Angel archetype character...ideas?

[paul_runstedler]

I want to make a character that is essentially what everyone's idea of an angel is. I've given him some healing, and some aid to pres in an area of affect (always on, pers, etc)

Does anyone have any ideas on the types of abilities a classic 'Angel' type figure would have?

Thanks.

[paul_runstedler]

Also I have a damage shield that activates when the character is attacked (its kinda a holy vengence against mere mortals who dare attempt violence agains the angel) :)

[Hermit]

Depends on what sort of angel.
Are we talking the flame sword wielding warrior of God type,
the Guardian angel in human guise (ala "Touched by an Angel"/"Highway to Heaven"), the invisible guardian that watches over,
The freakin' Angel of death that whacks out first born when the pharoah is being especially stubborn?

Because if you're trying to incorporate them all, I'd go with a multiform.

Heck, a warrior face and a healer face might be a good mix. Have one very Righteous Fury sort, and another genteel and beautific.

[paul_runstedler]

Hmm, never took that into account.

I guess I was thinking about the flaming sword of God type angel (but with a multiform or shapeshift into the more touched by an angel persona :) )

Now that I've narrowed it...what do you think an angel like that would be capable of?

[Blue]

Here are some random angel powers:
Telepathy only for communication, radius around the character. You'd be hearing his voice in your head instead of all around you. Then you could take the mute disadvantage. Egoists need never listen to you ever, but the average guy would be impressed :-)
Voice of God: A sonic attack, TK, or shockwave type power for those angry moments when you need evrything to rattel within hearing distance
Bless/Curse type powers (Aid and Drain, bestowed at a touch)
Flight with wings that can be fouled, or instead you could go the T-port route, the way angels just seem to appear out of nowhere.
Aura (Change environment for simulating the way an area "feels" calm or "angry" with the mood of the angel

There are tons more. But I'm outta time.

[Supreme]

You should also have some form of Universal Translator as angels are able to speak all the languages of man. You should also do some internet research on the subject. There's a vast mythology and folklore surrounding angels. There are several orders of angels which vary greatly in ability and function within God's kingdom.

[Hermit]

There's a 4th Edition write up of an 'Angel hero' named Jacob on the Titans of Tommorrow site; Good fiction by his player as well.

I like Blue's ideas...

A variation on the curse might be a Major Transformation that can inflict or cure physical conditions such as Blindness, Lameness, etc.

Angels are often portrayed as glowing, or being to hard to look upon. Maybe a Sight (And Mystic sense) flash that does knockback would be a nice touch.

How about a flaming sword HKA, with a limited AP (The Advantage would only work on the infernal)

Change Envoriment to create a 'Holy Aura' or Sanctify might be good... it would set off some susceptabilites (Fry, Dracula, Fry) of some supernatural foes.

Either a Force Wall, or a Force Field usable by others at range... to protect your charges. "You shall not touch her."

[Jhamin]

I actually have an Angel PC in my hero group. Something that I thought added alot to the character was building her without any frameworks or power disadvangates other than foulable wings. She cost more, but never finds herself at a disadvantage.

It's a subtle thing, but it really adds to the other players perception of her as divinely graceful.

[BishopofB&W]

There's an entire line of idea sources. The In Nomine series from
Steve Jackson Games has many ideas for powers and character types, both angels and demons.

[Blue]

There's also a German game that's published in the US by white-wolf that's all about the angels.

Biblically, there's 9 orders of angels (Dominions, Thrones, Principalities, Angels, Arc-Angels, Cherubim, Seraphim, Virtues and Powers... In no particular order).

In non-biblical terms, there are 9 angels also. (First, Second, Third, Shortstop, Catcher, Pitcher, Right, Left, and Center). Gooooo Angels! Of course their powers include kicking Yankee @$$. Hope their powers hold up again this year.

[winterhawk]

Since I get a lot of ideas from 'edutainment' like the History Channel and Discovery, I thought I'd mention that there is a program called Angels: Good and Bad this coming Monday 9/8c of The History Channel.

