Ars Magica CHARACTER DESIGNS

Eogan The Lion

Story
Eogan, has been away for a long time, because his master was on an important mission, In a land in the south. His master performed at Ritual, witch backfired and killed the master, but made at powerful Mon-golian army commander with magical powers.
The backfired Ritual, and the new army commander is somehow known to the Order.
Eogan I now back in Europe, with a Magical Lion Companion, and is now in the process of making a Cove-nant, with some new found friends.

In the Future the Magical animal companion and Eogan as Heartbeast, will hopefully make some young Lions. That will function as Grogs fore Eogan.

I would like some comment on the concept please.

I still need one Minor Virtue to make him Complete, anyone have an idée?

Intelligence +3
Perception +1
Strength +0
Stamina +2
Presence +1
Communication +0
Dexterity +0
Quickness +2
We Role some dice, to calculate CHARACTERISTICS, and I roll good. :laughing:

VIRTUES AND FLAWS
Virtue or Flaw Description Score
Heartbeast Free
Diedne Magic Major
Unbound Tongue Minor
Free Study Minor
Sublet Magic Minor
Enduring Constitution Minor
Purissant Creo Minor
Adept Lab Stydent Minor
????? Minor

Flaws
Enemies - Mongolians Major
Driven - Find my inner beast Major
Compulsion (hunting) Minor
Magical Animal Comp. Lion Minor
Infamos Master Minor
Carnivorous Minor
Major Dark Secret “Diedne” Free

ABILITIES Score XP
Nordic 5 75
Mongolian 4 50
Latin Hermetic 5 75
Artes Liberales Ritual 1 5
Philosophiae Ritual 1 5
Magic Theory Spells 4 50
Parma Magica Ignem 2 15
Concentration Spells 2 15
Finesse spells 2 15
Code of Hermes 1 5
Animal Handling Lion 1 5
Awareness 1 5
Magic Lore 1 5
Penetration 1 5
Bjornager Lore Legneds 1 5
Heartbeast Lion 2 15

Arts
Creo 6 21
Intellego 4 10
Muto 4 10
Perdo 5 15
Rego 5 15
Animal 4 10
Aquam 0 0
Auram 6 21
Corpus 2 3
Herbam 0 0
Ignem 5 15
Imaginem 0 0
Mentem 0 0
Terram 0 0
Vim 4 10
130

Spells
True Rest of the Injured Brute Cr/An 20
Broom of the Winds Cr/Au 15
Circling Winds of Protection Cr/Au-Re 20
Whispering Winds In/Au 15
Pilum of Fire Cr/Ig 20
Gather the Essence of the Beast Re/Vi 15
Wizards Robe Cr/He 15

The Lion
Intelligence +3 6
Perception +1 1
Strength +6 21
Stamina +4 10
Presence +1 1
Communication -4 -10
Dexterity +2 3
Quickness +2 3
35

VIRTUES AND FLAWS
Virtue Description Score
Improved Characteristicts minor
Improved Characteristicts minor
Purisant Brawl minor
Affinity with Brawl minor
Tough minor
Learn Braw from Mistakes minor

Flaw Description
Compulsion (hunting) minor
Weakness (Submision) minor

Qualitues
Aggressiv Cun +1
Ambus Predator tealth 4 (deer), Hunt 4(prey) +3 if from stealth
Extra natural weapons Teeth
Good Jumper +3 Jumping
Imposing appearance precens = 0
Grapple
Keen sense of Smell +1 Perception. +3 to Roll using sense and +2 to Hunt.
Large Claws
Large Teeth
Toug Hide +2 protection
Vocal Music 3, Roar
Pack Leader add 1 Communication Ledership 5.

ABILITIES
Brawl 8 210
Survival 3 30
Swimming 3 30
Awerness 3 30
Atletich 3 30
Hunt 4 50
Stealth 4 50
Music 3 30
Leadership 5 75

Flamel: This character would normally not be legal - you have 3 story flaws (only 1 allowed) and 3 personallity flaws (only 2 allowed)

If you've been give special permission for this fine, but it does get abit hard to give you advice then seeing as we don't know the rules you operate under...

However I do have a suggestion for the final virtue: Inspirational - what lion isn't?

