And For My Next Trick...

[Dust Raven]

This is about the same character from the "Cloak"ing Device thread. Her name is Encantra, and she's a pulp era superhero whose powers are all classic stage illusion made reality. She can pull a rabit out of her hat, summon doves from the air, levitate, make things vanish, etc...

What we (her player and I) are looking for are ideas of Powers she can have that follow these lines. She's being designed for a solo one-on-one campaign so we have something to do between our biweekly games, and needs to be fairly self sufficient.

Her current powers include magic rings she can use as projectiles or to trap people (not really a stage magician trick, but magic rings are somewhat popular), a magic hat she can teleport small objects to her with, a cloak that makes her or other people/objects vanish, a deck of telekinetic playing cards and the ability to summon doves she can use as messengers or spies.

And we're turning to the Hero System Unimind for more ideas...

Rep to all who provide us with an idea we'll use (even if not right away). And that's for each idea; if I can't rep you, I'll get her on here to do it.

[Bloodstone]

Hypnotism is the first thing that comes to mind.

[Lucius]

Houdini's act - Desolidification, requires skill roll: Contortionist.

Lucius Alexander

The palindromedary is ruminating....

[Lucius]

Saw a lady in half - stretching, usable on others. Or usable on herself, and be REALLY impressive.

Lucius Alexander

Where did the palindromedary go?

[Lucius]

The old Indian Rope Trick. Cause the end of the rope to rise into the air, climb the rope, pull it up after you.

Lucius Alexander

Where did that palindromedary come from?

[LoresLost]

What comes to mind is the trick the Metamorphosis, The ablity to become some one else while they are contained or switch forms with them (Maybe with who ever is in the cloak). Also precog with any deck of cards (I know which card you have...)

[OddHat]

The Lady is the Tiger, either as a Multiform for herself or as a Summon that must follow wrapping someone else in her cloak.

Fire Breathing of course (there's a real world magician whose name escapes me at the moment who once used his Fire Breathing trick to chase off some toughs harrassing a chorus girl after the show).

Add in all sorts of Fre Handling, just as an SFX fo an ED force field.

Snatching Bullets and Arrows out of the air was a classic stage magic trick, one Penn and Teller were still doing in the 90s. Use Missile Deflection, or even Reflection.

Juggling an Knife Throwing have obvious applications.

All sorts of transformation attacks.

There's a trick where knives cut and pierce the magician's flesh, then the magician rubs at the blood with a rag and "She's OK!" Call it Healing that can be used once per turn on the same subject, or Armor that doesn't stop penetration, or both.

[Log-Man]

Do you only want Pulp era magic?

First thing I thought of that's not on your list is ventriloquism, easy to replicate with auditory images.

[ghost-angel]

Maybe include some tricks with hankerchiefs as the SFX, the character should be able to pull a few out of a sleeve, or even their mouth for various tricks (rope to esecape or tie someone up, or somesuch) in a pinch.

[Dust Raven]

Cool ideas so far! The Lady/Tiger sounds great, but probably something the character will build up to with experience.

Talked with the player last night and it looks like Encantra is focusing on Escapology, the art of escaping traps and restraints. Apparently her role-model/personal hero is Houdini. She'll definately have other tricks she can do (just like Houdini) but be an expert at escaping certain death (lots of Skill points spent on Lockpicking and Contortionist). The Desolid idea might work for most of this, but I'm not too convinced about its applicibility to all situations, or the need for such a heavy point cost.

Keep these ideas coming!

[Log-Man]

Cool ideas so far! The Lady/Tiger sounds great, but probably something the character will build up to with experience.

Talked with the player last night and it looks like Encantra is focusing on Escapology, the art of escaping traps and restraints. Apparently her role-model/personal hero is Hudini. She'll definately have other tricks she can do (just like Hudini) but be an expert at escaping certain death (lots of Skill points spent on Lockpicking and Contortionist). The Desolid idea might work for most of this, but I'm not too convinced about its applicibility to all situations, or the need for such a heavy point cost.

Keep these ideas coming!
Being a big fan of Houdini and Mr. Miracle, I think it's a great way to go. I've always been fond of using a minor transform: locked to unlocked as a start. I've been shouted down for it, too, so it's obviously not for everyone.

