform a good oprotunity, he has sinned. Every sin is met with a punishment, failing to protect your faimily fully, will lead to a great punishment, such as their , your , or a disconection between the two partys.

-Blesings and curses- Blessings are the things in file we take for granted. Familys are blessings, freinds are blessings, talent is a belssing. Your body is a blessing, how you were created is a blessing of the goddesses that you should not take lightly. Curses, are eternal punishments sent by the holy goddesses, for getting involved in the wrong crowd, for example, could cost you your greatest blessings. Failing to do good, will result in a striping of your blessings you hold most dear.

-Angels and Demons- Angels and Demons are those who lived on this earth who did great good, and were blessed with the new title of angels. Or they were ones who preforemed great evil on this earth, and were cursed with the title of demons.


This Day-

Isaac ventured all around the land in these past months, and has finaly found the great North Castle. He walks around hiding his frame from the people, and walking in the allies around the city. When he spots the man talking of Overman, he is intreged. He stands near the crowd and listens.

"This, this sounds good to me. A new start on life. A new me. I like it. What needs to be done, what is this new quest?"

Isaac talks softly, and stares at the ground, though the shadow so tightly griping his face has lessend, and you can see part of his skull, his pale fleshless bone.

OOC: Well, I was trying to decide between one of two different creatures. But then Denning took Stalfos, so that makes my job much easier!

IC:
This place was far too cold for him; even in the summer months he could not find a suitable way to retain the desired temperature. And when the days began to condense their lengths and night moved beyond its fair share of hours that it should take . . . there was no way to describe the weakness he felt during those chillier seasons. It was a saying of his people that warmth was always preferable to cold; for life was made to be warm, and a body that lacked this trait could not well be called living. Unless a long sleep was to overtake them . . . but then, in hibernation whether one was living their lives in an acceptable manner was debatable . . .

Alas, he was contemplating a particular manner to a much greater degree than it deserved, as he often did. Some believed his kind to be foolhardy and worthless; yea, those who did not take time to understand his kind could ne'er hope to see their true spirits and knowledge. He had at one point heard that only those who hunted them could be said to recognize their abilities in this manner and had long since come to accept this belief as fact; no manner of communication worked as well as when the blades of two warriors clashed together.

And yet there remained some who could not see the truth behind these sentiments, and were undoubtedly doomed to a life of needless bloodshed and the giving of death, only to later on in life have this pain revisited upon them in manners that were best not described. And though the fates of these malevolent beings were never in doubt, one could wonder why his race's primary deity, Din, goddess of power, allowed such abuses of her great gift . . . and why she would permit harm to come to those who kept the gifts she and her sisters had given to the denizens of their created world pure and untainted by dark desires. He had done so himself, but now . . .

'Coragoth.' The name of he who had stripped him of that which he had been granted only after many years of righteous struggling. That depraved creature had come like a thief in the night, stealing from him all he owned and knew, driving him from a home which he himself had led his people to, stealing even the title of Nkidrazil which he had worn so proudly in years past. That wretched bandit, who had somehow garnered power that he in all his wisdom had never before felt. And instead of using this gift to glorify the one who had allowed him this power and for the good of his brethren, he had immediately incited rebellion against the ruler in those disgusting, power hungry beasts, whose thirst for strength had nullified their tribal loyalties . . . if indeed such monsters e'er felt such a trait as devotion.

A fist clenched, and the scent of blood soon pervaded his senses. His anger dissipated at the feeling of pain in his hand, and a troubled sigh left his dry lips. It was not his place to judge the goddesses, whose ways were far above his own mortal understandings. He knew not the power that Din could unleash with the wink of an eye. He knew not the wisdom that Nayru held within her bosom, which would make the world's greatest mysteries seem as childish pondering. He knew not the courage that Farore held in her hand, a infinitesimal fraction of which was enough to help him face the future.

And most certainly of all, he knew not what that future held . . . a frightening fact that all creatures should come to terms with.

