Difference between revisions of "Tempus"

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|Origin=x
 
|Origin=x
 
|PowerLevel=8
 
|PowerLevel=8
|PowerPointTotal=120
+
|PowerPointTotal=136
 
|AbilityTotal=46
 
|AbilityTotal=46
|DefensesTotal=7
+
|DefensesTotal=8
|SkillsTotal=6
+
|SkillsTotal=7
|AdvantagesTotal=12
+
|AdvantagesTotal=17
|PowersTotal=49
+
|PowersTotal=58
  
 
|Strength=2
 
|Strength=2
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|DodgeTotal=8/4
 
|DodgeTotal=8/4
  
|FortitudeRanks=2
+
|FortitudeRanks=3
 
|FortitudeOther=x
 
|FortitudeOther=x
|FortitudeTotal=6
+
|FortitudeTotal=7
  
 
|ParryRanks=1
 
|ParryRanks=1
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|Attacks=
 
|Attacks=
 
'''• Arrow of Aion:''' No attack roll, DC 18 resistance check • 60 cft, Indirect: any point, any direction, Descriptor: objects in my possession • Shapeable Area Damage 8, DC 23<br>
 
'''• Arrow of Aion:''' No attack roll, DC 18 resistance check • 60 cft, Indirect: any point, any direction, Descriptor: objects in my possession • Shapeable Area Damage 8, DC 23<br>
'''• Mystic Blades:''' +8 attack roll • close range • Strength-based Damage 6, Slashing, DC 23, Affects Insubstantial: half ranks, Crit 16-20, Penetrating 2<br>
+
'''• Mystic Blades:''' +8 attack roll • close range • Strength-based Damage 6, Slashing, DC 23, Affects Insubstantial 2: full rank, Crit 16-20, Penetrating 2<br>
 
'''• Abandonment of Aion (Time Loop):''' No attack roll, resisted by Will DC 18 • Perception range • Cumulative Affliction 8 Dazed > Stunned > Incapacitated<br>
 
'''• Abandonment of Aion (Time Loop):''' No attack roll, resisted by Will DC 18 • Perception range • Cumulative Affliction 8 Dazed > Stunned > Incapacitated<br>
 +
'''• Icy Winds of Ithaqua:''' No attack roll, resisted by Fortitude DC 14 • Burst Area: 30 ft radius sphere • Burst Area Affliction 3 Dazed > Stunned > Incapacitated<br>
 
'''• Throw:''' +3 attack roll • 50 lbs 120 ft, 200 lbs 30 ft, 800 lb 6 ft • Bludgeoning Damage DC 17<br>
 
'''• Throw:''' +3 attack roll • 50 lbs 120 ft, 200 lbs 30 ft, 800 lb 6 ft • Bludgeoning Damage DC 17<br>
 
'''• Unarmed:''' +3 attack roll • Close Range • Bludgeoning Damage +2 DC 17<br>
 
'''• Unarmed:''' +3 attack roll • Close Range • Bludgeoning Damage +2 DC 17<br>
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|Skill5=Expertise:Magic
 
|Skill5=Expertise:Magic
|Skill5Ranks=5
+
|Skill5Ranks=6
 
|Skill5Ability=INT (2)
 
|Skill5Ability=INT (2)
 
|Skill5Other=x
 
|Skill5Other=x
|Skill5Total=+7
+
|Skill5Total=+8
  
 
|Skill6=Insight
 
|Skill6=Insight
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|Skill9=Perception
 
|Skill9=Perception
|Skill9Ranks=1
+
|Skill9Ranks=2
 
|Skill9Ability=AWE (4)
 
|Skill9Ability=AWE (4)
 
|Skill9Other=x
 
|Skill9Other=x
|Skill9Total=+5
+
|Skill9Total=+6
  
 
|Skill10=Persuasion
 
|Skill10=Persuasion
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'''• Mystic Blades:''' ''Strength-based Damage'' • 6 ranks (1/r +8 flat) • Standard Action • Close Range • Instant • Slashing, Affects insubstantial: half ranks, Dangerous 4, Penetrating 2, Indestructible • Removable<br>
 
