Hi folks! I'm a storyteller for the ArM 4th ed. and I have a player who want to create a mage with a particular magic item. He want to have the blatant gift and a magic item that can hide it.
At main source book there isn't something like it but there is a CrVi spell who can simulate the gift. The CrVi 15 spell called "The Phantom Gift". I was thinkg that if there are a CrVi spell to simulate a gift it shuld be possible to hide the gift with a PeVi spell, but I'm not sure about the level. What do you think?
"The Phantom Gift" has R:Near, D:Sun and T:Ind. For the spell for this enchanted device the D and T should be good, but R could be Touch instead of Near. It is 10 less leveles. But it gives you a 5 level spell only! It's really easy. I think to hide the gift it should be a little more difficult. And it's for a normal gift, the difficult for a blatant gift should be greater.
I'll appreciate some ideas and/or oppinions about it. I'm sorry for the 4th ed., but I'm a spanish speaker and I'm not really good with english (this post took some work for me ), so I've the 4th ed. only, not the 5th. (it's not translated to spanish).
I've never played 4th so the following may not be vaild....I'd guess you need a research breakthrough to hide the gift, then it would be the opposite of the phantom gift. Without the breakthrough you may risk destroying all or part of the gift.
You could also consider a metem effect to change peoples reactions when they view you.
I, like agnar, also think that hideing the gift with vim magic is like trying to deal with a spot on a carpet by throwing a pile of dirt on it so people won't notice it.
Menetem magic looks like the way to go.
A flaw that does not provide any disadvantage is not worth any points.
The flaw should be "canceled" with the object. But the player is going to pay for the object more than the cost of the flaw... It's a matter of story more than an advantage what my player wants. I know him and he's not a munchkin.
The mentem solution will not work, because for story reason he want to hide the gift to other mages. The idea is that only his master knows he has the gift. He will be a secret apprentice, near to the gauntlet.
May be the solution is in a non hermetic object...
That sounds like a good story. Infernal and holy Items might be good bets to hide the gift, as would magic/faerie items related to entititees of magic and or secrets.
I'd say it's probably best to have a non-Hermetic item do it, because if you let Hermetic magic do it then other magi, who do not have the story's best interests at heart, will duplicate the effect.
An Infernal item could do it no problem, but that may be rather more story than the player wants...
Divine and Faerie items are both possibilities, as are items left from ancient, long-dead traditions of magic. The source of the item affects the sorts of stories it is likely to introduce later, so it is a good idea to think about it in those terms, and largely ignore the rules. It's basically a plot device, so just make something up to create the plots you want.
Thank you everybody! I've finally defined the object like follows:
Cost: +2 Virtue.
A Christian Crux, made of gold and inserted jewels, finely crafted and intricately detailed. It seems to be some type of saint reliq, because it reduces the magic power of any Magus that wears it. It's unknown it's effect on creatures from other realms.
If a Magus wears the crux, due to the divine influence, his gift is hidden from others, even if it's a blatant one. The Magus will receive a -5 penalty to any dice thrown to cast or resist a spell, but not to targeting or concentration. Also if someone wearing it enters an area with divine aura, the aura penalty is multiplied by 1.5 (rounded up). Infernal auras divide their penalty by 2 (rounded up) before being substracted.
Please, remember I'm based on 4th edition. Originally I was thinking on a +3 cost, but with the casting penalty I left it on +2. It's true that if the character use it on other magus or magic creature it will be an advantage, but I think there are a little possibility to use the object like this and if the magus wants to hide his gift he is going to need to wear it very often. I think that great difference allows the +2 cost instead of a +3.
And about the aura influences, the idea is that in divine auras the crux has more power and the penalty is greater (the aura influence grows to reflec that) and on infernal auras the crux has less power and the penalty decreasses (the infernal aura penalties the character but penalties the crux too, then the aura final penalty decreases).
), so I've the 4th ed. only, not the 5th. (it's not translated to spanish).