[2e Legacy Homebrew] The Manus Dei, an Obrimos Life/Prime Healer Legacy

[proindrakenzol]

Here's another Obrimos Legacy! (I should probably start branching out more)

This inspiration for this Legacy was a player that wanted to play a character based on Mercy from Overwatch; I've never played the game, but I did my best to create a Legacy that would make sense for someone like her based on gameplay video and reading Mercy's wiki.

The third attainment was originally Honing the Form with instant cast, making it a short term buff that could be applied multiple times, but that felt really lackluster and athematic, what I settled on was the tilt healing Reach effect from Knit (without the damage healing) and greater resilience to physical tilts, I feel this exemplifies both the war-area doctor and the combat medic aspects of the Legacy better than Honing the Form.

The attainment I'm least sure about is the resurrection portion of the fifth attainment, it's in line with Mercy's ultimate ability, but resurrection (especially with soul intact) is a minefield in Mage.

If anyone has any comments, please share them, and if anyone has any Legacy requests let me know.

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Manus Dei

“The gods do not call you home, yet, warrior. Rise up and continue the fight!”
One origin story for the Legacy now known as the Manus Dei is that they were inspired by the Norse Valkyries, and Obrimos women with a penchant for combat would take that mantle upon themselves and learn healing arts as a culturally acceptable way for them to participate. Another reverses the relationship, the women of the Legacy instead inspired legends of the Valkyries.
Another potential origin for the Legacy is among the faithful of Šauška, the Hurrian goddess of fertility, war, and healing; in this origin either Šauška was an Awakened Mage that founded the Legacy and religion or the founder was a devout follower of Šauška who people believed was favored by the Goddess.
During the height of the Roman Empire they were associated with the goddesses Victoria, and many in the legacy were priestesses of her faith; the predisposition towards female inductees was maintained.
After the ascension of Christianity the legacy moved away from a “women as healers” point of view, heavily influenced by tales of Jesus’ miraculous healing powers; some in the legacy claim that stories of miraculous healing and saintly intervention are stories of Manus Dei members ministering to those in need. Legacy historians maintain that the founders of the Knights Hospitaller were members of the Manus Dei, and to this day many legacy members maintain affiliation with the successor orders of the Knights Hospitaller.
However, as medicine has divorced itself from religion, so too have the Manus Dei shed their religious requirements, modern members are chosen based on their knowledge of medicine and dedication to healing, not on their association with a religious order or particular faith.


Origins
Parentage: Obrimos, Adamantine Arrow or Silver Ladder
Nicknames: Radiant, Hospitallers, Valkyries (especially the more martial).
Background: Combat medics, priests militant, faith healers, and medical doctors are all sought out for this Legacy. In pre-Christian settings the membership is almost exclusively women.
Appearances: Clothing that evokes the image of a winged human, holy raiment, combat gear, and camouflage appropriate to the environment are all common outfits for the Manus Dei. Their focus on Life magic means most develop a healthy and attractive physical appearance.


Doctrine
Prerequisites: Life 2, Prime 1, Medicine 2, and one of the following skills at 2 dots or higher: Academics, Occult, Science, Athletics, Firearms, Survival, Empathy, or Persuasion.
Initiation: Save a combatant’s life during combat (Adamantine Arrow mentor) or the life of a civilian impacted by war in a war zone (Silver Ladder mentor) with your medical knowledge. The initiate must also swear a healer’s oath, but such oaths never include pacifist clauses, the Manus Dei are expected to fight and are permitted to kill if necessary.
Organization: The Legacy is governed jointly by all members who have achieved the fifth attainment. This governing body (in modern days called “the Board”, but pre-modern iterations had a more religious bent) has final say over initiations and decisions to censure, but in practice individual members are given wide latitude on who they wish to induct.
Theory: To save one life is to save the world, and the Manus Dei believe in saving the world as many times as necessary; further, they believe that suffering is part of the Lie, a cruel fate imposed by the Exarchs, and that by easing suffering they are directly fighting against those Supernal Tyrants.


Magic
Ruling Arcanum: Life
Yantras: hand-held medical tools (+1), religious symbols (+1), temporary medical facilities (+1), permanent medical facilities (+2, +3 if on a resonant Node), group prayer (+1), holy sites (+2, +3 if on a resonant Node).
Oblations: tending to the sick or injured, prayers to gods or saints of healing, studying medicine.