'''• Mystic Blades:''' ''Strength-based Damage'' • 6 ranks (1/r +8 flat) • Standard Action • Close Range • Instant • Slashing, Affects insubstantial: half ranks, Dangerous 4, Penetrating 2, Indestructible • Removable<br>
  
|Equipment=Night Vision Goggles, Undercover Shirt (+2 Toughness)
+
|Equipment=Handcuffs, Night Vision Goggles, Rebreather, Undercover Shirt (+2 Toughness)
 
|Complications=Anachronistic, Enemy (evil djinn), Responsibility: The Zodiac Society, Sorcerer
 
|Complications=Anachronistic, Enemy (evil djinn), Responsibility: The Zodiac Society, Sorcerer
 
|}}
 
|}}
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===The Arcana of Aion (36 PP)===
 
===The Arcana of Aion (36 PP)===
 
*'''Abandonment of Aion (Time Loop): Cumulative Affliction 8 (32 PP)''' With an utterance of Aionian power, you curse a target to be abandoned by Aion's forward march, and time stutters and even stops around them, slowing or freezing them in place. 1st degree: Dazed, 2nd degree: Stunned, 3rd degree: Incapacitated, Resisted by: Will, DC 18; Cumulative, Increased Range 2: perception (Standard - Perception - Instant)
 
*'''Abandonment of Aion (Time Loop): Cumulative Affliction 8 (32 PP)''' With an utterance of Aionian power, you curse a target to be abandoned by Aion's forward march, and time stutters and even stops around them, slowing or freezing them in place. 1st degree: Dazed, 2nd degree: Stunned, 3rd degree: Incapacitated, Resisted by: Will, DC 18; Cumulative, Increased Range 2: perception (Standard - Perception - Instant)
*'''Absence of Aion: (1 PP)''' Invoking Aion, you stop the flow of time around yourself, putting it on "pause" and allowing yourself to move around while time is stopped for others. While you can observe and interact with the world, your actions are limited as objects and people are immobile when time is stopped. You can also quickly move your bodily location, allowing time to start back up once you have done so. To viewers, you simply teleport from one spot to another. The power’s rank isn’t technically the distance you can go, it’s the time you have to move while time is stopped for everyone else. 8 = 30 minutes.  
+
*'''Absence of Aion (Stop Time): (1 PP)''' Invoking Aion, you stop the flow of time around yourself, putting it on "pause" and allowing yourself to move around while time is stopped for others. While you can observe and interact with the world, your actions are limited as objects and people are immobile when time is stopped. You can also quickly move your bodily location, allowing time to start back up once you have done so. To viewers, you simply teleport from one spot to another. The power’s rank isn’t technically the distance you can go, it’s the time you have to move while time is stopped for everyone else. 8 = 30 minutes.  
 
**Quickness 8: Perform routine tasks in -8 time ranks; Quirk 2: Limited to routine actions while active.
 
**Quickness 8: Perform routine tasks in -8 time ranks; Quirk 2: Limited to routine actions while active.
 
**Teleport 8: 1 mile in a move action, carrying 50 lbs.; Accurate; Limited: places you can reach physically  
 
**Teleport 8: 1 mile in a move action, carrying 50 lbs.; Accurate; Limited: places you can reach physically  
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**Traits: Dodge +4 (+8), Parry +4 (+8); Permanent (Free - Personal - Permanent)  
 