Thanks for the comments. :stuck_out_tongue:

This Inspirational virtue, what shoud it do :question:

Hmm, the Dark Secret is free and shouldn't count towards the only story flaw.

But anyway, in the rules it says "you Should nok take" under Hermetic , Story and Personality flaw.

But Only one Major Personality flaw.

In my opinion "Should" Is NOT equal to "May not".

Do you have any comment on the Lions as grogs?

Drop the compulsion and take "Lazy" instead. Lions are. I'm not sure about the series of boosts to Brawl (puissant, affinity, learn from mistakes ... what?), nor about the Tough + Tough hide. As for Pack Leader ... is it a Lion or a Lioness? :astonished:

For your missing Virtue: Well-Traveled. You're back from the South, aren't you?

It's a male, and the Lazy sounds great compared to the Compulsion.

The Virtues & flaws to the Lion Is made from Mustery Cults rules.
I modified the Lion from Mundane beast, to make it more special compared to normal Lions.

OK, I was thinking it was your Heartbeast. :blush:

The way to make it special would be to give it a Magic Might of 8 and some Powers. That's what makes it a magical animal companion. You don't have to crank up its qualities and abilities like that.

Regarding Dark Secret, it is debatable whether it should count as your only Story Flaw even though you didn't get points for it. Same for the extra Personality flaw that comes with Mythic Blood and the Magical Focus in Certamen of Tremere. Check with your SG.

It is my Heartbeast. 8)

I haven’t made my Lion Companion, but are working on it.

In special I do not mean Magical, just more exceptional than normal Lions it is still a mundane beast and my Heartbeast.

Well, actual I am the main SG, but the others in the Troup, has accepted the virtues & Flaws.

How many Powers should I make fore my Magical animal Companion?
How powerful should the powers be?

Anyone have some suggestions?

Your heartbeast is a mundane lion - though you do get the 'shapeshifter' stat adjustments.
Now, your inner heartbeast can be "more exceptional", so to speak.

Then I guess you are the best judge of the power level of your game. I just wanted to say I find your character design a bit abusive. I don't think you need to up the stats that way, even if you want to create a combat monster.

One, two at most.

Depends. Keep in mind that it has a Might of only 8 (10 - Size). That's not much.

Remember that another player may get play it - check with them. What kind of magical lion is it? You need to start with the role you want it to play and design it (and its powers) accordingly.

Lucius, After reading Scipio, I just had a slight, somewhat ammusing suggestion to make for a whimsical change that would add to the carefree spirit of the character.

For his animal companion, I would just change it to Caxis the Nine-Tailed Lynx (very common animal in the forests of Germany in the medieval period). The fun of it is in the symmetry of the name "Caxis" and a species of wild "cat". Also if you havent picked up on the play on words, it would also make the animal a "cat-o-nine-tail" :wink:.

I think its kinda funny and cute. :wink:

Ooh added thought...

If you make Caxis a cat then instead of shooting fire from his tail (which I kinda thought was out of keeping with the whimsical nature of this duo) make its powers be twofold. The fun side is just a shower of sparks from his tails (not harmful but dazzling for performances :wink: ) and a more potent and useful ability a massive luck (as Virtue) of 9. 9 lives, 9 times lucky :wink:

Now the added kick would be to give Caxis the ability to extend his luck to scipio but only half way, rounded down (i.e. Luck +4). When Caxis does this for scipio though, his own effective luck is 5 until he stops extending it.

Could be much more handy an ability in many more situations than a cliche' flamethrower could be used.

Think it over. :slight_smile:

Since we are about to undergo a wild romp through Ancient Magic scenarioes with newfangled or remade characters, I chose to remake a previous character idea of mine. He has cleared the character under a general overview, but he asked me to redo it as a younger version (35-40) vs. the original 60-65 y.o. (sadly, this has made necessary to remove the vast majority of the Mystery stuff, which didn't fit in the standard V/F allottment and the much-curtailed post-apprenticeship). However, since I happen to be much more proficient with the details of ArM 5th ed. than the GM, he is lending me an over-abundant dose of trust in coming up right with the details of character build. Therefore I think that a review by forumite sages wiser than both of us might be rather useful.