At least he had managed to escape from the den of mutiny with his life. Life was the ultimate blessing; as long as a being could think, they could and should give thanks to the goddesses. Curses such as that which he currently suffered could be overcome as long as that blessing remained intact. And the loss of being Nkidrazil was not the only curse; he had fled from the caverns on the edge of Parapa with only the black cloak he shrouded his body with entirely, a now empty sac of water, and a dazzling golden chain and jewel which signified his right to rule over his people. Another sigh escaped him as he wished he had managed to at least retrieve some chocolate from the storehouse before his hasty midnight departure . . .

His only weapon was the precious serpentine dagger of his predecessors: a blade that shone like silver and curved like a lightning bolt, with a hilt which had been crafted to resemble a snake's scaly body and to end with the glittering face of a serpent. He hated having to rely on such a blade; his style, the style which had lead to his achievement as Nkidrazil, was to observe the opponent, study their strengths and weaknesses, avoid their maneuvers, and strike when they were most vulnerable. Until Coragoth had emerged a week ago, that constant style had led to his record as being undefeatable – not because he was strong or brave (though he was neither weak nor terribly cowardly in any sense of the words), but because he was wise and trusted in the power that came through knowledge: a perfect synchronization of Din and Nayru's gifts. But with Coragoth having bested him in ways that he could not comprehend, fear that he might lose again in a struggle that he would not walk away from kept the dagger in a sheathe at his waist at all times.

But he would survive this. He would regain his rightful place over his tribe and do away with that cursed lizard and the cold heart that beat inside the fiend, even if it took him his entire life. By Farore he would learn courage, by Nayru his understanding of the power Coragoth had obtained would grow, and by Din he would gain new strength and the usurper would lose his own! He would find a way to do all three of these, and take the ungrateful creature down.

These are the thoughts running through his head as he overhears voices from nearby. "What do you mean you saw a Floormaster?!" He glances in that direction, spotting a Hylian Knight interrogating a frightened woman. Another runs up, shouting for this man, 'Noval', to follow him; apparently the Floormaster has taken a victim. A flick of his tongue confirms what his nose already believe: that they are correct as to the abductor's identity, or specie at least. Floormasters leave an odd scent wherever they go, and though this one is strangely tinged with a touch of Wallmaster, the two odors are similar enough to easily be mistaken for one another.

The former Nkidrazil blinks his orange eyes as his black pupils search the area. There was another, more familiar smell to him . . . a musty sense. Bones – Stalfos. It is fainter than he is used to, perhaps indicating that the skeleton man is long gone . . . or that he is not hundreds of years old, as the majority of that specie is.

His eyes continue their search, but it is the ear that first indicates where his new destination shall be.

Zarathustra wrote:"...The Overman is he who overcomes, as man is he who goes under. Tell me of what you have overcome. You fear the Overman? So I too fear him. He is the one who shall guide us along the path of righteousness, and shake the fruit of wisdom from the tree of knowledge. He is the serpent who guides us to find our own path. He is the lightning, your soul is the lightning rod. You are wise to be afraid. If you are not capable of meeting his challenge and overcoming, than you too shall go under..."

Casting an eye in that direction, the Nkidrazil hears a reply from a similarly cloaked man. The scent of undead emanates from this being, and his shrouded figure matches with those of that specie. He too approaches this prophet of the Overman, also taking note of the man that had been the recipient of the prophet's response. It seems that this prophet is gathering together a multitude of individuals who have secrets to hide, as indicated by the cloaks and hoods that they all wear. Indeed, a passerby would perhaps wonder if some sort of secret society was meeting.

His head down, he voices but a single sentence, allowing his voice to be heard in this region for the first time since his arrival, days ago. His words are strong, stronger than most people would believe his people capable, but then again, people did not think his kind intelligent . . . wait, he had already had this mental conversation with himself. Anyways, an inflection could also be heard coming from his lips, which gave each word a sound akin to hissing.

