Incomprehensible Mystic (Template)
This article discusses the House Criamon Template from the ArM5 core rules[1], with some commentary on the design choices implied by that template.
The House Criamon exclusive Virtue of The Enigma and its accompanying ability of Enigmatic Wisdom are key elements in lending this character its eccentric mystique. The effect is furthered by the Twilight Prone Flaw, which ensures that this Maga will enter Twilight more often than usual.
Characteristics
The template character has the following noteworthy characteristics:
Int +3,Pre +2, Com –3, Sta +2
Intelligence and Stamina are rarely kept at non-positive levels in Maga characters because they are so important in laboratory work and spellcasting, respectively. Com -3 is unusually low for a magus, but this template is for an "incomprehensible mystic," after all. Pre +2 presumably represents the character's personal magnetism.
Virtues
The template character has:
- The Gift
- Hermetic Magus (social status)
It would be very unusual for a starting Maga character not to have both The Gift and the Hermetic Magus Social Status.
House Criamon grants The Enigma as a free virtue to its members.
- Puissant Enigmatic Wisdom
This is not required, but makes sense for the concept of a mystic. Gives +2 to all rolls using the Enigmatic Wisdom score; see Puissant (Ability) in page 48 of the core rules.
- One Major Hermetic Virtue
The template character on page 25 has a specific choice of a Major Hermetic Virtue, but you could easily substitute a different one. Flexible Formulaic Magic, Life-Linked Spontaneous Magic, Major Magical Focus, Mythic Blood, and Secondary Insight all fit the concept of a mystic.
- Magic Sensitivity
This confers a starting score in the Supernatural Ability, Magic Sensitivity.
- Two other Minor Hermetic Virtues
The template, again, makes specific choices you could easily change. As written, this template concentrates on Hermetic Virtues rather than General Virtues and so creates a character with especially strong magical abilities.
Flaws
- Twilight Prone
Twilight Prone is a Major Hermetic Flaw; by the Rules as Written every Maga character must have a Hermetic Flaw, either Major or Minor. This is especially fitting for a magus of House Criamon, but you could change it to something like Blatant Gift or Study Requirement.
- Incomprehensible
This is central to the "incomprehensible" part of the character concept. This magus has an exceptional magical talent, but her magic works on a mystical level she cannot easily communicate to others. Combined with the character's low Communication score, this Flaw means that books written by this character are likely to be worse than practice.
- One Major Hermetic Flaw
See the suggestions under Twilight Prone, or the original template on page 25 of the rule book.
Abilities
- Artes Liberales 1 (rhetoric)
It is not normally possible to have Academic abilities without a score of at least one in Artes Liberales, so this is a requirement for all magi.[2]
- Enigmatic Wisdom 3+2 (riddles)
The Ability Enigmatic Wisdom is granted automatically to Criamon Magi, with an ability score of 1. The template buys two aditional levels of score with 25 points, and gains yet another two from the Puissant (Ability) Virtue above. Note that the character's Enigmatic Wisdom score should be written as "3+2" according to the errata
- Latin 4 (Enigmatic terms)
A score of 4 in a language is needed to allow the character to learn from books written in that language.[2]
- Magic Sensitivity 2 (auras)
This character starts with a score in the Supernatural Ability, Magic Sensitivity, because she has the Virtue of the same name. This confers a starting score of 1 in the Ability, and the template has an invested additional experience points to improve the Ability from 1 to 2.[3]
- Order of Hermes Lore 1 (mysteries)
The Order of Hermes Lore Ability is not required, but is recommended.[2]
- Parma Magica 1 (Mentem)
This is the minimum score for a starting magus's Parma Magica Ability.[2]
The character template also has several other Abilities (see the rule book for details), including the Social Abilities Charm and Folk Ken. As noted in the customization notes at the bottom of the template, those Abilities come from early childhood experience points[4] and therefore the experience points invested in them can only be exchanged for other Abilities from the childhood list.[1]
Arts and Spells
It is possible to change the character's Art scores by moving experience points around, but if you do so, be aware that you will probably need to change some spells as well.[2]