Or even bether no forge fire at als because the smithing is done via crafting magic 
.
Now I suspect my char will be the one with the lowest magic abilitys because Pushing Magic Theory, Bargain and especial Finesse to a good falue eat up a lot of points.
Magic Theory because thats what usualy will be teached by the parent as they got the most use of it
Finesse as I want him to be able to do easy blacksmithing tasks without rolling and I just make it for a totall of 8 after Spec.for Per+Finesse rolls but Easy Tasks are 9 with crafting Magic because of the +3 difficulty.
Bargain was needed for haggling with fearies and maybe even more common with humans as he have no problems with humans in oposit to all other creatures.
Spell targets are limited both by the initial target and the final one, so a CrHe spell needs to have enough size to accommodate the final result. Otherwise you get a Size 1 tree if you used the base Ind target, which is still big enough to provide some wood if we need to.
Of course those spells are better learned with a Circle target to begin with. It's not like seeds and saplings tend to run away from the place you drop them.
And with 40+ in all TeVim combinations, my character can spontaneously cast all the 'Piercing the XXX Veil' spells (and for that matter all the 'Unravel the Fabric of (Form) at level 20), he has a decent selection of useful Vim spell and can extract 5p of Vim vis per season, but he is definitely behind in spells that actually do mundane things. He can however go into town and buy a loaf of bread without being accused of theft, witchery, and/or outraging the local women (Gentle Gift). And he has +2 Communication, which makes his tractati at least worth trading, even if at a discount.
Its lets see... 1 cubic pace of wood. That's 27 cubic feet. That's a pretty decent wood pile. I'll check out circle though.. it doesn't say stuff needs to be in the circle after casting, just that a broken circle ends the spell. So we could cast the spell on a seed in a circle, take it out and plant it. It would need some help from laborers though. Meh, I think I'll just go with the 1 cubic pace trees.
Just plant the seed where you want it, draw a big enough circle around it, and cast the spell. As long as you tell the grogs to go around it, you'll be fine.
That said, 1 cubic pace of wood is still a decent start to a wood pile. My father uses wood in winter to heat his (quite large) house, in a region which goes down to -15°C (Burgundy), and he went through 20 cubic meters (cubic paces, give or take) last winter, saving himself about 4,000 liters of fuel oil (1,000 gallons for our American friends). Given he has 10 bedrooms, 2 large kitchens, and 2 large living rooms, you can figure a covenant in Edinburgh would go through twice to five time that just for heating fuel...
And don't forget the maga can cast this several times a day before she goes to bed. (Until she rolls fatigue) If we need five times that for heating fuel... that's 100 castings. She'll make more than that in just one season.
It has definitely been established that the shifting regio is Magic. Any other regios that might be encountered.........
Eeesh...
So many responses....
Regardless, in terms of build points, books and vis are always good.
I'm rather new to Ars myself, but I am enjoying the system so far.
Rereading the rules, that won't work. they say:
So it looks like it takes an actual magus to refine a lab, and one that has worked for some time in it. Besides, the rules for taking over a lab also state that you would have to spend a season just getting acquainted with your newly refined lab if you weren't the one to refine it, which does king of negate the benefit of subcontracting the work (to another magus, presumably).
Sure someone other who worked long enough (years) in the lab with you could refine it for you but that don't change the problem that afterwards you have to spend 1 saison to personalise the lab again what makes the complet thing not very interesting. I think to remember that only Duerenmar have aktual refined labs in a way that they easy can change the user and the limit was 2 refinements.
Edit: this just gave me the idea what my Companion might be a Failed Apprentice who lost his gift but have a good understanding in Magic Theory so that he can help mages in the lab.
So are we waiting for some people to send in their character sheets, or something else? I know I'm being a bit impatient, but I don't want the game to suffer from failure to launch. 
But regardless, think everyone should summarize their character? I know they technically haven't been approved yet. (At least I haven't heard back yet.) Still I'll go first
Lilith ex Bonisagus*: In Lilith embodies House Bonisagus's research, literally. She is the result of several experiments by her mother, first to ensure her child had the Gift, and later to freeze her daughters age and body, forever. Lilith has become one with the barest edge of the Magic Realm. The last step of the experiment, and still a good distance away is for Lilith to have a child and see if her immortality breeds true. (And her mother is trying to repeat the whole deal with a second daughter.) She too is a research maga of house Bonisagus, although she has done little research as of yet. Continuing to study in her mother's covenant after her gauntlet for a number of years, it was decided it was time for her to head out to advance on her own. Hiddenhall has peaked her interest. Its fairly new, there is a big enigma to research.
