Hi there!
Some recent discussions and a nagging feeling that a "low magic, but still magic" saga might be interesting have made me want to develop a magus that is weak. I fail to accept that most of the members of the OoH are as powerful as the regular PC magi, so I wanted to develop a much weaker character concept here. That handicap obviously would need to be boosted somewhere to make the character viable, so I went for a tytalian magi.
I would like your help for V&F to develop this weak character. Here comes some background:
Marcus is not a regular member of the Order of Hermes. In fact, he would fail in most small challenges that a lot of apprentices give success for granted. His Gift is there, and he has an unending Well of Power, like the gift is usually referred, but it is a deep well and one where the barrel has difficulty getting water
The fact is that he is a weak magus. Not all magi are born with perfect gifts or have easy access to the magical energies that God placed on Earth. Marcus is one of those cases.
He has one advantage though: Since his Gift is very weak, nobody will notice that he is a magus most of the time, and so can conduct his business like a mortal would, getting a small edge over humans or supernatural creatures that thought he was a normal mundane.
His Mater Umbra, a Tytalian maga specialized in shadows, lies and disguise thought this to be an incredible boon of her pupil, refusing to see how his apprentice failed in many menial tasks and was the laughing stock of the other apprentices in her autumn covenant. Both influences had a powerful impact on Marcus and he is somewhat not very confident in his abilities, but forces himself to push forward regardless of the drawbacks.
Given his obvious advantages when dealing with mundanes Umbra encourages Marcus to specialize in social situations but he refused to do so, thinking this to be a cheap and underachieving scheme. Let the Jerbitons do that: he wanted to do something more than influence village priests and innkeepers. Otherwise he would be what the apprentices taunted him with: a mere mundane able to throw some sparks around or "sparky" as they called him. He wanted to achieve something that would show everybody that he was not inferior and that he was a worthy member of the Order of Hermes.
To remind himself of his goal he adopted it as his reference name: Scintillus filius Umbra ex Tytali. Sparkle of Tytalus
VIRTUES
- Gentle Gift (M)
- Quiet Magic x2
- Subtle Magic
- Second Sight
- Minor Magical focus: …
- ….
FLAWS
- Short Ranged Magic (M)
- Weak Spontaneous Magic (M)
- Poor forumulaic magic
- Bad reputation: underachieving magus
Any other V&F that ypou can think about. Slow caster perhaps? I am trying to get a weak Gift here probably based around personal/touch spells cast without being noticed nor reveal much of his magic-ness.
Cheers,
Xavi