Champions – Jann Shadowborne

Jann Shadowborne (well, James Anders, but that would never do for a stage name) always saw things a bit… differently. Even more so than a knack for small magics could explain. His imaginary friends occasionally did things, and one taught him a handful of songs from a hundred and twenty years ago – and then one autumn day led him down a dirt lane which wasn’t there, to a burning farmhouse where his suddenly-vanished friends voice was calling frantically from inside as someone else inside screamed and pounded on the door.

The charm seven-year-old James used for getting into the pantry to get sweets sufficed to unjam the door – but the scene faded away as his soot-covered coughing friend and his mother stumbled out.

James never saw that particular “imaginary” friend again – but in a crumbling nearby graveyard, the blurred inscriptions on two century-old graves shifted, one adding three and the other six decades to the date of death – and one changed from a simple child’s stone to a memorial to a long life, well lived.

James is fundamentally a channel. He is drawn to unbalanced energies, the restless dead, and similar disruptions of the natural order to draw their energies into focus, bind and regulate them – and ultimately restore balance. Wherever he goes, those forces flood into him – filling his mind with strange lore and ancient imperatives and his body with echoes of powers long faded He (and even his companions) can even be drawn into the pocket-realms of those echoes – or across time to intervene in the originating events. A small part of that excess power amplifies his knack for music – expressing and offering catharsis for the unbalanced concerns or sorrows of a crowd, releasing the lingering echoes of an ancient battle in a martial pean and perhaps bringing peace, and easily learning and performing music long lost. The rest he has learned to control by focusing it into a “medicine bag”, which allows him to control how it is released – making him a mid-level spellcaster as well, even if his magic is more than a bit unstable. Perhaps most importantly, he can earn and claim occasional favors from the spirits of the Land, Sea, Sky, Beasts, Plants, and the Dead – although this is a very limited resource and may have it’s own exotic consequences, given their tendency to see him as an odd-jobs contractor.

By the time he was eleven, his musical career was well underway – although his (primary?) career as an occult investigator attracted far less public notice.

James is one of my favorite character types; he comes with a limitless number of built-in plot hooks, is an open channel for games master exposition, may be called on by mysterious forces for all sorts of exotic jobs, lets the entire party be sucked into all kinds of weird situations that they need to solve before they can easily leave, and – while he is a fairly powerful and versatile mage – can easily be shut down temporarily and has the potential for causing magical accidents when you need a bit of a complication. He has a reason to travel, and can have a comfortable lifestyle anywhere – but can’t just throw money at problems (in his case because he’s underage, and so it’s held in trust for when he becomes a legal adult). He does want to improve the world – but doesn’t have overriding specific goals because characters with goals like that tend to get a bit focused on them when they see a chance to move towards them (which is often pretty awkward in group play).

Jann Shadowborne

The Voice Of Ancient Sorrows

Value	Characteristic	Points
15	STR	5
17	DEX	21
23	CON	26
10	BODY	0
10	INT	0
14	EGO	8
15	PRE	5
10/36	COM	0
6	PD	3
6	ED	1
4	SPD	13
8	REC	0
36	END	-5
30	STUN	0
	Total	77

 

