For the sake of thoroughness and later reference, I'm going to list most everything, but I've tried to label the major stuff he won't start with!
General summary (sorry, this is Very Anime): Lancer is a heroic spirit—more or less a famous historical/mythological figure that persists after death. Magi (Masters) with the proper means can summon such spirits as familiars (Servants) and sustain them off their magical energy (let's call it mana). Lancer isn't technically alive or reincarnated by this, but he can take solid form, etc.
A weaker Master means a Servant will need to supplement their 'diet' with additional mana (souls, etc). Conversely, with a Master who can support them, they don't actually need physical sustenance or sleep, though they can do so to conserve. A Servant who isn't contracted up will rarely last long before fading away.
In return for being spiritual batteries, Masters get a set of (3) command seals that show up as tattoos. With these they can issue orders to their Servants with absolute sovereignty, once per seal.
✦ Contracts can be messy, so I'd prefer to hold off on implementing them! That said, I know there's key weaknesses here to keep him in check, and I'm happy start with those from the get-go, as well as introduce issues as I go.
Some preliminary thoughts: Master/Servant bonds are a lot like neural links, and I'll introduce something in place of his need for mana eventually. And I think command seals could be integrated via neural programming too; in canon, seals can be useful, but are also a hugely substantial liability/danger (for example, he can be ordered to kill anyone, including himself). So depending on who 'owns' the seals, it can be a Problem.
Superhuman Ability (PASSIVE): Physically, Servants are often far ahead of ordinary people in terms of magic, strength, speed, etc, by many orders of magnitude.
Battle Continuation/Disengage (PASSIVE): in plain English: his resilience is ludicrous. Cu's infamously tenacious in his legends, able to defend against entire armies on his own. Overall, he's good at recon, running away real fast, getting back up, and keeping people's hands full.
✦✦ A big theme to his original life was the whole burning twice as bright for half as long concept, and given that he thinks he's alive now, I'd like to keep that aspect of his character! I'd combine and explain these two abilities with heavy genetic mods, which gives him some super soldier properties while drastically cutting his lifespan.
I was thinking he could be mostly ordinary in the day-to-day, if with higher than normal stamina so he could push his limits to have (limited) bursts of unnatural strength and speed, but not regeneration—the induced strain and any preexisting injury would be strongly exacerbated the longer he keeps at it. Basically, he can put off dealing with damage, but the longer he does, the worse it'll be at the end.
That said, I'm happy to nerf down further! Same goes for everything else, I know these powers are a headache.
Magic Resistance (MINOR): Lancer's got a resistance to magical attacks, charms, etc. It won't stop crazy high level spells but defends him adequately from most day-to-day abilities.
✦ For flavor, I'd like to translate this as a mild to moderate resilience to exothermic reactions. His increased blood flow and gene modifications allow him to withstand temperature changes slightly better than average, compensating for increased heat without significant impairment—to some degree. (It certainly doesn't mean he can't be set on fire.)
Spiritual Form (MINOR?): Spirits can 'dissolve' themselves into an incorporeal form. They can't be seen or otherwise tangibly interacted with, and vice versa. They can still travel, speak telepathically to their Masters, and be sensed by those sensitive to magic, but they're by and large just ghosts.
✦ Incorporeality feels out of place, so possibly temporary invisibility instead; military tech that uses a user's visual inputs to create a refractive field around them. It'd last a few seconds, wouldn't do anything to dampen noise, and his space might seem distorted if someone knew to really look and squint. It can also be disrupted by setting props, like electricity, weather, or water. If this seems more like a major ability, that's fine too!
Protection from Arrows (MINOR > MAJOR): 'Arrows.' Basically, if he can see who's attacking him, he can always repel their projectiles. And even if he can't see them, he's still usually fine. This doesn't effect AoEs (he can dodge a rocket but not the explosion), long-range weapons that aren't projectiles, etc.
✦ He probably just has a good directional sense of where bullets are being fired from, keen battlefield instinct, etc. As a more active, major thing, maybe later a tech shield upgrade that deflects high speed projectiles for one charge.
Rune Magic (MAJOR): He's adept at magic, which he casts by drawing out glyphs. Here's what rune magic is capable of, insofar as I know: various buffs, debuffs, strengthening, regeneration, barriers, protective charms, fire, more fire, repelling evil spirits, erasing memories, forcing duels, healing, animation of objects, tracking, etc.
✦ As this is notably broad, it might be easier to break this down as I go. As for how this works, possibly nanotech that he can gradually learn different implements for, executing different programs with different symbols. WIP!
