Magic Realm Living Corpse
The most common type of spirit attached to an animated corpse is a magic spirit. Not that the Magic realm has more ghosts than the other realms — it may or may not — but magi, being already associated with the Magic realm, usually use spirits from that realm. Because a Hermetic necromancer is more inclined to use magic ghosts — he has sworn an oath not to meddle with Infernal spirits — magic ghosts get more coverage than their other realm counterparts.
Magic Might
The living corpse's Magic Might starts at 0, as described by the Major Supernatural Virtue: Transformed (Being) (Realms of Power: Magic, page 47). A player may change this by buying Magic Qualities that increase Might and paying for them with Magic Inferiorities. Because a magus is already affiliated with the Magic realm, a Gifted living corpse character may start with a Magic Might higher than 0, depending on the option the troupe used to determine if the magus' spirit became a ghost. Such a character's starting Magic Might depends on the power-level of the saga and the type of magical ghost it became: specter, shade, or apparition. Use the following guidelines when determining starting Magic Might.
| Power S | pecter S | had e |
Apparition |
|---|---|---|---|
| Low | 0 | 5 | 10 |
| Medium | 3 | 10 | 20 |
High 5 15 30 Legendary 10 25 50
To increase the character's Might, the player must purchase the Minor Magic Quality: Improved Might, which increases the character's Magic Might by one point each time it is purchased. A character can have the same number of Qualities and Inferiorities as he had starting Virtues and Flaws (not counting the Free Virtue every magus starts with due to his House).
You must also select the Form that the spirit character is associated with. For a magus, this could be his highest Form. For an unGifted character, the Form will likely be Mentem, the Form most magic ghosts are connected to.
A side effect of possessing Might is that the character now has raw vis circulating inside of him, like other magical creatures. If slain, this vis can be harvested. The spirit has one pawn for every five points of Might, rounded up, of the Form that it is associated with.
The ghost has Magic Resistance that is equal to its Might. If the ghost is bound within a vessel inside the corpse, the corpse has the same Magic Resistance as the ghost.
Virtues and Flaws
As soon as a magus becomes a living corpse, the character replaces the Special Virtue: The Gift with the Special Virtue: Magic Spirit. If the character did not have The Gift, he still gains the Magic Spirit Virtue. He also gains the Major Supernatural Virtue: Transformed (Being) and the General Major Flaw: Magical Air. Transformed (Being) counts against the total number of Virtues and Flaws the character can have, but Magical Air does not. If the magus had the Gentle Gift, the living corpse does not receive the Magical Air Flaw. If the magus had the Blatant Gift, the Magical Air Flaw is intensified to the Major Supernatural Flaw: Blatant Magical Air. It this case, Blatant Magical Air replaces Blatant Gift and counts in the total balance of Virtues and Flaws. Essentially, being a living corpse is just as socially problematic as being a magus, and to the same degree.
The player must next repurchase any Virtues and Flaws the character had in life, adhering to the maximum number of Virtues and Flaws allowable by the character type. It is not necessary to purchase a Social Status Virtue or Flaw because a living corpse does not fit into any imaginable social framework. Virtues and Flaws must balance at the end of the process. There is a possibility that some Virtues and Flaws may be lost; the player must select those that are most important to keep. No new Virtues or Flaws may be selected; only those that the character had in life are acceptable choices.
Characteristics
The living corpse has the same Characteristics that the character had while living. Physical Characteristics will only be necessary if the spirit can take material form, but since it is bound to a corpse, becoming material isn't necessary. Players should use the corpse's Physical Characteristics in place of the character's when the corpse is doing physical things, which will be most of the time. Both sets of Characteristics, the ghost's and the corpse's, should be retained on the character sheet. Aging Points can be ignored,
