Vat:PC/Joseph

Joseph

Aspects
High Concept: Horseback Wizard Displaced Out of Time
Trouble: Book Bound & Out of Touch

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Backhand Swing and a Miss! Loving mother but abusive father who trained him in the Art. Ran away to find others to learn from.
Focused to a Purpose Running off made him realize what a sad state of affairs the world was in, and he dedicated himself to making it a better place.
Doing the Right Thing is Costly While seeking out the Lakota tribe to help them, they instead tortured him and bound his spirit into his journal
Snap Judgement While walking through the dairy section at your local super market you got a tingling on the back of you neck, you quickly hid inside the staff door and watched as that huge man you had an encounter with walked past you (Amiri). He doesn't look dangerous, but you never know.

Attributes

Primary

Strength 1 — Dexterity 3 — Constitution 2 — Intelligence 4 — Perception 4 — Willpower 5

Secondary

• Life Points: 22
• Endurance: 29
• Essence: 24
• Speed: 10 mph, 5 yards per second
• Consciousness/Survival
• Initiative +3

Skills

• Bureaucracy 1
• Dodge 1
• Engineering [Architecture] 1
• Gambling 1
• Humanities (Anthropology) 1
• Humanities (Archeology) 1
• Humanities (History) 2
• Humanities (Theology) 1
• Lang (Sioux, German, Chinese) 1 each
• Lockpicking (Mechanical) 1
• Myth and Legend (Cryptozoology) 2
• Notice 3
• Occult Knowledge 3
• Research/Investigation 2
• Rituals 2
• Smooth Talking 1
• Storytelling 1

Powers

Invocations

Blessing 1

All essence must come from the caster and is not regained until the blessing is spent.

Blessing of Protection (2e per +1)—This effect protects the subject from metaphysical harm. Each Essence Point spent gives the subject a +1 bonus to resist one supernatural attack of one specific kind (Magic, the Sight, Primal Power, and so on). This protection activates whenever a hostile attack is made against the blessing’s recipient. The protection is only good against one such attack. A Blessing of Protection can also be oriented against all forms of supernatural attack at the cost of two Essence per +1 bonus.

Good Luck (3e per +1)—This effect gi ves the recipient Luck. For every three Essence spent, the target gains a +1 bonus. The total bonuses may be applied to one Task/Test, or may be split as desired among many such attempts. Once the Luck bonuses are spent, the effects of the Blessing stop.

Success Blessing (5e)—This guarantees success in some small matter involving mundane affairs, such as a business deal, school examination or sporting event, provided the recipient had a chance to succeed anyway. This effect costs five Essence.

Communion 1

One with the Land (2e per minute)—Becoming one with the land costs two Essence Points per minute. The Magician enters a trance state in which she is aware of everything occurring in the area centered around her. The area affected has a radius of 10 yards (meters) per Willpower level of the caster. This can be increased at additional Essence cost; +5 yards (meters) to the radius per additional Essence Point spent, per minute.

Once Communion is established, the caster can sense the whereabouts and emotions of every living thing in the area, including spirits and supernatural beings. The Magician can pinpoint the location of anybody entering the area, even those who are Shielded or hidden by illusions. Attempts by the caster to communicate, invoke, or awaken any spirits in the area gain a bonus of +5 as long as the Communion is active.

While the Communion is active, the Magician can also cast any Invocation (positive or negative) on anyone or anything in the area as if she was in direct contact or line of sight of them. The main drawback is that the connection works both ways. The Magician is exposed to the pain and suffering, anger, or other negative feelings of every living thing in the area. The more intense the negative emotions, the greater the danger of a psychic backlash.

When performing the Communion in an area plagued by suffering or anger, the Magician must pass a Difficult Willpower Test to avoid being harmed by the experience. Note that the entire area must be permeated with negative emotions to pose a danger. If a group of men with murder in their minds entered an otherwise tranquil forest, for example, the Magician would know of the men and their emotions, but would not be affected by them. If the Magician casts the Communion in the middle of a burning forest, a city slum, or a concentration camp, the concentrated misery and agony in such places would sear her.

Penalties to the Magician’s Willpower Test are determined by the Chronicler. Places of some misery and pain (a dirty park, a lightly polluted forest) have no penalty to the Test. A city slum is at -2 (more for really bad areas where everybody is suffering). A burning forest or a concentration camp is at -4 to -6. A serial killer’s torture dungeon would be at -8 or worse. If the Willpower Test is failed, the Magician loses D4 x 10(20) Essence Points.

Elemental Earth 2

Crumble Stone (1e per 5 [100] lbs)—Stone may be crushed for one Essence Point per five pounds (2.5 kilograms) up to 100 pounds (50 kilograms). After that, it costs one point per 100 pounds.

Farsight 2

Insight 2

Sending 1

Shield 1

Warding 2

Drawbacks

Amnesia

Impaired Senses (Sight, corrected)

Impaired Senses (Sound, uncorrected)

Honorable 1

Bookbound

Similar to two point emotional problem obsession, except that he can be forced by spirit powers back into the book. He may elect to willingly go into the book, but much spend effort and essence to get back out.

