Penumbra: A Rules System for the Cadaverous Earth

[Rose-of-Vellum]

Bloodletter and Way of the Blade & Pistol both have some added abilities (moreso the latter). Also, a new focus, Governance, is up.

[Rhamnousia]

Versatile Pistol and Blade make so sense conceptually or mechanically. Why would I want to bother pistol-whipping somebody for less damage when I'm carrying a sword that already does significantly more damage? The difference between Bashing and Bladed weapons only seems to apply to a handful of combat maneuvers and weapon specialties. Myriad Defense, Deadly Distraction, and Dervish's Massacre still seem out of place because the purpose of wielding both a ranged and melee weapon at the same time seems like it would be less about utilizing them both simultaneously and more about having them compliment each others strengths and weaknesses. Just off the top of my head, you could replace one of them with ab improvement on Double Strike (maybe rename them Follow-Up Shot/Improved Follow-Up Shot) that lets your ranged weapon do damage one step higher, since you're firing it right into their vitals at point-blank range. I'll have more when I get back from class.

Also, are there any pool costs associated with these abilities?

[Rose-of-Vellum]

The focus allows you to attack with both weapons without a hindrance to your attack rolls. So, the benefit of being able to pistol-whip someone (without a hindrance to attack) is that you can pistol-whip someone AND use another weapon (e.g., sword) in the same action. So the benefit is being able to make two attacks rather than just one. There may be times when you wouldn't want to fire a gun (e.g., pistol-whipping is quieter than firing a firearm, you run out of ammo, etc.), and there may be creatures who have different kinds of AC (think DR) against different categories of weapons (bashing vs bladed). And yes, it also allows you to use different kinds of combat maneuvers/tricks with a weapon that you normally wouldn't be able to do so. So, there are several benefits. Not vast ones, but not worthy of outright dismissal. 

I can see scrapping Myriad Defense and replacing it with the following:
Improved Double Strike: When you wield multiple weapons, you can choose to make one attack roll against a foe. If you hit, you inflict damage with two weapons plus 4 additional points of damage, and because you made a single attack, the target's AC is subtracted only once. Action.

And no, there are no point costs associated with these abilities. That's one of the boons of the focus (some foci are more point-cost heavy than others).

[Rhamnousia]

I can see the benefits of Versatile Pistol, but having it do damage as a lighter weapon makes it somehow less effective just punching the target. Versatile Blade still seems very out of place and not like something I would ever use. On the other hand, Improved Double Strike sounds like a good improvement. Deadly Distraction made a lot more sense when I started thinking of it as using the gun to unnerve the would-be attacker more than distract them, so that's more the wording of the ability than the actual mechanics.

[Rose-of-Vellum]

I can see the benefits of Versatile Pistol, but having it do damage as a lighter weapon makes it somehow less effective just punching the target.

Hmm, it's true that pistol-whipping someone with a mousegun would do 1 less point of damage than punching someone. Using a revolver would do the same amount. Of course, as one gains the improved version, the pistol-whip/buttstroke does more damage. It also lets you avoid having to sheathe or drop your gun (since one wouldn't. Perhaps a light weapon shouldn't drop a damage level?

Versatile Blade still seems very out of place and not like something I would ever use.

The focus is about multiple weapon usage. Versatile Blade, to me, fits the notion of learning and blending different types of attacks. As for its utility, it is more situational, but as I said before, it's handy when wanting to subdue a foe or overcome blade-resistant AC, or utilize a combat maneuver that requires a bashing weapon. A character who never spares foes, never selects a bashing maneuver, or never encounters foes with blade-resistant AC won't find VB helpful at all. But VB is a minor aspect of the focus, icing on top of the crunch cake.

On the other hand, Improved Double Strike sounds like a good improvement. Deadly Distraction made a lot more sense when I started thinking of it as using the gun to unnerve the would-be attacker more than distract them, so that's more the wording of the ability than the actual mechanics.

Glad to hear on both accounts, I'll swap in Improved Double Strike.

[Steerpike]

Would it be possible to get a sample character or just a template with a list of stats?  Or perhaps a quick guide on the steps of character creation?  I can kinda piece together what I need (I think) but some sort of semi-standardized format would be excellent.

