Esoteric MnM's page

Concept:

Lovecraftian Sorcerer seeking redemption.
Inspiration sources:
- Call of Cthulhu
- Fungi from Yuggoth
- Rats in the Wall
- Shadow over Innsmouth
- The Dreams in the Witch House
- The Dunwich Horror
- The Hound
- The Lurking Fear
- The Outsider
By H. P. Lovecraft

The Insects from Shaggai
By Ramsey Campbell

- The King in Yellow
By Robert W. Chambers

Who would play him in the TV series:
Julian Sands from Warlock

Personality:
Edward is by nature a fairly selfish individual that has never learnt to truly regard others as his equal but rather he tend to interact with people like one would servants; Be generous and fair if you want a happy "staff". This can make him come off as quite arrogant. He can be extremely polite when he wants but generally he is a bit off handish and he has yet shown much interest in members of the gentle sex. His nature can also make him rather rash in his decision and he is not always as thoughtful and slow to act as he should be.

http://i812.photobucket.com/albums/zz43/zouron/rpg/MnM/esoteric.jpg

Physical Appearance:
His long blond hair and fair skin clearly shows off his German ancestry and could be considered attractive. He tends to stand a bit out in the crowd.

Biography:
Edward's childhood was one of seclusion, his parents were heavily involved in the family business and travels across the globe leaving him home in the family mansion under the care of the servants and the private teachers or travelling across the globe especially with his mother Julia. When Edward was ten his father began having bouts of severe depression and stopped involving himself in the family business, instead gaining a keen interest in bizarre artifacts from across the globe, an interest that disgusted Julia. When Edward was 14 his mother found out that his father involved him in the studies of these artifacts and it caused extreme fiction between his parents and not a week later the servants found Edward's parents dead in the library it seems that Edward's father had taken a fireplace poker to his wife's skull, killing her in a fit of rage then afterwards doused himself in gasoline and lit himself on fire burning to death, at least this was what the police concluded. Hence forth Edward became a much more secluded boy and dug even deeper to the passion he had shared with his father, the ancient tombs and artifacts.

At the age of 16 just two years after the death of his parents Edward was accepted at Harvard with a major in history and in business. He mostly studied business out of a duty towards the family name and for the day where he would take the leadership of the family estate. His true passion was the strange and occult history of the degenerated societies in Europe during the dark ages and all the way back to the Sumerians. After finish his studies he travelled to modern day Iraq to study the ancient ruins of Sumar. Here he sought to study the clay tablets that were the vault of the knowledge of Sumar. During an expedition in 2003 war broke out and Edward and his team had to go underground to avoid capture by the Iraqi army. He didn't surface until 7 years later, in Turkey in a small Kurdish village, as the only survivor of his team. During his debrief by the US authorities he claimed that he could little remember of the time of his capture and after a year long legal battle to regain his legal properties he once again is in full control of his somewhat diminished family fortune.

Skills:
Expertise: Business 5 (+10)
Expertise: History 5 (+10)
Expertise: Magic 15 (+20)
Investigation 10 (+15)
Vehicles 1 (+1)

Advantages:
Benefit: Wealth 4 (multimillionare)
Contacts
Equipment 9
Languages 4
Ritualist
Well-informed
Eidetic Memory (from: Amulet of the Elder Sign)

Equipment:
Cell Phone (Smartphone)
The Family Mansion: Pickman Mansion
Prototype Undercover Shirt (protection 4, subtle)
Motorcycle: Suzuki GSXR600 Full Black Sportbike
AP: Car: Rolls Royce Phantom
AP: Limousine
AP: Luxury Yacht: The Sargossa (Solemates)
AP: Private Jet: Gulfstream G280
AP: Submarine: Atlantis XIV (modified)

Known languages:
Ancient Egyptian
Arabic
Chinese (Mandarin)
English (Native)
French
Hebrew
Japanese
Latin
Sumerian

Abilities:
Strength 0
Stamina 10
Agility 0
Dexterity 0
Fighting 0
Intellect 5
Awareness 0
Presence 0

Offense
Initiative +0
Affliction: Burst Area Affliction 10 (DC Will 20)
Bolt of Esoteric Magic: Magic 10 (DC 25)
Grab, +0 (DC Spec 10)
Sleep: Cumulative Cloud Area Sleep 10 (DC Fort 20)
Snare: Burst Area Snare 10 (DC Dog 20)
Throw, +0 (DC 15)
Unarmed, +0 (DC 15)

