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Old 07-30-2010, 04:17 AM   #21
Michele
 
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Udine, Italy
Default Re: NPCs: Modern Day Mages

Lalima Shirodkar, witch by chance [90 points]

Age: 27, Height: 5'2", Weight: 120 lbs, SM: +0, TL: 8

ST: 9 [-10]
DX: 10
IQ: 12 [40]
HT: 10
[Total Attributes: 30]

HP: 9
Will: 12
Per: 12
FP: 10

Basic Speed: 5 Basic Move: 5 Basic Lift: 16 Damage: Thr. 1d-2, Sw. 1d-1

Dodge: 8 Parry: 8 (unarmed, DX)

Languages: Marathi (native) [0], English (native) [6], Hindi (broken) [2], Sanskrit (spoken none, written broken) [1]
Cultural Familiarities: Eastern (native) [0], Western [1]
[Total Languages and Cultural Familiarities: 10]

Advantages and Perks: Contact (Business, skill 18, on 9 or less, somewhat reliable) [3]; Magery 1 [15]; Status 1 [5]; Wealth (Comfortable) [10]. Poker Face [1].
[Total Advantages and Perks: 34]

Disadvantages and Quirks: Appearance (Unattractive) [-4]; Bad Sight (nearsighted, glasses) [-10]; Curious (12 or -) [-5]; Enemy (the Cabal, watcher, secret, on 6 or -) [-6]; Reputation -1 (Weird spinster, small class, sometimes) [-1]; Secret (Witch) [-10]. Uncongenial [-1]; Resents "dolls" [-1]; Hates chauvinists [-1]; Mutters to herself [-1].
[Total Disadvantages and Quirks: -40]

Skills and Techniques: Accounting-14 [12]; Administration-12 [2]; Area Knowledge(Mumbai)-12 [1]; Computer Operation/TL8-12 [1]; Connoisseur (Literature)-11 [1]; Driving/TL8(Cars)-9 [1]; Economics-10 [1]; Fast-Talk-13 [4]; Finance-12 [4]; Hobby (Collecting rare books)-13 [2]; Merchant-13 [4]; Occultism-11 [1]; Research/TL8-11 [1].
[Total Skills and Techniques: 35]

Spells: Foolishness-12 [2]; Forgetfulness-13 [4]; Daze-12 [2]; Weaken Will-15 [12]; Sense Foes-11 [1].
[Total Spells: 21]

It is assumed that mana is normal in her world, even though magic is a secret and most people think that wizards exist only in fiction.

Poker face is a Perk, giving a -1 penalty to Body Language rolls made to interpret facial expressions. It doesn't help with body posture.

Lalima was born in a wealthy Marathi family and was sent to study law even though a suitable future husband had already been selected for her - making allowances for the fact that she isn't a beauty. But she proved to be stubborn, and ended with a MBA degree and no fiancè at all. She lives on her own and only of her own earnings, and has only occasional contacts with her mother nowadays.
Her job in Mumbai's financial district is with the mergers & acquisitions of a big corporation. She was a rising star, until her boss was replaced by the current one, a chauvinistic man who thinks women can work in the office in junior positions, and preferably if they are accommodating and pretty. None of which applies to Lalima.
While she isn't workaholic, she has never had much in the way of a social life, and she replaced that with her hobby: collecting rare books. Some two years ago, just as she was considering finding a new job, she stumbled upon a 17th-century book printed in Oxford, apparently about astrology. Her restorer, however, drew her attention to minuscule inter-linear scribblings.
She is still in the process of deciphering them, but she now knows they are magical spells... and, through extensive experimentation, she also knows they work. Unfortunatley, she's rapidly reaching the limit a student without a teacher will hit, and parts of some very interesting spells remain unreadable.
Most of them are Mind Control and Communication and Empathy spells. Which, as Lalima found out, can be risky but very useful during business negotiations. It does help her that she already used to mutter to herself, and so nobody is terribly surprised if she does just that on occasion... maybe with some strange hand gestures to go with. Recently, she has begun using more and more her spells to influence negotiations, sometimes leaving the participants baffled, after the meeting is over, as to how she managed to obtain such favorable terms.
But this is becoming risky. His boss is now becoming wary and worried (about keeping his own position, too); she was already seen as somewhat weird, and this has grown into a negative reputation within the circles of Mumbai's business community. Lately, rumors have it that when one of her beautiful but empty-headed colleagues (which she calls "dolls") made a fool of herself at a presentation, somehow Lalima was the culprit... and strange as it sounds, it's actually true. The problem is that the woman only acts empty-headed, and she has begun suspecting Lalima.
This is not the worst part, though. The book restorer talked about that book with someone else. There is a very powerful organization, the Cabal, that is now keeping tabs on Lalima. Should they get the impression she's about to spill the beans about magic, they won't just keep watching.
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Michele Armellini
GURPS Locations: St. George's Cathedral
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Old 07-30-2010, 07:16 AM   #22
vitruvian
 
Join Date: Aug 2004
Default Re: NPCs: Modern Day Mages

Quote:
Originally Posted by sir_pudding View Post
You can't think at the same time, which might be a problem.
You can't perform another Concentrate maneuver at the same time, which is not the same thing at all. If you couldn't think, you would be unable to make decisions about how to employ your Telekinesis, or how to employ your spells on which targets, or what witty quip to annoy your opponents with in TK or spell-based combat, or write down or type the words you are thinking of. none of which should require CM. If you want to say that doing complicated sums in your head and similar things require a Concentrate maneuver, that just means that when doing so the animated body will be posed still in its last position until cogitation is complete.
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Old 07-30-2010, 11:15 AM   #23
Not another shrubbery
 
