Group RP The Grand Tarot (OOC)

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Group RP The Grand Tarot (OOC)

Mainly for the reason of power consistency, I'm gonna describe it here.


Name: Damian Chambers (Known to some as Poker)
Major Arcana: II - The Magician

Appearance: Poker is a man of 21 years and has black hair, stands at about 6'4", and is relatively thin, but with relatively wide shoulders. He has Raven-black hair, usually wears a brown trench coat, and can usually be seen fidgeting with something.
Personality: Damian is of the crafty sort, he plays by rules only his own, and he is intelligent enough to be able to do pretty much whatever he wants, at one point, lying and stealing to him had become as breathing. Damian is really good at bending reality, not in the god way, but in the lying way. He has garnered sort of a reputation, as his personality is difficult to pin down, shrouded by lots of acts and different ways he acts, as the liking strikes him, but he genuinely does want to help others, and the End of the World would kind of mess up some of his fun.

Abilities: Damian is interesting in his abilities in that he has none to his own. He 'borrows' powers from other people, although they don't lose them, but it's more complex than that. As a power is 'borrowed', it is immediately and without Damian's say assigned to a suit, Spades, Hearts, Clubs, or Diamonds. Which suit it is assigned to is based on somewhat iffy rules - the nature of the power itself, the personality of the wielder, (A certain suit detriment, if I can stretch it) or even the arcana it comes from (if it even comes from an arcana). Damian can use only one power at a time, (for now, he might be able to mix two later) but can have four powers assigned to suits at a time, but only one to each suit.
Damian, however, might not know the full extent of how the powers work, how or if it affects him, or even how to activate it. (Note: Damian has found out the hard way that growing new limbs is painful.) Damian sometimes gets an instinctive hold on how to activate it, but ultimately, gaining a new power is a relatively risky endeavor if Damian hasn't seen it in action before, so Damian prefers to do his research, or if it is his ally, he can just ask them.
To borrow a power, Damian the borrowee needs to be in Damian's eye line, i.e., Damian needs to see them, and Damian needs to consciously activate the borrowing. Then, once the power is assigned to a suit, Damian needs to switch to that suit to actually use it, needing to blink, his sight gone for a split-second. Whatever suit Damian is using at the moment is clearly visible in either of his eyes; the black suits appear in Damian's left eye, and the red suits appear in Damian's right eye. When using a suit, Damian's eye glows slightly.
Damian is, understandably, not used to this power, he only gained it recently, and so if he uses any power for an extended period of time, Damian will experience first increasingly difficult eye fatigue in whichever eye he is using, and next, increasingly extreme vertigo. Powers he is used to delay negative effects, whilst more powerful abilities will bring these negative affects on faster.
Each suit to Damian has an inherent feel, and this directly influences the powers assigned to them.
Spades: Chaos, Cruelty, Precision
Hearts: Passion, Kindness, Healing
Clubs: Sorrow, Death, Imprecision
Diamonds: Light, Knowledge, Protection

Abilities not Arcana-related: Quick reflexes, dexterous hands, lying, stealing, sneaking
 
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Ai-in Ayan said:
Alrighty. Let me see if I actually understood both though. Even if you say that I got them right [Yeey for that! XD]

As for the Fool, thinking of giving him a means to imbue someone with child-like curiosity or influence them to be awed by everything he does. This is more negotiation type of deal than combat one as that fort is already covered. Making a few gestures would trigger the ability. For example, if he was a snake oil dealer, people would still buy his product even if it is a flat out lie. This has little affects on those with great mental fortitude though.

Does it count as an ability if the Fool was accident prone but has quick reflexes?

For Hanged Man. Noticing little things would be a bit OP for my taste but I can do so with the approval of everyone. Was thinking of a mix of noticing little things and actually feeling someone's emotions like that of a psychic. Limits of being an emotional dumpster is that - first, she does not know who the emotion came from. Second, she must at least know a bit of the person. Third is that the ability could only cover an area of a block or two.

Caida will also feel the emotion even if she actively know that was not hers. This, in turn, has her noticing ability be honed so she can track on who the person who projected the emotion is.
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Yep both those powers fit the archetype very well.

The Fool inspires trust and wonder.

The Hanged Man possesses enhanced perception and limited empathic abilities.

Love it!
 
TMITM said:
Mainly for the reason of power consistency, I'm gonna describe it here.


