Creating a Skinwalker (Dresden Files RPG)

[Lea Plath]

So, I'm needing some help. (And Doran, keep out :P )

In my story, my players have just met and angered a skinwalker who is after one of them and a briefcase he is in the possession of.

I've read somewhere that humans can become skinwalkers, so my idea is that his guy is in the process of becoming a skinwalker.

My players have managed to breeze through every encounter, so I'm looking at giving the beast about 18 or so refresh. Maybe Rule 0 a little to give it more power.

I'm thinking true shapeshift, evocation (water being acid, fire being napalmesque, wind being poisonous vapours), supernatural toughness, and most of his combat stats at around 4-5? Opinions?

[Raum]

I don't think I'd use either True Shapeshifting or any spellcasting, instead I'd go with something like the following:

Powers:
- Human Guise (-0)
- Mythic Recovery* (-6)
- Inhuman Speed (-2)
- Inhuman Strength (-2)
- Inhuman Toughness* (-2)
- Mimic Abilities (-4)
- Mimic Form (-2)
- Swift Transition (-2)
- Psychometry (-1) (tied to the skin used rather than items)

*Catch: Up to you. I'd base it on his background & how he became a skinwalker.

The "Psychometry" would really be reading the background of his victim and along with Mimic Abilities would allow him to replace someone with reliable success. Mimic Form covers shapechanges into humanoids, you only need True Shapeshifting if the skinwalker can take other shapes as well - perhaps that's something to work up to if this one is learning.

[Lea Plath]

I've really already confirmed he has shapeshifting, as he has turned into a raptorbearthing, a bird and a shark. I've also confirmed he has magic as he is a warlock.

[Need_A_Life]

Physical Immunity (Catch: <background-related> and "okay, THAT'S awesome"*), Sponsored Magic, Beast Change**, Inhuman Speed.
Watching it through The Sight will probably send people straight to Consequences.

Powerful? Yes.
Capable of wiping out any party not prepared for it without breaking a sweat? Definitely.
Worthy representation of something a senior warden didn't dare fight directly, instead hoping a nuclear blast would finish it off? I should think so.

An idea for fighting it is shutting off its access to ambient magic; an empowered circle, encasing it in magic-impairing crystal, spraying it with large amounts of water continuously. That might just weaken its magical defences enough to deal with it... of course, anything blocking its access to magic will probably render spells ineffective too... time to pull out that .44 and show it what's what.

I'd let it Maneuver most rounds, setting up advantages and then hitting enemies hard. It can probably tank a few rounds easily anyway, but will run away if people actually start hurting it.
And yes, I know that it wasn't immune to harm, per se, in the books, but I would argue that every confrontation it was in either turned out in its favour or it conceded. Running away to fight another day from one of the most powerful wizards on the planet doesn't strike me as actually losing.

* Yes, in my games driving a pick-up truck off a building into the baddie or doing similar crazy stunts will by-pass defences. It encourages people to do something cooler than just "point and blast."

** Call it an upgraded version that doesn't have the "cannot raise mental stats"-restriction. Hells bells, have it be a "free action" at the beginning of its exchange, allowing it to adapt to pretty much everything on the fly.

[Lea Plath]

Physical Immunity (Catch: <background-related> and "okay, THAT'S awesome"*), Sponsored Magic, Beast Change**, Inhuman Speed.
Watching it through The Sight will probably send people straight to Consequences.

Powerful? Yes.
Capable of wiping out any party not prepared for it without breaking a sweat? Definitely.
Worthy representation of something a senior warden didn't dare fight directly, instead hoping a nuclear blast would finish it off? I should think so.

An idea for fighting it is shutting off its access to ambient magic; an empowered circle, encasing it in magic-impairing crystal, spraying it with large amounts of water continuously. That might just weaken its magical defences enough to deal with it... of course, anything blocking its access to magic will probably render spells ineffective too... time to pull out that .44 and show it what's what.

I'd let it Maneuver most rounds, setting up advantages and then hitting enemies hard. It can probably tank a few rounds easily anyway, but will run away if people actually start hurting it.
And yes, I know that it wasn't immune to harm, per se, in the books, but I would argue that every confrontation it was in either turned out in its favour or it conceded. Running away to fight another day from one of the most powerful wizards on the planet doesn't strike me as actually losing.

* Yes, in my games driving a pick-up truck off a building into the baddie or doing similar crazy stunts will by-pass defences. It encourages people to do something cooler than just "point and blast."

** Call it an upgraded version that doesn't have the "cannot raise mental stats"-restriction. Hells bells, have it be a "free action" at the beginning of its exchange, allowing it to adapt to pretty much everything on the fly.

That could work. I think though, swap the Physical Immunity to Supernatural Toughness.

What kinda stats/how many consequences do you think it will have?

And the idea for this is it isn't a full Skinwalker. It is someone who is becoming them. In my game, I've ruled that there are two classes of Skinwalker. Shagnasty, who is a full skinwalker, a nagalossi-whatever and humans who can become skinwalkers, taking on an animalistic form. This guy is becoming the 2nd type, which means maybe in a couple of hundred years time he would be like Shagnasty, but at the moment he is a warlock with amazing amounts of power.