Rip/Criticize my character: Angela Copperfield.

[Pursuivant]

Originally Posted by whswhs

Do you require a special advantage (or disadvantage) to keep an adult, even one with Lecherousness, from pursuing children sexually?

Realistically, no. That's one of the reasons why Lecherousness has a base cost of -15 points; if you chase the wrong lover the consequences can be catastrophic. As long as a potential partner looks like they might be "available" and matches your sexual preferences, you'll take advantage. The GM might allow you to make another Self-Control roll to back off if you know what you're doing is dangerous or especially stupid, but other than that the character can't save him/herself.

That said, most adults aren't going to be sexually attracted to pre-pubescent kids. Adults with such tastes will have an Odious Personal Habit, and in most campaigns they'll have a serious Secret or some combination of Enemies and Social Stigma. Attraction to underaged teens is a different matter. In some settings it's a serious crime to be romantically involved with a minor, in others it's not. In any case, someone with Lecherousness won't be too picky about asking important questions about things like age, marital status, or security clearances.

Maybe not appropriate for this character, but I've created this HR limitation to Lecherousness. It's suitable for heroic characters who have healthy libidos (e.g., Bruce Wayne, Tony Stark, James T. Kirk) or campaigns where the GM really doesn't want to get into the nastier ramifications of the disadvantage:

Ethical (-80%): You’re an unabashedly sexual person, which can still get you into serious trouble, but you’re careful to “leave your lovers in better shape than you found them.” In extreme cases, you might have a Code of Honor regarding your lovers, or even a Sense of Duty towards them.

Your ethical behavior means that you never pursue anyone who isn’t interested in your advances or who is in a committed monogamous relationship with someone else. You will never pursue someone who has more to lose from a liaison with you than they have to gain, or who could be permanently damaged as a result of the relationship. You always respect your partners’ wishes and limits, in and out of the bedroom. You always take precautions to prevent disease, unwanted pregnancy, and other undesirable consequences of sex. You always make sure that your lovers understand, in advance, that you are polyamorous and that your relationship with them will not be exclusive and might not be permanent. When you end a relationship, you do so in a polite, honest fashion, and do what you can to avoid any hard feelings on all sides.

[Alonsua]

Originally Posted by whswhs

I think I have to ask what is the narrative that is supposed to be focused on this character. On one hand, you have them as a talented prestidigitator and deceiver, with the subnarrative of their cheating Las Vegas casinos (for which, I think, her skill levels are nowhere near to adequate; casinos can afford to hire very sharp people to spot that sort of thing and ban the people who do it, and she has to succeed in her deceptions every time to avoid this). On the other hand, you have her as the founder of a religion—and even if it's a consciously deceptive and fraudulent religion, that's a very different profile socially than "stage magician." On the gripping hand, you have the narrative about her being the product of an arcane exercise in genetic engineering (and one, by the way, that's hard to use to justify her gifts; people as recently dead as that weren't genetically different enough to support that narrative, I think). I'm not seeing any compelling reason that all three narratives should involve the same person, or even appear in the same story at all. It's kind of as if you are putting together a dish based on salmon, avocado, and maple syrup. What is the story logic of "putting A together with B makes B work better"?

No, no, she scams from the local casinos of the surrounding little towns near the great American metropolis where she performs her stage magic and miracles (against a BAD ranging from -2 to -5). And she is just a medium-sized coven leader at the moment, with maybe twenty loyal members/preachers or so. She hasn´t introduced herself as the triple goddess just yet, and is not planning to do so for several years, but that´s the player´s goal with the character, to keep investing on Religious Ritual/Theology up to level 18 or 20 before throwing in the scheme, so to say. Since the campaign runs with almost the same characters in different time sets, I am interested in figuring out how to approach to it, and what would be the requirements for this character to be succesful.

[whswhs]

Originally Posted by Alonsua

No, no, she scams from the local casinos of the surrounding little towns near the great American metropolis where she performs her stage magic and miracles (against a BAD ranging from -2 to -5). And she is just a medium-sized coven leader at the moment, with maybe twenty loyal members/preachers or so. She hasn´t introduced herself as the triple goddess just yet, and is not planning to do so for several years, but that´s the player´s goal with the character, to keep investing on Religious Ritual/Theology up to level 18 or 20 before throwing in the scheme, so to say. Since the campaign runs with almost the same characters in different time sets, I am interested in figuring out how to approach to it, and what would be the requirements for this character to be succesful.