**Traits: Dodge +4 (+8), Parry +4 (+8); Permanent (Free - Personal - Permanent)  
 
**Senses: Danger Sense (Perception), Postcognition, Precognition (Personal - Permanent)
 
**Senses: Danger Sense (Perception), Postcognition, Precognition (Personal - Permanent)
 +
 +
===The Arcana of Ithaqua (9 PP)===
 +
An entity in the earthly realm, Ithaqua is referred to by some sorcerers as being one of the "Great Old Ones." A horrifying giant of roughly humanoid shape, with glowing red eyes, constantly surrounded by the fiercest of blizzards, Ithaqua is a ravenous entity that freezes the world and inspires deep hunger in creatures. It is thought that Ithaqua may have been the inspiration for yeti and the wendigo in various places around the world.
 +
*'''Icy Winds of Ithaqua: Burst Area Affliction 4 (8 PP)''' This spell causes a sudden burst of frigid arctic wind to explode forth from the sorcerer. (Air, Cold) • DC 14 • Burst Area: 30 ft radius • Resisted/Overcome by Fortitude; Dazed > Stunned > Incapacitated • Standard Action, Close Range, Instant • Area (Burst)
 +
*'''Ineffable Tread of Ithaqua (1 PP)''' With this spell, the magician can move quickly over surfaces, sliding with perfect balance across the ice that forms beneath their feet. They can even step up into the air, to tread upon the winds as Ithaqua does.
 +
 +
** '''Air Walking: Flight 2''' (Air) • 8 mph, 120 ft/round • Subtle • Quirk (Prone condition causes you to fall)
 +
**'''Speed Skating: Speed 5''' (Ice) • 60 mph, 900 ft/round
  
 
===Mystic Blades (13 PP)===
 
===Mystic Blades (13 PP)===
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==Advantages==
 
==Advantages==
 +
*'''Agile Feint:''' You can use your Acrobatics bonus or movement speed rank in place of Deception to feint and trick in combat as if your skill bonus or speed rank were your Deception bonus (see Deception Skill). Your opponent opposes the attempt with Acrobatics or Insight (whichever is better).  Make a check using Acrobatics or Movement Speed Rank as a standard action opposed by the better of your target’s Acrobatics or Insight (whichever is better). If your check succeeds, the target is vulnerable against your next attack, until the end of your next round.
 +
*'''Assist: Favored Environment - Air Combat:''' You do not gain this Advantage’s effects, but once per round, as a free action, you can grant that Advantage’s benefit to an ally able to interact with you. Think of the Assist Advantage as an Affects Others version of the chosen Advantage. If the subject of the Assist Advantage already has an equivalent circumstance bonus, the Assist improves it up to a +5 bonus, after which it has no effect.
 +
*'''Benefit - Prepared Rituals 1:''' You routinely prepare useful rituals to call upon when in need.  For each rank in this Advantage, you may have up to one one Ritual pre-cast but unactivated.  These rituals may not have a DC of higher than your Routine Check with Expertise: Magic (Skill rank + 10 maximum)
 
*'''Defensive Roll 2:''' You can avoid damage through agility and “rolling” with an attack. You receive a bonus to your Toughness equal to your advantage rank, but it is considered an active defense similar to Dodge and Parry, so you lose this bonus whenever you are vulnerable or defenseless.  
 
*'''Defensive Roll 2:''' You can avoid damage through agility and “rolling” with an attack. You receive a bonus to your Toughness equal to your advantage rank, but it is considered an active defense similar to Dodge and Parry, so you lose this bonus whenever you are vulnerable or defenseless.  
*'''Equipment 1:'''  
+
*'''Equipment 1:''' 5 equipment points
 
*'''Evasion 1:'''You have a +2 circumstance bonus to Dodge resistance checks to avoid area effects.  
 
*'''Evasion 1:'''You have a +2 circumstance bonus to Dodge resistance checks to avoid area effects.  
 +
*'''Grimoire 1 - Arcana of Ithaqua:''' You possess a grimoire of arcane lore - the Arcana of Ithaqua
 
*'''Improved Initiative:'''You have a +4 bonus to your initiative checks.
 
*'''Improved Initiative:'''You have a +4 bonus to your initiative checks.
 
*'''Languages 1:''' Arabic (native) and English
 
*'''Languages 1:''' Arabic (native) and English
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*'''Quick Draw:'''You can draw a weapon from a holster or sheath as a free action, rather than a move action.
 
*'''Quick Draw:'''You can draw a weapon from a holster or sheath as a free action, rather than a move action.
 
*'''Ritualist:'''You can use the Expertise: Magic skill to create and cast magical rituals. This advantage is often a back-up or secondary magical power for superhuman sorcerers, and may be the only form of magic available to some “dabbler” types.
 
