Ultima

Kek, sounds like some serious trolling!

Atma immediately freezes, not uttering a word the moment Dijon's bony fingers cover his mouth, immediately understanding where he is coming from. When Mandy began an attempt to assuage the family's fear, trying to dissolve the fear over Dijon's appearance, he thought about opening his mouth to chime in with Mandy, almost feeling the urge to try and match her energy. Still, he thought better of it, not wanting to make it worse for Dijon, and choosing to restrain himself to at least wait to see if Mandy can clear the air on the enigmatic skeletal soldier.

When you finish, check out Wasteland 3 and Rogue Trader if you're thirsty for more combat that's similar to Xcom.

What class and path are you playing?

Pleased to see Bogdan reunited with his mother, Atma wears a pleased grin. He didn't dwell on it for long though as he began scanning those present for anything of interest. Scanning the crowd, he found himself disinterested, and wary at worse. Priest class types were often annoying to the young inventor. Templars and hunters were one thing, as slaying demons, undead, and other evils is an easy topic to bond over, but idle eyes and idle hands make for paranoid ones, and Atma didn't like being under scrutiny, so when he spotted the skeleton watching everyone from a decent cover, garbed in modern fatigues with a shotgun, Atma's interest was piqued. Unperturbed by Dijon's ghastly appearance, Atma approached him with a friendly wave. Do I spy another connoisseur of firearms? A shotgun? What model is that?! Atma respected Dijon's personal space but was as close as one could get while trying to take a peek at his firearm.

Listening to the philosophical conversation, Atma felt inclined to chime in, and opened his mouth for a moment to offer his perspective, but refrained as he didn't want to broach the topic of Priela's or his heritage by showing how he once yearned for a human's childhood. The others may have not picked up on it, but he knew that look in her eye as she briefly paused at the fae's ichor. The thought of it caused him to rub the tip of his tongue on one of his incisors, albeit keeping his mouth closed to not look like a complete weirdo. As the brief hint of lust dissipated, Data picked up on his master's wariness, choosing to chime in for him. The cogent voice of the AI was carried by the surprisingly effective speaker module. While I understand the importance of such moral quandaries, I do recommend we pick up the pace. You are all still getting to know each other, and thus will have some growing pains before you're an effective team, and it would be most unfortunate should one of these growing pains be if something tragic should happen to the child.

Going to go ahead and pass for the next scene. I don't think Atma has any useful input now.

Lol, yeah, apologies! 😅 Thanks, but the length of the post wasn't it. More like trying to titrate ADHD meds can make you forget things exist because of hyperfixation & hyperfocus combo. No worries, I'll be more consistent in the future as my cognition is getting used to it. I just went to check my languages and realized I hadn't listed them. If ice9004 is okay with it, I'll add Romanian now.

Upon the revelation that the creature was a nuglub demon, Atma stood back up and gave a disappointed sigh. So Nuglubs take pleasure in setting up little attacks like these. Waiting in the shadows was typical Nuglub behavior they usually do this...alone? Atma realized he had got lost in thoughts, whilst his comrades were interrogating the child. Realizing Mandy had gone to scout and Lastolva following afterward, he stepped towards Bogdan, picking up on the need to console the child. He slung Morningstar across his back, letting the gun rest on his traps. He then kneeled to be eye level with him, placing a hand on the boy's head, and rubbing his head affectionately. Don't worry, Mihaly knows all there is to know. You can trust him! Atma then gave him a reassuring smile. OOC: Apologies for disappearing, I'm titrating new ADHD meds. Rolling deception to try and reassure the kid he can trust Mihaly? Deception

The moment the creature gave a death wail, Atma's eyes fell on Lastolva with a slightly disturbing grin that would have made most people uncomfortable if they were in the woods at night and began walking towards him when the terminally responsible Data interrupted his ironically chaotic master once again with a jovial tone with his usually subdued snark. I have an idea! Let's try analyzing the three-eyed creature. The shape-shifting bovine android who doesn't feel confined at all because he isn't confined to a gun isn't going anywhere. Atma stopped for a brief moment, now focusing his attention on the creature. Of course, you read my mind! Let's take a look... Atma stepped before the creature and began examining it for any signs of intelligent design. Considering Lady Priela's no doubt illustrious career, her not knowing immediately what this creature is, along with its rudimentary or perhaps nascent potential?... Ah, I bet someone made you. Are you a prototype? Or a refined tool for a specific purpose? Are you part of an experiment? Are we variables in this experiment? I'd wager the former, we're probably being watched if this is indeed an experiment. I may need to examine multiple specimens to know what the creator's signature might be, or maybe I'll get lucky and it's a signature I've seen before. In the meantime, anything that doesn't look like a product of "Mr. Literally Holier than Thou" is probably what I'm looking for... Arcana Occultism Society

