Faerie Friend Minor Story Flaw

Games Discussion Ars Magica
1

Ok, enough talk for now about the role of the infernal in the Covenant of the Wandering Path, my first ArM5 campaign. One of the three PC magi is a female Merinita Magus who has selected the "faerie friend" flaw.

This is probably my most "story oriented," least "power-gaming" player so I don't have some of the concerns that I've had with other similar flaws. The player is very busy in real life, so I have agreed to take on the task of constructing the character.

She hasn't google doc'd here character sheet yet, so I can't say much about her character, but she's your basic fairie wizard fresh out of gauntlet - fairie blooded, best at fairie and nature related magic.

The covenant grounds is on level 5 (magic) of a 7 level regio. Level 3 has a fairie aura and has 2 major sources of fairies. One area of the regio is a forest lakeshore where which there is an undefined "fairie court." A source of vis is a golden rabbit, for which the grogs of the covenant compete with the fairies - its a fair contest, no "molestation" occurs. The fairies could reside in the lake or surrounding forest, the only requirement is that at least some of them be able and willing to hunt a rabbit. The second source is deeper in the woods, as they climb into the surrounding forest, where lie some largely unexplored roman ruins. It is said the auberge, a vis source from Covenants, may be located there. It is also said that something happened there involving hubris and the roman gods in the last days of empire. What fairies remain is unknown, but they are said to be powerful, plentiful, and bored.

The PC has said that, of the options (less powerful, tag-along character), (moderately powerful, another PC's companion), (pure SG controlled NPC, range of power levels depending on how helpful/problematic), she would prefer it to be an NPC, isn't that concerned about power level, and would like it to draw her into stories.

When another player attempted to draft the fairie, it was a 2 ft talled winged "dwarf" like creature. Its powers were too much so I shot it down, which is when the player of the magus suggested I draft it.

Now I'm at a losss for what to create. I've got RoP:F, but none of the samples are inspiring me for her "friend."

Anyone have suggestions of fairies you've wanted to see in play, favorite fairie's you've used in past sagas, etc? This is everyone's first ArM5 campaign, so "stock" characters from books are fine.

2

I have considered a easy way of making a faerie "personality" is to take a being that looks nearly human, but then give it the personality of a animal.

A young girl, with the thinking and mannerism of a owl.
A strong older man, who moves and acts like a goat.
The mid-aged woman, with a wolf like grin.
Ect.

Cliches are simply and useful and can be every bit as enriching as the well-thought out stroke of brilliance. So having a faerie such as a wood nymph or other classic would not be amiss.

Just now I thought how it might be fun to have a fey that was a brownie, one of those well-known helper faeries that works at night but on the condition that it do so anonymously. But here is the catch, the brownie is a friend of the character character, and hangs out when not "working" wanting only to relax and have a ale or something. Basically the two of them are just friends who hang out, and when it gets dark the brownie says. "Well it was nice seeing you, have a great night, I have twenty pairs of shoes to make before sunrise, later!"

It's late I may not have explained that as eloquently as I would have liked.

3

Here is a subtle Faerie Friend I made for a de Spinnen churchman and physician hailing from Spider's Palace. It hides in his robes, knows him inside out and can 'appear' on SG whim when it benefits a story. Think basically of Carlo Collodi's Grillo-parlante (Jiminy Cricket for the 'English only'), but with a decidedly Spider Palace perspective, and not to be killed easily even by hurled hammers.

Faerie Friend:
Spider Beel. Str: -, Sta: +1, Dex: +1, Qik: +11, Int: +2, Per: +2, Pre:-2, Com: +1, Init: +11, Siz: -10
Faerie Might: 5
Virtues: Faerie Beast (small Spider), Faerie Sight, Faerie Speech, Highly Cognizant, Pretentious, Lesser Power
Flaws: Intangible Flesh – hence immaterial, Traditional Ward: Iron, 2x Little
Pretenses: Awareness (Keeping Watch) 5, Artes Liberales (Geometry) 5, Bargain (Stories) 3, Climb (Walls) 5, Etiquette (de Spinnen) 3, Folk Ken (de Spinnen) 3, Hunt (Track) 3, Latin (Academic Usage) 3, Medicine (Physician) 5, Stealth (Hide) 5
Personality: Curious +2, Shy +2
Power: Eidolon (1 Might Point, Init: +9, Imaginem) – only this way Beel becomes visible and audible

As is, Beel is very specific to its given background, but adaptation to another is straightforward.

