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View Full Version : New to Fate and need help fleshing out my character



Super Evil User
2014-07-28, 09:11 AM
When we weren't playing D&D or planning out WoD games, my friends and I decided to take a look at Fate. We decided to run a campaign, but the thing is I'm completely new to Fate and have no idea what to do, so I basically stuck my old sorceress PC from one of our first campaigns on. Trouble is, she wasn't all that interesting to begin with.

I took a look at basic character creation and so far I have a High Concept and Trouble down. My goal was to play a sorceress-type character, so I chose The Grey Witch as my High Concept. That moniker is totally stolen from Record of Lodoss War, but she isn't a Karla knockoff.

Both contemporary depictions of Sherlock Holmes (Sherlock and Elementary) were a huge influence on me, so I decided to make her Trouble The Girl Who Never Grew Up. At her core, the Grey Witch is childish and arrogant - something went wrong in her emotional development for this to happen, but I don't know what yet.

Put in OoTS terms, think of her as half-Elan and half-Vaarsuvius. She is genuinely intelligent and has some amount of superficial charm, but is essentially a child in a grown woman's body.

I have an idea for an Aspect (which I will discuss if this generates interest) but other than that I'm lost.

My questions are:


What went wrong with her to make her this way? Any ideas?
How do I avoid making her too obnoxious/annoying?
How do I portray a character who maintains status as intelligent while simultaneously remaining impulsivity and childish traits well?

Super Evil User
2014-07-28, 10:22 AM
Could I request to have this moved to the Other Systems subforum?

Delwugor
2014-07-28, 12:00 PM
Looks like a good character concept for Fate.

A couple of quick suggestions
High Concept: The Grey Witch of [Something]
This gives playing and setting context for your character's concept. The Grey Witch of WestWick implies WestWick in the setting, where you character could have a reputation or contacts. The Grey Witch of The Order of Zithromid implies an organization in the setting which the character belongs to and can call upon as need.

Trouble: The Girl Who Never Grew Up
Very good trouble aspect, remember to self compel anytime immaturity or impulsiveness can become an obstacle.

For further guidance on good aspects I suggest reading https://plus.google.com/u/0/+RobertHanz/posts/RiPHDaSa6Yg


What went wrong with her to make her this way? Any ideas?
Early in her childhood it was determined she should be groomed for greatness. Besides very intense training she was spoiled in all other aspects of her life and had little contact with outside people.


How do I avoid making her too obnoxious/annoying?
Only play the childish/impulsivity when it becomes important in game, i.e. keep it in the background so it's not overused.


How do I portray a character who maintains status as intelligent while simultaneously remaining impulsivity and childish traits well?
Sometimes what I do is find a character in tv, movies, books that is similar and then modify their behavior to fit the details of your character. Right off the top of my head Sokka from Avatar might do as a start, though not childish he start out very impulsive but there is always a method behind his madness. His growth turns that implusive methods into concrete actions that end up working very well.

Hope you enjoy playing Fate (and your character) as much as I enjoy it.

ReaderAt2046
2014-07-28, 04:21 PM
It seems to me that what you're describing (in D&D terms) is a character with high Int and low Wis.

One really good way to depict childishness is to have her hold grudges. Irrational, childish grudges. Someone offends her in some small way? She constructs an elaborate scheme of revenge to get back at them (this is where the intelligence comes in. Think of it like the Belkar/Vaarsuvius prank war).

Also, have her react on impulse. A situation comes up? She does or says the first thing that comes into her head, regardless of whether it would appear to be a good idea on second thought.

Arbane
2014-07-28, 05:41 PM
Is there any specific form of magic she prefers? The Grey Witch, Mistress of (magic type) seems like it would be a good aspect to me.

Super Evil User
2014-07-29, 12:09 AM
Early in her childhood it was determined she should be groomed for greatness. Besides very intense training she was spoiled in all other aspects of her life and had little contact with outside people.


Intense training? I dunno, I like keeping my characters low-power and I'm really iffy on the prodigy backstory.

CarpeGuitarrem
2014-07-29, 09:04 AM
I definitely agree about the High Concept needing a wee bit of elaboration.

An easy Aspect to reflect the reason behind her childishness could be I Always Get My Way. Because people continuously caved to her demands for whatever reason, she never really grew up. Easy to invoke, easy to compel. Might have too much overlap with your Trouble, though. On the flip side, it'd make for a decent Stunt: gain a bonus to rolls when you're making demands.

Now on the sympatheticness side, that's a good question to ask--and I'd advise asking the other members of your group. "Why is she tolerated?" That makes a great extra Aspect.

Super Evil User
2014-07-29, 10:26 AM
The first thing that comes to mind are her powers. I want to keep her relatively low-powered, but even a simple Fire spell would be enough to scare the crap out of those unfamiliar with magic.