*'''Ritualist:'''You can use the Expertise: Magic skill to create and cast magical rituals. This advantage is often a back-up or secondary magical power for superhuman sorcerers, and may be the only form of magic available to some “dabbler” types.
 +
*'''Set-up 2:''' You can transfer the benefits of a successful combat use of an interaction skill to your teammates. For example, you can feint and have your target vulnerable against one or more allies next attack(s), rather than yours. Each rank in the advantage lets you transfer the benefit to one ally. The interaction skill check requires its normal action, and the affected allies must be capable of interacting with you (or at least seeing the set-up) to benefit from it.
 
*'''Teamwork:'''You’re effective at helping out your friends. When you support a team check you have a +5 circumstance bonus to your check. This bonus also applies to the Aid action and Team Attacks.
 
*'''Teamwork:'''You’re effective at helping out your friends. When you support a team check you have a +5 circumstance bonus to your check. This bonus also applies to the Aid action and Team Attacks.
  
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* '''Resources:''' SeniorOps share in barracks quarters in one of the Houses as well, although the senior barracks tend to be divided up into pairs of beds for slightly better privacy.
 
* '''Resources:''' SeniorOps share in barracks quarters in one of the Houses as well, although the senior barracks tend to be divided up into pairs of beds for slightly better privacy.
 
* '''Accommodations:''' SeniorOps also receive personal quarters, in the form of an apartment or small house in one of the cities where the Houses are found. They usually also have a personal vehicle.
 
* '''Accommodations:''' SeniorOps also receive personal quarters, in the form of an apartment or small house in one of the cities where the Houses are found. They usually also have a personal vehicle.
 +
 +
===Equipment===
 +
* '''Handcuffs:''' Handcuffs are restraints designed to lock two limbs—normally the wrists—of a prisoner together. They fit any medium or small humanoid. Handcuffs can only be placed on a defenseless or unresisting target. Steel cuffs have Toughness 9 and are DC 20 to escape using Sleight of Hand (or Technology to pick the lock).
 +
* '''Night Vision Goggles:''' Night vision goggles use passive light gathering to improve vision in near-dark conditions. They grant the user darkvision—but because of the restricted field of view and lack of depth perception these goggles provide, they impose a –2 circumstance penalty on Perception checks made while wearing them. Night vision goggles must have at least a little light to operate. A cloudy night provides sufficient ambient light, but a pitch-black cave or a sealed room doesn’t. For situations of total darkness, the goggles come with an infrared illuminator that, when switched on, operates like a flashlight visible only to the wearer (or anyone else with IR vision).
 +
* '''Rebreather:''' A small cylinder that fits over the mouth and provides two minutes (20 rounds) of oxygen, during which the character does not need to make suffocation checks.
 +
* '''Undercover Shirt:''' A thin shirt of ballistic armor that can be worn under street clothes and provides a +2 Toughness bonus.
  
 
==Complications==
 
==Complications==
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==Locations==
 
==Locations==
* x
+
*'''Zodiac Society Taurus House:''': Manhattan, New York, USA. Taurus House focuses on politics and high society. It's where Tempus was raised from the time he was released from the artifact that had imprisoned him, and where he was trained as a Zodiac Society agent. A cunningly-designed compound that appears to simply be a pair of side-by-side brownstones, Taurus House overlooks central park.
 +
*'''Zodiac Society Leo House:''': Hollywood, California, USA.  Tempus' current home and base of operations. The outer edges of Leo House have been featured in more than one feature film, as it is a castle that was brought over to the United States by a wealthy German financier just before World War I and reconstructed in the Hollywood foothills. While the exteriors are scenic enough to warrant their use as backdrops in lush period pieces, the interior of the complex is not only very modern, but also delves into the bedrock on which they stand.
 +
* '''[[Dvaravat]]:''' a strange extradimensional nightclub and lounge for the world's magicians. Tempus' membership opens a door to Dvaravat in the Apya Taproom.

