Sample Characters

Here are a list of characters that the GMs have created to give you examples and inspiration. They won't turn up as characters in the game, so don't worry if your idea is already taken here. Bonus points of no value whatsoever if you guess which GM created which!

Rubidia Incarnia: Troublesome Student

Name: Rubidia Incarnia (her friends call her Rubie)

School: Aeromancy

Magic Skill Levels: (6)

  • Alteration: Novice (1)
  • Enchantment: Untrained (0)
  • Evocation: Apprentice (2)
  • Illusion: Adept (3)
  • Protection: Untrained (0)

Non-magic Skill Levels: (6)

  • Academic: Untrained (0)
  • Combat: Untrained (0)
  • Endurance: Advanced (3)
  • Investigatory: Experienced (2)
  • Oratory: Untrained (0)
  • Sneakery: Trained (1)
  • Strategy: Untrained (0)

Casting Style: Freeform

Implement of Choice: N/A

Quirks:

  • Ally (+): Rubie's best friend Sarah is a Norm but helps her get out of sticky situations when the Hammer gets involved.
  • Sixth Sense (+): Rubie tends to get bad feelings about bad things that are about to happen, which can be quite useful for her getting out of situations before they explode.
  • Magical Item (+): Rubie came into possession of a pair of gloves that allow her to see through the mists when she stands still and focusses on them.
  • Mysterious Artefact (+): Rubie's grandmother left her a big, dusty book in strange runes. Goodness knows what it says, but it's a hell of a paperweight.

Flaws:

  • Family Traitor (-): It's not her fault, but Rubie was born into a family of Apocrymancers without an arcane fibre in her body.
  • Duty (-): Rubie is still a student and so has to obey the demands of her tutor in The Magic Sphere for increasingly dull essays on the use of air magic.
  • Reputation (-): Rubie is a known troublemaker in The Magic Sphere, having yet to quite learn how to make her magic look like simple trickery.

Current Location: Bristol

Background: Rubie was always confused for most of her childhood about why whilst her parents could use magic to do such impressive feats of transfiguration or conjure the prettiest arcane bolts, all she was ever able to do was push things over with magic, or make everything seem a bit grey outside. That was until one day she turned on the television and saw Dan Paulsen with his wonderful assistant Merry Cherie and realised - she wasn't like her parents: she was like one of them! She trained day and night to try and be like them, using her powers over air to pull off tricks her parents never could until one day she was demonstrating her abilities in a school talent show when afterwards she was approached by a pair of men in black suits claiming to be from the Magic Sphere. They offered her help and support for using her powers and so, under the condition that she could still see her best friend, she agreed and came under the tutelage of Sally Pecking, a mage of The Sphere, where she studies today, in Bristol.

Archmage Firenze Kopolis: Not Up To Anything Evil

Name: Firenze Kopolis

School: Apocrymancy

Magic Skill Levels: (6)

  • Alteration: Untrained (0)
  • Enchantment: Untrained (0)
  • Evocation: Adept (3)
  • Illusion: Apprentice (2)
  • Protection: Novice (1)

Non-magic Skill Levels: (6)

  • Academic: Master (3)
  • Combat: Untrained (0)
  • Endurance: Untrained (0)
  • Investigatory: Untrained (0)
  • Oratory: Untrained (0)
  • Sneakery: Experienced (2)
  • Strategy: Trained (1)

Casting Style: Ritualistic

Implement of Choice: The Kopolis Family Staff

Quirks:

  • Secret Hideout (+): Firenze has a secret lair hidden in a cave system in Devon, from where he plots his latest schemes.
  • Familiar (+): Ara, a Raven, oft found perched atop Firenze's staff. Snarky, yet highly loyal.
  • Minions (+): They mostly fetch his shopping, but occasionally do something slightly more useful.
  • Magical Item (+): Passed down through the generations, the Kopolis Family Staff is imbued with magics that allow Firenze to always know its direction relative to him (although not its precise location), and summon it through the air to him if he has line of sight.