I still don't see why "prestidigitator" and "founder of a new religion" and "genetically engineered human" go together as a coherent character concept. What's the narrative?

[copeab]

Originally Posted by whswhs

I still don't see why "prestidigitator" and "founder of a new religion" and "genetically engineered human" go together as a coherent character concept. What's the narrative?

I can see combining any two if the campaign point total allows it, but all three really seems like an unfocused character. Actually, you could probably do any two on half the point total.

[whswhs]

Originally Posted by copeab

I can see combining any two if the campaign point total allows it, but all three really seems like an unfocused character. Actually, you could probably do any two on half the point total.

Sure. The more different high concepts you have for a character, the more difficult it is to integrate them.

[whswhs]

Originally Posted by Pursuivant

That said, most adults aren't going to be sexually attracted to pre-pubescent kids. Adults with such tastes will have an Odious Personal Habit, and in most campaigns they'll have a serious Secret or some combination of Enemies and Social Stigma. Attraction to underaged teens is a different matter. In some settings it's a serious crime to be romantically involved with a minor, in others it's not. In any case, someone with Lecherousness won't be too picky about asking important questions about things like age, marital status, or security clearances.

Sure. I'm not talking particularly about Errol Flynn.

[Pursuivant]

Originally Posted by whswhs

I still don't see why "prestidigitator" and "founder of a new religion" and "genetically engineered human" go together as a coherent character concept. What's the narrative?

Hubris? This character has some remarkable talents but also enough serious character flaws to fill a lunatic asylum. That can't end well.

The story arc could be:

a) She's a genuine avatar of the trickster god(dess) or the god(dess) of liars and thieves and she's deliberately going to lead all who follow her to a bad end as some sort of bad cosmic joke. For example, if the Joker from the DC Comics Universe got some sort of supernatural mojo and founded a religion, or if Loki from the Marvel Comics universe decided to franchise.

b) She's an overconfident fraud who will eventually be overthrown when her followers turn on her, like many historical examples of religious con artists.

c) She's the Anti-Christ (or an Anti-Christ) who will briefly triumph but then get swept away by a literal deus ex machina event.

d) She's a delusional messianic character whose story arc will spiral downward until she eventually physically destroys herself and her followers, like the Heaven's Gate Cult or Jonestown Massacre.

If you want to emphasize the genetically-engineered part of the story, you could have a character in the spirit of Khan Noonien Singh from the original Star Trek. The literary conceit in that story was that genetically engineered humans are inherently corrupt, vicious, power-hungry, beings. They gain temporal power due to their superior abilities and then proceed to treat ordinary humans like cattle.

[AlexanderHowl]

I do agree that the character possesses too many irons in the fire. I would much rather that the character was a 400 point character (Legendary rather than Superhuman) with a maximum of 100 points of negative traits (plus Quirks). While characters at that level are generally competent, specialization is rewarded.

[Pursuivant]

Back to critiquing the character, it seems unlikely that a brilliant, beautiful, highly-talented, insanely wealthy woman who works as a stage performer wouldn't soon have an Enemy (Watcher) in the form of paparazzi and stalkers, and possibly an Ally Group in the form of groupies.

You might also need to find a template for some low to medium level bodyguard characters, as well as the other "little people" in her "retinue," chauffeur, pilot, personal assistant, beautician, drug dealer, sketchy party animals/enablers/hangers-on, etc.

If she's going to be an NPC villain, her minions are going to be the people who the heroes encounter first and most, and they'll also be the people they'll try to influence in order to find her weak spots.

[Alonsua]

Originally Posted by whswhs

I still don't see why "prestidigitator" and "founder of a new religion" and "genetically engineered human" go together as a coherent character concept. What's the narrative?

Millionaire father unable to relate normally with other people wants a genius daughter who he can proudly present in society to preserve his lineage. Multinational biotechnology enterprise seeks investors for its experimental genetic engineering projects. Abnormal father invests in the biotechnological firm reaching an agreement beneficial to both parties. Genius little girl gets angry with her weird father and enrolls in the University of Columbia, getting a doctorate at twelve. Father dies in a fire produced in strange circumstances. The girl starts leading a theater group to entertain herself, and she takes pleasure in the applause. Little by little she develops a love for magic and illusionism. She invests part of her inheritance in the launching of several shows in Las Vegas that turn out to be a success, catapulting her to fame. Given her new popularity and the rest of her qualities, some people begin to show genuine fervor for her, and with it grows her ambition. She begins to take an interest in occultism and sexual magic, and shortly after she creates her own wicca coven.

Edited the age.