Noble Phantasm - Gáe Bolg, Spear of Piercing Barbed Death (MAJOR): First off, wounds inflicted by his spear can be 'cursed;' they hurt a ton and are incredibly difficult to heal. But its special ability is to reverse causality (bear with me): instead of cause and effect, it turns to effect and cause. The effect is that he's going to stab someone in the heart, and the cause will make sure it happens. This means he can lob his spear wherever and it'll still bend around space/time and pierce someone's heart. As a bonus, it's mana-efficient.
Technically this move is 'impossible' to dodge, but people with Great Luck can avoid it, its range is middling, and it's single-target. Even canon jokes that it never seems to work.
✦ A Servant's NP is usually their definitive weapon, in this case his lance, Gae Bolg. This spear ability in particular is his most iconic (he has another which I'm nixing), but also kinda dumb in RP, so: maybe a poison or nanotech that travels through blood back to the heart, where even grazing an extremity can be deadly (or at least very painful). Possible side effects of the poison could include the typical pain/fever, and the wounds dealt are resistant to regenerative tech (like fancy healing penlights). Alternatively, a heat-seeking attack with similar side effects...? Either way, I'd only direct it at NPCs, unless I got permission otherwise from a player, in which case I would probably press that it's just a miserable experience over the fact that it can be fatal.
no subject
For the sake of thoroughness and later reference, I'm going to list most everything, but I've tried to label the major stuff he won't start with!
General summary (sorry, this is Very Anime): Lancer is a heroic spirit—more or less a famous historical/mythological figure that persists after death. Magi (Masters) with the proper means can summon such spirits as familiars (Servants) and sustain them off their magical energy (let's call it mana). Lancer isn't technically alive or reincarnated by this, but he can take solid form, etc.
A weaker Master means a Servant will need to supplement their 'diet' with additional mana (souls, etc). Conversely, with a Master who can support them, they don't actually need physical sustenance or sleep, though they can do so to conserve. A Servant who isn't contracted up will rarely last long before fading away.
In return for being spiritual batteries, Masters get a set of (3) command seals that show up as tattoos. With these they can issue orders to their Servants with absolute sovereignty, once per seal.
Some preliminary thoughts: Master/Servant bonds are a lot like neural links, and I'll introduce something in place of his need for mana eventually. And I think command seals could be integrated via neural programming too; in canon, seals can be useful, but are also a hugely substantial liability/danger (for example, he can be ordered to kill anyone, including himself). So depending on who 'owns' the seals, it can be a Problem.
Superhuman Ability (PASSIVE): Physically, Servants are often far ahead of ordinary people in terms of magic, strength, speed, etc, by many orders of magnitude.
Battle Continuation/Disengage (PASSIVE): in plain English: his resilience is ludicrous. Cu's infamously tenacious in his legends, able to defend against entire armies on his own. Overall, he's good at recon, running away real fast, getting back up, and keeping people's hands full.
I was thinking he could be mostly ordinary in the day-to-day, if with higher than normal stamina so he could push his limits to have (limited) bursts of unnatural strength and speed, but not regeneration—the induced strain and any preexisting injury would be strongly exacerbated the longer he keeps at it. Basically, he can put off dealing with damage, but the longer he does, the worse it'll be at the end.
That said, I'm happy to nerf down further! Same goes for everything else, I know these powers are a headache.
Magic Resistance (MINOR): Lancer's got a resistance to magical attacks, charms, etc. It won't stop crazy high level spells but defends him adequately from most day-to-day abilities.
Spiritual Form (MINOR?): Spirits can 'dissolve' themselves into an incorporeal form. They can't be seen or otherwise tangibly interacted with, and vice versa. They can still travel, speak telepathically to their Masters, and be sensed by those sensitive to magic, but they're by and large just ghosts.
Protection from Arrows (MINOR > MAJOR): 'Arrows.' Basically, if he can see who's attacking him, he can always repel their projectiles. And even if he can't see them, he's still usually fine. This doesn't effect AoEs (he can dodge a rocket but not the explosion), long-range weapons that aren't projectiles, etc.
Rune Magic (MAJOR): He's adept at magic, which he casts by drawing out glyphs. Here's what rune magic is capable of, insofar as I know: various buffs, debuffs, strengthening, regeneration, barriers, protective charms, fire, more fire, repelling evil spirits, erasing memories, forcing duels, healing, animation of objects, tracking, etc.
Noble Phantasm - Gáe Bolg, Spear of Piercing Barbed Death (MAJOR): First off, wounds inflicted by his spear can be 'cursed;' they hurt a ton and are incredibly difficult to heal. But its special ability is to reverse causality (bear with me): instead of cause and effect, it turns to effect and cause. The effect is that he's going to stab someone in the heart, and the cause will make sure it happens. This means he can lob his spear wherever and it'll still bend around space/time and pierce someone's heart. As a bonus, it's mana-efficient.
Technically this move is 'impossible' to dodge, but people with Great Luck can avoid it, its range is middling, and it's single-target. Even canon jokes that it never seems to work.