Magi you have never played

Games Discussion Ars Magica
1

Is there a house you have never played?

Are there houses you avoid because they do not appeal to you in some way?

Would you make a Magi just to see what you would come up with?

I have never player nor have I ever wanted to play a Merinita, and yet as I was doing work for our TT covenant, I started making a Merinita who was a past resident of the covenant. I really started to see and enjoy the House, never aware that the Merinita could provide a stable platform which I always prefer for my characters. I don't like characters that I know will not be good for roleplaying... but I also seem to dislike playing characters that are flimsy when it comes to personal drive. However, as I was making this Merinita, I started to see the roleplaying benefit of playing a character who was not quite my personality.

It was fun, and in the future I could see myself maybe playing a Merinita... probably not they still are annoying me a bit. :laughing:

I created Eluk Ilsow ex Merinita simply as a author for a tractatus, but soon came up with a fun character. Eluk was also called the Charlatan, and was the target of two Wizards War, when on occasion her trickster spirit led her to offend and once even nearly kill another magus. Tribunal has issued no few numbers of punishments and has even threatened the Merinita with expulsion from Tribunal.

It was during one such punishment, as Eluk was given over to a Tytalus to act as a assistant in a lab, that Eluk Ilsow demonstrated her exact and amazing skill at writing serious books on topics of magic. The Tytalus began a great scheme of manipulating Eluk into commit more and more crimes against himself, so that she must work writing detailed and insightful books of great Quality.

Eventually the Tytalus revealed to the Merinita maga, as well as the rest of the order, the amazing talent and skill that Eluk Ilsow possessed in elaborate and beautiful works of literature. Eluk, having never experienced admiration by anyone, more or less her entire house as well as Tribunal, was shocked and fretful of how this new reputation would change her.

She vanished for four years. Some speculating that she fled to the realms of faeries, while others simply believed she fled by more mundane routes. However, Eluk Ilsow returned, old and graying and baring some new and hardened scars. She was still the trickster and on occasion had to be censored by the Tribunal, but more often than not Eluk remained in her sanctum, writing. Always writing.

2

It is easier to list what I have played than the ones that I haven't.

FLAMBEAU: 3 mages so far. By far the house with more appeal to me. One of them had a double Flambeau/Jerbiton knightly parenthood, before Flambeaus developed as knights he WAS a knight in 4th edition. I tended to follow the description of the house found in Durenmar.de for them in older editions. They are more or less how they are portrayed now. Mages were usual firebrand, and 2 knightly ones, one more social, the other more into fighting things. Also an ice magus concept for the andorra saga that I never ended up really playing even if I liked the concept.

TREMERE. Played one of them back in 3rd edition. Spirit master... and ended up being so good at NOT dealing with spirits but people (high mentem) that decided to retire him in practicla terms (became quite a hermit) since it spoiled all the investigation adventures with carpet Mentem spells to draw the relevant information from people. The whole troupe disliked that, myself included. I liked being the megalomaniacal bad guy, though (they were, back in 3rd).

GRUAGACH. LotN Variant. Ally of the covenant. Being alpha SG is is usual trick

EXMISC. Wind wizard (Ultima Thule variant). Weaker than I imagined, but developed quite well as a sailor when he migrated to Denmark. Developed quite an animosity with a local weather witch.

EXMISC. Wolf Master. As before. Tended to be in the forest with his friends. Alpha SG.

JERBITON. Aesthetic gardener. Invented french gardens somewhat before their time. Never developed a real attachment to him, though. Short lived saga.

TYTALUS. Explorer. Indiana Jones style. Bound by his oath never to cast a spell above second magnitude. Quite interesting to play, really. Failed saga, so never saw much development.

CRIAMON. Thought that the secret of the Enigma was to be found in the reaction of people to surprises, so in practical terms could have been the definitive assassin if he had wanted to (sneaky!). Had quite a reputation, specially when he ambushed people dressed weirdly.

3

So fare I only played a Bjornaer because I only play for 3 months and so I never played the rest of the houses ^^.

4

I would like to see your Tytalus and talk Tytalus shop sometime... hahahah

Huzzah! The Tytalus are without exception the only house I would ever play if I stuck to making the characters that I can most easily assume. There is nothing about the 5th Ed Tytalus that I do not like. They are the most well written House IMO and every feature of their existence I could obsessively talk about for hours. The only thing that confused me about them was the fake identity stuff which seemed to possibly have a origin in a different edition, because it feels so unfounded for the Tytalus specifically.

As for the Flambeau which it seems is your favorite (( and I know is Marco's since I did a short TT game with him )), ugh the House as a whole seems ridiculously droll for me. However I figured out the secret to my getting over my dislike of the Flambeau... I figured out that with that House, the story is in the specific character. Flambeau more than any other House the story is only interesting if the character is interesting! The other Houses have a support structure to make even the most drab and poorly played character... tolerable for others to be around. Not so the Flambeau. With the Flambeau, if all you have is a fireball chucking set of numbers on a sheet, there is little you cane do in a story with them.

