Jackpot [diamond dog] [finished]

Hey everypony, Crackle here. This is an alt I decided to do up so I could experiment with a different playstyle. If I decide I don't like him, I'll move him to the adoptables section.


==Basic Information==
Name: Jackpot
Age: over 200
Gender: male
Race: Diamond Dog
Occupation: Wasteland Paladin

==Physical Description==

Coat Colour: brown
Mane Colour: n/a
Tail Colour: brown
Eye Colour: Right eye blue, Left eye gray
Cutie Mark: n/a

Big thanks to Sublime/Zuberi/Big Rodeo for the picture!




Jackpot is a Diamond Dog ghoul. He is quite a bit above average in height and is prominently muscled. He has an athletic build, and despite the muscles he is not bulky. His dog-like features are much more Canine than other sub-types of diamond dog, featuring a more pointed and prominent muzzle amongst other traits. Jackpots anthropomorphic characteristics are also more pronounced. His body is proportioned differently than others of his race. He has longer legs than most Diamond dogs, and his torso and arms are shorter than the racial norm. His arms do not extend too far past his waist, whereas on most other dogs they almost drag on the ground. Most of the obviously decayed portions of his flesh he keeps hidden, either under a long heavy coat or wrapped in bandages. This may prevent others from viewing his rotting state, but it makes for a rather frightening figure. A significant portion of the left side of Jackpot's face, excluding his steel-tinted eye and muzzle, is shrouded in bandages. Only a small portion on the right side of his head is uncovered around his piercing blue eye. On the Right side of his muzzle, all of the flesh has been burnt away, leaving his teeth exposed. His left ear pokes through a gap in the wrappings, but is quite tattered. There are several holes and a 'V' shaped nick in the top. Also on his left side, his arm is wrapped from just above his elbow all the way to the pad of his paw, leaving only his three fingers and thumb exposed. His opposite arm is wrapped around his wrist and lower forearm. More bandages cut diagonally across his torso. Starting under his left shoulder and stretching down to just above the bottom of his ribcage, they extend to midway down his torso and just above his hip on the other side. Finally, his right leg is also encased from mid-shin to just past his ankle. The flesh that is exposed is covered by many scars and occasional small bald and rotted patches. Jackpot wears a long heavy black jacket, the traditional garb of his now-extinct pack's Alpha, to complete the ensemble. The coat is made of an unknown material and similar in style to a sleeveless hooded trench coat. Jackpots ears poke out from slits cut in the hood. The only spot of colour on the undead canine, aside from the grimy and tattered white bandages, is a small dark blue gem. The precious stone is barely an inch and a half across and set in a silver fitting attached to a piece of black cord. The amulet hangs a few inches down his chest, resting just above his unbeating heart.

==Personality==

Jackpot was raised by a small and relatively unknown pack of diamond dogs that inhabited the area near Stalliongrad before the war. His pack was more cultured than most. By no means were they on the same level as the long-standing pony civilization, but they had moved beyond the simple-minded gem hunters that formerly inhabited the area near Ponyville. They had developed a simple tribal caste system, and had advanced far enough to have a rudimentary grasp on some basic social concepts. Above all, the pack had a rigid honour and moral code, and Jackpot was brought up to follow this code to a 'T'.

Even after being ghoulified and wandering the wasteland for 200 years, Jackpot still has a strong moral compass and adheres to his code without faltering. This code may seem somewhat primitive to more civilized ponies, but it served his clan for years and fits with the wasteland almost shockingly well. He goes out of his way to help those in need, although is methods are often gruff, brutal, violent, or any combination thereof. He keeps his promises, rarely makes compromises, pays his debts, and is bluntly honest. Thanks to his pack mentality, he always puts the needs of the many before the needs of the few. Over the years, he has become hardened by the wasteland. He is not as kind as he once was, although he still acts in a way that he precieves will do the most good. However, he is by no means a hero, although he once aspired to be one. The wasteland slowly whittled him down. He has a very pragmatic approach to problem solving, and does not often give second chances. Jaclpot is willing to kill in cold blood and make decisions that cost lives without hesitation, although his actions do haunt him. He is often troubled by thoughts of the past, and remembers the relative peace of pre-war times fondly.

In combat, Jackpot prefers to use melee weapons. He is passable with guns, but much better with the traditional two-weapon style of his pack. He uses his immense strength to his advantage to deliver crushing blows, and countless years of physical training have made him surprisingly agile for a lumbering biped. All the time spent wandering the wastes combined with his undead nature have also made him challenging to kill. Jackpot is still a Diamond Dog at heart, though, and as a result he isn't the sharpest knife in the drawer. On top of that, his gruff attitude and undead nature make him somewhat difficult to get along with, and unfortunate coincidences seem to haunt him.