Please review the character and tell if build makes sense in terms of the concept.

Rule variants and interpretations we have already cleared and agreed upon:

a) Every character in the chronicle may have 8 exposure x.p. every year of post-apprenticeship in addition to standard 30.

b) Every year post-apprenticeship, every mage gains 2 warping points total, either under a longevity ritual or not.

c) My character is allowed to have a second Hermetic-Supernatural Major Virtue as its extra Major Supernatural Ex Misc Virtue.

d) My character is allowed to have a second Story Flaw, since it is treated as the second personality Flaw, and the first Story Flaw is mandated by the concept.

Name: Julian of Merinita (former Ex Miscellanea)

Characteristics: Int +2, Per +2, Str -2, Sta +2, Prs +2, Com +2, Dex -2, Qik -2

Size: 0
Age: 38 (21)
Decrepitude: 0
Warping Score: 2 (1)
Confidence Score: 1 (3)

Virtues and Flaws: The Gift; Hermetic Magus; Chthonic Magic (free); Diedne Magic; Faerie Magic; Harnessed magic (free); Hermetic Theurgy; Skilled Parens; Strong Faerie Blood (satyr); Unaging; Cabal Legacy; Covenant Upbringing; Pagan; Unpredictable Magic; Restriction (touching Divine objects); Rigid Magic (free); Weak Enchanter

Personality Traits: Ambitious +3; Brave +3; Lecherous +3; Optimistic +3; Proud +3
Reputations: None
Combat:
Dodging: Init 0, Attack n/a, Defence 0, Damage n/a
Soak: +2
Fatigue levels: OK, 0, -1, -3, -5, Unconscious
Wound Penalties: -1 (1-5), -3 (6-10), -5 (11-15), Incapacitated (16-20)

Abilities: Athletics (running) 1, Artes Liberales (astronomy) 2, Awareness (alertness) 1, Brawl (dodging) 1, Charm (smooth talker) 1, Chirurgy (self) 2, Chthonic Magic (infernal vis) 1, Code of Hermes (hospitality rights) 1, Concentration (spells) 2, Dominion Lore (Names) 2, Faerie Lore (Names) 2, Faerie Magic (faerie vis) 1, Finesse (precision) 2, French 1, German 5, Guile (fast talk) 1, House Merinita Lore (script experimentation) 1, Infernal Lore (Names) 2, Latin (hermetic use) 5, Magic Lore (Names) 2, Magic Theory (inventing spells) 5, Order of Hermes Lore (mysteries) 2, Parma Magica (Corpus) 2, Penetration (Perdo) 2, Philosophers of Rome Lore (script experimentation) 1, Philosophiae (ceremonial magic) 1, Second Sight (regions) 1, Stealth (sneak) 1, Survival (bad weather) 1, Swim (rough water) 1

Arts: Cr 11, In 3, Mu 6, Pe 11, Re 11, An 6, Aq 6, Au 6, Co 6, He 6, Ig 6, Im 5, Me 6, Te 6, Vi 6

Equipment: None
Encumbrance: 0 (0)
Spells Known:
Appearance:

