Characters We Love

By Gypsye, in Anima: Beyond Fantasy RPG

Over the years I have found that I can tell a lot about a RPG by the characters players create. To that end, I am interested in hearing about some of your favorite characters. Thanks, Gypsye

Mimi Avondale is a mae up name for an orphan that disappeared from the muddy wastes of Eisen. This Seventh Sea player got pulled in to the thralls of Die Kreutzreuter , a group that protects the Heirophant (Roman Pope) with their lives. She was also sent an an ancillary assignment to protect a mysterious ruin for the signs of life that came from, or neared the ancient Holy site. Several years of monastic solitude brought her home to Numa (Rome) before being reassigned to Kirk (Netherlands) for more undercover work. She's a mysterious lady with alluring beauty who is known for her wit in scholarly pursuits as well as her ability with a whip and a pair of daggers.

She is widely misunderstood by her other party members as she goes missing for months at a time and returns with some great formulation of knowledge or ability and the munchkins in the group simply raise their combat stats. Mimi understands that she happens to be a pretty large plot foil and there's not a whole lot she can do about it. She thumbs her nose at the system on occasion and the repercussions haven't reached her yet. She has time to sort through those things.

The future looks bright in that she might be going "missing" again soon for another assignment away from her current party. They will begin to attract too much attention in the Objectionist (Protestant) Revolution. It's too frontal for someone in her position.

I can't tell you about my Anima PC without spoiling some small secrets of the world, and it will be hard to understand without having read the GM part of the corebook, but, if you're interested...

-------------------------Anima PLAYERS, BEWARE OF SPOILERS -------------------------------------------------

The solo game I'm running takes place in Americh, the City of Free Trade which lies at the boundaries between Kanon (Empire), Bellafonte (Azur Alliance) and Lucrecio (Independant). So it's an interesting place for political issues... and it's full of vilains, rogues, and weird people, with a light presence of Inquisition.

My player created an Illusionist, named Hod. He can't remember anything before his 15th birthday. When he started to remember, he was in Americh, lost and amnesic, so, a former priest called Father Francisco ("Cisco") took care of him. Hod had very awlful nightmares, he couldn't sleep, so Cisco learned him to use small quantities of Belladone to improve his sleep. One day, Cisco found out that Hod's nightmares were caused by a magical latent power, and gave Hod money to buy a strange book in a strange Antique dealer shop (a Dark Sun shop...), and Hod learn th bases of magic reading it (Cisco doesn't have the Gift so he couldn't teach magic). He founds he has a special link with Air, that's why he choosed Hod as a name (Hod is the Air principle in Kabbalah, and Anima magic is based on some Kabbalah things). Hod grew up, and leaved Cisco's house to live by himself, but his addiction to Belladone needed a lot of money, so he began to work as a mercenary. He is a weird young man, with his strange magic habilities, his drug issue and his nightmares... He still wants to find out what's hiding behind his nightmares and his lost memory... One day, during a mission, he met Seel (Nephilim D'Anjayni Mentalist, my NPC), a strange man with huge telepathic skills. Even Seel couldn't see what happened to Hod before his memory lost (he only got an horrible headache^^), but they became friends.
(Hod : level 1 Illusionist Air 40 Illusion 10, Addict to Belladone, Witchcraft=needs material focus to cast spells, No need to speak to cast spells, Innate knowledge Air)

At the moment, Seel and Hod are working on a trader's wife abduction. But it seems that she wasn't abducted, but flee away from her husband she saw reading an esoteric book... This book was for one of his clients, a rich occultist, and her husband was forced to work for Dark Sun because of Lord Verreim, a strange man he met at his Bridge club, which is more than a card game club... So, I can't explain everything, my plot is intricate... Everything is about Dark Sun, and the political issues between Empire, Azur Alliance and Lucrecio. I try to make Americh look like London in Victorian Ages, like in movies as From Hell or Sweeney Todd.

