Caster (Fate/Crossover - Geralt of Rivia)

Caster (キャスター, *Kyasutā*) is the servant of ??? in the ??? Holy Grail War.

"Challenged a witcher? Must've had a deathwish." — Geralt of Rivia

## Profile

### Identity

Caster's true identity is Geralt of Rivia, a Witcher and the main protagonist of the video game adaptation of the Witcher book series by Andrzej Sapkowski, including The Witcher, The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings and The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt. Like all Witchers, Geralt is a monster hunter for hire. He possesses superhuman abilities and is a master swordsman. After surviving the Trial of the Grasses, Geralt exhibited unusual tolerance for the mutagens that grant Witchers their abilities. Accordingly, Geralt was subjected to further experimental mutagens, which rendered his hair white and may have given him higher speed, reflexes, strength, and stamina than his fellow Witchers.

### Personality

Most of the time, he could be apathetic, cynical, and threatening. Despite his outwardly cold nature, Dandelion noted that behind his exterior was hiding a fiercely loyal friend, and a man of good humour and as someone not indifferent to suffering. Geralt had many good friends all over the Northern Realms, such as Caldemeyn of Blaviken, Zoltan Chivay, and of course Dandelion. He was also very protective of and loyal to his friends and companions, and was willing to go to great lengths for those who mattered to him. He could be kind-hearted and caring to the people he loved. He also happens to be a womanizer.

Geralt was also shown to be extremely adept at allaying intense, and at times bleak, situations and as a man who would much sooner have everyone return home than draw their swords. His lifespan made him a world-weary man, often expressing disdain and circuitous insults to those he considered cruel, foolish, etc. He may have risked Temeria's future to save Triss Merigold from the Nilfgaardians. He also was shown requesting Scoia'tael to spare Dandelion and kill only him.

Geralt frequently showed remorse and had revelations in his life. Other times he had complete emotional breakdowns, even giving up being a witcher in general and dropping his morals at one point.

## Abilities

Geralt's strategy and fighting style heavily depends on what type of opponent he is fighting against and what his opponent is using against him. This includes choice of his Signs, potions, oils and elixirs according to the situation he's in.

Geralt usually begins a fight against this type of opponent, using his steel sword. Depending on the situation, Geralt kills his opponent at the first opportunity he has. If he needs any information or a favor, he tries to defeat that enemy without killing him. Against humans, he rarely uses his Signs (If he already uses his Signs against humans, his most common choice are Aard and Igni signs, and if he doesn't want to fight his opponent or specifically sneak to him, Axii, but it mainly happens in normal conversations), unless such an opponent has abilities that any ordinary human would not have, such as magic or supernatural powers. The same applies for his potions.

Against monsters and enemies with supernatural powers, Geralt usually uses his Witcher signs. His favorite sign and the one that he uses most is Aard, a telekinetic blast that Geralt emanates from his hand, attacking only one target, or several targets at the same time in one direction (Though after several upgrades, it's omnidirectional). Being superior to Geralt's physical strength, Aard manages to stun and unbalance enemies superior to himself physically. After the mutations during Blood and Wine, Aard manages to have a chance to freeze his targets. Geralt mostly uses potions and oils against this type of enemies if he has preparation, though he also has some of them in his standard equipment. Depending on Geralt's prior knowledge, he can use potions and oils that can put him at an advantage in a fight. If Geralt does not have any preparation or prior knowledge, he usually uses his standard potions, like Thunderbolt and Swallow. He also uses bombs, and depending on Geralt's prior knowledge, his choice of bombs changes. The default bombs he possesses are Samum and Dimeritium bombs, which he uses to either destroy nests of monsters and make their supernatural abilities useless for some time.

Against characters starting with/using more often than not ranged attacks that affect big area, Geralt usually starts with Quen sign to protect himself from those attacks. Geralt will try to shorten the distance between his opponent and him, so that he can apply his standard fighting style including his swordsmanship. While activated, Quen will protect Geralt from attacks that go much beyond his normal durability or are too powerful/unknown to just dodge them, as well as attacks from fire, ice, acid and poison, as he wouldn't let any unknown attack hit him. Geralt usually uses his crossbow against them, with bolts possessing unique abilities, such as explosive ones, poisonous, or made of silver to deal notably big damage to monsters. Potions and oils are used depending on his prior knowledge and preparation.