Flaws:

  • Nemesis (-): Violet Eve is a spunky teenager who is always trying to foil Firenze's plans.
  • Kryptonite (-): Platinum is Firenze's only weakness. Honest.
  • Enemies in High Places (-): Being evil doesn't make you popular…

Current Location:: Secret Cave Lair, Devon

Background:

The Kopolis family have always aroused some suspicion among their fellow Apocrymancers. Perhaps its the cloaks they all wear. Or the ornate staff of power that gets handed down between the generations. Or that time Gartha Kopolis III tried to stage a hostile takeover of Bedivere Hall on the back of an army of Arcane Spirits… At any rate, Firenze Kopolis takes much after his predecessors in terms of mannerisms if not (yet) in terms of success. From his lair in a magically concealed cave system in Devon, he plots his latest schemes, accompanied by his ever-faithful Raven Familiar, Ara.

Firenze's machinations haven't gone entirely unnoticed, however. After uncovering one of his previous schemes, Bedivere Hall student Violet Eve has taken a personal interest in foiling Firenze at every turn. He probably would have achieved his goals by now, were it not for that meddling kid…

Aline de Chaleur: The Rightful Heiress

Name: Aline de Chaleur

School: Pyromancy

Magic Skill Levels: (7+1)

  • Alteration: Adept (3)
  • Enchantment: Untrained (1)
  • Evocation: Untrained (1)
  • Illusion: Untrained (0)
  • Protection: Adept (3)

Non-magic Skill Levels: (5)

  • Academic: Untrained (0)
  • Combat: Trained (0)
  • Endurance: Experienced (2)
  • Investigatory: Untrained (0)
  • Oratory: Untrained (0)
  • Sneakery: Untrained (0)
  • Strategy: Advanced (3)

Casting Style: Reactive

Implement of Choice: Wand

Quirks:

  • Studious (+): Aline's constant hard work has paid off, and she is a stronger Wytch than most of her peers.
  • Reputation (+): Those outside the influence of the Pyros are aware that Aline is a force to be reckoned with, and speak of her with reverence.
  • Ally (+): She has a friend in the middle management of Bedivere Hall since she put out a raging magical fire, the result of an experiment gone wrong, and saved the place from crumbling to dust.
  • Keep Your Cool (+): When in public, Aline means business at all times. Her poker face nears perfection.

Flaws:

  • Nemesis (-): Her brother, Lucien de Chaleur, who is determined to hold on to the family lineage now he has secured it for himself.
  • Lack of Authority With Pyros (-): Thanks to her brother's meddling, if Aline asked permission to sneeze from a prominent Pyro it would be declined.
  • Limited Expertise (-): Aline's “all action, no flair” mantra has taken such a hold that she is unable to perform anything too showy, and chokes when being observed by crowds.

Current Location: London

Background:

Aline comes from a long, storied line of Wytches, all the way back to the Battle of Hastings, which (rumour has it, though the details have been lost to the mists of time) her family helped secure victory in. However, in more recent times, though the name still commands huge amounts of respect, her family have become complacent, preferring to command respect through looking powerful using fancy tricks and illusions rather than magic with any real weight or impact behind it. She, on the other hand, spent her youth studying how to harness the subtlest forms of Pyromancy, having made friends in particular with many at Bedivere Hall (and holding an honourary degree from them) for her substantial part in saving the college from burning down.

However, because she has sworn to never be overt with her magic, she has caused discord within her own house. Her only sibling, Lucien, has persuaded their parents and much of the wider Pyro community that due to this total aversion to spectacle she is impotent and the family line would end with her if she were to take over the family home and duties. For the years that he lived at home wasting his days away whilst she was out learning and becoming a respected figure in her own right, this was the only opinion they heard, and after long enough, they started to believe it. As for the wider community, those less powerful found her close ties to the stuffy old codgers at Bedivere Hall to be a sign that she had no spark, and those who saw her as the huge threat that she was fanned the flames of these rumours as it convenienced them. Despite being the older sibling, and the rightful heir to the family line, as things stand currently, everything will pass to Lucien. Aline will not stand for this.