"I am Nkidrazil Taarvan, and I wish to learn more of this Overman . . . for there is much that I need to, and shall, overcome." Raising his orange eyes to meet the prophet, he allows the man to see the row of golden teeth that line his lips, the golden gem of the Nkidrazil dangling from one of the horns on his forehead, and the scaly emerald skin beneath his hood. Lines of crisscrossing crimson zigzag across his body, save for the bottom half of his body, which has a decidedly lighter shade of green. He keeps his right hand near the serpentine dagger and holds his tail in his left, which, though uncomfortable, keeps others from noticing the characteristic that few in Hyrule hold. Besides, the curse of discomfort is not something that cannot be overcome . . .

The Dinolfos stands tall, awaiting the prophet's next words.

OOC:
Character: Nkidrazil Taarvan, Dinolfos
Power: Slightly lower than Average
Wisdom: Very Strong
Courage: Weak

Great to see you back, Dylan, and an excellent idea! I haven't put that much thought and work into one of my posts in a long, long time . . . This promises to be fun!

OOC: "Nkidrazil"--hahaha... oh man XD. By the way, neat characters, Marin and Alpha. The strangelies now outnumber the normies (Blank)! Ohwell... at least stat distributions are varied enough ^^.

OOC: Wow. One of the big flaws of RPG's is how do you get a bunch of crazy characters with no reason to work together, to work together. The simple answer, you don’t give them any other options...heh...heh...heh. Most RPG’s tempt their players with treasure and experience points but we’re all here for a good game, not treasure, so I hope we’ll have a good time.

Adventure:
Look ye Heros upon the ancient marvels of a bygone age... Now lets go kill the inhabitants and take their stuff!

This will not be that kind of game. You all know what you’re getting yourselves into. So I guess its only fair to let you know how system will work. I just stole a free one, one I use for actual RP.
can be found here, http://www.guardiansorder.com/pdfs/goo_TriStatdX.pdf, (link doesn't work, just go to downloads, and look at Tri-stat.) if you care to read all the rules, we won’t be using all of them, just the core stats and stuff.

That being said I would still like some official MOD opinion of wether this is okay or not. I wrote Master Goron, who I understand from a brief perusal of the boards to be our supreme commander for a ruling, but with the way things are going we might have to get started and hope they don’t shut us down. I will be giving thoughts and help with our two latest, and greatest, characters so far on the ‘marrow.

OOC: Marin/Isaac:

Wow, now that’s an elaborate back story. I didn’t plan on having so many beasties in the party, but I’m not going to suggest anyone change their character. Same thing goes for playing an undead as for playing a Wallmaster, or a Dinofoes for that matter. The people of Hyrule castle town are about to freak out because of so many nasties all in one spot. On to GM input!

Appearance: bravo. Well done. Why such detail on the sword, do you just like the weapon, or is it special somehow? Obviously you’ll be the Big Sword Guy. That’s easy.

Past: Oooh tragedy and repentance. Yeah baby that’s what I like! Only real questions are why did the gang not just freak out when they saw a stalfoes? And second, “I’ll make you what you are.” Just curious what the man meant. Heartless perhaps?

Dichotomies: The reason I ask people these questions is so that they understand their character’s values of right and wrong. I’m considering asking everyone to create new profiles (logins) for their new characters, or at least new character Bio pages on which I would like people to keep track of their characters thoughts, like a diary. Thoughts?

Greatest good: Protection... hmm. Odd choice for a stalfoes, or perhaps not. The bones of the dead animated to protect dungeons. I think it makes sence.

Greatest evil: Leaving the Goddesess, teachings I presume. You might want to elaborate on what those teachings might be. Seek Power, Wisdom, and Courage with all your heart, maybe? Just a thought.

Sin= the failing to do good. I will hold you to that...
Blessings and curses: easy to see why he feels this way considering his past, well done.
Angel’s and Deamons: which do you plan on being, when you pass, Deadman Isaac?

IC: Turning toward the cowled figure Zarathustra, smiling, says:

You come with good intent my friend, verily we gather a group of those who have gone under, but now is th time of your Overcoming. You come to me with many weights and sins, but verily I say unto you, that the only sin is that there is too little joy in life. Together we will find true joy...

