Tiffy Tears

09 Nov, 2024

I've not had the energy these past couple weeks¹ to do much more than watch Dropout and try desperately to fix my truly wretched sleep schedule. I don't really have anything interesting to say about Dropout², so to keep any momentum going with blogging, I'm gonna rough-out a couple Fabula Ultima characters. One started as a morning creative thought experiment that feels like a neat fit for Fabula Ultima and the second is an attempt to understand the NPC and monster creation subsystem.

Tiffy Tears

Identity: Witchscorned Mother; Theme: Anxiety

Classes

1. Chimerist 2: Perform Ritualism Rituals, Ritual Chimerism, Spell Mimic (1)
2. Fury 2: Equip Martial Melee Weapons and Martial Armor, Adrenaline (2)
3. Orator 1: Encourage (1)

Attributes: DEX 1d6, INS 1d8, MGT 1d10, WLP 1d8

HP: 60 / 60, Crisis 30; MP: 60 / 60; IP: 6 / 6

DEF: 11; MDF: 9; Init: -3

Fabula Points: 3

Equipment:

1. Waraxe - [MIG + MIG], [HR + 14] Phys, 2H, Melee
2. Runic Plate
3. 110 Zenit (high roll on my initial savings!)

Tiffany "Tiffy" Tears started adventuring as a teen but very early on ran afoul of a witch. Facing almost certain death, Tiffy pleaded with the witch, who offered Tiffy her life in exchange for three things - the gold of her hair, the bravado of her soul, and her first-born daughter. Tiffy agreed, and left with gray hair, a shaken spirit, and relief that she didn't have a child. Shortly after, she terrifyingly had life quicken within her on its own.

Faced with raising a child on her own, Tiffy threw herself into a marriage of opportunity. Her panic lessened when the child was a boy. She settled into a simple life, having a second son with her partner. Always anxious, she struggled as a parent, which only got worse after her partner passed. The anxiety built to a boil when the witch showed-up again on her oldest's 12th birthday and spirited him away. Unable to leave her second alone, she spent the next few years a stressed, panicked mess. When her youngest turned 14 and apprenticed out, she left the farm to her in-laws and set-out to find the witch and her firstborn.

I frequently manage my anxiety by thinking about tabletop games or scenarios, and Tiffy comes from this week's bout of anxiety. Fittingly, I picture her a guilt-ridden, anxious mess as well. I settled on her being a mom because that gives a solid hook that can fit the majority of fantasy settings a table will come-up with for a game and has enough road to it to carry through a healthy chunk of campaign - start by finding the witch, then learn the child is also a witch who's taken after their abductor and maybe join whatever is the big-bad of the game. Depending on the game's themes, it can also be used to explore cycles of abuse and what gender is in the setting. Having a second child also opens up a neat recap mechanic - Tiffy can send letters to her kid after each adventure.

I then took that and rolled it back into Tiffy's stats. I figure her brush with witchcraft left her able to interact with some of the wilder forms of magic and gave her Chimerist. Interestingly, it doesn't look like Chimerists start with a spell, so I picked-up Ritual Chimerism to give her some starting magic. Chimerist operates off of either [WLP + INS] or [WLP + MIG], and I opted for MIG, mostly because I think it'd be cool if she had a big axe and big axes use MIG.

Fury is next because I think it has good survival and proficiencies. I chose Adrenaline (2) over Withstand because I think at the start of the game she's more inclined to panic in a protracted fight than dig deep and power through. That panic plus a desire not to make a pure "mama bear" character are why I chose Fury over Guardian as well.

Orator's included as an aspiration. I don't know what I'd do if I had to take Tiffy to level 10 in the class, but I think her approaching middle age means she's been through enough that she can relate to her teammate's struggles and give them a word of encouragement. As she gets a hold on her own feelings of anxiety and guilt, she'll invest more in Orator, focusing on team buffs.

All around, I like how Tiffy came together in my head. Assuming she can find some good chimerist spells, she's a solid utility character who can lean on her axe in the early parts of a game to output good offense.

I think I am gonna call it here and save the other character for another day. I've been at this for close to an hour and need to get some chores done while it's still morning here. When I do come back, it will be an exploration of the Wayfarer's Faithful Companion ability.

#character #fabula ultima