Aard is a simple magical sign used by witchers. It is comprised of a telekinetic thrust that can stun, repel, knock down, or disarm opponents, as well as remove barriers and other objects.

It is the sign that the witcher uses the most. Outside of combat, Aard is most often used to clear a path, either by blowing down a wall or blowing apart a pile of debris. During combat it can stun, knockdown or disarm an opponent.

After Geralt's further mutations in Blood and Wine, Aard is able to freeze his enemies.

Igni is a simple magical sign used by witchers. It is comprised of a pyrokinetic burst that can repel and ignite opponents, as well as start fires.

Igni is incredibly effective against foes that are weak to fire. There is also an alternative form of Igni that allows Geralt to release a steady flow of fire instead of one quick burst, which can be particularly useful for continuously burning enemies even after they've been ignited.

Yrden is a simple magical sign used by witchers. When inscribed on a solid surface, it blocks the monsters from getting closer, scaring them off. If a hostile being enters the area affected by Sign, it is visibly slowed down/paralyzed, and non-corporeal forces become corporeal.

Most foes that wander into the ring are significantly slowed or even paralyzed. Yrden is best for controlling multiple enemies in melee range. It's also particularly effective against intangible beings who remain intangible most of the time unless caught within a Yrden circle. Yrden has the ability to poison and drain the vitality of the foes who are within the ring.

This sign has an alternative mode which is a floating rune of Yrden, this mode shoots lighting bolts which damages and stuns enemies at a long range and it can even nullify projectiles.

Quen is a simple magical sign used by witchers. When the first form is cast, it forms a protective forcefield around the body of casting witcher but disappears after one hit/few hits when upgraded enough. It can also be used to create a bubble-shaped field that absorbs damage and converts it into regeneration (and can also reflect 50% of physical damage back at the enemy), which is the second form of Quen, but it's impossible to attack while keeping it still.

Geralt uses it mainly to protect himself from attacks that cover great range/omnidirectional attacks and is not necessarily using it in a direct close quarter combat.

Axii is a simple magical sign used by witchers. It is a mental wave that triggers a hex that causes an enemy to obey witchers' commands. The effect can wear off over time or be broken via damage from the casting witcher. It can also be used to disable opponents temporarily. Geralt uses it rarely, if he does it's mainly against folk like peasants or guards to make them go away if he doesn't want to kill them or when it fits the situation, like to not get spotted by someone. However, if Geralt has no choice and Axii is one of the only ways to beat his enemy, he will go for it in a fight, like in cases when he fights a foe with far too troublesome abilities that he has previous knowledge on.

Some examples of lore Axii are shown here. Geralt can also give orders to few men at once, as seen in Novigrad.

Heliotrope is a simple magical sign used by witchers. When cast, it forms a protective aura-like forcefield that slows down everything that is within its range and depreciates damage like falling.

Somne is a simple magical sign used by witchers. It was shown in the book Season of Storms. It can put targets to sleep by drawing a sign in the air and possibly erase memories of that.

### Noble Phantasm

#### **Hunt of the White Wolf**

Geralt does a flourish with his steel sword before doing a downward strike which knocks the opponent to the ground. He then uses his Axii sign to stand the opponent back up before launching them and following up with a horizontal spray of flame from his Igni sign. He finishes with a large flourish and downward strike to knock the opponent back down a fair distance from Geralt.

## References

https://witcher.fandom.com/wiki/Geralt\_of\_Rivia

https://soulcalibur.fandom.com/wiki/Geralt\_of\_Rivia

https://hero.fandom.com/wiki/Geralt\_of\_Rivia

https://vsbattles.fandom.com/wiki/Geralt\_of\_Rivia\_(Video\_Games)