That is verrry creative reading of ArM5 p.105. But such creative reading might be, what the SG of the Goetic maga needs to do.
I think RAW makes it clear. Page 16
"There is one case in which the āJoin or Dieā policy is rigorously enforced. Any non-Hermetic wizard who learns the Parma Magica, or any other form of general magic resistance, must join the Order of Hermes or be hunted down. The Order is virtually unanimous in its opinion that this monopoly must be preserved"
Is the ghost a non-hermetic wizard? I'd say so.
Can the ghost join the order? I doubt it. I can't imagine anyone in the order would accept an order member as a familiar of another order member.
Thus, the moment the Ghost learns the parma, the parts of the order focused on maintaining structure and order, such as Guernicus, Tremere, Bonisagus, want that familiar eradicated.
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I don't think most Familiar would be able to learn to activate Parma, since few of them will be Gifted. And a Gifted creature would prefer to try and join the Order, as an apprentice, and then a full Magi, rather than be someone's Familiar. Not to mention that I don't see many Magi testing their Familiar to see if he has the Gift.
Another thing to remember, Parma doesn't stack with MR from Might, so unless your Gifted Familiar has a low Might score, Parma wouldn't really be of any help to him, unless he really invested in it, and that takes away time from investing in other things that might make him more useful to the Magi, like Magic Theory, Penetration, Finesse, and any other Ability he could be learning/improving.
You forget one important point. Any being with magic might has Ā«general magic resistanceĀ». Since the Order does not apply the join and die class to animals of virtue, dragons, or spirits in general. These beings cannot in general be considered wizards.
One reasonable interpretation is that wizard entails human.
No, that probably is not good enough either. They never hunted down magic humans either.
Maybe the point is that magic might is not learnt, but granted, and thus though they have MR they have never learnt it, and only hence does the clause not apply.
Wizard entailing human is still a reasonable clause though, and ghosts are arguably not human; certainly less human than the magi. I would say that the reasons for not admitting a ghost to the Order are the same as for not calling them wizards.
That was my interpretation. They can't do the join or die option to all with magic resistance, while also obeying the oath not to molest the fae.
Learning is the key point.
I would simply say that beings with a Might score are unable to learn Parma Magica. Essentially, a Might score comes with the automatic flaw Ability Block: Parma Magica.
The rest is handwavium.
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I would say that the order's primary concern with a familiar learning parma (if possible) is the possibility that the familiar might teach it to someone else. Swearing the oath, even if it does not allow the familiar to be recognized as a member, should be sufficient protection against this. It may have to be a modified oath for its unique status, but in general principle it should address the concerns of the order.
Also note that a familiar does not have to have magical might (though ghosts do)
Hi,
This was my preference too, until the Initiation rules came out. My preference then changed to Parma being gained as part of Initiation into the Order, which involves taking an Oath as a Flaw, swearing to the Code.
Anyway,
Ken
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Yeah so the primary method of gaining it being the Opening of the Arts is something that makes sense to me. There also existing a secondary method for those special use cases where maybe they don't have Hermetic Arts but are still considered members could totally exist yeah.
Though honestly I am all for requiring all Gifted members to have the Hermetic Arts. But that is a whole nother thing.
I think the only problem with this is that my understanding is that initiations are supposed to take at least a season of work and the season for parma is never mentioned anywhere, even in the sections detailing how you earn it. Imo the only really RAW interpretation that holds up is that it's just an arcane skillet like finesse that's unusually tightly controlled regarding access
And how long to you think the Gauntlet, including preparations and debriefing, lasts?
Each House has its own set of rituals around the Gauntlet, but they can very well serve as their own variation of an Order-wide initiation script. Even inducting a hedge wizard into House Ex Miscellanea has its own steps, ending with swearing to uphold the Code.
Not saying that is what was intended, but learning-Parma-as-an-initiation certainly makes sense.
Whereas parma as initiation may fix some peculiarities which can only have been created by authors with a shoehorn, it does not fit with what those authors actually wrote. It is a simple secret trick to be learnt to make use of the parma.
Furthermore, the Order is not a Cult and thus cannot have mysteries. If we did allow an Order-wide parma mystery, it would have consequences for how we can understand cults and mysteries. I have always understood Bonisagus to have taken an academic approach to magic. Parma is an invention created and not a mystery uncovered.
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You're correct, loke. Bonisagus wasn't trying to create a mystery.
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That's all real and I do mostly agree, but nowhere, particularly in the apprentices breakdown of an average apprenticeship, is there a season dedicated to initiating parma.
hi,
by 'my preference', I mean not RAW. Sorry for causing confusion.
Anyway,
Ken
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