Joey's Character's Details

This page will provide private details of Joey’s character, for Joey and the GMs only.

The concept

There have been two proposed character concepts, with a third idea being to combine the two.

First idea

My character’s primary goal is to achieve transcendance or godhood-to become something much greater than himself. He fully believes attaining godhood to be possible. My character would be a race/species/class that can use magic or psionics. He would strive to improve his powers whenever possible: believing this to be the key to transcendence.

He would outwardly appear to be an agreeable, generous, and good person. However, this is just a facade to gain the favor of anyone he works with. Inside, he is scheming, manipulative, and selfish, willing to do whatever it takes to achieve his goals. He does feel compassion for others and would prefer not to see harm done to them, but if given a choice between hurting others + achieving godhood or not hurting others + not achieving godhood, he would choose the first option. Also, if his life is threatened he would act like a cornered beast, or a drowning man; he would do whatever he could to keep himself alive. This also means that he will tend not to act heroically and even show complete cowardice when difficult life-threatening situations arise.

He is not a materialist and not greedy. He also does not believe that technology holds the key to transcendence. He believes that achieving such a state would require a strengthening of the mind, spirit, and soul while the body is just a tool he uses until such time as he will not need it anymore. Therefore, he probably wouldn’t care for becoming anything "machine-based" (cyborgs, androids, AIs, Soulmechs, and the like). Of course if he acquired proof that technology would help himon his path to enlightment, he would quickly change his technological aversion.

He hates the dwarves with a passionate fervor because of his fear of their spellbreakers.

He will also respect and try to befriend anyone he perceives to be strong (generally, not physically), has political or economic influence, is in some other position of power, or has great knowledge. Having strong friends can keep you alive, and having friends in high places can get you whatever you want or may need on your path to godhood. He might even overlook the potentially immoral qualities of certain individuals as long as these qualities do not interfere with, or threaten, him.

He is competitive and tries to prove to himself and others that he can do anything, solve any problem. He can sometimes be successfully taunted or goaded to act when acting might be detrimental.

From your descriptions, I believe my character would do best with psionics or empty magic. I would prefer psionics because it sounds as if one draws forth the magical powers from ones own being instead of relying off of external power sources. I don’t think a person striving for godhood would really want to gain power by relying off of the power of other things because you never know when those things will fail to function, or disappear, or be taken away, or explode causing way to much damage, etc.

On the other hand it makes sense that he could use empty magic as a starting point and strive to learn some way to wield his own internal power (learn psionics over time), or integrate the external energies into himself, to achieve godhood.

Another thing to consider is that I’d like my character to be somewhat unique from the other characters. So if someone else desides to use psionics or empty magic, I’d use the other (I’d prefer psionics however). Also, I would prefer to be a race that no one else is playing unless being the same race as someone else would benefit the flow of the story or party cohesion. For example, if you wanted some of the characters to be a part of the same organization and it just wouldn’t make sense for everyone to take that 7-legged, 13-eyed, 3-headed, slimy green alien for granted (not that I actually want to play as something like that).

For this concept: Primary preferred races (If no one else chooses these): Human, Alien race #1, Alien race #2, etc. Secondary prefered races (If we already have a human and a representative of all known alien races in the party): Gnome, Elf, Halfing, other Gaian Creature.

However, if too many people play psions and mystics and nobody else is going to play a spellbreaker dwarf…I really wouldn’t mind teaching all those arrogant fools a lesson-repeatedly. (:lol:) But seriously though, I would really like to play a spellbreaker dwarf if no one else does. It was going to be my second character choice anyway. Among pcs those magically inclined types tend to be too common (regardless of the overall population statistics).

At the very least the bearded types must be represented. Therefore, my character MUST be bearded (not necessarily dwarfed) if no one else’s character is.

Second idea

I’d like to have a character who has been really screwed up due to some combination of genetic engineering, drug use, radiation exposure, mutation, nanotechbots used for biological purposes, and injections with strange chemicals. Maybe a government wanted to make biological soldiers and he was part of the experimentation process. Maybe some corporation was testing how compatible the sample of alien DNA they acquired is with human DNA. The specifics behind how he came to be what he is do not interest me so much as that it did happen, he has no idea what happened, and no one else knows what happened, he just is.

