Should Maleficia Be Less Expensive?

Games Discussion Ars Magica
21

Sure, that can be an advantage; it's definitely worth something.
However, at +3 Virtue points/ability, the cost is mostly too steep, in my view.
This is particularly true considering that other Realm traditions make it harder to learn Supernatural Abilities, and on top of that often those Abilities cost only a minor Virtue.
So yes, your initial proposal to knock down Powers to Minor might be reasonable (I suspect keeping all Major was meant as a balancing act against the Divine, given that the infernal needs only 2 + 6 rather than 3 + 7 Methods and Powers).

However, let me also call your attention to one oft ignored character generation option: Infernal Blessing (RoP:I, p.85). At the cost of 3 Warping points and 1 xp in an Infernal reputation, as a Major Virtue it effectively allows you to take two Major Virtues (Infernal Greatness, RoP:I, p.86) that stay with you as long as you are not rid of sin. It is deeply unfortunate that it is tainted, and only half of your Virtue points at most may be Tainted...

... but really, embrace the mood and tempt your players into the ultimate sin of munchkinism. If they want an Infernalist starting with all Methods and Powers, subtly suggest they might do the following. Pick Infernal Blessing, once. With the two Major Virtues it yields, subject to SG approval, pick Infernal Blessing twice. With the four resulting Major Virtues, pick Infernal Blessing four more times. If the SG approves, as she will undoubtedly do subject to some real-life bribe, the resulting eight Major Virtues can be the 2 Infernal Methods and the 6 Infernal Powers - which are not tainted, and thus balance out all those Infernal Blessings!
Diabolic!
(yes, yes, they now have a total of 21 Infernal Warping points, i.e. a Warping Score of 2(6), and thus a Minor "free" Flaw from Warping .. but that's a small price to pay, isn't it? And they also get 7xp to an appropriate Infernal Reputation, such as Munchkin 1(2).)

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22

That doesn't work. Infernal Blessings use the Maleficia guidelines; the one that grants Major Virtues uses the Incantation/Diablerie guideline for granting False Powers mimicking Virtues, and False Powers can't be already-Infernal things, since definitionally False Powers are basically Infernally tainted versions of other stuff.

However, I do absolutely agree that the small advantage provided by taking the Virtues isn't actually worth Major Virtues, hence this very thread, where I'm wondering if making the Powers (Infernal Forms) into Minor Virtues would be better.

23

I believe you are referring to the description of False Power on p.81: a "Supernatural Virtue, Flaw, or Ability" associated with another Realm, but tainted by the Infernal. This cannot be the same meaning used in the (extremely concise) Incantation/Diablerie guidelines, lest the book be incorrect in a number of other points, includiing some examples of Infernal Greatness on p.86.

For a more extensive description of the limits of the guideline, I would suggest looking at the maleficium "And the dragon gave him his power", on p.107, based on the level 15 Incantation/Diablerie guideline "Gain a False Power that duplicates the effects of a Minor Virtue". The level 35 one to duplicate the effects of a Major Virtue that seems the basis for Infernal Greatness is otherwise worded identically, and thus should in all other respects be identical.