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Breakdown

A walking force of unintentional destruction.

He walks down the city streets at night. The streetlights wink out as he passes underneath. He walks by the mouth of an alleyway. Just inside, a homeless man begins gasping for breath. If he passed an ATM machine while you were trying to get money out, the machine would spit out your card, shredded and burned, then maybe explode. If he gets in a car, the car will break down and the windows crack. Couples argue and break up around him. Behind him is a path of ruin and destruction.

Those that know of his existence call him Breakdown. He is entropy personified.

Breakdown’s power first manifested itself one night in his early twenties as he was walking home from a bar one night. He stopped to light a cigarette when his lighter suddenly flared up, singing his eyebrows. After he blinked the spots out of his eyes, he noticed that (1) it was raining small fish and (2) all the cars on the street seemed to be honking in Morse code to each other. His power was at its peak that night: five traffic accidents, a failed convenience-store robbery, and a gas main explosion all happened during his two-block stroll home. Since then, his powers have gone down to a less wild, but still impressive, level. Oddly enough, his abilities never seem to harm or inconvenience him, just those in the surrounding area.

Some folks in the Occult Underground speculate that what happened may have been either an ascension or a work of major Entropomantic or Annihilomantic magic nearby. Breakdown doesn’t have a regular job, but he gets “donations” from a few entropomancers and annihilomancers who have discovered they can get minor charges from spending time with him. They don’t stay around him for too long, though, as Breakdown’s powers still affect those around him and those who get charges off Breakdown get hit more severely.

Breakdown currently spends most of his time reading books in a boarded-up abandoned house that somehow still has running water and power. When the utilities try to cut off the house, they experience problems with their equipment. Once, a couple of police officers went to evict Breakdown from the premises. Their car was crushed in a construction equipment accident, killing them instantly. He sort of slipped through the cracks after that.

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Personality: Somehow, despite everything he’s been through, Breakdown is still a pretty decent, easygoing guy. Thrust into a situation he can’t control, he’s developed a live-and-let-live philosophy.

Obsession: Breakdown really wants to find out what exactly happened to him and if there’s any way to get his old life back.

Rage Stimulus (Helplessness): Breakdown doesn’t like irrational, violent people. People who insist on being rude or pushing him while he’s trying his best to be polite really get under his skin.
Fear Stimulus (Self): Deep down, Breakdown is afraid that he’s responsible for all the damage that he’s caused over the years.
Noble Stimulus (Isolation): Breakdown will help someone who’s in a jam and needs a little bit of help. He’ll lend you a couple of bucks or let you crash on his couch. He’ll also warn you of his powers beforehand.

BODY: 45 (Thin)
General Athletics: 15%, Struggle: 15%

SPEED: 40 (Laid Back)
Dodge: 30%, Drive: 15%, Look Out!: 40%

MIND: 60 (Intensely Curious)
General Education: 50%, Notice 40%, Eidetic Memory: 40%

SOUL: 40 (World-weary)
Charm 30%, Lie: 15%, Occult Streetwise: 35%

Violence: 1failed / 1hardened
Unnatural: 0 failed / 5 hardened
Isolation: 1failed / 3 hardened
Helplessness: 2 failed / 1hardened
Self: 1failed / 4hardened

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Look Out!: Breakdown has developed a sixth sense for spotting trouble right as it starts. With a successful roll, anyone who’s with Breakdown gets a re-roll on their Initiative roll, if desired.

Occult Streetwise: On a successful roll, Breakdown can get along with members of the Occult Underground, figuring out their general do’s and don’ts, what NOT to say, etc.

Breakdown’s Power: In Breakdown’s presence, all rolls have a 10% penalty shift. Actions that wouldn’t normally need a dice roll now require one, but without the 10% penalty. Any failures act as matched failures, based on the number rolled on the ones die. Entropomancers and Annihilomancers can gain a minor charge by spending an hour with Breakdown, but each minor charge gained in this fashion adds an additional 5% to the dice roll penalty. Mechanical devices, not counting clockworks, have a 50/50 chance of simply breaking down around Breakdown, unless he needs to use them. If he does, pieces will fall off the device, but it will continue to function as long as he is using it. Clockworks take 1-3 points of damage at the beginning of each hour they spend around Breakdown. Additionally, spectacular random accidents sometimes happen to GMC’s around him.

5 thoughts on “Breakdown

  1. C.P. says:

    Hey… this is awesome! I’m totally using this guy in my game.

    Reply
  2. M. Norwood says:

    Shouldn’t this guy have more notches in Isolation? I mean, it’s a safe bet that he doesn’t have any real friends… anyone who hung out with him regularly would eventually get toasted.

    Reply
  3. C.P. says:

    I think whenever he starts to get lonely he looks for someone to help… seeing someone, even a stranger, every one in a while’s gotta save you from having to make any high-level checks.

    Maybe whatever his cosmic accident was, it’s a diminishing thing. Maybe his power is kind of… tremoring out, like some kind of mystic earthquake.

    Reply
  4. strange_person says:

    I doubt he gets all that isolated; he’s always got lots of bums and crazy Entropomancers hanging around, even if they do have a really high turnover rate.

    Even meeting one entropomancer a week does amazing things to relieve the boredom; six or seven in a single day would be all the company most people would need for a month.

    Reply
  5. Mr Unlucky says:

    Many moons ago, I worked a convinience store/gas station.

    Just imagining what this guy could do with a mere stroll through the pumps gives me the willies.

    Reply

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