Ifan Grath-Malor
Ifan was a son of the Lorwyth family in the Duchy of Fandelok. His mother was Lucinda Grath-Malor, magus of House Malor, and Adrian Lorwyth, son of Sir Mark Lorwyth – a minor knight of Fandelok. Lucinda had fallen in love with Ifan’s father, and she was soon with child and abandoned. Ifan was born in the Panopticon of House Malor – though recalls nothing – where his mother died in childbirth. He was sent back to his father and raised a bastard initially, but was soon cast out and returned to Dunstrand at the age of 11 with a chest of money to pay for his education by his mother’s family. House Malor took him in, as he demonstrated steep occult talent (that was the source of his troubles). Ifan was raised as a house magus, adopting the faith of Ezrilus (though like most mages, pays little more than lip service to the patron goddess of magic), and loyalty to the Brotherhood and Ducal family. Ifan never quite fit the mold, though with little other recourse agreed to be tutored and take an oath of service. His unique talents include a natural sense of the stars and astrology as well as Fire Sense – a far cry from the typical grounded approach and earth based magics of House Malor. Ifan demonstrated a temperamental aptitude for mana leeching (the draining of mana from imbued items) through his affinity with fire – something someone with so little skill should not be able to do; it was not encouraged officially as it was dangerous and unpredictable, but many controlled experiments were performed with him by the school agents before the House Malor headmasters put an end to it. Ifan demonstrated loyalty time and again, but seemed unique in his ability to remain inquisitive and often push the envelope of adventure where not expressly forbidden. When it was time for the House to regain a presence and some control in the Earldom of Bar-Innis, he was shortlisted. Once the group known as The Gallants had become part of the Ducal institutions, his temperament was thought well suited to use to ally with them. Their old guard had passed – the days of high risk and high mortality were past and House Malor and The Gallants had aligned goals in many ways. Ifan studied their history and was sent to Tanner Holmraf, a Senior Herald of the Duke and regent of Bar-Innis. Tanner was leaving, and one of his last acts was to summon the Gallants and cement the tie between them and House Malor by having them take Ifan as an official Gallant.
str 2/3
rsn 6+1 = 7
per 3/4
vgr 5
rct 3
int 3
cha 4
san 4
looks: average
Size: 14 / 70 Health
Social Class: Upper
Traits:
Broadly Adaptive, Group Bond, Agile Communicator, Basic Communication, Natural Linguist, good Luck, Assets 3 (TBD), Militant Mage, Steeled Reserve, Mana Pool 1, Tithe, code of Conduct: Lawful, Code of Conduct: House Malor, Fire Sense (born under fire sign),
Wizard Weapon (Assets?)
SKILLS:
Animal Handling 1 (birds), Langs: Feyloise 2/1, Ducateon 2/1, Mercat 2/1, Gladnorian 4/4, Orrish 2/1; Dance 1, Ride 1, Math 2, Sorcery: 3, Mana Sense 2, Evade 2, Projectile 1, Melee 1, Lore: Occult 2, Lore: Fiend 2, Lore: Multiverse 1, Zoology 1, Botany 1, Lore: Dunstrand 4, Astrology 1, Essence Tap 1, Form Spark 2,
Knowledge: Gallantine history (public)
background package for house malor
drainer of magic items to remove them as a threat of mouse malor – breaker of chains
Agile Student (Trait, cost 3 CP, only allowed at character creation), Adept”?
This trait allows a reduced cost of learning non-combat, non-magic skills. Every odd level of skill progression costs that same as the previous skill level:
Skill level 1 2 3 4 5 Etc.
CP Cost 1 1 3 3 5 Etc.
This skill will primarily apply to Lores and Sciences.
This trait would not apply to any Combat, Physical or magical skill. It would apply to magical support skills like Mathematics (for Sorcery) and Botany (for Healing).
Core Science – see education background for classification?
Open for arguments for/against.
I’ll examine it from multiple perspectives.
All you have to do is take 2 skills to level 2 and its paid for itself. The CP cost seems outrageously low for what you get. The only thing to compare it to is fast learner – this is 10 CP and it reduces 2nd level cost and time cost. For 2 CP natural scholar barely gets you close to what this does – but its more about skills you do not have a level of proficiency in. So, for 3 CP, this skill seems over-balanced in favor of the PC to a great degree. Now, if the character were limited to applying it at the start that might be more fair… but our groups tend to be total newby’s so it would never really factor in.
Also, why does this only affect lores and sciences? Sorcery sure fits into that mold – its practically a science. Why would strict combat not count? There is no RSN minimum to take the trait, so its not obvious why it would only be for lores and sciences. And combat skills are easier to learn in terms of time. We also rarely, if ever, use either the rules of experience or enforce learning times for skills… so again, this feels way over-balanced to me.
I could see something like this: Erudite Insight (4 CP)
The character loves to accumulate knowledge of all kinds. This is a great capacity to remember figures, events, dates, and descriptions; non-integrated informal lores. The character’s brain functions in such a way as to encourage the accumulation of such knowledge – every even skill level costs the same as the skill level before (1 less). At level 2, the cost is 1, at level 4 the cost is 3, etc. The character must possess both RSN and SAN of 4 or higher; This trait can only be taken at the time of creation.
Lores: https://incarna.net/game/act/learn/
Natural _____?