Under Construction !

Simplified Character Creation

Simplified Character Creation

Hermetic House: as usual. No Mythic Companions.
Characteristics: as normal (but rituals can be bought to increase characteristics, see later)

Virtues & Flaws: any number of Virtues and Flaws, the character
 - may have more than one Major Hermetic Virtue, but ST approval is required. Gentle Gift + anything is fine, as is Major Magical Focus + anything, but Mercurian Magic + Diedne Magic makes no sense, and Elemental Magic + Secondary Insight is too cheesy to even contemplate.
 - may have House Virtues.
 - may have Mystery Virtues, but from one cult only. Ask for ST approval for 'custom' cults. Don't forget to buy an appropriate score in the relevant Cult Lore Ability.
 - must have a suitable House Virtue, which must be paid for. A suitable Major Virtue may be designated with GM approval, for instance Gentle Gift (Jerbiton), Mercurian Magic (Mercere), or Major Magical Focus (something destructive) (Flambeau).
 - must have at least one Hermetic Flaw
 - may not have a Story Flaw (playing on RPoL is slow enough that they wouldn't matter). Players may still take Major Story Flaws as free Flaws for background reasons, and Minor Story Flaws as Minor Virtues.
 - may have no more than three Personality Flaws, of which no more than one Major
 - may have no more than five minor Flaws of any type.
 - for characters with House/Mystery Virtues, the player does not need to take the suggested Ordeals from initiations (other initiations are always possible), but where a Flaw is definitely linked to a Virtue (Hubris for Verditius, for instance) it must be taken.

Each point of Virtue reduces starting xp by 50
Each point of Flaw increases starting xp by 50

Any Virtue that gives a flat amount of xp or increases advancement totals by a flat amount gives 50 xp (minor virtues) or 150 xp (major virtues) during character creation (Skilled Parens, Educated, Book Learner, Free Study, Study Bonus, Mastered Spells, Secondary Insight, Elemental Magic...). So effectively the cost in starting xp is refunded. The virtue has its normal effect after play starts. This does make some Virtues both useless and free, but they may still be taken for background reasons.
Any Flaw that reduces xp or advancement totals reduces starting xp by 50 (minor) or 150 (major). It has its normal effect after play starts.
Any Virtue that grants a Reputation increases (minor Virtue) or reduces (minor Flaw) starting xp by 50.
Any virtue that grants vis (Personal Vis Source, Philosophical Alchemy...) grants 50 xp (minor) or 150 xp (major) instead (which can be used to buy vis, of course, see below).
Affinity with () and Puissant () Virtues have their normal effect, as does Flawless Magic.

Minor Magical Focus (certamen) is split off into its own Virtue, Certamen Focus, which does not count as a Magical Focus (so Tremere characters may have a 'real' one)
Minor Magical Focus must take the form of an 'action on object', such as creating fire or 'controlling animals', and be smaller than a Technique+Form combination. While they may be spread over more than one (healing is a good example, as it is short for 'healing living creatures'), they must still be a Technique+Form combination at the heart, so 'birds of prey' or 'sword' are major foci, not minor ones. This does invalidate most of the minor foci in the books, so the players are encouraged to come up with their own. It also means that no object or creature can be considered covered by a magical focus for enchantment purposes (but specific effects to be enchanted may be).
Magical Foci can take the form of a 'category of things', such as magical creatures or stone, or a 'magical process' such as teleportation or damage. They do apply when enchanting an object (or familiar) that is covered by the focus. They also apply, of course, when enchanting an effect that is within the focus.

Familiar
The player should choose one of the following Virtues or Flaws to represent his starting familiar, and pay for it accordingly out of his starting xp:
 - Dragon Familiar (Major Hermetic Virtue): the magus has a familiar, a magic animal with Might 50-Size. This powerful familiar has a will of his own however. In gameplay terms the familiar is loyal to the Magus but controlled by the GM (or another character). Despite the name of the virtue the familiar need not be a dragon.
- Guardian Familiar (Minor Hermetic Virtue): the magus has a familiar, a magic animal with Might 25-Size. In gameplay terms the familiar is an extension of the Magus and controled by the same player.
 - Pocket Familiar (Free Hermetic Virtue): the magus has a familiar, a magic animal with Might 10-Size. In gameplay terms the familiar is an extension of the Magus and controled by the same player. Despite the name of the virtue the familiar needs not be small enough to fit in a pocket.
 - No Familiar (Minor Hermetic Flaw): the magus does not start with a familiar, although he could still acquire one in play.
 - No Familiar, Ever (Major Hermetic Flaw): the magus will never, ever have a familiar. Bjornaer magus start with this flaw and do get credit for it.
 The player must be able to bond to his Familiar (see Lab Totals). The bonding cost (in vis) is included in the Virtue, and need not be paid. The three Cords are generated as normal, and are free. The Familiar gets 7 points for characteristics (before Size adjustment). Virtues and Flaws as well as Magical Qualities and Inferiorities may be taken freely, but each point of Virtue and Flaw or Magical Quality and Inferiority reduces or increases the character xp as if they were Virtues and Flaws he had taken himself.
The player may further develop his familiar by paying additional xp, as described below.
Once all Powers, Abilities, Virtues, Flaws, and Qualities are taken into account, the Familiar should not end up being worth a negative amount of xp.

