@All: I'm going to ask for a board and all of you can create a thread for your character. That way we can discuss stuff in a much cleaner way.
@DictumMortuum: I've already used Nan's character sheet & made my entire character & background. It's in the previous page. I'd like to receive some feedback on both of them... If it's approved, if it's not... I got a lot of flaws, and one of them is DM dependent. I created my nemesis in my background, but his character sheet is up to you i guess. I'm also pretty set on being an Orphan, at least at the start of the game... Celestial Choir doesn't fit because my character hates the church in all of it's inceptions, euthanatos doesn't work because my character has a "happier" view on Fate than they do. Cult of Ecstasy could work, because i'm a thrill-seeker & a fatalist, but i don't want to have any ties at the start of the game, and although i'm not totally opposed to being joined into a tradition, i prefer to join them in game if possible.
Great! We'll talk backgrounds later, but for now: you've got one more flaw point (max is 7 points in flaws). Don't edit it out yet though.
Actually, your character
is a Chorister, based on your paradigm. Their main connection point is belief in a higher power - that doesn't mean that they are priests; some of them
are priests, but not common ones (they can work with magic)
And their inner conflicts arise from the different belief systems that exist within them (there are so many religions, choristers are not only christians - there are muslim, buddhist, etc). I'm not saying you should definitely be one, but it's fitting and you're already high on Prime.
Being a Thrill-Seeker & Fatalist has nothing to do with being a Cult of Ecstasy or not being one. Being a member of tradition defines your
magic style and the bases of your
paradigm,
not your personality. The Cultists may seem junkies and sex-addicts, but actually, they have one of the most difficult paradigm bases: Ecstasy comes from the latin ex stasis which actually means 'out of stasis'. They want to make people see what the world is really like, without the illusive boundaries of reality. With that in mind, imagine a boring traditional business man, who is awakened and starts distributing kinky sex tapes, because he believes they shock people and as a result that experience enables them to see the world differently (a lot like when you first learn about what sex as an act is, or similar mind-opening experiences); that man is a member of the Cult of Ecstasy, but he might not be always high or dressed as a weirdo or naked 24/7.
The same thing (in concept) is true for the Euthanatos. Not everyone is like a shadowy assassin dressed as Neo with a whole armory underneath their clothes.
And I thank you for it. My character's a rookie, but has a powerful connection to the spirit world, so at the beginning I'll just yell "Hey you, ethereal dude, a roll of cookies if you fry this guy!" and be more specific onceboth me and my character get the hang of it.
Actually, the Call Spirit rote is exactly like that, whether you know the spirit's name or not. To call a specific spirit you need a specialized ritual with many successes, based on how powerful the spirit in question is.
What sphere you think is individually the stronger & why? I think my guess would be entropy, just because it has a mind boggling range of application, and it's subtle enough that if you go about it properly, you don't have to worry so much with paradox as say... with forces.
All spheres are powerful, in their own way. My personal favourites are Correspondence and Mind magic, because almost everything is coincidental (except teleporting, but who doesn't love teleporting
). Forces is powerful, but it's a lot more intellectual that just being the "fireball" sphere - however most of the stuff you can work with are vulgar. Life is very useful: healing, identify life patterns, make some cosmetic changes on yourself, enhance your body, etc. Matter is similar to Life, but most of the times I just can't find myself as having it very high - most of the times I just go up to 1 or 2 dots, just to combine matter with other spheres. Spirit is the do-it-all sphere, it's extremely versatile, but most stuff comes at a higher price. Prime is often coupled with Spirit (most lesser spirits are fine with some quintessence as a return) and rocks when coupled with other spheres (especially pattern ones - life, matter, forces), but it's powerful on its own, too. Time is awesome, but unless you're careful reality can make you explode like a firework - it's the easier sphere to accumulate large amounts of paradox with (level 3+).
Finally, I'm sorry to say so, but, Entropy (at least in the early levels) is actually the
worse sphere. The basic reasoning is that, when with the other spheres you get definitive results, with Entropy you
might get them, many effects raise or lower difficulties and/or successes, but one can just be lucky
That's not to say that Entropy is useless - quite the contrary - no sphere is useless.
The #1 best 1st level sphere goes to Mind, hands down. Where you can just do basic scanning effects with other spheres, with Mind 1 you can actually have powerful and useful effects (like partitioning your mind!).
Bizzarely for a White Wolf game it doesnt look like any is overwhelmingly better than the others but that is just my first impression.
The casting system rocks! If you don't like that, well, there are not many stuff that make it different from the others.
imho it doesn't really matter. For coincidental effects, entropy can be very useful as you can give probability a little push towards your favor, e.g. sudden gusts of wind or a bursting steam pipe. These examples could also be done using forces and matter, b ut I believe they are stronger towards these purposes, but it takes a little more effort to make the effects coincidental. Like invoking high pressure steam in an arbitrary pipe or shaping a brick wall into a secret door. You couldn't do that with entropy, yet they're (mostly) coincidental.
Actually, you can use Entropy to make gusts or burst a team pipe, but the probability of being useful in times of stress is significantly lower, than, say, using forces. Of course, you could use a rote like "find the weak spot" with entropy, which will enable you to find the spot in an object that you can hit and make it break down into pieces, but you'll have to physically harm/touch the object.