Our magus was born and raised in an isolated covenant where the veneration of the Old Gods was still the rule, hailing from a tryst between an Hermetic maga and a satyr faerie of the woods, which has bestowed him a link with the eternal power of nature and myth, and a liability to the traditional banes of fae and sorcerer alike. Growing up he showed a strong, primal Gift which allowed him to instinctively perform feats of magic like it were a second nature. The child caught the eye of an Ex Miscellanea maga who descended from a hidden lineage of Diedne druids with chthonic leanings, and practiced a primal, dark, and ecstatic style of magic. She hastened to apprentice him and mold his unruly Gift. Her capable tutelage managed to improve the instinctual command the boy had on magical energies but also revealed that his magic was difficult to fully control and his Gift did not bent well to mastering the most refined intricacies of Hermetic theory and lab work. His childhood environment has molded him into a proud, outspoken pagan with little patience for setbacks and fools in general, but especially for the sniveling minions of the Nailed God, who have caused the glorious gods of nature and legend to retreat to the corners of the world. He extends similar dislike to the coward ants of House Tremere and their Latin bootlickers, that destroyed the glorious House Diedne in their shortsighted prejudice, but so far he has managed to cover up the true source of his antipathy. And in all honesty, the Order of Hermes also houses so many likable fellows that understand how to enjoy both magic and life to the fullest, so he restricts his hatred to Tremere and the worst Latin purists. It also awakened him to a strong curiosity about the world and wanderlust who has lead him to adopt a peregrinator lifestyle among various covenants of the Rhine Tribunal, and some travels to other Tribunals steeped in mystical pagan secrets (Loch Legh, Hibernia, Roma, Stonehenge, Thebes, Transylvania, and Novgorod), seeking up all the secrets of both the magic and the faerie realms which he feels called by his dual nature to equally master, and enjoying the pleasures of the flesh along the way. Among his bouts of wandering, he likes to rest and reflect to translate his experiences into greater insights of the Hermetic Arts (with the help of some vis he picked along the way) in one or the other of the covenants where he has managed to secure hospitality rights for various services. For all his other character faults, he has his likable side, being a bold, cheerful, and fair-minded fellow who is true to friends. Exploring the faerie side of his heritage led him to seek and obtain initiation in the mysteries of House Merinita. Along his journeys he has also discovered and joined a Mystery Cult of sensual Gnostic mystic-scholars, the Philosophers of Rome, which focuses on mastering the secrets of the ancient magical spirits as a path to godhood. Actually, when he reflects on the scattered pieces of his magical lore, and the dual nature of his heritage, he can almost feel the stirrings of his true destiny, as if combining the deeper insights of the magical and the faerie realms may lead him to a synthesis surpassing the present development of Hermetic magic. Or maybe, in his darker moments, he feels that his destiny may instead lay into somehow leading a swift and decisive strike for the preservation and restoration of magic, the true lifeblood of the world, from the encroachments of the despised Dominion. The knot of dark power that he senses at the edges of his Gift and empowers him when he calls to it and uses sacrifices and blasphemy for magic often whispers to him how easy it would be to let honor and restraint go, and sweep out the enemies of magic and nature in a glorious flood of blood, storm, and fire. But for now, these are but half-formed dreams: his faerie blood burns in his veins and keeps him young in mind and body, and there is so much yet to see, do, learn, explore, and experience!

Note: formulaic spells have still to be selected. I expect several if not most of them to be Theurgic Form spirit spells, though.

Well, I think that's packing a lot into one character :smiley:
If I were the SG, I would encourage you to cut back the concept to fewer directions. Diende Magic, in particular, seems extranous to the character concept yet something I'd expect to have massive consequences during the saga. I'd require you either drop it or integrate it more fully (recommending dropping it - the character has enough trouble and focus without it).

I'd also be concerned regarding you joining House Merinitia or not - I think the character, as presented, should have been adopted by House Merinitia, even if it started as an Ex Misc. Either do that or learn Faerie Magic from a more secretive society (replacing House Merinitia Lore with their society's lore).

But regardless, a very interesting and cool character.

I agree with that: the Diedne magic is too much for this concept and is not very good decriobed in his story. If someone is from house Diedne he should also have major plots that involve killing the whole order or something like this. And besides that: I doubt a proud Witch of Thessaly is close to druids, only because of the single reason both groups worship ancient gods. If you want Diedne magic you should go to Fenistal, Dankmar or Arcadia to learn it.

Oh I think it is possible: he should only be a guest at the dark and sinister Dankmar from time to time: Schadrit ex Miscellanea former Bonisagus is THe master of dark fearie magics!
But this should lead to a flaw that plots the destruction of Durenmar. :smiley:

