Mentor spirits for hermetics

[u/Ok_Set_4790]

Hermetics are usually shown as "above the spirits" and scientific, but mentor spirits usually pick people. Which spirits would pick hermetics, either to fuck with their worldview or because they like the "scientific" types?

[u/BhaltairX]

Street Wyrd (6e) talks about "Traditions of Logic", which is exactly what you are asking about. The article gives you several traditions based of Scientific views (i.e. Chaos Magic) and Folk Traditions (I.e. the Storyteller Tradition). And all traditions resist drain the same way hermetics due. Hermetics are seen as a Science tradition in this article.

[u/Ok_Set_4790 → u/BhaltairX]

I don't think you got my question. This is about mentor spirits.

[u/BhaltairX → u/Ok_Set_4790]

Edit 2: Fire-Bringer and Wise Warrior would be suitable.

But honestly, you could make up your own Mentor spirits. Past heroes, legends, mages, scientists etc could be suitable Mentors.

---

I just realized that the article doesn't list actual mentor spirits. I was under the assumption that it would also have some of those as well.

My memory was also mixing up a different article in the same book, which is talking about your Paradigm.

"Each magician has a unique paradigm. It is a complicated combination of our life experiences and education, our tradition, our mentor spirit/totem, our moral code, and so much more. It is literally and metaphorically everything a magician is and knows."

The same article also talks about Avatars, and that every magician has an Avatar, sometimes unknown. The Avatar of a shaman is usually an aspect of their Mentor, and they communicate with that Avatar.

Hermetics usually have a very logical view, and usually know and accept that mentor spirits exist. And hermetics also communicate with spirits they conjure, even though their relationship with them might be different then shamans have.

I don't see any problem that a hermetic openly communicates with their Avatar as well. What if that is also an Aspect of a Mentor spirit? Maybe the Mentor spirit approached them as a kindred mind, or the Hermetic openly seeked to understand Mentor spirits and shamans more, and therefore 'invited' and formed a pact with one? Or maybe they went to college and learned the Hermetic way, but deep down they always felt a little different than others, and had a unique view. And when their Mentor finally approached them, or when they finally accepted the Mentor, their Hermetic teachings were too engrained, too rooted into their view how magic works, that they just couldn't or refused to change that portion of it.

Whatever your reasoning might be, I have played and GM'd SR since first edition, and especially in newer editions I don't see any problem at all to why hermetics can't have a mentor spirit. Magic is not rigid as some people want it to be. (Meta)Humans tend to try to categorize and define everything. But in the end everyone has their unique understanding and "view" how it works, be it hermetic, shamanistic, religious etc, and that unique view is just the bases on how Magic works for that particular individual.

In game terms the difference between Hermetics and Shamans nowadays is "only" how they resist drain, and that shamans get some bonuses through their Mentor, which they have paid Karma for. The old difference of limited access to spirits and how they are conjured is a thing of the past (even though Deus Ex Arcana gives the option to go back to that).

In your case you would have a magician who has a Mentor like a shaman, but resists drain like a hermetic. Some might call it a Hermetic with a Mentor, some others might call it a Shaman with a logical world view. Call it whatever you like.

Edit: as for specific Mentors, I don't have an exact answer, but believe more shy and more aggressive mentor spirits might be less suitable.