H is for Hexenmeister in the 2022 campaign creation challenge

Born to wealth (but not WEALTH) and power (but not POWER), Harold Van Vleet was the heir to a modest manufacturing fortune, but also a natural mystic with impressive innate power. His intelligence, especially for magical formulae and history, was rapacious, his willpower unassailable, and he mastered a handful of rituals for supernatural power. Still, he always felt he was being denied full access to the true magic of the Order. After his initiation into Skull and Bones he made himself useful to the Order in many ways, and his most audacious move was developing an entirely new, magic proof identity that let him infiltrate Skull and Bones most pernicious rival, the Archanogarchs that influenced the former Soviet republics.

There Van Vleet learned that the Archanogarchy had an 18 year plan in place to create a human conduit for pure magical power. Well that just wasn't to be allowed. He managed to smuggle a silver ring into the ritual chamber, knowing that the presence of metal would disrupt the ceremony. And it certainly did, with the child-vessel spasmingly madly and attracting everyone's attention while Van Vleet felt the ring burn into his soul, becoming a conduit for just a trickle of magical energy, but still more than Van Vleet had ever access before. He managed to escape detection and make it back to the United States and Haven.

Since then, he's been exploring his new power, not wanting to reveal the whole of it to his brethren in the Order. The recent appearance of the Enchanter has him convinced that the vessel of the Archanogarchy also tried to break the spell. And if his ring is this powerful, what could both rings do…? Taking the German name for Warlock, Van Vleet is starting to challenge the Enchanter, in hopes of converting him, or better yet, subverting him, to his personal power.

Creation Notes

This character also had mediocre stats (I'm having questions about my Roll20 program at this point!), but also came in at high enough level that training could clean some of it up. As usual for this group it was a couple rolls on Magic (ht. Int, telepathy), then a skill (willpower) and an item (special weapon). Telepathy was the clear loser there, and the willpower could easily take the place of minor magical powers. The weakness roll – mute – solidified things. This had to b Enchanter's opposite number, with the special weapon filling the place that Enchanters multiple items merged into his ring had. This is an older, more experienced wizard but with less raw power. The name was obvious because I had been looking for German terms for spellcaster when naming Enchanter and almost broke pattern when I saw Hexenmeister. Too cool to not use.

This sort of character and concept overlap, the various different ways to get to almost the same spot, is one of the things I love about V&V.