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The two favourite RPG characters i've made must be:

The Pink Invisible Unicorn (or just Pink for short)

A Changeling: The Lost character for a rather.. silly-ish campaign that ran at my local gaming club last year, it was madness. A cheerleader taken to be part of a god-beast collection, who then escaped back to Auberdeen (where the campaign was held) and then quickly became the fangirl of one of the other PCs.

Spring Court to say the least, the concept involved her spraying her (already pink) hair pink so that it woud be seen by regular peaople who only see the Mask as well as other Changelings, the aforementioned fangirling and trying to get into that characters "harem", and of course, the ability to become invisible at will. Oh and she worked as a stripper, that's how she harvested Glamour. She was extremely incompetent, stupid as hell, and i believe the funniest thing i ever had that character say was: "I AM the Pink Invisible Unicorn, *****!" to an actual unicorn accusing her of pretending... cue combat.

Was finally killed after having her emotions screwed to suicidal by her crush's lover.

And my current character in this years HERO System campiagn in the Champions setting, the super hero known as...

Trope-Tan

A collage student who spends to much time on the internet (read TvTropes.org) as much as days at a time, while browsing spills cola in her keyboard and absentmindedly tries to wipe it off, an electroshock later she has the power to apply Tropes to real life(go see tvtropes.org for yourself if you don't know the term) and does so frequently, he even has to if someone mentions the wrong things (like if you go "atleast it can't get any worse" she'll trigger her powers and make it get worse, then realise she's done it) a character that is almost as hillarious to play as Pink, maybe even moreso when i get to do more of it.

I made a character that does everything!!!!

Versatility/Jack of All trades/Psychic/Gift

His name is Froggy, and despite all odds, he was the most OP character in the group. On creation, had no backstory or plan for him, but when he met the party the first thing he said became his trademark.

"Let me help you with that."

Froggy, the man who will help anyone with anything for no reward. Need a towel, Froggy hands you one (he stocked up). Need a meatshield? Froggy stands in front of you and is pincushioned with arrows, screaming in pain and shouting at the top of his lungs, "I'm helping!!!!"

In the campaign at the end of the GM book, Froggy ran up to the attackers and chucked them off the ship (because another PC asked him to). He worked in the inn, and single-handedly DESTROYED the Night Attack. When another PC was caught robbing the General Store, Froggy did the manual labor decreed as punishment.

Outside of RP, the group has a saying when someone does something impressive, but for no discernable reason.

"Froggy: He does whatever he wants. . .because he CAN." We think his dying words would be, "I helped. . ."

I made a character that does everything!!!!

Versatility/Jack of All trades/Psychic/Gift

His name is Froggy, and despite all odds, he was the most OP character in the group. On creation, had no backstory or plan for him, but when he met the party the first thing he said became his trademark.

"Let me help you with that."

Froggy, the man who will help anyone with anything for no reward. Need a towel, Froggy hands you one (he stocked up). Need a meatshield? Froggy stands in front of you and is pincushioned with arrows, screaming in pain and shouting at the top of his lungs, "I'm helping!!!!"

In the campaign at the end of the GM book, Froggy ran up to the attackers and chucked them off the ship (because another PC asked him to). He worked in the inn, and single-handedly DESTROYED the Night Attack. When another PC was caught robbing the General Store, Froggy did the manual labor decreed as punishment.

Outside of RP, the group has a saying when someone does something impressive, but for no discernable reason.

"Froggy: He does whatever he wants. . .because he CAN." We think his dying words would be, "I helped. . ."

Could you please post his stats when he was first made, and what they are now? You mentioned he took a bit of everything, and was still OP. I have someone who wants to try and do this, but they aren't sure how to do so without being useless. Normally I would tell them to sacrifice something if they want to be viable, but since you seem to have done it somehow, I was wondering how you did, so I don't have to screw over a player's character concept?

It was more accidental than on purpose. . .I didn't like my rolls so I took the weaker gift and the single psychic discipline to load up on two point disadvantages, in order to get two characteristics to 9. They were 2 and 3.