As Lastolva takes on the offensive and transforms, Atma moans in excitement, seemingly completely forgetting they are in a life-or-death situation. OH MY GOODNESS!!! DID YOU GUYS SEE THAT?! THAT'S SO COOL! Atma then began staring off in a random direction, as he turned to his introspection but verbalized it. Is he a cyborg? Would be interesting to have a colleague. I wonder if he was able to find a solution to glial cell build-up. Or what if he's not a cyborg and an AI?! Is he as smart as Da- Atma froze still for a moment as an electric impulse surged through his rifle, electrocuting him. Monster, Child, allies in danger. FOCUS! Atma's eyes began to glow a brilliant gold as his talking rifle began to hum with energy. The hum turned into a powerful drone as the barrel began to cackle with divine energy. A brilliant light briefly shone, and the air screamed as the Morningstar unleashed a bullet propelled by Atma's technical ingenuity at the attacking monster. Overdrive Morningstar Attack Damage

Sounds good.

Upon seeing the scene, Atma maintains ten feet behind Mandy watching for anything odd, his trigger finger poised as his right hand supports the barrel of Morningstar. He wore a friendly smile, not wanting to scare a child, but in truth, he was poised to aim and blow away the child and the cat's corpse should anything seem off. There were no quips from Atma's assistant, you could cut the tension with a knife. Perception

Apologies, posting now.

Yes, it's that good. This is easily the best Final Fantasy game in decades. They wanted to make a game worthy of Square's legacy, so they pulled it off. I'm halfway through the game, and it's blown me away. There's so much content in this game. It makes Remake look like a tech demo, and is reminiscent of KH1 to KH2 in how much they refined the combat. I've shed tears a few times, I've laughed out loud, and I've been grinning ear to ear with each encounter. This is probably going to get game of the year if there's not another surprise upset like Baldur's Gate 3.

Atma had been happy to just shadow Priela and Mihaly. It was the most logical tactic, as the odds of a child alone in these woods crying not being a deception were low but as Mandy wanted to rush forward, the young inventor quirked his head as he assessed the situation. What if Mandy is right, and they're risking a child's life? It was a nonzero possibility that there was indeed a child in danger. So Atma walked up to get within earshot of Priel and Mihaly, and quickly whispered his thought process. Mandy's heart isn't going to afford her the pragmatism needed to assess the situation. So this is what we can do. I'll proceed along with Mandy, and if it is an ambush, I'll have her back since I'm fully expecting that to be the case. If so, then you guys will be our counter-ambush pincer attack, while Mandy and I are the decoys. If possible, I'd like to interrogate whomever or whatever may be responsible for orchestrating our demise... Atma then kicked up his pace and caught up with Mandy. You're right, Mandy! We can't take the risk of some child alone with a nightmare in the black! It is our duty to rescue the child, we have no luxury of caution and skulking about in the night! TO ARMS! Atma then grabs Data's module, re-installing it into Morningstar before beginning to run at pace with Mandy toward the origin of the crying child. Why are you and the pop star breaking off from your wiser colleagues in the middle of the night? Data then hears the crying and makes an audible sigh. I'd provide you the statistical possibility of this not being a trap, but since you're so determined to end up dead, I'll leave you to it. Atma groans in annoyance. Oh, ye of little faith...

My bad, forgot reality existed for a moment because of FFVII Rebirth, posting now 😅

As Priela questioned him on the patrol relief, Atma blushed with embarrassment. He didn't want to tell her he got distracted tinkering to get his rifle to function as a light source and had no clue where the others were. Being raised with one foot in vampire society, Atma had never met a vampire anywhere near his age, let alone a dhampir, and so he assumed body language like a scolded child, rubbing the back of his head while shifting on one foot to the other. We...split up! Yes, yes. The others received a call and had to double back to camp. With my skills, they figured I'd be fine rendezvousing with you guys! As Velvet greeted him, Atma gave her a respectful nod, silently grateful she chimed in, giving him a chance to change the subject. Likewise! Data is going be out of commission for the moment because...well he's in a bit of a mood, but I'm sure he'll be happy to chat with you later! As Priela commented on their Yankee disposition, Atma swallowed a lump in his throat knowing full well that, in that regard, he was as American as one could be. Before he could think up an appropriate response, the cries of the alleged child were his saving grace. Did you hear that?! No time to lose! We've got to check on that child! Atma then began to step in that direction, but not advancing on his own, gesturing with his thumb to try and convince the group to take action. He was a goofball, but even he wasn't going to run into the darkness of these woods with reckless abandon alone. Atma then looked off in no apparent direction as a thought came to mind. Wait a minute, if the patrol left me behind to rendezvous with my current comrades, where are they?

