Results 1 to 30 of 72
-
2010-04-09, 02:10 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Mar 2010
- Location
- Netherlands
- Gender
Harry Dresden, Chicago's only professional wizard
For the people that don't know who or what I'm talking about:
A cynical wizard with pitch-black humor.
For the people that know him: What would be his stats/lvl/equip.
-
2010-04-09, 02:40 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Apr 2010
Re: Harry Dresden, Chicago's only professional wizard
I love that series so much I created an account specifically to reply to this.
That said, what system? d20 Modern? GURPS? Old World of Darkness? New WoD?
Incidentally, I'm convinced Butcher drew more than a little inspiration for Harry's world from the OWoD, given the dominant supernatural types and the nature of the Nevernever.
-
2010-04-09, 02:43 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Mar 2010
- Location
- Netherlands
- Gender
-
2010-04-09, 02:51 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Apr 2010
Re: Harry Dresden, Chicago's only professional wizard
Dresdenverse magic so fundamentally non-Vancian that the best analog I can come up with is to make him a psychokinetic psion. A Warlock might work (and the idea of "Harry Dresden, level 13 Warlock" is hilarious), if you made up a number of invocations (a way to make his Eldrich Blast fire and a long range divination ability spring to mind).
-
2010-04-09, 02:53 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Mar 2010
- Location
- Netherlands
- Gender
-
2010-04-09, 03:20 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Nov 2007
- Location
- In my own little world...
- Gender
Re: Harry Dresden, Chicago's only professional wizard
They actually have a Dresden Files RPG, but I don't think it comes out until June...
Custom Melayl avatar by my cousin, ~thejason10, used with his permission. See his work at his Deviant Art page.
My works:Need help?SpoilerNational Suicide Prevention Lifeline (USA)
1-800-273-TALK (8255), 24/7
www.suicidepreventionlifeline.org
In Australia: Lifeline, 13 11 14, 24/7
Reach Out Australia
Beyond Blue, 1300 22 4636
The Samaritans (UK too) UK: 08457 90 90 90, ROI: 1850 60 90 90
-
2010-04-09, 03:22 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Mar 2010
- Location
- Netherlands
- Gender
Re: Harry Dresden, Chicago's only professional wizard
Anyone can be a wizard, but no one can be Harry Dresden himselve.
-
2010-04-09, 03:36 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Mar 2010
Re: Harry Dresden, Chicago's only professional wizard
An artificer could work with a bit of reflavoring.
Or a spellthief/factotum gestalt.
-
2010-04-09, 03:37 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Mar 2010
- Location
- Netherlands
- Gender
Re: Harry Dresden, Chicago's only professional wizard
In simple core classes he could be a normal evoker. With a huge-ass CON.
-
2010-04-09, 03:54 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Apr 2010
Re: Harry Dresden, Chicago's only professional wizard
OWoD Mage is probably my specialty, and he works pretty well there. With the exception of Willpower and Arete, everything is on a scale of 1 to 5. Willpower is 1 to 10. Arete is a special case; essentially your "magic" score, 1 is a newbie, 3 is highly skilled, 5 is "mastery" level and 6 to 10 just keep going up from there. Now let's see...
SpoilerAttributes: Primary Mental, Secondary Physical, Tertiary Social (though he seems to have put some experience toward raising his Manipulate recently)
Abilities: Primary Talents, Secondary Skills, Tertiary Knowledges (His knowledges are pretty much 3 in Investigate and 3 in Occult. He started with low Subterfuge but has been training that, too.)
Nature: Gallant. (Well-intentioned, though.)
Essence: Questing. (It pushes him to change the world and himself for the better.)
Demeanor: Loner. (He likes to project it, and even believed it at one point, but his friends know it's not his true personality.)
Backgrounds: Low Resources, several Allies (Murphy is a 2 pointer dropped to 1 after Small Favor, Thomas is at least 3, The Alphas are probably collectively 2, the Summer Lady is only 1 due to outside restrictions, the Knights of the Cross have been slowly dropping in power), very high Avatar, Mentor at least 3 (though said mentor hid much of his power and influence from Harry...), Sanctum 2 (that apartment is small, but he has decent magical resources), Library 4 or more (Bob), Contacts 3 (Wardens, that ectomancer and other low-level talents, PI-type contacts like Butters)
Willpower: At least 7, possibly as high as 9 as of Turn Coat
Arete: 3 in Storm Front, 4 by White Night, probably 5 as of Turn Coat. Dealing with Lash was a Seeking in some form.
