OK, here comes my wannabe Vitki infiltrator. I have made dozens of characters in my life, but 98% of them have been designed as NPCs, so I am somewhat lost for some number crunching and to detect if the character has any blatant weakness. Besides being a vitki infiltrating the Order of Hermes, that is
The character so far has Order of Odin 1 lore, so he is NOT knowledgeable enough to know if ther eis an order or not. He is simply following the instructions of his vitki teacher, and going to learn things about "the other magicians". If there is an order of odin or not, is something I will discover once the minisaga begins
I have not given any magic items to the character, since I don't know if Lauyra wants it to enjoy the full benefits of redcap-dom or he will have to fake the magic items with runic magic and legerdmain.
Finally I dropped Mythic Herbalism because it tied too many XP present and future and most effects can be replicated with Rune Magic. As it is, the character is weak enough. It needs to raise his arts QUICKLY in order to perform, but lacking much access to books and teachers, it might take a while for him to develop good Rune levels. To me, Mythic Herbalism is one of the coolest supernatural abilities to be introduced in ArM (all editions). However, this does not seem to be the most adequate character to have it. I will have to search for other opportunties to use it. A plain companion with this ability and some other supernatural ability can be on par with other hedge magicians (and even weak magi) by skillful use of the MH potential Maybe next time....
I might try to write his adventures from the point of view of his Bonisagus, his raven companion
As said, he is a Vitki treying to infiltrate the OoH pretending to be a redcap (well he actually is a redcap as well). He does not know much about the Order of Odin yet, because his master wants to keep him ignorant for a while (does the order of Odin even exist at all?) just in case he is captured. So far everything has gone well and he has entered the service of house Mercere in the Rhine tribunal. He doesn't know if the redcap that acted as his mentor was also a vitki or just a corrupt mercere that did receive some good money for pretending to have educated him.
Hagen Erwinson, “redcap”
Characteristics: Intelligence +3, Perception +1, Presence 0, Communication +1, Strength +1, Stamina +2, Dexterity +1, Quickness -2
Size: 0
Age: 23
Decrepitude: 0
Warping Score: 0 (0)
Confidence Score: 1 (3)
Virtues:
“REDCAP” (free). [in fact, he is a Vitki]
GENTLE GIFT
Inventive Genius (+3 potions, items & spells. +6 if experiment)
Nameless Runes (no penalty to cast without Name)
Secret Runes x2 (no penalty to cast without Description)
Good characteristics
Well Travelled
Half Taltós
Flaws:
DARK SECRET (Vitki)
RESTRICTION (cannot cast if shaved)
Minor Magical deficiency (Cannot use Fehu (F) Rune)
Susceptibility to Infernal power (sta roll = aura or become ill; –1 to rolls)
Magical Animal Companion (Bonisagus, a raven of virtue. Might 13)
Weakness (stories of magi)
Personality Traits: Curious +2, Secretive +1, Loyal -1, Loyal to Vitki +3
Reputations:
Combat:
Not calculated yet (and quite irrelevant, since we use a hombrew system).
He is bad-ish at it (skill 3) UNTIL he uses runes, and then he becomes quite good (ability 7-8 )
Soak: +2, uo to +9 with armour
Fatigue Levels: OK, 0, -1, -3, -5, Unconscious
Wound Penalties:
Abilities: Animal Handling (horses) 1, Area Lore: Scandinavia (places of power) 1, Area Lore: Rhine Tribunal (politics) 1, Artes Liberales (Logic) 1, Athletics (swim) 1, Awareness (alertness) 1, Brawl (dodge) 1, Charm (warriors) 1, Chirurgy (first aid) 1, Craft: Runes (disguise) 2, Folk Ken (peasants) 2, Guile (pretend ignorance) 1, Legend Lore (Items of virtue) 1, Order of Hermes Lore (Redcaps) 1, Rune Magic (Thurisaz) 4, Premonitions (dangers to self) 1, Ride (long distances) 1, Single Weapon (round shield) 3, Speak Latin (Church) 2, Speak Low German (Saxon) 5, Speak Old Norse (training) 3, Speak Slavonic (Polish) 2, Survival (forest) 1, Theology: Norse (Aesir) 1, Vitkir Lore (personalities) 1
Equipment: Leather armor, axe, round shield. Practical and discrete travel clothes, horse with camping gear
Encumbrance: -1 (3) Reduced to 0 through magic
Runes:
A 2, B 3, G 2, I 3,
J2, K 1, L 7, O 7, P 1
R 3, S 7, Th 2, U2, Y1
Rune Scripts :
All are method I
B15 +5 I, Hagen, bind this wound +9 recovery rolls (wounds)
G15 +4 I, Hagen, talk convincingly +3 to Influence rolls (Trust, new relationship, charm, negotiate)
I10 +5 I, Hagen, invoke the touch of Niffleheim Freeze water. Living beings lose 1 fat level
J5 +4 I, Hagen, bless the fields No natural illness (fields)
K15 +3 I, Hagen, cure this illness +9 recovery rolls (illness)
L10 +9 I, Hagen, summon the gift of Nerthus Summon 10x10x10m of water
R10 +5 I, Hagen endure the challenges +2 Stamina rolls (including runes!!!)
S10 +9 I, Hagen, see through the darkness See in the dark
S15 +9 I, Hagen, summon summer’s brightness i sunlight comes from the target or shines on the target[/i]
U15 +4 I, Hagen, invoke the strength of the Bull –3 Encumbrance
Development ideas include having himself trained in Latin so that he can read, and then milk the libraries of the Rhine covenants for mundane and arcane knowledge. He will develop a series of utility spells and then try to create some items of virtue and raise his runes before getting down to learn more specific spells; casting total remains a problem even if his lab total is quite high (10+aura (3 on average) + rune)