review a Faerie Friend concept

Games Discussion Ars Magica
1

I am playing around with various character concepts, and wouldn't mind a critique.

Basically a viking Shield Maiden and her crewmates get trapped in a faerie kingdom, where they end up fighting their faerie doppelganger to the death.
During the shield maiden's turn, she manages to talk/sing a story to her doppelganger so that they are sisters in arms battling together rather than against each other. As the pair attempt to escape, they trigger the condition that causes them to fight their Faerie doppelgangers. Another convincing story to convert the the new two doppelgangers, and the 4 of them now manage to escape, only to find centuries have passed outside the faerie kingdom.

So sword maiden with 3 faeries trying to occupy the same role as faerie friend. In battle they are a co-operative, co-ordinated war band, outside of battle the 3 faeries trip over themselves trying to be the Shield maiden's single identical twin.

Is this an acceptable faerie friend?

4 Likes
2

I see where you are going and I dig it. One of them is a copy of a copy, and there could be a sinister secret plot twist latent in that.

3

Oho! I hadn't thought of that.
Two of the 3 faeries would be a doppelganger of the human, the third a doppelganger of a faerie being a doppelganger of the human.

I was just thinking of 3 faeries squabbling to be a single role. They would physically indistinguishable (I'm your real sister, the others are just clones - in harmony)

2 Likes
4

This is not only acceptable, it's brilliant. There's definitely some munchkin potential- three coordinated valkyrie-ish faeries is a significant amount of murderblender- but it's not like Ars Magic is short on ways to kill a lot of people quickly, and the sheer amount of shenanigans involved in your concept are just delicious. I love it.

2 Likes
5

Yes please. I love it!

1 Like
6

It can be.
Remember, "faerie friend" is a Minor Story Flaw; that is, something that
a) drags the PC into stories,
b) provides a minor benefit, roughly comparable to a Minor Virtue.
Now, for b) it's ok. It's really on par with Mercenary Captain. It's not unbalanced, in other words.
For a) the crucial aspect is that the Storyguide and the player should agree that some stories will revolve around the relationship between the PC and the "doppleganger" faeries. In other words, it should have a significantly greater narrative impact than just the constant nuisance of the three faeries tripping over themselves.

1 Like
7

It would depend on the saga, but generally yes. Worst case would be to require an additional flaw or virtue to cover extra elements of this narrative.