Starting Stats: (rolled using the method with two dice)

AGI: 10

CON: 9

DEX: 10

STR: 7

INT: 7

POW: 9

WP: 9

ADV: One Psychic Discipline 1

--Incomplete Gift (or however it's called) 1

--Characteristic to 9 (taken twice) 2x2

--Jack of all trades 2

--Versatility 1

DIS:

--Magic Blockage 2

--Shaman 2

-- Psychic Consumption 2

. . .The disadvantages are heavy, so using magic is VERY hard (you need IC 'batteries' -and- you need to find/craft the right focal items -and- you need to do POW checks), and if you fail a psychic check you'll prolly die. . .plus side? He can do everything and his stats are good. He started as a shadow, but I shifted his class every level. Over time he'll be less powerful, but make up for it with superior adaptability. We didn't go farther than the opening campaign, so I can't vouch for higher levels. If you want a powerhouse who will dominate at higher levels, this prolly won't work.

Hope it helps, and if it didn't, sorry I got your hopes up.

It was more accidental than on purpose. . .I didn't like my rolls so I took the weaker gift and the single psychic discipline to load up on two point disadvantages, in order to get two characteristics to 9. They were 2 and 3.

Starting Stats: (rolled using the method with two dice)

AGI: 10

CON: 9

DEX: 10

STR: 7

INT: 7

POW: 9

WP: 9

ADV: One Psychic Discipline 1

--Incomplete Gift (or however it's called) 1

--Characteristic to 9 (taken twice) 2x2

--Jack of all trades 2

--Versatility 1

DIS:

--Magic Blockage 2

--Shaman 2

-- Psychic Consumption 2

. . .The disadvantages are heavy, so using magic is VERY hard (you need IC 'batteries' -and- you need to find/craft the right focal items -and- you need to do POW checks), and if you fail a psychic check you'll prolly die. . .plus side? He can do everything and his stats are good. He started as a shadow, but I shifted his class every level. Over time he'll be less powerful, but make up for it with superior adaptability. We didn't go farther than the opening campaign, so I can't vouch for higher levels. If you want a powerhouse who will dominate at higher levels, this prolly won't work.

Hope it helps, and if it didn't, sorry I got your hopes up.

Well, first off, thank you for taking the time to reply. at the very least, it gives me a place to start. After all, had you gotten better rolls, Froggy wouldn't have needed those disadvantages. If the dice were kinder who knows what he could have done!

Although, may ask, what were his stats in attack/defense, magic projection, and psychic projection?

Attack/defense were both maxed at creation, but later I moved toward loading dodge. Magic and Psychic were 50, but I think taking the Mods for both would save you in the long run. That way you'd only have to worry about Attack/Dodge.

I'd suggest having uneven Attack and Defense, using the points saved to buy the Mods every other level, that way you grow into it. It will mean your Magic/Psychic powers will be even harder at low levels, but much more stable at higher levels.

Maybe start with a Warrior Mentalist, taking the Psychic Projection Mod, getting your PP and an innate slot for a Shield. Means good Physical and Psychic first level, which will buffer you so that you can play around with DP more freely at later levels. There are two different Magic projection mods, which makes the cost for them higher, but if you take them you only have to raise Attack and Defense from then on to power Magic/Psychic/Physical combat.

Edited by SIlkentoes

Attack/defense were both maxed at creation, but later I moved toward loading dodge. Magic and Psychic were 50, but I think taking the Mods for both would save you in the long run. That way you'd only have to worry about Attack/Dodge.

I'd suggest having uneven Attack and Defense, using the points saved to buy the Mods every other level, that way you grow into it. It will mean your Magic/Psychic powers will be even harder at low levels, but much more stable at higher levels.

