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[Etraya] App
π¦― Player Information
Name and Pronouns: Lisa (She/Her)
Age: 30+
Contact:
π¦― Character Information
ACT 3 SPOILERS
Name: Renoir Dessendre
Canon: Clair Obscur: Expedition 33
Canon Point: Act II: Post Monolith
History: Wiki
Abilities:
Chroma is a magical essence that is the source of life within the canvas. Painters manipulate and create whole universes using canvas and chroma. The closest approximation to what we might consider it to be is paint. People have an innate amount of chroma used to cast skills and magical spells. This essence can be etched onto skin as magical glyphs called Pictos. These allow them to exploit their chroma for different needs.
Characters who tattoo themselves are capable of storing devices and weaponry in their bodies. Due to the prevalence of this in local culture, I have included instruments witnessed in his personal quarters, together with tools relevant to his experience as an artist. There is one notable artifact he summons: his walking cane. This weapon serves as a focus for his magic.
Combat abilities are in chronological order. Gifts from The Paintress have their own category. I have included abilities witnessed in cutscenes and offered explanations when possible. RP adaptations mentioned in parentheses when required. Damage levels come from boss encounters and can be adjusted.
The only other assets in his possession are his suit ensemble, his overcoat and his wedding ring.
Pictos
Second Chance: Passive bonuses to Health and Critical Rate. Revive with 100% health. Once per battle.
Instruments: Summon the instrument in your possession. Dismiss the same instrument. Same applies to artistic tools. No restrictions.
Weaponry: Summon the associated weapon in your possession. Dismiss the same weapon. No restrictions.
Combat: Old Lumiere
Chroma Petals: Summons two mirrors of Chroma. Heal allies by 25% per mirror after 1 turn. Breakable.
Gather Chroma: Harnesses an incredible amount of Chroma for detonation. Very high damage to all enemies. 3 hits.
Melee Combo: Imbues his cane with Chroma to unleash a flurry of blows. Low damage. 6 hits. Applies Stun for 1 turn.
Pool of Chroma: Summons an expanding wave of Chroma. Medium damage to all enemies. 1 hit. Applies Silence.
Ranged Attack: Imbues his cane with Chroma to attack from a distance. Low damage. 4 hits.
Summon Masks: Levitates into the air to summon Chromatic Masks that blast random enemies. Low damage. 7 hits. Applies Exhaust.
Exhaust: Exhausted characters cannot gain AP from any source. Lasts 3 turns. (RP: Characters are exhausted. They are unable to concentrate or take initiative or respond effectively.)
Vanish: Forms a Chromatic Orb to rupture and banish a target. Melee range. Ends after combat.
Waves of Chroma: Manifests numerous waves of Chroma. High damage to all enemies. 5x hits.
Combat: Monolith
Dark Creature: Summons a Chromatic Lion to fight alongside him. Useable below 50% health. Recover with 100% health. Gain Rage. Once per battle. (RP: Usable above 50% health without recovery for narrative purposes.)
Rage: Play twice in a row. Cannot be removed. Ends after combat. (RP: Characters are enraged. A surge of adrenaline sharpens their senses and fuels their momentum.)
Dark Creature: Claw: Summons the Dark Creature to claw the target. High damage. 3x hits
Dark Creature: Lunge: Summons the Dark Creature to ambush and lunge towards a position. High damage to all enemies. 2x hits.
Dark Creature: Roar: Summons the Dark Creature to launch projectiles that seek random enemies. Medium damage. 3x hits.
Dark Creature: Swipe: Summons the Dark Creature to lash a position with its tail. High damage to all enemies.
Gather Chroma: Harnesses an incredible amount of Chroma for detonation. Very high damage to all enemies. 3 hits.
Melee Combo: Imbues his cane with Chroma to unleash a flurry of blows. Low damage. 6 hits. Applies Stun for 1 turn.
Pool of Chroma: Summons an expanding wave of Chroma. Medium damage to all enemies. 1 hit. Applies Silence.
Ranged Attack: Imbues his cane with Chroma to attack from a distance. Low damage. 4 hits.
Vanish: Forms a Chromatic Orb to rupture and banish a target. Melee range. Ends after combat.
Waves of Chroma: Manifests numerous waves of Chroma. High damage to all enemies. 5x hits.
Utility
Renoir employs additional spells outside combat. (RP: Should be possible to utilise these within combat for narrative purposes since there is little basis for their exclusion other than story beats and boss design.)