Points	Powers	END
8	2d6 40-Point Equipment Allowance Aid (Fade/month, Max. 40); Range: 0; Affects: Single Power of Special Effect, +¼; Extra Time: 1 hour, -2½; Only activates in armories, labs, or between outings: -1½; Personal Only: -1; Difficult to Dispel: ×4, +½; Increased END: ×10, -4; This allows a character to haul along 40 CP worth of customized gear.	30
15	Bardic Talents
(3)	Well-Connected
(2)	Immunity to looking less than marvelous.; Frequency: Fairly Common
(2)	Immunity to the need to compose or practice his music; Frequency: Fairly Common
(2)	Immunity to the need for fellow performers and staff to have backup vocals, instrumentals, and basic special effects.; Frequency: Fairly Common
(2)	Immunity to not having Groupies and a Butler around.; Frequency: Fairly Common
(2)	Immunity to not being heard when singing. He needs no amplifiers and cannot be drowned out.; Frequency: Fairly Common
(1)	Immunity to being out of style; Frequency: Rare
(1)	Celebrity Legal Privileges
3	Elemental Control: Bardic Powers (6-pt reserve); Visible (Very obvious to any mage): -¼; Generic Limitation (Dimensional Vulnerability: User can be attacked from the Astral Plane without any special modifiers.): -½; Generic Limitation (User will attract spirits with problems and will be expected to undertake various missions for the great spirits): -½
a-3	2d6 Aid: Channel Of The Unsettled Past (Fade/week, Max. 12); Range: 0; Generic Limitation (His knowledge generally comes in the form of symbolic visions, odd prophecies, and vague warnings.): -2; No Conscious Control: -2; Affects: Single Power of Special Effect, +¼; Generic Limitation (Visions and premonitions are often rather overwhelming.): -1; Visible (Very obvious to any mage): -¼; Generic Limitation (Dimensional Vulnerability: User can be attacked from the Astral Plane without any special modifiers.). In most places, the past lies quiet.The distant echoes of a farmers tread, of a tryst in the orchard, of a mighty storm… all blend quietly into the song of the earth. Even death and violence fade. A man slain in a duel, the blood of both predator and prey… echo but faintly. But sometimes the past stirs. Where things are undone, and might reawaken. Ghosts who yet attempt to accomplish some task, echoes of terrible powers, those slain with lives unlived… may stir, and rise, and walk. Things, places, and times may all host such forces. Jann Darkborne is a channel for those echoes, a call to awaken, and a chance for them to speak and discharge the forces that hold him. Through him come final farewells, ancient warnings and calls to battle, and the final flowering of powers that cannot rest. And even channeling a lot of the raw power into his Spirit Pouch, that can be quite a bother – and a chance to offer rest.	3
b-6	2d6 Aid: / Spirit Favors (Fade/month, Max. 36); Range: 0; Affects: Single Power of Special Effect, +¼; Extra Time: 1 day, -3½; Increased END: ×4, -1½; Generic Limitation (May only accumulate six points worth of favors each with the spirits of the Land, Sea, Sky, Beasts, Plants, and the Dead. ): -½; Generic Limitation (Must do favors for the spirits – making small offerings, spending time playing or singing at appropriate locations, etc. ): -1; Generic Limitation (Spirit Favors cost a base of three points each. With the Well-Connected modifier, this means he can have three with each group): -1; Visible (Very obvious to any mage): -¼;	12
c-2	Mental Defense (15 pts); Add to Total; Always On: -½; Visible (Very obvious to any mage): -¼;
d-3	Detect Occult Phenomena (+1 to PER); Time Required: Instant, +2; Range: Ranged, +5; Visible (Very obvious to any mage): -¼.
e-5	Astral Senses; Visible (Very obvious to any mage): -¼
(4)	Astral Sight (+0 to PER); Time Required: Instant, +2; Range: Ranged, +5; Always On: -½; Visible (Very obvious to any mage): -¼
(4)	Astral Hearing (+0 to PER); Time Required: Instant, +2; Range: Ranged, +5; Always On: -½; Visible (Very obvious to any mage): -¼
f-2	Power Defense (12 pts); Always On: -½; Generic Limitation (Only versus magical and spirit attacks): -½; Visible (Very obvious to any mage): -¼
g-2	Extra-Dimensional Movement; The Astral Plane; Dimensions: One, +0; Time Travel: None, +0; Mass Multiplier: ×1, +0; Carrying Mass: None; Extra Time: 1 turn, -1	10
h-3	+26 COM (Ethereal Good Looks); Visible (Very obvious to any mage): -¼
52	Total Powers

 

Points	Skills, Talents, Perks	Roll
30	+3 level w/Overall Level
4	Musician	13-
2	Gaelic (Fluent Conv.); Literacy: Standard, 0
2	Area Knowledge: The Spirit Realms	11-
3	Scholar
1	Knowledge: Magic	11-
1	Knowledge: The Astral Realms	11-
1	Knowledge: Literature	11-
1	Knowledge: Spirits	11-
1	Knowledge: Psychic Phenomena	11-
1	Knowledge: History	11-
1	Knowledge: Occult Literature	11-
1	Knowledge: Music	11-
1	Professional License: Occultist
1	Passport
51	Total Skills, Talents, Perks

