Hello,
I'm creating a PC necromancer ex Miscellanea, specialised in incorporeal necromancy (ghost binding) and I'd like some suggestion about how to design the tradition, especially the major Virtu and major flaw. If possible, I prefer not using rules from supplements other that House of Hermes and Mysteries
And if you have suggestions about this archetype don't hesitate (knowing that I'm not a beginner, but advice are always welcome)
The Ex Miscellanea tradition associated with Necromancy are the Donatores Requietis Aeternae (HoH:S p.115ff):
Major Non-Hermetic Virtue: Banishing (HoH:S p.118f),
Major Hermetic Virtue: Minor Magical Focus (either Mentem for spirits/ghosts, or Corpus for animated dead),
Major Hermetic Flaw: Restriction (cannot cast spells on consecrated ground).
You could build an Ex Miscellanea as a member of (TMRE p.129ff) The Disciples of the Worm or around (TMRE p.64ff) Hermetic Spirit Magic. The Major Hon-Hermetic Virtue could again be Banishing, (LotN p.102) Corpse Magic, or something more individual like a Greater Immunity.
Thanks! I really like the Donatores Requietis Aeternae but unfortunately their philosphy is quite the opposite of controlling ghost (but yeah an other tradition with banishing could be nice!)
Thanks for the The Disciples of the Worm, it could be a in-game goal but membership won't be accessible at creation
If you stick to ReMe rather than going for the banishment /summoning route, then affinity and puissance in those arts will be very handy
If I were making a sort of "classic" necromancer for Ex Miscellanea, personally I would go with:
Summoning (RoP:tI) as the major supernatural virtue. This is in the infernal book, but summoning can be aligned with any realm (although it does appear tainted to Sense Holiness and Unholiness). This gives you a powerful ability to summon ghosts and other spirits as well, but you won't have the other Goetic arts (which are exclusively Infernal) so it needs to be supplemented with normal hermetic spells to bind and control spirits.
In that vein I'd make the minor hermetic virtue something along the lines of affinity for Rego, puissant Rego, or possibly a minor magical focus in ghosts (or binding ghosts maybe, a subset of Mentem spells either way). You don't need to focus on Vim at all if you have summoning, so Rego and Mentem are going to be the important arts.
For the flaw you have some options. Deficient Technique (Creo) makes sense, it's the art least thematic for a necromancer imo. Some kind of necessary condition or restriction. Or possibly weak spontaneous magic - in my mind necromancers fit ritual magic better than spontaneous, thematically.
That's just how I'd do it, there's actually a lot of different ways to make a necromancer in Ars. One other more unusual solution might be to make a new virtue, possibly based off the Binding or Commanding Goetic arts, but not infernal and focused on ghosts rather than demons.
In Hooks, chapter three "Echoes of the Ancient Dead" includes a Supernatural Virtue/Ability called 'Lore of the Dead' which may be useful for a necromancer.
Take all the mechanics of Ex Miscellanea Hermetic Sahirs [HoH:S p.133], or simply those of their Major Supernatural Virtue Sihr, and change "jinn" into "ghosts" everywhere in the text (removing any reference to Elementalism, the Elemental Forms etc.). Give it a try, it should work out of the box!
I would suggest going in the direction of spirit-binding. Perhaps:
Allow only a limited number of bound spirits under the magus' control at any one time. Give the character Puissant Penetration, an Affinity with Magic Lore to learn True Names of ghosts, And Second Sight or Strong Faerie Blood.
The idea is to center the character on actually binding spirits, and giving him useful stuff to do with it. This could later be combined with Mysteries.