Isosceles Navitas

[Rogrim]

Name: Isosceles Navitas

Age: 25

Gender: Male

Race: Gnome

Height: 3’ 9”

Weight: 90 pounds

Physical Description: Isosceles is tall for a gnome, and if not for his well-kept beard might be mistaken for a human child. His face fits the bill, large sparkling blue eyes, a button of a nose and a huge wonky smile framed by pleasantly shaped cheekbones. He has a thick head of black hair and smooth lightly tanned skin. His beard is small, clean and pointed, often with singed edges. It is not uncommon for him to have no eyebrows or very little were they should be. He has a wiry frame with little fat and only a spattering of lean muscle. He wears a sturdy pair of brown leather boots, just a tad too big for his feet. A pair of pocket-lined comfortable black trousers are held up by a matching brown leather belt. Tucked in at the waist is a long sleeved white cotton shirt, and over this is a black vest. He frequently wears black gloves and a canvas satchel and very much enjoys hats of all kinds. Finally, a pair of goggles with thick green lenses are usually stuck on his head.

Mental Description: Isosceles has a fiery and over-the-top personality. He accepts people for who they are, and believes in second chances and respect. Facing constant adversity through his childhood has led him to be stubborn and fierce in the face of opposition. Friendship carries a great value in his mind, and he will go through the worst of trials to back up his comrades. While his family holds classic traditional views Isosceles is a freethinking liberal. He is a curious soul and loves to examine everything and anything he can get his hands on in the search of knowledge. While very intelligent he tends to be a bit ditzy, and little things frequently slip his mind. Rules are no boundary, and he is constantly pushing the limits of what is accepted and known.

Possessions: Isosceles owns a small but prosperous shop with a variety of merchandise and equipment, and is rather capable of constructing many devices. He has an average sum of money saved up.

Gadgets:
-Omni-eye goggles: These goggles originally invented by Isosceles to negate the effect of his smoke bombs slowly expanded to include other uses. They have a few sets of lenses to increase his visual input in different scenarios. He has a set of light amplify lenses, which increase his vision in low light environments, but cannot assist in zero light situations. He has the set of lenses which work specifically with the chemicals in his smoke bombs, polarized at the right wave length to ignore the light scattered by the smoke particles. He also has a set of telescopic lenses which give about 2x zoom, while this may seem small it helps to give the heads up just a little earlier than somebody without any optical aid. He also has a simple set of heavily tinted lenses which significantly reduce his light intake, commonly used during welding. Finally he has a set of green lenses. Because he thinks its neat when everything is green.

-InstaSmoke: InstaSmoke is a relatively simple chemical formula that Isosceles discovered while trying to invent a mass area quick functioning air freshener. The device is simply a chalky solid substance wrapped around a core that is combustible under pressure. Hence when the ball is thrown the core compresses igniting the chalky covering, as it burns it releases smoke. The more of the substance is added the more smoke is produced. The standard size Isosceles uses is about as large as an apple and will spread over an area with a roughly 20 foot diameter at full release in about 30 seconds. The smoke dissipation rate depends heavily on the current weather conditions, measured in a no wind environment it takes around two minutes for dissipation to a level were vision is no longer hampered, with wind it can be cut down significantly to 30 seconds - 1 minute.

-Launcher: This devices consists of a 2 foot long metal tube with a trigger assembly near the base. On the side of the device is a crank. Inside is a heavy spring Isosceles painfully crafted over many weeks, it provides a heavy amount of launching force. It is a modular device capable of launching different mechanisms, although its main purpose is the grappler. Poking out of the end you can see the tip of a multi-pronged metal hook designed to latch on to a target. When fired a long metallic weave cable flows out of the weapon attached to the grapple. Once extended the crank is used to pull cable back into the chamber, and again compress the spring. Through a intuitive gnomish gear ratio system the crank effectively reduces the full weight of the load and thus by rotating the crank Isosceles is capable of pulling himself to the grapple hook. A leather strap allows Isosceles to hang this from his back.