 

Cost	Equipment
22	Pouch of Echoes; Focus: Obvious Accessible, -1; Generic Limitation (Removing the pouch will soon cause him to start generating weird magical effects as his excess power discharges through him at random. ): -½
(3)	END Reserve (60 END, 2 REC/turn) ; Focus: Obvious Accessible, -1; The power of the restless past channels itself through Jann – but the energies of minor disturbances and unsettled nature need little attention; they need merely be stored, to dissolve into pure power once more.
(18)	Multipower (80-pt reserve); Activation: 15-, -¼; Side Effects (Weird Stuff Happens – or Drain 3d6 Stun and apply 6d6 healing to an opponent who is attuned to whatever unbalanced forces are in the area.): 60/All, -1; Generic Limitation (No spell may exceed 40 active points): -½; Variable Limitations: -½, -¼; Focus: Obvious Accessible, -1
u-1	2d6 Aid: Adding Multipower Slots (Fade/day, Max. 24) 2; Range: 0; Affects: Single Power of Special Effect, +¼
	Commonly Added Multipower Slots
	Offensive Spells
u-1	1d6+1 Athame: Killing Attack (HTH) (Total 2d6); Range: 0; Reduced END: Half, +¼; Affects Desolidified: +½ 1 End
u-1	3d6 Chains Of Sythil: Entangle (DEF 3) 1; Range: 185; Reduced END: Half, +¼ 1 End
u-1	4d6 Invoke The Storm: Energy Blast 4; Range: 200; Versus: ED; Variable Special Effects: Any, +½; Area Effect (One-hex): 1 hex(es), +½ 4 End
u-1	4d6 Psychic Blast: Ego Attack  4 End
u-1	11d6 Word Of Dismissal: Dispel Magic 4 End
u-1	2½d6 Lance of Winter: Killing Attack (RKA) 4 End
	Defensive Spells
u-1	Ward of Gaia: Force Wall (10 PD/6 ED) 4 End
u-1	Air Sphere / Need Not Breathe ; Area Effect (One-hex): 1 hex(es), +½; Reduced END: Zero & Persistent, +1; Uncontrolled: +½
u-1	Feywarding: Force Field (15 PD/15 ED); Continuing Charges: 1 Minute, -3 lev; Trigger (Appropriately attacked when not up): Set, +¼; Charges: +6, +0
u-1	Invisibility (Hearing, Sight); Reduced END: Half, +¼ 1 End
u-1	Deep Trance; Charges: 1, +1; Continuing Charges: 1 year, -11 lev; Generic Limitation (You cannot do anything save astral projection and meditation and such while maintaining the effect.): -2
(2)	Doesn’t Eat, Excrete or Sleep
(1)	Immune to Aging ; Charges
(1)	Immune to Disease
(3)	Need Not Breathe
	Mobility Spells
u-1	10″ Eagles Wings: Flight (NC: 320″); Non-Combat Multiplier: ×32, +20; Non-Combat (MPH): 476 2 End
u-1	Lightning Speed
(7)	Running (+10″, 16″, NC: 32″) 0; Non-Combat Multiplier: ×2, +0; Non-Combat (MPH): 30; Reduced END: Zero, +½
(2)	Clinging (Clinging STR +0)
	Utility Spells
u-1	Atherium Lens; Detect Magic (+5 to PER) ; Time Required: Instant, +2; Range: Ranged, +5; Addition (Discriminatory): +5
u-1	Sorcerer’s Will: Change Environment (8″ rad.); Effect: Variable, +1 4 End
u-1	The Deep Lore: Change Environment (2″ rad.) 0; Increased Area: ×1, +0; Effect: Variable, +1; Reduced END: Zero & Persistent, +1; Uncontrolled: +½; Difficult to Dispel: ×2, +¼; Increased Area (Maximum radius of 4″): ×2, +¼ Common uses for this include illumination and air conditioning, keeping off the rain, and minor effects – but they can also include things like shutting all the doors and windows and turning on the alarms (or the reverse), making the area holy, or even “Casting The Circle”. “The area within the ritual circle is set apart from the world. Within it the world is no longer a place of science (or the normal rules of Champions and it’s predictable, calculated, power). It is a place of wonder and wild magic, where runes, herbs, mantras, and all the rest of the occult paraphernalia actually have power. Within the circle… the wild magic of intuition and guesswork reigns, true love’s tears may wake the dead, omens and visions appear, and spirits move through dreaming realms. Here, where wonder and horror lurk at every turn and a child’s illness is not influenza but his spirit gone wandering, is an animalistic world of spirits, not of logic. In short, it’s magic driven by roleplaying rather then character points. It’s never the same twice – but it is fairly easy to get away with little stuff.”
u-1	Lesser Phantasm: Images (Hearing, Sight, 4″ radius); Range: 175; Observer PER Penalty: 0, +0; Reduced END: Half, +¼ 1 End
u-1	Hand Of The Mage: Telekinesis (STR 15); Range: 200; Manipulation: Fine, +10; Reduced END: Half, +¼ 1 End.
u-1	8d6 Grace of The Waters: Healing 4 End
u-1	Deep Sight
(4)	N-Ray Vision (Not through force barriers)
(4)	Detect Traps (+5 to PER) ; Time Required: Instant, +2; Range: Ranged, +5
u-1	2d6 Lesser Conjuration: Transform (Major, Limited Class) 4; Range: 185 4 End This produces a large variety of minor tools and items – a crowbar, a bundle of torches, some rope, and so on.
	Vocal Powers
u-1	1d6 Song Of Catharsis: Transform: Induce spiritual catharsis and release (Minor, Limited Class); Range: 200; Area Effect (Radius): 16″ radius, +1; Increased Area: ×16, +1; Reduced END: Half, +¼; Cumulative: +½ 2 End
u-1	2d6 Tongue Of Angels: Aid to Acting, Conversation, Oratory, Persuasion, Seduction, and Musician (Singing), (Fade/hour, Max. 12); Range: 0; Reduced END: Half, +¼; Affects: All Powers of Special Effect, +2 2 End
u-1	2d6 Song of Sleep: Energy Blast; Range: 200; Versus: ED; No Normal Defense (Deafness, Earplugs, Hard Helmets): +1; Area Effect (Radius): 32″ radius, +1; Increased Area: ×16, +1 4 End
8	Armor / Tough Leather Clothing (4 PD/4 ED) ; OIF (Leather Clothing): -½
9	1d6+1 Automatic Pistol: Killing Attack (RKA) 0; Range: 100; Charges: +8, +0; Clips: 4; Gestures: Instant Power, -¼; Focus: Obvious Accessible, -1
1	High-End Smartphone (0kg)
40	Total Equipment

