Arcanum

Alias: Arcanum
Name: Dexter Hargrove
Age: 21
Height: 5' 6"
Weight: 135 lbs.
Hair Colour: Dark Brown
Eye Colour: Amber. (Note, pupil and iris are both square in shape, tilted onto one corner)
Occupation: (reluctant) Theif

Description: Dexter is a short young man, standing only 5'6". His hair is dark, growing to chin length at the top, and shaved at the back and sides. He wears dark sunglasses which hide his eyes from view. The relatively young man dresses in good clothing, a dark green dress shirt and black khakis. Beneath the hem of his pant-legs are a pair of black boots. When he is doing robberies, however, he dresses up in a wizardly costume, complete with robes, hooded cloak, and mask.



Background: Dexter was born to loving parents, and lived a rather normal life until the age of 12. At 12, both his parents died in a car crash. He himself suffered only minor wounds, and his younger sister (then 10) was gravely wounded. She was given tainted blood, and contracted HIV. They lived in foster homes for a few years until Dexter turned 16. At this time he ran away, taking his sister with him, and 'dissapeared'. Not before they'd been in a foster home with a man deep into the occult. The man bought absolutely everything he could find on the subject, whether he could understand it or not. It was in one of these books that Dexter had found his answer. If magic was real, which it seemed it was (in one form or another) from the ancient writings he'd read, maybe there was some kind of magic that could help his sister? Once away from the child care system with his sister, he scrimped together everything he could, to get everything on the subject he could. Unfortunately, the healing magics he had heard about in legends were impossible to find, though he managed to find war magics. The expense of the books, not to mention the expenses of keeping both himself and his sister alive, drove him to theivery, as there was no other way of raising the money fast enough. He'd tried the proper channels, first, but he'd been laughed out of everywhere as soon as he told them what he wanted to do. He loved his sister more than anything, and he had to save her if he could. He robs banks, convenience stores, anything that will get him something easily converted into cash, without easily being traced. He is careful when robbing banks, to take only what the tellers have on hand rather than risk the exploding dye packets that are in movies. He does everything he can to avoid being caught, as his sister's life is on the line. In the seven years since the accident, his sister's HIV has turned into full blown AIDS, and Dexter is beginning to grow desperate.

F Typical
A Remarkable
S Typical
E Good

R Remarkable
I Good
P Amazing

Health: 52
Mental Health: 90
Karma: 1295

Powers:

(Mutation)
Auto-Cypher: Dexter's brain has mutated to be extremely capable of recognising patterns in written language and extrapolating the meaning of the text, and actual proper pronounciation of the words from that extrapolation. This has the effect of allowing him to read any written code, language, or the like - it's only a matter of time. Dexter's ability with this is at the Amazing level, and he must make a feat roll to determine how long it takes him to decipher. On a white roll it will take him about an hour to understand a single page of an extra-large hardcover novel. On a green, this feat will take roughly 10 minutes. On a yellow he is able to read the page at a speed similar to a normal pace of reading. On a roll of Red, his mind has understood the cypher entirely, and no further rolling will be required to read that particular 'language'.

(Magical) (Note, all spells require Dexter first make a psyche roll to determine if he successfully casts the spell - a white result indicates failure, a green indicates success but a weakened effect, yellow indicates full normal effect, and red indicates some kind of extreme success. What each of these entail is detailed with each individual spell. Dexter can always choose to go with a lesser effect)

Energy Blast Spell: This is a ranged attack composed of eldritch energy at remarkable level damage.

Force-Shield Spell: This is a mobile sphere of force which protects Dexter, providing him with an armor rating while it persists. Dexter is incapable of using his blast power while the force shield is in place without striking the shield (reducing the power of any blast by the shield's armor rating). On a roll of green, its armor rating is Excellent, on Yellow it is Amazing, and on a Red it is also amazing but permeable by his energy blasts (and subsequently anyone else's energy blasts composed of eldritch energy). An attack which breaches the shield destroys it.

Mystic Freeze Spell: This spell creates a field of energy around a target which restricts movement to a degree that all the person can do is breathe. If a person is off the ground when targeted by this ability, they will not fall. On a green roll this field requires a force of Excellent or greater to be broken, on a yellow roll the field requires a force of Amazing or greater to be broken (this is the CS of the opposed roll to see if the character breaks out). On a red roll, the opponent is at -1 CS to resist. The subject may resist the original casting of the spell by also rolling their psyche, and beating Dexter's original casting roll by usual opposed roll rules.