Her research efforts aren't particularly focused. There is no urgency to complete anything. No Twilight, or age to worry about, just more power to gain. She certainly seeks out new mysteries, and is helpful to her covenant. She is a competent researcher and an excellent writer and she freely shares her works. She wishes to advance the Order. However, her interpersonal skills need work. She doesn't take slights well. She's especially touchy about people referring to her as a "new magi". She doesn't look like she's out of her gauntlet by ten years, since her body was frozen at 19. And in general her response to slights are to fall back on her nature, and how the other magi is rotting from the inside. (Which is probably about the worst thing she could do.) But if you can put up with her she's an excellent addition to any covenant.
*written sans books, so my spelling is questionable.
Even if Quendal didn't have this name for the first 8 years in his live I use this name for easy reference.
Quendal grow up in a large gorgeous fairy-castle mostly populated by different animal homanoids and some high grown light-skinned human like beeings with long golden hair, pointed ears and emerald green eyes.
As child of the two light skinned hummanoids who are called RĂŹgh and BainrĂŹgh he was treated like a prince by all others of the castel.
Quendal was also part of many travles his parents did in theyr ebony white coach that have golden ornaments and is drawn by white winged horses.
Despit he haved some differences with his teacher, a Humanoid with a sneakhead, he still have found memorys of this time.
But when he playing hide and seek in a nearby forest with a fox sudenly everything get black and when his mind starting to clear he is in bounds on a normal horse behind a old man with a red cap.
At a small village in the highlands a Merinata mage gave the Redcap some kind of payment in a bag and in return he got Quendal.
Because Quendal refused to share his name with this short eared human he got the name Quendal in hope he will follow the path of the first Primus of house Merinata.
In his first apprentice year he tryed to get away from this frightening human but allways was captured and brought back and after some time he gave up to run away.
But even if he would have goten away he wouldn't know where to run to and so with the time he have accepted that he now have to do many menial tasks for his parent that bevor was done by servants for him.
Also this subteran lab with its magic light gave him creeps at first but with the time he got also used to this.
Around his 18. birthday his parent got on a travel without Quendal but he even didn't return after 1 year thats when the Ex Misc. Columbae Mage of this covenant took a heart and decided to take Quendal as her Apprentice till the Merinata mage returned.
Comparing to his orginal parent her teaching where barly understandable und extrem confusing. The years got past and the Merinata mage didn't return and so the time of his gauntlet get close.
In the year of his gauntlet he married the oldest doughter of the local toolmaker master who even with only 17 was already at master level of this craft.
The gauntlet the Columbea put up for him would be difficult if he didn't managed to learn how she was able to use circle magic on a room trough the time he assisted her in the lab but so he managed to put a protection circle on the room and managed this task.
..... Thats about what is accepted so far........
A vew days later his orginal parent returned kind of changed with the claim he only was in a fearie region for a vew month and that Quendal is still his apprentice.
The headmage, a Bonisagus, ruled that the Merinata is allowed to return to the covenant and that the Gauntlet is invalid if Quendal manage the Merinata Gauntlet within 1 year.
But any harm the Metinata would do to Quendal even in the parents lab would be handled as if Quendal was already a Mage and it happened outside of the lab.
And so Quendal haved to spend 1 year more as a Apprentice and at the end of this year his gauntlet was the selfinitation of Arcadian Travel Mysterie with a script that was slight modfied.
Even some of the landmarks looked familiar on his way trough the fearie region there wasn't something he recognised that could lead to the catle he called his home as child.
So he managed the upper most level of this region and returned to the entrance within the given time.
As full Mage of this Bonisagus Covenant, he haved to spend 1 saison each year working for the covenant.
But now he also haved access to the Library and more important also to the great work of the founder of this covenant, a tunnelsystem in the iron mine of the covenant, where one can study terram.
The covenant also have a huge collection of tractus for crafts working with iron that together with some other items gives a fine Realia for Finesse.
Just thought I'd jump in at this point since I've not spoken up since my first post. Work got a little crazier than expected this week so I've been a bit busy and haven't had a chance to finish up my proposed character yet. Pending SG approval, he'll be a Criamon, focused to a certain degree on Muto. I've got some notes on the Path I'd like him to be taking but haven't 100% finished those up either. Basically though, he's especially interested in the interconnectedness of various forms and shapes, which makes this particular regio of especially interest to him.
As far as a mini-bio of me, I'm 42, have been gaming both as a player and a GM for over three decades now, and am located in Georgia (the one in the US, that is). I'm a web developer and general coder by profession, currently working with the start-up my colleagues and I started up a few years ago.
Well, I suppose I should make my guy's bio. Hopefully it's not too long for a post.