Spheres: Forces and Correspondence 3 at least, possibly 4 for both now. Matter 2 (he reinforces and refines things, but doesn't build new ones with magic), Life 3. Prime 3, (see Hellfire and Soulfire) though he probably only started with 1. Spirit 2. He might have Entropy 1, but that might just be Spirit. Time is banned in the Dresdenverse, and Mind is far from his purview.
Foci: His general style, and Forces specialty, is Dog Latin. Life specialty (and near exclusive use) is potions. Correspondence specialty is sympathetic connections, while Spirit's is ritual circles (also a general style focus). Matter is mystic runes. He doesn't seem to have a Prime specialty focus, just more ritual circles and Dog Latin.
Resonance: Dynamic 2 (chaotic), Static 0, Entropic 2 (fell aura). His Entropic got really high with Lash around, but assistance from a powerful spiritual entity lowered it later.
Flaws: Enemy 3 (The Faery Queens), Enemy 1 (Lean; she wants to give him "help" he finds unhelpful), Enemy ? (The Black Council; high), Cursed 4 (Blows out technology with his magic), Code of Conduct (always save the girl), Hatred (Red and Black Court vampires), Graceless (You always look awkward, no matter what you're doing), Notoriety (basically, your peers think you did something of questionable morality/taste, even if you didn't really), Twisted Upbringing (Oh yes), Ward (Molly)
Merits: Kinian (meaning the character or a close relative of theirs has fae blood or pacts. So yes, very), Gall, Daredevil (these two give bonuses for doing brave and reckless things, respectively), Lucky, Charmed Existence (he is damn lucky sometimes)
I think that about covers it.Last edited by Lost Wanderer; 2010-04-09 at 03:56 AM.
-
2010-04-09, 03:55 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Mar 2010
Re: Harry Dresden, Chicago's only professional wizard
Of course, if we're going to use non-d20 systems, we might as well use FATE.
-
2010-04-09, 04:08 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Nov 2007
Re: Harry Dresden, Chicago's only professional wizard
His Character sheet can be found here. LINK TO PDF
This is the official writeup for the Dresden files game that comes out this summer. Personally I can't wait.
-
2010-04-09, 04:10 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Jan 2010
Re: Harry Dresden, Chicago's only professional wizard
1. Mechanically, Harry looks more like a spontaneous caster rather than a prepared caster. His spell repertoire is also quite limited. He seems to be relying a lot on the standard "Fuego" (Scorching Ray?), "Forzare" (Battering Ram?), and "Ventas Servitas" (Gust of Wind?).
2. Ritual casting. Most of his rituals involve summoning extraplanar creatures for gathering information, or divination spells. He could have a few levels of wizard and a spellbook full of Conjuration and Divination spells.
3. Skills. Craft Alchemy (and Brew Potion). Gather Information. Knowledge Local, the Planes, Arcana, and Pop Culture.
4. Bob. Probably counts as an assistant for Harry's potion crafting and knowledge checks. I am not sure what type of a creature he could be. Also not sure if Bob qualifies as a familiar.
5. Blasting rod and staff. Both serve more as focus for his spells rather than storing spell charges. Regarding the fact that Harry uses a lot of "Fuego", his staff could be a Runestaff of Fire or Evocation (Magic Item Compendium). The rod could be a Metamagic Rod of Empower Spell.
6. Kinetic rings. The closest match I could find is the Ring of the Ram in the DMG. Maybe one that replenishes its charges?
7. Shield bracelet works almost like a Ring of Force Shield (DMG). His leather duster is a Shirt of Resilience (MIC).
8. Ability scores. I'd say average Strength and Dexterity. Above average Constitution. Good Intelligence. Not sure about Wisdom. And phenomenal Charisma. Even the White Council is more worried about Harry's collection of allies than Harry himself.
9. The Sight. I can't find any one spell that fits the mechanics of this. It looks like a little of True Seeing and Know Alignment. At-will, with some Will saves to avoid insanity for looking at creatures like the skinwalker.
Now to stat out Harry himself. I went through the arcane spell lists to find analogues of Harry's spells. I would say, Harry is capable of casting at least level 5 spells (Lesser Planar Binding and Contact Other Plane). Assuming Harry casts his fire spells from his runestaff, then we can use a wizard instead of a sorcerer. Based off his highest level equipment, I'd go with runestaff of fire (L12 item), lesser metamagic rod of empower spell (L12), leather duster of resilience (L13 item).
