Apprentices

This is the general thread for spitballing your apprentice characters.
I'd like to line stub them out and then send off magi to search for them as their first story.

Be mindful of what virtues and flaws you choose, they should be close to equal at saga start. Educated is not necessary, as the school will provide instruction in Latin and Artes Liberales. You should pick one Hermetic Flaw as an Inherited Flaw, this will awaken whenever your first Art is opened. This flaw will also reduce the SQ necessary to learn the first Hermetic Virtue, so a major one has a good benefit. You can select any Inherited Virtues you like, until they have manifested they do not count against the SQ necessary to learn a virtue.

Characters can learn any virtue, by saving enough experience points in that virtue to meet the necessary SQ. If notHogwarts offers 30 xp per term, characters can shave XP from some of their classes and divert them into a Tracking Ability for the virtue they'd like. Players can identify the virtue that they would like to learn, and can shave off up to half the experience points taught to go for a virtue that teacher has. Certain virtues are well represented at notHogwarts, Flawless Magic, for example, and since multiple teachers have it, this process can be repeated for each teacher. Acquiring virtues comes at the expense of knowledge, so it is possible that someone can be extremely gifted with virtues, but know very little. Virtues will be capped at 10 points, but as play progresses, virtues and flaws do not have to balance. Of course, taking additional flaws, reduces the SQ for acquiring a virtue.
[tableborder][tr][td]First Year Course[/td][td]Est XP[/td][td]Ability or Art[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]Magia Theoria[/td][td]5[/td][td]Magic Theory, Compulsory[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]De Architectura[/td][td]5[/td][td]Corpus, Imaginem, Mentem[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]Elementa[/td][td]5[/td][td]The four elemental forms[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]Flora et Fauna[/td][td]5[/td][td]Animal and Herbam[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]History of the Order of Hermes[/td][td]5[/td][td]OoH, CoH, Magic, Faerie Lore[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]Artes[/td][td]5[/td][td]Techniques[/td][/tr][/tableborder]

From the above list, if Darco Nalloy were to learn Flawless Magic, for example, he could acquire 4 experience points per term towards the necessary SQ, because both Fiona and Kaltheus have the virtue. He could do this each term, and in just over 5 terms acquire enough experience points to earn the virtue (assuming no other Hermetic Virtues or Flaws). If you choose to acquire a flaw to lower the SQ, it has to be a flaw one of the teachers possess. This applies to Hermetic virtues and flaws, only.

Is one term equal to one semester, or one school year? Looking at the number of xp earned in class, it looks like one year, but since this is an "accelerated" program (near as I can tell), it never hurts to be sure.

Sorry term=semester.
Hermetic instruction is designed to take 6 years. I was shooting for 75 xp per year being available to be taught/earned, seems like a lot, but spells and virtues are going to come from here, and the goal was to churn out better apprentices in a shorter period of time.
75x6=450, which coincidentally is equal to skilled parens: 300 xp + 150 levels of spells.
I'm also not including the year where Latin and literacy is taught.

Perhaps places like Scholomance would do courses in just Latin and Artes Liberales as a prep to them entering this school.

I already have a Latin teacher in place at the school, and that's what's taught in the first year for students.

Oh, and Laterala isn't sharing her discovery, even with her House, just yet. So Scholomance is problematic for teaching multiple Gifted students at one time.

Yet she has several years to do it or at least with one person in charge of Scholomance.

I think the apprentices need to come into the school with a Latin of 3. All the courses will be taught in Latin. To be trying to learn the language while learning new things would be impossible. Realizing that immersion is the best way to learn a language I think it would still be difficult.

You're missing what I've said previously. There are, in a sense, two first years. First year at the school where Latin, literacy and a few other things are taught, and the first year of Hermetic Instruction, which is where the PC professors come into play. In short, I'm telling you to not worry about knowing Latin as an apprentice, or how it's taught as a professor. I am covering that angle.

