Crackle [Griffon][Finished]

Crackle is not the kind of Griffon who plays nice. He can function as part of a team, but it is not something he enjoys. A turbulent youth has given him the kind of mentality that he needs to prosper in the wasteland, even if it comes at the cost of others well-being. When part of a team, Crackle tends to take on a bit of a solo role of scouting, scavenging, and other tasks that take him away from the rest of the party. He also has a tendency to keep the best loot to himself, a habit that has brought him into conflict with several companions. He doesn't go as far as deliberately causing the party harm, such as withholding a healing potion when a companion lays dying, but they don't need to know about that shiny new pistol he found in a desk a few hours ago, either.

When it comes to combat, Crackle favors a "Scorched Earth" policy that he picked up during a brief stint as a Talon mercenary in the most literal sense of the world. Preferring flame-based weapons (and to a lesser extent explosives and energy weapons) to conventional firearms, Crackle leaves a smoldering swath of destruction and moderate collateral damage. Unfortunately for his companions, this strategy does not lend itself to teamwork. More than one party member has come out of combat with a smoldering mane caused by coming too close to the griffins intended target.

This does not mean that Crackle is totally incapable of working with a team, however. He can appreciate the value of having somepony to watch your back in a firefight (pun intended) and to bandage your wounds once the smoke clears. He tries and help out the party in return for any help others have given him. Crackle has a well-developed (if somewhat warped) sense of honour, which leads him to repay any debts he perceives himself as owing. He is frequently distant from his companions, both physically and metaphorically, but he will open up a little (and try not to burn) anypony who can earn his trust and friendship. His other distinguishing characteristic is a very profound pyromaniacy. He always has his trademark lighter, "Raven's Tear" and can frequently seen staring into the flame during the few moments of peace, lost in another time...


"Why do I fight? I fight because It's all that I know, all I have left. The wasteland took my home, my family, my lover... There isn't anything left for me besides my gun. Fighting won't bring any of them back, but it gives me a way to survive. Sooner or later, something bigger, faster, or just plan luckier than me is gonna put a bullet through my skull or a blade in my chest, and that will be that. 'Till then, all I can do is shoot back. Maybe have a little revenge here and there, but beyond that, well, what more is there, really? This is the wasteland. We fight, then we die. Take what victories you can, savour any joy you find, and make sure you put up a good fight before the Bone Collector comes calling. When you boil it down, that's all there is to it. I just want to burn as many raiders as I can before it's my turn."

Crackle was born in the distant griffon homeland. When he was still young, the Pegasus Enclave raided his land for supplies. Crackle fled the battlefield with his mother and younger brother while his father, a warrior of significant skill, stayed behind to defend their homeland. He never saw his father again. Merciless pursuit by the enclave drove him and his family into the equestrian wasteland. The pegasus chasing them gave up after a few hours, however, as the griffons descended below the clouds and their pursuers were called back to the battle. The distraught family decided to spend the night in an abandoned hut in the middle of the wasteland and to return to whatever was left of their home after the pegasi had stripped it in the morning. This proved to be a fatal mistake.

The griffons were unfamiliar with the dangers of the wasteland. A band of raiders descended on the hut during the night, and brutally murdered Crackle's mother before any of them had a chance to react. This saved Crackle's life. His mother fell across him as her final dying act, hiding him from the murderous raiders. His younger brother Raventooth was not so lucky. The raiders tortured him for hours, cutting him until blood flowed like water. They burned and branded him, and mutilated his limbs. They broke bones and gouged eyes. Every atrocity they could commit without killing him, they did. Finally, after untold hours of agony, the raiders ended Raven's suffering with a single bullet. Despite the horrifying acts committed to him that would have broken most other griffins, Raventooth shed only a single tear. That tear fell onto the one and only thing the griffon brothers had to remember their valliant father: his lighter, which had fallen to the floor in the scuffle and gone unnoticed by the raiders.

Crackle hid beneath his dead mother for hours, waiting silently for his chance. He did not know what he was going to do, or even if he could do anything at all, but he was determined to make the raiders pay; to make them suffer as his brother had. It seemed to take eternites on end, but eventually the raiders fell into a drunken slumber caused by the crates of hard apple cider and other intoxicants they had looted earlier that day. Crackle extracted himself from beneath his cold, limp mother and retrieved his father's lighter. Fifteen minutes later, he stood outside the hut, listening to the agonized screams of the raiders as they pounded on the barricaded doors. The old wooden hut had quickly become a hellish inferno, fueled by all of the leftover liquor. Smiling at their tortured howls, Crackle used the knife the raider had sliced his mothers throat with, still sticky with her blood, to carve the words "Raven's Tear" into the bottom of his new lighter.