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Originally Posted by sir_pudding View Post
Really? Which? Combustible I suppose.
Hmm... I suppose so. I was actually thinking of Unnatural, but Combustible does seem like a good fit.
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Old 07-30-2010, 02:41 PM   #24
sir_pudding
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Location: Ventura CA
Default Re: NPCs: Modern Day Mages

Quote:
Originally Posted by Not another shrubbery View Post
Hmm... I suppose so. I was actually thinking of Unnatural, but Combustible does seem like a good fit.
Unnatural and Unkillable don't play nice, do they? It needs some reason that it has survived with 2 HP for over a century, doesn't it?
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Old 07-30-2010, 03:33 PM   #25
Not another shrubbery
 
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Default Re: NPCs: Modern Day Mages

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Originally Posted by sir_pudding
Unnatural and Unkillable don't play nice, do they? It needs some reason that it has survived with 2 HP for over a century, doesn't it?
I do not have my books now... Is there something that makes them incompatible?
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Old 07-31-2010, 12:15 PM   #26
Dwarf99
 
Join Date: Nov 2006
Location: Fayetteville, Arkansas
Default Re: NPCs: Modern Day Mages

Quote:
Originally Posted by Not another shrubbery View Post
I do not have my books now... Is there something that makes them incompatible?
Unkillable= I don't die
Unnatural= I die at -1 x HP
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Old 07-31-2010, 01:47 PM   #27
Not another shrubbery
 
Join Date: Aug 2004
Default Re: NPCs: Modern Day Mages

Quote:
Originally Posted by Dwarf99
Unkillable= I don't die
Unnatural= I die at -1 x HP
:/
And I even posted on the very same point before, in an eponymous thread.
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Old 07-31-2010, 02:42 PM   #28
sir_pudding
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Location: Ventura CA
Default Re: NPCs: Modern Day Mages

Quote:
Originally Posted by Not another shrubbery View Post
:/
And I even posted on the very same point before, in an eponymous thread.
Sure and you could do that. I didn't because dying after taking a mere 4 points of damage seems a little uselessly extreme.
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Old 07-31-2010, 03:46 PM   #29
quarkstomper
 
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Location: The Enchanted Land-O-Cheese
Default Re: NPCs: Modern Day Mages

This is an NPC buddy I made up for a recent campaign I ran with my wife, Lute. Since she's an NPC, I never really made a polished character sheet for her with fully-worked stats. Also, her character changed over the course of the campaign as she learned more magic. (For example, she started off with Telekenisis 5 -- Uncontrollable to represent some of her latent powers; eventually, she learned the Apportation spell, but she kept the Uncontrollable Telekinesis too, for comedy purposes)

Mimsey Grant -- Apprentice Witch/Bookstore Owner

Mimsey Grant was a shy, bookish girl with a not-terribly useful degree in Anthropology from the University of Milwaukee and mild interest in the occult. Then she inherited a bookstore from a long-forgotten grandfather.

The thing is, Grandpa isn't actually dead. He was a powerful and reclusive wizard who, for reasons he refuses to discuss, is now inhabiting the form of a cynical and sarcastic Siamese cat. He has a lot of magic books and artifacts kept in his shop and he has chosen Mimsey to be its custodian. To that end, Grandpa is now teaching her magic. She's not extremely good at it, but she tries hard.

ST: 9
DX: 11
IQ: 12
HT: 10
HP: 9
PER: 12
WILL: 11
FT: 10
Speed: 5.25
Move: 5
Dodge: 8
Parry (Judo) 8

ADVANTAGES:
Ally: Grandpa (a guess; I never statted up Grandpa, so I don't know how he compares to Mimsey. He was a powerful mage, but his cat-form puts him at a major disadvantage)
Wealth: Comfortable
Independent Income 10 (so that she doesn't have to rely on the bookstore to turn a profit in order to make a living. She loses the income if she ever sells the shop. Grandpa wanted to give her incentive to hold on to it)
Appearance: Pitiable
Animal Empathy
Intuition
Magery 1
Serendipity 1
Telekinesis 5: Uncontrollable (as described above)

DISADVANTAGES:
Absent-Minded
Bad Sight: Mitigator: Glasses
Duty: Maintain Grandfather's Shop
Fearfulness 2
Honesty
Klutz: Total (ooh, I had fun with that one!)
Low Self Image

QUIRKS:
Low Alcohol Tolerance
Secret: Likes Kinky Sex

LANGUAGES:
English (native)
Greek (accented)

SKILLS:
Accounting -12
Anthropology -12
Area Knowledge: Milwaukee -12
Computer Ops -12
Cooking -12
Driving: Automobile (standard transmission) -11
First Aid -12
Fortune Telling: Tarot -12
History: Ancient Egyptian -13
History: Ancient Greek -13
Judo -11
Literature -12
Meditation -10
Musical Instrument: Clarinet -10
Philosophy: Greek -11
Occultism -13
Veterinary -10
Research -13

SPELLS
Apportation -12
Light -12
Detect Magic -12
Aura -12
Identify Spell -12
Sense Foes -12
Sense Emotions -12
Rope of Bondage -11 (that's a custom spell. Grandpa didn't teach it to her, and if you ask her about it, Mimsey will blush and change the subject)
Truthsayer -11
Continual Light -11
Clean -11
Sleep -10

POSSESSIONS:
The Bookstore: "Rook's Books"
A 1974 Avocado Green Gremlin
A cranky and sarcastic cat
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