Under Special Abilities, my copy of the book says Avatars' additional boon per level doesn't require having to balance it with a taboo, hence two boons but only one taboo per level. Am I reading that incorrectly?
Appearance, Motives, Aspects forthcoming. Just wanted to get the Attributes and Profession stuff out there first.
You're right, but I'm reading that as kicking in at L2, since L1 is covered by the first boon + taboo. Baseline, you'd have 1/1 at L1 + 1/0 at L2, or 2/1. Then you're choosing to add 2 more boons at the cost of 2 more taboos, for a total of 4/3. Can that reconcile with your reading?
OK, after further review of Avatar, I found it somewhat lackluster and not fitting my character concept as it evolved in my head. I think Cultist is a better fit, and I'm thinking about using my Aspects to shape him to something closer to the themes evoked in the Avatar description.
Instead of the attribute score swap, I will bump my character's Willpower to 13 instead and take the Passive sign as a devotee of Yuhannah to bump it further up to 15.
Also, If it's OK, I'll take the original attribute gain rolls I made when he was an Avatar and apply them to Health and Willpower as those are his Primaries, which means that they bump Health to 12 and Willpower to 16.
Caldwell cuts an otherwise unimposing figure until you catch hold of his cold, sullen eyes. Tinted a unique golden-brown, they are accentuated by the dark clothes the bookhound prefers and are framed strikingly by his unkempt black hair and pale, almost luminous skin. He is more graceful than muscular, and strays toward the gaunt side of lean.
For some reason, the incursions from beyond have stoked the flames of urgency for Yuhannah the Revealer. Whereas before she contented herself with the recovery of ancient tomes and uncovering the secrets of the powerful, she has been moved to mobilize seven agents — her Argent Keys, she called them — and dispatching them to locate and decipher the Seven Enigmas before it is too late.
Caldwell was a professional 'acquisitionist' for the Theosophical Society, the gathering place for the cult of Yuhannah in Byzantium. Those who were curious about ancient religions, the occult, and hidden knowledge were welcome to peruse their archives, where they would be evaluated for recruitment. Many of the volumes in the Society were brought in by Caldwell and his mentor, Johann Borges, through means both legal and unscrupulous.
Caldwell earned the enmity of his mentor when he beat him in acquiring the journal of the infamous occultist Aleister Branagh, eventually leading to the junior Bookhound being selected over Johann to become an Argent Key. In their cat and mouse dance of wresting ownership of the journal from each other, a page tore from the manuscript, which contained a revelation that sent Caldwell reeling.
In it, Branagh speculated that Yulhannah was actually a servant of Mog-Mnogoth, and that her efforts to unearth the lost secrets of this world are simply the means by which the final gate for the Opener of Ways to enter into this realm permanently. Could this be true? Is the self-proclaimed Unearther of Secrets suppressing an inconceivable secret herself?
50 feet of twine cord, a strong magnet, a battleaxe or a flail, a bouncy rubber ball, a cigar cutter, a drinking vessel made from a horn, a jar of pickled vegetables, a lantern that has run out of oil, and either an amulet that is a piece of amber with an insect preserved inside it or a handful of magnesium.
A dubious university degree, a jar of glowing insects, lots of tattoos, a purse with 25 cyphers worth of foreign coins in it, a weird mask, and the enmity of your mentor.
Spiritual enemy: not sure about this one. Maybe humans that are concealing a grave secret?
Spells: level 1 grants 2 + 2 WIL mod = 4, plus another 4 at level 2. So 8 total?
This character gives us a lot to work with! Thanks for that.
I'd normally ask that you re-roll, as there's a mild inequity in knowing ahead of time that the roll would succeed... but I'm going to allow it, because I'd like put a condition on the character, and allowing the +1 bump to Willpower feels like a fair exchange to me.
Because your character is both a Cultist and has direct contact with a Patron, I'd like to make your baseline Resentment score a 2. Further, in between every Incursion Caldwell involves himself in, 'ugly rumors are spread about you through the settlement', which means Resentment will always increase by 1 after every Incursion.
Because we're not playing in the strictly law-abiding assumptive world of the game, I'm inclined towards Cultists always having a baseline Resentment of 1. Caldwell's a bit more outré.
Is this something you'd be open to? Resentment rules are on TNU 150-153.
