Maleficent as a Call of Cthulhu Character
This post is my most popular post. I don't know what that says exactly, but I doubt it says much about the actual intended readersip of this blog. Certainly there are fantasy fans who play Call of Cthulhu and also like Maleficent.
Personally? Haven't seen it, except over my wife's shoulder on an airplane. Sleeping Beauty is certainly one of the more well designed Disney movies from a purely art direction standpoint, although I think my actual favorite would be a toss up between Disney's Robin Hood and The Princess and the Frog. (Hey I have a three year old daughter. I spend more time in Princess land than Cthulhu Land).
Enough gibberish though. The new Call of Cthulhu is coming out soon, and therefore we must relearn how to create characters. I personally enjoy the injection of figures from film and literature into my gaming, so as an intellectual exercise we shall create Maleficent, thusly coming full circle from the previously mentioned most popular post.
Maleficent's characteristics, for which we had to roll.
Strength (3d6*5) = 55
Size (2d6*5) = 45
Constitution (3d6*5) = 25
Dexterity (3d6*5) = 35
Appearance (3d6*5) = 75
Intelligence (2d6+6)*10 =50
Education (2d6+6)*10 = 65
Power (3d6*5) = 90
I cheated on the power. Nothing much otherwise seems ill suited for Maleficent. Except she's some sort of immortal fairy queen, so she should probably get some free points. Bam.
Strength = 65
Size = 45
Constitution = 75
Dexterity = 35
Appearance = 75
Intelligence =50
Education = 65
Power = 140
Luck = 70
Now, fairies don't necessarily have book learning. Traditionally, I base fairy characters in any game after the fairies in the novel Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell - immortal, immensely powerful and inhuman, but not able to really exist in the real world. But she should be very durable and very magical, hence her constitution and power skills.
HP = Constitution + Size / 10 = 12 HP, but again, being an immortal fairy, we'll provide a 25% boost, up to 16 HP.
Occupation: Fairy Wizard
Her Skills? She's not a Professor, gangster or dilettante, so we're going to skip the usual COC skillset.
English 90%, Talk to Birds 90%, Knowledge of Plants 75%, Longsword 60%, Dreaming 100%
Spells:
Prophetic Wish
Cost - 1d6+3 POW Make a sanity roll, on failure lose 1d6 Sanity.
Regardless of result of sanity roll, Maleficent can make a prediction that will certainly come true.
Raven Familiar
A bird is bonded to Maleficent. She sees through his eyes when needed, and she grants him the ability to assume human form when it seems appropriate. He will not willingly endanger himself. If he is killed, she takes 1d8 damage and temporarily takes a heavy penalty to spellcasting.
Sleeping Curse
Cost - 1d6 POW, 1d6 Sanity
Takes 1 day to enact. Certain requirements must be met and determined in advance by Maleficent and the Keeper, if not one and the same. Target and all other humans within immediate area, again at Keeper's discretion.
There is also a spell called Death Spell in the new Keeper's Guide which has the alternate name Ye Dreadful Pricking, which seems appropriate and may be substituted for Sleeping Curse. If I recall correctly, Maleficent was actually attempting to kill Sleeping Beauty with the needle of a spinning wheel but a wise fairy changes thing somewhat.
The best one is this one, though.
Assume Dragon Form - Costs 1d6+12 POW. Maleficent becomes a terrible dragon but loses the ability to cast other spells. She is not invulnerable in this form, but very tough and can fly and breath fire. She can only maintain this form for a few rounds at most. Seeing her in this form causes any witnessing investigators to make a sanity check with a 1d8 penalty.
Perhaps she would be best used in some sort of Cthulhu Invictus campaign, you probably can't have a Dragon flying around Manhattan in your Call of Cthulhu campaign. Although Maleficent does like someone who might want a copy of the Necronomicon, so perhaps she can be a shadowy, manipulative figure even in modern times.
Has anyone else used fairies or Dragons in their Call of Cthulhu campaigns?