Name: Damian Chambers (Known to some as Poker)
Major Arcana: II - The Magician

Appearance: Poker is a man of 21 years and has black hair, stands at about 6'4", and is relatively thin, but with relatively wide shoulders. He has Raven-black hair, usually wears a brown trench coat, and can usually be seen fidgeting with something.
Personality: Damian is of the crafty sort, he plays by rules only his own, and he is intelligent enough to be able to do pretty much whatever he wants, at one point, lying and stealing to him had become as breathing. Damian is really good at bending reality, not in the god way, but in the lying way. He has garnered sort of a reputation, as his personality is difficult to pin down, shrouded by lots of acts and different ways he acts, as the liking strikes him, but he genuinely does want to help others, and the End of the World would kind of mess up some of his fun.

Abilities: Damian is interesting in his abilities in that he has none to his own. He 'borrows' powers from other people, although they don't lose them, but it's more complex than that. As a power is 'borrowed', it is immediately and without Damian's say assigned to a suit, Spades, Hearts, Clubs, or Diamonds. Which suit it is assigned to is based on somewhat iffy rules - the nature of the power itself, the personality of the wielder, (A certain suit detriment, if I can stretch it) or even the arcana it comes from (if it even comes from an arcana). Damian can use only one power at a time, (for now, he might be able to mix two later) but can have four powers assigned to suits at a time, but only one to each suit.
Damian, however, might not know the full extent of how the powers work, how or if it affects him, or even how to activate it. (Note: Damian has found out the hard way that growing new limbs is painful.) Damian sometimes gets an instinctive hold on how to activate it, but ultimately, gaining a new power is a relatively risky endeavor if Damian hasn't seen it in action before, so Damian prefers to do his research, or if it is his ally, he can just ask them.
To borrow a power, Damian the borrowee needs to be in Damian's eye line, i.e., Damian needs to see them, and Damian needs to consciously activate the borrowing. Then, once the power is assigned to a suit, Damian needs to switch to that suit to actually use it, needing to blink, his sight gone for a split-second. Whatever suit Damian is using at the moment is clearly visible in either of his eyes; the black suits appear in Damian's left eye, and the red suits appear in Damian's right eye. When using a suit, Damian's eye glows slightly.
Damian is, understandably, not used to this power, he only gained it recently, and so if he uses any power for an extended period of time, Damian will experience first increasingly difficult eye fatigue in whichever eye he is using, and next, increasingly extreme vertigo. Powers he is used to delay negative effects, whilst more powerful abilities will bring these negative affects on faster.
Each suit to Damian has an inherent feel, and this directly influences the powers assigned to them.
Spades: Chaos, Cruelty, Precision
Hearts: Passion, Kindness, Healing
Clubs: Sorrow, Death, Imprecision
Diamonds: Light, Knowledge, Protection

Abilities not Arcana-related: Quick reflexes, dexterous hands, lying, stealing, sneaking
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I have a little bit of a concern that this character may be overly powerful.

I'm really enjoying your idea about having a card suit to represent The Magician's various powers. It's a very fitting for the Magician as well, both because of the link between illusionists and card tricks, and because of The Magician's mastery of the four elements. Each of the card suits correspond to an element in nature; Hearts/cups/water, Diamonds/pentacles/earth, Spades/swords/air, Clubs/wands/fire.

Now the OP part. I'm always leery of characters that borrow or steal the powers of others. Rogue in X-men in my opinion was always badly overpowered even with her limitations of touch to take, and the ways that her powers made her a target for explotation. Our group is not a powerful as the X-men which creates an even bigger imbalance.

Also in a role playing setting it robs the other characters of their uniqueness and opportunities to make the difference that only they can make.

Would you be willing to select 4 useful but modest powers to match each suit? I think it would ultimately make your character more interesting than giving him access to every possible power in the known universe.
 
I would like to switch my Arcana to Devil, please.

Character: Blindfold

Appearance: Blindfold is a rather wry and wiry man who is average height and has unkempt, dirty-blonde hair. Oh, and did I forget? He doesn't have eyes. Where his eyes used to be lives a substance aptly dubbed 'the ink', a viscous, tendrily, gross, black thing that writhes and wiggles. This is understandably disgusting, so Blindfold wears his namesake, along with other reasons, a blindfold.

A Split Mind: When his powers first started manifesting themselves, Blindfold became aware of another being, speaking inside his mind. This being was the Man in the Mirror, as he called himself, and whispers constantly to Blindfold. The Man has constant and complete control over all of Blindfold's abilities, and often has ulterior motives.