"You might be skilled in some particular specialty, if it serves your cult or allows you to operate in society without revealing your religious affiliation, but it must be some kind of mundane occupation. Discuss your character's identity with the GM, either before or during the game. You may need to elaborate on how and where you learned a skill when you perform an appropriate action during play."
Are Caldwell's unique eye color and pale, luminous skin unique in Byzantium, but common amongst his people? Or would he stand out among them, as well? Is he 'human'? Is he native to Byzantium? Or might he be from another plane, or some region outside of the City of Secrets?
Does Caldwell understand that this is why he hunts Nightmare? Or is he compelled by some need of the Revealer that he doesn't yet fully understand?
What 'fee' do the Theosophists charge seekers to peruse the archives? It's likely not coin. Might it be something like a drop of blood, an honest tear, the bottled scent of an ancient tome, a key and the knowledge of the lock it opens, or something more pragmatic like the promise of a future service?
How did Caldwell come to Yuhannah (or her to him)? How long was he a member of her mystery cult before she recognized him as an Argent Key? Is his status known to others of the Revealed, or is that kept a mystery even from them?
Who, besides Johann, suspects that Caldwell has read Branagh's journal, and also knows the secret it hints at? Do they merely suspect that he's read it, or do they know? How have they come by this knowledge?
Can you say a few words about how you are planning on interpreting the Passive sign for this character? Similarly, how are the Ugly Truths made manifest?
Is it always the same crow that carries messages for you, or are they always different? Are you aware that a crow (separate from your messenger) is always following you, keeping you in its range?
Two eyeballs have formed on your body, one for each revealed spell (Clairaudience and Tongues). When their spell is memorized by you, each eye is white and glazed. When their spell is unmemorized, each eye is functional. Where is each eye located?
What was a time you unwittingly destroyed a piece of text?
There are stories behind many of these items. Can you tell us about some of them? Why twine, why a magnet, why the rubber ball, is there anything significant about the drinking vessel or the pickled vegetables, which version is the amulet and does it have any sentiment for you?
Why is the degree dubious, and what university is it from? Why a jar of glowing insects? Do the tattoos serve a purpose? Why do you have foreign coins? Are they all the same kind of foreign coin? Why is the mask weird, and why are you carrying it?
A reminder: Any of the starting items can be your equipment, things you are holding for someone else, gifts for another party, something you've found or intend to sell, etc.
I've been playing it as 2/level, or 4. Then +2 for WILL at L1 only. Then +2 for Spells Revealed, since you took that at L2. Which may be what you meant. Just clarifying the bonus spells for WILL are L1 only.
For the duration of the spell, you can tell if anything that you can see, hear, or touch is poisonous and how strong that poison is. You can find poisonous plants in the woods, or determine if food is poisoned.
• Level 3. Effect: 1 creature. Range: Touch.
• Level 5. Effect: 1 creature. Range: Senses, 50 feet per caster level.
The target may read directions, instructions, and similar notations written in unfamiliar or even unknown languages. This spell is good for several short pieces of text, one long reading, or one spell formula.
I'm nixing the Variation, since this is a Yuhannah-granted spell.
This spell leaves a magical message on a specific item or location, which is triggered whenever someone touches the item or enters the location. The message can be writing that appears, a spoken message accompanied by an illusion of a mouth that delivers it, or images of things seen by the caster. The message may be as long as you want, but if it is more than a few moments long, the spell cannot be cast in a single round.
This spell identifies a single creature, item, or location. It gives you a person's name and what they are best known for. It gives you a location's name, and who owns or occupies it, if anyone. Cast upon items and built environments, the spell identifies the maker and owner. Cast upon magical items, this spell reveals what the item does and how to use it.
• Level 2. Range: Touch.
• Level 6. Effect: 1 creature, item, or location per caster level.
Name a specific object or a type of object and this spell informs you how far away it is and in what direction, if it is within the range of the spell. If you choose a type of object, you become aware of the closest item of that type in whatever direction you face (within range).
Name a location and for the duration of the spell, you can hear it as if you were there. You can only name locations you know exist, although you can use this spell to hear what is beyond a door you know of.
• Level 6. The sounds of the location you name also occur at your location, so that anyone present may hear them as well.
