Some non hermetic traditions seem to have Chtonic Magic (Witches of Tessaly anyone?). Chtonic magic offers the following benefits:
2 kinds of aura (magic and another one) count as native for you.
You can use infernal vis with no problem.
Doubles your lower art in certain circumstances, like diedne magic. However you need to do a heinous act to count that bonus
Now, the later does not apply if you are not an Hermetic. Still, it is extremely cool from a story point of view and I find it a pitty that a non-hermetic withc of tessaly would nopt go around invoking dark gods because she gains no benefit for doing so. In fact, i find it rather counterintuitive: hermetics should be able to go over that, while non hermetic withches should be be yelling to Hecate on a regular basis.
Now, have I missed something and Chtonic Magic offers Summoning, Hexing or Commanding bonuses to non hermetics? Where can I find those rules? In the book I only seem to find rules for hermetic witches of tessaly, if I want to get these bonuses. Since the Witch of Tessaly only uses one art I doubt that she doubles it for being the lowest art being used.... Thx
I had thought that the point about Arts is that there needs to be two for them to work. That's part of why the whole Difficult Arts/Easy Ability mechanic was introduced. If they only have one Art I think you may be misreading something somewhere (I don't have the book at work).
On the whole unless somebody comes up with some kind of statistical model showing some massive abuse I'd be ok with doubling an ability in certain circumstances like doubling an art.
Weeeeeeeelllllllllllll... there is something of a precedent from the vitkir's magical foci, in that their runes are Accelerated Abilities and while they often use them in pairs, they don't have to. In their case, if you have a focus and you use an appropriate rune singly, you double it.
I don't have my book in front of me, but doesn't Chthonic Magic require The Gift? Maybe if it's a Gifted Thessalean who hasn't been opened to the Hermetic Arts, I could see allowing the doubling of those powers that are specifically part of her magical tradition. But I worry it would be too powerful if any character who had the Virtue could double their scores in things like Summoning or Ablating.
Yup, Chtonic magic requires the Gift. The Witches of Tessaly are descirbed in thge "hermetic traditions" entry of ROP:I. However, it is also stated that a lot of them have not joined the OoH, and I was wondering what Chtonic magic would be useful for if you didn't have hermetic arts. The witches' chrtonic arts certainly predate them joining the Order!!!
The vitkir reference is very well thought of. Thx And yes, witches of Thessaly will be really scary, but maybe this is why they have not been conquered by hermetics so far The forced "join or die" policy would be extremely costly here, since hermetics are not granted to be the top dog. From what you can read in the supplements the OoH as a collective is a bunch of schoolyard brutes: if they can win easily they do so, but if they face real opposition they prefer to shun the enemy and search for easier targets elsewhere. Sounds like that kind of situation to me.
The forced "join or die" policy would be extremely costly here, since hermetics are not granted to be the top dog. From what you can read in the supplements the OoH as a collective is a bunch of schoolyard brutes: if they can win easily they do so, but if they face real opposition they prefer to shun the enemy and search for easier targets elsewhere. Sounds like that kind of situation to me.