Accursed (Harpell Gifted)

Qualities

Age 1

+4 Skill points (+3 to languages, +1 Engineering [Architecture]), +5 points for metaphysical (+1(2) Farsight, +1(2) Insight, 1 point into purchasing extra essence), +5 Essence. These are NOT reflected in the rest of the sheet.

Influence (Paranormal) 1

Official Identity (False)

Photographic Memory

Those with photographic memories have an uncanny ability to remember things. After reading a book, they can quote passages without missing a word, and they almost never forget anything. The Chronicler provides information that the character remembers whenever it is necessary. Also, characters with this Quality receive a +1 bonus on any skill where memorizing facts is useful; most scholastic skills fall under this category. Furthermore, any Tasks where memory can play a role gain a +1 to +3 bonus, at the Chronicler’s discretion.

Pulling String—Library 1

A character has unlimited access to a library of a general nature or one specific to an academic subject. A Normal quality library requires no roll. A single Success Level on a Willpower and Bureaucracy Task grants access to a Good quality library, two Success Levels an Excellent one, and three or more levels a Superb one. The character has access to the place for one week. Each additional week requires a new Task. Private use requires an additional –2 penalty and may require the character to work late in the evening or early in the morning. The Chronicler may decide that certain facilities are not available in the area.

Pulling String—Occult Library 1

A good occult library is invaluable to a ritualist. Access to a Normal quality library requires a Willpower and Bureaucracy Task. Success provides the character with books or personnel who can teach three to five different rituals (determined by the Chronicler). The higher the success, the better the facilities available. Two Success Levels grant access to a Good quality library (six to twelve rituals). An Excellent library requires three Success Levels and has between 13–18 rituals. Superb libraries require at least four Success Levels and have between 19–24 rituals. No one library has information on every known ritual.

Hyperlingiual 1

The character has an uncanny aptitude for learning and speaking new languages, from the most mundane European tongues to the strangest dialects of jungle-dwelling tribesmen. He may add his level in the Hyperlingual Quality to any Language skill (even if it is zero) when determining level of fluency. For example, a character with Language (Swahili) 2 and three levels of Hyperlingual speaks Swahili with “complete mastery,” a level of fluency normally associated with a skill level five. The Chronicler may impose limits dependent upon the agent’s Intelligence if the player abuses this Quality, and should penalize heavily when interpreting alien languages.

Essence Channelling 3

Regain 3e per minute.

Gift

The Gift denotes a connection with the Otherworlds, a connection that allows the character to sense things that are hidden from Mundanes. All the Gifted have the ability to perceive the presence of supernatural energies or creatures. By succeeding at a Simple Perception Task, a Gifted character can sense if a supernatural being is near, and can detect strong flows of Essence in an area or object. This sensing is not accurate; it does not tell the character exactly what or who emanates an excess of magical energies, although the Success Levels of the Task provide the Gifted character with successively more information.

Resources -- no levels

Average. $9k in property. $1500/month pre-tax.

Special Possessions

Leather Satchel that contains

Joseph's original journal from 1800s

Well worn playing cards. The joker has a bullet hole in it.

Assortment of pens, pencils, and scraps of paper.

Moleskine notepads

Bolo tie for formal affairs

Small King James Bible, with notes scribbled in it

Lock picks, vials of acid and powder, feathers

D&D Monster Manual, well worn with many notes and post-its.

Chalk, my god the chalk

Dot matrix printout of 448 US 371 Supreme Court Ruling on United States vs Sioux Nation of Indians.

Mix tape with John Denver, Johnny Cash, and Hank Williams

Snakeskin cowboy boots, worn in

Single action six shooter and holster

Crystal that hangs on a necklace

Pouches that contain

Small golden cross on a chain (Blessing)

Intact shed snakeskin (Communion)

Fire-blackened Coal (Elemental Earth)

Rifle scope (Farsight)

Handmade dreamcatcher (Insight)

Others will be added later.

Background

In the year 1899, Joseph Padalecki was in North Dakota on a year long spiritual retreat. He was the last classically trained magician in his family and was seeking out the Lakota tribe to hear of their plight and see if there was something that he could do to fix it.

When he found the tribe, the shaman was a young man full of rage and grief, having recently replaced the elderly shaman who had been shot by a group of "white devils". When they found Joseph, they took out their hate on him for nearly three full days.

Just as he was about to find peace in death, the young shaman cursed Joseph to be trapped in the world but not part of it. Joseph's soul fled his body and found its new home in his journal. "You will not know peace until the Lakota people are free of the white devils."

Years later the journal and belongings of Joseph was recovered, and the journal was passed down the generations as a curiosity.

Fast forward almost a hundred years to 1980. The US Supreme Court agreed to award the Lakota over one hundred millions dollars, starting a process of recognizing the rights of the Lakota people. This watershed moment in concert with Joseph's strength of will was enough for him to purchase his freedom, though in moments of weakness his spirit will withdraw back into the book.

Once he had managed to escape his prison, he immediately fled. He knew the type of work that his great, great, great grandson did and wasn't sure how he would react. He managed to cobble together a false identity and secured himself employment as a professor of anthropology.

Joseph was perplexed that the world didn't work the same as it had before he was imprisoned. Until recently his gift rarely, if ever, functioned. The strength is returning, and he was asked to join the VAT. Little did he know that his grandson was also being brought on board.