Frankenstein Monster playthroughs

Discussion in 'Arcanum Discussion' started by Muro, Nov 6, 2014.

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  1. Muro

    Muro Well-Known Member

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    I have lately seen a screening of Royal National Theatre's Frankenstein. [Wikipedia note / trailer]
    (the version I've seen portrayed Benedict Cumberbatch as Victor Frankenstein and Jonny Lee Miller as the creature. Non-redundant note, as the actors switched roles in a second version of the play)
    The play was very satisfying and mainly presented the creature's point of view, I thoroughly encourage everyone who enjoys the original story to watch it.

    That being said, I haven't created a character in Arcanum in years and that play was just enough to push me towards making one. One with the Frankenstein Monster background, to be exact.

    However, other than wanting to experience the world from the creature's perspective, I'm not yet sure what to do with this character. I'd like to hear from people who chose said background at any point for their characters. Where did you end up investing your character points? What decisions did you make in the game? What were your motivations/reasoning behind both? What name did you give him and why? I'm looking for general inspiration.
     
  2. Jojobobo

    Jojobobo Well-Known Member

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    I've never played a Frankenstein Monster, but if I did I guess I'd invest heavily in ST, CN, DX and IN. I think a heavy tech focus would be appropriate; revolving around the idea that they are compelled to obsess like their master on life and death, healing, the mutability of flesh and how things are connected - both anatomically and mechanically. More specifically I'd probably focus on Therapeutics, Herbology, a bit of Electric, Chemistry and some Mechanical and Smithy in terms of disciplines, with Melee and Dodge as high as possible and Repair mastery. The Necromizer schematic would be a must.

    In terms of motivations, I think they would try to be good but be prone to violent outbursts against those who mistreat them. I'd definitely go for a half-orc to ramp up that feeling of prejudice and persecution. In terms of quests, you might want to side with orcs in Tarant and yet be horrified when they revolted and slaughtered the city. I also think by the end of the game if they have begun to feel jaded enough they might think feel like their life, and all life, is an abomination; seeing the violence and misery people inflict on each other - making the ending of choice pretty clear.

    For combat I'd go for unarmed with a decent set of gauntlets, giving that lashing out feel as they don't come to situations armed for bear. Maybe give it a bit of a boost with the first spell of Morph, again tying into the mutability of the flesh idea.

    For a name, probably something simple they came up with themselves as their master might not have named them. Having a damaged brain-larynx connection anything monosyllabic would be good - no surname.
     
  3. Ruda

    Ruda Active Member

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    Nice ideas! Thoroughly agree on the tech specialization, but I don't think you should invest in too much in DX, if at all. The build starts with a massive penalty to DX as is fitting. Any upgrades to your creature's speed should come from further electrical treatment (i.e charged rings). Still, you'd want to put a few points in melee & dodge meaning a low DX would be painful indeed. Perhaps firearms is a better option? It's tricky.

    Mastering Electricity seems a given as the creature would want to explore its origin. Don't forget that the male and female backgrounds differ somewhat. Which gender will you choose?
     
  4. Jojobobo

    Jojobobo Well-Known Member

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    By saying I would take "a bit of Electric" I would definitely have two Charged Rings, I agree with the idea of limiting DX but there is obviously a trade off with enjoyability; by hitting 12 DX with an IN of 20 hopefully the to hit chance wouldn't be too unpleasant. Firearms, whilst an easier option, might not really fit the archetypal character so well.

    I've always wondered what these high IN builds work like with IN checks? I guess they probably don't work at all, but I'm still curious. Also how do they handle Conjure Spirit on main quest people? Ordinarily, low IN characters wouldn't have this opportunity so I wasn't sure what would happen.
     
  5. Ruda

    Ruda Active Member

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    Either they don't work at all or the regular ones appear. I'd be really amazed if they've added smart/dumb dialogue, but then the game have have surprised me before. There are after all dumb dialogue in quests only available for smart characters.
     
  6. Muro

    Muro Well-Known Member

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    Re:

    I really like some ideas thrown around here!
    A tech focus and obsession over what created him is a direction I thought of as well. I plan the monster to have an instinctive feeling that it's technology that brought him into this world, hence why he'll avoid anything magic out of fear that it will disturb what keeps him together and make him fall apart.

    Indeed, charisma and beauty penalties do fit this build. I also like to imagine it was easier for Arcanum's dr Frankenstein to acquire fresh half-orc bodies, because of a prejudice that they're basically animals, no one will care if a half-orc's body goes missing, etc. Also, due to the unique character of the monster, it might even be roleplayed with a twist on the meaning of a half-irc. In this case, a creature build out of human and orc fragments.

    Style of combat is a tricky part of the build, yes. If it was a magic-focused monster I'd probably follow the electrical nature and combat via jolt, but I mentioned why I'll refrain from magic.
    Both in-game and in-lore strength bonuses, some small initial melee/unarmed bonuses for half-orcs and the difficulty for the monster to properly use his body suggest to go towards brute melee, but the severe dexterity penalty makes it really difficult. Also, while dexterity could be enhanced with character points, I feel it would be better roleplay to only boost it via technology, which can only go so far (unless I went with Jojobobo's suggestion to give myself a roleplay cap of 12 dexterity).

    Firearms could be better due to dexterity's smaller role, but would the monster have the manual skill to operate firearms? Hm, might be roleplayed that while his walking is hindered, his hands eventually got more skilled thanks to dabbling in mentioned technological trinkets.
    The Tesla Rod might be a fitting endgame weapon complementing his eventual mastery of the electrical field. On the way there he could use heavy rifles, reflecting both the strength and physical slowness of their user. Possibly also a symbolic answer that since societies shun him away, he deals with his enemies from a distance as well if that is how the world chooses to work.

    After giving this some thought, I figured he could take his name out of the initial dialogue with Virgil, who might have very well been the first to ever consider him a person. I see the creature considering itself nameless, but when someone asks who he is, he'll pause, think of Virgil and struggle to recreate how he called him."Lee-vin-wan", something like that.

    I'll go with male, if only because Jonny Lee Miller's role as the creature is my main inspiration for this run. I'll probably read what most of the character says in my head with a similar stutter, exaggeration and involuntary spitting, reflecting the struggle to express your thoughts with a damaged speech organ.

    Stupid-speech characters with high enough intelligence (Frankenstein monsters, idiot savants) can conjure quest-vital NPCs' spirits, but while the spirits start the dialogue with the same lines as with intelligent-speech players, the player is only able to say a typical "byebye"/"me go now" type of response, ending the conversation before it started.
     
  7. Jojobobo

    Jojobobo Well-Known Member

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    Re: Re:

    Sounds like it will be a good play-through!

    Well that's answered that question, I guess I shouldn't be so lazy and should have found out myself but it's something I never got round to.
     
  8. dersied

    dersied New Member

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    I recently started a half-orc Bride of Frankenstein character, and while I was a little upset that I couldn't do the Toone mines quest, I was feeling pretty good about it.

    That is, until I made it to Stillwater and found I couldn't do Brigitte's simple as hell fetch the statue quest. Pissed me off so much that I quit. :-x

    I wanted that beauty bonus for my beautiful violent stupid half orc. :cry:
     
  9. Ruda

    Ruda Active Member

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    Yeah, sounds like it'll be fun. Please let us know how it goes!

    You could consider playing a half-ogre instead. You'll look more like the standard monster and you can only use the large rifles that you mention. Still you won't get the poor reaction thing that half orcs have to suffer through. Unless you get Arballah's curse....

    Edit: Thinking it through, a half orc is preferable although the half ogre is a decent alternative.
     
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