OOC: And now for the cherry on top. A Dinofoes, oh goody goody.
Simply put I have no qualms with this character. I as story teller would like to know more about Coragoth. If you want to keep his story secret than PM, if you want me to come up with it as the game goes on, then I’ll do that. You guys are gonna have a hell of time operating in normal Hylian society, so I’ll be just making some concession to how I envision your average villagers reaction to a group of monsters wandering into their town, that’s ok, we’ll cut closer to D&D on this one.
I’m lovin’ his sense of humor. The comment on the fact that we’re all shady cowled skulkers was fantastic. Please keep that up, oh wise tribal chieftain. One question, why such low courage? Is he broken from the loss of his tribe? Something else perhaps? *fans self* I do declare, I think I’m in love.

SWEEEEEEET! We seem to have a good cast. While I’m not going to make a cut off point (still like to see Red Fury, and Master Goron, and my Roomate [who some of you might remember as, The Lovers]) We’re getting close to a feasible group size. Back later tonight with more rules and such!

IC: Zarathustra arches his neck up to look into the grinning maw of the Dinofoes, a smile breaks onto his face to mirror the toothy grin of Taarvan:

Indeed oh cold one, you seek warmth; I can feel your cold from here. Fear not oh seeker for you have found. The wisdom of the Overman shines with the warmth of the sun. His wisdom, bravery, and strength shall soak into your bones and expunge the cold ache from your sorrows and past.

OOC:
*Fist flies into the air* Yes! No complaints from the GM!!! Celebration at my dorm!!! (Yeah right . . . next week are finals. I only have time for studying and Zelda . . . no, I haven't done much studying . . .)

Anyways, I don't care much about hiding Coragoth's story terribly much. If you don't mind, Dylan, I'd like to let you take charge of all the details, but the basics are just like Taarvan's thought processes said: Coragoth was a normal Dinolfos who found a new source of power, and then used it to usurp Taarvan's authority and take control of the tribe. He imprisoned Taarvan, and the night before he was to be executed the former leader escaped.

And his Courage is low primarily because I wanted to make him focus his stats on being smart rather than strong. He would rather avoid a fight if at all possible, and if faced with a challenge he doesn't know he can win will gladly turn tail and run to a better position; plus, like Weien said, it varied up things statwise.

Which reminds me . . .

Weien wrote:OOC: "Nkidrazil"--hahaha... oh man XD.

What!? What's so funny???

IC:
"Very well," Taarvan says calmly. He would very much like the warmth of the sun beating down on his scales right about now, but this blasted cloak . . . a mental sigh escapes his mind. The unfortunate, uneducated masses of this town would turn on and destroy him if he was to walk about in his normal form, and the Dinolfos is not really in a mood to be killing anything right now. They believe bloodshed to be a part of his lifestyle; the only time he wishes to see blood is when he is mistaking wine for the crimson substance. Blood means death, and death means cold, and cold is something he does not like . . . no, he would rather have the warmth of the sun beating . . . down . . . on his . . . scales . . .

Drat. He's gone around in a complete mental circle. Again.

With a physical sigh, he moves over to a wall being hit by the sun and sits on the warm stone.

OOC:

What!? What's so funny???

Hm? Wha? Nothing! No, nevermind!
I have to say, though, that the "mental circle" was hilarious... just... brill! Brilliant!

To Dylan:
Re: Tristat, are we specifically using anything else besides the core stats and the "Less Capable [Stat] defect"? Like... attributes and skills, I mean?

Also... care to answer any of the questions I was wondering about earlier (last post on pg 1 of this thread) or shall I just sit and wait? XD

OOC:

Why such detail on the sword? Well, I just really like the weapon, being the big sword guy, I need a cool sword!

When the guy said "Ill make you what you are." He ment that Isaac was a monster, and was going to turn him into a monster.

The gang did freak, but was sent into a rage when Isaac clamied to be Isaac, and so did what they did best, fight, but they lost to Isaac.