Attainments
First: Divine Sight
Prerequisite: Initiation
To minister aid one must first know what ails the patient. With this attainment the Radiant knows the species, age, sex, and health of any plant or animal they lay eyes upon, as well as the total dots in physical attributes. Living supernatural creatures register as a different species from humans and Mages, and undead beings do not register. This spell emulates Analyze Life with reach spent on Advanced Duration.
Optional: Prime 1
The Radiant’s connection to divinity grants them the ability to identify sites both sacred and profane; they see ley lines and nodes and their resonance. If a ley line or node is not within sensory range then the Radiant feels a tug towards the nearest one, if the Radiant wishes to look for a ley line or node with a specific resonance then they are instead drawn towards what they seek. This attainment is similar to the spell Sacred Geometry with reach assigned to Advanced Duration.


Second: Holy Embrace
Prerequisite: Life 2, Medicine 3
Deaths from illness and disease are widespread and prevalent even with today’s modern medicine, in ancient times and in countries with limited access to modern care illness and disease run rampant. This attainment allows the Radiant to purge an illness, poison, or other toxin from a patient’s body either via direct touch or an aimed spell. When used, this attainment reduces the severity level of an illness or toxin by the Radiant’s Life dots, if this reduces the severity to zero or below the illness is cured or the toxin is purged. Mundane illnesses and toxins can always be cured by multiple applications of this attainment, but supernatural illnesses and toxins provoke a Clash of Wills for each attempt to reduce the severity. This attainment acts as the spell Purge Illness with reach assigned to instant casting.
Optional: Prime 2
The Truth cannot be hidden from the Radiant’s senses; when presented with an active untruth; be it dyed hair, a direct lie, or an illusion; they immediately know that it is false and additionally gain insight as to the actual Truth, though couched in symbolism and metaphor. Mundane falsehoods are pierced automatically, but supernatural concealment triggers a Clash of Wills. This attainment acts as the spell Pierce Deception with reach assigned to advanced duration and getting a sense for the actual truth.


Third: Sacred Resilience
Prerequisite: Life 3. In addition to the Medicine 3 requirement from the previous Attainment, the Radiant must increase the other Skill used to meet the requirements of the Legacy to 3, or must attain two dots in a second skill from the list of possible requirements.
The Radiant can heal a number of Physical Tilts or Conditions equal to their Life dots from the subject with either a touch or an aimed spell roll; this Attainment cannot remove Tilts or Conditions tied to the loss of a limb or other organ, but anything that would heal naturally or could be repaired via mundane surgery (without requiring a transplant) can be healed.
In addition the Radiant can reflexively spend a point of Mana when either they or an ally in sensory range would be afflicted by a Physical Tilt to add the Radiant's Life dots to the damage required or successes needed to inflict the tilt.
Optional: Prime 3
The holy nature of the Radiant radiates from them, for a point of Mana the Radiant can cloak themself in a phenomenal manifestation of their nimbus that can be seen with mundane senses for a scene. While so cloaked, any use of a spell or Manus Dei attainment causes their Nimbus to flare, affecting all onlookers as if they were using Active Mage Sight. The tilt lasts for Prime turns and uses the potency of the triggering spell or attainment as the nimbus potency. Additionally, mortal humans viewing a Radiant using this attainment start with an impression level one higher than normal for social maneuvering; supernatural creatures may start with a higher or lower impression level based on the exact nature of the nimbus at Storyteller discretion.


Fourth: Consecration
Prerequisite: Life 4, Medicine 4 and the other Skill requirements from the previous Attainment.
The body is a temple, and the Radiant the carpenter. By touching the subject or succeeding on an aimed spell roll the Radiant can heal twice their Life dots in lethal or bashing damage instantaneously. This attainment functions as the spell Mend with reach spent on instant casting.
Optional: Prime 4
The nature of a place affects those that make their homes there, and vice versa. This mutual interaction can reinforce destructive behavior should the resonance being negative. By means of this attainment, the Radiant consecrates the area to new purpose and fixes it to that purpose for the duration of the attainment, preventing the actions of the residents from reverting the resonance until behavioral inertia takes hold. Through an hour long ritual involving symbols of the desired new resonance, the Radiant rearranges ley lines and nodes within a large area for an extended period of time and freely alters the resonance to the one desired. This attainment functions as the spell Geomancy with reach assigned to advanced duration and advanced scale: area.