Harry Blackstone Copperfield Dresden
Male human Wizard 10 / Sorcerer 3
CG Medium humanoid
Languages: English, Latin ("Damned correspondence course"), Fey
Abilities: Str 10; Dex 11; Con 12; Int 16; Wis 12; Cha 18
S.Abilities: The Sight; Walking Techbane
Spells known:
5: Lesser Planar Binding; Contact Other Plane
4: Orb of Force; Otiluke's Resilient Sphere; Wall of Fire
3: Fireball; Invisibility Sphere; Magic Circle against Evil; Wind Wall
2: Battering Ram; Fireburst; Gust of Wind; Scorching Ray; Unseen Crafter
1: Forcewave; Magecraft; Orb of Fire; Shield; Unseen Servant
Equipment: bracelet of force shield; leather duster of resilience; lesser metamagic rod of empower spell; runestaff of fire; ring of battering ram
EDIT: At least, this is how he appears in the campaign I'm DMing inLast edited by Vilyathas; 2010-04-09 at 04:12 AM.
-
2010-04-09, 04:46 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Mar 2010
- Location
- Netherlands
- Gender
Re: Harry Dresden, Chicago's only professional wizard
-
2010-04-09, 06:23 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Jan 2007
- Location
- Switzerland
- Gender
Re: Harry Dresden, Chicago's only professional wizard
Well, Bob seems spot on for an awakened Mimir to me. DnD already has talking, information-dispensing skulls, so why make something new?
I am in the Warlock camp, by the way, with a custom invocation for gust of wind and levels in hellfire warlock.Resident Vancian Apologist
-
2010-04-09, 08:31 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Apr 2009
Re: Harry Dresden, Chicago's only professional wizard
A few different observations.
In defense of Vancian magic for Harry, casting spells causes him to tire. There are times he passes out due to using too much magic too quickly. This can be seen as an IC analog for running out of spells slots. So I think a Vancian spellcasting class could work ok for Harry on some level. I would go Sorcerer over Wizard.
That being said, I still fall into the Warlock camp as well. His blasting rod or staff could be a Warlock Scepter. The other could be an Empower/Maximize metamagic rod. His duster could be magic Leather armor that also provides a resistance bonus to saves.
The use of circles in magic and Harry's summoning of different creatures from the Nevernever also lends a certain Binder element. This will also dovetail nicely into Hellfire Warlock and provides further non-Vancian magical abilities.
The shield bracelet as Ring of Force Shield is good. I also think some form of item providing Wings of Cover would make sense (remember, I like Sorcerer rather than Wizard).
I would probably make Bob his familiar (maybe a re-fluffed Imp, don't know the Mimir), and Molly his cohort.
I would probably go a mix of Binder, Warlock, Sorcerer, Anima Mage, Eldritch Theurge, Hellfire Warlock. Lite on Binder, Heavy on Warlock, enough Sorcerer to cover stuff invocations doesn't.
Edit Lash's Shadow seems very Vestige-ish to me. Perhaps only Binder 1 and can only bind Laschiel? What kind of abilities would Laschiel grant?Last edited by AbyssKnight; 2010-04-09 at 09:03 AM.
-
2010-04-09, 08:52 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Feb 2006
- Location
Re: Harry Dresden, Chicago's only professional wizard
I love the build - short of using the Dresden RPG itself, that's as close as I think you can get. Except, of course, that
Moderate spoilers for the recently-released Changes ahead:
SpoilerPretty much every stat you list changed drastically, and the entire Backgrounds section needs to be rebuilt. Some of the Allies bounced up in power noticeably, and most of the rest of that section, well, the book doesn't carry the title it does for no reason.
-
2010-04-09, 08:57 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Jan 2007
- Location
- Switzerland
- Gender
Re: Harry Dresden, Chicago's only professional wizard
I don't know about Binder, really. I'd say that what he does with magic circles is just a more or less refluffed Planar Ally or Contact other plane. Eldritch Theurge sounds best for him, I'd say.