The demon and angel thing, Isaac sees himself where he stands now, as a demon, seeing his past and reflecting, and now is trying to make up for his sins, thus trying to become an angel.

IC:

"Joy...I have not experienced this in oh so long...True joy, yes, indeed you have brought me closer to this quest yet again. Tell me what is to be done, and I shall do it."

Isaac looks up at this point, and his head can be partialy seen, you see what seems to be a coif under the cloak, and his dark abysall eyes staring at the man.

OOC: Allrighty then. Rules and such. You will each be given 50 build points (BP) to make your characters. First understand that these points will serve to buy stats and skills. Stats are raw ability while skills represent quite a significant level to training in a specified area. A level of a stat will cost you 2 BP, and levels of skills vary in cost according to their value. The system uses 2D6, and a roll under system, meaning you have to roll under a target number. As much as I like the power, wisdom, courage bit, I’m scrapping it for the sake of clean operation in game. From here on in we will use Mind, Body and Soul. Also ignore what I said earlier about 12 being a good number to choose in stats. Originally I planned to use a system of my own devising, but instead I’ve chosen to go with a proven one. So lets make an example character.

Average Joe:
Mind: Combat Value: Health Points:
Body: Defense Value: Magic Points
Soul:

Before we can fill in the blanks we need to know what’s average and what’s not. So here is a scale of stat values.

STAT VALUE DESCRIPTION
1 Inept; infant
2 Significantly below adult human average; child
3 Below adult human average; teenager
4 Adult human average
5 Above adult human average
6 Significantly above human average
7 Highly capable
8 Extremely capable
9 Best in the region
10 Best in the country
11 World-class ability
12 Maximum human potential
13 Above human achievement
14 Significantly above human achievement
15 Moderately powerful superhuman ability
16 Powerful superhuman ability
17-18 Extremely powerful superhuman ability
19-20 Legendary ability
21-24 Maximum achievement in the galaxy
25-30 Maximum achievement in the universe
31-40 Godlike achievement

As we can see 4 is the adult human average. So we’ll need to spend 24 points to make Joe’s stats average (2 BP per point x 4 (our desired stat level) x 3 (# of stats). This leaves us with 26 points to buy skills.

Skill/BP cost
Acrobatics 4
Animal Training 3
Architecture 1
Area Knowledge 3
Artisan 2
Biological Sciences 1
Boating 2
Burglary 3
Climbing 2
Demolitions 2
Disguise 3
Domestic Arts 2
Etiquette 2
Forgery 1
Gaming 1
Interrogation 3
Intimidation 3
Languages 2
Mechanics 2
Medical 3
Military Sciences 1
Navigation 3
Occult 3
Performing Arts 2
Physical Sciences 1
Poisons 4
Powerlifting 3
Riding 4
Seduction 3
Sleight of Hand 2
Stealth 3
Street Sense 1
Swimming 3
Urban Tracking 2
Visual Arts 1
Wilderness Survival 3
Wilderness Tracking 3
Writing 2
Combat Skills
Archery 6
Melee Attack 6
Melee Defense 6
Ranged Defense 7
Thrown Weapons 3
Unarmed Attack 5
Unarmed Defense 5

This is a complete list of skills, but what does it mean to have a rank in a skill? For each level of a BP that a player pays (i.e., 4 BP for 1 rank in poisons) the character gains a level of training which will increase the target number they must roll under by one. The following are what the different levels of a skill mean.

SKILL LEVEL 1 Well-Trained. The character has some training and
practice with the Skill.
SKILL LEVEL 2 Scholar. The character has moderate training and
practice with the Skill.
SKILL LEVEL 3 Expert. The character has significant training and
practice with the Skill.
SKILL LEVEL 4 Veteran. The character has comprehensive training
and practice with the Skill.
SKILL LEVEL 5 World Leader. The character has rigorous training and
practice with the Skill.
SKILL LEVEL 6 Master Apprentice. The character has extensive
training and practice with the Skill.
SKILL LEVEL 7 Master. The character has complete training and
practice with the Skill.
SKILL LEVEL 8 Grand Master. The character has exhaustive training
and practice with the Skill.
SKILL LEVEL 9 Undisputed Master. The character has nearly
unparalleled training and practice with the Skill.
SKILL LEVEL 10 Heavenly Master. The character has godlike training and practice with the Skill.