Flight Spell: This spell Dexter researched on his own, and created from magical theory at great risk to himself (experimentation led to his soul being torn from his body and temporarily held by a demon of Limbo). The spell allows the recipient to fly at a rank of Amazing, and he is capable of casting it on others. However, sustaining the spell carries the same penalties for sustaining an ongoing spell as his other spells - thus, casting it on multiple people could severely reduce his ability to be effective in doing anything else.

Tracking Spell: Another spell that Dexter researched on his own. This spell requires something with a connection to the object or person he's trying to track down - a person's possession, a lock of hair, fingernail... For an object, a piece of the same tree someone made a walking stick from, or the keys to a car he's trying to track down, etc. With a rank of Incredible, he's able to track down objects roughly anywhere within New York City. When he holds the focus object, he feels it very lightly pulling in the direction of whatever he's tracking.

Mind Fog: Creates a billowing fog in an area which can be sustained. People within the fog have their mental energy drained while they are inside - doing Remarkable (30) mental damage per round. This damage can be resisted with a psyche roll, as per normal, against the original casting roll, once per round as a free action. Damage scales with colour rolled as per normal. This spell was crafted specifically to prevent any lasting damage to a person's mind.

Once a target has resisted the Fog, they become immune to it for the remainder of the battle and one hour afterward.

When a target hits 0 Mental Health, they roll Psyche one last time to determine in what particular way they snap.  The effects of this last the standard 4 hours it takes for people to regain their Psyche in MH. The GM can override this result with sufficient reason.

Red+ - Recovery: On a Red roll with Incredible or higher Psyche, the target gains a second wind, recovering Mental Health equal to their Psyche rank.  This recovers only damage done by the fog, not MH spent on spells or abilities.

Red - Feral: The target goes into a berserk fugue state, attacking the nearest enemy to Exhaustion on every round with whatever melee weapon they have.  They gain +1CS to all physical stats and recover 40 HP.  This is a common response in targets that are already non-sentient, distinctly feral, or insane.

A target driven feral may still use innate powers, but cannot cast spells or use technology beyond Iron Man style power suits that already mimic the natural motions of the body.

Yellow - Exhausted: The target falls into a deep mental depression that makes it difficult, but not impossible, to function. Any physical action or use of power is at -1CS, and any mental one, including spellcasting, is at -2CS.

Green - Broken: The target's spirit is broken, and they function at a -1CS penalty when taking physical actions. When casting spells, using powers, or making any mental check, they do so at -2CS.

White - Gone: The target completely loses motor function.  They can still sense the world around them, albeit blurry, but cannot even remain standing.

For every ongoing effect that Dexter sustains, all other rolls for a round in which he does so incur a -1 CS penalty.

Talents:

Research - Dexter receives +1 CS on any rolls involving research.

Medical care - Caring for his sister in her immune-weakened condition has given Dexter considerable medical expertise, and he receives +1 CS on rolls involving providing medical care.

Occult Lore - Dexter has read extensively into occult lore, and is entitled to +1 CS on any rolls pertaining to this knowledge.

Computer use - Dexter is extremely familiar with computer use - as it helps him to locate both targets, and occult books to purchase. He receives +1 CS on rolls to use computers. He does not, however, have any expertise in hacking, or computer programming (though his power will let him easily understand what any computer code was intended to do).

Alternate Identity - Dexter's 'real self' is sufficiently different from his Arcanum persona that he receives a +1 CS bonus to rolls used to disassociate himself from that persona.

Language Aptitude - Between Dexter's mutation, and his research, Dexter is adept at learning new languages, and receives a +1 CS bonus to rolls to learn them in a traditional manner.

Equipment:

Petrified Staff - This mystical object created by Dexter's own hand with much assistance from Dr. Fate, has the following properties: +1 CS to strength for damage (+2 vs those weak against earth), Stores up to 2 spells (takes equivalent of 3 combat rounds to store), Spells cast from the staff gain +1 CS to damage, the staff also has the power to hold someone in place with earth (grapple, opposed psyche vs. fighting - ranged attacks are still possible), and it can also call up a wall of earth that lasts for 5 rounds (longer if Dexter focuses) on a green roll it has 100 health, 150 on a yellow, and 250 on a red roll. Named Skalasedm, comes when called.

Skalasedm dres nov grak! - Wall.
Skalasedm grak hres dro! - Grapple.
Skalasedm rev dras jeden! - Release spell 1.
Skalasedm rev dras dva! - Release spell 2.

Costume - The costume has been enchanted to appear upon command. This takes a round. The command is - "Ros vek naur!" It also conceals a bullet proof vest, which provides typical (6) protection against guns and bladed weapons.

Mystic Pocket Watch - This watch was given to him by Tony Stark (who got it from Nick Fury). It provides +1 CS when targetting his spells.