Schadrija ex Bjornaer

Characteristics: Intelligence +1, Perception -1, Presence +2, Communication -1, Strength +1, Stamina +4, Dexterity 0, Quickness +1
Size: 0
Age: 25
Warping Score: 0 (4)
Confidence Score: 1(3)
Twilight Scars: none
Virtues:
The Gift; Cthonic Magic; Hermetic Magus; Affinity with Animal, Affinity with Brawl, Affinity with Corpus, Great: Stamina, Heartbeast: Kings cobra (free), Improved Characteristics, Minor Magical Focus: Snakes, Minor Potency: Snakes
Flaws:
Blatant Gift, Dark Secret, Outsider: Arabian; Hedge Wizard
Personality Traits: Lecherous +3, Sinister +3, Egoistic +2
Reputations: Hedge Wizard +3 (Order of Hermes)
Casting Sigil: Black Cobra
Combat:
Dagger: Initiative +1, Attack +6, Defense +5, Damage +5
Ten Cobras: Initiative +4, Attack +10, Defense +7, Damage +4 (+poison)
Kings Cobra Form (Size +2, Soak +9): Initiative: +5, Attack +11, Defense +8, Damage +5 (+poison)
Soak: +4 (+Form Bonus)(+Armor)
Fatigue Levels: OK, 0, -1, -3, -5, Unconscious
Wound Penalties:-1 (1-4), -3 (5-8), -5 (9-12), Incapacitated (13-16)
Abilities:
Arabic (singing) 5
Latin (Texts) 4
Artes Liberales (ceremonial casting) 1
Area Lore: Levante (infernal) 1
Athletics (jumping) 1
Awareness (searching) 1
Brawl (snake) 3
Bjornaer Lore (script experimentation) 2
Charm (opposite gender) 1
Carouse (sex) 2
Cthonic Magic (items) 1
Concentration (spells) 1
Code of Hermes (infernal) 1
Cult Lore (script experimentation) 1
Finesse (Imaginem) 1
Folk ken (magi) 1
Guile (elaborate lies) 1
Hunt (snake) 1
Intrigue (magi) 1
Infernal Lore (snakes) 2
Magic Theory (items) 3
Organization Lore: OoH (Bjornaer) 1
Parma Magica (Vim) 1
Penetration (Animal) 1
Stealth (hide) 1
Survival (desert) 1
Equipment: Full Leather Scale Armor (enchanted) 8 Protection/ 3 Load = 1 Encumbrance
Talisman: A long dagger with red coral and an emerald on a tiny shield embedded below the blade. Powers: Disguise of the new Visage (MuCo15, 6/day), Poisoned Blade (CrAn15, 6/day, 22 Penetration) Opened: +7 snakes and dragon kin, +10 against demons
Arts:
Creo 5 Intellego 3 Muto 5 Perdo 1 Rego 5
Animal 9 Aquam 1 Auram 1 Corpus 7 Herbam 1
Ignem 1 Imaginem 1 Mentem 1 Terram 1 Vim 4
Known Spells:
Snake Tongue MuCo(An) 5
Ten Cobras MuCo(An) 20 (Potency 3, Amber)
Devils Armor MuAn 15 (Potency 3, Magnetite)
Devils Minion Cr(Re)An 30 (Potency 3, Magnetite)
Piercing Eyes Reveal the Secrets InIm(An) 15 (Potency 3, Mask)
Jointless Body MuCo 5
Jump of the Tiger ReCo 10
Circle of Beast Warding ReAn 5
Beast of Outlandish Size MuAn 15 (Potency 3, Magnetite)
New Spells:
Snake Tongue MuCo(An) 5 (Touch, Sun, Individual): The tongue of the target becomes twisted and gets the ability to smell like a snake via the tongue.
Ten Cobras MuCo(An) 20 (Personal, Diameter, Group, Size +1): Up to ten black snakes with poisonous fangs come up from the arms of the caster. These snakes are controlled like additional body parts and can stretch up to 50 paces. The arms of the caster doesn't change, so he can still hold items.
Devils Armor MuAn 15 (Touch, Sun, Individual): Changes a normal leather armor into a black serpent scale armor that have additional +3 soak and a -2 to load.
Devils Minion Cr(Re)An 30 (Touch, Sun, Individual): Creates one snake up to size +1, that is under the direct control of the caster.
Piercing Eyes Reveal the Secrets InIm(An) 15 (Arcane Connection, Concentration, Individual): The caster can see trough the eyes of an animal.
Jointless Body MuCo 5 (Touch, Sun, Individual): The body of the caster can move like a snake on the ground and it is nearly impossible to catch him, because he can simply move out every grasp.
Jump of the Tiger ReCo 10 (Personal, Momentary, Individual): Like Gift of the frogs Legs, but additional magical power allows the user to land without any Dexterity roll.
Appearance:
The black-haired woman is beautiful and has a nearly black and smooth skin. Her movement are elegant and she is smiling nearly all the time, but most people will find her disturbing and a with, because of her blatant Gift.
Story:
Schadrijas parents came from the western parts of ancient India, traveled to the the Arabic peninsula because of trading silk and pepper. Put her father wasn't a kind and good man, instead of praising to the one god he secretly build a serpent shrine in his house of greed. Over the years an infernal aura developed that showed itself after dusk. In this infernal aura her mother gave birth to te cursed child of the black snakes. This child was unable to help her father in any way, he couldn't even marry her to someone, because everyone was frightened of this beautiful but scary girl with her deep, black eyes. So he was happy that some strange men bought her for 10 silver pounds!
This men was the Bjornaer magus Serpentes ex Bjornaer with the Egypt viper as his hearthbeast and is member of clan Midusulf. He is also part of a secret cult inside the house Bjornaer with some members even coming from other houses: he and other worships the devil and his minions the snakes in all forms and colors. So he taught her the secrets of the black magic as part of her apprenticeship and if she works along with the other members she will soon be taught some of the infernal arts and the power of hermetic theurgy.
At this point she is two years out of apprenticeship and has learned some about the cult and starts to realize, that she might have an important legacy for her dark master.