Latest revision as of 12:18, 24 October 2020

Tempus
Tempus5.jpg
Identity: Rafiq Dawson • Affiliation: The Zodiac SocietyBase of Operations: Los Angeles
Ethnicity: Zanj (East African) • Nationality: Abbasid Caliphate (869-883), US Citizen (forged documents)
Age: 26 (1,151) • Gender: Male • Height: 5'11 • Weight: 175 lb
Eyes: Brown • Hair: Black • Other Features: Always dresses in Steampunk cosplay
Origin: x • Power Level: 8 (136 Points: Abilities 46, Defenses 8, Skills 7, Advantages 17, Powers 58)
Abilities
Strength 2 Stamina 4
Agility 4 Dexterity 2
Fighting 3 Intellect 2
Awareness 4 Presence 2
Points: 46 (2pts per rank)
Defenses
Defense Ranks Ability Other Total
Dodge 0 4 4 8/4
Fortitude 3 4 x 7
Parry 1 3 4 8/4
Toughness - 4 4 8/4
Will 4 4 x 8
Points: 8 (1pt per rank)
Combat
Initiative: 4 + 4 = +8

Attacks:
• Arrow of Aion: No attack roll, DC 18 resistance check • 60 cft, Indirect: any point, any direction, Descriptor: objects in my possession • Shapeable Area Damage 8, DC 23

• Mystic Blades: +8 attack roll • close range • Strength-based Damage 6, Slashing, DC 23, Affects Insubstantial 2: full rank, Crit 16-20, Penetrating 2
• Abandonment of Aion (Time Loop): No attack roll, resisted by Will DC 18 • Perception range • Cumulative Affliction 8 Dazed > Stunned > Incapacitated
• Icy Winds of Ithaqua: No attack roll, resisted by Fortitude DC 14 • Burst Area: 30 ft radius sphere • Burst Area Affliction 3 Dazed > Stunned > Incapacitated
• Throw: +3 attack roll • 50 lbs 120 ft, 200 lbs 30 ft, 800 lb 6 ft • Bludgeoning Damage DC 17
• Unarmed: +3 attack roll • Close Range • Bludgeoning Damage +2 DC 17
• Grab: +3 attack roll • Close Range • Bludgeoning Damage +2 DC Special 12

Skills
Skill Ranks Ability Other Total
Acrobatics 1 AGL (4) x +5
Athletics 0 STR (2) x +2
Close Combat: Mystic Blades 3 FGT (3) x +6
Deception 0 PRE (2) x +2
Expertise:Magic 6 INT (2) x +8
Insight 0 AWE (4) x +4
Intimidation 0 PRE (2) x +2
Investigation 1 INT (2) x +3
Perception 2 AWE (4) x +6
Persuasion 0 PRE (2) x +2
Ranged Combat: Throw 1 DEX (2) x +3
Stealth x AGL (4) x +4
'
{{{Skill14}}} {{{Skill14Ranks}}} {{{Skill14Ability}}} {{{Skill14Other}}} {{{Skill14Total}}}

Points: 7 (1pt per 2 ranks)
Advantages
Combat: Defensive Roll 2, Improved Initiative 1, Quick Draw
Fortune: xxx
General: Equipment 1, Evasion 1, Membership: Dvaravat, Membership: The Zodiac Society 2, Teamwork
Skill: Ritualist, Languages 1

Points: 17 (1pt per rank)
Powers
• Abandonment of Aion: Cumulative Affliction Resisted and Overcome by Will, DC 18; Dazed > Stunned > Incapacitated • 8 ranks (4/r) • Standard Action • Perception • Instant • Cumulative

