This post reserved for the final/current character sheet
Puella is a maga who comes from a line of shapeshifters. When her arts where opened, something went wrong, which means her human body will forever be the one of a tooth gap-toothed 7-year-old girl.
She likes roaming outdoors in one of her non-human forms and has a soft spot for children.
And see how this develops
I'll put it into proper format after you cry out in outrage (or simple tell me you love the character). I think it's easier to follow as it is. The character as it is should be rather competent, but not min-maxed: for example, I've resisted the temptation of using skilled parens or making use of the -6 strength possible through dwarf.
Virtue and Flaw (=house)
3 shapeshifter
1 puissant shapeshifter*
1 animals
1 unbound tongue
3 Flawless Magic
1 Puissant Parma
1 harnessed magic
1 circular magic: fall and winter
1 Unaging
1 Personal Vis Source (Vim Vis)
3 weak muto*
3 Dwarf
1 ability block martial
3 Waster of vis
1 Personailty: cares about children
1 personality: optimistic
1 story: magical animal friend (ideally Wise owl from RoP:M, but open to ideas)
Str -2 Sta 2 Qik Dex Pre -1 Com 0 Int 2 Per (these stats include a -1 from dwarf: to Str from -1, and Sta, from 3)
Alice was born in a poor hamlet east of York. Her parents and the other children there didn’t like her – no wonder, since she was Gifted. She had two strategies to escape the frequent beatings: lying and running.
Alice has braided copper hair and big blue eyes in her round freckled face. Some of her teeth are missing. She is 4 feet tall.
Native Language English (Yorkshire) 5
Athletics (flee) 1
Awareness (alertness) 1
Brawl (dodge) 1
Stealth (hiding herself) 1
Folk Ken (children) 1
Guile 2 (about herself)
Swim 1 (river)
When Alice was seven, a travelling herbalist bought her from her parents. She was taken to a shapeshifting crone, Morphea ex Miscellanea, who apprenticed her. Something went wrong when her arts were opened, so she has neither grown nor visibly aged since.
Being stuck in the body of a 7-year-old girl means that it is hard for her to be taken seriously, especially by people who do not know she is a maga. However, it does have the advantage that people sometimes underestimate her. Being treated like a child for so long has given her a unique perspective: She is sensitive to the mistreatment of children and has kept the optimistic attitude of a child.
During her apprenticeship, she befriended Athena, a Wise owl of the forest. (Not sure how this works in this saga. We can always shift the flaw to visions, if that's easier)
Abilities (30xp from 2 years + 120 xp + 5xp from Shapeshifting)
Shapeshifting 3+2 (eagle) [bear, dolphin, heron, dog, cat]
Latin (hermetic) 4
Magic Theory (Perdo) 3
Artes Liberales (Astronomy) 1
Order of Hermes Lore (Shapeshifters) 1
Codex of Hermes (Shapeshifters) 1
Parma Magica (animal) 1+2
Concentration (spells) 1
Magic Lore (animals) 1
Finesse (herbam) 1
Penetration (vim) 1
Arts (120 xp): Cr 5 Pe 6, He 6, Im 6, Me 6, Vi 6
Spells (mastery from Flawless magic will be subtle for all the spells, mastery not yet included in casting total). I am not sure if you want PeVi spells as written in your game: If not, I can always find another attack spell.
Cloak of the Duck’s Feathers ReAq5 +2
Clothe the Naked form CrHe10 +13 (from MoH 58, needed so she won’t have to run around naked)
Evening’s comfort CrIg5 +7 (MoH 30)
Palm of Flame CrIg5 +7
Disguise of the Transformed Image CrIm15 +13
Personal Aura of Childlike Innocence MuIm5 (based on HoH:S 96, range: P)
Wizard’s Sidestep ReIm10 +8
Veil of Invisibility PeIm20 +14
Trust of Childlike Faith PeMe10 +14
Loss of but a moment’s memory PeMe10 +14
Sense the Nature of Vis InVi5 +8
Scales of Magical Weight InVi5 +8
Demon’s Eternal Oblivion PeVi5 +14
Sap the Griffin’s Strength PeVi5 +14
Dreadful Bane of the Fae PeVi5 +14
Spell Sigil: The spells are accompanied by a feeling of childlike happiness.
Equipment: Linen robes
- I have stated there will be no custom spells
- puissant shapeshifting will give you a bonus when it comes to rolling for shapeshifting, it does not give you two extra shapes.
- The ex miscelania tradition seems poorly constructed, especially given that bjorner already exists as a shapeshifting house. what is the reasoning behind weak muto?
- That's fine: There are so many useful spells for a beginning maga. I'm not sure where you stated it, so I assume it is the personalized version of Aura of Childlike Inncocence that you disagree with. Correct me if I am wrong and other spells are to your dislike, so I can replace those as well.
- Actually, I'm quite glad I only have to write out three forms. It took me a while to come up with five animals: So it is heron, bear, and dolphin.
- The reasoning behind weak Muto is simple: The way they use changing magic is at odds with the Muto magic of the order: It's like when you speak Spanish as a native language, learning Chinese will be harder because you have notions of how things are supposed to work - and these notions all turn out to be wrong.
As for the tradition - I moved it to Northern England, which I thought of as the ex Misc fringes of the order (although I'm fine with making her Irish, if fringier is better). It is canonical that even in the Rhine tribunal infernal (!) shapeshifters have escaped House Bjonnaer - so I see no reason why shapeshifters that are not infernal and do not live on the doorstep of House Bjornaer should not exist. You may never have heard of them because like many ex Misc traditions, they are local and don't advertise much (unlike those Tremere).
If using the shapeshifter virtue for a mage is simply not to your liking, say so unequivocally and I can start creating something else (a Pralician or a Jerbiton, most likely). It wouldn't make sense to apply with a concept that has no real chance of being accepted anyway.
It's not that the shapeshifter virtue is forbidden for ex miscelanea, it's more that it raises the bar for designing a tradition, and honestly this feels like a weakly defined tradition. Anywhere you place the tradition will result in at minimum harassment by the Bjorner house in that bjorner does not like shapeshifters, and pretty much by definition such a house will be required to limit themselves to people who already have both the shapeshifter virtue and are Gifted- which is a pretty rare combination. Setting up such a tradition in any of the northern lands- Rhine, Hibernia, Loch Leglean, Stonehenge, or Novgorod, would seem problematic being that is where Bjorner is strongest and most traditional. I would also like to have a feel of a certain community to ex miscelania traditions instead of something that can just be moved around to wherever is convenient.
You are right of course. The character as it is is unsuitable. I've decided to focus my energy on a more promising application to a game on another site. Good luck with your game.