1st Urban Mages Character

 Name: Maxwell Crenshaw

Purview: Family Magic

Body: 3

Agility: 3

Mind:.3

Presence: 4

Magic: 4

Luck: 2

Magic Points: 5

Basic Skills

Heavy Attack, Constitution & Might – which are tied to Body.

Precise Attack, Reflexes & Athletics – which are tied to Agility.

Initiative, Willpower & Notice – which are tied to Mind.

Charm, Deception & Bargain – which are tied to Presence

Advanced Skills 

Contacts

Insight

Intimidation

Investigation

Spells

Curse: Max uses this spell to enforce agreements. He must make clear that failing to honor the agreement is suffering the curse. Max uses family magic, thus his curses fall within that theme. The curse might visit cruel misfortune upon a family member, make their family forget them entirely, or make a demanding and dangerous individual or group consider the cursed person kin. 

Dark Side: The Dark Side is a meta-spell which lets a caster empower another spell at a painful cost.

Dark Side Curse: Instead of cursing an opponent, Max can sacrifice their life to empower himself. This stolen life-force lies dormant within him, until he chooses to unleash it, at which point he gains all of the following  benefits:

• He immediately regains 1d5 HP.

• May use Magic in place of any other Attributes.

• Is allowed to re-roll any 1’s for free. This does not apply to the healing roll you make when you trigger this ability.

Unleashing this power is a Free Action. But it can only be used once per scene, and only lasts until the end of the scene.

Dark Side Mesmerism: Max can Mesmerise multiple characters at once, potentially bringing an entire mob under his command. This can affect up to a room’s worth of characters at once. He rolls once to take control while everyone resists separately. Though, if trying to Mesmerise a group of minor NPCs, the GM should only roll once for all of them. He’s free to make a second attempt if this fails. However, all of the usual penalties and  limitations explained below still apply.

Mesmerise: Max may influence another person’s mind with this Spell. Either invoking a feeling, 

instilling a belief, or forcing them to follow a command. 

The command must involve family, as all Max’s magic does. He could mesmerise someone to believe their family is in immediate danger, that their family hates them, or that the baby formula is spiked with rat poison. 

In order to Mesmerise someone he must first succeed at a Magic vs Willpower test. He can only Mesmerise one person at a time and this Spell only lasts for the remainder of the scene.

Even then, the target can’t be forced to harm themselves (or not defend themselves) because their survival instincts will kick in and end the Spell prematurely. 

If a Mesmerised character is about to do something they’d find morally unthinkable they get another chance to resist. If they succeed at this Willpower vs Magic test they’re allowed to snap out of it completely. If Max fails to Mesmerise someone he may attempt to Mesmerise them again. However the command/feeling/belief must be meaningfully different from the first attempt. Furthermore, this second attempt takes a -2 penalty and if the target resists they cannot be Mesmerised at all for the remainder of the scene

Resources

Member of the Crenshaw family (old money)

Social Worker

Complication: Arrogant

Max thinks he’s better and smarter than others. 

Maximilian Crenshaw usually looks like he’s on his way to a lacrosse game at the country club. Preppy, athletic, and sporting the whitest smile you ever saw. 

As the second youngest grandchild of Elizabeth Crenshaw, Max grew up in the slightly dented lap of luxury. The Crenshaws still have a lot of power, but the money has gotten tighter since the glory days. Still, it is surprising to see a Crenshaw working in child protective services. The reason, like Max’s magic, lies with family.

Growing up with an alcoholic father, a mother who vied with aunts and uncles for Granny Betty’s attention, Max knows about dysfunctional families. What he does not fully comprehend, is how most people aren't shielded from consequences. Still, family is owed loyalty, as well as a heady mix of love, interdependency and loathing. This is what Max tries to engender in his client by brute-force arcane means. 

Max learned his magic from his grandfather’s books. Sometimes, when he lay in his bed, listening to his family’s loud voices downstairs, his grandfather would appear and sing to him of power and the responsibilities of blood ties. Grandpa Charles had died many years previous, and Max isn’t entirely sure what to make of these fluttering moth-wing memories. 

Within the last year, Max has learned that he can draw on power beyond himself. This lets him influence and dominate whole groups of people. This is intoxicating, and Max justifies his excesses by telling himself that sometimes a family’s problems can’t be pinned solely on one person. If a whole family needs to be smashed together and made to kiss like a pair of Barbie dolls, so be it.

Within the last month, Grandpa Charles has begun appearing to Max again. He has stayed in Max’s peripheral vision for now, an oily apparition with cold white eyes. And Grandpa doesn’t sing. His mouth is drawn and dry.