I have a companion and I based him off of Hagrid. I’m not super happy with him and feel I’m missing some ideas.
Originally he was going to be a grounds keeper but I got pushed away from that a bit. So now he is a failed apprentice.
Any thoughts or advice will be taken under consideration and greatly appreciated
Well, it would help to know what specifically, you’re not happy with? I could see a few things:
Virtues:
Failed Apprentice
Giant
Animal Ken
Puissant Animal Ken
Flaws:
Loose Tongue
Overconfident
Really depends on what direction you want to go with the character. He’s not a groundskeeper, then what is he? A warrior? A scholar? A craftsman? A leader of sorts?
because of failed apprentice he has become a scribe and assistant.
But he still likes going outdoors and being an animal handler.
Hmm, alright. I would say then for Virtues:
Flaws:
Change the flaws to taste. Indiscreet is the main point of RPing a Hagrid like character, having recently watched the movies. The Man drops clues to the main characters like nobody’s business!
I’d throw in Master of Animal Creatures, to be able to train Magical Animals.
Sorry to bring the discussion back.
I wanted to create a similar concept of character, but more like Newt Scamander, a field supernatural biologist influenced by the posts of Sharing monsters and myths maps.
At the time I toke the Bjornaer template, change the Heartbeast to shapeshifter (starting with a flying form to have more mobility) and added inoffensive to magical creatures and, maybe, animal keen. I idealize it as a true Merinita with Nature Lore instead of faerie magic.
For abilities i just could think about philosophy, emphasis in natural philosophy, hunt, survival and animal handling, don’t know if take chirurgy (for anatomy) and/or profession (apotechary).
I wanted the character to focus in discovering products that can be made from magical animals (new shapes and materials, drugs), or new aspects of magic to integrate in the MT, but couldn’t give him an ambulatory laboratory (as I envision the character focusing on In, Mu; An, Co).
Can you give some help to make this character more coherent and/or functional?
Consider Puissant MT and Inventive Genius for any findamental research. Vulgar Alchemy looks up your alley (see TMRE) but be aware the virtue is known to require a rebalancing in part because S&M discovery is too hard as written.
A Newt Scamandar Style Mage would be quite interesting!
Virtues:
A newt Scamander magus could for example have a Major deficiency with Perdo and possibly Ignem. He also has some kind of virtue related to be Autistic or having a difficult time being diplomatic with people or having intimate conversations.
I don’t think the PC necessarily needs to be a Bjornear at all actually. Plenty of other Houses could fit the idea of an animal loving Animal magic specialist (Bonisagus, Ex Miscellenea, Jerbiton, Merineta) depending on what flavor of story you want. Legends of Hermes has a Magus who has some way of harvesting Vis from magical plants. It could be repurposed as figuring out how to harvest vis from these magical animals in a way that doesn’t harm them or damage their magical might. Magi of Hermes has a Tytalus Animal specailist and I think another.
I didn’t read @Tburla as meaning the character was Bjornaer, just that it was based on the Bjornaer template but swapped out Heartbeast… the thing that makes a Bjornaer a Bjornaer.
I would think that Magical Animal Companion is a necessity. If your troupe is agreeable I’d suggest upgrading it to a Major Story Flaw, too – Newt has a lot of magical animals that probably count as Companions for a Story Flaw: they all cause stories for him.
Thanks for the suggestions, I’m consolidating a Bonisagus with: Gentle gift; Animal Keen, Alluring to Magical Beings, Master of Animal Creatures, Inventive Genius; Puissant MT *
The last one I’m thinking about Minor Magical Focus (self transformation or similar to both to change into animals and access animals characteristics with human body), Affinity with Mu, Independent Study (as the concept is a traveling magus) or Vulgar Alchemy (it would be the first option for the character, but I’m almost dropping it because the problems with the rules, need to talk with the SG about it)
I have removed the shapeshifting, it will come when the character learns more from the anatomy and natural properties of mundane and magical beasts through spells, and Nature Lore, as it duplicates the effects of the others virtues, but has a geographic limitation to it’s use (especially with Animal Lore).
For Flaws I loved the suggestion of Magical Animal Companion, but will talk with the SG if it should be Ok to take Difficult Underlings (to simulate the troubles these companions brings to the character), the Deficient Pe complements the concept; Offensive or Unbearable to Mundane Humans and/or Social Handicap (to bring the social awkwardness), Carefree and Magical Fascination.
Cool point, according to the DE, a Magus can use his ReAn lab total to train a magical animal, that can fit inside it, like a lab activity. You subtract the lab total from the creature’s Might, and accumulate points according to it towards training it.
So your Bonisagus might not need Master of Animal Creatures to train them…
Thanks, this opens possibilities to focus in the arts.
Yep, you can take Affinity Rego or Affinity Animal, or even a Minor Magical Focus in a specific animal type, to increase your Lab Total that way.
Instead of burning a Major Virtue on 'Gentle Gift" & then turning around and matching it with 'odious to humans' to represent awkwardness with people -- why not simply opt for 'Inoffensive to Animals'?
Social Handicap seems like it would better model whatever neuroatypicality Newt is supposed to have, anyway. The Gift imposes a Social penalty but it makes people mistrust and fear you, and Unbearable to [Beings] makes them extremely disturbed, frightened, and possibly enraged. Newt has a big Social penalty to be sure but none of that is going on.
Might be something to take up with the troupe & storyguide. Just re-flavor the social penalty of the Gift to fit the character concept. It seems like a big ask to demand a character give up their one Major Hermetic Virtue, and take on a flaw that basically nullifies it, for what is little more than a change in fluff text.
I was thinking: The Gift + Inoffensive to Animals + Social Handcap better models Newt than does Gentle Gift + Unbearable to Mundane Humans. It’s not like Newt isn’t also socially awkward with magical humans, too (and probably with Faeries, etc.). In addition it’s more tidy with Virtues/Flaws.
The choice for Gentle Gift is to make the character inoffensive to any kind of animals from all different realms, by the DE the Inoffensive virtue can only be purchased once for mundane animals or for one group of realm affiliated beings.
Do you interpret that Inoffensive to Animals is valid for both mundane and supernatural animals? Can see it with the SG too.
That is, of course, correct. In my game I’d accept an “Inoffensive to Cunning” as a Minor Virtue that wouldn’t apply to things with Intelligence, but that’s into house rule territory.
The problem with inoffensive to Cunning is twofold:
Not all animals with Might have Cunning, some have Intellect.
Some creatures, like low cognizance Fae, and Elementals, have Cunning and not Intellect.