As the last rays of sunlight graced the team, an obnoxiously bright artificial light began beaming at them. It grew closer and closer before only being a dozen feet from the group of slayers. Hello Everyone! Not to worry with my Morningstar, I'll be able to light- The light began to flicker, making the beam ever more obnoxious. As the light flickered, Atma's sunny but embrassed smile came into view for anyone not looking directly at the light, as well as the weapon he was referring to. An impressive ornate rifle with a divine motif. Silver with hints of gold, the weapon was nearly as tall as he was. ...just...a moment... Atma began tinkering with the rifle to stabilize the beam, before it shorted out altogether. The rifle then did something that was even more obnoxious, it spoke. As I've explained repeatedly to you, relying on your immature abilities for anything beyond the primary function of Morningstar was a bad idea. Data! Not in front of my comrades, you're gonna make me look like I don't know what I'm doing! You don't. If you did, you'd have thought about the ramifications of not having a supplementary power source, and now I have to go to sleep for perhaps thousands of years because you're going to all be killed by a thousand-year-old- Snip. Placing a component into his pocket, Atma wiped a few beads of sweat from his brow. Oh, look at that, Data is malfunctioning, saying crazy things... SO! How was the trek, guys? Did you manage to spot any creepy crawlies?

1. I'm up for it all. Be as graphic as you want! 2. I'm with Rory, would like a decent balance between combat and exploration. Atma is one heck of a skill monkey, I'd like some excuses to use them. 3. Hrmm, I echo Rory's thoughts here as well. I'd like to see each of our backgrounds being utilized.

I've still got some details to finish first thing tomorrow, but the sheet is just about finished.

I'm glad you liked it! Apologies for making it so long. 😅 I can adjust his background per your recommendations! I used . It includes an option to export the statblock. I see now that unfortunately, it's missing details. I'll be happy to recreate his sheet via mythweavers proper. I based the Morningstar on your heavy combat rifle homebrew, but yeah, the general gist is heading towards it eventually dealing energy damage. An eventually transforming railgun is perfect!