[Patriot]

An Angel in the familly of Gabriel can have a really awesome last ditch power
Gabriels Trumpet:
2d6 RKA AE:Radius Megascale +4 Killing NND Def:Celestial stature
1 charge never recovers lasting full minute

[paul_runstedler]

Originally posted by winterhawk
Since I get a lot of ideas from 'edutainment' like the History Channel and Discovery, I thought I'd mention that there is a program called Angels: Good and Bad this coming Monday 9/8c of The History Channel.

Hey, cool! Thanks I'll make sure I catch it.

I ended up having the following abilities so far
7d6 eb Damage shield (only vs living creatures) (only against creatures intending immediate physical harm, i.e. grabs do not apply unless squeezing damage ensues)
2d6 flash attack linked to DS

2d6 aid to Pres AOARadius 2" (max 20 pts) only usable against pres attacks

Holy Might (Bonus to a bunch of stats (str, con, pres) for a limitted amount of time)

Sword of righteousness, +7d6 eb HTH attack (addes str damage as energy damage)
2d6 Pres drain linked to sword

Thinking about some change environments as well (maybe the ability to bless objects/water)

[Supreme]

Hey, I just thought of something...

It's a commonly accepted rule of theology that divine beings, such as angels, are incapable of sinning, or tempting others to sin. You should write in some physical limitations to this effect.

Also, if you want to see a good movie with a lot of good stuff about angels, see "Dogma". Yeah, the action scenes are lame, but all the stuff about angels is right on with the folklore.

[Yogzilla]

I recommend "City of Angels", but be warned it is definitely a date flick. Still, take all the 'sappy romance' away, and you've got a pretty cool interpretation on angels.

-Yogzilla

[Wormhole]

Quote Supreme:It's a commonly accepted rule of theology that divine beings, such as angels, are incapable of sinning, or tempting others to sin.
What about fallen angels becoming demons like in Jewish and Christian theology?

[Supreme]

Originally posted by Wormhole
What about fallen angels becoming demons like in Jewish and Christian theology?
They tend to be different, often reversed, though I have heard versions of the folklore that say that demons still cannot lie.

[Burnout]

There was a player some years ago that had an Angel type character. Probably the single coolest power she had was Extra Dimensional Movement- Heaven. Even better, she could take multiple people there, including the party's athiest. :)

[Hermit]

Originally posted by Burnout
There was a player some years ago that had an Angel type character. Probably the single coolest power she had was Extra Dimensional Movement- Heaven. Even better, she could take multiple people there, including the party's athiest. :)
Okay, now that is funny. :)

"I don't believe in Atheism."-Hawkeye Pierce

[Kevin Scrivner]

I drew up an angelic wings-and-sword type character for a friend a couple years ago. He was sort of a flying brick with a Hand Attack sword. He had high defenses and full Life Support, including Longevity.

The New Testament talks about people "entertaining angels unawares." Although biblical angels acting as messengers sometimes shone like searchlights and terrified humans by their mere presence, their appearances were often much more subtle. The trio of angels who warned Abraham about the destruction of Sodom looked like ordinary dusty travelers. It wasn't until they started talking about his yet-to-be-born son and the city's fate that Abraham began to catch on to who he was dealing with. When the angels entered the city to warn Abraham's nephew Lot, members of the gay community foolishly tried to pick them up (they were apparently handsome specimens). Gideon, a Hebrew farmer hiding from enemy troops, wondered who the nut case was that showed up at his hideout and pronounced him a mighty military leader. When he offered the fellow lunch, the angel ignited the food as an offering to the Lord. Gideon decided maybe there was something to his words, after all. ;)

With this in mind, you might give your angel ShapeShifting into any human form for passing as mortal, or Invisibility for moving through crowds unseen.

[Karma]

Originally posted by Supreme
They tend to be different, often reversed, though I have heard versions of the folklore that say that demons still cannot lie.