For the duration of this spell, the target may converse in unfamiliar or even unknown languages. This does not grant any ability to communicate with creatures that do not use language, or the ability to read writings in a foreign language.
• Level 4. Range: Senses.
• Level 5. Effect: 1 person per caster level. Range: Senses.
Because you have four Divination spells, if you'd like you can take the Sign of the Diviner: Blind (TNG 144).
Clairaudience and Tongues are the two Revealed Spells.
I forgot to respond to this. I tend to not like humans as favored enemy types. Golems or Dwellers in the Deep are probably going to be the most relevant spiritual enemies for this campaign.
Golems or Dwellers in the Deep are probably going to be the most relevant spiritual enemies for this campaign.
Still following up on this... Golems would be a likely opponent guarding 'acquisitions', and Dwellers in the Deep are the types of things that show up in the worst Incursions.
OK, that's a lot of questions. Here we go.
Basically, an expert on books. Able to detect forgeries and alterations, determine approximate age, perform textual analysis, bind and restore damaged books, and the like.
The eyes are a byproduct of Sign of the Diviner: Blind (see below).
The slight luminosity are the result of being touched by Yuhanna. Argent means silvery-white, and this gold and silver combination hearkens to the metals keys are made of. Caldwell is a native of Byzantium, but he possessed pale skin to begin with, the result of being indoors and hunched over books for most of his childhood.
I left the Seven Enigmas pretty vague and open to your direction so that you can tie it into the existing campaign, and I see this as something Caldwell doesn't understand in the slightest, and also probably doesn't necessarily know will involve hunting Nightmares. He probably was provided only a sliver of a lead provided by Yuhannah, with the rest to be pieced together as he goes.
A key and knowledge of the lock it opens seems perfect.
I see Caldwell as being a worshipper of Yuhannah from a very young age, growing up in his father's Antiquarian book shop. His parents were cultists, but he was approached by her well before they started bringing him to their coven, sensing her aura as soon as he could read his first words. She was the warmth of comprehension, the beckoning of curiosity, the presence of immersion, the kiss of epiphany.
His status is known to others of the Revealed, and is actually the only thing that is probably keeping him alive when his former mentor now detests him and schemes with his apprentices in the cult to wrest from Caldwell the title he feels he rightfully deserves.
Caldwell is, however, oblivious to the identity of the other Argent Keys, and if others in the Byzantium coven are aware of them, they have not disclosed their identities. It is assumed that they are operating in other covens in other kingdoms, pursuing leads related to the other Enigmas.
The page from the journal that Caldwell read is the only page that really details Branagh's thoughts on the Revealer's connection to Mob-Mnogoth. The other pages merely dance around the topic without firm declarations, but one could gather that Aleister was building towards this conclusion.
When Branagh's journal was added to the Theosophical Society's collection, it was given to the care of its cadre of restorationists to repair the damage it sustained. While Johann and Caldwell each did not disclose to their coven that their clash is what mangled the volume in the first place, the restorationists familiar with the acrimony between the two suspect the missing page is in their possession.
Aleister is survived by one living descendant, Myra Branagh. Whereas Johann schemed to acquire the journal in Myra's possession by force, Caldwell conspired to worm his way into the old heiress' good graces and pilfer it from under her nose. When conflict inevitably ensued between the two bookhounds in their acquisition of the journal, Caldwell caught a knowing smirk cross Myra's face — as if she almost planned for its falling into the hands of the cult.
OK, so Caldwell is turning more and more into a Daredevil-esque circus freak, but I can see all these tying together.
Passive reflects the atrophying of his reflexes and physique as a consequence of his receiving spiritual divination and his new need to rely on his now other-touched senses. It is not that he is not slower to act in intense situations, but rather there is more sensory data to process and Caldwell response time suffers from the need to filter.
Ugly Truth reflects the fact that although his perception is now enhanced, but at the cost of some normalcy in his interactions with others.
And let's do eyeballs on his earlobes and on his tongue, since they are tied to Clairaudience and Tongues. If I could make them not normal eyeball-sized but considerably smaller, I envision them looking like piercings at first glance, until the spells are unmemorized.
