It also weighs 2 stone, if I recall. Not exactly portable or mobile.
The ReTe can be used for multitude of things and is a good candidate for trading. Think of a ritual that requires Re or Te vis...
If you have two kings worth 6 pawns each, and only need 9 pawns of ReTe vis, you waste 3 pawns, because the vis cannot be divided. So I've modified the source to be flexible. They could all be kings, or two kings, or one king. The most common ritual is Hermes Portal which requires 15 pawns of vis, or in this case, 7 pawns of ReTe vis and another pawn of something else. Don't discount the obvious.
Going into your employment issue. Viscaria cannot be a Probationary member unless she renounces her membership in Phoenix. "The status of Probationary Member of the Council may be extended to any magus in good standing of the Order of Hermes, who owes no allegiance nor fealty to any other covenant." But, just because she is a protected guest doesn't prevent her from having a lab.
As far as labs go, yes, there are not enough constructed labs for all the magi, but there is sufficient space. And keep in mind, technically to build a lab someone has to have an MT score of 3 or greater. I cheated with Ulrich when I had him building a lab (actually I made an error, but covered it with Apollodorus supervising the work.
True, but there's also questions of vis access vs payment, princeps duties (which seem to be an important facet of the saga for you as SG), etc, etc. Saying she's either "effectively a probationary member with some RP color," or simply saying, "if you want this gig, you have to sign on to be a probationary member," reduces the tracking headaches down the road. Heck, it reduces the tracking headaches right now.
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Getting the apprentice up to 3 to help with this extra lab issue should be a high priority then. Can more than one person work on a lab in the same season? Ie, can Viscaria, Theraphosa and Ulrich spend 1222.spring and 1222.summer working on the same lab for 3x2=6 seasons worth of work improving a lab?
If you want to negotiate your salary to be that of a probationary member, or full member then do that. Tracking doesn't have to be a headache anymore than tracking already is. The princeps every season was a device for me to get players familiar with the covenant. It will become less useful/necessary over time.
No. Only one person can setup or refine or improve a lab at a given time. Ulrich needs a dedicated master at some point. I'd like to do that before he develops any more virtues and flaws.
AFAIK, Group target works something like that anyway.
Well, since the guidelines for terram always say "metal OR gemstone", "Stone OR glass", I take it that, for exemple, a ward against metal can't protect against gemstone, you have to chose one or the other.
It seems a natural extension to me to have spells against metal unable to affect stone and/or glass.
Moreso, I tend to favor this interpretation, since it lessens magi invulnerability: They can't rely on one spell to protect them against everything, which means they either have weaknesses, or must work hard to protect against everything. This works against the PCs, but also for them, of course
Considering how much use we're getting out of those spells from Alexei (Silvery Scales of the Knight, Hardness of Adamantine, and Hauberk of Sublime Lightness), maybe he should get an item that casts those for when he's not around? Or transcribe them onto a lab text or spell tablet?
Cuz, if we're allocating funds to buy her a new lab, she and Thera will want to build it this year. Two seasons to build, Two seasons to add a Greater Focus. But depending on the locations available she'd either want it in the cavern complex where Ioseph's magic-reactive earth elements are, near the site of the Tribunal, or somewhere else that we find that's cool.
We still haven't decided on any enchantments that will be needed for the tribunal, nor distributed vis for the year (nor, I think, have we finished deciding how much she gets). I suppose she has her personal stock, so she could do something with that...
At any rate, the primary point here is that I'm having trouble adjusting to the non-linear game style, is all. It'll take me some time to figure it out, and I'm just expressing that, and trying to reserve the right to pick at the question a bit longer.
It is a challenge. There are things about it I like. There is some not to like. Events in 1221 allowed me to use prophecy in a way I'd never been able to do before. Players tend to get confused about when they are doing what. It does move the story forward quickly and allows players to play at their pace and that seems to be the most challenging thing I've seen with pbp. Things get mired, players get tired, drop out, and it snowballs.
Oh, blessed, sheltered, naive waif. Please do not ever challenge me like this. There are entire genres of fiction out there which are categorically worse than that book. It doesn't even make the bottom 1000.
~sigh~ I know, because I try to get my artwork used as their covers, and have to read excerpts.
Actually, I'm mis-remembering the quotation, and you brought me out of my reverie. I was originally thinking it was a Starship Troopers reference, when in actuality it is an Aliens (movie) reference.
I do not know if there is an Aliens book. There probably is. It's probably bad. Very few stories can be written effectively to cross different media. It takes a lot of talent, and even then stars have to align and whatnot.
NPH being awesome, and Dina Meyer with her shirt off? Hell, I don't care how bad the dialogue is, how glaring the plot holes, or how silly the special effects are. SIGN ME UP.