Name: Atma DuValle Alignment: Chaotic Good Age: 20 Worldview: Optimistic Transhumanism and Accelerationism Appearance Atma is a dashing young man standing at six feet with a lithe, athletic build. Garbed in a gilded suit and a tailcoated blazer, those who know what they're looking for would assume he's a dhampir at first glance, but there's something off. He has ghostly pale skin and elongated incisors, but there was no deathly pallor. Instead, Atma seems almost to radiate positive energy. His eyes are bright gold hue that you can spot in the darkness of night. His jet-black hair shimmers gold when cast in bright light, tied in a waist-length ponytail. The young inventor seems positively angelic, in contrast to his disposition to secular rationalism. Personality Atma is gregarious, diplomatic, and exceedingly optimistic, but at times naive and a little pretentious. He is an intuitive man who is always thinking about the future, and countless possibilities. He is typically objective almost to a fault, and quite pragmatic. A visionary, he is driven to do nearly anything to achieve his goals. Despite this, he often isn't a man that deals with short-term plans. He is much more adept at adapting to new situations, turning things in his favor with the power of words, and will use a silver tongue to turn any situation in his favor he can. As a consequence, Atma can be an agent of chaos. He is often so convinced that what he's doing is the right thing, he can be spontaneous and mercurial. Background: The Test DuValle Industries has become a household name! The young genius inventor, creating an empire atop chip fabrication, space industrialization, and conspiracy theories of AI has had his reputation marred after promising a paradigm shift in what it means to be human has ended in tragedy with dozens of victims suffering grievous injuries, some fatal- snikt! The panel of a television spanning the width of one side of a penthouse apartment turned off, turning from opaque to transparent revealing the Chicago downtown shore, overlooking Lake Michigan. None other than the young DuValle sighed in frustration. He stood up from his lounge and stepped over crossing to the other side of his apartment, which was a fully kitted-out lab of an engineer. He stepped before his workshop table. "Data, let's start another test using the corrected formulae from the previous iteration." A reflective, metallic orb housed halfway through the center of the ceiling of the penthouse activated, began to spin towards the workshop table, and projected an incredibly lifelike simulation of Data from Star Trek: TNG. Data looked at Atma, offering him a diplomatic smile. "Of course!" Data looked at the table, whose top was partitioned into four halves, one partition continued to descend before revealing a floor that was a whirl of manufacturing machinery, a massive 3D printer was built into the floor which then produced a device perched atop a pedestal. The device was a three-dimensional, five-point star with a synthesized crystal sphere that was covered in laser-precision-crafted runes. At the base of the table before Atma, a smaller rectangular partition rose, revealing a port for his hand, which he stuck through. His eyes began to shine gold as he channeled his power into the device. The crystal began to flicker as golden electricity began to cackle and surge across each point of the star enclosure. Atma stared at the core, his brow furrowing, he grunted as he began to yell with frustration. The core flashed brilliantly, covering the entire penthouse in holy light, that could be seen from the lakeshore drive. The light then stabilized to a serene glow, and the device began to hover a few inches from its enclosure. Data then gestured with his hands for the device to hover towards the opposite partition as both it and the one adjacent to it began to descend as a socket for the star-shaped divine core rose, merging with the device. Next to it, a pedestal rose a black metallic exoskeleton glove rose on another pedestal, with a plug descending back into the table, now coupled with the divine core. Data then looked at Atma, nodding. "Ready when you are." Atma returned the nod. The hand segmented and began to flower, opening up to allow Atma to slide his hand into a lattice before the glove re-assembled. The lattice then began to spread from his forearm across his chest and shoulder as nanites formed covering his shoulder with an armored shoulder plate, divine energy began to rapidly pulsate through channels that rose from his chest towards his wrist and palm before shimmering into a solid golden glow."Beginning iteration # 6475! From the ceiling descended a target and parallel shield walls. Atma raised his hand, aiming his palm at the bullseye. The golden circular plate at the base of the cybernetic arm's palm began to glow serenely with divine energy which grew more and more radiant with each passing second before a beam of pure divine energy erupted from it, slamming into the bullseye. The booming sound of divine thunder rattled through the penthouse. Atma smiled gleefully as the beam roared. Five, ten, fifteen seconds... The divine core began to warble as the core grew more and more unstable, cracks beginning to snake across the crystal. Atma watched the crystal begin to destabilize with a wistful sigh, but he enjoyed the moment nonetheless, imagining himself emblazoned in gold and his divine cybernetics. His technology transcending the limits of mortals, watching as armageddon begins, but as celestial bodies rain from the heavens, and hellfire explodes from the earth, not a single human life is lost, not a single city destroyed as humanity shields itself with its own divine power, preparing to show the agents of Heaven and Hell, that Earth is not their battleground. "...there you are being delusional again. It's so adorable, you're just like your father." Atma blinked out of his daydreaming, realizing that the beam of divine energy was no longer hitting the target, but the palm of a large, taloned hand which was as beautiful as it was terrifying looking. The skin of the steamed and cracked from the intensity of the beam before the power core finally gave way, exploding in a brief but brilliant sputter of the divine energy Atma had initially channeled into the divine core. Atma sighed as the target and safety panels re-ascended into the walls. Before him was a woman of impressive stature. Standing at over ten feet tall, with an inhuman hourglass figure ripe with equally inhuman musculature and feminine curves, the palest ivory skin, an elegant dress, and a wide-brimmed hat, she was the quintessential, yet enormous witch. She looked at him with a pleased smile, bearing the sharp fangs of a vampire. "Happy Birthday, my child!" The woman rose one of her massive taloned hands, and beckoned him closer, causing Atma to against his will be lifted from the ground, and brought towards her as she gripped him in a deep hug. After a few moments of hugging her son lovingly, she then licked her lips, and gingerly bit into his neck, and made a single deep suckle, drawing a generous portion of Atma's blood. She gingerly sat him down and looked upwards as her eyes rolled backward into her head with euphoria. "Ah, positively divine, literally. It's a shame that this will be the last time I get to savor your blood, sweet babe..." Nursing a neck pocked with numerous healed bite marks, Atma gives her a quizzical glare. "What do you mean, mother? Afraid my blood will become too much of a good thing?" The woman rolled her eyes at the suggestion. "Oh please, if that was the case, you wouldn't be in dozens of lawsuits and the peons of mankind demanding your head. You see, my sweet babe, that's why I'm here. To help you!" Atma gave her an alarmed glare. "Your help is akin to relying on a monkey's paw, I'll pass." The woman giggled. "My my, rebellious as ever, I see. She then grasped her son's head and turned it towards her as she grasped his cheeks, playfully squeezing and stretching them as she coo'd in a babying voice. "Oh you silly lamb, you know you don't have a choice!" She then snapped her fingers, causing the windows to turn opaque once more as the news blared on. "In light of the DuValle Industry's suite of first-generation cybernetics mass failure tragedy, the board has voted to remove the founder and CEO of the corporation, Atma DuValle, replacing him with his very own mother Celine DuValle!" A conjured projection of Celine that presented her public human appearance gave a rousing speech on corporate responsibility and the actions they would be taking forward. The real Celine then snapped her talons once more as the TV turned off. Atma turned pale and double-backed as he began to pass out. When he awoke, he found himself paralyzed, in his mother's lap as she stroked his hair, caressing his face. "I'm sorry dear, but it's for your own good. You've spent all these years, languishing for humans, that you've neglected your power and true nature. So, your father and I have decided on a wonderful gift!" Celine produced a cube made of an alien-looking alloy. It was vantablack, covered in infernal runes and every few moments or so, a supernatural crimson sheen would streak across the cube. As Atma's eyes locked on it, his eyes began to tremble with excitement, fear, and possibilities. His paralyzed hands began to reach toward it. His mother hurriedly pushed it into his hands, squeezing his hands around the cube and caressing them tightly. "Yes, that's right my dear! Marvel at it, this impossible alloy, it is a gift from your father and me, and this..." She craned her neck, kissing him on his forehead, causing a scarlet pentagram sigil to shine on his forehead as infernal math began to flash through his eyes as unholy knowledge seared itself across his mind. Toccata and Fugue in D minor began to play in his mind as inspiration blossomed. "With the material and knowledge bestowed to you, fashion a channel to seize Dracula's power. It is your birthright. With it, you can accomplish your wildest dreams as a new type of celestial being rises. Your grandfather will balk, but your father will find you worthy of the love he has shown you..." She then grasped him in her undead, motherly embrace. "But should you fail, I will feed you mother's scarlet milk and your celestial hair will never shimmer in the sun's light ever again, and you will take your place at my side for eternity, and with your own hands end this masquerade we must endure to begin a new era in which vampires rule this Earth once more..." And then Atma blinked, and it was if she was never there. He sat upwards from his couch, the metal alloy in his lap. He grasped it, and he heard Bach once more. Atma rushed over to his workshop. He and Data began working feverishly until he created a cybernetic arm. This one was vantablack. It then compacted itself, taking the shape of a vantablack watch. "Data, bring me Mourningstar. I'm going to kill Dracula..." Character Statblock

