The Paradox: Fine Tuning and Sign-Up Thread

[Toastburner B]

Originally Posted by Arhra

Currently the front runner is a regeneration power with a twist. There would be an overgrowth option for things bigger teeth, extra limbs or just general growth but at the cost of slowing down the healing the more stuff gets added. Would that be alright?

Sure. I trust you enough not to make it overpowered.

Originally Posted by Hawk

Couple of questions I forgot to ask in my initial post:

1) What initially causes these transformations for our characters? Do the monsters just get hungry and break out, or does extreme stress and life and death situations bring it out as well? Do emotions like anger cause Hulk-outs?
Obviously over time we'll be able to control when the transformations occur, but what about in the initial stages?

The initial transformation is going to be the only one that fully takes place outside of the characters control.

After that, you'll be okay for a few days, but then the monster will start to surface again. The mostly likely expression of the monster is likely to be hungry, such as Isaac and Griz. However, if you wish it to manifest in a different way, you can.

Like any desire, your character will be able to suppress it. However, early in the game, it will be very telling. After awhile (a few days to a week), the urge will be almost overwhelming, like a junkie craving a fix. It will be hard to contain it, but possible.

Originally Posted by Hawk

2) Does the Sense Supernatural ability tell us what we're sensing, or just give us an indicator that something otherworldly is nearby? Does one need knowledge of magics and the like to be able to tell what it is they're sensing?

It just an indicator that something is up. At first, you won't even know what the heck it is supposed to mean. Call it a range of about 100 yards to sense...get within 20 feet and you can pinpoint it.

Flare: Approved

Originally Posted by lazy man

Also, Toast, I'm jealous of your use of Amon. Quite the awesome monster to pick, if Shadow Hearts is any indication...

Yeah, had Shadow Hearts on the mind when I was character creating.

Glad to have you aboard, by the way.

[Krylo]

Name: Marcus Artelis
Age: 24
Gender: Male.
Physical Description: Marcus is roughly five and a half feet tall--a little over, a little short, but not so much as to get a lot of gruff for it, just enough that he's not really very intimidating, which he's mostly ok with. He's a relatively attractive guy with shoulder length dark brown hair and green eyes with somewhat pale skin--due to too much time in front of his video game consoles.
Bio/Background/Etc: Marcus is a little bit of a homebody, for whatever reason. Maybe it's social anxiety, maybe he'd just rather play video games, maybe he just doesn't like people (though they usually like him). Whatever it is, it isn't a lack of things to do, as he tends to get invited to outings and just ignore them or come up with excuses not to go.

Monster Name: Festino
Appearance: Sleek and thin with oily black skin, and no face to speak of, only a suggestive blackness where a face ought to be, which tears apart in the most disquieting fashion when the beast deigns to feast. A row of unpleasantly curved and dangerously sharp spines ride down its back to its long, spindly, whip-like tail, which is covered in the bone-like protrusions and lashes about like a cats. The creature stands hunched at most times, as though it'd almost prefer get down on all fours, and it has no hands, for its forearms are not of flesh, but rather an almost metallic substance which forms into a sharp vicious facsimile of a hand which, when closed, looks likes nothing more than the tip of a wicked blade.

Abilities/Powers: The obvious natural weapons, increased speed, increased strength--he's not quite as tough as other monsters though, and though he can survive a good number of rounds, a high caliber pistol could still be dangerous to him.

[deathpigeon]

Could you check mine again, I did a bit of editing.

[lazy man]

Name: Jason Kristoff
Age: 20
Gender: Male
Physical Description: About 5’10” with slightly long and mess light brown hair, dull blue eyes and a rather average build. Almost always wears a pair of worn in jeans and some sort of shirt.
Bio/Background/Etc: A rather normal guy who seems to be accepting of things rather quickly. Not the smartest guy by any means, but not the dumbest either. Tends to try and hang out with friends as much as possible to avoid getting bored too quickly.

