Source
r/BurningWheel•
MyDamnBlog

Best way to play a character who has a second identity.

Hi,

I'm absolutely going to talk to my DM and get her input on this before the character starts being used, but I'd like the input of this sub if I may.

I had an idea for a character. She is a religious zealot and her main goal is to hunt and kill "the corrupt", as they are blights on God's earth. Now, she's an absolute lunatic and basically just a glorified serial killer, and that is kind of where my questions lie.

She knows that she would be arrested and jailed were she caught, so she acts only at night, wears a costume to conceal her face and doesn't use her name obviously. So, a couple questions would be...

What gear would a costume be considered as? Clothes? Finery?

Can I buy an infamous reputation that only applies to her murderous persona?

Any solid instinct ideas relating to covering her tracks?

Thanks in advance for any answers. :)

Posted Apr 11, 2018, 1:07 AM UTC

89
SCHayworthDespair Shouter•

  1. Finery is, like, silk and ermine and fancy court clothes. Nothing in the rules says you can't spend RP on a second set of clothes that are different from each other. Thing is, there's not going to be any mechanical differences between the two, just fictional ones. That can be important, but it's not going to give you bonus dice or anything under most circumstances.

  2. I would not allow a rep, infamous or not, to only apply sometimes in a game I was running. Infamous reps should make your life difficult. If you don't want people to recognize you, you have to take active steps to avoid detection. Which means that you'd probably need to have Beliefs and Instincts related to that, which in turn means that the GM should be challenging those Beliefs and putting you in situations where you're going to get found out, and when you eventually fail a Test related to those beliefs, the cat will be out of the bag.

  3. This would depend on the situation in game, right? I mean, you'd probably have to be taking the time to cover up any evidence, and what that evidence is would change how you went about covering it up. You could probably come up with some Instincts about disguising or obscuring any footprints you leave, or, like "Always work Carefully when sneaking" in order to get that bonus die to not being seen.

6
IronybearTroll Lord•

Clothes for a disguise should come under disguise kit for said skill. Personally I'd allow a reputation for one persona but only if it is used for circles when in that persona (as another comment says).

3
Crusoe48•

Never miss signs of corruption; Never suffer the Corrupt to live; Always kill the Corrupt carefully and with due ritual........ (Or never hurry the destruction of the Corrupt)

These will make your life difficult for sure.

1
FlippantFish•

Clothes. The starting resources indicate that spending the 1 rp on clothes gives your character whatever wardrobe they require, short of finery. Unless your zealot is prancing around like a murderous nocturnal Elton John, there should be no reason to have to spend more than the 1 rp- your zealot costume is covered.

Regarding the infamous reputation, talk to your GM. Were I in his/her shoes I would permit the reputation with the stipulation that you may only invoke it while seeking out other characters as your zealous alter ego. And of course, discovery would apply that negative reputation to your character across the board.

SCHayworth hits the nail on the head with the instincts. Try to think of the easiest way the GM could have your character pursued, and work on warding yourself from that.

2
hidetzuguHostage•

Clothes. The starting resources indicate that spending the 1 rp on clothes gives your character whatever wardrobe they require, short of finery. Unless your zealot is prancing around like a murderous nocturnal Elton John, there should be no reason to have to spend more than the 1 rp- your zealot costume is covered.

There is however a disguise skill and, most importantly, a disguise toolkit associated with it. I'd say what you are trying to achieve falls under the parameters of this skill (which, I may add, has ridiculously low recommended Obs).

I'd discuss the use of that though. With me GMing I'd argue that the recommended Ob is for a passing interaction (like "someone spots you down the street next to a dead body") and you'd be rolling with increased Ob if you want, you know, meaningful interactions like "conversations" while on "murder mode".

Edit: If you go that way you'd putting a lot of focus on that skill, and I'd recommender you discuss the parameters of it with your GM before hand. Something like:

+1D on a dark street

+1 Ob for a 1 on 1 interaction

+2/3 Ob a 1 on 1 interaction with people that met the "normal" persona

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stormykinsDilettante•

The Disguise obs are low because they mostly remove obstacle penalties for Inconspicuous.

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hidetzuguHostage•

Thats a good point. So, as I said, they are meant to be applied only to passing interactions

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PetoPerceptum•

I'd suggest a character trait rather than an infamous reputation. The reputation would make sense if (once?) you are exposed but until then you'd probably get more mileage out of a trait.

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GrontiGraybeard•

I would allow the Infamous Rep to apply to the murderous persona alone, sure! Batman has an Infamous Rep that has nothing to do with Bruce Wayne and vice versa.

We do this in our own campaign. My character has a reputation tied to an outcast religion. Whenever I invoke it in my Circles test, my GM asks me if I'm sure I want it to be associated with that religion. Because it would definitely color the results.

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