Faerie, the magic of dreams

[WaterAndWindSpirit]

Hello all! So I've wanted to add something to my universe.

Since basically, magic is linked to life and both influence each other and magic is an incredibly powerful and dense energy source, there is a whole realm of magic called Faerie. Faerie is the magic of dreams, and powerful beings dwell there and subsist on the dreams of humanity (well, demi humanity since it includes all sentient species) in a symbiotic relationship: They feed on excess energies from the demihuman, and in turn the beings of Faerie provide them with imagination and the potential to make their imagination real (either metaphorically, through art or scientific inventions, or literally, through temporary constructs of pure magic). And Faerie employs champions. Champions are usually people with high affinity for Faerie magic, which is based on imagination.

So basically my plan is a reskinned Pact limitation slapped on any Faerie granted powers, except that instead of self-imposedmental disads, we're talking about mental disads that are charactristic of people with high imagination.

So, let's deal with two questions:

1) What would be the appropriate mental disads for working with Faerie magic?

2) Would it break something to use a reskinned Pact like that?

Thanks!

[Anaraxes]

If a character was so imaginative that they can change reality, then it's not really what's real to them. That can lead to Disads like

Absent-Minded: you have trouble focusing on this trivial "reality" compared to the much more interesting things going on in your head

On The Edge: that "danger" isn't real, and can be wished away, so why worry so much about it or waste time and effort on those overly-elaborate precautions?

Intolerance: Those "people" aren't real; they're not worth my concern.

Overconfidence: Reality is your plaything, so of course you can succeed at anything thanks to your superior imagination.

Selfless: Money and fame are just illusions of the purported reality, so who cares about such trivia? Isn't this idea much more interesting?

Stubbornness: Reality bends to my imagining. Do what I want, because I have the superior vision.

[jason taylor]

I'd expect someone who works with fay magic to be in sore danger of being hooked by Something Or Someone he does not know about. I don't know how to write that though.

Then there is Compulsive Behavior: Return to Fairy Land. Someone who goes there would have to make a Will roll to get back.

[Kelly Pedersen]

Originally Posted by WaterAndWindSpirit

2) Would it break something to use a reskinned Pact like that?

I'll take these in reverse order, because my answer to the first depends on the second. So, you can use a reskinned Pact, but I think to be a meaningful limitation, the disadvantages involved have to be something you can actually "transgress" against. I don't think "if you ever buy this advantage off, you can't use these abilities" is sufficiently limiting.
So, something like Absent-Mindedness, while probably appropriate for a faerie-granted power, doesn't qualify for Pact, because it has no means of resisting or avoiding it. I would allow disadvantages with a self-control roll in this sort of Pact build, though, with the understanding that trying to make a self-control roll (rather than just succumbing without rolling) is what constitutes "transgressing". So, with that in mind...

Originally Posted by WaterAndWindSpirit

1) What would be the appropriate mental disads for working with Faerie magic?

My suggestions would include

• Addiction (to the presence of faeries, faerie food and drink, or other similar conditions). It doesn't have a self-control roll per se, but in this case I'd treat trying to break the addiction as the "transgression".
• Bad Temper, Berserk, Bloodlust, or Sadism. In these cases, this can represent being linked to bad faeries, who inflame negative emotions. To make Berserk slightly less terrible in this build, I'd suggest allowing the self-control roll to snap out of it when all foes are down, or when there are no other enemies in sight, without it counting as a transgression.
• Compulsive Behavior (Dancing, singing, carousing, or similar activities associated with faeries, or things like Composing or Painting, representing the drive to create). Note that Compulsive Behavior does require a self-control roll to go to places where you know you won't be able to indulge, so it would be a transgression to even try to do so.
• Curious.
• Gluttony.
• Gullibility. This represents someone who's been influenced by faerie magic and stories to basically believe everything.
• Impulsiveness.
• Lecherousness.
• Nightmares. These don't have to be bad dreams, as such, as long as they leave the target with missed sleep and some other drawbacks. If you periodically dream of being at a great feast where everyone is eating and drinking the most delicious stuff you've ever had, and for hours after waking up, "real" food tastes like ashes and is unfulfilling, that's still Nightmares, IMO.
• Obsession (create some great work of art or other creative endeavour).
• Overconfidence.
• Phantom Voices. No self-control roll, I know, but I think if you assume that these are actual faeries talking to the character, that "transgressing" in this case would mean ignoring them. Basically, even on the lowest level, you'd have to talk back, basically guaranteeing the negative reaction from onlookers.
• Short Attention Span.
• Sleepwalker. Reskin this to something like "Sleep-painter" or "sleep-singer", for someone who unconsciously creates art. Just make sure that the activities in question are about the same as walking around when it comes to dangers and risks of breaking stealth.
• Split Personality. Having the alternate personality be a totally-focused artistic type makes sense, as does a "faerie personality", possibly an actual faerie living in the character's body who sometimes takes over!
• Trademark.
• Trickster.
• Truthfulness. This represents being influenced by the traditional faerie inability to lie.
• Xenophilia.

Several other traits (Absent-Mindedness, as already mentioned, for instance) could be potentially appropriate if you give them self-control rolls. To do this, divide the base cost of the disadvantage by 2.5 to get the value for self-control 12, then multiply or divide that as normal for other self-control values.