In Nomine has a cool take on that idea. Only one type of angel cannot lie (Seraphim, Most Holy, Angels of Divine Truth) however when the Fall they become Balseraphs (Most Unholy, Demons of lies) who don't 'lie' they just change their entire perception of reality until what they are saying is their subjective truth. Their not lying, their telling the truth as they see it (and in essence become the greatest of liars, those who can lie to themselves).

As for 'Angel powers' if you go with the 'biblical' description of some angels then to look upon their faces causes such rapture that people die.

Ego Attack (Does Body) or BOECV Killing Attack with 'Victim must look at Angel'.
If your really nasty: NND Does Body, BOECV (defence is Blindness or not looking at Angel).

Of course such angels hid their visages behind their wings (They had 3 sets, one for flying, one for face covering, and one to cover their 'ankles' (which most biblical scholars now agree was a mistranslation by 'right thinking' people of 'privates') so making it 'Always on' might be appropriate.

[Rage]

Originally posted by Supreme
Hey, I just thought of something...

It's a commonly accepted rule of theology that divine beings, such as angels, are incapable of sinning, or tempting others to sin. You should write in some physical limitations to this effect.

Also, if you want to see a good movie with a lot of good stuff about angels, see "Dogma". Yeah, the action scenes are lame, but all the stuff about angels is right on with the folklore.

Huh?
I have never read that in the bible.
Infact in the book of Job you see the opposite (Satan is the only "bad guy" who definitly was an angel. There is nothing that spells out whether the demons are angels.)

I think a whopping great PRE is needed personally.

[BNakagawa]

Originally posted by Burnout
There was a player some years ago that had an Angel type character. Probably the single coolest power she had was Extra Dimensional Movement- Heaven. Even better, she could take multiple people there, including the party's athiest. :)

I wonder if that power should work on a PC who did not have a soul.

[Rage]

Originally posted by BNakagawa
I wonder if that power should work on a PC who did not have a soul.


yeah. the courts of someone whose meant to be all powerful should be able to do that.

Besides does the character not have a spirit?
Spirit and soul are different.

[Supreme]

Originally posted by Rage
Huh?
I have never read that in the bible.
Infact in the book of Job you see the opposite (Satan is the only "bad guy" who definitly was an angel. There is nothing that spells out whether the demons are angels.)

I think a whopping great PRE is needed personally.
That's because it isn't there. It's in the volumes and volumes of essays and discourses written by people examining the bible. A lot of these things are decided in the various councils of the pre-schism Catholic Church. That's where they decide things like that.
"Do Christians have to be Jews?"
"What is the nature of divinity?"
"Was Jesus present at the creation of the universe?"
"Was Jesus half-God and half-human, or was he all one or the other?"
And if I remember correctly, the angel was not mentioned as "Satan" by name in the book of Job. Many sects have an official interpretation that it was Satan, and may have printed devotional translations that reflect that interpretation. But, the book itself does not give the angel a name.

[Burnout]

Originally posted by BNakagawa
I wonder if that power should work on a PC who did not have a soul.

Well just because you are an atheist doesn't mean you don't have a soul. It just depends on how you look at it.

[Supreme]

Originally posted by Burnout
Well just because you are an atheist doesn't mean you don't have a soul. It just depends on how you look at it.
I don't think he was referring to an atheist character. There are other "soulless" options. What about androids? vampires? werewolves?

[Rage]

Originally posted by Supreme
That's because it isn't there. It's in the volumes and volumes of essays and discourses written by people examining the bible. A lot of these things are decided in the various councils of the pre-schism Catholic Church. That's where they decide things like that.
"Do Christians have to be Jews?"
"What is the nature of divinity?"
"Was Jesus present at the creation of the universe?"
"Was Jesus half-God and half-human, or was he all one or the other?"
And if I remember correctly, the angel was not mentioned as "Satan" by name in the book of Job. Many sects have an official interpretation that it was Satan, and may have printed devotional translations that reflect that interpretation. But, the book itself does not give the angel a name.