I don't know about unwittingly, but Caldwell wittingly set that page of Branagh's journal ablaze, so aghast was his reaction to its blasphemous proposition. Now no one can truly confirm its contents save for those who have previously digested its statements. Who's to say, however, that Myra Branagh, does not possess other journals from her great-great grandfather that further elaborate on his theory?
The magnet belongs to Johann; Caldwell palmed it out of his satchel during one of their more physical altercations and never saw fit to return it.
The bouncy rubber ball serves as stress relief from the occasional bout of sensory overload, allowing him to direct all his focus towards the sensation of squeezing that orb in his palm.
The pickled vegetables are what he feeds the crows that do his bidding. On quiet nights, he strings out the length of twine across the rooftop of his home for them to perch on, then blows on the drinking vessel horn to summon them and feed.
The tattoos are ritual tattoos (of eyes, of course) marking his passage through the Seven Locks of his patron.
The amulet of the amber-preserved fly is his mother's, one of the only of her existence after her mysterious disappearance following her entering the highest echelons of the coven's hierarchy.
The glowing insects are spell components for use when he casts Divine Guidance for these creatures are of symbolic value to his patron for their illumination and their compound, multi-faceted eyes.
The dubious university degree belongs to Aleister Branagh. The faded parchment was tucked within the inner pocket of his journal and according to the restorationists of the Theosophist Society, a fabricated document and hence possessed of no value.
The battleaxe (no. 4 below) is of a unique key-shaped design, and along with the mask they serve as the official vestments of an Argent Key.
Thanks for those responses. Cool stuff! And those images, as I said in chat, are kickass.
It seems possible to me that Caldwell has never actually hunted Nightmare, that the experience that led to his advancement has come from his escapades with Johann. He may have been feeling drawn to Nightmare. He may have frequented the speakeasies and hangouts of Nightmare Hunters, drawn like a moth to something surrounding them.
It's also possible that he's dealt with some creatures of Nightmare that escaped their Incursions and wandered freely in the streets. He also could have some experience with Incursions.
Which of those possibilities is most intriguing to you?
The Taboo Yuhannah has set upon you makes it impossible for you to destroy a piece of text, unless it is accidental. Did you find and destroy that page of Branagh's journal before that Taboo was laid upon you? Is that the catalyst for the Taboo?
Or were you able to destroy the journal's page even while under the Taboo? What would that mean? Is some dire punishment due you? Might the Locks of Yuhannah be somehow false? Or did she want you to destroy the page? Have you somehow transcended, or passed a forbidden test?
Has it gone too far? Should we dial anything back? I don't want him to seem too cartoon-y or comic book-y, and want for you to be grooved by how he is developing.
On a separate but related note, I want to make sure that Caldwell isn't too heavily pigeonholed. He's an evocatively realized character, but he's deeply immersed in his personal reality. What things outside of the Theosophical Society, his enmity with his mentor, and his patronage with Yuhannah exist for him? I don't need that overly detailed now, but will want to find where he has acquaintances or interests or commitments that are perhaps more mundane. We can find those in play, but can you name one now? It can be as simple as a love for the pastries of a favorite bakery and some connection to the owner of that business, etc.
I've added your character to the wiki. There's a sample character sheet there for you to build off of. There's a houserule regarding how backpacks work.
Links above have been fixed, and should now navigate you to the correct posts.
I think Caldwell's pretty green in terms of Nightmare Hunting, and that his appointment to Argent is fairly recent. He's probably read of and is aware of Incursions from the Theosophical Society, but has minimal or little experienced of it firsthand.
I think that by far the most interesting response here is that somehow, Caldwell was able to destroy the page even while under the Taboo. His faith shaken to its core and distraught, Caldwell's knee-jerk response was to fling the page into a nearby flame. By the time he realized he violated the Taboo, it was too late, but to his surprise, he received no punishment. He hasn't disclosed to anyone that he has read Branagh's journal — much less destroyed it — to anyone, and so he has no idea why this is the case. If this is part of some secret test, he really has no way of knowing.
I think the blindness + eyeballs thing is cool, too. I did sign up for wyrdness, after all. However, I do think I want to keep Caldwell from going too far on the Daredevil track. I like your suggestion of him taking more time to discern the truth of a situation before acting as a follower of Yuhannah.
I've dropped his sheet into the wiki for review, and I hope to jump into the action later today or tomorrow at the latest.