• Absence of Aion: Teleport • 8 ranks (2/r) • Move Action • Distance physically reachable in 30 minutes • Instant • Accurate • Limited to places you can physically reach
• Absolution of Aion: Healing • 6 ranks (5/r) • Standard Action • Perception Range • Instant • Affects Objects, Increased Range: Perception
• Arrow of Aion: Damage • 8 ranks (COST/rank) • Standard Action • Shapeable Area 60 cft• Instant • Shapeable Area: 60 cft, Indirect 4: any point, any direction, Variable Descriptor: objects in my possession
• Analysis of Aion: Enhanced Trait (Dodge + Parry) + Senses (Danger Sense 1, Postcognition 4, Precognition 4) • 8 ranks (2/r+ 9 flat) • No Action • Personal • Sustained • Dodge +4, Parry +4
• Mystic Blades: Strength-based Damage • 6 ranks (1/r +8 flat) • Standard Action • Close Range • Instant • Slashing, Affects insubstantial: half ranks, Dangerous 4, Penetrating 2, Indestructible • Removable

Points: 58
Other Traits
Equipment: Handcuffs, Night Vision Goggles, Rebreather, Undercover Shirt (+2 Toughness)
Complications: Anachronistic, Enemy (evil djinn), Responsibility: The Zodiac Society, Sorcerer

Powers

The Arcana of Aion (36 PP)

  • Abandonment of Aion (Time Loop): Cumulative Affliction 8 (32 PP) With an utterance of Aionian power, you curse a target to be abandoned by Aion's forward march, and time stutters and even stops around them, slowing or freezing them in place. 1st degree: Dazed, 2nd degree: Stunned, 3rd degree: Incapacitated, Resisted by: Will, DC 18; Cumulative, Increased Range 2: perception (Standard - Perception - Instant)
  • Absence of Aion (Stop Time): (1 PP) Invoking Aion, you stop the flow of time around yourself, putting it on "pause" and allowing yourself to move around while time is stopped for others. While you can observe and interact with the world, your actions are limited as objects and people are immobile when time is stopped. You can also quickly move your bodily location, allowing time to start back up once you have done so. To viewers, you simply teleport from one spot to another. The power’s rank isn’t technically the distance you can go, it’s the time you have to move while time is stopped for everyone else. 8 = 30 minutes.
    • Quickness 8: Perform routine tasks in -8 time ranks; Quirk 2: Limited to routine actions while active.
    • Teleport 8: 1 mile in a move action, carrying 50 lbs.; Accurate; Limited: places you can reach physically
  • Arrow of Aion: Damage 8 (1 PP) This invocation of Aion's power stops time, giving you the chance to set up an attack against a target, placing it where it will drop on them, or hurling a projectile to strike them. When time restarts, the attack seems to appear out of nowhere for the target. DC 23; Shapeable Area: 30cft., DC 18, Increased Range 2: perception, Indirect 4: any point, any direction, Variable Descriptor: close group - objects and hazards of opportunity (Standard - Perception - Instant)
  • Absolution of Aion: Healing 6 (1 PP) By Aion's power, you rewind the body of a person or object you can see, removing damage done to them by resetting them to a previous state of existence. Affects Objects, Increased Range 2: perception (Standard - Perception - Instant)
  • Analysis of Aion (1 PP) You cast your mind and senses wide, merging them with the flow of Aion. If you cast your sight into the present, you can predict direct attacks coming at you, and improve your ability to avoid them. If you cast your sight to the past, you gain postcognition; if you cast it into the future, you gain precognition.
    • Traits: Dodge +4 (+8), Parry +4 (+8); Permanent (Free - Personal - Permanent)
    • Senses: Danger Sense (Perception), Postcognition, Precognition (Personal - Permanent)

The Arcana of Ithaqua (9 PP)

An entity in the earthly realm, Ithaqua is referred to by some sorcerers as being one of the "Great Old Ones." A horrifying giant of roughly humanoid shape, with glowing red eyes, constantly surrounded by the fiercest of blizzards, Ithaqua is a ravenous entity that freezes the world and inspires deep hunger in creatures. It is thought that Ithaqua may have been the inspiration for yeti and the wendigo in various places around the world.