 

100+	Disadvantages
10	Public Identity
15	Reputation: Boy Band Bard (14-)
10	Underage (Infrequently, Greatly)
10	Dependent NPC: Current Girlfriend (Normal, 8-); Skills: Normal, +0
15	Overconfidence (Very Common, Moderate)
15	Feels compelled to help out restless spirits (Very Common, Moderate)
15	His presence occasionally triggers the formation of vortex-gates, pulling him and anyone in the area into some historical situation, pocket-world echo of reality, or astral plane that makes it hard to escape back to normal reality without undertaking some sort of fix-it quest. (Infrequently, Fully)
10	Watched: The Authorities (8-); Capabilities: More Powerful, 15; Non-combat Influence: Extensive, +5; Geographical Area: Unlimited, -0; Only Watching: ×½; Punishment: Harsh, 0
100	Total Disadvantages

 

COSTS:	Char.		Powers		Total	Total		Disadv.		Base
	77	+	103	=	180	200	=	100	+	100

 

OCV	DCV	ECV	Mental Def.	PD/rPD	ED/rED	Phases
6	6	5	15	25/19	25/19	3, 6, 9, 12

 

Height: 165 cm  (5’5″), Weight: 54kg (119 lbs), Sex: Male, Age: 15

Appearance: Jann is an late adolescent young man, slightly thinner and shorter than average for his age, and with an ethereal, idealized, quality. He usually wears fringed leather, for a slightly wild-boy look.