Character Creation: Ars Magica

May want to go grab a drink, we're gonna be here a while.

The Game: Ars Magica, 4th Edition
The Publisher: Atlas Games. Originally published by Lion Rampant, I think, and maybe White Wolf? Anyway, White Wolf still own or owns some of the rights, which is why the Order of Hermes and associated jargon stuck around in OWoD.
Degree of Familiarity: Not a lot. I played some iteration of this game when Jon ran it a million years ago, but like a lot of my brother's games we played twice and then he got distracted by something shiny.
Books Required: Just the core. I picked it up for all of $5 at a con last year.

 

I had never really read the game, just played it once and then played a lot of Mage: The Ascension. And reading it now...I gotta say, I don't quite get it. I mean, it looks like if you're playing a mage you kind of suck at magic. The examples they give of casting spells...well, hell. The one on page 69 (huh-huh) has a magus coming to a stream and, not wanting to get his dainty feet wet, tries to magic himself across by making the rocks into stepping stones.

I want to say, as an aside, that a fucking muppet can do this kind of thing by howling.

In the book, the magus screws it up and barely manages to move one stone, and that's if he exerts himself.

OK, seriously, is it me or does that suck? I mean, why would I want to play a game about mages (sorry, magi) if I can barely shift a rock around, and that causes me damage? I get that the troupe play aspect (in which you make several characters, including companions and grogs, and play them all severally) is part of this, but hell, all the more reason why magi should cut loose and whip fireballs around.

Anyway, I'm just going to make a character and see what I get. Maybe someone who plays this game more regularly can tell me if the character would ever succeed at magic. If not, fuckit, find me a different system.

Step One: Concept. Well, first I decide if I'm a magus, companion or grog. Let's go magus. That requires I choose a house.

Heh. You know, there's a story that Clan MacFarlane used to steal cattle by moonlight, and that the full moon was therefore known as "MacFarlane's Lantern." I have no idea how true that is, but it's tempting to me to make a magus that follows that kind of tradition. That is, would prefer to steal herbs than grow them, that kind of thing. I decide I'll make my character House Bjornaer (since if you go back far enough in Scotland, you get Anglo-Saxon, and that's Germanic enough for purposes of this game). Due to being House Bjornaer, I get a "heart-beast," which I assume is a lot less fruity in play than it sounds.

Oh, wait, here we go. There's a house template. I can use this or deviate, but since it's late, I'll start here. I get:

Magic Theory 4
Organization Lore (Order of Hermes) 2
Parma Magica 2
Scribe Latin 2
Speak Latin 4*
Speak Own Language 4 (Scots-Gaelic, I guess)
Will Over Form 1

I get 15+age experience points, and I get the Follower of Bjornaer Virtue. Right now, the important thing is I get a heart-shape, some animal that I resonate with.

Well, I want "under cover of night, I steal things" to be my catchphrase. The European Wildcat is tempting, but I think the red fox is a better fit. My mage's heart-shape, therefore, is the red fox, and since the fox isn't exactly "battle ready" on the same scale as the listed example (like a sodding bear), I'm gonna say the Virtue costs +1.

The "Typical Virtues and Flaws" listed don't do anything for me, so I'll move on.

Characteristics. OK, a score of 0 is average, and most folks fall between -3 and +3. They represent inborn potential, and so don't normally change (interesting), and are paired for convenience, whatever that means. I can get these scores by point-buy or rolling. I don't feel random right now, I'll point-buy. I can set a score at 0 for nothing, I get points for negative scores and I pay points (from a pool of 7) for positive.

Well, I think having a high Intelligence is probably important for a magus. In fact, the section says Intelligence is "paramount for the Hermetic Arts." OK. I'll blow the 6 points to pump this up to +3.

But I also want high Perception, given the amount of night-sneaking I'll be doing. I'll blow 6 more for +3. I'm now in the hole 5 points.

Strength and Stamina I'll take down to -1, leaving me in the hole 3 points.

Presence I'll take to -2. Some folks use the term "fox" to indicate an attractive, sexy person. This guy ain't it. He's sneaky, shifty and obviously predatory. That makes him creepy, not intriguing (unless you're into that). I'm even again.

Communication I'll leave at 0. Now, I would like higher Quickness and Dexterity, but I don't really have the points. I'll leave them at 0 for now; maybe I can boost them with Virtues or something.

Intelligence +3
Perception +3
Strength -1
Stamina -1
Presence -2
Communication 0
Dexterity 0
Quickness 0

Virtues and Flaws. I can spend up to 10 points on these, but I can only get Virtues if I take Flaws. OK, fine. I've already spent 1 point on my Follower of Bjornaer Virtue. I'm encouraged to take Hermetic traits here, so I'll have a look at the list!

