I had an idea for a new magical path covering the creation of artificial beings – a more palatable option than using cadavers as presented under Raising the Dead, an extra trait for Necromancy, see pages 100-101 of the rulebook. Coincidentally one of my players came up with the idea of a Liminal character who was a Clockwork Man, a Victorian mechanical artefact, who has a soul and a personality but who was created in some bizarre ritual in the 19th Century. I thought that this was too good an idea not to include in my campaign so readily agreed and I will cover him in more detail in another post.

Returning to the idea for a new magical path, there are a number of examples of magically created beings in literature and myth such the Jewish Golems, Alchemical Homunculi, Shelley’s Frankenstein’s monster, the Terracotta Army of Qin Shi Huangdi and I am sure countless others across a breadth of human cultures.

In essence, the magician is able to imbue lifeless, inanimate matter with some spark of life, perhaps even a soul, to create a powerful servant who can be commanded to do their bidding. The exact mechanism for this would vary according to the magical style of caster – with some perhaps sacrificing a portion of their own soul, others calling on a God to do so and still others trapping or persuading a free soul or spirit to inhabit the artificial body.

My thinking for the rules around this was that it should follow the Raise the Dead trait but allow the magician to spend Will to grant additional supernatural traits to their servant but that this would be a permanent expenditure of Will while the being existed.

Here is my suggestion for the new magical path, I welcome any comments, suggestions or corrections.

Alchemical Servants

“That the sperm of a man be putrefied by itself in a sealed cucurbit for forty days with the highest degree of putrefaction in a horse’s womb, or at least so long that it comes to life and moves itself, and stirs, which is easily observed. After this time, it will look somewhat like a man, but transparent, without a body.”

Paracelcus, De natura rerum (1537)

Magicians with this trait are able to imbue inanimate matter with a lifeforce allowing them to create an semi-autonomous artificial servant – traditionally, a Golem or Homunculus. These Servants can follow rudimentary commands and can be enhanced with further abilities.

The magician must first fashion a body for their Servant out of suitable materials – this could be clay, stitched-together body parts, a clockwork automation, wood or similar. The magician then spends two points of Will and makes a Lore test against Challenge level 8 to animate the servant. They can then assign 5 points to Physical Skills to the Servant to represent its intended function.

At creation, the magician can add +2 to the Challenge Level and spend an extra point of Will to add a further 5 points of Physical skills to their Servant. This can done only once.

Note that the Servant is a permanent creation and any Will spent cannot be recovered unless it is destroyed or the magician reverses the spell.

At character creation or advancement you can spend further trait points to extend the abilities of the Servant.

Spark of Life (2 points)

You can spend an additional three points of Will during the creation of an artificial servant to gift it with a soul and free will albeit one that is bound to that of its creator. In addition, it can no longer be destroyed by its creator reversing the spell. The construct in essence becomes an NPC and can accumulate experience and skills over time.

The Servant gains 5 points of skills to split between Mental and Social, and gains the Obliged Limitation towards its creator. The creator can release its Servant from this limitation to recover the expended Will.

Basic Enhancement (1 point)

The creator can imbue their creation with any one point Exceptional ability or Toughness trait, subject to GM approval, for the permanent cost of one point of Will.

Superior Enhancement (2 points)

The creator can imbue their creation with any two point Exceptional ability or Toughness trait, excluding Magic. This is subject to GM approval and costs two permanent points of Will.