Fifth: Miracle
Prerequisite: Life 5. In addition to Medicine 4, the Radiant must increase the other skill used to meet the requirement of the Legacy to 4, or must obtain three dots in a second skill from the list of possible requirements, or two dots in a third skill from the list.
At this level of attainment the Radiant is capable of truly miraculous feats. By spending a point of mana and performing an hour long ritual the Radiant can remove even aggravated damage and persistent physical conditions from a subject, and so long as the greater portion of a body remains even death can be reversed if the Radiant is quick enough. If healing aggravated damage, one aggravated damage is healed per dot in Life possessed by the Radiant; if regenerating a body part reference the Regeneration sidebar on page 152 of the Mage: the Awakening 2e book for potency required, but unlike the Regeneration spell this effect is Lasting and potency is equal to Life dots.
Finally, so long as no more than one hour per the Radiant’s dots in Life has passed before starting this ritual even someone who has died (health track filled with aggravated damage) may be brought back to life, soul and Gnosis intact; though this costs the Radiant both a Willpower dot and a Wisdom dot, as so brazenly affecting the natural cycle of Life and Death is truly an act of Hubris.
Optional: Prime 5
With an hour long ritual and a point of mana, the Radiant can raise a Hallow with a dot rating equal to 1 + half the Radiant’s Prime dots (rounded down). This Hallow has resonance appropriate to the location and the nature of the Radiant’s nimbus. This raising sends ripples throughout the local ley lines and gives rise to new Mysteries. This attainment functions as the spell Create Truth with reach assigned to advanced duration.



New Merit:
Discriminating Nimbus (●●)
Prerequisites: Prime ●●, Fate ●
Effect: You have greater flexibility when your Nimbus flares. Whenever an action would cause a Nimbus flare you can choose who will be affected, allowing you to choose whether to boost allies or hinder enemies.

[KaiserAfini]

I am really happy to see a dedicated healer Legacy. I believe some of the optional Attainments are closer to Prime's traditional use, so I would like to suggest some alternatives that may complement the healer themes from the main ones.

For the first optional Attainment, how about revealing possible cures for a living being's affliction. The first [Life] cures are revealed, be they medical substances, formulas or even rare extracts. This way they have Prime's purview of revelation ready for maladies that traditional spells cannot handle, such as Paradox maladies or unusual supernatural effects. Remember that Attainments are Free From the Lie, so they might as well leverage that.

The second optional Attainment could be a duration primary Shielding of Life that allows the target to be saved from death once, returning with 1 health, stable and conscious. Reach would be assigned to advanced duration, meaning that at Life 5 they could get this benefit 3 times. Its inspired by Death Ward from D&D. After all, what good is a doctor if their patient can't even make it to them ? This also allow doctors themselves to survive more amidst chaotic environments

The third is based on Dr Blythe from HunterXHunter, mixing elements of Platonic Form and Transform Life. Its a Potency primary spell that grants 8-again and counts as a fully stocked medical lab, giving [Prime] extra dice for all medical or forensics rolls.

The fourth optional Attainment could take a page from alchemy to allow them to craft immortal jades from lab rats and the like ( http://forum.theonyxpath.com/forum/m...12#post1413312 ) , this allows them to always have a stable supply of mana, no matter how remote the field they serve in.

The fifth optional capstone mixes Create Life with Eidolon, being fully solid. They count as Retainers with [Life] dice in all medical fields (searching for herbs, running a pharmacy, doing research, first aid, performing an operation, etc). Additionally, they can Pattern Scour based on the mage's Gnosis, using the mana to grant any of the benefits of improved pattern restoration to a patient they touch (ending a Physical or Mental tilt, granting mana, but I think ending a Paradox condition should be excluded). This allows them to always have a full medical staff to keep everyone alive even in the most desperate situations (including defending or transporting patients).

Reach is assigned to advanced duration.

Hope that helps.

[21C Hermit]

Aww, no directly using Pattern Restoration on people?

Resurrection...... hmm...... well if this was Time magic, then it's simple, but.... Eh. It's the Fifth Attainment. Should be possible.

I'd base the specifics on Create Life, even though you're still resurrecting the dead; soulless, and limited by Duration. Not mindless, though, since you're not really creating a new organism. Or maybe base it on Regeneration, but with the bonus feature that the Legacy allows you to ignore the "provided the subject is still alive when the spell is cast" part to resurrect the dead. Still would need some sort of time-based limitation.

[proindrakenzol]

I am really happy to see a dedicated healer Legacy. I believe some of the optional Attainments are closer to Prime's traditional use, so I would like to suggest some alternatives that may complement the healer themes from the main ones.

This Legacy is meant to portray a group in transition; the Life Attainments are the core of the purpose and unlikely to change in the foreseeable future, but the Prime Attainments represent the Legacy's religious past and shifting present; the requirement to be a member of a religious order or aligned with a particular god has been dropped, but the preference is still there, and millennia of inertia is difficult to overcome.