Thanks for your time! So yes, I'm more familiar with the version in which a nephilim is the child an angel and a mortal. I am a bit familiar with what you mean, though. I think it's because you started seeing it as a premise in some video games, most notoriously the Darksiders series in which the nephilim were a race of angel/demon hybrids and were a multiplanar threat comparable to saiyajins and viltrumites. Another game that does that is Diablo. I'd already been considering the former version due to Christianity being canon in the series. That level of power ruins the setting since it's usually mortals accompanied by the occasional dhampir/vampire with a heart of gold persevering against and managing at times to defeat outsiders that are above their paygrade with Dracula standing as a boundary of power between extraplanar outsiders and mortals. I had sorta already thought about such a character while playing WotR in which you can play as the Knight Commander of a crusade in which the aforementioned character begins to gradually transform into an angel or several other mythic beings. My character in particular was an angel oracle purifier. Considering the game is based on a from what I can tell a popular adventure path, I'm guessing you're probably already familiar with it? I'm not petitioning for anything so grandiose as mythic levels, but some of the abilities that the angel Knight Commander expressed throughout the game prior to becoming a full-blown celestial being, coupled with the power of divine spellcasting and martial prowess of the oracle purifier could be a cool powerset for a nephilm within the Castlevania verse! Nope, not evil! Absurdly ambitious, but far from wanting to cause mayhem and destruction, slaughter the innocent, or anything like that. He wants to and believes he's serving the greater good for humanity. He has more in common with characters like Prometheus, Gilgamesh, or Tony Stark. I was thinking Chaotic neutral-good alignment. I'll DM you about his motivations and goals!

Hello! I saw your ad for the game, and a character concept immediately came to mind, however, it's a bit unorthodox. I see that you're open to homebrew though, so I figure it wouldn't hurt to ask: what do you think of the possibility of homebrewing nephilim as a race? I haven't thought too much about the mechanics of such a character, but I could come up with something if it doesn't sound too out of the box. I've never played a pathfinder game, however, I do have over 1K hours in Pathfinder: WotR and have played a great deal of D20 in the past.🤓 The basic character premise is a nephilim battle oracle dual wielding a pair of divine sawed-off shotguns on a Kratos-like quest against his own family except in pursuit of power vs revenge, a benevolent tyrant that sees Dracula as a potential opportunity to gain more power as a stepping stone in his greater goals.