Interference: Blindfold and the Ink emit a power dubbed 'interference'. This ability - or curse - causes things around Blindfold to go constantly, inexplicably, wrong, especially things that Blindfold is trying to use, such as technology. For this reason, it is dangerous for him to use, say, a gun, without him being a danger to himself and others. Besides, how would he aim?
The Man has full control of this ability, and can utilize it, while Blindfold cannot. When the Man is in control, this ability goes bonkers.

The Ink: The Ink is some sort of biological substance that is attached to Blindfold in his eyesockets. From there, it can snake and slither down to any of his limbs to reinforce them, or launch itself in an inky tendril towards a target. Whenever the Ink is used too much or too fast, however, it starts consuming Blindfold's own cells to fuel itself. Thankfully, after all is done, the Ink can heal Blindfold, because it can manufacture his own cells at an accelerated rate, but this process, while faster than normal, is still slow.
(Ex. When doing something big with the Ink, Blindfold might lose a couple fingertips. When doing something HUGE, he'll lose a hand, or rarely, an arm.)

Sight: Blindfold can see, technically, but as for now, it looks like constantly shifting TV static, impossible to understand. The sheer amount of garbled information is enough to incapacitate him, which is why he wears his blindfold. It lessens the effects.

Retribution: The Man in the Mirror can take control - or Blindfold can give it - and the Man can fight in place of Blindfold. The Man is crazy skilled at combat and his self-preservation instinct is basically nonexistent, so once the Man gets control, Blindfold fights like a demon possessed, at the cost of multiple injuries that resulted from the Man's carelessness. Most times Blindfold uses this ability, he spends weeks healing his injuries, and usually feints directly after the Man releases control, as the Man has a tendency to take Blindfold's body about a thousand miles too far.

Notes:
  • Blindfold has relatively minor claustrophobia, and REALLY doesn't like being covered entirely in the Ink.
  • Blindfold's real name is cursed, and although Blindfold and the Man can say it, nobody else will remember it. This is what drove people to call him simply 'Blindfold'. The name stuck.
  • The Man refers to him as his real name, and considers the name Blindfold to mean the combination of the Man and the human part of Blindfold.
 
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Name: Elloria Shando
Pronouns: She/her
Race: Half-elf
Age: 24
Occupation: Bard
Skills: Nimble, mild spell casting, quick learner
Ability: Lucky- when she uses this ability, something incredibly unlikely will happen. This could be something that is beneficial to her, detrimental to her, or completely neutral for her. This power has about a day long recharge period, and offers her no protection from the consequences of whatever happened. While the power recharges, she will experience a general opposite in luck- e.g., if she uses this power and gets unlucky, she will be ever so slightly luckier for the following day.
Personality: Elloria is very happy-go-lucky. While this might suggest that she is unable to view things seriously, that is not quite true; despite her cheerful demeanor, she is able to stay sober when the situation calls for it. In general, she prefers to avoid situations like that, though. She tries her best to see the silver lining of bad situations, and to not let anything bring her down; and she tries to see the negative of good situations, as well, though is less resistant towards getting swept up in the positives. After all, nothing is forever, so she may as well enjoy the good times as they find her- and the bad times will make the good ones all that much sweeter. Lastly, too much of the same makes Elloria feel stale and stagnant, so she often seeks out change of some sort long before any boredom of routine sets in- even just changing up what she eats or where she goes for a day can be exciting.
Notes: The painted markings and clothing in the image are not her standard wear. The markings were for a ceremony she attended, and the clothing was just local wear.
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Name: Adelaine "Ade" Galpsi
Pronouns: They/them
Race: Halfling
Age: 30
Occupation: Banker
Skills: Analytical, can maintain a cool head when things are hectic, sleight of hand
Ability: Neutralize- when they observe two parties in conflict, they can temporarily freeze both parties and their powers. The parties are still able to breath/talk/observe, but that is all. They can currently only do this for a short period of time- a few seconds- but may one day be able to strengthen this skill to be able to freeze the parties for up to a minute.
Personality: Ade can strike many as being cold at first. This is more because they are rather reserved, especially with strangers, rather than because they are actually trying to be standoffish. While they are happy to open up and be jovial with friends, because they are so reserved with strangers they have trouble actually becoming friends. The largest exception to their quiet nature is when they encounter something that they morally disagree with. If they stumble upon a situation they deem unfair, they are at the ready to stand up for the right thing, and have no issue being vocal about it. Before moving to Jornsperth, Ade was an informal judge of sorts for petty disputes in their town. While Ade is, for the most part, fairly transparent about who they are, they do have one hidden little trick, so to speak, in that they've learned some stage magic, entirely for the purpose of entertaining children at parties. Since moving to Jornsperth, this also has not come up frequently, though they have wowed a few patrons at the local bars with card tricks.
Notes: Ade is pronounced "aid-eh", with a very soft last syllable. If I had any idea how pronunciation symbols worked I'd offer that, but unfortunately I don't and we're all going to suffer the consequences of that together.
 