Tempestpuer of Tytalus Bio:
Born to a family of sheep herders near York, James was the youngest son in family with five elder siblings, and often the most ignored. His mother always seemed to lose track of the boy, as he seemed to wander quite a bit, and would find him staring off into oncoming storms as they appeared. His siblings found him to be a strange child, sometimes following them around, shocking them ever so slightly on physical contact. His father, not even wanting a sixth child to begin with, was looking for anyone thatâd be willing to adopt the young child.
Eventually, he found a taker, an equally strange man that noticed the strange young child one day, and took the boy from his family. The man was a Magi of a nearby covenant named Regulus, and he took the child as his apprentice. Given the boyâs young age, Regulus had to split up some of his training in Latin and other general education, leaving some for his later apprenticeship. He taught him some of basics of Magic Theory as well to make up for it.
After the first five years, the classic Tytalus apprenticeship began. Regulus began subjecting the boy to ridiculous rules, illogical punishments, and general frustrating acts. This would continue mercilessly for the next ten years. Frustratingly enough, Regulus never seemed to be able to frustrate the boy. James just seemed to take it without argument, annoying Regulus to no end. Regulus kept to his regiment, hoping to cause the boy to react in some way, though he secretly started giving up on the child.
Unbeknownst to his master, James WAS reacting exactly how his master planned, he was just relatively good at hiding it. The man who finally showed that he cared for James, ended up being some sort of comical antagonist in this boyâs life, and it made James feel betrayed. And slowly, bit by bit, he learned to resent his master profusely. After witnessing a few moots his master dragged him to, and witnessing that his own magic seemed to rise in power at certain times, James began concocting a plan.
His initial attempt to embarrass his master was thwarted, given his master through him to his first attempt at a gauntlet earlier than he anticipated. Given James did not think he could finally use his powers to break Regulusâs will, he feigned weakness, disappointing Regulus somewhat, and failing the first Gauntlet. He then waited for the perfect Autumn Storm to hit, and when it did, it was James that dragged his master to the Gauntlet site. Regulus was mildly confused, given the boy never quite showed initiative like this before.
As the storm hit, the two began their debate, and the moment the storm hit and Regulus began introducing some magic to the proceedings, James dropped every ounce of subtly. He unleashed winds around himself to draw attention, and began relentlessly forcing mind affecting spells upon his master, unleashing every bit of anger he had been holding back for the past ten years. Regulus was taken aback by his apprentices sudden change in demeanor, and was at first at the young manâs mercyâŚbefore coming back to subdue the young man in a bout of joyous laughter. Regulus then accepted James as a magus of house Tytalus, giving him the name Tempestpuer, and leaving him in sheer confusion. The audience that grew from two people to twenty during the course of the debate also congratulated him, leaving Tempestpuer a mix of angry, confused, and happy.
Unfortunately, those accruing audience members came from watching another apprenticeâs gauntlet, a young woman that showed obvious great promise beforehand, who would go by the name Alexandria. Angry that her performance was somewhat derailed by Tempestpuer, she confronted him about it. Still riding the strange and conflicting emotions of his gauntlet, he simply told Alexandria that he didnât care, which further enraged her. She quickly retaliated against Tempestpuer, preventing him from joining a prospective covenant, which encouraged him to react against her.
This proceeded for the next four years, leading the both of them to finally shove a blood soaked spiral into each otherâs faces, declaring their rivalry to be eternal. The two had opposing philosophies of conflict as well, with Alexandria being Calliclean and Tempestpuer being Hippian. The twoâs rivalry made it difficult for Tempestpuer to join a covenant for long, but then he heard of the strange situation in Edinburgh, and volunteered to help establish a covenant there. With the new challenge ahead, he set out to seek his fortune there.
Need a GM ruling.
My character's background is that he was found, apprenticed, and gauntleted at the Domus Magnus Coeris, then spending the next 10 years in England working for the Exarch. Since Romanian won't hardly come up in game, what I'd like to ask for is if its ok to get an extra 50 xp representing 10 years of exposure for English as a second language at a score of 4.
Also one other thing, I'm going to take "Favors" as a flaw. What I figure is that whatever deal the house arranged to be able to install me into Hiddenhall from outside the tribunal included services or something left to me to fulfill. I figure it'd be good to throw that ball out there to the GM to come up with the details.
