Great White Games/Pinnacle Entertainment Group

[SavageGamerGirl]

Comments? Suggestions?

Pact Magic
Arcane Skill: Spellcasting (Spirit)
Starting Power Points: 5 or 10 (see below).
Starting Powers 2
Those who practice pact magic gain their arcane abilities via a contract with a powerful supernatural force - either good or evil. All pact magicians have a familiar, a spiritual creature in animal form that enhances their powers and acts as a liaison between the magician and their master.

A pact magician gains the Familiar Edge (FC pg. 5) for free even if he doesn't meet the requirements. This Edge comes with a price, however. The pact must be fulfilled. The pact magician gains the Vow Hindrance, as he must pledge obeisance to the entity granting him his powers. The severity of the Vow determines how many Power Points the character begins with: 5 for a minor Vow, and 10 for a major Vow. These Power Points are in addition to the 5 Power Points he gains for having a Familiar.

The Familiar assists and advises the magician, and delivers directives from the master. In that regard the GM can take control of the Familiar and run it as an NPC.

If the character refuses a direct order or in any way violates his Vow of servitude (GM's discretion), he loses his Familiar as his master revokes the boon. He retains his other Power Points and his Powers, but also gains the major Enemy Hindrance. His former master is now his greatest enemy.

Special: This Arcane Background differs from the others in that it can be taken after the character has been created and game play has begun. A character willing to make a pact can take this Edge in any advancement after he has encountered a supernatural entity and made a deal with it for servitude in exchange for power.

[77IM]

I like it; it seems like Faith turned on it's head (and balanced similarly).

-- 77IM
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Stuff I made: Arcane Abilities · Talent Edge · Savage Fading Suns · Savage Wuxia!

[ValhallaGH]

I'm strongly reminded of AB (Miracles). Which isn't a bad thing.

The similarity does imply a different method of punishing the caster. As written, this implies that the caster "steals" a bit of the entity's power - once the character has it the entity can't take it all back (but yanking the Familiar does remove some). That implies some very ... specific things about settings that allow this arcane background.
My personal inclination is to go more towards the AB(Miracles) -style Sin tables. Up to and including total removal of powers (or at least the inability of the caster to regain power points).

[SavageGamerGirl]

This AB was meant to invoke the feel of folkloric witches, who gain power by treating with supernatural forces. Due to that, I'd like to keep the "free" Familiar Edge in exchange for the Vow Hindrance.

I suppose I could borrow the hierarchy of sins from the Miracles AB to help guide the GM in determining when the character's actions are egregious enough to cause the master to revoke the power. In that case, the power loss would be permanent unless, like the miracle-worker, the pact magician manages to atone.

Doing that, I could put a word in there about possibly gaining the Enemy hindrance if the magician cannot or will not atone for his actions.

Good food for thought!

The way I like to think of pact magic is like a shortcut to AB: Miracles with a Familiar.

Without AB: Pact Magic, you could achieve the same effect by taking AB: Miracles, getting the Vow hindrance, and buying up your Knowledge (arcana) to d10, and taking the Familiar Edge.

With AB: Pact Magic, the Vow and the Familiar come as part of the package, without the Knowledge (arcana) requirement. It's cheaper and easier to get, but you have the disadvantage of having to take direct orders from a supernatural being portrayed by the GM, who can also assume control of your Familiar.

[SavageGamerGirl]

Ok... tweaked it a bit with the input above about modeling it like the Miracles background. I liked that idea, as it makes defining the Vow much easier.

How's this?

Pact Magic
Arcane Skill: Spellcasting (Spirit)
Starting Power Points: 5 or 10 (see below).
Starting Powers: 2

Those who practice pact magic gain their arcane abilities via a contract with a powerful supernatural force—either good or evil. All pact magicians have a familiar, a spiritual creature in animal form that enhances their powers and acts as a liaison between the magician and their master.

A pact magician gains the Familiar Edge (FC pg. 5) for free even if he doesn’t meet the requirements. This Edge comes with a price, however: the pact must be fulfilled. The pact magician gains the Vow Hindrance, as he must pledge obeisance to the entity granting him his powers. The severity of the Vow determines how many Power Points the character begins with: 5 for a minor Vow and 10 for a major Vow. These Power Points are in addition to the 5 Power Points he gains for having a Familiar.
The Familiar assists and advises the magician, and delivers directives from the master. In that regard the GM can take control of the Familiar and run it as an NPC.

If the character refuses a direct order or in any way violates his Vow of servitude, he may lose powers as his master revokes the boon. At the GM’s discretion he may also gain the major Enemy Hindrance as his former master becomes his greatest enemy.

Pact: Pact Magic is similar to Miracles in that the character is receiving power from a supernatural entity. Like Miracles, Pact Magic has a hierarchy of transgressions that the magician must avoid in order to retain his power. The GM and the player should work together to determine the master’s goals and the nature of the character’s relationship with the master. Minor transgressions include disrespecting the master’s allies, not carrying out a minor request from the master, or not heeding the advice of the familiar. Major transgressions can range from allowing one’s familiar to be seriously injured or killed, not learning a power suggested by the familiar to further the master’s goals, or not carrying out the general will of the master. A Mortal transgression would be ignoring or disobeying a direct order from the master, killing one’s own familiar, or putting one’s own goals above those of the master.

Special: This Arcane Background differs from the others in that it can be taken after the character has been created and game play has begun. A character willing to make a pact can take this Edge in any advancement after he has encountered a supernatural entity and made a deal with it for servitude in exchange for power.

[Enno]

Nice. But for me it looks like AB: Miracles with your "god" on your shoulder.

Where is the difference to divine magic with a Familiar trapping?


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There are 10 types of people in the world: Those who know binary and those who don't.

[SavageGamerGirl]

[Spongly]

I really like this. I was actually busily designing an AB for "sorcerers" in my gothic medieval setting, but I think this pretty much covers them, since they are supposed to be classic medieval witches who sell their souls to demons. Cheers!