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Name: Abel Spire
Archetype: The Tower - Destruction and Sudden Change

Age: 25
Gender: Male
Race: Human
Occupation: Inventor-Mechanic, Self-Proclaimed "Harbinger of Tribulations"

Equipment/Weapons:
= Axe Pistol - An axe and a pistol integrated with each other, possessing an axe's blade on one side and a gun barrel on the other. It's been used by some militia in nations/continents with more advanced technology.
= Staff-Blade - A rapier concealed in a quarterstaff disguised as a fancy walking stick. The rapier's pommel, when the blade is concealed, can double as a blunt weapon. Similar concealed weapons are used by some assassins and some wealthy people (who use them for self-defense).

Skills:
= Physical Capabilities - Abel demonstrates relatively high dexterity, agility, reaction time and body coordination.
= Technological Proficiency - Abel is capable of creating relatively complex weapons as well as functional mechanisms, though this takes time to work on especially without any competent assistance. By the beginning of the RP, he is considering trying to experiment in the development of larger mechanical constructs as well as the integration of magic in such.
= Armed Combat Proficiency - Abel demonstrates moderate to high proficiency in wielding various light and medium weaponry and excels in close-quarters combat. To compensate for his relative lack of physical and magical strength, he tries to make the best use of what he has and he would not hesitate to pull off evasive and dirty tactics when a good opportunity arises.

Powers:
= Metal Generation - Abel can create simple metallic objects straight from his hands, including individual components for machinery. Due to being recently awakened, the largest object he could create at the moment is an arm-sized metallic rod (the typical fully extended grown man length). He intends to hone this awakened ability through training.
= Sigil Magic - Abel can inscribe sigils into objects to enhance/alter their properties, as well as a means of powering them (in which it has to be periodically "charged" by keeping the sigil/s in good condition). When used offensively, they could only cast basic elemental spells, with no access to any restorative spells as of the moment. He intends to hone this ability through practice someday to pull off greater feats by the use of more complex symbols.

Personality/Description:
+ For one who is assigned as the Tower Arcana, some would expect a being who could trash anything in their vicinity or spontaneously distort objects at a whim; but that is not the case for this ambitious fellow for his brand of destruction knows how to wait and form plans. A shady eccentric at best and a Machiavellian terrorist at worst, Abel Spire is primarily motivated by two things: rapid technological advancement and the belief that his "judgment and trials by fire" will help the world in the long term by gradually eradicating collective complacency and preventing the stagnation of entire communities by giving them a reason to strengthen themselves.

He tends to conduct himself in a formal manner that gives off the impression of a theatrical villain and is primarily uninterested in bright and hopeful ideals as well as those who cling unto them. Despite his very questionable morality and twisted ideal, he has a strong sense of justice and is willing to execute summary judgment when fit. He is quite secretive about more personal matters to the point that several rumors exist about his background.

Misc. Details:
= Abel claims to have plenty of colleagues and a hidden citadel as his headquarters. Whether any of these are real or not is up to debate, though time will tell.
= The provided image is merely an estimate of his appearance made for the RP he was originally made for (made via some online character design creator). This provided, he does NOT have a modern pistol.
= Character is still subject to edits.
 
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Archetype: Strength
Name: Albertha "Bertie" Greenley
Race: 1/4 Giant, 3/4 Human
Occupation: Farmer, Laborer, Adventurer
Skills: Animal Care, Cooking, Singing
Powers: Animal Kenning
Height: 6'10" (for reference Magic Johnson was 6'9 and Shaquille O'Neal was 7'1")

Aidey.jpg

History:

Bertie is a quarter giant, her mother being half giant and her grandmother being full giant. Who are these men going around having amorous relations with giant women? Bertie doesn't know either. Her father was long gone before she was born.

