Revision [179]
This is an old revision of Av2VRCharacters made by ConradWong on 2010-10-01 11:42:26.
Overview
All VR characters are familiar with the low level areas of settings in which they live. Your main character receives Knowledge: VR Game World (Avatars or Gloaming) to reflect this. However, it is not a given that they can operate vehicles of their time period; these must be taken as skills.
VR characters can advance much more quickly than main characters. You might find yourself able to afford a new VR character advance practically every session in which you play your VR character, whereas your main character might only receive enough XP to buy an advance after completing entire storyline arcs.
- Av2VRGameRules - for more information on VR gameplay
General Skills
- Smith (Strength) - you can craft armor and weapons, or repair them. Any equipment found on adventures will generally be in poor condition (-2 to Fighting, Shooting, or -1 Armor). A good Smith roll can restore these items to be like new! You may also, given enough time and special materials discovered in your travels, create weapons and armor of new and unique properties.
- Lore (Smarts) - you may be able to recognize ancient languages in ruins, recall history or esoteric fact about a strange creature you've just sighted, or otherwise make sense out of an enormously complex and ever-changing game world.
- Riding (Agility) - you can ride domesticated and trained mounts without this skill, but you will need this skill to be able to ride in combat.
Arcane Background
You should choose one of the following Arcane Backgrounds for your VR character. You can never change this later without starting over with a new VR character.
- Link (Avatar) - you gain d4 Link (Spirit). You should define your Avatar's appearance and chosen element, i.e. earth, air, fire, water, steam, ice, sand, et cetera. Your Avatar begins with a 10-point power pool and one power, plus a set of natural abilities and attributes which will be provided by the GM. Summoning and dismissing your Avatar does not take power.
- Link (Focus) - you gain d4 Link (Spirit). A Focus may be a piece of armor, weapon, or other item of reasonably large side (at least the size of your head). You will have a 10 point power pool and one power which you use through the Focus. Your Focus will have two Advances which you gain whenever you summon and equip the Focus. Summoning and dismissing your Focus does not take power.
- Magician - you gain d4 Spellcasting (Smarts). You have a 10 point power pool and three powers.
- Backlash: when you roll 1 on your Spellcasting die, regardless of your Wild Die, you are automatically Shaken.
- Lycanthrope - Gloaming only you gain d4 Shapeshift (Spirit). You have a 10 point power pool and the power Shapeshifting. You begin with three Advances to make your shifted form more powerful than your normal form, but are vulnerable to silver weapons (2x damage).
- While it costs 1 power point to transform into your 'True Form', you can maintain it indefinitely.
- You can "Monster Out". You increase in size by 2 (+2 Toughness, strength increases by 1 die type) but this costs 1 power point to maintain per round. Getting a Raise on your Shapeshift roll gets you monster out for one round per Raise.
- It costs no power to return to human form.
- Supernatural - Gloaming only you gain d4 Dark Mastery (Spirit). You have a 10 point power pool, a power, and a monstrous ability or advance of your choice. You should take Hindrances appropriate to your chosen creature.
- Vampires might choose Mind Control and Charisma, but would take damage from sunlight (Major Hindrance) and be afraid of holy symbols (Minor Hindrance)*.
- Faeries might choose the monstrous ability Flight, the power Bolt, and buy up Agility, but would be incapable of lying (Minor Hindrance) and vulnerable to iron and steel weapons (2x damage).
* Taking an Edge to stipulate that Vampires are immortal and can only be killed by a wooden stake through the heart seems pointless given that events would intervene to prevent a player's VR character from being permanently killed, see below.
Edges
Note: all VR characters automatically have both Hard to Kill and Harder to Kill at 100% effectiveness.
For all but Avatar Links, you may take the New Power and Increase Power Pool Edges as normal (once each per Rank). The Rapid Recharge Edge is gone. (30 minutes, or even 15 to recover a power point, is an eternity in a movie-style campaign)
Promote Avatar - grants your Avatar two Advances and either a Size increase or a Trait increase to reflect your Avatar's growing power. Your Avatar can then purchase New Power and/or Increase Power Pool if you so desire. May not be taken more than once per Rank.
Avatar Sense - allows you to see, hear, and feel what your Avatar does. Grants +1 to Avatar Link rolls.
Heal Avatar - you can channel energy into your Avatar. Roll Avatar Link against a target of 4 to give up one level of Fatigue to cure one of your Avatar's Wounds. Each Raise allows you to cure one additional Wound at no additional cost. Nothing happens on a failure. On a Botch, you are Shaken, but your Avatar will not take any further damage.
Alchemy - you can make magical potions. You can make no more than one potion during Recovery Time, and you cannot have more than one potion at a time, either on your own person or given to others. Healing potions cure one Wound, as long as they are used within the Golden Hour; injuries are healed if the player is fully healed as well. Mana potions restore 5 Power Points. (Avatar Links are advised to give the potions to their Avatars, not to drink them themselves) Requires d8 Smarts.
- Knowledge: Alchemy allows you to make elixirs that confer temporary benefits. Each works like a Power with a pool of 5 power points maximum. You must beat a target of 4 (or higher if the GM rules that the effect you're trying to achieve is complex) with your Knowledge roll to make the potion. A Raise adds 5 power points to the elixir.
- Additional Potions allows you to make two more potions per Recovery Time and increases your potion limit by two. You may take this once per Rank.
Rune Engraving - you can inscribe magical wards in the ground, or on objects, which confer magical benefits. You can only inscribe one rune during Recovery Time, and you cannot keep the rune from one Recovery Time to the next. The basic rune is a Barrier that keeps monsters out, with a 5 power point pool. Requires d8 Smarts.
- Knowledge: Runes allows you to inscribe other types of runes that work like Powers, each having a 5 power points pool. You must beat a target of 4 (or higher if the GM rules that the effect you're trying to achieve is complex) with your Knowledge roll to make the rune. A Raise adds 5 power points to the rune.
- Additional Runes allows you to make two more runes per Recovery Time and increases your rune limit by two. You may take this once per Rank.
- Rune Smith allows you to imbue weapons and armor permanently with Runes. Runes do not vanish from these items; each rune engraved in an item recovers its full power points on the next Recovery Time. However, for game balance reasons, they do count against your rune limit, meaning that if you have a limit of 5 runes total, and engrave 2 into your armor, you won't be able to draw or change more than 3 runes from then on. Requires d6 Knowledge: Runes and d8 Smith.
Gear
Your character begins with VR$500. (a Seasoned character would begin with VR$2500) This is a shorthand for 'the local currency of the VR game world' - in actuality the units and value of currencies will vary from one place to another.
- Av2VRGear - a listing of unusual gear that can be purchased by VR characters.