Ahhh Dogma....

and it was Satan

Job: 1:6-12 NIV
6 One day the angels [1] came to present themselves before the LORD , and Satan [2] also came with them. 7 The LORD said to Satan, "Where have you come from?"
Satan answered the LORD , "From roaming through the earth and going back and forth in it."
8 Then the LORD said to Satan, "Have you considered my servant Job? There is no one on earth like him; he is blameless and upright, a man who fears God and shuns evil."
9 "Does Job fear God for nothing?" Satan replied. 10 "Have you not put a hedge around him and his household and everything he has? You have blessed the work of his hands, so that his flocks and herds are spread throughout the land. 11 But stretch out your hand and strike everything he has, and he will surely curse you to your face."
12 The LORD said to Satan, "Very well, then, everything he has is in your hands, but on the man himself do not lay a finger."
Then Satan went out from the presence of the LORD .



Job 1:6-12 KJV
6 Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan came also among them.
7 And the LORD said unto Satan, Whence comest thou? Then Satan answered the LORD, and said, From going to and fro in the earth, and from walking up and down in it.
8 And the LORD said unto Satan, Hast thou considered my servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth God, and escheweth evil?
9 Then Satan answered the LORD, and said, Doth Job fear God for nought?
10 Hast not thou made an hedge about him, and about his house, and about all that he hath on every side? thou hast blessed the work of his hands, and his substance is increased in the land.
11 But put forth thine hand now, and touch all that he hath, and he will curse thee to thy face.
12 And the LORD said unto Satan, Behold, all that he hath is in thy power; only upon himself put not forth thine hand. So Satan went forth from the presence of the LORD.

[paul_runstedler]

Wow! Some really awesome ideas out there.

A whopping great presence has been taken to heart. I think he has 25 to start, plus he gets his +20 (from his AOA aid - since he doesn't have a personal immunity - though its only vs pres attacks)

Then he has his holy might, which adds another 15 on there. This is the point where he turns from the dustry traveller into the white winged angel of heaven. (total pres 60 vs all pres attacks, 40 to make pres attacks with)

The game has started, and I decided that this character only has memory of his life for the last 2 weeks (the amount of time he's been on earth). He doesn't really know what he is yet (though he has his suspicions). He has no knowledge of most earthly things except the basics. He has an immense amount of knowledge about God, his ways, Jesus' teachings, etc. So he travels as a priest. He knows he has some strange abilities, but they haven't all shown themselves.

We're playing in a kind of post-holocaust world (very similary the world in SK's gunslinger books). Anyway, another character in the party has created a character that is essentially a vampire (albeit one that is trying to reform - ala Loius from Anne Rice's 'Interview with the Vampire').

As you can imagine, our meeting hasn't been the smoothest. It didnt help that we accompanied a vampire hunter into the town to hunt down this player's character :)

Some interesting disadvantages for him is his inability to lie, and his sense of honor etc.

Paul

[st barbara]

Given that my "other" champions character "Zianor" is er "blessed" by an angel I guess I should say something here. If you are looking for names and perhaps basic ideas try getting hold of a copy of "A Dictionary Of Angels" by Gustav Davidson. Although the descriptions are often brief, it may give you some ideas for names of some lesser known angels and even suggestions for their powers. "Zianor" for example is described as "An angel invoked in the conjurartion of inks and colours". My character "Zianor" is an illusionist (images) with flight, desolid and a visible T K hand !(he also has universal translator, but only for written languages, and i've just added some healing as well). But I started with the above quoted 10 word description !

[Smoot]

Highly recommend taking a look at In Nomine (http://www.sjgames.com/sjgames/in-nomine/resources.html). The game weaves together lots of kinds of angelic lore into a modern setting, and also has some neat concepts you could use: Words, for example- basically, what the angel is the Angel of (Mercy, Justice, Comfort For the Grieving, etc) The "other side" has them, too (Wrath, Gluttony, Taking Credit for Other People's Work, etc).