The process made him scatterbrained and meek (sorta like Gollum from LoTR). The plan is that his messed up biology gives him a load of advantages that most characters normally wouldn’t have. His stat line should look something like this: He should have ridiculously high con, ridiculously low wis and cha, and average to underaverage int. I haven’t really thought about str or dex yet, but it won’t matter as far as the character concept is concerned. His usefullness to the party should be almost completely dependent on his biologically granted powers. And I think it would be quite interesting if he would have to make fortitude checks at varying DCs in order to make some of his abilities work. This would represent his chaotically organized biology sometimes failing.

As far as abilities go, I have a huge list of possible traits I could see him having. I definately wouldn’t want him having all of them, and with your help I would like to revise it over time to make sure he’s not broken or pathetic in terms of game balance. Many "abilities" could also be negative effects. Some would also become more powerful during lvl-ups.

Among these include:

Passive Abilities/Traits

Active Abilities/Traits

This is not a complete list and I’m not exactly sure what I’d like him to be able to do, or what his goals are. Perhaps if I talked to you in person a bit more on a later date, and found out about plot, we could make him work somehow. The closest thing I can think of is a mongrelman from some 2nd ed monster character creation book I used to have/use.

Combined idea

Last time we talked, we seemed to agree that it might be cool to combine these ideas: a guy who wants to achieve godhood, and has been having gene therapy done on himself in various complex experimental ways to try and engineer mystic abilities into himself (which he does not possess naturally). Unfortunately, these experiments have reduced his mental abilities, and altered his physiology drastically, as described above.

The character

Well, I had written a whole lot about the combined character’s backstory, but some horrible timeout thing happened and all the info was lost (note to self: type in a word processing program first, copy, paste). I don’t want to type it all again, so here are the highlights:

MP for merits

Merits Submission

Human 33 MP:

0t-tStr 10 0t-tDex 10 8t-tCon 18

4t-tD Int 14 -2t-tM Int 8 8t-tD Wis 18 -6t-tM Wis 4 -6t-tD Cha 4 -6t-tM Cha 4

1t-tD Iron Will / M Great Fortitude 1t-tSkill Focus: Knowledge Genetic Engineering 1t-tSkill Focus: Knowledge Nature 1t-tSkill Focus: Knowledge Arcana 1t-tSkill Focus: Knowledge History

–5–

2t-tMPD 5t-tEnergy Resistance 5/- (Heat, Cold, Electricity, Acid, Sonic) 5t-tDamage Reduction 5/- 2t-tNatural Armor +2 2t-tFast Healing 1 1t-tBio-Luminescence (30 ft. radius) 8t-tEel Strike at will (Non-Magical Shocking Grasp 1d8+1 touch attack) 2t-tPhotosynthetic Skin +5 natural armor during day 1t-t2 Clawed hands (natural weapons)

–33–

MPD

Description

Meechum has the beginning growth of a black dragon-like wing out of his left shoulder blade (2ft. long), a single white horn coming out of the top-right-front of his head (right above his forehead and on the right side about an inch long). The left side of his face is green scaled. His left eye is hazel while his right eye is Cat-like. He has a tan, orange, and white Lion’s mane around his face and down his chin. His right leg is grey, goat-like, and hoofed while his left leg is orange and ostrich-like with a specially crafted brown leather boot where the talons stick out (however both legs are proportional, by length, to a human leg). His left arm is also orange and bird-like, ending in a taloned claw. His right arm is bear-like with grizzly brown fur ending in a paw. His skin is green with a jumbled mixture of scales, feathers, and patches of fur where appropriate. He has gills on his neck. He has an iguana-like tail (3 ft. long) protruding out of his specially-designed shorts. His torso surprisingly resembles that of a human however green it may be. He wears a worn, torn, dirty and faded white lab coat around his body. He appears to be 5’ 9" tall when standing upright.