Well the companion isnt the important thing, but the luck idea is nice. But I doesn't think, that a cat would fit, because cats weren't the symbols of luck in the midle ages.

The fire-thing is also nt a very important part of the concept, but I think fire (or wind) is an elemnt very near someone impulsive and careless like Scipio, so I though an animal like his small fox would suit him.

Well, I did it so b/c HoH:MC tells that House Merinita as a whole does not exert irontight control on initiations into its Mysteries and treats everyone that did initiate as a de facto member (which my character is going to deem himself) even if there isn't a formal House-switching. However, if you deem the character would be more plausible the other way, I can certainly modify the character's House affiliation as Merinita (former ex Miscellanea), if you deem it better, or state that Faerie Magic mysteries were learnt from another, more secretive, Mystery Cult. This is a point where I was uncertain myself. I needed a double House heritage, or I wouldn't be able to implement the fourfold mystical affinity (Diedne-Chthonic-Faerie-Theurgy) of the character from creation, and yes every part of it it's an integral part of the concept. Which option do you deem better ? I would be leaning towards option A: Merinita, Former Ex Misc.

Sorry, dropping Diedne Magic is absolutely not an option. It is fully integral to the character concept, under two purviews:

A) magicswise, he is supposed to be focused on being a generalist master of spontaneous magic, and the Diedne-Chthonic-Faerie-Theurgy combo fulfills this in ways that would not simply be possible otherwise.

B) as it takes magical styles and mystical secrets, the character is supposed to be at the crossroads of four major influences that all hearken to pagan practices: diedne, chthonic, faerie, and theurgical. Each part is integral, and its apparent lack of focus makes sense in being a curious, ambitious fellow that will eagerly jump on any kind of mystical secret that does not scream "Divine!!" to him (or diabolic, for that matter; chthonic dark paganism, yes, eagerly; messing with the minions of the Evil One, no). For now, lack of focus suits him fine. Hermetically, he is a kind of generalist, after all. At some point, an effort to develop a focus may happen, in the sense of integration. I see him much later down the road (say at 80-100 y.o.), as trying to establish his own pet Mystery Cult, trying to mesh all four mystical strands of his heritage in a unified whole, after he has completely mastered the secrets of faerie and theurgy to a much higher degree (say he pursues faerie magic and theurgy intiations up to 60-80 y.o.).

