|
|
Sample Metieran:
Reanth Veralta (Grendmeran) |
| Practitioners of Metier
are usually referred to by their Style, such as a Grendmeran
(gren-day-MERE-an) or a Selembrin (seh-lem-BRAY-yen), but collectively
can be referred to as Metieran (meh'tyer-an), which is both plural and
singular. |
| Focus |
| Compared to other professions Metieran
focus on expanding and cultivating their Magical capabilities. Most Metieran focus
solely upon one Style of Metier , but some branch out into two or even three
Styles. Regardless, Metier is not well suited to dabbling, as it requires a
considerable expense in Character Points. |
| A player can expect their
Metieran to have a difficult time of it initially, and to be challenged
in their progression by
the steep price of escalating their Magical capability, but can rest
assured that the payoff will be worth the struggle as the game progresses. |
| Means to Power |
| Metieran learn
one or more Styles of
Metier . Styles are represented mechanically by a paired Multipower Pool and Power Skill
combo with a list of mandatory and restricted Modifiers particular to a
given Style. Once they know a Style, a Metieran learns to evoke
"Matrixes", represented by slots in a Metier Style Multipower Pool. |
| Each Style of Metier has
it's own characteristics and "Signature", recognizable to Metieran
and other Magic Users via appropriate Detects. Different Styles excel at
different aspects of Magic Use, but in general Metier is a robust form of
Magic Use. |
| Metieran go
through various levels of understanding and capability as they advance. As
they gain experience, their ability to manipulate the metaphysical Laws of
Magic increases, as does the mental endurance required to focus their will.
Essentially, as a character gains experience they should
spend points to increase their Multipower Reserve as well as gain new Matrix
slots. |
|
STYLE MULTIPOWERS AND MATRIXES |
| One or more Style Multipowers and Matrixes are a
Metieran's primary abilities, and the
true determiner of how powerful and capable an individual Metieran is. |
| A dedicated Metieran should have a respectably large
Reserve on one or more Style Multipowers and a serviceable selection of
Matrix slots. |
| SPELL SKILLS AND MASTER METIERAN STATUS |
| What exactly indicates "Master" Metieran
status might vary from setting to setting, or even from region to region
within the same setting. |
| However, as a rule of thumb a Metieran that has at
least 45 Active Points in a Style Multipower, ten slots, and the ability to
keep at least a primary attack and defense active simultaneously can be
considered a "Master" Metieran in most implementations of the
Magic System. |
| A Metieran that has at
least 60 Active Points in a Style Multipower, fifteen to twenty slots, and the ability to
keep at least a primary attack, defense, and mobility Matrix active simultaneously can be
considered an "Archmaster" Metieran in most implementations of the
Magic System. |
|
ENDURANCE RESERVES |
| Metieran may use a Magic Endurance Reserve unless the GM's
prefers otherwise, but must define all of their Matrixes as using the Magic Endurance
Reserve if they have one; they can't have some that run off of personal END
and others that run off of the END Reserve. |
| The standard "May Use Either Personal END or END
Reserve" +1/4 Advantage may be used in this case on individual Matrixes where desired unless forbidden by the GM. |
|
ENDURANCE RESERVE POINTS |
| In most campaigns it is likely appropriate to place some
limits on how many points a Metieran can have in their END Reserve. The
following limit is recommended: |
|
Scaling Capacity Point Cap = Total Character Points / 10 |
| Thus a Metieran with 250 total Character Points could
spend up to 25 Character Points on their Endurance Reserve, split between
the Reserve and the Recovery as they wish |
| FLOW TAPPING |
| For some settings, such as J. Keown's
Age of Storms
setting that this Magic System was developed for, a conceptual model of "Ley
Lines" or magical flows might exist. If such is the case I recommend putting
a further restriction on the REC of the Metier END Reserve forcing a
Metieran to extract additional energy from the Flows, Lines, Nodes, or
whatever ambient magic conceptual widget is in effect. |
| I recommend requiring an additional
Power Skill, separate from any Style Skills a Metieran might have called
Flow Tapping, and
limiting the REC of the END Reserve very heavily such as in the below
example. |
|
Flow Tapping: Power (INT-based) +1; Real Cost:
5 points |
|
Flow Reserve: Endurance Reserve (80 END, 10 REC) Reserve: (18
Active Points); REC: (10 Active Points); Extra Time (1 Minute, Character
May Take No Other Actions, -1 3/4), Requires A Flow Tapping Skill Roll
(Active Point penalty to Skill Roll is -1 per 5 Active Points; -1),
Concentration (0 DCV; Character is totally unaware of nearby events; -3/4);
Real Cost: 10 points |
|
Total Cost: 15 points |
| ARMOR AND PERSONAL DEFENSE |
| As noted in the
Metier System Metieran can wear Armor but
suffer Spellcasting penalties for doing so. However, many Metieran are better off just having a
Matrix with which to see to
their defense. |
| PENALTY SKILL LEVELS |
| Penalty Skill Levels with Armor can be purchased at
the 3 point level to offset casting penalties (but not non-proficiency
penalties) for Style Skill rolls. |
| PSL: Offset Armor Casting Penalties
With All Spell Skills |
| Real Cost: 3 points per level |
| MAGESIGHT |
| Many Metieran take the Mage Sight Talent
as described in Fantasy HERO for 5th Edition at least at the five (5)
point level, and frequently at the fully discriminatory sense level, or
some equivalent ability to make it easier for them to sense and interact
with Magic. |
| This is not a requirement