-Cutall: This knife is the single most expensive of Isosceles possessions, it appears as an average knife about six inches in length with a slightly larger than average handle. In truth it is much much more. The blade is a composite of three metals. The core is made of strong reliable stainless steel, layered over this is a soft malleable metal. Finally the outside is covered with a coat of diamond powder, making it incredibly strong. As time passes and the blade is used the soft interior will compress and ever so slowly dissipate, this allows the edge to forever remain razor sharp, that is until the interior completely dissipates. Due to the diamond coating it is harder than virtually any material. While a very sharp knife is wonderful, without force behind it the knife will still fail to cut through hard substances. This is were the final secret of the blade comes in. Inside the over sized handle is a tiny motor attached to the tang of the blade which vibrates it over the tiniest fraction of an inch hundreds of times per second. The power core to this weapon was not only incredibly expensive, it is also very illegal. Inside is a tiny purple crystal, a crystal which by itself is a very rare and expensive item, but this specific and very special crystal has a near perfect lattice structure, a structure which allows it to resonate with magical energy. Over the course of two years Isosceles had every single magic user he sheltered pour a little energy into it until finally it was at maximum energy. Now his tiny blade will hum for a very very long time, and is capable of cutting through nearly anything with minimal effort. An excellent utility item to have.

-S17: S17 is a explosive formula that Isosceles has been working on for a very long time, each time he changes the formula the designation increased by one digit. It is a clay like substance, which is very stable under normal circumstances. But introduce flame, typically from a fuse and you get a powerful controllable explosion. While weaker by mass than dynamite, its stability utility and ease of use offers many advantages. A large sum can be carried, usually in flame retardant container, and then when the time comes an appropriate amount can be sliced off and used for a variety of purposes.

-Chirps: This very simple device is used for distractions, it is a small bird like metallic construct that when cranked and released will vibrate around emitting various strange whistles and chirps.

-Flexisteel Armor: This light flexible armor was created by weaving metals with different density and bending properties together into one construct and then layering it together with organic materials. While flexible it is quite difficult to break, so it excels at stopping projectiles. However since Isosceles is so small the force is still often enough to knock him over. It provides limited protection from melee attacks as well, and while it may be hard to penetrate or cut the force behind such close direct blows can easily cause massive bruising or even broken bones. Isosceles hates to rely on it, but hopefully it is enough to buy him a few extra seconds to escape.

On an average day Isosceles will typically always have his goggles at the ready, usually strapped on his forehead or hanging around his neck. Also strapped on his back in a satchel he keeps a variety of common tools and his cutall so he is always ready to tinker.

Only when expecting a dangerous situation will Isosceles don his armor, and carry some Instasmoke and his launcher.

Isosceles is an inventor, and as such will create new solutions to problems as they face him, so in the future event of a new item designed with combat effects, the above list will be modified and an appropriate staff member notified for approval.

Strengths:
Isosceles has a brilliant mind, he is fast learner, excellent critical thinker, and problem solver. His intelligence has gotten him out of more than one tight situation.

As with all gnomes Isosceles has a way with technology, while in his case this way often leads to fireworks it still is useful.

Isosceles has a decent throwing arm, developed from playing ball with his brothers. His added height often landed him the role of the thrower while his more bulky brothers would fight over the catch.

Weaknesses:
In melee combat Isosceles would be of little to no use and defeated by most opponents due to a massive weight disadvantage.

Isosceles can be a ditz, with little, but often-important things slipping his mind.

Isosceles is selfless to fault, a cunning, cold-hearted individual could easily take advantage of his kindness.

Seeing rules as no more than ink on paper this on the edge little gnome gets himself into all sorts of trouble.

History:

Isosceles was born into a prosperous and well known crafting family; his father had helped engineer the electrical system that powered Marn. A long line of siblings before him had all proved to be just as productive, creating all sorts of fantastic inventions to help society. And then came Isosceles. He was more a menace than a child, constantly leaving his crib to explore for anything he could play with. And without fault almost anything he touched at least broke, if it didn’t explode. By the age of two he had already been responsible for three city wide black outs, which his family worked over time to fix.

His parents were astounded as he continued to grow, it was clear he had an excellent understanding of the principles behind the technology even at a young age. Many of his designs were very hit or miss, some tragically explosive, others functioning with incredible precision. His one true forte was explosions. Anything he designed to explode did so, and very spectacularly. He often clashed with his family, who had long been very conservative. He experimented with designs and blueprints others considered far to risky.

