Back in the mid-80s, I discovered psychology. I thought it was a great topic and it really fascinated me. I started, of course, with the classics where most people start, Freud and Jung. Well, really, Jung and then Freud , I wanted to read Jung and, in particular, Synchronicity in the original German. It was not easy let me tell you. While both Freud and Jung are psychoanalysts, but Jung always more like philosophy to me. One of his concepts was that of the Anima and the Animus side of your personality. Like a Ying and Yang. Similarly, Freud had his view of the Id, Ego, and Super-ego (das Es, Ich, and Über-Ich), which I think a lot of people at least have a passing knowledge of.
You might be asking, great, but what does this arm-chair psychology have to do with characters? Well for this weekend, a lot.
My exploration of psychology (which also led to my eventual career as a Psychologist) was going on at the same time as some of my most prolific character creations. It is no shock, then, that I have characters that represent these psychoanalytic concepts.
On the Jungian side (because I am still Jung at heart! Yes, I use that joke often) we have my obvious Anima in Larina. In fact, I may have identified her as an anima before she was a character. My Animus is Phygora. I have not explored him much because what is there to say? He is an academic, he has magic. Swap magic for science, and you have me.
On the Freudian side, Johan I is very much my Super-ego. So, who are my Id and Ego characters?
Ego represents you, who you are to the outside world. My Ego character is "Retsam Elddir" (yeah, I will explain that later).
Id represents all your unchecked desires and dark impulses. My Id is Nigel "Death Blade" Delamort.
Who is Nigel "Death Blade" Delamort?
Nigel was a 1st Ed AD&D character and I had a lot of fun with him. He is/was a Neutral Evil assassin that used to adventure in the same party as Johan II. I fudged it and said that both heard a prophecy that they would both be needed in a great war and they could not harm each other. All BS of course, I wanted to have a LG Paladin and a NE Assassin at the same time.
Nigel began life through a dirt-poor second son in Specularum, he tried to steal a dagger from a local blacksmith. Instead of turning the boy in the blacksmith trained him, until the blacksmith was killed by assassins. I won't get into the details here, but suffice to say that he was a fun character who allowed me to live out a lot of violence (it is what my Id would do).
He mellowed out over the years. Which is good because he was a bit of an asshole.
Through a series of events that are too long and complicated to get into here, Nigel was transported to the future so I could use him Star Frontiers. He would come back to help Johan in my big war at the end of High School with his spaceship, the Lucifer. Along the way, he became immortal, or at least very long-lived, and he has been a galactic bounty hunter for hire.
Class: Renegade
Level: 20
Species: Human
Alignment: Twilight Evil
Background: Craft (Blacksmith)
Abilities
Strength: 18 (+3) N
Agility: 20 (+4) A
Toughness: 17 (+2) N
Intelligence: 13 (+1)
Wits: 12 (+1)
Persona: 8 (-1)
Fate Points: 1d12
Defense Value: 2
Vitality: 119
Degeneracy: 1
Corruption: 0
Check Bonus (A/N/D): +8/+6/+4
Melee Bonus: +6 (base) +3 +2 (touchstones)
Ranged Bonus: +6 (base) +4 +1 (touchstone)
Spell Attack: NA
Saves: +7 vs Death effects (Renegade), +2 to Toughness-based saves related to stamina and endurance (Craft). +1 to all (touchstone)
Renegade Abilities
Improved Defence, Ranged Combat, Stealth Skills, Climbing, Danger Sense (1-7 d8), Perception, Vital Strike x7, Read Languages, Stealth Skills
Warrior Abilities
Combat Expertise, Improved Defence, Melee Combat, Master of Battle, Supernatural Attacks, Spell Resistance, Tracking, Masters of Weapons, Extra Attacks (x2), Extra Damage
Stealth Skills
Open Locks: 95%
Bypass Traps: 95%
Sleight of Hand: 95%
Sneak: 95%
Climbing: 95%
Perception: 95%
Heroic/Divine Touchstones
1st Level: +1 to melee attacks
2nd Level: Favored Weapon: Sword (+1 to hit, +2 Damage)
3rd Level: Level 1 of Warrior
4th Level: Level 2 of Warrior
5th Level: +1 to all checks, attacks, and saves
6th Level: Level 3 of Warrior
7th Level: Character ceases to age
8th Level: Level 4 of Warrior
9th Level: Down but not Out
10th Level: Level 5 of Warrior
Heroic (Divine) Archetype: War
Gear
Sword, Leather Armor, thieves tools, (later plasma rifle).
Nigel in the Wasted Lands
This is the starting point for Nigel, my D&D stand-in. When I had him move between systems I always had to restat him. Here he can move between the epochs with ease.
Nigel in NIGHT SHIFT
In modern times Nigel is something of a supernatural hunter. From his personal timeline this occurred after he spent his time in literal Hell. After coming back from the future he went back to Glantri. Here he followed his daughter's (Raven) killer into hell. Again like said above it is long and complicated. But after Hell, Nigel was a WitchCraft/Armageddon character.
Nigel in Thirteen Parsecs
This was right after "D&D" and here I used Star Frontiers for his stats. It was an interesting translation. Then we tried a little Gamma World, then a little (tiny little) bit of Traveller. Each translation I felt something in the character was lost even if my knowledge of the games increased. Thirteen Parsecs hopefully will fix that for me. Nigel will be one of my first 13P characters.
ALL allow me to use the same character across different times, different places and right on up to the Solar Frontier.
You can get the Wasted Lands RPG and the NIGHT SHIFT RPG at Elf Lair Games. Thirteen Parsecs is coming soon.
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