So my dislike and some would say hatred of Flambeau ended, when I actually considered and attempted to make one for my current TT game. Luckily I bailed out and made the Apollo worshipping pirate captain a Mercere instead, but I still have a Philo Fire-singer ex Flambeau written up in my files!

Thanks Xavi! :slight_smile:

5

Welcome aboard. I played way back for a single day, first edition Ars and then never saw it again except as a WoD reference for nearly two decades. I was a new comer to Ars about three years back I think. And everytime I think I have got it figured out, I get lost all over again in my head with a different perspective. :laughing:

However these first months are so exciting, or at least they were for me. The Bjornaer are a very subtle House, in my opinion. Sure they seem obvious at first, but then you get into the concept that they actually exist as a human and a true and real animal. What that must do to their minds. Imagine, they wake up in the morning, a bit groggy and disoriented.... imagine how for those first few second, this magus has no idea if they are a human or a badger. Hahhaha awkward eh?

The only Bjornaer I considered playing was a boar. I thought it would be fun to play him as a reckless coward. Hhahaha.... so he was not only Brave -2 but also took the Reckless flaw and so was Reckless personality trait +3. If I ever get to play him it will be so fun. (( he also had Lightening Reflexes and a stench... a serious boar stench as a mortal as well as his casting sigil... was tempted to give him the negative Reputation of Mr. Smelly -2 )) :laughing:

Let me ask you Adauli, have you any other magi Houses or concepts you find interesting?

6

Will have to search for the paper where it is written down and convert it to a text file. I just started working on computer (WORD) versions of my characters about 5 years ago, so most of my characters are still in paper format.

Xavi

7

Ive played Bjounear (random magic, 1st character), Flambeau (perdo), Tremere (mentem), Jerbiton (mentem) and Bonisagus (intellego).

But for me its not the houses so much as the styles of magic - I have no interest in Elemental Magic, apart from a little wind magic for my Bjournear - and after playing the bjounear, not much interest in shape changing either

The one I would like to play but havent is a Glamour mage of Merinita - I havent read the mystery details in depth, but Illusion magic is usually one of my favourite flavours in most magic systems.

The more I play and read tho, the more i think I prefer the more militaristic houses (Tremere, Flambeau, Tytalus).

Kal

8

Given that the majority of the Ars games I have been in I have been alpha SG, my list of played magi is pretty short.

Back in 3rd edition I played a Bonisagus lab-rat, a Tytalean politician and a Tremere necromancer. 4th edition was 100% SGing for me. In 5th, I've played both Gifted and unGifted Mercere, Ex.Misc, and Bjornaer, and dabbled with some Verditius concepts that never really got off the ground.

For me, I prefer these days to have a concept that sits outside of the house framework, then bring a house that gels (or doesn't, in amusing ways) to the character.

The only thing I don't particularly want to play is a die-hard infernalist or a simiarly evil character. Psychopaths, bloody murderers and morally repugnant characters make great villains, but I wouldn't want to spend multiple game sessions playing one.

9

Totally agree. From experience, watching a pretty one dimensional gamer who lacks any ability at nuance or subtlety who plays a evil wizzard is a painful thing to watch. From what I can tell a truly infernal character or psychopath, should be played with skill and attention to roleplaying details.

Sure you could play a power-mad infernalist, but what if instead your infernalist was a coward who cries himself to sleep every night, hides or runs away during conflicts and combat, and yet is infernal because they are filled with hate of everyone and everything around them? Or even a infernalist who believes that the Infernal is a more honest and wholesome way of life; the maga maybe doesn't try to be cruel, rather she thinks people should be liberated... or maybe she believes in freedom through slavery? Hhahahah

The same goes for psychopaths. The giggling murdering blood-thirsty and wantonly cruel magus is a yawn inspiring character. However the insane Bonisagus who has no idea that he is batshit crazy, might be very fun to play.

Of course in the end, ANY characters I play as mine must have something in them that is redeeming. My insane necromancing cannabal necrophiliac Tytalus, who had a phobia of wild mammals smaller than dogs ((yeah he would run away in terror from rabbits)), was amazingly loyal as well as protective of the helpless. Now that is kinda generic when it come to psychopaths to make them nice to little things, but it gave him something other than endless cruelty to do during the game.

So Kid Gloves, would you ever attempt to play say a companion character who is slowly being drawn into infernalism? Perhaps play out the morose and tragic fall of a good person to say their Pride or Envy? For me, I love playing the sad stuff... I can't get enough of the tragic downfall of my characters. I like it more than I like them overcoming adversity. :laughing:

Hey thanks for the reply, nice insights BTW

10

I also have been tempted to play the classic magus.

Maybe make a Jerbiton that is exactly Jerbiton in every way, observing every stereotype and misconception of them. Or perhaps doing the same with a Bonisagus or a Flambeau. Something so vanilla, that it explodes in a game as almost noble or Platonic in its pure conceptualization.