Questionnaire:

Name: Devon Merrideth, Meechum, xor Divin Family: Two deceased parents, Tyler and Jennifer, both were mystics. Live younger sister, Angelica, average mystic in a government job somewhere. Note that young Devon never developed mystic abilities despite every attempt to do so. No live grandparents, cousins, aunts, uncles and the like probably live somewhere but Devon never got to know them. Physical Description: See above. Devon HAD short dirty blond hair and hazel eyes, stood 5’ 11" tall, weighed 166 lbs, average build, and appeared homely and bookish. Identifying characteristics: See above. Devon was/had nothing special. Personality: Devon-Driven, anti-social,condescending at times, overall polite and nice. Meechum-Distracted, non-sensical, ADHD, supplicating, cowering, humble. Divin-Driven, condescending, confident, demanding. Religious Views: God/Gods exist, and godhood can be achieved. Daily Habits: Eat, Sleep, Answer call of nature sometimes, Groom self, check for new mutations Quirks: Twitches, stretches, mumbles to self. Likes: Mystics, food, nice people, animals, plants, strange species/monsters Dislikes: Pain, Incompetence, bad people Occupation: Devon-Geneticist/Scientist, Divin/Meechum-Research Subject, Life Sciences expert/Field Agent, Geneticist/Scientist Schooling: Graduate school Graduate of Biology (Some prestigious school). Job Satisfaction: High, however has ambition towards godhood. Hobbies: Cataloging all known species in personal journal, creating knew species, improving old species genetically, raising pets friends: Devon had a few trusted professionals, however his recent change made him lose all his known friends. enemies: Many people and organizations will see Meechum as an abomination unto whatever and will seek to destroy/cure him. Greatest Achievement: Altering himself as drastically as he has and still surviving. Greatest Failure: Failing to give himself mystic abilities.

Would your character (1=Never, 5=Always):

  1. Lie to a friend to protect his feelings? 3-Depends on the lie/situation
  2. Help a frail old woman cross the street? 2
  3. Tell anyone if he saw something widely believed to be impossible? 4-In the form of insane ramblings
  4. Give money to a beggar on the street? 1
  5. Seek vengeance if wronged? 1
  6. Steal if he thought he could get away with it? 3-Depends on the importance of the object/situation

Does your character believe in (1=Not at all, 5=Strongly):

  1. Aliens? 4
  2. Karma? 1
  3. Free will (i.e., many possible futures)? 4
  4. Time travel? 2
  5. Equality for all sentient beings? 1
  6. God or other supreme force? 5

What does your character think about the following statements (1=Strongly disagree, 3=Neutral, 5=Strongly agree):

  1. Now that machines are smarter than humans, biological life is obsolete. 1
  2. The Caretaker has no business meddling in our affairs. 2
  3. Those who can wield magic are obligated to use their power for the good of all Terrans. 3
  4. No matter how realistic the programming, machine intelligence is an illusion; thus, machines should not be afforded the same rights as true sentient life. 2
  5. Humanity has been rash in seeding other worlds with mystic energy before fully grasping the ramifications. 1
  6. Technology is more dangerous than mystic energy, and is more likely to destroy us some day. 3

Meechum pretty much believes whatever Divin tells him. Divin thinks that most of what Meechum does is fairly effective in terms of survival, but if he needs extra guidance, Divin will give him pointers, or take over.

Shattered

The following information pertains to the Shattered ­advanced class. Hit Die: 1d8 Class Skills: The Shattered’s class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are: Balance (Dex), Climb (Str), Concentration (Con), Escape Artist (Dex), Intimidate (Cha), Jump (Str), Navigate (Int), Sense Motive (Wis), Senses (Wis), Survival (Wis), Swim (Str). Skill Points at Each Level: 3 + Int modifier.

Class Level Base Attack Bonus Fort Save Ref Save Will Save Special Defense Bonus Reputation Bonus
1st +1 +1 +0 +1 Altered MPD, improved BEM field +1 +0
2nd +2 +2 +0 +2 Extend BEM field +1 +0
3rd +3 +2 +1 +2 Mystic deflection field +2 +1
4th +4 +2 +1 +2 Bonus mutations (2mp) +2 +1
5th +5 +3 +1 +3 DNA memory gland +3 +1
6th +6 +3 +2 +3 Cellular sentience +3 +2
7th +7 +4 +2 +4 Enforced mutation +4 +2
8th +8 +4 +2 +4 Bonus mutations (2mp) +4 +2
9th +9 +4 +3 +4 Bonus mutations (2mp) +5 +3
10th +10 +5 +3 +5 Enforced mutation (move-equivalent) +5 +3

Class Features The following features pertain to the Shattered advanced class.

