I have been thinking of a custom investigator, though I haven't played enough times to be certain a design will work.

Occupation: Belly Dancer

Sanity: 7

Stamina: 3

Special: Seduction - at when she begins Combat, she can try to "seduce" another investigator into taking her Stamina loss. If a male investigator who wants to resist can roll a Luck(-2) check, a female investigator a Luck(-1).

Common Items: Physical Weapon - Scimitar 1H if used with magical Zils, 2H otherwise otherwise like Ancient Spear, Veils of Illusion (+1 to Sneak)

Unique Item: Magical Weapon Zils of Medusa 1H (freezes monsters +2 Combat, +2 Lore )

I think she'd be very high in Sneak, Will, and Lore

My thought is that she might be fun to play - although she's not a great fighter, if she successfully seduces another investigator (who does not need to be at the same location) into taking the fall for her, then she might be pretty tough to kill. The idea of conning some other character into taking damage for you intrigues me.

Comments?

Mike

Maybe you should try Strange Eons.It's very easy to use and allows you to make lots of custom content for the game

Yes Strange Eons is quite awesome. The abilites seem fairly interesting and I like the idea of making a destinction between male and female characters for the ability. A 7/3 split on sanity and stamina is a little severe. I think you should put it down to 6/4 as most 7/3 characters are hampered by there stats as opposed to helped.

Also just a side note. There is a wonderful thread for custom characters and most of the people who frequent it will love to help you if you post this in there.

Mike: Occupation: Belly Dancer,Sanity: 7 Stamina: 3

Mike: Special: Seduction - at when she begins Combat, she can try to "seduce" another investigator into taking her Stamina loss. If a male investigator who wants to resist can roll a Luck(-2) check, a female investigator a Luck(-1).

So she picks some hapless male, probably a spell caster who's down on his luck. I guess if Doc Vincent were in play there's be a nice combo. Otherwise, over all a neutral skill, ie, sum zero skill for the team.

Mike: Common Items: Physical Weapon - Scimitar 1H if used with magical Zils, 2H otherwise otherwise like Ancient Spear, Veils of Illusion (+1 to Sneak) Unique Item: Magical Weapon Zils of Medusa 1H (freezes monsters +2 Combat, +2 Lore ) I think she'd be very high in Sneak, Will, and Lore

Isn't Lore really knowledge of the Mythos? I suppose a half naked female could reasonably sneak by alien monsters. Not all monsters in the game are alien however.

Mike: My thought is that she might be fun to play - although she's not a great fighter, if she successfully seduces another investigator (who does not need to be at the same location) into taking the fall for her, then she might be pretty tough to kill. The idea of conning some other character into taking damage for you intrigues me.

For being not a fighter, you give her two weapons if I'm reading it right. Overall, it sounds a little like you're not really picking up the cooperative nature of the game, though I think in the actual game the seduction skill would probably end of being more mutual than your last thoughts indicate (though apparently it doesn't have to be). Also, while lots of skills are like this (Leo), her ability to seduce another investigator while she's in an Other World strains my ability to suspend my disbelief.

It's interesting that her power takes effect BEFORE she knows the extent of her damage. So another investigator could fall unconscious out of the blue.

And the other posters are correct. Get ye to Strange Eons.

MrsGamura said:

I fail to understand how is this ability useful. It's the same as a regular Horror check, except that some items add to horror checks but no items add to will check but not to horror check. As it is now, this ability has no use what so ever.

edit: ah, it's combat check. guess it's alright then, but a bit overpowered against monsters like the Dunwich Horror...

True she will be good at killing the Big D, "she will belly dance it into submission" ...not to mention most spawn monster...I placed Crescent because there suppose to be from Earth though some times it won't make thematic sense but most of the time it will...Maniacs, Cultist, Vampires and Abhoth's babies

Makeup Kit is one of those Items that adds to WIll but not Horror

[mageith]:For being not a fighter, you give her two weapons if I'm reading it right.

I was trying to give her relatively weak weapons that were in themselves somewhat symbiotic - I may not have the stats correct. The particular weapons also fit her character. When I said I didn't want to make her a fighter, I meant that I didn't want to make her a bruiser high stamina and a Tommy Gun - I wanted to create a character who did relatively little damage, but who might be pretty tough to kill based on her "Seduction" ability.

[mageith]: Overall, it sounds a little like you're not really picking up the cooperative nature of the game, though I think in the actual game the seduction skill would probably end of being more mutual than your last thoughts indicate (though apparently it doesn't have to be).

The intention is that it would likely be used mostly cooperatively. I had thought of allowing any character to refuse to be seduced to emphasize the cooperative nature. The I thought that the potential for an "uncooperative" seduction would be intruiguing.

Part of the strategy might be to keep on character in/near the hospital - that character "absorbs" the Stamina damage of the Belly Dancer, which might make her pretty powerful. I was thinking along some kind of symbiosis between characters.

[mageith]: It's interesting that her power takes effect BEFORE she knows the extent of her damage. So another investigator could fall unconscious out of the blue.

Yes - that was part of the intent. She's a manipulative character. The gamble for the person (or really for the team) doesn't know in advance what they are signing up for. Part of seducing/or being seduced, I think is not knowing the cost in advance.

[mageith]: Isn't Lore really knowledge of the Mythos? I suppose a half naked female could reasonably sneak by alien monsters.

I had really though of her as a "hard luck" character who had listened to enough drunks telling stories to deduce something about what's really going on in Arkham. I was thinking that since Whiskey restores santiy in the game, a number of people who have had bad encounters withsomething dark in Arkham would have drunk whiskey and looked for a sympathetic ear.

Some of the aspects of this characters draw on the experiences of dancers I knew in my dissolute youth. I had a number of freinds who were dancers and they heard some pretty strange stuff from guys who were buying them drinks, and a number of them had pretty hard luck lives.

I had just been contacted by a friend from that era of my life - extremely bright, a little hard luck, and pretty manipulative (by the way I don't mean that as a value judgement - that's just the way she was). She was on of my favorite people (decades ago) - very dark, very strong, and very trustworthy within her limitations.

I wondered what would happen if she were plopped down in Arkham. She certainly would be a powerful ally in a dark place. I cast her as a Belly Dancer instead of a stripper because a Little Egypt kind of a character seemed more in keeping with mood of the game.

[mageith]:And the other posters are correct. Get ye to Strange Eons.

I have a copy of Strange Eons, bit I was trying to understand - from more experienced players - how the introduction of a parasitic/symbiotic investigator would play.

When I looked at Strange Eons, it looked like a nice way to generate the Investigator card, but the harder part of a good character design appears to me to be understanding the impact of the character on game play. I don't have enough playing experience to understand that, that's why I labeled the thread "from a Newbie".

I also don' t have enough play time to be able to understand how a character changes the game - right now the limitations of a character I play are probably more bounded by my understanding of the game than by the character's powers.

I was looking for some of the kind of analysis you provided.

Thanks,

Mike