For the first optional Attainment, how about revealing possible cures for a living being's affliction. The first [Life] cures are revealed, be they medical substances, formulas or even rare extracts. This way they have Prime's purview of revelation ready for maladies that traditional spells cannot handle, such as Paradox maladies or unusual supernatural effects. Remember that Attainments are Free From the Lie, so they might as well leverage that.

I guess I feel like seeing the "health" of a subject reveals the affliction and the second attainment allows the removal of illness or toxins, I'm also a little confused as to why this would be the optional (Prime) Attainment.

The second optional Attainment could be a duration primary Shielding of Life that allows the target to be saved from death once, returning with 1 health, stable and conscious. Reach would be assigned to advanced duration, meaning that at Life 5 they could get this benefit 3 times. Its inspired by Death Ward from D&D. After all, what good is a doctor if their patient can't even make it to them ? This also allow doctors themselves to survive more amidst chaotic environments

Again, I'm not entirely sure why this would be the Prime Attainment?

The third is based on Dr Blythe from HunterXHunter, mixing elements of Platonic Form and Transform Life. Its a Potency primary spell that grants 8-again and counts as a fully stocked medical lab, giving [Prime] extra dice for all medical or forensics rolls.

Not sure how Transform Life factors in, but this would be Platonic Form and require a lot of reach (1 for 8-again, 2 for a complex device, and 1 for Advanced Duration).

The fourth optional Attainment could take a page from alchemy to allow them to craft immortal jades from lab rats and the like ( http://forum.theonyxpath.com/forum/m...12#post1413312 ) , this allows them to always have a stable supply of mana, no matter how remote the field they serve in.

I feel like Mana Battery would be more useful as an Attainment, but it's a thought (but Mana isn't really an issue for Radiants, I think).

The fifth optional capstone mixes Create Life with Eidolon, being fully solid. They count as Retainers with [Life] dice in all medical fields (searching for herbs, running a pharmacy, doing research, first aid, performing an operation, etc). Additionally, they can Pattern Scour based on the mage's Gnosis, using the mana to grant any of the benefits of improved pattern restoration to a patient they touch (ending a Physical or Mental tilt, granting mana, but I think ending a Paradox condition should be excluded). This allows them to always have a full medical staff to keep everyone alive even in the most desperate situations (including defending or transporting patients).

Reach is assigned to advanced duration.

The Medical Assistant does seem like an interesting idea, and adding Medicine to its list of fields isn't much of a bend for an Attainment.

Hope that helps.

Thank you for the comments!

Aww, no directly using Pattern Restoration on people?

It's inefficient and completely eclipsed by the Fourth Attainment, I try not to write Attainments that are completely superseded by later Attainments.

Resurrection...... hmm...... well if this was Time magic, then it's simple, but.... Eh. It's the Fifth Attainment. Should be possible.

I'd base the specifics on Create Life, even though you're still resurrecting the dead; soulless, and limited by Duration. Not mindless, though, since you're not really creating a new organism. Or maybe base it on Regeneration, but with the bonus feature that the Legacy allows you to ignore the "provided the subject is still alive when the spell is cast" part to resurrect the dead. Still would need some sort of time-based limitation.

Yeah, that's a fair take. It might be interesting to make it so that instead of resurrecting the target immediately (more or less) the Radiant could "save" the data of someone that fell in battle and "resurrect" them temporarily to fight or assist later, tying into the Valkyrie theme.

Otherwise I'd probably just nix the resurrection portion entirely.

[KaiserAfini]

I guess the first and second opinional ones would not really be Prime Attainments, they gravitate more towards Life.

The first Attainment tells you what state the patient is in. In case you can cure them with your other Attainments, problem solved. But mages deal with lots of edge cases, so the optional one reveals how to make the cure for them when traditional magic is not enough (or not practical for the scale of the problem). So with the main one you know the patient is suffering from a rare strain of Abyssal madness, the second optional one tells you the cure is an infusion made of the Essence of a knowledge spirit and the Himalayan storm caller flower.

For the Dr Blythe one, the idea is to make a platonic form that has lab equipment incorporated into it as a mix of the spell with Transform Life creating lab/medical equipment appendages for it. The idea is to build on the previous one, in that the field medic always has the means to synthesize the cure wherever they are or make an emergency operation. But how I translated that mechanically still needs work.

The immortal jade is useful because it recharges on its own. There is no need to create Hallows or recharge them, you just scour them a few times a day for some mana and are confident they will be restocked the next day. The idea is to make an easily reproducible, self replenishing first aid kit.

I was thinking a bit of how they could be sent as both combat support or as part of a mercy mission into the most remote areas of the Tapestry. Speculating on how they would have adapted to the role when low on time, resources or even proper facilities made me think they would have built the solutions into the Legacy itself.