A previous apprentice of Nocturnus ex Tytalus, Arthur failed to develop a 'proper' attitude for a Tytalus and was also severely underexposed to the remainder of the house. He had been kept as an apprentice for well over 15 years, though Noctrurnus was not training him, and there were rumors that a Bonisagus was going to claim Arthur and provide him some relevant training before guantletsing him, as well as whispers of charges being filed by a Guernicus for apprentice abuse. What exactly happened next Nocturnus may or may not have remembered but certainly nobody else knows. Whether Arthur attempted some ill conceived self transformation or whether Nocturnus tried to strip away his gift to avoid charge is not certain, but the result was that Arthur wound up Giftless and Transformed into a magical lab assistant- down to his essential nature.
Arthur the Assistant: Might 5 (Me)
Int 6 Per 0
Pre -2 Com 3
Str -1 Sta 2
Dex 0 Quick 0
Virtues:
failed apprentice(minor+1)
great intelligence(minor+1)
great intelligence(minor+1)
improved characteristics(minor+1)
improved characteristics(minor+1)
good teacher(minor+1)
cautious with magic theory(minor+1)
rapid covalescence(minor+1)
tough(minor+1)
common sense(minor+1)
Some questions, though, all revolving around Vis Mastery:
What good does Improved Recovery do you? I see nothing that cost Might Points. Vis Mastery costs a permanent point from Might Score.
Would the Fatigue spent on Vis Mastery via Fatigue Mastery be permanently lost as the point from Might Score would be?
Is the plan between Reduced Might x10 and the permanent cost of Vis Mastery to drop Magic Might to 0 for no learning penalty while retaining the benefits of Magic Might?
What good does Improved Recovery do you? I see nothing that cost Might Points. Vis Mastery costs a permanent point from Might Score.
or a point of confidence. Otherwise a good question-I was really trying to fill up his qualities and hadn't considered that...
Would the Fatigue spent on Vis Mastery via Fatigue Mastery be permanently lost as the point from Might Score would be?
I don't believe fatigue can be spent on vis mastery, but if PB rules otherwise...
Is the plan between Reduced Might x10 and the permanent cost of Vis Mastery to drop Magic Might to 0 for no learning penalty while retaining the benefits of Magic Might?
no, the plan is to earn confidence and express it as vis.
Yes, or a Confidence Point. I was focusing on the Might Point based stuff so I skipped that. I'm not so sure you're going to get much out of this then...
Ah, you're right. "Might Points" is the important thing here. But then do you get any value out of this?
That sounds fine to me. Just so long as the ultimate rules-bypass thing from RoP:M isn't showing up. (I didn't even mention how it can be extended to get so much worse. Bad enough as I'd explained it, right?)
I do worry about Weak Willed plus Essential Flaw: Subservient, or maybe just the latter. It's not a power issue. I see this guy not being able to bargain for his own services. Asking for 1 or 2 p.v.f. for a season of assistance would be reasonable. But it seems like the magi could just tell him to work for them. Then this guy gets passed around, working for each magus about once every two years. Then you are essentially playing a piece of lab equipment. Is that going to be fun for you?
keep in mind what the essential flaw actually means- it means his presence is effectively a -6 when it comes to trying to assert himself (for any reason) against authority. Anyone trying to intimidate, fool or manipulate him gets a +3 to their rolls from weak willed. It doesn't make him inherently a slave or a piece of equipment, but it does mean he has some significant obstacles.
Of course from another less mechanical perspective, yes, this is a magical being whose purpose is to serve as a mage's assistant. Think bagger Vance, driving miss daisy, or any of a number of works of fiction where the servant is a powerful advisor in their own quiet way. Yes, I do think this is someone that will be interesting to play.
checks the date on the thread's first post And...you got this up before that ruling, so it should slide (barring other problems). Curse you, ex post facto! shakes fist
I always have a hard time with magical characters. The rules are all over the place. I do have RoP: M on my MetaCreator, so I'll be leaning heavily on that and the eyes of the rest of the troupe to make sure everything works.
This would be a very workable character without the Magic Might. Failed Apprentice along with an interesting back-story provides some great RP stuff along with making the character extremely valued at the covenant. Sell your services for some Vis and you can hire people to make longevity rituals and magic items as you need. If he really got into the Tytalus stuff, Arthur could seek some sort of revenge (within Hermetic laws, as interpreted by the Tytalus) against House Tytalus for letting his master burn his Gift away. Lots of good RP stuff and a reason to build strength at the corner of Mythic Europe.
I find that an odd rule to use. If the character concept is one you don't like, why are you allowing it? Just because he managed to get it posted before you nixed it? Is the lesson we learn from this to post, post, post as quick as we can. If it's not explicitly forbidden then it's allowed? By this logic if jebrik had just gotten a draft of his Gifted Gruagachan up before the discussion on Gifted companions, it would be allowed despite what the troupe decided.
Facetiousness doesn't translate well online. Basically, I am not comfortable with most, if not all, of the rules presented in RoP: M, and feel that they're best used for NPC monsters and for familiars. For magical humans especially, it doesn't seem suited for making PCs. For Familiars etc, it's almost impossible to make a fully-stated and developed character without the rules, but that's the extent that I want to use RoP:M for character creation.
I apologize for not getting that onto the CharGen page; I honestly thought I had, and have fixed that now.
So, if we can make this character without using RoP:M, that would be fantastic.
I would like to keep this as a magical character for a number of reasons, including not wanting to introduce a fait accompli effect of being able to strip another magus of the Gift. Could we compromise on a lower might level?
Ways already exist in RAW of removing/damaging the Gift. You don't have to specify how. I do think this character is completely build-able as a companion without the Magic Might.
As accidents, is there a way to intentionally remove the Gift from someone else as RAW?
This is why I asked if magical characters could be played as companions before I made this character, so I wouldn't be wasting my time making a character you wouldn't approve of.
Looks like I'll make a different companion once I get past the frustration.
Yes. For example, see the third paragraph on page 70 of HoH:MC or the last paragraph on page 93 of HoH:MC. These two require an active, knowing participant. However, in the case of the Path of Strife method this could be accomplished with ReMe, for example, and so could be forced on someone. There may well be more; those were just two off the top of my head, the Path of Strife method being the primary one I remember for this since the other is essentially via Initiation.
I think the confusion is coming in because the answer to that question still seems to be "yes." But that doesn't mean each specific possibility is allowed. I believe from PG's statements that you can play a magical character, such as a cat with Magic Might, working towards becoming someone's familiar.