Defense
Dodge 6
Parry 6
Fortitude 10
Toughness 14
Will 8

Power Points
Abilities 30 + Powers 61 + Advantages 21 + Skills 18 (36 ranks) + Defenses 20 = 150

- Sensing the Magic: Senses 3
- Descriptor: chaos
- Power Option: Awareness: Magic
- Power Option: Radius: Magic Awareness
- Power Option: Tracking: Magic Awareness 1 (-1 speed rank)
- Flaw: Custom: drawn towards of any unknown magical source (will save DC 13)

- That which was, shall be: Senses 4
- Descriptor: chaos
- Power Option: Postcognition
- Advantages: Eidetic Memory
- Flaw: Uncontrolled

Bolt of Esoteric Magic: Magic 10
- Descriptor: chaos
- Save: Toughness DC 25
- Flaw: Check Required 15 (Magic Expertise DC 25)
- Flat Modifier: Affects Insubstantial 2 (full rank)
- Extra: Increased Range (perception)
- Extra: Penetrating 10

AP The Gate of Yog-Sothoth: Teleport 7
AP - Max Carry: 100 lbs.
AP - Range: 120 Miles (ca. 200 km)
AP - Special: Can travel to other Dimensions
AP - Flat Modifier: Change Direction
AP - Flat Modifier: Change Velocity
AP - Flat Modifier: Dimensional 3: any dimension
AP - Flat Modifier: Increased Mass
AP - Extra: Accurate
AP - Extra: Extended: 120 miles in 2 move actions
AP - Extra: Portal
AP - Flaw: Limited to Extended
AP - Flaw: Side Effect 2 (always)
AP - Notes: - Side Effect - Visions of Madness: Affliction 7 (Area-Burst, Penetrating, Cumulative, Will Save, Conditions: Dazed, Compelled, Transformed).
AP - Description: Yog-Sothoth knows the gate. Yog-Sothoth is the gate. Yog-Sothoth is the key and guardian of the gate. Past, present, future, all are one in Yog-Sothoth. He knows where the Old Ones broke through of old, and where They shall break through again. He knows where They have trod earth's fields, and where They still tread them, and why no one can behold Them as They tread.
—H. P. Lovecraft, "The Dunwich Horror"

AP The Rats in the Walls: Summon 8
AP - Duration: Sustained
AP - Summons: Two Rat Swarms (over two rounds)
AP - Flaw: Check Required 15 (Magic Expertise DC 25)
AP - Extra: Heroic
AP - Extra: Horde
AP - Extra: Multiple Minions (2 minions)
AP - Flaw: Attitude 2 (unfriendly)
AP - Description: [T]here was the dramatic epic of the rats—the scampering army of obscene vermin which had burst forth from the castle three months after the tragedy that doomed it to desertion—the lean, filthy, ravenous army which had swept all before it and devoured fowl, cats, dogs, hogs, sheep, and even two hapless human beings before its fury was spent.
- Rats in the Walls by H. P. Lovecraft)

AP Esoteric Tricks: Variable 6
AP - Descriptor: chaos
AP - Flaw: Check Required 15 (Magic Expertise DC 25)

Esoteric Tricks Configurations
1 Nightmares of R'lyeh Sleep 10
1 - Range: 250 ft. / 500 ft. / 1000 ft.
1 - Save: Fortitude DC 20
1 - Extra: Area Cloud (15 feet radius)
1 - Extra: Cumulative
1 - Flaw: Sense Dependent (olfactory)
1 - Description: An vision of the nightmare corpse-city of R'lyeh that was built in measureless eons behind history by the vast, loathsome shapes that seeped down from the dark stars, filled the minds of the victims.
- Call of Cthulhu by Lovecraft

2 The Eternal Sleepers
2 - Duration: Sustained
2 - Summon: 2048 Zombies (see GMG p. 144)
2 - Flaw: Requires Corpses
2 - Flaw: Quirk (Does not rise before a round after summon is used)
2 - Extra: Burst Area (1 mile radius)
2 - Extra: Horde
2 - Extra: Multiple Minions 11
2 - Flaw: Activate (move)
2 - Flaw: Unreliable (roll 1-10 fail; 11-20 success)
2 - Description: "That is not dead which can eternal lie.
And with strange aeons even death may die."
- Necronomicon by Abdul Alhazred (Lovecraft)

