@Dead Cruiser: That should make the idea fine, then, it's not like all the older vampires are going to show up in the RP so that's a minor thing.
As for the sword, it's likely some form of conceptual weapon then. Nothing you need to change, just a little thing on how it would fit into the setting, eh-heh.
@The Omnipotent Sphere: The Twenty-One Circles of the Major Arcana are the twenty-one "Big" Mage Circles, all named for one of the major arcana tarot cards. For example, there's the Tower in London, and the Moon in Japan.
As a general note, this is a setting I've worked on for years and there's too much information to put in the OP. If you have any questions about anything, please, please feel free to ask.
I was thinking about playing a mage from one of the circles, and was wondering if there was anything I needed to know?
@VitaVitaARHow do dragons and other mystical beast operate in this universe, and would it be possible to have an affinity with them? I'm thinking my guy came from a line of Transmutative or Summoner Magi whose magic died out some time ago do to a magical ritual gone awry and has only just started to come back, with my character being the only member to get the original benefits of the ritual, though he's in the part of the family that didn't stick with the magic tradition through the years.
@Raijinslayer: Unfortunately I don't think that would work out too well. While you could summon spirits, mystical beings are not at the beck and call of anyone for the most part(though there's so much variation it's hard to go through and say so for all of them). Dragons, though, definitely are off the plate. While you technically can have an affinity related to them, they're from space, made of the same material as stars, and are reality's tool to destroy threats to it.
@The Omnipotent Sphere: Well, the Circles are like magical colleges combined with sort of... I guess mage offices/research centers/police forces? A lot of magi go to a circle for formal magical education, but they also have a lot more to them then just that.
@VitaVitaARCould there possibly be a dragon-like creature he could draw the ability from, or something else that could give him what I had in mind.
Basically, while he's not aware of this, his body will reactive draw on his innate mana pool, of which he has a huge amount due to this trait, to increase his strength and physical abilities to an amount to help him survive threats to his life or something that he can subconsciously call on. However, if the threat to his life is great enough that he believes he really could die, he would transform on reflex, taking on a monstrous form that would have tough scales, immense strength, and complete berserker tendencies. He'd have a breath attack the, by default, is fire, but if he's hit by any other elemental spells, he'll adapt to that spell, gaining resistance to that element instead of whatever the previous element was and being able to breath it. The elemental change last 24 hours after first hit, but can still be changed afterwards by hitting them with a different element.
After the threat has either fled or been terminated, he'd revert to normal, feeling as if he'd just blacked out and having no memory of whatever happened during the time he was transformed. The longest he'd be aable to stay in this form is around 30 minutes, as at that point his mana pool while be drained completely, leaving him either greatly weakened or unconscious if his body was heavily damaged. Wounds taken before the transformation are healed completely when it happens, and wounds inflicted during the transformation are partially healed when it has ended.
So Pros to beast mode(if you have another beast that could fit most of these, than I'd be find using that instead): Very strong, increase in senses, is a bit faster than normal, can fly for a short amount of time. can breath out an element and has resistance to that element, durable scales and claws
Cons:Berserker tendencies, takes a lot out of the user, completely animalistic, can't control it at all, is probably not going to be a common occurrence
Pros to base trait: Can increase physical attributes in respond to stimuli,
Cons: Can't consciously control it, completely instinctual and hardly ever able to use it offensively
I'd understand if you;d find this kind of ability in the RP, but I'm hoping we can meet some kind of half-way on this. Maybe we can talk it out through a PM or something?