  • Icy Winds of Ithaqua: Burst Area Affliction 4 (8 PP) This spell causes a sudden burst of frigid arctic wind to explode forth from the sorcerer. (Air, Cold) • DC 14 • Burst Area: 30 ft radius • Resisted/Overcome by Fortitude; Dazed > Stunned > Incapacitated • Standard Action, Close Range, Instant • Area (Burst)
  • Ineffable Tread of Ithaqua (1 PP) With this spell, the magician can move quickly over surfaces, sliding with perfect balance across the ice that forms beneath their feet. They can even step up into the air, to tread upon the winds as Ithaqua does.
    • Air Walking: Flight 2 (Air) • 8 mph, 120 ft/round • Subtle • Quirk (Prone condition causes you to fall)
    • Speed Skating: Speed 5 (Ice) • 60 mph, 900 ft/round

Mystic Blades (13 PP)

Tempus carries two mystically enchanted blades that he uses in close combat. He has had them enchanted to affect insubstantial opponents in hopes that they will one day assist him in killing the djinn that trapped him in a statue for over 1,000 years.

  • Removable (indestructible)
  • Strength-based Damage 6, Slashing, DC 23; Accurate +2, Affects Insubstantial 2: full rank, Dangerous 4: Crit 16-20, Penetrating 2 (Standard - Close - Instant)

Advantages

  • Agile Feint: You can use your Acrobatics bonus or movement speed rank in place of Deception to feint and trick in combat as if your skill bonus or speed rank were your Deception bonus (see Deception Skill). Your opponent opposes the attempt with Acrobatics or Insight (whichever is better). Make a check using Acrobatics or Movement Speed Rank as a standard action opposed by the better of your target’s Acrobatics or Insight (whichever is better). If your check succeeds, the target is vulnerable against your next attack, until the end of your next round.
  • Assist: Favored Environment - Air Combat: You do not gain this Advantage’s effects, but once per round, as a free action, you can grant that Advantage’s benefit to an ally able to interact with you. Think of the Assist Advantage as an Affects Others version of the chosen Advantage. If the subject of the Assist Advantage already has an equivalent circumstance bonus, the Assist improves it up to a +5 bonus, after which it has no effect.
  • Benefit - Prepared Rituals 1: You routinely prepare useful rituals to call upon when in need. For each rank in this Advantage, you may have up to one one Ritual pre-cast but unactivated. These rituals may not have a DC of higher than your Routine Check with Expertise: Magic (Skill rank + 10 maximum)
  • Defensive Roll 2: You can avoid damage through agility and “rolling” with an attack. You receive a bonus to your Toughness equal to your advantage rank, but it is considered an active defense similar to Dodge and Parry, so you lose this bonus whenever you are vulnerable or defenseless.
  • Equipment 1: 5 equipment points
  • Evasion 1:You have a +2 circumstance bonus to Dodge resistance checks to avoid area effects.
  • Grimoire 1 - Arcana of Ithaqua: You possess a grimoire of arcane lore - the Arcana of Ithaqua
  • Improved Initiative:You have a +4 bonus to your initiative checks.
  • Languages 1: Arabic (native) and English
  • Membership: Dvaravat:You have a membership at the esoteric nightclub and lounge, Dvaravat. You bear on your body a permanently-henna'd Sanskrit sigil that is your passkey into the establishment. By using your finger and a standard action to draw that sigil on any solid door that sits fully in a doorframe, you can turn that door into a portal into one of the many doors in Dvaravat.
  • Quick Draw:You can draw a weapon from a holster or sheath as a free action, rather than a move action.
  • Ritualist:You can use the Expertise: Magic skill to create and cast magical rituals. This advantage is often a back-up or secondary magical power for superhuman sorcerers, and may be the only form of magic available to some “dabbler” types.
  • Set-up 2: You can transfer the benefits of a successful combat use of an interaction skill to your teammates. For example, you can feint and have your target vulnerable against one or more allies next attack(s), rather than yours. Each rank in the advantage lets you transfer the benefit to one ally. The interaction skill check requires its normal action, and the affected allies must be capable of interacting with you (or at least seeing the set-up) to benefit from it.
  • Teamwork:You’re effective at helping out your friends. When you support a team check you have a +5 circumstance bonus to your check. This bonus also applies to the Aid action and Team Attacks.

Membership: The Zodiac Society

Senior Operative (Rank 2)

Senior Operatives are the tried-and-true of the society's agents.