Altered MPD: Every few minutes (a number of minutes equal to Divin’s Will save modifier), control changes from Divin to Meechum and vice-versa. Mind-effecting spells only work against the one in control. Mental Ability scores and some feats are different for each personality. The difference in ability scores will be the merit point cost while any ability scores below 10 count towards the 20 flaw point maximum, and feats only take effect when the personality who has it is in control. When making skill checks, the one who is currently in control uses the relevant stats. Meechum does not communicate anymore, although he does occasionally listen to commands issued by others. Meechum and Divin can no longer communicate with eachother, nor tell what is going on while they are in control.

Improved BEM Field: As long as Meechum has a bioelectromagnetic field active, he gains a deflection bonus equal to his Shattered level.

Extend BEM Field: As long as Meechum has a bioelectromagnetic field active, Meechum can spend an action point to extend the field to electrocute all objects adjacent to him, dealing 1d6 electrical damage per level of Shattered. Using this ability is a standard action.

Mystic Deflection BEM Field: As long as Meechum has a bioelectromagnetic field active, all mystic and psionic effects targeted within Meechum’s field receive a 5% miss chance per Shattered level.

DNA Memory Gland: Meechum’s body has come into contact with, and been altered by, numerous different DNA codes. Some of these codes have stayed, most have been changed or taken away. All of them have been stored in this gland. Any DNA information that Meechum obtains (electronically installed, ingested, injected, etc) is recorded and may be accessed and used to alter Meechum’s form or adaptations when leveling up. Additionally, given sufficient equipment and internal genetic information, this information can be accessed and used to create life: Animals, plants, insects, bacteria, etc. may all be created in a lab from this information. This allows Meechum to act as a sort of Noah’s Ark.

Cellular Sentience: At sixth level, Meechum undergoes a drastic change, with each cell becoming sentient, part of a hive mind, similar to nanobots except biological. Meechum’s body learns what adaptations are useful and choose to alter Meechum’s body to fit the situation. This merit replaces the MPD merit and old flaws in ability scores must be bought off. Previously acquired merits based on Meechum’s biology may be bought off and the merit points regained to use on something else. The hive mind talks about itself using ‘we’,’us’, and ‘our’ instead of ‘I’,’me’, and ‘my’ etc. It names itself "Shattered" or "Unity" because every aspect of it (mind, body, and soul) was broken or warped but now united in purpose. It doesn’t think of this negatively, but as an opportunity to rebuild itself better. It is determined to become a god and perhaps even the ultimate being. Empathy for other beings is gone. It would not harm another unless it had more to gain from it than having allies. "We are Shattered, we are Unity, we are pleased to meet you."

  1. MPD disorder is gone. Meechum and Divin are gone. ‘Unity’ is in existence. Merit points are regained.
  2. Mental stats ‘merge’ and merit points gained from low ability scores must be bought off.
  3. Unused special abilities may be bought off at lvl gain and merit points previously spent on them are recovered and can be used for other merits.
  4. There will be some kind of limiting factor, either number of merit points shiftable per lvl or number of special abilities shiftable per lvl.
  5. This merit itself will cost a certain number of merit points.

Enforced Mutation: Sometimes things are just not well adapted to the situations they find themselves in. When Meechum and Divin shattered, their consciousness was spread to every cell of the body and became a hive mind calling itself "Unity." Being a Hive mind has sky-rocketed control over the body to such an extent that it can now alter its form mind-bogglingly fast and adapt itself to current situations. By spending an action point, Unity can enforce a mutation upon itself. The change is a full round action and Unity is "permanently" altered. To mutate, Unity selects any number of existing mutations to be dropped. Unity then acquires a new mutation stored in its DNA memory gland, with maximum merit point cost equal to the sum of the dropped mutations. (Any extra mp are placed in reserve, and available for use during the next enforced mutation.)