Astral Projection: Displaces the Chroma within an individual to separate their consciousness and soul from their body. Witnessed when expelling Maelle from the Canvas. Enables communication across a nameless plane. Witnessed when threatening Maelle.
Chroma Burst: Shoots a Chromatic Beam that denotes upon impact. Witnessed during his massacre of Expedition 33 and at the manor in Old Lumiere.
Chroma Step: Uses Chroma as a temporary boost to speed in combat. Witnessed during his murder of Gustave and at the manor in Old Lumiere. (RP: Should be possible to utelise in narrative. Not so quick as to seem like teleportation.)
Evocation: Unseals the Chroma in the environment. The immediate area is shrouded in darkness. Lasts 6 seconds. Witnessed at the manor in Old Lumiere.
Levitation: Taps into Chroma to ascend above the ground. Witnessed during battle at Old Lumiere. See Summon Masks. Explains how he reached Stone Wave Cliffs without Esquie. (RP: Should be possible to combine this with other ranged abilities.)
Paint Cages: Uses Chroma to shackle objects and people inside prisons of chromatic ink. Witnessed during his murder of Gustave and in numerous places across the world. (Paint Cages have the colour of his Chroma. Their appearance matches his imprisonment of Maelle. He is likely responsible for their existence.)
Paint Shields: Uses Chroma as a shield that can block incoming magic. Witnessed at the manor in Old Lumiere. (RP: Might block arrows and other projectiles.)
Teleportation: Manipulates Chroma to teleport The Manor between one location and another. Witnessed in Old Lumiere. (RP: You find it at White Sands upon a mountain and Verso says "This is where he moved it." Not usable without regain. Discussed here.)
Vibration: Resonates Chroma in the environment violently enough to the point it shakes the immediate location and weighs people down. Involves concentration. Witnessed inside the Monolith.
Painted Gifts
Aline Dessendre painted her family inside the canvas as a means of escaping her grief. She is a mother broken by the death of her son. Her painted family are bestowed with a significant portion of her chroma. She gives them their powers while enabling them to survive the Fracture and become immune to the Gommage.
Immortality: When creating the painted version of her family, Aline gifted them eternal life. Each member is immortal unless erased by another Painter. Sharing a common origin, they exhibit similar immortal traits. Each survived fatal injuries: Verso severed himself at the waist for entertainment while Renoir was speared through the chest by a stalagmite. Both endured incredible pain without external symptoms. Family members can heal fatal wounds within seconds. Verso and Renoir can repair their scars but choose not to. Despite all this, they can be incapacitated. Their hair also whitened the moment they became immortal.
π¦― Personality
A lifetime. A lifetime with my family torn apart. No, I want my family back.
Renoir wants nothing more than to see his family reunited. He wishes for their unity to be restored. Not only restored but returned to how life was before grief and tragedy fractured their world. His longing for family defines him from the moment he enters the story. He voices his wishes, regardless of whoever is listening, and makes himself vulnerable by sharing the unhealed wound at the center of his character. But he is mourning more than loss; he is grieving what he knows he is going to lose.
This fear becomes his driving force. Renoir believes his actions are rooted in love, but his expression of love is destructive. He resorts to extremes to save his family, but his idea of saving them means taking control of their lives. He wants to rewind the clock, forcing everyone back into roles they never chose themselves. Grief blinds his perspective and convinces him the pain he causes is a necessary sacrifice. His need to control his family is one reason they are driven apart.
Should his wish come true, Renoir would remain a tragic figure. He cannot comprehend that peace must not be demanded but willingly embraced. He wants to rewind loss without accepting change; to reclaim what was instead of building what could be. His final line in the game is a heartfelt declaration of love for his family, affirming his greatest desire is to be with them no matter the price. Renoir creates the impression he is a villain, but he is a father consumed by love and grief, trying to repaint a story thatβs already been painted.
PoΓ¨me d'Amour. This piece plays during the battle with Sirene (Siren), a being created by the original Renoir as a parable for his wife (Aline). Known as βShe Who Plays With Wonder,β Sirene enchants people by singing and showing them illusions of their greatest desires. The song is a love poem from a husband to his wife, who throughout the game is portrayed as a heartbroken woman escaping her grief. She retreats into the magical world their son created as a child, ignoring her real family for the family she paints within the canvas.