That being said, I did give her a backstory. It's largely bare-bones and serves only to explain a few things, but it has a bit of world-building tacked on.


I decided early on that she was from a rich merchant family - rich enough to afford to send her to Magic School, but not influential enough to be involved in power plays.
She was the youngest of her siblings, which meant that she didn't have a family business to worry about that would hinder her from adventuring. I imagined this setting being more egalitarian than regular Medieval Europe, so that was a distinct possibility.
On the opposite side, I decided that her powers manifested early on in her childhood and she was sent to study magic almost immediately after. We also world-built some more and decided there was a social stigma against marrying spellcasters, which would explain why her parents didn't marry her off to a nobleman - it wouldn't do for her to be chained to some idiot husband.
I actually had this really cool aspect idea. Her powers manifested as a fire which quickly blazed out of control, giving her a trauma at a young age. This gives her a lot of compel potential and explains why she doesn't use fire in combat.

CarpeGuitarrem
2014-07-29, 10:32 AM
Neat! Here's some possible Aspects, then...

Magic Baby of the Family--maybe replaces her Trouble, not sure. But she was treated accordingly because of her position.

Nightmares of Fire--that Aspect representing her early trauma. Just remember what it represents.

Academy Sweetheart--this is conjecture, but would offer an insight into the history of her spellcasting education.

kyoryu
2014-07-29, 05:08 PM
Most of the advice here is pretty good. I'd throw in a few other things:

1) If possible, I highly recommend the group go through collaborative character creation, as per the book. It's a really awesome thing that helps define your character.

2) Don't stress about it. Aspects are pretty flexible in terms of how frequently they can be changed, and *most* GMs will let you change even more heavily after the first session or so (but talk to the GM about it, of course - "hey, I'm not sure on my aspects, do you mind if I do a refinement of them after the first session or so?")

3) FAE suggests on-the-fly aspect creation - just come up with a couple (High Concept, Trouble), and then fill in the others as you get more comfortable with the character. This is a pretty good system!

4) Some people seem to like this thing I wrote: https://plus.google.com/108546067488075210468/posts/RiPHDaSa6Yg

Super Evil User
2014-07-30, 08:33 AM
Academy Sweetheart--this is conjecture, but would offer an insight into the history of her spellcasting education.

What do you mean? That she was into the dating scene there? That she was coddled by the teachers?

CarpeGuitarrem
2014-07-30, 08:59 AM
What do you mean? That she was into the dating scene there? That she was coddled by the teachers?
I'm thinking the latter, but either works, depending on how you see the character. I guess the question is: what sort of stuff do you think would be interesting directions for the character to go in?

CombatOwl
2014-08-01, 06:54 PM
I have an idea for an Aspect (which I will discuss if this generates interest) but other than that I'm lost.

Aspects are just narrative hooks--think about the sort of things you want to do with the character and grab a few aspects about that. Maybe an aspect to better clarify the sort of magic she does? Maybe another aspect that can cause you problems? Aspects can also relate to really important items, destinies, strong beliefs, indicators of great skill, etc.

Super Evil User
2014-08-02, 05:14 AM
Alright, guys. Thanks for your input. I digested all of it, and this is what I spat out:


I decided that her High Concept was too general. I decided that I wanted her to solve problems using cunning and cleverness; more Link than Ganondorf, you get me? So I changed it, and she is now Mistress of Illusion.
Her Trouble, I decided, was perfectly fine as it is, with only one major change made - she doesn't get along with people. She has some amount of superficial charm (discussed below), but it's a mask that crumples easily and is only effective when she wills it. Without any compelling reason to use it, she sees no reason to hide her childishness. As a result, she doesn't get along with people. I suppose she's a very lonely person at her core - a lonely little girl who just wants to show off to the world. I like this twist because it adds an element of tragedy to her character.
It's important to get the idea of what she could do early on. I decided that I liked the idea of an Illusionist with some Transmutation and Evocation tricks. Put in D&D terms, she can cast the following spells: Silent Image, Invisibility (although limited to herself), Prestidigitation (can light small fires), Lightning Bolt, Stoneskin, Light and Telekinesis. We also ruled that she was the average mage for our setting's power level.
She started out as the fourth child of a rich merchant. This gave me the idea for the aspect Rich Merchant's Daughter. She would have been raised in a household where her father and brothers would have made various business deals, and she would be familiar with some aspects of mercantilism. At the same time, frequent parties would mean that she would be familiar with high society.
Her dad was largely self-made and didn't have the opportunity for a formal education, so to compensate he held a large library. I decided that her first exposure to magic was with a spell gone awry that resulted in it burning down. This gave me the idea for the aspect Fire? Fire? Don't Let Me Near That Thing!. She's horribly afraid of fire: she's uncomfortable around even bonfires and will manifest PTSD symptoms around larger ones like fireballs.
The merchant background and the illusion specialization all work together to create another Aspect, one that defines her personality well; Lady Of Bull****. She uses what scant knowledge she has of deal-brokering to try and get her way, which leads her to believe that she's something akin to a master manipulator. Sometimes it works, but most of the time it's largely supplanted by other factors. Factors such as...
Not Just A Pretty Face! OK, this was totally cribbed from somewhere else, but I like it. She's considered pretty by her society's standards and darn, does she know it! She'll use this to her advantage whenever possible, but what she doesn't realize is that most of the time her manipulations work it's partly due to this. Unfortunately, this can also result in people taking her less seriously at times - it's one thing to be talked tough to by a burly man and another thing entirely to be talked tough to by a pretty girl in a robe.
Back to backstory. So immediately after that fire thing happened, she gets sent out to hone her magic skills. First under multiple magic teachers, then (when she's older) under a larger mage college. She is an unremarkable student, if a little bright in some areas, and she mostly keeps to herself. She graduates and spends her professional life being a Magic Teacher of various kinds.
Finally, I decided that she wasn't really comfortable around sex and sexual situations. This does NOT arise from any secret history involving sexual assault, it's more her general unwillingness to comprehend the heavy emotional implications attached to sex. I'm not seeing this aspect playing much importance, but I decided that giving her The 30 Year Old Virgin wouldn't hurt. (On the plus side, she should have no problems with any unicorns she encounters!)