[Seraph]

Would it be possible to get a sample character or just a template with a list of stats?  Or perhaps a quick guide on the steps of character creation?  I can kinda piece together what I need (I think) but some sort of semi-standardized format would be excellent.

I second the motion.  It would be helpful for Clockwork Abattoir.

[Rose-of-Vellum]

Definitely. It's next on my agenda. Eventually I'll likely do a sample warrior, rogue, and theurge -until then, do any of you care which I do first?

[Rhamnousia]

Hmm, it's true that pistol-whipping someone with a mousegun would do 1 less point of damage than punching someone. Using a revolver would do the same amount. Of course, as one gains the improved version, the pistol-whip/buttstroke does more damage. It also lets you avoid having to sheathe or drop your gun (since one wouldn't. Perhaps a light weapon shouldn't drop a damage level?

I dunno, I envision medium firearms as still being pretty hefty pieces along the lines of dragoon pistols, so it's not a stretch for me to imagine them doing as much damage as a hammer. If it's a balance issue, you still can't dual wield medium weapons until Tier 3 anyway, so it's not a massive advantage right out of the gate. If you're dead-set on keeping Versatile Blade, I suggest doing the same thing for the same reason.

I'm familiar with creating characters in Numenera, so you can do the rogue example last.

[Rose-of-Vellum]

I dunno, I envision medium firearms as still being pretty hefty pieces along the lines of dragoon pistols, so it's not a stretch for me to imagine them doing as much damage as a hammer.

True, a revolver (particularly the bigger western kind) can crack a person's skull with a blow from its barrel.  As can a hammer. But I would suggest a modern-sized hammer is a light weapon, rather than a medium one. Medium weapons are bigger, like military grade maces, battleaxes, broadswords, etc.

One advantage of being able to use a medium ranged weapon like a light bashing weapon is that it reduces the attack DC by one step.

Let me know what you think; I'm definitely open to tinkering with these abilities and the focus in general.

I'm familiar with creating characters in Numenera, so you can do the rogue example last.

Sounds good. Any opinions on whether I do a witch or warrior first?

[Steerpike]

Mostly I just want to make sure I have all the statistics straight, and to figure out how to derive all of them.

[Rose-of-Vellum]

Bartleby Spragge's life began ignobly as one of Moroi's flea-picked guttersnipes. Born to a pair of addicts who squandered their lives hustling thrum, mindwrack, and asherat in the Phantasmagorian Bazaar, Bartleby was raised by the dilapidated streets of Abscess-Weft, where his early years were spent dodging ever-present flesh peddlers, deadly plagues, and pedophilic eidolons.

Consequently, Bartleby counted himself fortunate when he found a job in Fat-Wolf-Furrow, toiling night and day in the district's ubiquitous factories. His luck, however, ran out when a printing press snagged his sleeve, sucked both his hands into the churning clockwork, and slowly, agonizingly crushed his arms into pulpy tatters. After passing out from the pain and copious blood loss, the waif awoke to discover a ghul chirurgeon had amputated both of his arms at the shoulder, taking the remaining flesh and bone as his comestible payment. In a tragic reversal, Bartleby was thrown back into the destitute alleys of Abscess-Weft, an armless amputee in a pitiless slum.

Grim providence nevertheless smiled on Bartleby when the youth, on the run from Grease-Welter demonologists intent on sacrificing him to Phelaegor's gullet, slipped into the tent of Meister Selcouth, a ringleader of a tramp-circus and traveling freak show. Seeing potential, if not profit, in the deformed, yet uncannily dexterous amputee, the ringleader offered Bartleby a place in his show. Without hesitation or the feeblest pretense of pride, Bartleby accepted, and eagerly bade farewell to Suckle-town's myriad sorrows.

Traipsing across the Slaughterlands with Selcouth's circus, Bartleby inherited a family of freaks, jongleurs, and monstrosities. Aided by such tutors, Bartleby developed a variety of talents over the following years, becoming a skilled contortionist, skull-juggling tregetour, and toe-twisting escapologist. Similarly, Selcouth's coterie introduced Bartleby to the mottled lands and cultures of the Cadaverous Earth, stunning the city-bred adolescent with marvels and horrors beyond his reckoning.