So I cannot absolutely drop the Diedne linkage. I am fully prepared to modify the background somewhat in order to justify it better. In my previous opinion, the best ways of doing it were to state that he descended from either a Thessaly Witch offshoot that had incorporated Diedne practices (by adopting and sheltering Diedne survivors) or a hidden Diedne Ex Misc offshoot that also practiced Chthonic secrets. Both options suit me, as it would the third option of stating that he was initiatied into Diedne secrets later, during his voyages. Whichever you think works better. Only, I am not willing to embrace background bits that contrast my own vision of the Diedne and the OoH. According to which, Diedne were Tremere-slandered practitioners of pagan magic, maybe with some definite dark leanings, but absolutely not infernalists. Likewise, no willingness to lead a revenge crusade against the WHOLE order, including sympathetic Houses like Bjornaer, Merinita, and Ex Misc, for my character. OTOH, I'm absolutely willing and eager to include a strong hatred of Tremere and vendetta purpose against them in his background, and make him as much of a Tremere-hater as the Church-hater he already is. At most, I can extend such antipathy to Latin purist fanatics in the Order, but not the whole Order. This would be easy and fun to RP, but might require clearing with, and an advance warning to, the GM, however, since it would make Tremere PCs absolutely unsuited for the group. He'd by far rather prefer to "redeem" the OoH to paganism, not destroy it; too many juicy magical secrets and too many sympathetic fellows would be lost in the carnage. Purging it out of Tremere leeches and Church-bootlickers would be fine, however.

Within these boundaries, I'm certainly willing to amend the background somewhat, to better justify the concept choices.

Apart from these aspects, is everything else OK about the character in your review ?

Its not whether its "important" or not, it was just a cute suggestion for slightly better symmetry between the name (Caxis) and "cat" rather than "fox". Aside from that there was/is also the frivolous play on word implicit in a 9 tailed cat more so than a 9 tailed fox.

As for symbolism, true cats (of any species) were not symbols of "luck" but I would point out that the Lynx did hold symbolic meanings of "acuity of vision, rapid cleverness and mental alertness".

greatdreams.com/animals.htm (scroll down to Lynx)

apply a little imaginary license to "cleverness" and one could insert an aspect of luck into the picture to justify what I still think is a more appropriate major power (besides the minor power of sparks still seems more whimsical and less militant for a performer-type character's companion than fire).

That's just how I would tweak him if I needed such an NPC to annoy or entertain the troupe. Your character though, so feel free to disregard my ramblings :wink:

I understand, but you can very well start with "only" diedne and Faerie magic (which still makes you a master of spontaneous magic) and initiate later Cthonic Magic instead of trying to squeeze it all. For a relatively young character, this stroke me as way too much, and a loose fit. This would be ok with an older magus, which had had time to make his way into mystery cults but at only 35-40 years, it streches my belief.

Moreso, you give yourself little room to later improve your spontaneous abilities, which I find too bad :frowning:

That's what planned mastery of faerie and theurgy mysteries is for. Many Virtues from those Mysteries like Charm Magic, Animae Magic, Spell Timing, Glamour, Names of Power, Invocation Magic, Synthemata Magia, not to mention to a lesser degree Consummate Talisman, Theurgic Spirit Familiar, Inscription Over The Soul, Spell Improvisation, Faerie-Raised Magic, and Binding The Gift, can do really a lot to improve the powers of a spontaneous-oriented magus. Pursuing them can give a clever and resourceful magus room to improve for a century and more. Not to mention working to improve one's Arts and Arcane Abilities to have something decent to spont with :wink:

Yes, but please be mindful that the original version of the character was 60-65 y.o., and it included initiations for several of the Mystery Virtues listed above. Then I was asked to youthen him down to 35-40 y.o., so I dropped all but one Mystery Virtue (Hermetic Theurgy and Faerie Magic) per cult, plus I kept the two Major Hermetic Virtues (Diedne Magic and Chthonic Magic) that were less directly related to the two chosen Mysteries, as part of the background, to give the character a decent head start.

I'd say go with your leanings. :slight_smile: You give a good explanation as to why he isn't formally adopted, however, so you can go either way...

I would prefer the latter.

Indeed. I'd probably recommend something like this, but I'll have to consider the other player characters first.

I didn't go over the math or spells, but other the above I have no further comments. Like The Fixer I'm concerned that he's too spread out and powerful for a magus his age, but I can see it matters to you that he have all these virtues to form his character concept so I'll probably not insist on the point.

Interesting, promising character, with lots of meat for the SG to bite on. :slight_smile:

If you're going with Diedne Magic, remember that this includes the story flaw: Dark Secret. This means you get 3 story flaws for your character... This could become troublesome, no?