Before sending you to City of Angels, I'd wholeheartedly recommend the German movies that it 'came from'- Wim Wenders' Wings of Desire and So Far Away, So Close!. The angels in them have a really wonderful sort of telepathy. (They are subtitled, though, I should say.)

Neil Gaiman's done some nice stuff about "The Silver City", too- his short story "Murder Mysteries" is about the first murder- before Humans, before even the Earth.

The two, taken together, are pretty clear influences on DC's character "Zauriel". Interestingly, he couldn't truly be killed unless his name was erased from The Book.

Oh, and I just read a book suggesting that Kevin Smith's, um, bouncy and unorthodox take on theology in Dogma came from looking at it like a fanboy- he dives into concepts like Plenary Indulgence with the same glee as he would, say, the continuity of the Crisis on Infinite Earths or the fate of contractors on the second Death Star. :)

The tricky thing about an angelic character is that you can 'fit' almost anything onto the idea- Angels, as instruments of divine will, would be given (or 'lent') enough oomph to Get The Job Done, no matter what the assignment. The idea of an angel, say, losing, is a bit unusual.

The IN game resolves this, a bit, with the concept of The Symphony- a metaphor for the Plan, as it were. "Celestials" in that game don't just come in, with city-levelling power, because it would disrupt things to an unacceptable degree. (The Other Side doesn't, because it'd attract unwanted attention.)

Your character could maybe be on Earth on assignment (protect this, prevent that, ensure the other thing). Probably not an Archangel (overkill for anything not actually ending the universe), but perhaps from the lower echelons.

From there, who knows? Aloof and judging; protective and subtle; curious and almost jealous of Humans; bold but basically following orders, all have precedent in one place or another...

How's it going so far? Character coming along OK?

PS: Maybe angels can't 'sin' per se, because the concept of Sin is intended to determine where Humans go in the afterlife? (As an Angel can't 'die', it can't really have an afterlife as such)

[McCoy]

Originally posted by Supreme
It's a commonly accepted rule of theology that divine beings, such as angels, are incapable of sinning, or tempting others to sin. You should write in some physical limitations to this effect.

It is?

I thought it was more commonly accepted that Angels have Free Will, that they CAN sin, but they choose not to.

So instead of a physical limitation, I would have given the character a high Ego, or levels to bring up the Ego roll to at least 17.

[paul_runstedler]

Originally posted by Smoot
How's it going so far? Character coming along OK?

PS: Maybe angels can't 'sin' per se, because the concept of Sin is intended to determine where Humans go in the afterlife? (As an Angel can't 'die', it can't really have an afterlife as such) [/B]

Thanks for all the info. I'll examine when I get a few free minutes. Things are going well so far. In the game I'm playing, the angel doesn't really know what he is. He is very pious, and humble. He treats his devotion to God as a very important thing (obviously). Currently, we're in a church, speaking with a cardinal. A band of 'evil-doers' (for lack of a better term) has broken in to ensure we don't cut in on their evil-doing. This is the first time that rage has boiled up within Liam (that's his name). He finds it quite foreign, but is having trouble controling it. One of the villians has already taken a hostage (a middle-aged woman who was praying in a pew at the time). Its a challenge to play since Liam doesn't like to hurt anyone, but the desecration of a place of worship added together with a threat to end innocent lives has enraged him to an almost uncontrollable point.

Paul

[Supreme]

Originally posted by McCoy
It is?

I thought it was more commonly accepted that Angels have Free Will, that they CAN sin, but they choose not to.

So instead of a physical limitation, I would have given the character a high Ego, or levels to bring up the Ego roll to at least 17.
Well, maybe I'm misremembering my theology from college (religious studies major at UC Davis). However, I do remember that divine beings, such as Christ, are unable to sin or tempt others to sin (which is sort of redundant because that's a sin in and of itself). I was assuming that angels are inherently divine beings. I realize that this is contradictory with the rebellion of the Morning Star (aka Lucifer) and the rebellion of Heaven, but that wouldn't be the first time would it?