Abilities, Spells, Magic Items, Bond Enchantment
 The magus starts with 2,500 xp, modified by Virtues and Flaws
 The magus may use the xp to buy Abilities (with no limit for the score), spells (1 xp per level, see below), magic items (5 xp per pawn of vis if the magus creates it himself, or see below), enchantments to the familiar bond (5 xp per pawn of vis), Abilities for his familiar, the casting of ritual spells (5 xp per pawn of vis if the magus casts his own ritual, or see below), books (see below), vis (5 xp per pawn), longevity ritual (5 xp per -1 to aging score), fixed arcane connections to places or objects (but not people, 5xp each), and reputations (same cost as Abilities, negative reputations are possible and give xp)
 The magus may start with Aging or Warping Points, and gains 5xp per such point.

Lab Total
 Lab Total are calculated as 10 + Intelligence + Magic Theory + Technique + Form. The 10 already includes Aura, non-standard laboratoriess, non-standard laboratory routines and experimentation.
 Virtues increasing the Lab Score (Inventive Genius, Adept Laboratory Student, Various Mystery Virtues) add a flat 6 each.
 The Familiar's Intelligence + Magical Theory, if any, is also added (except when binding the Familiar)
 Character with at least one positive Hermetic Reputation and a Leadership Score may add (best Hermetic Reputation) x (Leadership Score), this represents his ability to get assistants.
 Bonus for knowing similar spells and for shape/material may be added as appropriate.

Spells
 A magus may learn any spell whose level is less or equal to his relevant Lab Total, at the cost of 1 xp per spell level.
 A magus may learn a spell whose level is higher than his relevant Lab Total at the cost of 3 xp per spell level.  Players are advised to use caution, as casting such spells may later prove impossible given how generous Lab Totals are.

Magic Items
 A magus may start with any magic item with a level less or equal to his relevant Lab Total at the cost of 5xp per pawn of vis.
 A magus may start with a magic item (or an effect in an Invested Item) of higher level that his relevant Lab Total, but less than his best Lab Total, at a cost of 10 xp per pawn of vis.
 A magus may start with a magic item (or an effect in an Invested Item) of higher level than his best Lab Total, at a cost of 15 xp per pawn of vis.
 For opening Invested Items, the magus is limited as usual (Magic Theory x 2 unless he has Virtues improving it). A Magus may start with Invested Items that break that limit, but must pay twice the normal cost (10 xp per pawn of Vis used in opening them, no cost-reducing Virtue accepted).
 The Talisman is an exception, the magus must be able to create all effects himself and thus is limited by his Lab Totals.

Familiar Bond
 Familiar bond enchantments are limited in level by the magus' relevant Lab Totals.

Casting of Ritual Spells
 A magus may cast any ritual spell he knows and start with the relevant effect, at the cost of 5 xp per pawn of vis (calculated using all appropriate Virtues and Flaws of the magus).
 A magus may buy a ritual casting, at the cost of 2 xp per level if the level is under or equal to 50, and 3 xp per level above that.

Books
 - Common or ordinary mundane books may be bought at a cost of 1 xp for a tractatus and 2 xp for a summa. Common books includes all books taught in cathedral schools and universities (see Art & Academe, Appendix A, or the free PDF), and may include similar books from outside Europe with ST approval. Ordinary books include all books on General, Academic of Martial Abilities with a Level of 5 or less and a Quality of 8 or less.
 - The character may start with a copy of any book he has personally written, at a cost of 5xp (tractatus) or 10xp (summa). Obviously he cannot later study such books to improve his Ability or Art. He may choose to have widely shared these books, in which case the xp also counts toward a suitable Reputation as an author (if the Quality is high enough), or he may choose to have kept them for himself, in which case the books may have value as bargaining tools.
 - The character may start with a copy of any book he has personally translated, at a cost of 5 xp for a tractatus or 10 xp for a summa, and may as above choose to share the books (and gain Reputation) or keep them for himself. But the character must also pay for (and may keep) a copy of the original book.
 - The character may start with other books, in which case the cost is 1 xp per point of Quality, for Tractatus, and for summa 5 xp per point of Quality or the xp equivalent of the Level (calculated as appropriate for the subject latter, Ability or Art), whichever is lower. A 25% surcharge (round up) is applied for books of Quality 11 and higher.
 - A magus may start with Lab Texts (rough of clean) for any spell he knows and any magic item he created, at no extra cost. He may start with other laboratory texts at a cost of 1 xp per 10 levels.
 - A magus may start with a Casting Tablet, at a cost of 1 xp per spell level.
 - The Storyteller reserves the right to veto any book that makes no sense, such as a copy of the Bible in Ancient Egyptian (unless the player translated it himself).

Mundane Wealth
 - 1 xp per 2 pounds of silver or equivalent.
 - Ordinary grogs cost nothing as they are not property (well, unless they are slaves), but will expect living expenses and a salary. Such grogs are not particularly loyal or disloyal.
 - A magus may start with loyal followers, grogs who have a suitable Minor Virtue binding them to the magus such as True Friend (magus), at the cost of 50 xp (in effect, the character pays for the grog's Virtue).
 - Companions are fully independant characters and thus not part of magus character creation, although any companion mentioned in the magus' background or implied by a magus' Virtue or Flaw does exist. Somewhere.

Personality: as normal
Confidence: as normal
This message was last edited by the GM at 20:35, Wed 30 Jan 2019.