[Character Creation] Help on Psychomancy/Ectomancy paradigm

[tonpa]

I’m designing a new Focused Practitioner, aiming at him becoming a full blown Wizard later on. The issue I’m looking help on here is his paradigm. I started the idea with police detective, French one from Paris that can see lies as dark spots in people’s words. It grow to become something like supernatural crime scene investigation. I started with psychomancy, but after some though and cautioning words from another player I steered a bit from that, trying not to break any laws up front. So I’m now moving from “Ectomancy” side but thinking more on the echo side; word is full of emotional echoes, ghosts being only the most direct ones. This matter of spirit and emotion is the stuff my character is supposed to control and mold by channeling his will into it or disturbing structures inside formed ones. The base effect would be conjuring past emotions and “observations” back, sensing emotional stains on objects, making the ectoplasm (need better name for my character to use) more tangible and bending light itself with it or releasing light trapped inside ectoplasm and therefore producing ghost light and so forth.

So how would this paradigm work and how should I narrate the belief the character has on his ability?
What would the character, detective from police force, call his ability as he has had no contact with White Council?
Is it viable base for interesting magic effects and what affects would you see it producing?
How would this paradigm grow when I can upgrade rituals to thaumaturgy and channeling into evocation?

Thanks for your help
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Character so far.


le commissaire Jean-Vérité Larosiére
Skills:
Great (+4) Discipline
Good (+3) Conviction Investigation Presence
Fair (+2) Intimidation Rapport Scholarship
Average (+1) Alertness Athletics Contacts Empathy Lore Resources
Stress: Physical: (2) OO Mental: (4) OOOO Social: (4) OOOO
Template: Focused Practitioner
Must and Options [-5 Refresh]: Channeling (Spirit), Ritual (Ectomancy/Referomancy), Sight (Sense Lies).
Focus Item(s): The Rings of Nicolas Flamel: +1 for offensive power, offensive control and defensive power and defensive control to Spirit Evocation. (2 x 2 Focus item slots)
High Concept Aspect: Le Commissaire Empathique
Trouble: Lies are “the Black” I “see”.
Background Aspect: Off the Record… the World is Rotten
Rising Conflict: All I wanted to do was to save them…
The Story:
Guest Star:
Guest Star Redux:


Cheers

[Sanctaphrax]

I wouldn't expect a Focused Practitioner without other magical contacts to have a name for his magic at all.

I think that when you write Sight, you might actually mean Supernatural Sense.

The Spare Character Concepts thread would appreciate a contribution from you.

[tonpa]

I wouldn't expect a Focused Practitioner without other magical contacts to have a name for his magic at all.

I think that when you write Sight, you might actually mean Supernatural Sense.

The Spare Character Concepts thread would appreciate a contribution from you.

Hmm might rise to Sorcerer level in fact, which might remove the need for supernatural sense or sight (use Spirit Evocation Block for lies when needed as anything else is basically flavor). The source of the training I imagine Larosiére has is from some Psychic relative and material gained from some police raid, possibly even following a odd case of vanishing decapitated corpse. In this I think there should be some names he would use, loaned from the book.

If the game was set into history I could use "Ether" theory and "Manifest Ether", but it sounds a bit odd for modern day game. "Lenses of Manifested Ether" is kind of cool, but still anachronistic for basically a police commissar.

Might be thinking this a bit too much...

Thank you for your feedback.

Cheers

[Masurao]

Hmm might rise to Sorcerer level in fact, which might remove the need for supernatural sense or sight (use Spirit Evocation Block for lies when needed as anything else is basically flavor). The source of the training I imagine Larosiére has is from some Psychic relative and material gained from some police raid, possibly even following a odd case of vanishing decapitated corpse. In this I think there should be some names he would use, loaned from the book.

Don't forget that he would need to cast the spell everytime he might suspect someone of lying. I would keep a form of Supernatural Senses to detect lies, so you can do it at any given time and just flavour it as being part of his particular type of magic.

Your other idea of summoning up images of people's past memories/emotions is galavanting dangerously close to breaking the Third and/or Fourth Law, as you would need to enter their minds magically to retrieve such emotions/memories...

[tonpa]

True, on the "close to the Law Breaking" side, it has quite nice potential for character development.

Cheers

[Sanctaphrax]

Manifest Ether sounds cool to me.

Anachronisms are not unusual when magic is involved.