Though recent generations of De Chaleurs have become feeble and impotent, mere illusions of the great men and women of the past, she takes great pride in her family name and refuses to let it dwindle at the hands of her arrogant, selfish, useless brother. She will find a way to earn back the respect of the Pyros, her parents and ensure that her dynasty is protected without stooping to flair and showmanship. This change at the Hammer might just be the incident she needs to do so.

Hector Spurge: Just Wants to be Left Alone

Name: Hector Spurge

School: Hydromancy

Magic Skill Levels: (6)

  • Alteration: Adept (3)
  • Enchantment: Untrained (0)
  • Evocation: Trained (1)
  • Illusion: Apprentice (2)
  • Protection: Untrained (0)

Non-magic Skill Levels: (6-1)

  • Academic: Experienced (2)
  • Combat: Untrained (0)
  • Endurance: Untrained (0)
  • Investigatory: Untrained (0)
  • Oratory: Advanced (3)
  • Sneakery: Untrained (0)
  • Strategy: Untrained (0)

Casting Style: Reactive

Implement of Choice: Wand

Quirks:

  • Loudmouth (+): Despite his quiet nature, Hector spends a lot of time on the internet and has actually amassed a small but passionate following there, with his rambling but eloquent posts about beauty and what life should really be about.
  • Possessed (+): There is a little voice in Hector's brain that sometimes suggests he do things he wouldn't normally do. None of these are bad things, and they often seem to lead to interesting results, but he's not entirely sure why he is the person required to do them.
  • Secret Hideout (+): A lovely little cave behind a waterfall in Glen Etive. Not the sort of place people are likely to accidentally drop in on him, which is just the way Hector likes it.

Flaws:

  • Ineptitude (-): Hector is simply not that great at physical human interaction, and it shows itself in his non-magical skill levels.
  • Cowardice (-): Hector is really not keen on physical confrontation.

Current Location: Glen Etive (NW Scottish Highlands)

Background:

Hector is one of the more reclusive sorts of Hydromancers, happy with the company of running water and empty landscape. If left to his own devices, he would hide away from the rest of the human world as much as physically possible, creating beautiful things. He doesn't even like going out for groceries, although Ocado have refused to deliver to a waterfall in an empty glen, so he sometimes ends up living on cans of beans for weeks at a time. However, Hector has some sort of conscious visitor camped out in part of his mind (or that's what it feels like), and this being - who likes to be thought of as Brian - pushes Hector out into the world sometimes, to visit old ladies or rescue kittens stuck up trees. Just last week, Hector stopped a whole bus of tourists plummeting over a road edge in Glen Coe*, and now he's wondering what strange but objectively good thing Brian will talk him into next.

*Note: Just by parking his car in front of the damaged section of barrier and putting his warning lights on. Not by actually doing anything physically heroic, goodness, no. And actually it's only Brian's word that this action saved a bus-full of people from death. But probably it did.

Venus Valasianka: The Spurned Lover

Name: Venus Valasianka

School: Apocrymancy

Magic Skill Levels: (6)

  • Alteration: Untrained (0)
  • Enchantment: Novice (1)
  • Evocation: Apprentice (2)
  • Illusion: Adept (3)
  • Protection: Untrained (0)

Non-magic Skill Levels: (6)

  • Academic: Trained (1)
  • Combat: Untrained (0)
  • Endurance: Untrained (0)
  • Investigatory: Trained (1)
  • Oratory: Experienced (2)
  • Sneakery: Experienced (2)
  • Strategy: Untrained (0)

Casting Style: Freeform

Implement of Choice: N/A

Quirks:

  • Dramatic Flair (+): Venus just can't help herself, and whenever the situation arises she just has to be the centre of attention. Not that most people object, really.
  • Possessed (+): Venus doesn't know what it is, but there's always a little voice in her head warning her when people are lying to her, and it hasn't been wrong yet.
  • Reputation (+): Descended all the way from Catherine the Great, Venus is from a famous Russian Wytch family that moved to Britain decades ago.

Flaws:
(Remember, you aren't limited in the number of flaws you can take.)