With no family left and his home destroed, Crackle chose to remain in the wasteland. Without his father guarding him, he knew that returning to the Griffon kingdoms and attempting to rebuild was suicde. After several weeks, surviving any way he could and building whatever he needed to do so, he ran into a party of Talon mercenaries near the settlement of Avalon. They were quick to accept him into their ranks. Here he learned the basics of how to fight, how to work with a team, and a few tricks to surviving in the wasteland on his own. He also refined his newfound talent for crafting unique and dangerous weapons, modifications, traps, and other oddities. However, His experience with the raiders had deeply scarred him. His fighting style began to change, clashing with the team-based tactics the Talons preferred. He would often go after a raider in a fit of rage, compromising the rest of his squad. After a particularly gruesome display involving several Molotov's, a flamethrower, an unhealthy amount of explosives, and a frankly disturbing look of glee, the Talons kicked him out, claiming he would get his entire company killed over the fate of a single raider. We join Crackle, one of the few Griffons in the Equestrian Wasteland unaffiliated with the Talon Mercenaries, a few years after this. In the intermediate time, Crackle wandered the wasteland aimlessly. Nothing interesting happened, and Crackle has grown quite bored. Now, 10 years after the raid on his home, he searches for adventure, revenge, and a purpose.

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/TragicKeepsake

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/SingleTear

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/Revenge

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/DirtyBusiness

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/GottaKillThemAll

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/CrusadingWidower

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/WeAllDieSomeday

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/ItsPersonal

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/PayEvilUntoEvil

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/CigarChomper

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/TheBigGuy

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/PercussiveMaintenance

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/PrecisionFStrike

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/DontYouDarePityMe

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/DarkAndTroubledPast

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/DoomedHometown

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/WalkingTheEarth

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/TheQuietOne

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/ForcedToWatch

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/CombatPragmatist

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/Determinator

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/BFG

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/IGaveMyWord

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/UndyingLoyalty

==S.P.E.C.I.A.L.==

Strength: 5 (+3)
Perception: 9
Endurance: 6
Charisma: 3
Intelligence: 6
Agility: 5
Luck: 6

==Secondary Attributes==

HP: 234
Natural DT: 7
Armoured: 15
AP: 32
RM: 3
Crit: 95
Botch: 5
Dodge: 15

==Skills==

Barter: 16
Energy Weapons: 70 [TAG]
Explosives: 56 [TAG]
Guns: 25 (+5)
Lockpick: 36
Medicine: 30
Melee: 24 (+5)
Repair: 44 [TAG]
Science: 22
Sneak: 20
Speech: 16
Survival: 22
Unarmed: 22

==Racial Perks==

Natural DT 4
Natural unarmed damage: 6
Can learn griffon martial arts
Death From Above: capable of flight
You can Run: Sneak rolls against you take a -5 penalty. +1 to readiness rolls
I Can See Forever: can increase perception to 12 via perks

==First Level Traits==

Loose Cannon: Your attacks with thrown weapons cost 2 less AP (minimum 1), but take a -10 penalty on attack rolls
Trigger Discipline: Your attacks with guns and energy weapons cost 1 more AP but gain a +5 bonus on attack rolls.

==Perks==

How Do You Like THEM Apples?
+10 damage with thrown weapons.
Requirements: Strength 5, Explosives 30

Extra Special[Rank 3]: +3 STR

Knife
DAM:8 AP Cost: 4(+1) ST Req:1 Skill Req:0 Value:20 Crit Multiplier x 2

Plasma Pistol (Compressed Cell)
DAM:33 AP Cost: 8(+1) ST Req:2 Ammo Cap.:16 Skill Req:0 Value:200 Crit Multiplier x 2.5

Mercenary outfit [Equipped]
DT:8 Effects: +5 to Melee Rolls, +5 to Gun Rolls Value:150

Cowpony Repeater (.357 magnum)
DAM:32 AP Cost: 8 ST Req:4
Ammo Cap.:7 Skill Req:25 Value:800 Crit Multiplier: x 2.25

Grenade Rifle (40mm Grenades)
DM:100 AP Cost: 15 ST Req:3
Ammo Cap.:1 Skill Req:25 Value:300 Crit Multiplier x 2

1 Rad-x

Raven's Tear: Zippo-style lighter.

Lots o' Cigars

799 caps