So, what do we need to produce for these apprentices? Character sheets? Outlines? Notes? I think I need to read over Apprentices about Inherited Virtues and Flaws....

I know the setup has seemed as if I'm focused on the teachers, and I am, to some extent, because I intend to use what you guys have worked up to flavor the setting for the apprentices. But what I'd like to do is to have everything switch over to what the apprentices look like, and if we can work it out with posting schedules and the like is to have one of the professors (I'm just going to call them professors from now on) search for an apprentices, and there can be some inter-character RP opportunities.

Definitely do familiarize yourself with Inherited Virtues and Flaws.

Concept wise for the apprentice I want to play is a Bjornaer who is plagued by dreams and visions of fire, death and rebirth. Creo and Ignem are aptitudes for him. His Heartbeast will be a bird but the goal is an inner heartbeast leading him to the elemental anima of fire, a phoenix. Not sure what kind of bird would be best for that.

As for other apprentices, I already pitched a concept of four related children from an Elementalist tradition, each corresponding to one of the elements.

Traditionally, phoenix are the size of swans so that is a start. Raptors are associated with the Sanguine thus with fire (HM pg 22)

I'm working on my apprentice character, and I've got what I think is a good concept. A (probable) future maga Bonisagi, strong in Auram. Not really one of the double-twins that qcipher had postulated, as far as I know.

One of the things that I'm toying with is Faerie Blood, but I'm not sure I want vanilla Sidhe blood. However, I'm not sure what bonus having Sylph blood would have. By analogy to an Undine, it might have a +2 to any activities while airborne?

She has Affinity with, Puissant, and Deft Auram, and Elemental Magic (and would dearly love to have her learn to fly early on), but not much more, yet.

Any ideas on the Sylph thing?

It's come up with Babbette, and Supernatural Virtues and Opening the Arts...

Traditionally, a magus has to have a certain InVi score to be able to Open the Arts of an apprentice, this is still more or less in place, and all of the magi, even Kaltheus, who has the lowest InVi total can maintain one minor supernatural Virtue, or can open the Arts and remove the Supernatural virtues for two minor virtues.

Elizabeth has an InVi score well in excess of 80 (how else do you research methods of teaching Hermetic Arts to more than one person at a time, besides Mentem). She can Open the Arts and preserve a major Supernatural Virtue and at least one minor virtue, too.

Laterala can probably handle around the same as Elizabeth. So that means only so many students can come to the school with Major Supernatural virtues and have them preserved. These are a first come, first serve basis. One's been chosen. I'll work out the timing with everyone who makes apprentices like this.

Both Margerethe and Babette have Visions. Will there be room for both in the queue, or should one of us pick another Story/Supernatural flaw?

I don't look on that as a problem, but as a solution!

Could be very interesting with competing Visions. Might split the school for something like that.

So here's something I was wondering. I know there's a plan to allow students to still enter Houses normally. How is that going to work for Houses that are not represented by the instructors? Are the instructors going to try to bring by interested sponsors from the various Houses to see if a student can interest them? At the moment, we've only got... Bonisagus, Merinita, Tremere, Tytalus and Verditius? That's only 5 of 12 houses represented.

There's also an ex Misc (Fiona)
I'll flesh out all the Houses, but it's something that doesn't have to happen in this development period, but it's a problem I've been working on, and part of the whole, build up a whole school, have kids in every year. This is the first class that will graduate, but there will be others.
When we get through the first year, players can make new apprentices (just to ease my burden) and we can also look at making new instructors who will be brought in. I've planned for handling most of the characters myself. I have a Flambeau, Bjornaer and Criamon in mind. A Jerbiton is not too hard a character to come here, so that leaves us with Guernicus, Mercere and other ex Misc. I've already established that House Guernicus is not terribly interested in this process, and will only come on board later. Mercere, might do attend for 6 (out of the total 7), skipping the final year, and going back to a a family member.

Should note that Kaltheus considers himself a Jerbiton and graduated his two children into House Jerbiton - NOT Tytalus.