Fun!

You're essentially wanting to create a Dárdüni version of the fallen-angel-being that manifested spiritually within Harry Dresden after he touched one of the cursed coins in the Dresden Files (a favorite series of book I enjoy)...

I would definitely say that the demon-spirit trapped in the silver sigil of your Klin character (very rare indeed, since metals are practically non-existent on Dárdünah, appearing in only trace of amounts) could be considered BOTH an Advantage you should purchase (in the way she whispers powerful secrets in your mind, and a separate Drawback you would need to take (if she sometimes drains Characteristics from you in an attempt to eventually possess you, or serves as a constant internal distraction, or some other source of mayhem for your character during the game)...

The key to this is merely working with your GM to craft the properties of the Advantage(s) and Drawback(s) necessary to support this excellent story element. In the end, depending on the various factors of both, you may well end up spending as many points to buy the Advantage(s), as you might gain from taking the Drawback(s) associated with the demon's presence in your character's life.

I hesitate to lay out how I might handle it as a GM, for fear of stepping on the toes of your GM or player's interpretation of it, but I can offer a few suggestions to consider:

1. For the Advantage, start by making a simple list of the things you want her to do for you (the advantages she brings to your character)... From what you described, it sounds like the Contact Advantage would apply to what she does for you (on the positive side)... Based on the value of the help she might give, the GM should assign her Advantage cost for the Contact based on the Contact Value Table (pg. 187)... For instance,...if your character was created at Heroic Power Level, the GM might decide that to be of any real value she'd need to provide at least Great Value on the table, thus costing you 5 points to buy...

2. The way Contacts work, whenever either you or the GM want to see if the Contact will assist you, you roll the Contact's Ranking to achieve successes (see the rules for possible outcomes). The higher the Ranking, and the more successes rolled, determine the amount of help the Contact offers in that particular situation... Your GM might decide, for instance, that when successful, the Contact successes rolled for the help given are added to the successes you roll when attempting whatever Skills the demon spirit might be helping you with... All Contacts start with a Ranking level of 3 when initially purchased and can be bought up beyond that for 2 Story Points per additional Ranking level.

3. For the Drawback, make a short list of all the ways the demon spirit is detrimental to your Klin character. Based on your description, as a Mystic Drawback (Demon Plagued), she can affect your Wit, Will, and Essence to some extent, and possibly his Vigor (though that could be represented by a Physical Drawback associated with the painful sigil)... You've already established that she can positively affect some of these traits (as seen in the Advantage), but obviously she should also be able to affect these traits negatively, otherwise she wouldn't be a Drawback... Examples: Just as she can whisper secrets to you that can help you with a Skill, if the Contact Roll fails (or worse, Fumbles), she could instead confuse and distract you with her inner dialogue. Just as she might add to Ritual Skill rolls with her power, she might actively seek to thwart your magic use if you offend her, or it may seem you are worse without her help because you have become dependant upon her. Any of these circumstances would cause a difficulty modifier to the Action dice to be applied to that same Skill roll attempt (instead of the help you may have hoped for from the Contact) based on the Drawback's Severity (see the table on pg. 192).

4. Additionally, to reflect the fact that her ultimate goal is to possess you, the GM might decide to say that, every time she decides to help you (or you decide to seek her aid), the number of Contact successes she adds to your Skill roll gets matched against a separate Will Roll you must make (at a negative modifier to your roll equal to the level of your Drawback's Severity). If your Will roll matches or exceeds the Contact Successes she gave you, then you're OK... However, if the Will Roll fails, and is less than the Contact successes she added to that particular Skill roll, you would lose a point of Will (1 Rank), and become more "addicted" to the power she gives you... You could regain your Will as per the rules of recovering lost Stamina and Characteristics on pg. 244 (slowly with rest, quickly with healing magics, though Dress Wound and Surgery really wouldn't do anything for your Will), but if you used her "help" too often, you could easily fall prey to her influence, lose all your Will in a very short time, and suddenly find yourself fully possessed by her (if you Will reached 0)... At that point, she would remain in control of you till your character got at least 1 Will Rank back through some means (not good, I imagine)...

5. To calculate such a Drawback (as with all Drawbacks), you and the GM would first need to agree on the Drawback Severity Level and the Drawback Occurrence... Pretty much it comes down to what negatives dice penalties you are willing to endure to your Skill Rolls if she decides not to help you (if the attempted Contact Roll fails, or if the GM decides that she hinders you for story reasons)... If you were willing to endure a -3 adjustment to an attempted Skill roll whenever the Contact Rank roll failed, then you would start by assuming the Drawback gave you 9 Story Points. If you assume that (due to the way the system gives you generally a 50% chance to succeed or fail per dice), the Drawback might happen "Often" on the Drawback Occurrence Table, then that offer no adjustment to the Story Points the Drawback gives you... You can ask the GM to adjust that later, thus giving you more or less points, if it turns out that, through the course of the game the Occurrence of the Drawback is more or less that you imagined it would be. Deciding that it can't take physical form adds nothing to the point value, but further deciding that it is as powerful as you (thus adding 3 more points of value to the Drawback) assumes that it can in some way match its own set of skills against you (perhaps in the Dream), which means that the GM will need to construct its statistics using the general Bestiary entry for Demon Beast as a template for something of similar Power Level to you. Thus, in this case, this Mystic Drawback of Demon Plagued would be a 12 point Drawback.... (9 points for the Severity, plus 3 points for it being as powerful as you are if you have to confront it in the Dream Realm, or in some other spiritual manifestation)...

6. If you decided to additionally take a Drawback to represent the constantly painful sigil burned into your body, it would most likely be a Physical Drawback, perhaps a Disfiguring one and/or a Mobility Impairing one (depending on where the sigil is)... Again, just consider three things; What Characteristics would it affect (i.e. would being in constant pain affect your Dexterity, your Agility, your Vigor,...and thus the various Skills linked to them?),...What is the Drawback's Severity (thus what minus will you apply to those rolls), and....How often does this Drawback Occur in the game... All these factors will let you know how many points the Drawback will give you...


Hopefully all this helps!

Scottie

Originally posted by HereticalGM
Thank you for the help. My GM, Elizabeth, the girl who spent a heck a lot of time with you at your Gencon Indy 2008 booth, and hunted you down like a bloodhound at Gencon 2009 has said thanks for the advice. She also says sorry for not posting on here sooner, and she thanks you for signing her copy (with a smiley face I see.)

Heh! No problem!

Glad to be of help!

Tell her "howdy",..and please let her know she should feel free to join us here any time!

Scottie