[CourtFool]

Teleportation, IPE, RSR Contortionist and/or Lockpicking, Extra Time, Requires A Distraction.

[BoneDaddy]

A shill is an essential to many good magic acts, especially mind reading and the like. Convincing henchmen to become HER henchmen would be a handy trick, and par for the course. Perhaps a little mind control with a RSR: seduction?

[prestidigitator]

How about Invisibility (to at least the Sight Group) with RSR: Magician (PS) (or a suitable Power Skill if the character has one) and Only While Stationary (-1)? The RSR can probably cover things like the magician needing some sort of prop, situation, or other cover to use it, but you could add in another Real Magic (-1/4) Limitation or some such if you felt like it.

EDIT: Oh. Upon re-read that might be covered by her cloak. Sorry.

[OddHat]

Hey, Watch Me Pull a Rabbit Out Of My Hat!: Summon 25-point creatures, Friendly (+1/4), Expanded Class of Beings Very Limited Group (Any animal small enough to be pulled out of a hat.; +1/4), Reduced Endurance (0 END; +1/2) (10 Active Points); OIF (Any Hat; would be an OAF, but any hat will do. Animal limited by hat size.; -1/2), Gestures (Must reach into hat with a flourih and pull animal out.; -1/4), Incantations ("Hey! Watch me pull a rabbit out of my hat!"; -1/4). Real Cost: 5

With XP, she could improve her class of beings so that the hat size is no longer an issue, allowing her to move on to "Hey, watch me pull a Rabbi out of my hat!"

Animals are friendly and will perform simple tricks, but are not slavishly loyal and thus may simply flee from stressful situations at GM's option.

[Jaxom]

The other "shills" of there era include the manequin acts. Maybe a henchman who is the typical horrific animated dummy.

There are also lots of prognosticators. Low-level mind reading. Purported telekinesis/poltergeist phenomena. Aura reading.

I've got a pulp character (built in a different system) who has mind reading (reading high-level thoughts), charged (roughly 5 per day equivalent) telekinesis, aura reading and mentalist-based invisability. Tack on decent skills and you have a pretty self-sufficient build.

[prestidigitator]

How about Discriminatory, Analyze, and/or Rapid bought for normal Senses, based on being able to, "magically sense things in the blink of an eye," and such.

[Mantis]

Sounds a bit like Mumbo-Jumbo from the Teen Titans TV show. There was also a lady magician who helps Batman in one JLU episode - the one where Wonder Woman becomes Wonder Pig - but I don't know the character's name.

Some Magician skills/Powers, off the top of my head (no 5ER handy): high DEX, Sleight of Hand, Concealment (for hiding things up sleeves), Lightning Reflexes (hand is quicker than the eye), Acting, Oratory (stage patter, exception: Teller), Lockpicking/Security Systems, Contortionist, limited Life Support (can hold breath for a long time), Flash/Darkness (vanish in a puff of smoke, dim the houselights), and a Gadget Pool (stage props). For "superpowered" magic: Desolid, Teleport (self and UOO), Invisibility, Summon, Transform, Dispel, maybe Shrinking (alternative to Desolid get out of bonds or sealed boxes etc, or perhaps as well as), Mental Illusions. Perk: Member of Magician's Guild. Some sort of ability to Disarm (Mook: "Freeze or I'll shoot!" Magician: "With what?" Mook looks down - hand is empty. Mook looks up - Magician is twirling his pistol around her finger. "Lost something?").

[prestidigitator]

Ooh! Here's a good one: Stretching with Invisible Power Effects (especially for the Touch Group) and RSR: Sleight of Hand. For a more advanced version, add full Indirect!

EDIT: For trasferring things in and out of pockets, envelopes, etc.

[BoneDaddy]

Hey, Watch Me Pull a Rabbit Out Of My Hat!: Summon 25-point creatures, Friendly (+1/4), Expanded Class of Beings Very Limited Group (Any animal small enough to be pulled out of a hat.; +1/4), Reduced Endurance (0 END; +1/2) (10 Active Points); OIF (Any Hat; would be an OAF, but any hat will do. Animal limited by hat size.; -1/2), Gestures (Must reach into hat with a flourih and pull animal out.; -1/4), Incantations ("Hey! Watch me pull a rabbit out of my hat!"; -1/4). Real Cost: 5

With XP, she could improve her class of beings so that the hat size is no longer an issue, allowing her to move on to "Hey, watch me pull a Rabbi out of my hat!"

