Character/archetype Design Help

[JohnDKBalman]

I've been thinking about a character for awhile now and wanted suggestion on how to go about building them.

This character would have no formal wizard training thou they would have the potential to be one.

My idea was they would find out about magic at a young age and be self-taught how to use their power by use either a anime (genera) or fantasy novels as their guide.

I'm still unsure how to prevent them from breaking one of the 7 laws of magic before a warden finds them. ( this is a key aspect I'm trying to play with)
Option 1). They are dumb lucky only use magic in ways that don't break the laws.
Option 2). They have mysterious benefactor the realises what they are doing and instead of teaching them how to use magic, they just subtle lead the person away form breaking rules. all for the purpose of seeing the new form/style of magic be created.

if anime focused I would could see all their spells creating some for of magic circle ( Fairy Tale style, or FullMetal Achemist style).

We know now that Molly can now use cell phones because she is the winter lady.

So I'm playing with the idea that because his belief and use of magic is so different then the normal then he may interact with tech more easily (so he can get his show watched). if this is the case I'd want to have his magic cause some from of disruption in other areas of his life to balance this boon out. any ideas? or suggestion , this isn't a big thing as theirs always manga . Feel if this was a factor would tie in to the style of anime the learn form , Fate/stay Night comes to minded, reality marbles mean you don't think like humens but or different no matter if its only slightly.

Granted this could be consider a archetype more then a single character as depending on which anime they focused would change their ablities
OtakuMagi
MagicalNEET

[Sanctaphrax]

If you're not a mind mage, it's really not hard to stay within the Laws. To break them you have to kill someone, travel through time, bring back the dead, transform someone else's body massively, or commune with horrors from beyond space and time. None of those are everyday things, so it wouldn't take much luck to stay within the lines.

For a hexing alternative, you could make them really offensive to animals. Dunno if that fits the style of the character, but it works in Ars Magica. (Actually, wizards in Ars Magica are offensive to people too. But that's probably too harsh.)

[JohnDKBalman]

If you're not a mind mage, it's really not hard to stay within the Laws. To break them you have to kill someone, travel through time, bring back the dead, transform someone else's body massively, or commune with horrors from beyond space and time. None of those are everyday things, so it wouldn't take much luck to stay within the lines.

For a hexing alternative, you could make them really offensive to animals. Dunno if that fits the style of the character, but it works in Ars Magica. (Actually, wizards in Ars Magica are offensive to people too. But that's probably too harsh.)

Hence why I believe  that i couldn't use star Wars Jedi as the source art.....if i want to keep him on the good side of the white council the whole Jedi mind trick would cause him to lose his head.

Hmm makes me want to just give him the inability to open peanut butter jars, but then I realize this is DFRPG not CSRPG

The way you describe Ars Magica makes me think of the blanks form Warhammer 40k  zero/negative anti-psyker

[g33k]

Note that different kinds of wizardly power cause different amounts of tech problem.  Molly has always been subtler than Harry, and always had an easier time of things.  Harry's "lots of energy" boom-style magic is probably about the most hex-prone there is!

IMHO any game that has Ars-Magica-like "Flaws" is rife with potential alternates to the tech/hex problem.  Just a few from Ars Magica:

Addictive Magic:  Once you start casting, it's SUCH a rush!  And it's just soooooo hard to stop...  All too often you cast yourself into unconsciousness!

Painful Magic:  It hurts to cast.  Sometimes it hurts a LOT.  Avoiding Backlash?  Yeah*NO*.  Doesn't happen, not for you...

Aura of Distrust:  Every time you cast, there's this vague... taint about you.  People just don't LIKE you when you have recently done magic.  Cops hassle you, chicks hate on you (unless you dig guys, then THEY hate on you; unless you're bi, in which case EVERYONE's hating on you), bullies pick on you, etc... Even friends you have known for years get annoyed and tell you to "clean up your act."   The bigger the spell, the worse (and longer-lasting) the taint.

And here's an idea specific to DFRPG:  Natural Summoner.  There's something about your magic... it thins the Veil between the mortal world and the Nevernever.  Big spells actually open a gate.  You don't have to TRY to do it, it just happens; and no matter what you do, it ALWAYS happens.  Even worse:  there seems to be some sort of "call" or "lure."  Something comes through, WAY more often than with other Gates.

Maybe invent some kind of weird bloodline that's the source of your magic, and is vulnerable to something modern.  Like faeries with iron, but not THAT...  Maybe some sort of "Nature Spirit" ancestry -- you can't stand the touch of anything synthetic.  Everything has to be animal-product or plant-product.  No nylon, rayon, polyester, latex, etc etc etc.