3 The Grasp of Azathoth Snare 10
3 - Save: Dodge DC 20
3 - Duration: Concentration
3 - Extra: Burst (30 feet radius)
3 - Extra: Increased Duration 1 (Concentration)
3 - Flaw: Distracting
3 - Flaw: unreliable (5 uses)
3 - Description: I saw something ooze into the corridor—a pale grey shape, expanding and crinkling, which glistened and shook gelatinously as still-moving particles dropped free; but it was only a glimpse, and after that it is only in nightmares that I imagine I see the complete shape of Azathoth.
- The Insects from Shaggai by Ramsey Campbell

4 Visions of Madness Affliction 10
4 - Save: Will DC 20
4 - 1st degree: Dazed
4 - 2nd degree: Compelled
4 - 3rd degree: Transformed
4 - Extra: Perception Area
4 - Flat Modifier: Incurable
4 - Extra: Selective
4 - Flaw: Distracting
4 - Transformation Array:
Visions of Madness Transformation array (WIP)

1: Curse of the Ghoul (dex)
- Reduce Dex to -4
- Can only draw substance from human (and own species) flesh
- Blind Hatred towards all others (will save to not attack on sight)
- Odor of the Grave: Affliction 7 (1st degree: impaired, Fort DC 17, 30 feet radius, innate, limited degree 2, permanent) - 15pp
- Can't hear any voices, spoken or otherwise.
- Appearance: Teeth grows longer and sharp, tongue grows longer and splits, skin takes on a pale green gray tint, all hair falls off.

I cannot even hint what it was like, for it was a compound of all that is unclean, uncanny, unwelcome, abnormal, and detestable. It was the ghoulish shade of decay, antiquity, and dissolution; the putrid, dripping eidolon of unwholesome revelation, the awful baring of that which the merciful earth should always hide.
- The Outsider by H. P. Lovecraft

2: The Rat Hex (Int)
- Reduce Int to -4
- Hates light and gains Dazed condition in direct daylight
- Can only draws substance from human blood, preference for children's blood.
- Becomes violently Schizophrenia (Will save to not attack or flee when addressed).
- Tail: Extra Limp 1 (Innate)
- Can't speak.
- Appearance: Eyes become beady red, and a naked rat tail springs forth from the tail bone. Front teeth become elgonated (or if missing grows a new pair of rat teeth).

...it had long hair and the shape of a rat, but that its sharp-toothed, bearded face was evilly human while its paws were like tiny human hands. It took messages betwixt old Keziah and the devil, and was nursed on the witch's blood, which it sucked like a vampire. Its voice was a kind of loathsome titter, and it could speak all languages.
- The Dreams in the Witch House by H. P. Lovecraft

3: Mark of the Degenerate (presence)
- Reduce Pre to -4
- Becomes rapid Xenophobic: Actively seeks to get none Degenerates to leave.
- Hates "normal" people and must actively work towards hindring them, (will save to avoid doing actions that actively harms allies not affected by this madness).
- Immunity 1 (Suffication: Drowning)
- Slow: Can only walk/run at half speed.
- Appearance: Snall round eyes with pink-yellow pupil, reduced forehead.

His skull sloped back so abruptly that he could hardly be said to have a forehead at all; his chin slanted off right into nothing. His eyes were small and round with shallow, glazed, pink-yellow pupils, and they were set wide apart on his head, and they were unwinking and staring, like a fish's eyes.
- The Shadow over Innsmouth by H. P. Lovecraft

4: the Haunting of Hounds (AGL)
- Reduce Agility to -4
- Suffers from extreme Paranoia
- Must flee from any unknown sound (will save to stay)
- Attack of the Dark Hounds, Damage 20 (DC 35, Affects Insubstantial, Affects Self Only, Innate, Triggered: When alone in the dark, Tiring, Unreliable (roll)) 8pp *

* The Damage rank will be equal to the victim's PL.

The horror reached a culmination on November 18, when St John, walking home after dark from the dismal railway station, was seized by some frightful
carnivorous thing and torn to ribbons. His screams had reached the house, and I had hastened to the terrible scene in time to hear a whir of wings and see a vague black cloudy thing silhouetted against the rising moon.
- The Hound by H. P. Lovecraft

5: The Sea of Despair (AWE)
- Reduce Awareness to -4
- Endless despair (will save not be defenseless)
- Can't hear any voices, spoken or otherwise.
- Appearance: Teeth grows longer and sharp, tongue grows longer and splits, skin takes on a pale green gray tint, all hair falls off.