==History==

Jackpot's name is a perfect example of the universes inherent sense of irony. For as long as Jackpot has been alive, things have been rough. His pack led a difficult life. There was occasional conflict with an aggressive and less civil competing pack in the area throughout his youth, the mines his clan worked for gems and occasional precious metals were beginning to dry up, and all the food nearby had been seized and sent to feed soldiers. Thankfully, Diamond Dogs are omnivorous, so while there was a severe shortage of edible material, his pack did not starve. In addition to these larger hardships, misfortune seemed to haunt Jackpot. He was not a walking catastrophe like some, but things never came easily either. It was always his tools that were breaking, he never seemed to find the biggest gems, and those little problems that make your day just that much harder cropped up with alarming regularity.

His pack made their home near Stalliongrad, and had developed a rudimentary civilization of sorts. On the whole, they were a primitive medieval equivalent to the mighty industrialized powerhouse of Equestria. Where the ponies had mighty factories churning out hundreds of deadly firearms, the Diamond Dogs had a couple of blacksmiths making an occasional pickaxe or two. In place of a near-immortal princesses of godlike power, the pack had a single chief, called the Alpha. Instead of towering castles and skyscrapers in cities like Canterlot or Manehattan, Jackpot's pack lived in a modest assembly of small wood or stone huts. By no means were they an advanced civilization, but they had a primitive tribe-like society established. Jackpot spent his time with his pack in various ways. As part of the caste system of the pack, each Diamond dog spends 4 years, between the ages of 16 and 20, attempting and experimenting with the various professions in need of more workers. At the end of this period, a council of elders reviews the young Dogs performance and assigns them to a profession based on how much their skills are needed and how well they did on that job. Jackpot spent a little over a year and a half in the mines, a couple weeks working with the blacksmith, a few months as a scavenger, and the last several months trying his paw as a guard on one of the caravans bringing gems to the ponies to aid in the war effort. After a few trips, he proved to be quite the effective guard. His powerful physique made him a good fighter when the caravan was attacked by a rival pack, and he was diplomatic enough when encountering friendly ponies that no 'unfortunate incidents' occurred. He was immediately assigned as a permanent guard when it was his turn to be reviewed by the council, and given advanced training.

On the day the balefire bombs went off, one struck Stalliongrad directly. The blast decimated the pack, killing all of the Diamond Dogs except for those away on a gem delivery and a few not crushed by cave-ins in the mines. Jackpot was guarding said delivery, and was fortunate enough to survive the initial blast. However, the necromantic radiation burned and scorched his flesh, warping him into something not alive, but not quite dead either. Several of the other Dogs suffered similar fates, although a few perished. After coming to his senses and recovering from the horror of the blast, Jackpot immediately set off for his home with the few survivors from the caravan. Upon arrival in the village, Jackpot found it utterly destroyed. All of the huts had been leveled. The scorched corpses of his packmates were strewn about the streets, struck down by necromantic fire. The sight was almost too much him. Faced with such trauma, Jackpot became a changed dog. He forced the turbulent emotions aside, and retreated behind the code that had been drilled into his mind since he was a pup. He used it as a shield, letting it guide his actions so he did not have to face the horrors of what his life has become. This was not the time for grieving. Out of the survivors, he was the highest ranking, and the rest of the pack needed him. Guided by his lineage, He retrieved the Alpha's traditional jacket, the symbol of leadership among his pack. He also managed to find the ceremonial knife that all of the Guard Dogs were sworn in on, and secured it in the pace of honour on his belt. Finally, he dug through the rubble of his home, laying the corpses of his family aside for later burial, and retrieved a single sapphire. It was the first gem he had ever excavated. The gem was set in a silver fitting on a cord so it could be worn as an amulet and was such a dark shade of blue it appeared almost black when he put it on. Having retrieved all he could from the wreckage, Jackpot led his pack of Ghouls out into what later became known as the wasteland.

Years later, Jackpot is the last of his pack. All of the others have either died, given up the last of their sanity and descended into flesh-craving monstrosities, or gone their own way. As time passed, Jackpot eventually allowed himself to come to terms with the destruction of everything he knew, and his transformation into an undead mutant. Although the creed he follows is still the core of his being, it no longer dictates his every action. As the years wore on, he came to accept his fate. After wandering aimlessly for over a century, attempting to find a way to rebuild his pack from the dozen or so it had been reduced to, he finally gave up. Instead, he aimed to make a mark on the world. His pack may be gone, but they will not be forgotten. He stood in defence of the innocent for many years, acting as a guardian for those who could not protect themselves. However, the wasteland has a way of breaking heroes. By this point, Jackpot had adapted to the wasteland, but it still wore him down. He gradually changed from a noble hero to a pragmatic killer, loosing sight of his goal along the way. Thoughts of the past rose up to torment him and remind him of better days.