Resident Vancian Apologist
-
2010-04-09, 09:19 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Feb 2008
Re: Harry Dresden, Chicago's only professional wizard
Two levels in Hellfire Warlock wouldn't be amiss if you have some warlock in there once you get lesser invocations. The hellfire infusion fits with some of the stuff Harry did while using hellfire, and the prereqs certainly fit Harry. Sadly, in order to stat Harry properly, you start getting to the limits of D&D. And while wizards more powerful than Harry might be epic magic users, it gets messy.
Avatar by Darth Raynn
Spoiler
Old avatar by KP (I think)
Green Lantern of the Rayneverse
-
2010-04-09, 09:27 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Apr 2009
Re: Harry Dresden, Chicago's only professional wizard
Pulling a satellite from space to smash an enemy stronghold definately looks Epic to me.
Also, I do want to mention, I edited my earlier post in support of at least one level of Binder.
-
2010-04-09, 04:28 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Apr 2010
Re: Harry Dresden, Chicago's only professional wizard
Last edited by Lost Wanderer; 2010-04-09 at 04:28 PM.
-
2010-04-09, 04:37 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Nov 2006
-
2010-04-09, 04:43 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- May 2006
- Location
- Sunnydale
Re: Harry Dresden, Chicago's only professional wizard
It's kind of irrelevant, because the details are ignored. I read through all the Dresden novels in one stretch, and after the first few (where Dresden got 6 shots out of a 5-shot revolver) I started taking notes of the inconsistencies. Since Jim Butcher doesn't care about these things, why should we?
A .38 Chief's Special carries six rounds
(No, that's a five-shot revolver: Model 36 Chiefs Special.)
I've got to get a concealed-carry permit.
(Chicago had banned all handguns, so there weren't any permits.)
So I got out of the Beetle and opened the storage trunk at the front of the VW. I took out a few wizardly implements ...
I carried all of these back to the front of the car with me
(What did he do, make a complete circle around the bug?)
The icebox was an old-fashioned one that stocked actual ice ...
and there was ice cream in the freezer.
(You can't freeze anything with melting ice; iceboxes don't have freezers.)
staggered toward my shower. There were times when it was just as well that I had disconnected the water heater to head off magically inspired mishaps.
... turned the water to its coldest setting
(What setting?)
he drew out the heavy revolver.
Great, Harry, I thought. That's what you get for trying to be a hero. You get to eat a six-pack of nine-millimeter bon-bons.
(9mm ammunition is designed for auto-loading pistols, is rare in revolvers, and is nonexistent in heavy revolvers.)
Then I let Kong have it right between its black beady eyes.
The fire hit it like a wrecking ball, right on the chin.
(Pretty weird anatomy there.)
I heard two distinct clicks behind me, the hammers being drawn back on a pair of guns, and Lara ...
Lara thumbed back the hammer on both guns
(Once you draw back the hammer, you need to uncock the gun to be able to repeat this operation.)
the dog (by Dresden's side) sat down at the end of the spit of land, watching me with alert eyes, his ears flicking around at all the little sounds.
Then I walked out onto the spit to its end
(Must have missed the teleport spell there.)
I walked hurriedly back to my car, a battered old Volkswagen Beetle, its windows rolled down to keep the sun from turning the interior into an oven.
... it was still hotter than hell, so I rolled down the windows at the first stoplight and tried to think clearly.
(Auto-closing windows?)
an old issue of Playboy from the 70s, with Bo Derek on the cover
(Bo Derek was on Playboy's cover several times, but not before the 1980s.)
Fifty-caliber semiautomatic rifle. ...
Beneath the hole, several ounces of metal were flattened against the second layer of spell-toughened leather
(The heaviest .50 bullet is 1.6 ounces.)
-
2010-04-09, 04:56 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Oct 2009
-
2010-04-09, 05:13 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Dec 2009
Re: Harry Dresden, Chicago's only professional wizard
I'm excited to read Changes. Should be getting it within a few days hopefully.
Curmudgeon- most of those aren't that bad. For one, its in first person and purely from Harry's perspective which means it can be wrong and still be right. Others are just phrases, like "right between the eyes" which Harry likes to use frequently and isn't describing reality literally. More are facts Dresden might have got wrong, or it was the way he thought. Like heavy revolver may just be referring to how the gun feels in his hand. Some of the rest have to do with harryverse. Obviously a Chicago with supernatural monsters is different from the real life Chicago. Which means technology will also be different. So would history.
There are a few real mistakes of course. But all in all I'd say he has less mistakes than the average writer.
