Spirit of the Century character 4. Thaddius Grimore
Name: Prof. Thaddius Grimore
Player: Steve
Concept: Occult specialist (Arcane loremaster)
Health: 6 Composure: 7 Fate points: 10
Phase 1. Background. Son of one of the great mediums of the 19th-20th century, Grigori Grimore and fortuneteller Calista Canasta. Thaddius is no stranger to the arcane nature of the universe. This however left him a social black sheep as his classmates and neighbors found his family creepy.
Aspect: Arcane prodigy Aspect: Emotional distance of occultists
Phase 2. The Great War. During the campaign through Belgium, Thaddius managed to save his regiment from an ambush due to a sense of things being awry. He managed to pull his staff comrade out of the way of an incoming mortar and successfully led them through a minefield to friendly territory.
Aspect: Unnaturally lucky Aspect: I’ve got the wiggins
Phase 3. Your novel. Professor Grimore versus the Baskerville Head Hunter A series of disturbing beheadings occur in a small village in the country. Prof Grimore manages to drive off the blood thirsty apparition and his phantom mastiff only to find out that it is the work of Baron Blackheart and her minions. The professor and his associates manage to bind the fined before they can complete the ritual to lock the Headhunter in the world of the living and thus depriving the Baroness of the unkillable headhunter’s servitude.
Aspect: Baroness’s eternal ire Aspect: Touch of the Headhunter
Don’t have phase four or five.
Skills:
Superb+5
Mysteries
Great +4
Academics
Resolve
Good +3
Investigation
Alertness
Weapons
Fair +2
Empathy
Guns
Rapport
Intimidation
Average +1
Deceit
Endurance
Survival
Fists
Science
Stunts:
Rare artifact page 173 You may introduce an artifact that you design on-the-fly, in a fashion similar to the Universal Gadget stunt (see page 148).
Because this is an artifact, however, a few differences exist. The artifact gets three improvements, same as a Personal Artifact, instead of only two improvements, the way a Universal Gadget does. Furthermore, this stunt may be taken multiple times and, unlike a Personal Artifact, may combine those improvements into a single, more potent artifact.
There is, however, a downside…
All Rare Artifacts inevitably have origins shrouded in darkness and mystery. In order to introduce such an artifact into play, the character must take on a temporary aspect which vaguely, colorfully references the secret (and unknown) past of the artifact. The GM may then incorporate its dark past into the storyline, hitting the character with compels as appropriate.
If the player’s uninterested in having his impromptu artifact misbehaving on occasion, he may spend a fate point to avoid the temporary aspect’s placement. And that might just be a good idea. .. Beware the sinister secrets of the arcane
Artificer page 172 The character is capable of using Mysteries to improve artifacts (mystic gadgets, essentially) in the same fashion that Engineering does, albeit on radically different principles (see Gadgets and Gizmos, page 220). “Devices” worked on in this fashion will be clearly arcane in appearance and will work on principles that may make no sense to logical men. You may include some advances that are not available to “normal” Engineering.
This sort of work requires an arcane workshop in the same way that engineering requires a regular workshop (page 109).
Secrets of the Arcane page 176 The character is respected authority in a specific occult field (Arcane Cryptomythological Studies). Possibilities include ancient mythology, psychic phenomena, cryptozoology, and so on. In the elite circles of that particular field, the character is recognized for his expertise. Even if his skill level is low, it merely means he is towards the bottom of that particular group of the elite.
This stunt is, essentially, the Mysteries parallel of the Scholar stunt, under Academics (see page 118). When the character makes a Mysteries roll pertaining to his general area of expertise, he automatically receives a +1 knowledge bonus. Beyond this, the character should pick a specific area of specialization within that area (like extraterrestrial demonology, or xenomorphic symbology - the more syllables the better). When a Mysteries roll involves that specialization, he gains an additional +1 bonus (for a total +2 to the value of the research effort). Any research efforts involving the specialization take one unit less time.
Inner Strength page 186 Whenever someone is trying to get inside your head - be it through psychic means (as with some mesmerism stunts), or through extensive torture - you receive a +2 to your Resolve defense even without resorting to a full defense action. If you do go for a full defense, you may, but it only nets you a +3 in total.
Smooth recovery page 184 While most characters with Resolve can keep things together under stress, for your character it is second nature, allowing him to regain his footing in the face of even the direst of outcomes outside of physical conflict. This stunt allows the character to take one additional moderate, social or mental consequence than normal, allowing him to take up to four total consequences of that variety.