@Muse: Most certainly. Got any ideas as to what you might want to play?
@Wintercat: Certainly. I'm a rookie GM at this particular setting, so we'll be in good company together. And either of your character concepts would be valid.
@Kuno: ...'bout time you showed up.
Okay, people, I'm gonna hand you a little primer on things I see in CthulhuTech in terms of character types, factions playable, etc, etc...
Okay. The major two good factions in the world of CthulhuTech, as readers are aware, are the NEG (New Earth Government) and the Eldritch Society (referred to hereafter as the ES). The NEG has a sub-faction, the Engel Project, which focuses on the giant Evangelion-a-like machines of this setting.
Now, there are 5 major character ‘types,’ with each faction being able to utilize 4 of the 5.
Normals: These are people without any form of special supernatural ability. That can be as much a boon as a weakness, however, since it means that they’re free to spend their character creation points, and experience, on bettering solely themselves – attributes, skills, and so on – whereas supernatural characters need to spend their advancement to improve their abilities.
Sorcerers: The setting’s magic users. These are the guys who cast the spells that makes the peoples fall down (
), as well as the ones who read the ever-sanity endangering books that are so popular and common to Lovecraft. Magic isn’t simple, though. It’s much more ritualistic and drawn out. So no, no throwing fireballs in the middle of combat. That’s more the next guys… ((NOTE: Due to canon info, characters who are a sorcerer cannot be a para-psychic))
Para-psychics: These guys are the ones who don’t need years of training to learn how to manipulate the universe. Para-psychics are able to intuitively command the energies of the cosmos, using little more than their own willpower and arcane energy. However, para-psychics do imperil themselves when they use their powers too much, and risk having them run out of control… ((NOTE: Due to canon info, characters who are para-psychic cannot be a sorcerer))
The above three can fit into either a NEG game or an ES game. Keep that in mind when you are designing your character.
Okay, now onto the faction-specific types. A quick note before I start – these character types, for one reason or another, stand head and shoulders above the three ‘common’ types. Enemies designed to be a modest threat at their level are probably tough enough that ‘common’ characters would be risking death in the same fight. In contrast, designing for the ‘common’ characters would allow these to curbstomp over the enemy.
Tagers: This is the ES-specific character type. Tagers are shapeshifting warriors, mortals who have undergone a special ritual to unite their consciousness with a symbiont that provides them with supernatural abilities, as well as enhanced physical attributes. Tagers also regenerate damage inflicted on them.
Mecha Pilots: The is the NEG-specific character type. This category encompasses three subtypes – Power Armor; standard Mecha; and Engels. These are much tougher than anything, even the Tagers, because of the scale used to measure the amount of damage they can deal out as well as take.
So…yeah. With maybe a couple of exceptions, we’ll probably want to try to stick to one faction, if possible.