-
2010-04-09, 05:17 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- May 2006
- Location
- Sunnydale
Re: Harry Dresden, Chicago's only professional wizard
No, those were just the ones that bugged me enough to look for either external data or back through the book for the inconsistencies. And there's no photographic memory involved; I started a Dresden bugs file and typed this stuff in if the PC happened to be on when something annoyed me.
There were also a whole bunch of differences in the way Dresden did some of his magic, but since there's no explanation of how much consistency is required for spells, I didn't note any of that down.
-
2010-04-09, 05:32 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Oct 2009
Re: Harry Dresden, Chicago's only professional wizard
-
2010-04-09, 05:43 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Apr 2009
Re: Harry Dresden, Chicago's only professional wizard
-
2010-04-09, 05:58 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Apr 2010
Re: Harry Dresden, Chicago's only professional wizard
These, I think, you might just have to attribute to the Dresdenverse having some minor differences from the real world. Especially with something like laws; if a supernatural group wants hand guns in Chicago, by gods, they're going to strive to make it happen and they have the resources to do so.
So I got out of the Beetle and opened the storage trunk at the front of the VW. I took out a few wizardly implements ...
I carried all of these back to the front of the car with me
(What did he do, make a complete circle around the bug?)
The icebox was an old-fashioned one that stocked actual ice ...
and there was ice cream in the freezer.
(You can't freeze anything with melting ice; iceboxes don't have freezers.)
staggered toward my shower. There were times when it was just as well that I had disconnected the water heater to head off magically inspired mishaps.
... turned the water to its coldest setting
(What setting?)
he drew out the heavy revolver.
Great, Harry, I thought. That's what you get for trying to be a hero. You get to eat a six-pack of nine-millimeter bon-bons.
(9mm ammunition is designed for auto-loading pistols, is rare in revolvers, and is nonexistent in heavy revolvers.)
Then I let Kong have it right between its black beady eyes.
The fire hit it like a wrecking ball, right on the chin.
(Pretty weird anatomy there.)
I heard two distinct clicks behind me, the hammers being drawn back on a pair of guns, and Lara ...
Lara thumbed back the hammer on both guns
(Once you draw back the hammer, you need to uncock the gun to be able to repeat this operation.)
the dog (by Dresden's side) sat down at the end of the spit of land, watching me with alert eyes, his ears flicking around at all the little sounds.
Then I walked out onto the spit to its end
(Must have missed the teleport spell there.)
I walked hurriedly back to my car, a battered old Volkswagen Beetle, its windows rolled down to keep the sun from turning the interior into an oven.
... it was still hotter than hell, so I rolled down the windows at the first stoplight and tried to think clearly.
(Auto-closing windows?)
an old issue of Playboy from the 70s, with Bo Derek on the cover
(Bo Derek was on Playboy's cover several times, but not before the 1980s.)
Fifty-caliber semiautomatic rifle. ...
Beneath the hole, several ounces of metal were flattened against the second layer of spell-toughened leather
(The heaviest .50 bullet is 1.6 ounces.)
Overall, while some of your nitpicking is legitimate, I think you've failed to keep in mind that Harry is the narrator, he is not infallible or omniscient, and he likes to noir things up. It's a very noir inspired series, and if you go in expecting technothriller-esque detail fetishism, you're going to be disappointed.
As for magic consistency, it's been explicitly stated that 1) magic is more about finding a channel for will and emotion than strictly following rules and 2) the rules of magic that do exist change constantly. That's one of the reasons Bob is so invaluable; he doesn't just know the current rules, he can intuit and reason out new ones.
-
2010-04-10, 09:58 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Dec 2008
- Gender
Re: Harry Dresden, Chicago's only professional wizard
I support a level or two of binder.
SpoilerEven after he gets rid of Lash, he still channels higher powers.
He channels the Archangel Uriel to be able cast soul fire(at least at first, I'm not sure about the rest of the time.)
He binds the island Deamon Way, so that he can draw apon its power and is near omniscient whislt on the island.
Then During Changes he becomes the winter knight and channels the power of the fey.
I'm not sure if it counts or not, but his mothers neclace seems to me like a Binder flavored legacy item, as it gives him access to her knowledge.
Maybe Soul Fire could be a vestige related Metamagic ability.
EDIT: Sorry, I used the wrong macro and added a spoiler tag instead of a spoiler box and changed the word omnipotent to omniscient.