N'FERRA™ Characters
CONTENTS | TEMPLATE | BACKGROUND | RACES | CHARACTERS | SETTING | POWERS | CAMPAIGNING | APPENDIX
© 1999, 2000 by Jefferson A. Wilson | View Sidebar | Go to main RPG page.
N'FERRA™ Characters |
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From the Anradan of the ministry, to secretaries in the travel societies, to the soliciters who deal with legal matters, administrators are needed and found throughout N'Ferra.
PC administrators are often troubleshooters who need to find out specific types of information. Another option is a individual who free- lances his specific skills to people in need.
Advantages: Contacts are typical. Successful administrators could have Wealth. Language Talent is useful for those dealing with multiple races or cultures.
Disadvantages: An administrator may have a duty to his employer. Bad Sight is a stereotype. Honest is often looked for.
Skills: Administration and one other skill appropriate to their specialization (Law, Religion, Area Knowledge, etc.). PC administrators will often have a skill dealing with power theory (Psionics, Psychology, Thaumatology, etc.).
Artisans create hand-craft (as opposed to factory craft) a wide variety of goods ranging from simple bookcases to advanced clocks. Most artisans specialize in a single craft, but often have several skills related to their craft. As factory-made goods become common, artisans are shifting to more artistic forms. Adventuring artisans will often be more involved in repairing items than in creating them. Tinkers, for example, repair metalwork.
Advantages: ?
Disadvantages: Wandering artisans are often Struggling.
Skills: At least one craft and one artistic skill. Traveling artisans will have Area Knowledge of their territory.
Criminals range from simple street-toughs to arch-criminals. Puppetmasters use their powers to control other beings.
One type of entertainer is the Prestidigitator. Prestidigitators rely on sleight of hand to produce their tricks.
Espiri are priests (in the Ministry of Inquiry) with powers of sanctity.
There are many different types of explorers in N'Ferra. Wildspace Explorers are concerned with areas between planets, but inside crystal spheres. Phlogisten Exploration chart the flow, mapping the location of crystal spheres, and getting overviews of new spheres. Wilderness Explorers explore unknown land areas on a planet or planetoid. Undersea Explorers are like wilderness exploration, except they explore underwater areas. Surveyors are responsible for making better maps of populated areas. Dimensional Explorers travel to other dimensions to find out what's there. Spelunkers explore and map caves and caverns. Orbital Explorers are responsible for making maps of planets from wildspace, usually just outside of the planet's gravity envelope. Of course, there can be overlap. A spelunker might be called in to explore a new dimension if it's mostly caves.
Advantages: Danger Sense is almost a given. Alertness, Ally Groups, Fit, Intuition, and Rapid Healing are common. Successful explorers may have Reputation or Status.
Disadvantages: Code of Honor, Fanaticism, Greed, Light Sleeper, Overconfidence, Vows, and Xenophilia.
Skills:
There are a wide variety of healers. Some use a particular power for healing. However, the best use a variety of means of healing as many ailments only respond to a single type of healing.
Inventors are the other half of researchers. Researchers are predominantly concerned with theory, while inventors are concerned with practice.
Merchants range from simple traveling peddlers with a single pack of goods to the masters of goods trains or ships. Merchants engage in trade directly.
Mystics explore unseen realms in the search to understand. Most mystics are initiates, but anyone can be a mystic. All it takes is a willingness to go beyond the immediate senses.
Even though everyone in N'Ferra seeks to discover new and better ways of doing things, the cachet of Researcher has a special meaning. Researchers deal with extending the ability of the powers.
A Rohain is a Holy Warrior in the service of one of the branches of the Ministry of Inquiry.
Spectrem (singular Spectrel) are spirits of the departed who have returned to aid the living against problems with spirits and undead. Spectrem were once mortal, and have been granted permission to return from the realm of the dead to aid the living. In return for this they have sworn to obey Ferris's instructions, and permit mortals to live their own lives. Spectrem are distinctly individual. Some are cautious, some foolhardy, some act as warriors, slaying their enemies, other are teachers who teach mortals to deal with whatever is oppressing them.
Spectrem may communicate with mortals in their dreams, when materialized by a summons, or by leaving messages through the poltergeist effect. They may not otherwise communicate except with those with astral or spiritual perceptions.
The following racial template is used by all Spectrem. (See GURPS Undead for information about the Ghost Form advantage.)