Cheers

4

What kind of Faerie Blood does she have?
Having your faerie friend being you parent or sibling is often possible, and nice. I have had much fun with a Faerie Friend who was the PC's father. He was a minor noble at Titania's court and as such would drag us into all sorts of court intrigue, faerie problems with the mundane (to get Dad some favour at court) and simple missions (so that Dad could do something else like charm the ladies :wink: )

Tying the friend to the type of faerie blood is smart, I think.

Another possibility is to have some sort of faerie messenger as the Friend. It would be suited for dragging the Magus into all sorts of stories both concerning the source of messages, the contents, the delivering and the recipient.

5

When it comes to the Fair Folk and faerie friends, I'm old school. Some faerie friends which I've used in saga's past and present...

A wandering faerie minstrel - he would appear around the covenant at odd imes as a herald of weird events to come, drawing his friends into said weird events.
A brownie - the "house-elf" made famous by Harry Potter, ours was a profane little man who did the housekeeping around the covenant, given to prophetic mutterings and a rich source of information about the fae... not so much a cause of stories as a coporeal version of the Visions flaw.
A faerie grandmother - the faerie ancester of a faerie-blooded PC, she acted the part of the PCs best friend and confidant, but was actually keeping an eye on her mortal decendant who was in peril from her rivals in Faerie.

6

No, no, great suggestions. Really like the "brownie uses your lab as a breakroom" idea. When making a magical animal companion, folks stressed that it is a flaw; while minor benifit is ok, it should hinder the character, draw him into stories, etc. I can see this idea providing some minor flavor, but I'm not really envisioning how it would draw the maguus into stories. Ideas anyone?

7

Thanks. I really like this character and will definately insert it into my saga somehow. Not sure its right for her as she wanted something a little bigger to be less squishy, particularly if it might travel with her, but I'll mention the ways you found to deal with that problem.

8

I'm not sure. Will ask, good idea for a possibility that links into the setting. That would define what sort of fairie are in the roman ruins or the woods-on-the-lake.

If the type of blood she's selected isn't suitable, this sounds like a good way to draw her into the setting, a messenger from the fairie court in the woods.

9

The brownie can have "work" problems that he asks the player character to help solve.

Stuff like: "help, someone has stolen my cobbler tools", "I am all out of hippogriff leather, can you hunt one down for me?", "the faerie queen has ordered me to make 10,000 pairs of dance shoes by the solstice night ball, but I can't do that many", help, I've made one thousand boots from a dragon's hide, and the dragon is trying reassemble itself (and is mad)", etc

The brownie can also have his own faerie friends/associates/allies/superiors who approach the player character via the brownie for help with their own problems.

10

Richard Love's ideas are great. Make the PCs grow used to the house elf solve A LOT of their problem, and not `pay much attention on HOW he is doing it. He might even have a few magic items to handle them at a moment of need when they are stuck and save the day from terrible Doom. Having him run the covenant on auto mode for a while is nice and makes them confident and (probably) indolent.

And then they start getting those weird requests and see where he got all the tools to do all his wonder jobs. :mrgreen: Favors to superior fae, mad dragons, hipogriffs coming for a vengeance, need to gather a few souls to work in the kitchens since the last pones are running out of vis.... well maybe the later if he is a faux fae, but hey :wink:

Cheers,
Xavi

11

Brilliant stuff man, thanks! You should write professional gaming materials...oh, wait...

12

+1 on the idea that the nature of the "Friend" may be tied to the kind of Faerie Blood (and/or other Faerie-related backstory) that the PC has.

In addition to the issue of "payback" when all that helpful "stuff" that a brownie does for / brings to / etc your lab/covenant/adventures/etc... the players may find some stuff of THEIRS goes missing, as the brownie "borrows" their stuff to make life easier for some of his other mortal "friends".

Don't forget the classic "prankish" nature of many fae; the PC may be called upon to "set right" a great many pranks.

All in all, there's enough potential for mayhem that I'd even consider allowing it as a Major flaw (with Troupe permission, of course, as "Fix the Faerie FUBAR" stories may get old, if run often enough to justify "Major Flaw" points).

  • Steve S.