Animals are friendly and will perform simple tricks, but are not slavishly loyal and thus may simply flee from stressful situations at GM's option.
This cries out for "side effects."

"Whoops, musta grabbed the wrong hat!"

"Again!?"

[Farkling]

do not forget the staple of the pulp magician.

A holdout pistol or a swordcane. :rolleyes:

[OddHat]

This cries out for "side effects."

"Whoops, musta grabbed the wrong hat!"

"Again!?"

The perfect addition. Repped.

[Michael Hopcroft]

This cries out for "side effects."

"Whoops, musta grabbed the wrong hat!"

"Again!?"
"No doubt about it, Fred -- I gotta get another hat!"

Which brings up the possibility that the character can secret the most unexpected items away in her costume in a manner that far exceeds the capabilities of even an 18- Concealment skill. Sometimes it might make sense: "Hey, where did those keys come from?" "Hey, where did that lockpick come from?" "Hey, where did that pistol come from?" And sometimes it might defy the bounds of logic: "Hey, where did that sub-machinegun come from?" "Hey, where did that Buick come from?"

Hiding an item so big that you can't possibly carry it on your person, like the Buick mentioned above, is another neat trick. By using a variant on the "making an elephant disappear" trick, the character can seed the scene with useful items that only she has any idea are there. Effectively, they become Invisible until she reveals them (usually just before using them). A good enough magician can conceal the most improbable things, like brick walls (nothing beats tricking a bunch of goons into running full-speed into a wall they can't see) and Burmese Tiger Traps (if you're really nasty the trap can come pre-equipped with its very own Burmese Tiger!).

[Sean Waters]

Pocketpicking is a good old stage trick. Either a superskill or, as a power, UAA TP or stretching (does not cross intervening space).

[Diashan]

What about Missle Deflection by catching them with her cape. Also a good side plot when that other dimensional creature shows up to find out why she keeps throwing crap at him.


Diashan

[PhilFleischmann]

An other trick you can do with a magic hat (though it may be too cartoony for you): Summon living snowman, Lockout (can't use the hat for anything else without de-animating the snowman).

Flashes vs. Sight are always useful.

[Dust Raven]

Sounds a bit like Mumbo-Jumbo from the Teen Titans TV show. There was also a lady magician who helps Batman in one JLU episode - the one where Wonder Woman becomes Wonder Pig - but I don't know the character's name.

Mumbo-Jumbo is an example of what Encantra is NOT going to be like I believe. He's a bit too cartoony. The one you mention occasionally helping out Batman and WonderWoman is more like it though (and I can't remember her name either, damn!).

I liked your list of power ideas, though to be honest most of them are already on her "want" list.

[Dust Raven]

"No doubt about it, Fred -- I gotta get another hat!"

Which brings up the possibility that the character can secret the most unexpected items away in her costume in a manner that far exceeds the capabilities of even an 18- Concealment skill. Sometimes it might make sense: "Hey, where did those keys come from?" "Hey, where did that lockpick come from?" "Hey, where did that pistol come from?" And sometimes it might defy the bounds of logic: "Hey, where did that sub-machinegun come from?" "Hey, where did that Buick come from?"

Hiding an item so big that you can't possibly carry it on your person, like the Buick mentioned above, is another neat trick. By using a variant on the "making an elephant disappear" trick, the character can seed the scene with useful items that only she has any idea are there. Effectively, they become Invisible until she reveals them (usually just before using them). A good enough magician can conceal the most improbable things, like brick walls (nothing beats tricking a bunch of goons into running full-speed into a wall they can't see) and Burmese Tiger Traps (if you're really nasty the trap can come pre-equipped with its very own Burmese Tiger!).

For the most part, I think tricks like this are easily covered by the use of her cloak, which already makes this dissappear and reappear.