So far I have not shot myself as my uncle Douglas did. I bought an automatic and almost took the step, but certain dreams deterred me. The tense extremes of horror are lessening, and I feel queerly drawn toward the unknown sea-deeps instead of fearing them. I hear and do strange things in sleep, and awake with a kind of exaltation instead of terror.
- The Shadow over Innsmouth by Lovecraft

4 - Description: Terrible vision filled my mind and I could hear the senseless chant of loong dead tongues all around me and the fear slowly crept up on me and froze the blood in my veins, I ran away, that I did Sir, but my friend I saw the terror take over his soul and he began to chant under his breath.
- The testomony from the only coherent insane asylum patient about an incident two nights earlier.

- Camera Obscure: Invisibility 2
- Descriptor: chaos
- Effect: Total concealment from all visual senses
- Feature: visual recordings and playbacks turns up as noise
- Flat Modifier: Innate
- Flaw: Limited to Machines
- Flaw: Permanent

- Immortality 2
- Descriptor: chaos
- Effect: Return after 1 week
- Flat Modifier: Innate

- Immunity 11
- Descriptor: chaos
- Effect: Immunity to Aging
- Effect: Life Support
- Flat Modifier: Innate

- Regeneration 2
- Descriptor: chaos
- Effect: -1 Toughness penalty every 5 rounds
- Flat Modifier: Innate
- Extra: Persistent

Motivation: Redemption
Edward wish to do good has very little to do with a sense of what is the right thing to do or what is just, however he feels a deep desire to redeem himself for what happened to his friend and the men and women under his care during the Iraq expedition.

Obsession: Grotesque Artifacts
The obsession with occult and mystical artifacts of a bizarre and grotesque nature is a fascination that has never left Edward and he can be quite ruthless and single minded in the pursuit to obtain access to them, with little regard to consequences.

Reputation: Weird and eccentric
During his time as a college student Edward gained quite a reputation for being weird, it even earned him a nickname "Esoteric Ed" as he was called, he was actively shun by many of his peers and the reputation still clings to him, which in fact is the reason why his hero alias is Esoteric, for a journalist, a miss Georgina Davis, whom had attended literary classes with him wrote a scathing article condemning Edward during the legal battle to regain his property accidently wrote his name as Esoteric rather than Edward, a error that somehow manage to get through to printing.

The truth is that Edward seemed almost cursed with a bad luck of running into people who despises him or has heard the rumors real or imaged about him and his interests, when dealing with business and high society matters.

Responsibility: The family business
Despite having excellent executor for the family business, there are a few events and meetings that Edward cannot get out of.

Secret: Treasonous ancestryThe Pickman Derby's are a family of old money, most of which come from land possession and investments in financial institutions, however the family name is relatively new. Edward's great grandfather was Baron Wilhelm von Hessen, but he was stripped of his title for the crime of high treason and exiled to the United States, however most of the family wealth was in Swiss bank accounts and thus mostly preserved. When Edward's grandfather inherited the wealth of the von Hessen at the death of his grandfather he immediately changed his name from Heinrich von Hessen to Edward Pickman Derby.

Enemy: Order of the Yellow Sign
Those with money always have enemies and Edward is no different, however in Edward’s case the enemy is not directed at his wealthy persona but rather from his seven years in Iraq, for during his time he encountered a mystical group called the League of the Yellow Sign, very little is known of these enemies of the civilized world, however they tend to work through fanatic occultists, sociopathic madmen or manipulator third world terrorists.

Secret: Not sole Survivor
The official record state that only Edward returned from Iraq, but the truth is one more member of the team survived, James Norrys.
Edward returned from the expedition with strange mystical powers, however that which had been James Norrys bore little resemblance of anything human, but rather a deformed rat like creature with mad red eyes and in black fur, a silent degenerate cannibal is all that remains of James Norrys locked up in the deepest cellar of the Pickman Mansion.

James Norrys had been Edward's one friend during his stay in collage, James had been a rather uninspired young man with many of the classical geek hobbies like computer, role-playing games and the occult, and this interest had struck a chord with Edward and the two had become fast friends. After collage the two had fallen apart for a few years until the expedition to Iraq, James had been married but had just gone through a messy divorce and had drowned himself in his hobby to escape reality. During a visit to an exhibit concerning witchcraft in medieval France James had had that ill fated run in with Edward, Edward had tried to cheer up his friend by inviting him along of the expedition and James had made the choice that damned him, to accompany Edward to the Middle East.