Life for a half giant among giants is difficult to say the least... and Bertie's mother realized that Bertie's best chance for happiness was to live among humans. So when her daughter was 7 years old she found a kind old couple who had never had children of their own. They adopted Bertie and renamed her Albertha after the mother of her adoptive father. It was a family name and the couple worried that Bertie's giant name "Doof" would result in unkindness from the local children. Bertie remembers her mother and knows that Flora and Albey aren't her real parents. She calls them Aunt and Uncle mostly to spare them questions about where she came from.

At first the couple worried about the expense of feeding such a large child, but their worries quickly abated when they learned that Bertie could do more work than 3 farm hands together. Albey loves to brag about his daughter's strength and stamina, and Bertie has won a number of local contests on his behalf.

Powers (detailed):

Bertie is not really aware that she has an unusual ability. From her perspective she's just always loved animals and they love her back in return. Her ability does not let her control animals, but it does give her an intuitive sense about what they need and how they feel. Even vicious creatures will not attack Bertie (this may not apply to cursed creatures, enchanted creatures, and creatures with human level intelligence or above). A creature that is bonded to Bertie might sacrifice itself to protect her, but this has not happened so far and she does not know.
 
Avarice West said:
This is a basic overview of the setting and plot dynamics for The Grand Tarot.

1. Setting/Milieu

The story is set in a magical world and all fantasy races are available. There is one continent in which Dwarves, Gnomes and Humans have combined magic and steam technology and as a result are going through an industrial revolution complete with economic upheaval and ecological impacts. At least one continent protected by Elves has outlawed technology intent on maintaining their harmony with nature. On other continents technology is rare but not unheard of. Your character can be from any continent but we will start our story on a standard continent where technology is rare but allowed.
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@Howling The world isn't properly steam punk, only one continent. It's more traditional fantasy... as in Lord of the Rings, Skyrim, Dungeons and Dragons, The Princess Bride.

If your character has visited the only continent where tech is common you might be carrying a piece of tech on you. You might even come across a stall at the bazaar where someone is selling novelty tech items, but the city has no electricity, no cars or other machines, and likely lacks many modern amenities like central heat and running water.
 
Ah so you want more traditional medieval setting I can do that. Unfortunately I have a long work shift so you'll have to hang on before I adjust it.
 
Howling said:
Ah so you want more traditional medieval setting I can do that. Unfortunately I have a long work shift so you'll have to hang on before I adjust it.
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No worries... like I said in the group PM, editing is optional. I just wanted to get everyone on the same page going forward.
 
Ai-in Ayan said:
Question. Are we limited to DnD races or can we go to mythological ones?
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There are no restrictions on race as long as they are appropriate to a fantasy world.

So yes. Magical creatures are fine.
 
Archetype: Judgement
Name: Leopold "Lenore" Etoile
Race: Dhampir
Occupation: Gentry, Magistrate, Hunter
Skills: Investigation, Combat (light weapons, hand to hand, ranged), Tracking.
Powers: Divination, Mark of Judgement
Height: 5'8"

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History:

Lenore has lived a long time, and a generation ago she defeated her own duplicate with assistance from the other Arcana. She has remained isolated for many years, watching for signs that The Shadow Dealer is ready to make his next play. She knows what is at stake, and will come forward to offer guidance and assistance to this new generation of Arcana.

She is trans-feminine. She was born a man but has a preference for living as a woman. She has no interest in permanently altering her body, and prefers to wear suits rather than dresses, but she keeps her hair long, and wears makeup most of the time. She is bisexual.

Powers (detailed):

Lenore can place a mark on an enemy who has incurred her judgement. This allows her to track and follow them. She can mark more than one individual at a time, but struggles to differentiate them while in pursuit, so she usually prefers to mark one at a time.

She is also skilled at scrying, dowsing, and fortune telling using various tools, including Tarot.
 
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I thought I'd offer a few extra notes about the duplicates. Each duplicate will primarily focus on taking out their matching Arcana. They can attack in a group, but aren't likely to do so in broad daylight in front of a crowd of people.

Their intention is to attack and then replace the original, so they don't want to be killed or arrested any more than our MCs do. They are intelligent creatures, they speak, and their personalities should somewhat copy the ACs personalities, except that they have no hesitation or guilt around killing. They also can match your character's skills and general knowledge, but not your AC power or your intimate knowledge. If you know spells, they know spells. They do not know the name of your childhood sweet heart, or what you ate for breakfast.

Let me know if you have any questions. You are of course free to introduce additional duplicates as NPCs.
 
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