Maybe start with a Warrior Mentalist, taking the Psychic Projection Mod, getting your PP and an innate slot for a Shield. Means good Physical and Psychic first level, which will buffer you so that you can play around with DP more freely at later levels. There are two different Magic projection mods, which makes the cost for them higher, but if you take them you only have to raise Attack and Defense from then on to power Magic/Psychic/Physical combat.

Thanks for the advice man! I'll be sure to pass it along to them.

I have another question about the mods though. For example, the magic projection ones. If I only level up attack and defense, does that mean I can't use certain spells that are non combat spells? or would I just use the attack for any active spells, and the defense for any passive spells?

Edited by lollypopalopicus

I think the Mods would mean (out of combat) MP as Attack is for spells used on others, MP as Defense is for those used on yourself. Don't know if the books ever specify, though. I'd say discuss with your GM to find something that works.

You might only need one, if you only plan to use magic out of combat. Then again, you'd have to use magic very sparingly, given that you wouldn't recharge (if you took magic blockage) unless you had another magic user who had enough MA to share (or some other type of batteries)

Edited by SIlkentoes

Projection as attack module covers all active spells, while projection as defense covers all passive and defensive spells. Personally my group also has them as 50DP each to keep in line with the cost for psychic module but that's just a homeruling that's worked well for our group, results would vary from group to group on that front.

As for characters, probably my favorite character to date was a warlock/technician that I had called Vladimir. He was a half Devah (just used the nephilim stats for him) who lost an arm to a magic accident before he learned to wield it properly, and due to the chaotic nature of the magic involved he couldn't get it restored through magic. Started as a warlock that used creation, essence and blood magic along with a couple of other spells to be a combat medic. By level 6 he was able to cast once per turn a heal spell powerful enough to fully heal anyone in our group to full health without spending zeon (couldn't cast any other spell that turn though), and could do pseudo resurrection by recreating or repairing a body with creation and putting the soul back in with essence. After level 6 went on to change to technician and started learning a technique tree that I created (called the Red Cross, it's in the technique tree thread on these forums if anyone would like to take a look). Also ended up being quite high in Elan with Mikael as well, think I hit about 70/80.

As for story progression I went from someone being trained in an academy, to becoming a knight errant and taking on the surname of Victoria (was an orphan) and going on to become one of the pillars of his kingdoms forces before falling to an invading enemy. Probably my favorite moment though occurred just as he was about to be cut down he took knee knowing they couldn't beat them and basically passed the torch on to the next generation so to speak (which we are now play playing as). For that sacrifice for the next generation Mikael made the defensive spells I had active permanent and reinforced them (this is set far in the past so the Beryls are a lot more active in the world) and blessed the sword that he wielded. The statue is still in the same spot in the former throne room waiting for some with high enough Elan to come and wield the sword again.

I'm now playing the daughter that he created with creation magic (was a high power game so we ended up being able to access high magic), somewhat of a goo creature but that has a solid skeleton underneath it to hold a shape around. Not long ago we came back to the throne room and saw what became of Vlad there, needless to say our characters were somewhat awestruck by it.

At any rate that's been my favorite so far though I've also played a warrior mentalist that ended up bound to a new born Ciel dragon, losing his voice in the binding, who wielded a rapier and electromagnetism psychic powers and serves as part of the Tol'Rouko. They've since gone on to become an NPC in the world that we use for our Anima games so gonna be fun if any of our characters meet them in game.

I am Sorry to see this lady take a back seat. However we have slit the party after gaining too many players. I have started a new level 1 with the newer group so she takes a back seat.

Helena Georgina Wells.

The daughter of a Lucario clockmaker Helena had neither the patience or temperament to take up the family trade. Helena spent most of her youth brawling in street gangs and getting into trouble. However as a middle class member of society certain things were expected of her things she avoided tooth and nail.

