Character Comparisons

I compared the characters in several different areas - their ELEMENTAL RATINGS, SPECIALTIES, META-ELEMENTAL RATINGS, POWERS, and MOTIVES, VIRTUES, FAULTS, AND FATES.

The goal here was to give the players (and any lurkers) a sort of "quick reference sheet" for finding out what the characters are good at.  What they are NOT here for is to take the place of good planning, thinking, and most of all good role-playing.
 

ELEMENTAL RATINGS

SPECIALTIES

META-ELEMENTAL RATINGS

• ENERGY - a combination of focused or inward energy (Air) and forceful or outward energy (Fire)
• POWER - a combination of active power (Fire) and passive power (Earth)
• INTEGRITY - a combination of resistance (Earth) and receptiveness (Water)
• WISDOM - a combination of silent wisdom (Water) and spoken wisdom (Air)

CHARACTER FUN-FACTS (AKA Powers]

Flamefeather

• Bird Speech - Flamefeather can speak with birds and understand them.
• Fast Healing - Flamefeather recovers from physical wounds seven times as fast as normal, so that a day's rest is as good as a week's would be to a normal person.

Gayle, the Wanderer

• Bird Tongue - Gayle understands the speech of birds
• Toughness - She has the ability to resist damage with the Earth's power.
• Touched by the Goddess - This is the reason why she was to become a fully fledged priestess. The power covers the areas of healing and aura reading. As she was never fully trained, the use of the power, especially in relation to healing, leaves her tired and drained.
• Ability to read auras, especially in relation to injury and disease.
• Can heal light damage (small cuts, bruising, fatigue) by laying on hands especially in conjunction with the use of healing herbs.
• Can 'donate' a point of her earth score to cause healing time to halved for each time a point is so donated. Her earth score in the meantime is temporarily lowered; it is recovered at the rate of a point per day spent doing no more than light work and having had spent a minimum of 2 hours in deep mediation with a connection to the Earth.
• Bird Companion- This was a gift from the King of The Birds in conjunction with a favor done by her and her then companions. Snow Wing is an albino raven with a sardonic line in repartee and a weakness for eyeballs - the fresher, the better.

Measure Strangemask

• Mask Magic - Measure is a gifted mage, specializing in Mask magic.  A city of 10,000 might have one mage of Measure's power level.
• Recognition - Measure can quickly identify anyone he has seen before.  A good disguise will delay recognition, but not for long.  Magical disguises are more effective, though Measure can see through those better than his element score alone would allow.

Mercy

• Marching Song - Mercy can march and sing indefinitely, as long as she does both together.

Noose

• Carrion Call - Noose can speak with eaters of the dead (wolves, jackals, crows, ravens, eagles, vultures, etc.)
• Shadow Whispers - Noose can speak with the spirits of the dead.

• Aura of the Void  - The character is surrounded by an aura which negates (or greatly reduces) magic and supernatural powers used on the character such as magic, dragon's breath etc. it also negates or greatly weakens magic and supernatural effects on contact (wards, mystic defenses etc.) the character can extend this aura to inanimate items he is carrying but to do so greatly tires him.
• Songs of Blood  - The character has an ability to draw a certain level of power from any empowered creature he slays (this includes mythic beasts, sorcerers and spherewalkers) allowing him to go without sustenance and avoid aging as long as he keeps up a steady supply of power.

Shaper Ironhand

• Hands Of The Smith - Shaper's hands are completely invulnerable, allowing him to work fire or molten metal barehanded, or to work directly on freezing objects, corrosive liquids, or sharp edges.  His forearms are rather tough as well, extending to a slight resistance on the front of his torso, which  lets him face into the heat of the forge.
• Hands Of The Potter - Shaper can use his hands to work any material as though it were clay.  Strong materials like stone or metal take a very long time to work...for any major effect, he'd be better off using tools, but this is useful for adding little artistic flourishes.  What's really special is that this lets him work easily with materials that are usually formless:  smoke, for example, or water or flame.
• Tempering: Shaper can work something with his hands to give it extra strength; for something that is already strong, like metal or stone, this effect is not all that great and fades quickly.  For softer things, like smoke, the effect is basically permanent.  He can use this power on living things by basically giving them a massage, but it doesn't last very long.

Shekkara

• Magic - Shekkara is a powerful magician, specializing in the magic of the mind.  A kingdom of 100,000 might have but one sorcerer as powerful as she, and with her canopic bundle, she becomes even more powerful.
• Canopic Bundle - Shekkara carries with her a magical item made from the brains and other organs of her dead brother Akkaman.  This bundle may be used to enhance her magical powers, or may be loaned to someone else, in which case it allows Shekkara to establish a mental link with the individual across any distance
• Mental link - Shekkara is strongly attuned to her Canopic Bundle, and can sense its location at any distance.

VIRTUES, FAULTS, AND FATES

I find this comparison to be the most interesting of all of them, as it gives so much insight into the interactions of the characters.

Motive sets the overall tone for the character.  The Wanderlust group contains Flamefeather, Mercy, and Shaper Ironhand.  The Adversity group contains Gayle and Noose.  Measure's Authority motive suggests that he may be interested in playing a leadership role in the party - either overtly or covertly.

A whopping three players have The Priestess as their virtue.  Gayle, Noose, and Shekkara are all quite skilled at investigation, and quite motivated in that area as well.

Faults are well distributed.  Noose and Serpentslayer share Striking the Dragon's Tail - a fault that is certain to put them at odds on occasion.  Mercy has the potential to run into trouble with Gayle, Noose, and Shekkara, all of whom will likely find her flightiness somewhat annoying when there are things of interest about.

Flamefeather and Gayle share The Phoenix as their fate, and Measure and Shekkara share The Cockatrice.  Mercy's fate - the Fool - is Gayle's fault, and Serpentslayers fate - the Dragon - is Flamefeather's fault.