Were she aware of the personal meaning to Renoir, the siren would sing because it captures the essence of his soul. He is a husband so enchanted by his wife that he denies reality and massacres his people in order to defend her happiness and protect their family. His desire is for them to return to life before the fracture: a life where he was living her fantasy without freedom or control over his actions. But once he learned the truth about their family and the canvas, he dedicated himself to protecting both. Aline rescued him from the fantasy he was living before the truth was revealed. That he remembers his life before is why he understands what it means to disappear into nothingness. And why he shall always be grateful for a second chance at life.
Renoir mirrors the same enduring love for Aline as her real husband. His conflict with the painted version of their son (his own son) exists because he ignores the reality of their existence. He loves his wife and family. But he continues defending her when the best decision - the best chance his family and the world has for survival - would be to send her home.
Renoir has already followed someone into another realm without hesitation. Aline is his emotional anchor and the heart of the family he is desperate to restore. His decision to devote himself to her happiness is arguably the only free choice he makes during his lifetime. This decision becomes more important when realising it comes after he learns the truth about his own existence and the nature of the magical canvas.
But while his devotion to her is absolute, his relationship with Verso is complicated. Renoir openly acknowledges him as his son despite their estrangement. Verso hurts the family he fights to keep together, but he allows him to make those poor decisions. But this freedom is control disguised as understanding. Renoir believes that by granting his son independence now, he will return to his side in the future.
This conflict between clinging to Aline to preserve his family and allowing Verso to abandon them underpins his emotional divide. His heart is torn between holding on and releasing, between control and acceptance, between fearing loss and learning to let go.
Devotion defines Renoir throughout his lifetime; he was a dedicated and loving husband before the Fracture and remained so after learning the truth. Aline painted him opposite to how she views her real husband: a lion who protects his family instead of not being there when it matters. She painted him to be more imposing than her husband, who is noticeably thinner and unkempt. Renoir in the canvas is a commander: a decisive and efficient leader who imposes his presence on others. But he remains a grieving father who is desperate to save his family.
Loss must be reversed not accepted. Family must be protected. Safety must be enforced. Renoir views his actions as necessary sacrifices. His grief has convinced him that controlling his family is an act of care and that vengeance and revenge are a reflection of his loyalty. His devotion is measured not in patience or understanding, but in decisive action taken without hesitation. Expedition journals allude to his massacre of members who abducted, detained, interrogated and tortured his children.
Renoir is not cruel by nature. But he is ruthless and relentless, defined by rage and violence when it comes to expressing love. He will not forget harm nor forgive it. This is because his love is tempered by grief and executed through force. Renoir can intellectually distinguish between protection and possession, or between devotion and destruction, but cannot emotionally process the difference.
Death is something Renoir has experienced in a metaphysical and existential sense. When he learned the truth, that he was a painting of a man crafted by his wife within a magical canvas, he lost his family and his place in their world. The man he believed himself to be disappeared into nothingness. He stopped believing in reality and embraced his second chance to defend his family. But when his efforts to reunite them proved futile, he became hollow from the mission that gave him meaning. This leads him to experience a second death when he loses at the monolith: the death of purpose. He stops resisting and begins to embrace oblivion.
His rebirth in a new world after this moment is therefore deeply complicated: this is not a second chance but a continuation of his purpose, though his purpose was never his choice. Destiny was defined without his consent and his role is again something he must endure. Renoir was never nurtured by experience like a living person. Aline painted him to reflect her feelings of isolation and emotional neglect. She wanted to punish her husband for not being there when it mattered - and made him inherit her grief so he could never turn a blind eye to what matters. This burden is something he cannot escape. The nature of his creation is the reason he remains unchanged. He will not question his presence in this world. He will decide what must be done and act accordingly.
Renoir will remain consistent and dependable. Verso can depend on his actions and decisions remaining consistent. His father is a commanding man with an intense presence. His love is honest and he knows the man recognises him as his own person. But while his nature is immutable, he will perceive and reflect on the world around him. He will adapt to whatever this new world demands of him to protect a family whose time has passed. While he cannot abandon them to their fate, he could become receptive to what they want. Then he would sacrifice others without hesitation to ensure his loved ones can embrace the end they desire.
This is possible because the most transformative experiences of his life (his loss of place and purpose and his acceptance of oblivion) have already happened. Renoir might wear the mask of the man he was before, for that is all he has left. But he cannot become someone new and that is tragic.