For now, here are V/Fs:
Improved Characteristics X 2
Gentle Gift
Affinity (Intrigue)
Affinity (Magic Theory)
Affinity (Rego)
Inspirational
Puissant (Leadership)
Favors
Weak MR (while unaware)
Generous
Weakness (abandoned children and cruel parents)
Ability Block (Artistic Abilities)
Higher Purpose (Civilize Europe)
The wive of Quendal (my mage) build as Grog NPC
[code]Age 25
Name: Sorcha
Ability
Characteristics 7pts
+1 INT +1
+1 PER +1
+1 STR +1
+1 STA +1
+1 PRE +1
+3 COM +2
+0 DEX +0
-1 QIK -1
SIZE +0
Virtue
0 Free General Male Guild Sponsor (Her dad) [C&G 53]
1 Minor Social Guild Master [C&G 53]
1 Minor General Affinity with Craft [ArM5 40]
1 Minor General Educated [ArM5 41]
Flaw
1 Minor General Poor Hearing [ArM5 58]
1 Minor General Social Handicap [ArM5 59] Even with be official a Guild Master she have huge problems to be accepted as such.
1 Minor Personal Ambitious [ArM5 51] show the male guildmaster that a woman can become one of the best in theyr profession
Ability
------Child 0-5 45 exp-----
0(75) Gaelic-Scottish
15 Athletics - climbing 2
15 Awearness 2
15 English - Old English 2
------5-25 300 exp-----
75 Latin 5
05 Artes Librares - arithmetics 1
15 Teaching - apprentice 2
05 Carouse - 1
05 Guile 1
30 Bargain 3
30 Guild Lore 3
120(180) Craft Toolmaking 8
15(30) English - old English 3
Personality
Ambitious 4
Tidy 2
Loyal 2
Apearance:
A small but robust build woman of the scottish highlands with short blond hairs.
Because she usualy wearing cloths that dont get in her way when working some people confuse her even for a male at last till she start to talk.
Story:
She grow up in a small mining and crafting village in the highlands as the doughter of a Toolsmaker.
As some customer her fater haved speaked Old english she managed to learn some basic understanding in this language.
When she got older her fater send her to the local teacher that she learn Latin and how to read and write.
After this education finished she became a apprentice of her fater and haved to work hard to help him in his work.
When she got older she haved to assist her fater at a lab setting up some tools there.
Thats when she learned that this creepy old people who own the land and the iron mine are mages.
One day a bit pale but in her eyes pretty male entered the shop of her fater with some orders from one of the mages.
She started to flirt with him as her fater was not in the shop.
As the order needed the person, who actual was Quendal, to get back to the shop a vew times over the next weeks Sorcha made sure she allways was there.
Over the time both became close so it came to her like a shock when her fater told her that one of the mages asked him for her hand.
Fearing that she haved to marry one of this old mages she tryed to refuse but her fater already agreed to this union.
So she haved to accept her fate just to realise it was the person she flirted with in her faters stor over the last month.[/code]
I'm building a Mercere heavily specialized in Creo and Corpus, who will be good with healing and longevity rituals, and have a focus on physical enhancement spells.
Just saw that Halancar is also playing a Mercere. Magical Merceres are very rare, and given that there will be two of us in the same covenant, and that we're located conveniently inside a large city, can I request that we take the Mercer House hook?
I would also like to see an improved Aura.
OK, so despite having been gaming for over 3 decades, I've never actually done a PB(E)M game. Could someone brief me on the mechanics of how this works? Who does what and when? For that matter, where?
Thanks in advance,
-Chris
Let me see, where is the easiest: we will get a sub-forum, the GM will create threads, either a party thread where we all post if we are together, or several location threads in which case each person posts in the thread corresponding to his location.
There will probably also be an OOC (out of character) thread, where we post anything that is not game related. And probably other thread that are simply there to hold important information (depending on how gaming-friendly the forum is, that may include character sheets and character descriptions).
For who and what, outside of combat, each person posts whenever they feel like it in the in-game thread(s), and the GM updates the situation as necessary. In combat we either post in initiative order or (to speed things up) all together, and the GM sorts it out. Those posts are made in character (usually in the third person, although some people prefer the first person, and either the present or past tense depending on what people like)
A basic post looks like this:
[hr][/hr]
"Fear not, sodale, for I will find the regio !", says Ramons ex Mercere. He starts gesturing and calling incantation in Latin.
OOC: Ramons attempts to spontaneously cast Piercing the Magic Veil (ReVi 20)
Casting roll (0 Stamina + 5 Intelligo + 23 Vim + 12 dice roll)/2 = 20, spell is cast
[hr][/hr]
After that you can get fancy with different colors for OOC stuff (orange is standard), for dialogue (either by speaker or by language), and of course you can have much longer posts...
I'm also new to playing by forum and so I'm curious how adventures or even combat works out her in the forum given that we only required to post once a week, but I will see it when we go on our first adventure.
For the strategic longtherm tasks a forum might be even bether then a voice or chat system as you can easy trace back what you did the last saisons.