Darius as a Living Corpse · Magic

This example takes Darius of House Flambeau (ArM5, page 34) and recasts him as a living corpse. It assumes that he constructed a Necromancer's Grimoire as a talisman, the ritual suicide worked in creating a ghost, and his ghost was bound to a fresh corpse. Speculating that Darius' saga is Medium Powered and that he became a shade at death, he begins with a Magic Might of 10 and 720 experience points to repurchase Abilities. He has 10 additional Qualities that are balanced with a like number of Inferiorities. He has magically created a fresh corpse (see stats listed later) for his ghost to control.

Magic Might: 21 (Corpus)

Spirit Characteristics: Int +3, Per +1, Pre –3, Com –1, Str +2, Sta 0, Dex +1, Qik +2

Corpse Characteristics: Int –2, Per –2, Pre 0, Com –2, Str +3, Sta +3, Dex +1, Qik 0

Size: 0

Confidence Score: 1 (3)

Virtues and Flaws: Hermetic Magus, Magic Spirit; Transformed Spirit; Enduring Constitution, Hermetic Prestige, Second Sight, Strong-Willed; Blatant Magical Air, Driven (Hunt Enemies of the Order), Disfigured (horrific appearance).

Qualities and Inferiorities: Focus Power (Master of Corpus), Greater Power (x2); Improved Might (x11); Major Flaw (Hunger for Corpus Magic), Temporary Might; Limited Speech, Minor Flaw (Weak Sight), Minor Flaw (Sensitive to Heat), Reduced Fatigue

Personality Trait: Dedicated to Cause +6 Reputations: Dedicated Hoplite +3 (Hermetic magi)

Combat:

Fist: Init +0, Attack +5, Defense +4, Damage +3

Soak: +3

Fatigue Levels: OK, –1, –3, –5, Unconscious

Wound Penalties: –1 (1–5), –3 (6–10), –5 (11–15), Incapacitated (16–20), Destroyed (21+)

Abilities: Artes Liberales 2 (grammar), Athletics 2 (running), Awareness 3 (alertness), Bavaria Lore 2 (geography), Brawl 3 (fist), Civil and Canon Law 1 (local customs), Code of Hermes 3 (Wizards' Marches), Concentration 3 (spells), Dominion Lore 2 (divine creatures), Faerie Lore 2 (faerie forests), Finesse 4 (precision), Folk Ken 2 (peasants), German 4 (merchant slang), Guile 3 (fast talk), Hunt 2 (tracking), Infernal Lore 2 (demons), Intrigue 3 (plotting), Latin 4 (Hermetic), Leadership 3 (intimidation), Magic Lore 2 (creatures), Order of Hermes Lore 4 (criminals), Penetration 6 (Perdo), Philosophiae 2 (moral philosophy), Second Sight 3 (invisibility), Stealth 2 (shadowing), Survival 1 (forests)

Powers:

Clenching Grip of the Crushed Heart, 2 points, Init –2, Corpus: This power mimics the spell of the same name, one of Darius' favorites in life. Because it is a magical power, the spirit's Quickness was used to calculate the power's Initiative.

Grip of the Choking Hand, 0 points, Init +4, Corpus: Mimics the spell of the same name. Mastery points reduce the cost to 0 and increase the Init.

Master of Corpus, variable points, Init (Qik – Might cost), Corpus: Duplicates any Perdo or Muto Corpus effect. The effect level must be lower than Darius' Might. This power costs one Might point per magnitude of the effect.

Equipment: Former robes and his Necromancer's Grimoire talisman

Vis: 4 pawns of Corpus vis

Appearance: A dull-eyed corpse clad in Darius' ominous robes, with his talisman tied to his chest.

As a newly created living corpse, Darius has lost several Abilities and a handful of Virtues. His new powers and Magic Might barely compensate for his lost Arts, spells, and Parma Magica. He will surely want to increase his Might and gain new powers.

but the possibility of putrefaction still exists (see insert).

Abilities

A spirit is a shadowy fragment of the former magus, and does not have all of the Abilities and memories that the magus had in life. To determine what Abilities are retained, the player must buy them again. To determine how many experience points the character has for repurchasing Abilities, the troupe will have to decide what Season the spirit is. Season is a new Characteristic described in Realms of Power: Magic, pages 33–34, and is used to describe the age of a magic creature. If the ghost was summoned by another necromancer and bound to a living corpse, it could be any Season. If the necromancer has succeeded in killing himself and trapping and binding his spirit, it could be a Spring ghost. On the other hand, if it is an archmagus doing the ritual suicide, the ghost could be a Summer or an Autumn spirit. There is a loose correlation between the type of the spirit and its associated Season, but this is not definitive. Ultimately the troupe makes this decision.

Type of Spirit S	eason E	xperience
Animating Spirit	Spring	120
Specter	Summer	360
Shade	Autumn	720
Apparition	Winter	1200

Like Virtues and Flaws, the player can only buy Abilities for the living corpse that the character had in life. Supernatural Abilities are allowed only if the living corpse retained the associated Supernatural Virtue. If the living corpse does not have enough experience points to buy all the Abilities that the character had while living — and most won't — the player has to choose which are most important. The player can always select the Minor Magic Quality Improved Experience Points and gain 50 experience points for each time he

buys that Magic Quality.

There is a possibility that the attached ghost will have some of the same Abilities as the corpse. In this case, use the ghost's Ability instead of the corpse's Ability. If an activity calls for an Ability that the ghost doesn't have but the corpse does, use the corpse's Ability, since it is being controlled by the ghost.

Magical Qualities and Inferiorities

Spirits have magical powers, which are represented by Qualities. A living corpse character, like other magical creatures, may have as many Qualities as he has points of Might. He does not have to buy off these starting Qualities with Inferiorities. As a player character, a living corpse may buy additional Qualities as long as they are paid for by Inferiorities. He may have as many additional Qualities as he was allowed Virtues. Just as Flaws must balance with Virtues, Inferiorities must balance with additional Qualities. A player may select Qualities from the list on pages 36–41 in Realms of Power: Magic.

Perhaps the best use of Qualities is selecting Powers. A newly transformed living corpse has no Powers, and the player can only gain magical powers by purchasing them with Qualities. A second good use of Qualities is to increase Magic Might, especially if the character started with Might 0. Most powers cost Might Points to invoke, and a ghost with powers and no Might is rather flaccid in play. Ghosts of magi do not have Arts nor do they know any spells. Instead they mimic their former Hermetic spell casting by using innate magical powers that mirror spells they once knew. The most useful Qualities in this regard are Crafter of (Form), which allows the living corpse to mimic any non-Ritual Creo or Rego effect for the chosen Form up to a level equal to the spirit's Might or 25 (whichever is lower), and Master of (Form), which allows the spirit to duplicate any non-Ritual Muto or Perdo effect (again with the same limits). Both are Major Qualities.

Personality Traits

A magus has a variety of Personality Traits, indicative of the complexity of the human psyche. A ghost does not; it has one overriding Personality Trait that consumes its thinking. The character's highest Personality Trait becomes its sole Personality Trait, and its value is doubled to reflect the passion and directness of purpose of a returning spirit. In the case of a tie, the player may choose the ghost's Personality Trait.