11-16-2017, 05:21 PM | #1 |
Join Date: Mar 2014
Location: St. Louis, MO
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Making Faeries
Hello, all. In a campaign I am starting, one of my players wants to play a 'cait sith', or 'caught shee' - a cat-fae or cat-witch from Celtic folklore. Actually, she wants to play a half-fae - father is a cait sith, mother is human. Okay, fun.
Trouble is, I'm having some problems adapting the span of fae abilities to the GURPS system. So far, we've got these: 1) In folklore, the Cait Sith was able to shapeshift into a cat 8 times - 9, if they were willing to spend the rest of their lives as cats. So that's shapeshift, no problem, and shapeshifting into a cat that's puma-sized or smaller would be pretty cheap and easy to figure. However, the 8/9-shift limit seems pretty...hardcore. I was thinking perhaps 8 times a week (which would work out to Limited Use - 1/day). Is there a way, however, to work it out to 8 1/2 times a week? Maybe if they shift a 9th time in a week, they get caught that way for 24 hours or something? 2) The Cait Sith, in mythology, could possess/steal the souls of people who had died, if they hadn't been buried yet. We discussed this, and the player and I agreed that the character wouldn't age, as long as they had access, regularly, to fresh, unburied corpses. I thought at first that it might be a case of taking the Unaging advantage, with the Required Disadvantage of Dependency. However, if we want her to only spend an hour in the presence of a dead body at a time (to represent stealing its soul) then we need to have her do that *every day* - and we thought that, unless she wanted to become a coroner, that might be unrealistic. Not entirely undoable, but a little cumbersome. Can anyone think of a better way? 3) The Cait Sith could 'bless' someone who left out milk on Samhain (Hallowe'en) and could 'curse' someone who failed to. These blessings/curses seemed to be more or less limited forms of Serendipity/Cursed. How would you 'cast' these on someone, though? Afflictions with Serendipity/Cursed with Extended Duration, maybe? There are a few things: The fae are unable to outright lie (although they can talk around truth, or give you a different truth than you think you're getting) - easily handled with a high level Honesty disadvantage. They also are required to fulfill a promise or offer that they have spoken three times - again, fairly easily handled with Vow, or something similar. However, if you have any ideas about these, as well, please chime in. I'd love to hear. |
11-16-2017, 05:36 PM | #3 |
Join Date: Feb 2016
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Re: Making Faeries
You might want to take a look at the October Daye series for a different take on the Cait Sidhe (and Fair Folk) that would probably work better for GURPS. In short, they effectively have Alternate Form (Cat) and Jumper (Reliable +10 and One World). The Lost Girl series gives yet another take on the Fair Folk.
The question becomes though is do you want folklore to be an inspiration or a bible. In the former case, just take what you want and just attribute the rest to slander on the part of humans. In the latter case, you might have a difficult time making it work in GURPS. When I use Fair Folk, I tend to use folklore as inspiration, but I pick and choose. Iron is nothing special (that is a modern interpretation anyway) and the Fair Folk are beautiful and terrible. Of course, I often have it that the Fair Folk can only visit the Earth during the Full Moon and that they die if they stay on Earth too long. |
11-16-2017, 05:48 PM | #4 |
Wielder of Smart Pants
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Ventura CA
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Re: Making Faeries
They probably should have Unaging anyway (if it is relevant in your campaign) as that is one of the core traits of the aos sí ; Tír na nÓg means "Land of the Young" for a reason.
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11-16-2017, 06:13 PM | #5 |
Untagged
Join Date: Oct 2004
Location: Forest Grove, Beaverton, Oregon
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Re: Making Faeries
The fun thing about creating mixed characters is the privilege to pick and choose sometimes contradictory features from both parent species and sometimes even unique "hybrid vigor" oddities.
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Beware, poor communication skills. No offense intended. If offended, it just means that I failed my writing skill check. |
11-16-2017, 07:02 PM | #6 | |
Join Date: Mar 2013
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Re: Making Faeries
Quote:
If it was my character, I'd go for Claws and Clinging if I could because that'd be awesome. |
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11-17-2017, 10:35 AM | #7 |
Join Date: Mar 2014
Location: St. Louis, MO
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Re: Making Faeries
I was kind of looking for suggestions on how to build these things in the game system...
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11-17-2017, 10:59 AM | #8 | |
Join Date: Nov 2008
Location: Yukon, OK
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Re: Making Faeries
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That already given and you want the 8 a week with what is closest in value and fudge it or call it close enough. Your questions... 1) 1 time a day is a lot more restrictive than 7 times a week so their not equivalent. Not sure what I would give it but I tend to lean towards the conservative. 2) How often does it need to get a soul? If its not enough to be worked as a dependency or swapped for normal food and water (possibly with Reduced Consumption) I would go with a Quirk. 3)Affliction with Serendipity or Luck is a good way to do a Blessing. We have RAW examples (Powers Divine Favor see Travelers Blessing) where it lasts until used or reasonable other termination conditions instead of Extended Duration. You could further limit it to Focused, -20% if you want to limit what it can affect.
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My GURPS publications GURPS Powers: Totem and Nature Spirits; GURPS Template Toolkit 4: Spirits; Pyramid articles. Buying them lets us know you want more! My GURPS fan contribution and blog: REFPLace GURPS Landing Page My List of GURPS You Tube videos (plus a few other useful items) My GURPS Wiki entries Last edited by Refplace; 11-17-2017 at 11:04 AM. |
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11-17-2017, 11:00 AM | #9 |
Wielder of Smart Pants
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Ventura CA
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Re: Making Faeries
Not Honesty, that is adherence to law, you want Truthfulness.
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11-17-2017, 11:28 AM | #10 | ||||
Join Date: Aug 2005
Location: Saskatoon, SK, Canada
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Re: Making Faeries
Quote:
Being stuck in one form is the Minimum Duration limitation (Power-Ups 8: Limitations, p. 15), for 24 hours it's worth -15%. The whole "shapeshift no more than 8 times, then get stuck" is a case of Either/Or limitations, in this case Either Limited Use, 8 times per week, Or Minimum Duration, 24 hours. To get the value of this, you multiply the percentage values of the limitations together, so that works out to something like a -2% limitation. I'd be generous and bump it up to -5%, though. Quote:
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This is based on the price of Truthfulness with no self-control roll, but with a limitation to allow them to lie by omission, and a Minor Vow. |
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