[Trystan Laryssa]

That would most likely be Zatanna that you all are thinking of... and Encantra IS a little different from her in that initially I didn't see her as actually using "real magic". What she has, in concept, is a magic box filled with lots and lots of stage props that work as much more than stage props, possibly with some "ancient Hindu mystic abilities" and such, and she herself has (as she will later discover when XP allows her to buy off some of her focus and charges limitations) mild to moderate telekinetic ability that she gained kinda Spiderman-like when she picked the lock on the box and got jabbed with a needle-trap. (One of those little things meant to attune the finder with the box's contents...)

So what I am looking for primarily are the "magic tricks" that require some little gadget or tool... linking rings, cloaks, hats, playing cards, and the like are already among some of the box's contents. I already see a lot of ideas I like, by the way... thanks so much!

[Michael Hopcroft]

Mumbo-Jumbo is an example of what Encantra is NOT going to be like I believe. He's a bit too cartoony. The one you mention occasionally helping out Batman and WonderWoman is more like it though (and I can't remember her name either, damn!).

Thet would be Zatanna, who in the mainline DC Universe was a sorcerer's daughter and second-generation superhero who posed as a stage magician. One of her schticks was that to cast a spell she had to recite it backwards, otherwise it wouldn't work.

One of my favorite characters in this vein cxomes from anime (which is probably not surprising). Kaitou Saint Tail was a young girl whose father was a stage magican and whose mother was a retired cat-burglar. She used stage-magic-like powers to take away items that had been wrongfully (thought not neccesarilu illegally) appropriated and return them to teir rightful owners. Aside from the capers, the really nice part was the cat-and-mouse game she played with the "junior detective" who obsessively pursued her -- and didn't know she went to school with him every day and was his constant verbal sparring partner. Can you say "in denial"? I knew you could....

[Dust Raven]

Thet would be Zatanna, who in the mainline DC Universe was a sorcerer's daughter and second-generation superhero who posed as a stage magician. One of her schticks was that to cast a spell she had to recite it backwards, otherwise it wouldn't work.

One of my favorite characters in this vein cxomes from anime (which is probably not surprising). Kaitou Saint Tail was a young girl whose father was a stage magican and whose mother was a retired cat-burglar. She used stage-magic-like powers to take away items that had been wrongfully (thought not neccesarilu illegally) appropriated and return them to teir rightful owners. Aside from the capers, the really nice part was the cat-and-mouse game she played with the "junior detective" who obsessively pursued her -- and didn't know she went to school with him every day and was his constant verbal sparring partner. Can you say "in denial"? I knew you could....

And the name of that anime would be...?

Okay, so you got me interested. Besides, if you couldn't tell, I'm a bit of an anime fanatic myself. :thumbup:

[Michael Hopcroft]

And the name of that anime would be...?

Okay, so you got me interested. Besides, if you couldn't tell, I'm a bit of an anime fanatic myself. :thumbup:
It's called, appropriately enough, Saint Tail. (The full Japanese title is Kaitou Saint Tail.) It was released on DVD in the US, but wasn't all that successful comparatively and the earlier volumes are hard to find. I suggest Amazon.com.

Saint Tail has some interesting dyanmics around the character. She is given her "jobs" by her best friend Seira, a novice nun (most of the cast attends a Catholic middle scholl with a teaching staff composed entirely of nuns) whom people are ontinually coming to with their problems. Seira has an uncany ability to know all sorts of things, and people never lie to her. She has an equally uncanny way of manipulating Saint Tail, who frequently doesn't want to go out and steal.

The duel between Saint Tail/Meimi and Asuka Jr., her classmate and the son of the detective who pursued her mother, is also quite engrossing. For Saint Tail, going out on a job is like going out on a date with Asuka, who she likes but will not admit to it, and she encourages the pursuit by sending him a notice of each upcoming heist -- sometimes in the most aamzing ways.

By the way, you will definitely want to see the finale, a four-episode storyarc which I refer to as "Sins of the Mother". It's dyanmite.

NOTE: Kaitou is Japanese term that roughly translates to "Mysterious Thief". There are iunnermable Kaitous in anime and manga, from CLAMP's juvenile heartbreaker Kiatou Twnety Faces (who in addition to his appearance in Man of Many Faces is one of the heroes of CLAMP School Detectives) to Kamikaze Kaitou Jeanne (a demon fighter who is the reincarnated Joan of Arc) to Conan Edogawa's enemy The Kaitou Kid.