Despite this generous tutelage and rare camaraderie, Bartleby abandoned his adopted family during a trip to Macellaria. There, a mantid mechanist by the name of Chk't-Szzak offered to build Bartleby a new pair of arms in exchange for hise indentured servitude in Pulsetown's fighting pits. Although Bartleby had heard of, and indeed witnessed, the gruesome spectacles of the gladiatorial arenas, he was nevertheless cajoled by Chk't-Szzak's promise of becoming 'complete'. True to her word, the mantid –who previously worked in Skein's coliseum, fashioning gearborg beasts to race for the ephemeral fancy of the city's technocrats- affixed a pair of exquisite, yet deadly mechanical arms to Bartleby's body. True to Chk't-Szzak's prediction, Bartleby quickly acclimated to his newfound limbs.

A few weeks later, Bartleby entered his first fight, a boxing match against a nectar-addled ghul. Despite being inebriated, the grave-spawn nearly killed the nascent gearborg in the opening round. Bartleby, however, managed to tumble, twist, and tire his opponent until a lucky jab knocked the halfman to the ground, where the ghul stayed, defeated more by his ichor-overdose than any blow from Bartleby.

The victory, regardless of its inglorious nature, attracted the notice of the Ludus. For a prodigious cut of Bartleby's winnings, the infamous gladiatorial stable provided him with pugilistic training and access to more lucrative prizefights. Drawing upon this instruction as well as his previous training as a circus performer, Bartleby developed a gladiatorial persona, an image he embraced and exploited. He affected the airs of a popinjay, dressing in finely tailored vests, polished leechkin-leather boots, cocked bowler, and a trademark ascot –a Skein-silk necktie he dipped in the blood of every vanquished foe. It was not long before Bartleby became known by such titles as the Ascot Killer, the Redlynch Rake, and the Bloodnoose Dandy.

Meanwhile, Chk't-Szzak continued to modify Bartleby's augmentations. A tessellating chassis was sutured to his chest, inuring him to minor blows. Later, after a rival pugilist–a five-armed, myrmex-wielding gholmuz—gouged out Bartleby's left eye, the mantid built the gearborg an optic prosthetic, complete with telescopic lenses and nictitating membranes. Not long after, a brutal pit-fight with a cestoid brawler left Bartleby with a shattered neck, paralyzed and in terrible pain. In response, Chk't-Szzak fashioned the man a replacement spine and serpentine neck of articulating, fully rotating disks of glyph-graven steel.

So reassembled, the Bloodnoose Dandy returned to the ring with a vengeance. He began taking lyssa, the frenzy-inducing drug created from hellmold and ghostgrass. In a much-anticipated rematch, he slaughtered the cestoid who previously paralyzed him, tearing off its hairy, multi-jointed limbs, and pulverizing its normally impervious carapace with his bronze-forged fists. The gholmuz he battled on the very walls of the Maggot City, a public spectacle arranged by the Ludus that ended with Bartleby hoisting the lilix above his head and flinging him over the Butcher's Gate, where the waiting Watchdog instinctively devoured the still-twitching humanoid.

Since then, Bartleby has nominally retired from the ring. He settled his debts with Chk't-Szzak, and has largely parted ways with the Ludus. The pain of past injuries still haunt him, however, as does his steepening addiction to lyssa-spliced cigars and his more recent fetish for aged gloomwine. The habitual use of said substances—beyond staining his sole iris a lurid red, tormenting him with chronic night-terrors, and doing nothing to improve his already irascible mood–have proven expensive, as has his maintained penchant for extravagant fashion, a private box at the Hollow Skull playhouse, and frequent patronage of the Velveteen Circus.

To pay for such peccadilloes, Bartleby occasionally takes on novice pugilists, training them even as he fixes fights to fatten his purse. Other times, the former prizefighter works as an enforcer and extortionist for some of the local thief-clans and rag-and-bones cartels. Yet, Bartleby finds such work beneath him, and dreams of escaping the tedium of debt and labor by marrying a woman of privilege, such as a scion of the Northern Baronies, a magistra of Skein, or the daughter of a merchant-prince of Crepuscle. Bereft of high birth or handsome features, Bartleby remains persistently stymied in his attempts to find, much less, woo such a would-be-bride. Still, Bartleby fancies himself a catch, and so spends his time reinforcing his reputation as a flaneur and rakehell.