Oh who am I kidding..... the Merinita Dream Killer is more my style :laughing: :laughing: :laughing:

11

I find most of the Mystery Cult Magi to be difficult to play. Especially Merinita. Their mystery paths add extra to what you have to wrap your head around. I've done Bjounear and Criamon is 3rd or 4th Ed. I think Merinita and Criamon are very limited by their paths compared to Bjounear and Verditius

12

Right now I'm in talk with the main GM to replace my Bjornaer with a Verditius not necesarity because I'm most interested in playing this House but more because I saw that how our covenant is set up we need one.
But my bigest interest is house Ex Miscllanea at moment.

13

Greetings,

I'm 99% storyguide so my characters tend to be from rather short lived other games. My characters tend to be Jerbiton just because I enjoy a lot of interaction with mundanes with my characters at least. I like most of the houses, having no major preference. My characters identify with their houses to various degrees, so I don't get too caught up in being a 'House' magus.

Had Casus Vector, a Jerbiton adventurer who played the manliest instrument of all - the Hurdy Gurdy. I really liked him so I think I'll import him into my current saga :smiley:.

Had Mutatis of Jerbiton, who wanted to be an imaginem specialist. He was practically useless but got away with a lot through bald faced lies, folderol and rope-a-dope.

Finally my unfortunate Guernicus who helped set up Rheinstein before the saga ended.

One day I'll get to play in a long running saga. One day :smiley:.

14

I just discovered a new musical instrument. Nice :slight_smile:

15

Marko is spelled with a "K" :slight_smile:
There is no letter "C" in the Greek alphabet.
And really, my name is just Mark, I like calling myself Marko Markoko because I am silly and it amuses me :smiley:

But anyways, similar to Xavi, I have always played Flambeau magi somewhere inbetween the old version and new version. Or rather, my interpretation and honestginal impression of the old version is halfway between what others pecieve in the oldversion and the heroic/knightly version.
Did I ever mention I am a comic book junkie?
Rugged Individualism has been my approach for all of my Flambeau magi, and my approach to the House as a whole was a group of eclectic individuals united only by a few common philosophies (martial prowess, heroism, responsability, and maybe a bit of egotism).
I do like House Tytalus, and my favorite non-Flambeau PC was a Danish Jerbiton magus. As SG, I think I have created/played every house as an NPC magus, and I cannot say that there are any that I don't like.
Except the Diedne. They got what they had coming to them, dirty baby eating pagans.
:laughing:
Don't flame me! I am just being smarmy! :smiley:
I imagine a future Order of Hermes, reconstituted in the Reniasence after the Black Death and Second Schism, where the descendants of Diedne survivors are accepted as the 21st House.

16

Yes, the "C" was a mistake but I refer to you as Marko so others would know you. I am not sure who knows you as Mark and who doesn't :smiley:

Nice to see you about, no matter how feverish and insane you must be to side with those fascists against the Diedne. Oppressor! hahahah

17

Not for me. I am not a huge fan of playing tragic characters. I don't mind other people playing them - they just aren't for me. I'll happily read stories or watch movies or plays with tragic characters, I just don't like to play 'em.

18

Character concepts that I never got around to running...

Necromancer, with mistaken identity flaw (Good Twin rather than evil twin). Goal : Become the most well known necromancer in ME.
Holy Mage, all effects on area effect. Side Effect : grant Divine Aura. Goal : spread the Word to the Order.
Flambeau Mentem specialist, major restrictions on ignem and perdo. Goal : invent a variant of glamour, so that people who think they are on fire suffer wounds.
Tytalus, unaging child. Goal : go through apprenticeship with every house to learn all house secrets.
Criamon roulette, botch magnet. Goal : Twilight for everyone.
Bjornaer Heron, in a covenant full of Bjornaer Herons. Group Goal : mess with the order by getting into as much grief as possible and getting bailed out by house.
Author, COM-5. Driving Goal : write best book in the entire order.
Tremere battlefield leader, aversion to pain and blood.
Jerbiton schoolteacher. Goal : Gently brainwash the students to tolerate the Gifted. School Field Trip to Arcadia!
Verditius Mystagogue bent on creating an initiation script for every virtue in the world.

Concepts that I have run and enjoyed...
Benz, Tytalus Animal creation specialist attempting to make a dragon.
Janus, 4th Ed Bonisagus, Boundary and Vim specialist.
Nomen Pepercisti Insontes, Guernican Q, Defence Q and inventor of legal insurance.
Smith Wesson (aka Colt of Winchester), Verditius, telekinetic armourer.
True Merenita, enchanted wood carving, Herbam specialist.

K.

19

A magus I tried creating but never got to play: Polyoppeties of Tytalus. He had Quadrophenia. That is, he had the Persona Virtue, but the Delusions Flaw meant that whatever form he/she was in, he/she believed that was the original and the others were disguises. And Major Malediction, each Persona had it's own Major Personality Flaw.

20

I created a dark fairie ex misc magus focused on fear. He had ~10+roll intimidation without magic and focus in Fear.
Playing via forum posts wasn't my style but I would like to play this character at the table in the future.

I don't care the houses I used to play Jerbitons because they are not limited in any way.