Monster Name: Nex Phasmatis
Appearance: Essentially a Tombstalker from Magic only shrunken down to about seven and a half feet and without those hands on the wings.
Abilities/Powers: Flight. Nex can also force its own spirit into the physical realm for different purposes, such as reaching out and grabbing enemies from further away to pull them in for more damage or tripping up an opponent while up close. Think something along the lines of the Devil Bringer from DMC4, only more versatile than just the arm.

[IHateMakingNames]

Are all PCs expected to fear and hate their demon? I feel like there would be at least one obligated, "insane" guy who likes the power that comes with it (Though this may be NPC material). Could be Kira style (Use power for twisted good), Carnage style (Just likes killing), Slyar style (Likes being special), etc.

Despite the title, are PCs required to be a Paradox? You gave Summoners almost as much space as Paradoxes, so I'm uncertain.

Felt like getting these exception questions out of the way before doing anything.

[Toastburner B]

Wow…looks like everyone has Saturday night off.

Krylo: Approved.

DeathPigeon: Approved…please note, though, in the early game, the pressure point thing probably won’t come into play. You won’t have enough control over yourself for finesse fighting.

lazy man: Proved…but I’d like a little more information on that spirit-grab thing. I’m not quite sure what you mean (haven’t watched too many DMC4 trailers).

Originally Posted by IHateMakingNames

Are all PCs expected to fear and hate their demon? I feel like there would be at least one obligated, "insane" guy who likes the power that comes with it (Though this may be NPC material). Could be Kira style (Use power for twisted good), Carnage style (Just likes killing), Slyar style (Likes being special), etc.

The thought had crossed my mind that someone would want to. I wouldn’t be against it, but just remember consequences. You start going on rampages, retribution is bound to come looking for you…none of the factions would like a wild killer on the loose (summoners because of the death of people, monsters because it threatens their secrecy, and as such, their existence, and Paradoxes because the last thing they need is for both summoners and monsters to think they’re a bunch of soulless killers). Other than that, whatever.

Originally Posted by IHateMakingNames

Despite the title, are PCs required to be a Paradox? You gave Summoners almost as much space as Paradoxes, so I'm uncertain.

While I would prefer everyone to be a Paradox, if someone has their heart set on it, I wouldn’t mind someone else being a summoner.

The main problem with that is that they would have to be versed on the mythos before the other players, which would mean they would have to get some PMs from me.

It would also mean that I would have to define everything before hand, instead of making things up as I go…which I would never do, of course.

[Frostatine]

My character sheet:

Name: Ryan Dermott
Age: 35
Gender: Male
Physical Description: 6'0" with short brown hair and wireframe glasses. Weighs about 170 pounds with a slight build. Ryan has strong legs, earned from biking or running and fierce green eyes.
Background: Ryan is a local of Hampington with no true ambitions. He is comfortable in his life, working as a real estate agent, only because a family friend got him the job. Recent sickness has caused him to fall behind on his bills. Ryan doesn't know if he will ever go back to work, not after seeing the secretary he had taken to dinner the night before disembowled in his office.

Monster Name: Jinzo Phage
Monster Appearance: Similar to Magic the Gathering's Magus of the Abyss, only without the flowing robe.
Abilities: Agile, dodging, jumping, running all of these things Jinzo can do better than most monsters. Phage also has the ability to bend light in the area around him, about a 20 foot radius during the day. This bending allows him to project a haze around himself, making him difficult to detect. In low light and darkness the radius expands to about 50 feet, and can make him nearly invisible.

[Toastburner B]

Frostatine: Approved, with some early-game stipulations on the bend light ability. About 3 feet daylight limit, 7 foot lowlight/darkness limit. The stipulations will be lifted later in the game.

And its Hampington. Stop thinking about Cloverfield while making characters (at least, I assume that's what it was).

[lazy man]

Well, just to elaborate on the Devil Bringer concept, here's a trailer with a good bit of the Devil Bringer in action. And there's also a few good images of what it looks like up close.

Of course, my premise focuses more on the extra reach to close the gap between Vis and its enemies, not so much on extra strength.

[Demetrius]

Do the monsters have to be demon types? You said that there are all sorts of good and bad ones.

When are you looking at kicking this off? If it isn't soon, I'm interested.