Beyond his typical regalia of dapper attire, proprietary ascot, and mechanical augmentations, Bartleby is distinguished by his charcoal-hued neckbeard, Suckle-town cant, whir of clockwork viscera, and casual practice of smoking cigars between his toes.

[ooc=Bartleby "The Bloodnoose Dandy" Spragge]Graceful male human warrior 1 (mechanical augmentation)
XP: 3; Benefits Gained: skill (combat maneuver)
Grit: 2
Pools (Edge): Might 16 (1), Agility 17 (1), Intellect 7; Damage Track: Hale

Defenses: Agility (mastery without armor); AC: 1
Recovery Rolls: 1d6+1; Rolls Left: 4

Languages: Hextongue, Shambles
Lifestyle: affluent
Senses: sight-based perception (expertise)
Skills: balancing (mastery), careful movements (expertise), physical performing arts (expertise)

Weapons:

• Derringer (light ranged weapon)

• Unarmed Strike (light or medium bashing weapon)

Combat Maneuvers:  

• Bash (1 Might point): This attack inflicts 1 less point of damage than normal, but dazes his target for one round, during which time the difficulty of all tasks it performs is modified by one step to its detriment. Action.

• No Need for Weapons: Whenever Bartleby makes an unarmed attack (such as a punch), he can choose for it to count as a medium weapon instead of a light weapon. Enabler.

• Trained Without Armor: Bartleby have expertise in Agility defense actions when not wearing armor. Enabler.

Flaws:  

• Addict: Bartleby is addicted to lyssa. Bartleby can go a number of days equal to his Might Pool without taking lyssa. After that, he must make a Might defense roll (DC 3+1 per previous check) or lose 2 Might, Agility, and Intellect points per day until he takes the drug. Until then, or until he overcomes his addiction, he cannot recover points in his pools and shift down one step on the damage track.

• Foible: True to his pugilistic persona, Bartleby is a vain egotist that cannot abide insults to his honour, or at least its façade. He has a debility in tasks that require refusing challenges or maintaining composure when his honour is insulted.

• Graceful Pride: Bartleby take pride in his skill and style. Should he roll a 1 on any Agility task, he is dazed for one round due to shock and shame.

• Special Healing: Traditional healing skills, medicines, invocations, and techniques work only half as well for Bartleby. Each time Bartleby start at full health, the first 5 points of damage he takes can never be healed in these ways or recovered normally. Instead, he must use repairing skills and abilities to restore those points.

Items:

• Eldritch Oddities:  
  
  • The Lugent Pericard: Bartleby's most prized trophy, this sandstone-carved heart drips perfumed blood in a persistent, if glacially slow, trickle.

• Theurgic Devices:
  
  • Helltyke's Timepiece: An argent pocket-watch that Bartleby acquired in a game of Gallows Tree. If its three hands are set to a specific 'time', the pocketwatch conjures Lusrech, a level 1 imp with the body of a corpulent infant, chiropteran wings, and a monocled, simian face full of fangs.  Upon being summoned, Lusrech serves the watch's owner for an hour. After the imp's servitude is completed, the pocketwatch shatters. Action.
  • Lyssa-spliced cigar: Smoking this pungent cigar–a task that typically takes half an hour to an hour–subjects its owner to the effects of lyssa (see drugs).
  Mundane Possessions: Double-barreled derringer pistol (12 bullets), cedar-lined cigar case (2 Blue-Bottle tobacco cigars), gold-platted guillotine cutter, clothing (black-felt bowler, bleached-linen shirt, blood-stained ascot, embroidered waistcoat, leechkin-leather boots, manskin belt, sleeve garters, striped trousers), bag of light tools and repair parts, 50 obeloi

[/ooc]

[Rose-of-Vellum]

Tomorrow, I'll post a character sheet template and provide some background on how I created said character, to hopefully better illustrate the nuts and bolts of Penumbra character creation.

[LD]

You found a great picture there and did really good work with the lettering and the photoshopping!

He sounds like the Victorian Boxer version of Mr. Carver(!)

Very specific and tailor-made items there; very close to at least my understanding of Steerpike's original plans for CE. I recall he had us write up our own tailor-made names and effects for ordinary spells, re-skinning them for flavour purposes. Well done.

[Steerpike]

Thanks for posting up Bartleby!

Your knowledge of CE is pretty impressive.