  • Nemesis (-): Her ex-fiancée, Avery Elmebrigge, broke off their engagement when she was caught with another man. Now they hate each other, and have been in a petty war ever since.
  • Curse (-): Ever since Venus was caught cheating, she has been cursed to be forever doomed in love. It's certainly been that way so far.
  • Limited Expertise (-): As love has been on her mind so much lately, Venus only seems to be able to cast spells associated with it.
  • Mystery Flaw #2 (-): Venus just has a bad feeling about something at the moment, but can't put her finger on it.

Current Location: Pimlico

Background:

Born with a silver spoon in her mouth, Venus Valasianka has had pretty much everything handed to her that she has ever wanted. Except, that is, the man that she loves. Engaged at 19 to Avery Elmebrigge, a handsome young man of “good breeding”, as her parents put it, it looked like Venus would be in the perfect position after graduating from Bedivere Hall. However, pulchritudinous looks in an environment surrounded by a bunch of attractive young men led to the inevitable. After Avery broke things off they have been on what can only be described as less than good turns. A petty feud to end all petty feuds eventually led Avery to putting a curse on her, to be doomed in love for evermore.

As things stand currently, Venus spends her time living with her family in their Pimlico townhouse. Her unnatural ability to “convince” others has recently led to her receiving an interesting correspondence from a group she highly suspects to be Res Nostrae. Whether this will turn out to be the case remains to be seen, but for now revenge on Avery is at the forefront of her mind, and she can't help but think there might be more to this curse than she first thought. It's only since then that she's been hearing those strange voices…

Dr. Allen Parfitt: The Grand Master of Journal Articles

Name: Allen Parfitt

School: Geomancy

Magic Skill Levels: (5)

  • Alteration: Untrained (0)
  • Enchantment: Adept (2)
  • Evocation: Untrained (0)
  • Illusion: Untrained (0)
  • Protection: Adept (3)

Non-magic Skill Levels: (7+1)

  • Academic: Advanced (3)
  • Combat: Untrained (0)
  • Endurance: Untrained (0)
  • Investigatory: Experienced (2)
  • Oratory: Advanced (3)
  • Sneakery: Untrained (0)
  • Strategy: Untrained (0)

Casting Style: Ritualistic

Implement of Choice: Driftwood Staff

Quirks:

  • Studious (+) - Dr. Parfitt has a lifetime of experience teaching dim students and giving speeches. As such, he has some added talent in Oratory.
  • Mysterious Artefact (+) - Found on one of his old digs, Parfitt has kept hold of an old runestone, covered in ancient markings. It's purpose? As yet unknown.
  • Familiar (+) - Because of a miscasting error in his youth, Dr. Parfitt is always accompanied by an impressive magical barn owl. This owl rarely has anything helpful to add to conversations, but seems vaguely affectionate towards his master despite his sarcasm.
  • Magical Item - Level 1 (+) - Parfitt carries on his person a magical necklace which slightly toughens his skin, protecting him from damage in a pinch.

Flaws:

  • Vice - Alcohol (-) - Only a tipple now and again, honestly…
  • Duty - Tutor (-) - Allen's time is unpleasantly divided between his true work, and some nonsense with irritating young people that pays his bills.
  • Miscasting Tendancy (-) - Dr. Parfitt has never been one for practical demonstrations - books are far better, anyway!

Current Location: Radstock

Background:

Dr. Allen Parfitt, stuffy tutor of Geomancy at the Walpole stately home (the HQ of the Heritage Trust) was not always such a closeted stick in the mud. In his youth he was known as “Crazy” Al Parfitt, a native of the west country and staple of Glastonbury festival. Ten years of fun living take their toll, however, and these days Allen focuses on his research - trying his best to ignore the persistent students who come knocking at his door.

Allen never fully achieved his magical potential. Although talented at protection magic and conjuration, he possesses a nervousness that leads him to occassional lose concentration. As such he tends to be far more interested in the academic side of magic, rather than the practical side. In particular, Allen focuses on the ancient origins of Geomancy, researching the Druids of old and their customs.

sample_characters.txt · Last modified: Tue 8 Apr 2014, 16:25:54 UTC by gm_susannah
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