So Joe has 26 BP left to spend. Lets say we want to make joe a gymnast. So the first thing we’re gonna do is buy 1 rank in acrobatics (22 remaining BP). This means he’s an amateur, but very capable. Now lets run Joe through some trials.

Joe needs to jump over a 3 meter (roughly nine feet) wide gap in a temple. He says to the GM I want to get as much of a running start as I can, and the roll once I land to take up the shock. This is a test of body, and a pretty good one at that. I’m no Athlete but I’ve been lucky to jump 6 feet with a good run, and that is not with a good landing. As this is a test of body, Joe must roll under his average body, 4. to succeed. But this is a hard jump so I’m going to give him a -1 to his target number. But wait! Joe’s been training as an acrobat. That will push his target number up 1 (the number of ranks he has in the skill.)

So target number four, drum roll please, Joe rolls a...7 ooh missed it by three. Joe falls short and faceplants into the side of the pit...falling to his DOOM!

Hmm... poor joe. Lets try again, Joe, why don’t you buy 3 ranks of climbing? (At 6 BP, leaving us with 16) Now lets look at the walls around the pit. Rough stone work, little vines to grab... hmm... this looks like a slightly more complicated than average climb. Say a 5, but with three ranks of climbing that makes the target number an 8. Sound pretty good! Lets roll them bones...7! success.

To answer Wienw’s question, as for attributes, defects, etc. Unless you all plan to read tristat in depth and create characters according to the rules, I think it’s best if we just work together on those things. There are a few more Numbers we’ll need, other than Mind, Body, and Soul. Most noticeably, combat value (an average of all core stats, round down) and defense value (combat value -2) Health is an average of Body and Soul, while MP is an average of Mind and Soul (round down) In the end you’ll need to either make a separate character or have these stats in your signature

Name
Mind: X Combat Value: A HP: C
Body: Y Defense Value: B MP: D
Soul: Z

After that I want people to discuss various abilities they might have and how they want them to work; Splitting into smaller minions, having an extraordinary sense of taste, being an amazing fighter. Anything that makes your character more than just the above stats. We’ll work together to make everyone cool and then WE’RE OFF!!

C’mon kid lets go fight some monsters...
-Hellboy

OOC: Couple questions...

For Body/Mind/Soul, are the following (copied from the "less capable" section of the tristat manual) acceptable definitions, for comprehension purposes?

Body: strength, agility, endurance, manual dexterity, running speed, immune system
Mind: intelligence, wits, perception, memory, intuition, savvy
Soul: luck, willpower, charisma, presence, empathy, composure

And these, besides affecting HP/MP, come into play generally with... different aspects of getting around your event? XD How about combat--do the stats factor into att/def rolls as well, along with levels of Combat Skill (and how?)

Final question... for the cool "abilities" and things characters might have that can be covered by skill points (e.g. Phalanx and several levels of "Climbing" skill), should we try to do so?

OOC: yes weinw those are perfect definitions for Mind Body and Soul.

Combat works like this, the attacking party's combat value + appropriate skills makes a target number, he rolls, and if he rolls under that number he hits. But the defending party gets to roll too; their target number is defense value + appropriate skills, and if he succeeds, than the attacker's roll is negated. Damage is usually standardized, but for borderline or critical rolls, I will fudge a couple of points.

As for cool abilities, they could be covered by skills, or could be something unique to the character. Isaac might take a couple of bonus points to his combat value, since he looks to be the heavy. You might make your ability to climb magically oriented. and just say something like for 2 MP Phalanx can cover 3 meters of any surface, ignoring slope, gravity, or substance. This would allow him to climb upside down on a icy surface, which would be a target number of, ooh, 2. You could do both, which would allow you to climb most surfaces simply enough, but in extreme cases, you would spend some mana. Taarvan might consider some skills in tracking, but also an ability of super-sense of taste, allowing him to gather information from a sense of taste that could cover a large radius.

