Piero Character Sheet
From Ars Magica
Benjamin the Usurer
Background Benjamin is a wealthy Jewish moneylender. When he was 2 years old he lost most of his family in the massacre of York. He and his mother survived only because they had been visiting family in another city when the riots began. He was subsequently brought up by his uncle, going into the twin family businesses of ursury and banking. Later his mother and betrothed were kidnapped and tortured by tax collecters, encouraged in their work by senior clergy that owed large debts. His mother died afterwards as a result of her wounds and, unable to face his mutilated betrothed, he fled from his community. He is angry at the helplessness of his situation, angry at himself for being unable to face his betrothed and has a growing hatred of the legal and govenmental situation in England, particularly the senior clergy for their hypocracy and corruption. However he has nowhere else to go as he is sure that any Jewish community he settles in will eventually get word of the way he treated his betrothed and he could not face that. He still holds the debts of many powerful clergy and not a few nobles, as well as an extensive network of commercial interests, mostly as a silent partner.
Description
Benjamin is a small, soft and weak looking man with a pronounced semitic nose. He has dark and steady dark eyes. He has a powerful, melodious voice that is capable of commanding a room easily when he speaks. He wears a skullcap at all times and, as proscribed by law, a yellow badge in the shape of two stone tablets.
Character Sheet
Characteristics
Intelligence +3 sharp
Presence +2 charismatic
Perception +3 alert
Communication +2 clear
Strength -2 weak
Dexterity -2 uncoordinated
Stamina -1 soft
Quickness -2 slow reflexes
Age
year born 1188
current year 1220
actual age 32
Size -1
Confidence 1(3)
Personality Traits
Fearful +2
Lonely +1
Angry +2
Reputations
Usurer (Nobility) +4
Baby Eater (Commoners) +2
Virtues
Wealthy (Major, General)
Educated (Minor, General)
Puissant Bargain
Affinity with Bargain
Social Contacts (Merchants) (Minor, General)
Intuition (Minor, General)
Sense Holiness/Unholiness (Minor, Supernatural)
Flaws
Outsider (Major, Social Status)
Usurer (Minor, Social Status)
Enemies (Major, Story)
Small Frame (Minor, General)
Motion Sickness (Minor, Personality)
Hatred (Senior Clergy)(Minor, Personality)
Abilities
- Area Lore England Geography 2 (15)
- Area Lore York Personalities 2 (15)
- Artes Liberales Arithmetic 3 (30)
- Athletics running 1 (5)
- Awareness alertness 3 (30)
- Bargain debts 6(+2) (95)
- Brawling daggers 1 (5)
- Charm wealthy 3 (30)
- Church Lore senior clergy 2 (15)
- Civil and Canon Law Canon Law 2 (15)
- Carouse sobriety 1 (5)
- Common Law Jews 2 (15)
- Etiquette nobility 3 (30)
- Folk Ken debtors 4 (50)
- Guile angry debtors 2 (15)
- Intrigue debtors 4 (50)
- Philosophiae natural 2 (15)
- Profession Scribe book-keeping 5 (75)
- Sense Holiness/Unholiness evil 2 (15)
- Speak English commerce 4 (75)
- Speak Latin commerce 4 (50)
- Speak Yiddish observances 5 (75)
- Theology (Judaic) observances 2 (15)
Age-related Afflictions
Decreptitude
Combat Traits Weapon/Init/Attack/Dam
- Brawling: unarmed
- Brawling: dagger
- Thrown Knife
Armour
Soak
Fatigue
Miscellaneous Details
Equipment
Encumbrance
Combat Encumbrance