The Family Mansion: Pickman Mansion - PL 10

Toughness 6, Size Colossal

Features:
Fire Prevention System, Garage, Grounds, Gym, Holding Cells, Infirmary, Laboratory, Library, Living Space, Personnel, Power System, Security System 2, Workshop

Power Points
Abilities 5 + Powers 0 + Advantages 0 + Features 14 + Skills 0 (0 ranks) + Defenses 0 + Equipment 0 (0 ep) + Weapons & Armor 0 (0 ep) = 19

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Luxury Yacht: The Sargossa (Solemates) - PL 10

(Alternate of Motorcycle: Suzuki GSXR600 Full Black Sportbike )

Strength 14, Defense -6, Toughness 12, Size Gargantuan

Features:
Alarm 2, Hidden Compartments 2

Powers
Speed: Speed 5 (Speed: 60 miles/hour, 900 feet/round)

Equipment
Computer, GPS Receiver, 3x SCUBA Gear

Power Points
Abilities 5 + Powers 5 + Advantages 0 + Features 4 + Skills 0 (0 ranks) + Defenses 1 + Equipment 5 (5 ep) + Weapons & Armor 0 (0 ep) = 20.

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Motorcycle: Suzuki GSXR600 Full Black Sportbike - PL 10

Strength 4, Defense 0, Toughness 9, Size Medium

Features:
Alarm 1, Navigation System 2

Powers
Senses: Senses 1 (Radio)
Speed: Speed 7 (Speed: 250 miles/hour, 0.5 miles/round)

Equipment
GPS Receiver, Police Radio [Senses: Senses 1, Radio]

Power Points
Abilities 4 + Powers 7 + Advantages 0 + Features 3 + Skills 0 (0 ranks) + Defenses 4 + Equipment 2 (2 ep) + Weapons & Armor 0 (0 ep) = 20

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Private Jet: Gulfstream G280 - PL 10

(Alternate of Motorcycle: Suzuki GSXR600 Full Black Sportbike )

Strength 12, Defense -6, Toughness 11, Size Gargantuan

Features:
Navigation System 1

Powers
Flight: Flight 8 (Speed: 500 miles/hour, 1 mile/round)

Power Points
Abilities 3 + Powers 16 + Advantages 0 + Features 1 + Skills 0 (0 ranks) + Defenses 0 + Equipment 0 (0 ep) + Weapons & Armor 0 (0 ep) = 20

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Submarine: Atlantis XIV (modified) - PL 10

(Alternate of Motorcycle: Suzuki GSXR600 Full Black Sportbike )

Strength 16, Defense -8, Toughness 13, Size Colossal

Features:
Navigation System 2

Powers
Speed: Speed 5 (Speed: 60 miles/hour, 900 feet/round)

Equipment
Audio Recorder, GPS Receiver, Parabolic Microphone, 6x SCUBA Gear

Power Points
Abilities 4 + Powers 5 + Advantages 0 + Features 2 + Skills 0 (0 ranks) + Defenses 0 + Equipment 9 (9 ep) + Weapons & Armor 0 (0 ep) = 20

Rat Swarm - PL 10

Strength 4, Stamina 14, Agility 0, Dexterity 0, Fighting 0, Intellect -4, Awareness 1, Presence 0

Advantages
Fearless

Powers
A Thousand Bodies: Insubstantial 2 (Gaseous; Innate)
An endless sea of minds: Immunity 11 (Common Descriptor: Mental Powers, Rare Descriptor: Immune to Rat Swarm powers)
Giting, Gnashing, Gnawing: Strength-based Burst Area Strike 6 (DC 25; Burst Area 3: 120 feet radius sphere, Custom 12: Strength Based area.)
Massive Swarm: Growth 8 (+8 STR, +8 STA, +4 Intimidate, -8 Stealth, -4 active defenses, +2 size categories, +1 speed ranks; Affects Corporeal 4, Innate; Permanent)
There are always more rats: Regeneration 20 (2 per round; Innate)

Offense
Initiative +0
Giting, Gnashing, Gnawing: Strength-based Burst Area Strike 6 (DC 25)
Grab, +0 (DC Spec 14)
Throw, +0 (DC 19)
Unarmed, +0 (DC 19)

Complications
Hatred: These rats hate all living things are gladly will tear anything apart
Reputation: Rats are known disease carriers

Languages
Native Language

Defense
Dodge 6, Parry 6, Fortitude 14, Toughness 14, Will 1

Power Points
Abilities -2 + Powers 100 + Advantages 1 + Skills 0 (0 ranks) + Defenses 20 = 119