This place tastes of Satyrfoes. We're being hunted...

Other things you might take into account. I will ask for some skills to be specialized. For instance thrown weapons might include everything from boomerangs, to bombs, to chakram. When you take a skill specialize what area of that skill you are trained in. Additional specializations can be bought for 1 BP.

As for some other cool abilities Isaac should consider things like the ability to NOT BE KILLED. Phalanx, you should looking to be able to split into multiple copies of yourself. As for defects I want you guys to create your characters as to be representative of how you envision them. Weienw if you want your Master to have low hp to reflect Masters in game, please do so. I don't think I have to worry about you guys creating overpowered characters. Some things, such as floormaster momentary invulnerability could be represented by an increased defense value just as well as an actual ability. It could also not be represented at all, as it is a minor ability. If you feel something is so powerful it needs to cost BP, than just list your reasons why and how much you spent and I’ll work on it with you. If you want an ability to require MP. Great. How ‘bout HP. I’m down with that. Certain circumstances (moonlight, presence of lovely women, etc) even better. Just list what you think you want and why and WE’LL ALL work on it together. I’m happy to be out voted.

also feel free to screw up.We're all learning here and we'll tweak characters as needed as the game goes on.

OOC: I guess I'll just... stop worrying and give the dice a throw ><. Here's the rough draft:

Phalanx
Mind: 2
Body: 6
Soul: 5
Combat Value: 4
Defense Value: 2
Health Points: 5
Magic Points: 3

---Stats---
L2 Mind 2 (4 BP)
L6 Body 6 (12 BP)
L5 Soul (10 BP)
(Total 26 BP)

---Skills---
L4 Climbing (8 BP)
L1 Stealth (3 BP)
L1 Thrown Weapons (3 BP) Specialization: Large Objects (subject to environmental availability)
L1 Unarmed Attack (5 BP)
L1 Unarmed Defense (5 BP)
(Total 24 BP)

---Abilities---
Ability: Swarm
>One small hand per HP remaining
>Requires one turn to activate
>Small hands may only: move, observe, attack
>Small hands must remain within reasonable proximity of each other
>Destroyed hands result in lost HP upon re-assimilation

Ability: Invisibility
>Sight only, detectable by other senses/means
>Limited duration: two rounds or until successfully attacked

Ability: Wall-Crawling
>In conjunction with L4 Climbing
>Unusual terrain requires MP consumption

Ability: Special Attack: Ceiling Drop
>Requires successful Wall-Crawl (requires separate turn)
>Systematically detectable/avoidable (two methods: sight [shadow], hearing [dropping sound])
>Effect: Tangle (target restricted until Master is removed)
>Effect: Vampiric (restore lost HP, up to maximum); damage as normal

---Defects---

Defect: Bane: Sunlight
>Loses single HP upon brief contact, several/all upon prolonged contact

Defect: Social Ineptitude
>Marked, unappealing, not humanoid
>Awkward size, shape
>Cannot speak
>Savvy/charisma/empathy = null

Defect: Hole in Pocket
>Upon destruction, explodes in a small king's ransom of glittery objects. (just kidding)

I'm hoping that the little fiddly details that I've put in come across as logical/balanced, etc, but it might be a little too much to wish for. In general the character build doesn't really feel balanced (depends how you look at it, I guess), so any thoughts on whether it is, and if not, what other defects/limitations I can add. I'm not sure if I can do anything more with MP Costs for abilities, since, well... only three MP, as you can see ^_^.

Then again... well, you said I can feel free to screw up; then, feel free to bash!

In case what your all waiting for is my aporoval, then you have it. This is perfect. Either make a new character profile, or set up a new charater sheet and link it to your current character. NEXT!

C'mon boys can't play with out characters!

Sorry guys, but this is finals week for me. I'll try to get to this Saturday when they're all done. Just FYI.