I've already got another lined up that vaguely has something to do with her being a girl in a male-dominated profession...

Holy CRAP, this is fun.

CarpeGuitarrem
2014-08-03, 05:43 PM
Holy CRAP, this is fun.
It just sorta snowballs, doesn't it? :smallbiggrin:

I really like the character as you've laid her out there. Nice, rounded, really interesting! I love how you tweaked the High Concept.

kyoryu
2014-08-04, 03:54 PM
Pretty cool character :)

Super Evil User
2014-08-07, 10:13 AM
Thanks, guys, but...suggestions?

kyoryu
2014-08-07, 12:57 PM
Thanks, guys, but...suggestions?

Did you read the link I posted?

They key to making good aspects is *how they impact you during play*. There are three primary mechanical features of aspects - friendly invokes, hostile invokes, and compels. It's a good idea with your aspects to guess how they might function in those three areas.

Also, another good thing to remember is that your aspects send a signal to the GM that these are the types of things you want your character to deal with. By choosing Not Just a Pretty Face you're telling your GM you want your character to deal with some level of sexism. With your Fire aspect, you're telling the GM to put your character around fire.

Mistress of Illusion seems great. As a High Concept, it's more for invoking than anything else. Some possibilities for Compels or hostile Invokes would be nice, but your HC being overly positive is pretty common.

Rich Merchant's Daughter seems like it's invokable in lots of places, positive and negative, but mostly in social areas. Also, Compels around it would mostly involve Daddy interfering in some way, so you need to decide if that's something you want.

Fire? Fire? Don't Let Me Near That Thing! seems almost like a Trouble. It's interesting, but seems awfully narrow and specific. I'll try and think of broader aspects.

Lady Of Bull****: Probably your best aspect. Mostly useful in social scenarios, but it's great as a double-edged aspect (invoke to be a good bul****ter, hostile invoke because you're bull****ting) and fantastic for Compels, as you're likely to have pissed people off in the past or have a reputation, and this can certainly come up at inopportune times.

Not Just A Pretty Face! Another great one, as it can be used both as a positive invoke (I'm pretty, so they'll do what I want), negative (I'm pretty, so they ignore me) and as a Compel (I've got something to prove, so of course I'm going to put myself in danger).

Magic Teacher This is relatively weak. I don't see many areas where it's going to come up in gameplay. The *idea* is fine, though, but I'd probably add to it a bit - Illusion Teacher of the Xernagle School. By calling out a school specifically, you open the door to various kinds of nifty politicking with other schools.

The 30 Year Old Virgin: This is mostly compel bait, as it won't come up very frequently that I can see. That said, it's sending a big ol' flag to the GM that you want to see your character in these situations. Be sure that's what you want.

-------------------

On a more meta level, I run a *lot* of Fate games. And one thing I've learned is not to stress too much on your initial aspects. Most GMs will let you pretty thoroughly change them after a session or so, and at any rate, even a minor milestone (generally, every session) is an opportunity to change an aspect. Your character is expected to change and evolve, and your aspects are intended to change and evolve with them.

Luke Skywalker starts out as a Farmboy With Stars In His Eyes, but by the end of the trilogy he's The Last Jedi. Han Solo starts out with his Trouble being Jabba Wants His Money, but that's utterly resolved after the beginning of Jedi.

Actually, that's a great exercise, and one I highly recommend for new Fate players - look at characters in media, and try to figure out what their aspects are. That's usually a pretty good guide to coming up with your own.