I want Gentle Gift, because it's good for stealth. I'll take Discredited Lineage; he's known to be a thief and not a very repentant one at that. And I'll take Susceptibility to Faerie Magic, because it seems the sort of thing that might trip him up. I'm down to 4 points of Flaws, max, remaining. Since it's a theme today, I'll take Reckless, which gives me a bonus to bravery rolls (put another way, fuckit). I'll take Mythic Characteristic, upping my Perception from +3 to +5, and giving me a "once per day" special power with it. I'll say that once per day my character can hear something happening far, far outside of his earshot, something that pertains to him or his interests (ears of a fox!).

Keeping with the theme, I take Bad Reputation. Local folks know he's going to steal their sheep, and they're right. And for my last Flaw, I'll take Small Frame. This guy is slight, weak and not altogether healthy. I have two more Virtue points, so I'll take Subtle Magic. I don't have to gesture at all to cast spells.

Abilities. OK, to do this I need to figure out an age. I see this guy as being older than he looks. He's weasly and gaunt and pinched, and then you get close and he's all that and yellow-toothed and old, too. Of course, "old" is relative, and we're in Mythic Europe, here. I'll say he's 32, meaning I have 47 experience points with which to buy Abilities.

OK, as usual, there are too many skills I want. I also need to use these points to buy up the Abilities I already have. Plus I get a specialty in each skill. So using the handy chart in the book, I come up with:

Magic Theory 4 (fast-casting)
Organization Lore (Order of Hermes) 2
Parma Magica 3 (I'll do this one later, when I do magic)
Scribe Latin 2 (copying)
Speak Latin 4 (Hermetic usage)
Speak Scots-Gaelic 4
Will Over Form 4
Stealth 4 (sneak)
Thrown Weapon 2 (daggers)
Athletics 3 (jumping)
Animal Handling 3 (rustling)
Hunt 3 (tracking)
Faerie Lore 1 (faerie forts)
Awareness 3 (alertness)

Magical Training. I get 150 points to buy up Magical Arts. Nifty, eh? And handily, the books gives me a few sample spreads of points.

Well, I see my fantastic Mr. Fox as Concentrated. Not quite specialized, but close to it. That gives me 10, 10, 8, 2 1 in Arts, so I look at the 15 Arts and see what I like.

Definitely Intellego is his strongest Technique. I'll make that 10. But I also want a rating in Muto, for transformation, so I'll make that his 8.

For Forms, duh, Animal needs to be there. But is it his highest? I think I'll actually make that one 2, put the 1 into Herbam, and put the 10 into Corpus. Self-perception and transformation is where he's strong.

Now I get 150 levels of Formulaic Spells, but my max is Technique + Form + 10, or 30 if I go Intellego Corpus at all. Let's have a look. I'll take Vision of the Marauding Beast; lets me know what hurt an animal. Whispers Through the Black Gate lets me talk to corpses, which is fun. Disguise of New Visage, yes please (changes my features). Preternatural Growth and Shrinking, sure. Intuition of the Forest, awesome (lets me know my way through a forest). Transformation of the Thorny Shaft isn't about penises, oddly enough, but I like it.

I want a spell to let me talk to animals, and I see that that's level 20, so fine, I have "Speak with the Night-Hunter," which lets me talk with nocturnal animals. Gift of the Bear's Fortitude sounds like a good plan, since I'm kind of wimpy normally. And, I just can't resist taking Shape of the Woodland's Prowler, letting me change other folks into wolves (or foxes, I think). And that's my 150 points.

Finishing Touches. I get a Reputation from my Flaw, and that's easy: Thief. And now I gotta think more about this guy's life.

His name, at birth, was Aidan, at least that's what he tells people. Honestly, he isn't entirely sure. He was brought up by a band of Reavers, (not this kind, this kind), and he isn't sure if his birth mother was among them or not - there was a lady he called "Mum," but so did a lot of the other kids. Aidan lived as a scavenger until he was 10, when a half-senile and quite amoral magus wandering through Scotland took him in as a house boy. When Aidan manifested some magical talent (and his master noticed he was stealing whatever wasn't nailed down), the old magus took him on as an apprentice. He also called the boy "Vulpes," and the name stuck, at least among mages.

Vulpes got out of his training at age 25, and spent the next seven years back among his people, the Reivers. He practices magic, but never got into the theory of it all. As such, he's a little more physically adept than many mages, but years of book-studying has taken those skills away from him. He's looking for a covenant that will take him, but his reputation precedes him. But then, he's never been shy about taking what he needs. Can you just steal your way into a covenant of magi?

Oh! Wizard's sigil! When Vulpes casts magic, there's a faint scent of fresh blood that accompanies it. Like a fox just got a chicken, di ye ken?