New Feats

So, I don’t know about a new advanced class I’ll make (maybe later), but I will list off some new abilities I’d want Meechum to have. I’ll leave it up to Curtis to decide if I could have these and come up with appropriate mp costs.

Resistant Cellular Structure: +4 (Will/Fort) Saves vs. Creation, Destruction, Enhancement, Healing, and Transmutation effects.

Restorative Blood: Blood heals and cures poisons/diseases to some degree. Meechum can cause a self inflicted wound that causes 1 wound point of damage initially, then bleeds at a rate of 1 vitality point per round thereafter. This blood can be dripped directly into someone’s mouth and ingested to heal 1 vitality per round or 1 wound per minute (wounds first). The blood can be stored in a container for later use as a healing potion, but it loses its properties after 24 hours. The blood also gives the recipient a new fort save to cure p/d at +2. Meechum does not gain these benefits from ingesting his own blood.

Adapting Immune System: After acquiring a p/d and passing a fort save to resist, Meechum becomes immune to said p/d. His blood also acts as a cure to the p/d, adding an additional +2 to the fort saves given to others by Restorative Blood.

Poison/Disease Storage Gland: Prerequisite: Adapting Immune System. After acquiring a p/d and passing a fort save to resist, Meechum’s body stores a small sample of the p/d in a special gland. The sample can only be accessed through surgery.

Hunter/Seeker Cells: [[12mp] Prerequisites: Ultra Immune System, Adapting Immune System. If cells were spaceships, these would be the Dreadnoughts. These are cells made to pummel hostile elements. In addition to riping apart antigens manually, hunter/seeker cells act as a conduit for internal electrical functions, having a cellular-sized EMP effect on nanites which disables them at a short distance (1 micrometer) from the body. The cells also absorb and internally breakdown smaller particles. Effects: Immunity to poisons, diseases, and nanites.

Reduced Need to Breathe: Prerequisite: Photosynthetic Skin. Meechum’s various light absorbing cells produce a small portion of oxygen which can be transferred directly to the blood. The amount is small, though. When exposed to direct sunlight, Meechum does not need to breathe as much as a normal person. Meechum can subsist entirely off of the oxygen gained through photosynthesis if he enters a meditative, near-unconscious, hibernating state (asleep for game mechanics) when in sunlight. Entering the state requires a concentration check of some DC based off of the harshness of the current environment, and he wakes if disturbed or the light is blocked. Alternately, he can remain fully conscious but inactive. In this case, he can hold his breath twice as long as a normal person (4 rounds per Con point) and makes fort saves for suffocation at half the rate (every 2 rounds). If he takes any physical action, he gains no benefit as his body is busy doing things other than producing oxygen.

Linked Skin: These cells are linked together to form a strong wall which bars other cells from passing. Meechum is immune to the depressurized void of space (but not necessarily the temperature differential or level of radiation).

Mirrored Skin: [[2mp] Prerequisite: Photosynthetic Skin. The skin absorbs radiation, but if there is too much, the skin cells become selectively permeable, only allowing in a tolerable amount of light while reflecting excess radiation away from the body. Effect: Immunity to radiation.

Solar Sail: Prerequisite: Fly, Wings, Linked Skin, Mirrored Skin. Allows limited mobility in the void of space by riding waves of radiation. While wings are out, Meechum accelerates slowly over time. When retracted, acceleration becomes 0. Slowing and stopping requires gravity or objects. Directions allowed are within a 60 degree arc directly away from the source. This can also be used to stop spinning which takes a few rounds with a dexterity check (DC depends on the speed of spin).

Electric Grapple: Meechum can use his Electrical powers to grab onto, and remain tethered to, metallic objects in space (e.g., the outside of a spaceship). A melee touch attack is required. In some circumstances a dexterity check may be required as well (passing by a satelite at a fast rate while spinning.)

Bioelectromagnetic Field: Prerequisites: Solar Sail, Electric Grapple. ‘‘Incomplete.’’ Meechum has his own electromagnetic field created by his body. The primary effect would be to allow him mobility in space. Other effects could involve spell resistance or a deflection defense bonus.