  • Missions: SeniorOps are most likely to function as solo agents, always within their area of expertise. They also round out teams where more experience is needed from the members of the team.
  • Training: A SeniorOp always has a specialty of some sort, and their tasks tend to take advantage of those specialties. SeniorOps may also be assigned to assist with tasks outside of their specialty range. Typical specialties include arcane support, combat support, research, investigation, networking, infiltration and espionage, and clean-up.
  • Society Cards: SeniorOp society cards function as a GrounOps card does, but they can also use them to get access to restricted areas of the Houses. SeniorOps are also reasonably permitted to use their cards to make personal purchases.
  • Resources: SeniorOps share in barracks quarters in one of the Houses as well, although the senior barracks tend to be divided up into pairs of beds for slightly better privacy.
  • Accommodations: SeniorOps also receive personal quarters, in the form of an apartment or small house in one of the cities where the Houses are found. They usually also have a personal vehicle.

Equipment

  • Handcuffs: Handcuffs are restraints designed to lock two limbs—normally the wrists—of a prisoner together. They fit any medium or small humanoid. Handcuffs can only be placed on a defenseless or unresisting target. Steel cuffs have Toughness 9 and are DC 20 to escape using Sleight of Hand (or Technology to pick the lock).
  • Night Vision Goggles: Night vision goggles use passive light gathering to improve vision in near-dark conditions. They grant the user darkvision—but because of the restricted field of view and lack of depth perception these goggles provide, they impose a –2 circumstance penalty on Perception checks made while wearing them. Night vision goggles must have at least a little light to operate. A cloudy night provides sufficient ambient light, but a pitch-black cave or a sealed room doesn’t. For situations of total darkness, the goggles come with an infrared illuminator that, when switched on, operates like a flashlight visible only to the wearer (or anyone else with IR vision).
  • Rebreather: A small cylinder that fits over the mouth and provides two minutes (20 rounds) of oxygen, during which the character does not need to make suffocation checks.
  • Undercover Shirt: A thin shirt of ballistic armor that can be worn under street clothes and provides a +2 Toughness bonus.

Complications

  • Anachronistic: You have been pulled out of time and were trapped in an artifact for 1,124 years
  • Enemy: Evil djinn who trapped you in the artifact
  • Responsibility - The Zodiac Society: You have a set of responsibilities to the Zodiac Society, from oaths of secrecy to assignments that are supposed to be foremost in your time to active duties as part of one of the Houses...or even as the Head of one! Anytime your obligation to the Society gets in the way, or you are forced to choose those obligations over other important things going on, gain a Hero Point.
  • Sorcerer:In order to use your magics, you must be able to speak and gesture. If you cannot do both of these, you cannot use your Sorcerous Arcana. (You may still have other magical abilities that you can use, however.)

Background

People

Crystal.JPG
Beverley Dawson
The Zodiac Society • Guardian
Beverley is a sorcerer of some skill. She took Tempus in when he was released from the artifact he had been trapped in and effectively raised him from the age of 14 onwards. She is the Head of House of Taurus House, the New York City chapter-house of the Zodiac Society.

Locations

  • Zodiac Society Taurus House:: Manhattan, New York, USA. Taurus House focuses on politics and high society. It's where Tempus was raised from the time he was released from the artifact that had imprisoned him, and where he was trained as a Zodiac Society agent. A cunningly-designed compound that appears to simply be a pair of side-by-side brownstones, Taurus House overlooks central park.
  • Zodiac Society Leo House:: Hollywood, California, USA. Tempus' current home and base of operations. The outer edges of Leo House have been featured in more than one feature film, as it is a castle that was brought over to the United States by a wealthy German financier just before World War I and reconstructed in the Hollywood foothills. While the exteriors are scenic enough to warrant their use as backdrops in lush period pieces, the interior of the complex is not only very modern, but also delves into the bedrock on which they stand.
  • Dvaravat: a strange extradimensional nightclub and lounge for the world's magicians. Tempus' membership opens a door to Dvaravat in the Apya Taproom.