Now, Jackpot is a solitary wandering wastelander, one more lost soul. He subconsiously seeks to atone for failing in his tasks as a guard, and alpha, and a hero. He wants nothing more than to meet his end in battle with a worthy foe, and wanders the wasteland searching for such a creature as he hacks his way through the lesser evils like raiders, slavers, feral ghouls, and the like. His travels recently took him to the Hoofington area, where he faced down a former member of his pack gone quite insane that was attempting to gather a group of ferals and go rampaging across the wasteland. Althogh he won the contest, the enervation severley weakened him. We join Jackpot as he resumes his wanderings, battered and weakened, but not yet beaten.

Relevant Tropes

Spoiler:

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

Strength: 9
Perception: 4
Endurance: 8
Charisma: 4
Intelligence: 4(+1)
Agility: 8 (+1)
Luck: 3

==Secondary Attributes==

HP: 246
Natural DT: 8
Armoured: 16
AP: 39
RM: 4
Crit: 98
Botch: 8
Dodge: 24

==Skills==

Barter: 16
Energy Weapons: 16
Explosives: 16
Guns: 45 [TAG]
Lockpick: 16
Medicine: 20
Melee: 47 [TAG]
Repair: 16
Science: 16
Sneak: 43 [TAG]
Speech: 16
Survival: 28
Unarmed: 24

==Racial Perks==

Natural DT: 4
Natural unarmed damage: 10
Can You Dig It: Can quickly dig through soft terrain, provided both hands are free. Digging speed is based on Strength.
I Feel It In My Toes: You have a primitive tremor sense, allowing you to navigate while burrowing and possibly notice things that disturb a solid surface you’re in direct contact with (usually the ground). The acuity of this sense is based on Perception.
Lumbering Biped: Movement actions cost an additional 2 AP. Can’t equip battle saddles.
These Guns: Can increase Strength to 12 via perks.

==First Level Traits==

Heavy Hoofed: Your melee and unarmed attacks do +5 damage, but deal -15 critical damage.

Ghoul: You are undead, animated by the necromantic energies that were unleashed on Equestria in the apocalypse. You do not need to eat, drink or sleep. You heal through exposure to radiation, as per the Rad Foal trait, but you do not heal naturally at all. Prolonged lack of exposure to radiation can cause physical and mental deterioration, inflicting first Endurance then Intelligence penalties.

Radiation is beneficial to you; you regenerate through exposure, and your body consumes rads during the regeneration process at the rate of 10 rads per turn. However, without radiation, your body heals naturally at only a quarter of the normal rate.
150-299 rads (minor radiation poisoning) – Recover 5 health every turn
300-499 rads (advanced radiation poisoning) – Recover 10 health every turn
450-999 rads (critical radiation poisoning) – Recover 15 health every turn, regenerate crippled limbs
1000+ rads (deadly radiation poisoning) – Recover 20 health every turn, regenerate crippled limbs

==Perks==

Extra Special(rank 2): +1 INT, +1 AGL

==Inventory==

10mm Pistol (10mm) [X2]
DAM:22 AP Cost: 5 ST Req:4
Ammo Cap.:12 Skill Req:25 Value:750 Crit Multiplier: x 2


9mm Pistol (9mm)
DAM:16 AP Cost: 5 ST Req:2 Ammo Cap.:13 Skill Req:0 Value:100 Crit Multiplier: x 2

Ceremonial Knife (play as regular knife)
DAM:8(+10 from str) AP Cost: 4 ST Req:1 Skill Req:0 Value:20 Crit Multiplier x 2

Alpha's hooded coat: PER +1 (same as hat)

Tattered Bandages (pre-war clothing)

Traditional pack guard armor (play as Merc outfit)
DT:8 Effects: +5 to Melee Rolls, +5 to Gun Rolls Value:150

Hatchet [X2]
DAM:16 AP Cost: 8 ST Req:2 Skill Req:25 Value: 75 Crit Multiplier x 3

3x Rad-away

190 Caps

Level 2!

HP +13
AP +1
Caps +61

12 skill points:
guns +3
melee +3
medicine +2
survival +2
sneak +2

Perk:
Extra Special: +1 INT

Level 3!

HP + 13
Caps + 61

12.5 skill points:
guns +3
melee +3
medicine +2
survival +2
sneak +2
(.5 left over)

Perk:
Extra Special: +1 AGL (+2AP)