however and a character that didn't take Magesight would not be severely
hampered, particularly if they were able to take a Matrix in their Style
that duplicated the effect. |
|
Magesight, Discriminatory, Range, Sense |
|
Real Cost: 17 points |
| LONGEVITY |
| Metieran may take Life Support
(Longevity) at up to the ~200 year level, unless the GM prefers to
disallow this. |
| DISTINCTIVE FEATURE |
| Working with Magic marks a Metieran in
subtle ways, and they have a recognizable aura that is detectable by
those with appropriate senses. Metieran should take the following
Disadvantage. |
|
DF: Metieran (Not Concealable; Always Noticed and Causes Major Reaction;
Detectable Only By Unusual Senses; Not Distinctive In Some Cultures) |
| Disadvantage Value: -5 points |
|
Learning New Spells |
| A Metieran may attempt to learn any Power
Construct based Matrix that can be fit into their
Style concept, and satisfies all of the restrictions affecting
the Metier
Matrixes of that Style as described above. |
| In addition to paying the cost of
Matrixes as
ultra-slots
in their MP's, a Metieran also has to "learn"
Matrixes before they can add them to their Multipower Pools as
described below. |
| To learn a Matrix takes one hour of study per 10 Active
Points in the Power. At the
end of this period of time a Metieran makes a Skill Roll with the
appropriate Style Skill at a penalty of -1 per
10 Active Points in the Power. |
| A Metieran may opt to study a
Matrix twice as long as necessary for a +1 bonus to the roll, with each doubling
of time granting a cumulative +1 bonus; thus if a Metieran studies a
Matrix for four
hours per 10 Active Points they would gain a +2
bonus to their eventual Skill Roll for two doublings of time. |
| If a Skill Roll is failed, a Metieran may not attempt to
learn the same Matrix again until they have improved their Style Skill by at
least +1 Skill Level. |
| Example: Lirian is a
practitioner of Conde and has discovered a scroll bearing
Furious Flames, a Conde Matrix with 50 Active Points. Lirian has enough Experience Points to afford
a slot for
the Power, and it satisfies all of the requirements and restrictions of
her Conde MP. Therefore she is able to learn the
Matrix. |
| Lirian studies the
Matrix for five total hours (50 AP/10) and then makes a Power Skill
(Conde) Roll at a -5 penalty (50 AP/10). If
she succeeds she adds the
Matrix to her Conde Multipower, paying the Real Cost of the ultra-slot.
If she fails she does not learn the Matrix and may not try again until her
Power Skill (Conde) Roll is at least on level
better. |
|
Improving Known Spells |
| As a Metieran increases the size of
their Style Multipower Reserve they may want some or all of their existing
Matrixes in that Multipower to take advantage of the raised Active Point limit available to them. |
| If the Power Modifiers of the Matrix are unchanged then the
ultra-slot
can be bumped to take more Active Points without any special process being
required; the Metieran simply needs to pay the cost difference in character
points. |
| However if the Power Modifiers are
altered then this is not permissible; to do that the Metieran would need to
create a new version of the Matrix using the guidelines for creating new
Matrixes below. |
|
Creating New Spells |
| Metieran can create new Matrixes
themselves through a period of Research and Experimentation. To create a new
Matrix a
Metieran must have enough character points available to pay for the new
Matrix as an ultraslot in a Metieran Style
Multipower if they are successful, and the new
Matrix must be added to the
appropriate Style Multipower if successfully created. |
| INABILITY TO CREATE NEW
SPELLS |
| This option is in
effect in my campaigns |
| By default, any Metieran with the
appropriate Style Skills can create their own
Matrixes. If for some reason a
particular type of Metieran cannot make their own
Matrixes, they may take a Physical Limitation Disadvantage indicating
this. |
| Arcane Spell Sterility: Phys
Lim: Cannot create new Matrixes (Infrequently, Greatly Limiting; -10
points) |
| MATRIX DEFINITION |
| A Metieran with the appropriate Style
Skill and Style Multipower can easily create a new Matrix for that
Style. The Player or GM simply
designs the Matrix using the Power
creation rules in the HERO System 5th Edition Rulebook
and checks the
Matrix
for compliance to the Mandatory and Restricted
Modifiers affecting the Style. |
| RESEARCH &
EXPERIMENTATION |
| Once the new Matrix has been defined and
agreed upon with the GM, in-game the Metieran must conduct Research & Experimentation
(R&E) equal to one
Hour per 10 Active Points in the
Power. |
| The Metieran must have appropriate materials for R&E, which is left to the
GM's discretion. Some of these necessary materials
may be quite expensive, again at the GM's discretion. |
| A Metieran does not have to complete
all of the necessary R&E in one session, however if they segment it over
time then they must make
a Style Skill after every
segment of R&E at a -1 penalty per 10 Active Points in
the Effect. If the R&E is completed in one straight session then only
one such Skill Roll needs to be made. Thus interrupting the R&E period
increases the risk of failure significantly. |
| If any of a Metieran's R&E Skill Rolls are failed then
they botched the job somehow and
cannot create the Matrix at that time. The Metieran may not try to create that
Matrix again until their Style Skill Roll has been raised
by at least +1, starting
over again at the beginning of the Research & Experimentation cycle. |
| LEARNING A NEWLY CREATED EFFECT |
| A Metieran automatically knows any
Matrix
they have successfully created and must pay the cost of the
ultra-slot in their Style MPP
upon successfully creating the Matrix as mentioned previously. |