Advantages: Alertness/2 (10), Extra Fatigue/5 [15], Ghost Form (Unlimited Lifespan, +30%; Can't materialize without being summoned, -10%; Can not communicate telepathically, -10%; Can not possess, -20%) [90], Strong Will/3 [12].
Disadvantages: Duty (Occasional, 6-) [-2], Stubbornness (-5), Vow (Protect mortals from spiritual powers, Allow mortals to live their own lives) [-10].
Quirks, Features, and Taboo Traits: Affected by Astral Block, Repel Spirits, and Turn Spirit [0]; Can be detected by sensitive individuals [0]; Can be turned using True Faith [0]; Unaffected by Ferris's sanctity powers [0].
The cost of the Spectrem template is 110 points.
If a character chooses to come from one of the more technologically advanced areas of Eclipse he must pay 5 points. If a character wishes to start with working skills or equipment above the normal Tech level of a campaign, it costs the following: TL/6 = 10, TL/7 = 30, TL/8 = 60, TL/9 = 100, TL/10 = 150, TL/11 = 210, TL/12 = 280, TL/13 = 360, TL/14 = 450. Tech levels above 14 are not available.
This advantage is a subset of "Trained by a Master." This advantage enables a character to learn cinematic martial arts skills and maneuvers, but does not grant any other benefits. A character with this advantage may use a chi helm.
This unusual background means that the character has been specially trained in the use of unusual psionic abilities. This enables the character to have the Enhanced Psionic Range and Multiversal Reach enhancements, as well as some of the more esoteric psionic skills.
No information at present.
Currently, training is available up to the "Systemic" level of the enhancement. This training is only available to those who have spent a great deal of time developing their psionic skills, possessing power levels of 5 or greater in Electrokinesis, Psychokinesis, Telepathy, or Teleportation, or 8 or greater in Antipsi, Astral Projection, ESP, Psi Healing, Psychic Vampirism, the Psi Mastery advantage, and a skill in Psionics of 12 or more.
In N'Ferra, Alchemy and Chemistry mutually default to each other at -3. However, a default skill with Alchemy does not permit the creation of elixers without references (and a -2 penalty).
There are a wide variety of languages in use within N'Ferra. However, while scholars have identified over 10,000 languages, 75% of the population can speak one or more of the 14 "major" languages, and only 5% of the population speaks a language outside of one of the approximately 135 additional "minor" languages.
All languages native to a particular race belong to a single language phylum (equivalent to Indo-European). There are several language families within in each phylum, and languages as different as Irish is from Nepali. None of the languages native to a race is related to any language native to another race. However, hybrid languages have cropped up in the past hundred years where multiple races have settled the same area.
Luckily, the exigencies of history has created a situation where one language (and usually one script) has become identified with each race. As the different races often find the speech of others uncomfortable, it is unlikely that this number will be reduced in the future.
Bine primarily speak Lohsan and use Nevay script. Bine language and script cannot be understood by any being without the ability to understand and interpret pheromones at a very high level. Ch'vrr primarily speak K'Pak and use Dedjan script. Fibrien primarily speak Orvuk and use Leytel script. Gennen primarily speak Hosa and use Vermay script. Humans primarily speak Peshka and use Zordan script. Lon primarily speak Ladak and use N'kay script. Nurha primarily speak Chff and use Vh'Khan script. Nye primarily speak Vrrnkk and use zzznnd script. Pladone primarily speak Chessek and use Drine script. Rachak primarily speak Loevur and use Keprel script. Loevur involves making minor fluctuations in the ambient Magic, and cannot be "spoken" by non mages. Seenee primarily speak Sesperl and use Loorai script. Slahses primarily speak Svain and use Shurzen script. Varn primarily speak Eega and use Peertin and Semay scripts. Peertin is a standard script, but due to Varn visual problems is typically written on buildings and cliffsides. Semay is typically engraved on metal sheets and is meant to be read by sonar. Neither Peertin or Semay is very portable.
Kafara is a sign language which began as a religious language for monks practicing vows of silence. When the different races came in contact it came to serve as a trade language. Today it is spoken by more people than any other language, but by almost no one as their native tongue.
New psionic skills can be found at http://www.meanspc.com/~jeff_wilson63/rpg/psi_jeff.htm.
This skill is similar to Weird Science and Weird Magic, except that it deals with Alchemy.