Virtue magic

[Kaare Berg]

In my world there once existed a form of magic relating to eight virtues (think Ultima series). Now my players have begun rekindling these virtues and I found myself in need of a system.

At first I was thinking along the lines of abstractions (I had even begun creating my own wheel of virtue), but then it struck me: Faith.

So here is the tentative idea:

EVERY character (having performed the right meditation at the respective shrines) will open a B3 skill in that virtue.
e.g.
Sacrifice B3
Futher meditation will garner routine tests.

This virtue will then combine with the Virtue Wise skill to create an open ended roll towards difficulties akin to the faith dificulties.

The virtue will not rise like a normal skill, but according to how the character acts in accordance with the virtue. Thus if the character acts against the virtue, e.g. being Covetus they will lose tests against Sacrifice.

Will now just make a list for each virtue of the type of actions that garners what kind of test similar to elven grief.

Input please.

till next time

[Lxndr]

Yes, Faith makes more sense than Sorcery for the type of magic you're describing, at least off the top of my head. I like the idea of combining Faith and Grief - I plan on doing that for one of the races in my ever-delayed Hazaril setting.

However... you're adding Virtue (X) + Virtue-wise to get a final number? Assuming Virtue-wise acts like a normal skill, how difficult would it be to get it up to 4? 5? 6?

6+3 = 9 dice, or, well, much higher than the average user of Faith just for performing the ritual in a shrine. Even if you have the ritual only give the skill at 1 (which is what I'd do) that's still 7 dice for someone with a high Virtue-wise. That's more a Sorcery-size dice pool than a Faith-sized dice pool.

Still, "lots of dice" isn't necessarily bad as long as you know what you're getting into. But just as a gut reaction, I'd start people off with a B1 in Virtue, not a B3.

[Kublai]

This sounds like a great adaptation! :D

My only question so far is why add more dice to the Virtue Attribute? Why not keep it only the Attribute like Faith? I only say this because less dice is better, in most cases. That way, you can also keep your Obstacles fairly low.

Speaking of Obstacles, not only will you need a advancement test list, you'll need an Obstacle guide for achieving Virtue "miracles," much like the Faith guide in the Rulebook.

On a side note, I, too, love the Ultima world. I paid homage to it by calling one of Verakai's fortresses "Keep Courage." :wink:

[Kaare Berg]

I have already adopted (not adapted) the teste list.

As for a lot of dice, here is my justification:

I want those who are knowledgable in the virtues to be able to tap into their power more readily than those that are not, since this is an art that is being rediscovered by my players.

But I see your point, and have a work around. You can not achive a miracle effect with a higher obstacle than your exponent in that virtue.
e.g.
Sacrifice B3 can not achive a higher effect than a ob 3 miracle, and I can't remember if there is such a thing just now.

For those of you who do not remember Ultima, here is a list of the virtues:

Compassion
Honesty
Valour
Humility
Sacrifice
Honour
Justice
Sprirituality

[Kublai]

With that system, it'd be really tough for players to get difficult or challenging tests. If their Virtue were only B3 and they added in the Virtue-wise skill (even at B2), every test they could make would be routine one (unless they were wounded or some such). Sorcery has the same problem, but that was fixed by the Learning New Spells rules, where you can test your Sorcery alone. Would there be any way to test the Virtue alone and make advancement a bit easier?

[Kublai]

:oops: Forget that part! I reread your first post again and realized advancement was not based on usage!