At the age of maturity of eighteen Isosceles gladly moved out into the world. He found a small cheap property for rent on the border of the business and industrial districts. Isosceles made his living doing repairs on any and all technology, and selling a variety of goods. His fireworks are the best in the city, and every year during celebrations he gets a burst of income. He is also one of the largest explosives providers for government agencies. In the back of his shop he spends countless hours engineering various devices. Shortly after moving out he got in trouble with City Guard for drawing too much power a few times, and was able to develop a small chemical energy generator to power his facility. Now their is a thin stream of purple smoke constantly puffing out of his shop.

He occasionally spends weeks away from Marn going on treks into the wilderness or to Shim to gather various chemicals and resources to aid in his experiments and constructions. He developed and began selling pop up tents, which sold voraciously with travelers. He had little protection from beasts and bandits and usually thought he would simply be able to out maneuver them. Time taught Isosceles this was not sufficient, as once a large group of bandits simply out numbered him, so he was forced to sacrifice his valuable cargo or his life.

Again he learned from his mistakes and developed methods to handle large groups of opponents. His first idea was a smoke bomb, coupled with a set of goggles with lenses to filter the vision harming effects. Trying out his smoke bombs for sale he found they were a great hit, and began developing and selling a variety of personal defense devices. He had to become careful with his clientele, as his products appealed to less than respectable individuals.

After some incidents in the city involving his products he was forced to strictly restrict many of his goods to people who had a signed and notarized form from an official. Many tried to bribe him to sell without a permit, but he constantly refused. This still got him involved with some less than savory individuals and eventually he came to understand the double-sided nature of Marn. As he garnished clues from all different sources his mind pieced it together bit by bit until he had an excellent image of the underground.

While some deserved the problems they had dug themselves into he also saw the suffering of innocent magic wielders who were being punished simply for the way they were born. He began helping to shelter and transport these people, he was very careful with his choices and stayed away from those he deemed to be of low morals. As always, when he is faced with a problem he developed new technologies to assist him, this time focused around stealth and smuggling.

Between his shop, constant developing technologies, and underground activities Isosceles now leads a very busy, productive, and risky life.

[Jasmina Apsara]

I love that you're playing a Gnome.

A few issues with this profile, though...

* His arsenal of weaponry is quite excessive. While guns exist in the setting, they are very rare, and having this many really defies credibility. (For example, the Captain of the City Guard has a single pistol, and this is seen as quite noteworthy.) This kind of fire power simply would not be found in Marn, and is way too much for a starting character. I'd prefer to see him without any guns at all, given their rarity and his many other skills and strengths.

Additionally, I don't think that he could make his living selling and repairing guns. There just aren't enough of them to need so much repairing, and selling them in such quantities would be a contradiction of the established setting. It would be OK to repair the occasional gun if it comes up, but that couldn't be a main means of support.

* The upgrading of combat gear, if it had any significant effect or added an advantage, would need to be re-approved by staff. To be fair to all players, everyone needs to go through the same approval process to add powers to a character.

* I'd like to see more description of exactly what sort of non-lethal devices he uses. How much of an area do the smoke bombs affect, and how long do they last? What other things does he carry? How do they work?

* Likewise, I'd like to see more information about the armour. What does "decent protection" entail? Does it mean you just have to hit him a little harder, or he's essentially invulnerable, or something in the middle? I want to make sure we have the same idea of it before I comment.

* It's pretty powerful to have a character who is a problem-solving genius and a brilliant inventor and a skilled combatant. I think that should ideally be toned down, depending on how you edit in response to the above, but I think at the very least he needs some major balancing weaknesses. It's not a major weakness to be bad at hand-to-hand combat when you can fight exceptionally well from a distance and have very effective armour. When you're brilliant, it's not a major weakness to be a little ditzy about the small stuff. I think you need to put some thought into how to make this character a bit more balanced.

* Gnomish inventions have a reputation for spectacular malfunctions, sometimes involving explosions or at least shorts. It doesn't seem plausible to me that the other Gnomes would see it as that much of an oddity in Isosceles. He could be an unusually destructive Gnome, sure, but as written I'm not quite understanding why the other Gnomes would have such a problem with him, or see him as excessively abnormal. Tinkering with potentially explosive results is actually pretty typically Gnomish. Things like causing the power outage work, but not so much the run of the mill destructiveness in pursuit of new discoveries.