Then the night that changed her life happened, the local society every year had a débutante ball and starting to learn responsibility Helena would be "introduced to society". When getting ready she donned her mothers antique necklace for the first and final time. as the clasp closed the shadows around her solidified into a set of armour covering her from head to toe. unable to remove it and in fear of the safety of her family Helena left that night to find answers and avoid the inquisition.

she journeyed for years to discover the truth of the armour over time discovering how to control it. acquiring a great hammer she named the pendulum and eventually coming across a group who needed her protection. They eventually got recruited by the wisenshaft.

she is now a level 7 paladin/technician with part of the following technique tree.

http://community.fantasyflightgames.com/index.php?/topic/54753-new-techniques/page-14#entry1420780

Goswen Duvaineth lvl 10 acrobatic warrior/assassin hybrid (Sylvain Nephilim)

Goswen remembers very little of her home except for flames and destruction as well as the warriors who rescued her. The warriors of the Morhel clan became her new family and offered to give her a place within their ranks once she came of age. She dedicated herself completely to her training and was happy until around the age of 11 she began suffering from terrible nightmares of death and destruction (The War of God). The other children began shunning her because the way she would often scream and wail in her sleep disturbed them and thus to the horror of her mentors she grew cold and distant; only interacting with those who could further her training. None of the clan elders were able to determine the cause of her dreams and so she grew worried that these dreams were visions of her future and devoted herself to her training until it became an obsession. This continued until she was 16 years old when a the clan offered to make her a full member of the clan and bestowed upon her the clan mark known as Empathy's Tear. Empathy's Tear was an artifact that allowed all members of her clan to feel and manipulate the emotions of those around her for the purpose of bringing balance to the world. However before she could be properly trained to use this artifact without being consumed by the emotions around her a local warlord under orders from a slaver sought her clans extermination. She remembers very little of the battle due to the fact that the overwhelming hatred around her consumed her turning her into a mindless savage. She later regained consciousness in the woods with a few other children from her clan and learned that while they had escaped the warlords forces they had a much greater danger pursuing them. The Warlord realizing his failure had contracted the Selene to finish the job.

Over the course of the campaign she joined forces with a young queen who was trying to reclaim her home from a dragon as well as a pickpocket that was dying of a severe illness. And along the way everything she believed in was shattered when she found evidence that her clan might have been hiding dark secrets and using her. In addition an agent of the Selene got a hold of her and thoroughly changed her views on morality as they sought to unravel the schemes of the slave trader Rinx (lvl ? Mentalist) who sought to destroy both the Morhels and the Selene.

Now Goswen is fully devoted to hunting slavers wherever they hide and does so as an agent of the Selene. She had demon powers infused in her bones after being sold to Rinx's slavers as bait, and through chance discovered that her mark when touched by those bearing the souls of the ancient races can perceive so much more than emotions. Depending on what race touches her mark she can perceive nature, shadow, fire, false personas and the way peoples fates are intertwined. And so far she has only tried this with Ebudan, Daimah, Vetala and Duk'Zarists.

Overall she is my favorite character to play as due to her mark's abilities she has a very complex personality. promiscuous yet timid, Impulsive yet cautious, bloodthirsty yet compassionate, confident yet easily embarrassed, quick to help others with their love lives yet completely unable to figure her own out. She spends so much time analyzing other peoples feelings that she often neglects her own.

Edited by Nathaniel Cain
I have not played that many campaigns of Anima, but my favorite so far has been my first, a level 14 mage with mastery in darkness/umbra and fire/time.


Bhial Khane. Last surviving member of the line of Khane, he had watched his family raped and tortured by members of the Inquisition that were hunting for the akawened mage in the village, Bhial. Through the course of the camp my character and the party we went against a group of beings trying to resurect a fallen god, and a summoner trying to become a god. Also curupt section of the Inquisition. Also my character successfuly harnessed the essense of a demon to increase his own abilities via an artifact. Though an encounter with an unstable hybrid elemental took my characters left hand, I was able to get a replacement made from Ghestal wood.

By the end of the camp we had killed the god, the wanabe, and the Inquisitors. Also my character married a Duk'Zarist princess.