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You mean vis 3 per year from the personal source? 3 per season seems incredibly high.
That's what his totals reflect. I'm sure it was just a typo.
Indeed, it's 3 per year. I'll make the correction.
Made some minor changes to his stats at Gauntlet:
- Bonified his background to specify that he was apprenticed in the Greater Alps, with his pater being a member of the restored covenant of Tarragon Vale.
- Decided to keep his Personal Vis Source, as it provided a nice rationale for him being able to pay the visitor's fee as a peregrinator. I will not be using this vis during advancement.
- Changed some spells, replacing Beast of Minuscule Proportions (MuAn 20) with 3 minor spells that reflect the covenant he grew up in and his tendency to be accident-prone: Cloak of the Duck's Feathers, Lamp Without Flame and Cloak of Prometheus (from MoH p.110).
In the past when advancing magi after Gauntlet, I have found that doing it in periods of a few years at a time helps me focus on what the character would be trying to achieve, as well as determine the conditions he was living in.
I will do so again here, but instead of using 7-year periods (representing the intervals between Tribunals), I will use periods of 5 years. The shorter periods will give me an incentive to think of smaller objectives rather than just the big picture.
I expect to advance him by approximately 25 years.
After his Gauntlet, Bartholomeus found himself looking for a covenant to join. Obviously, he couldn’t go back to his home covenant of New Tarragon Vale in the Greater Alps, because his pater didn’t want anything to do with him. This aura of ridicule also carried over to the other covenants of the Tribunal, so he had to relocate.
The Rhine Tribunal seemed a natural place to seek his fortune. First, because he knew the language and thus could travel more easily. Second, because the tradition of peregrinators made it possible for him to stay for a little while at a covenant, even if none would accept him as a member. So he wandered from one covenant to another, trying to make a name for himself while continuing his studies. In no place was he allowed to stay more than three years. Thankfully, his personal vis source made it possible for him to pay the visiting fees.
His studies focused on learning a number of spells that made travelling easier, as well as improving his abilities as an enchanter. He also picked up knowledge about the Order and people during his travels, but he made very few friends. So after a few years he realized that finding a creature to befriend as a familiar was probably his best hope for companionship. He also needed to consider that in just a few more years he would need a longevity ritual. In short, he would need more raw vis soon.
Year 1: Organization Lore: Order of Hermes (5 xp), Auram (15 xp), Magic Theory (10 xp), Seasons Not Advanced (10 xp)
Year 2: Magic Theory (10 xp), Animal (30 xp)
Year 3: Animal (15 xp), Terram (15 xp), Seasons Not Advanced (10 xp)
Year 4: Organization Lore: Order of Hermes (5 xp), Magic Lore (5 xp), Terram (20 xp), Season Not Advanced (10 xp)
Year 5: Philosophiae (20 xp), Muto (20 xp)
Details of lab activities:
- Learn spells from lab texts: Sailor's Taste of the Morrow (InAu 20) -- Lab total 23 (Int 5, MT 5, Re 5, Aq 5, Aura 3)
- Learn spells from lab texts: Beast of Outlandish Size (MuAn 15), Beast of Minuscule Proportions (MuAn 20) -- Lab total 37 (Int 5, MT 6, Mu 9, An 7, Focus 7, Aura 3)
- Invent spell: MuTe 20 -- Lab total 44 (Int 5, MT 6, Mu 9, Te 9, Focus 9, Inventive Genius 3, Aura 3)
Enchantment of Easy Transportation (MuTe 20)
R:Touch, D:Moon, T:Ind
This spell shrinks an inanimate object originally no bigger than a large chest. Each of the object's dimension halves and its weight is divided by eight. The size decrease is based on the object’s original, natural size, so casting the spell more than once on an object has no effect. Noble elements like gold, silver, and gems, are not affected by this spell. If any part of the item resists shrinkage, the item as a whole does not shrink. Casting requisites are required for the appropriate Form for the target.
(Base 4, +1 Touch, +3 Moon)
Build Points: 23 bp
- 25 added
- 2 converted to vis
Raw Vis: 10 pawns
- 10 added from bp
- None spent
Seeing the coming need for vis, Bartholomeus started making plans. He’d been able to accumulate a few pawns of raw vis here and there, so using them to craft items for trade seemed like the obvious choice. Although his reputation within House Verditius worked against him somewhat, other magi didn’t care as much. So he crafted a lesser item that created a warm breeze within the lab, selling two of them but keeping one for himself.
He kept moving from one covenant to another as a peregrinator, never staying more than a few years in a single place while studying, but also arranging an appointment with a longevity ritual specialist to take place soon. This wasn’t the greatest specialist, but still fairly good.
Year 6: Aquam (5 xp), Ignem (15 xp), Seasons Not Advanced (20 xp)
Year 7: Organization Lore: Order of Hermes (5 xp), Craft: Wood (25 xp), Aquam (10 xp)
Year 8: Muto (40 xp)
Year 9: Magic Theory (30 xp), Parma Magica (10 xp)
Year 10: Muto (30 xp), Herbam (10 xp)
Details of lab activities:
- Enchant lesser item: Lab total 39 (Int 5, MT 6+1, Cr 5, Au/Ig 5, Craft 4, S&M 4, Philosophiae 3 (capped by MT), Inventive Genius 3, Aura 3) -- Costs 2 pawns
Fan of Summer Breezes (CrAu/Ig 18)
A wooden fan that creates a breeze of fresh, dry, warm air that continually moves throughout a room, keeping the air unpolluted and the humidity and temperature constant. This provides a laboratory with the Magical Heating (Superior Heating) virtue (+1 Health, +1 Aesthetics; +1 Ig). The effect is automatically activated at sunset and sunrise, with the item maintaining concentration, but it can also be deactivated and reactivated by speaking the command words. This allows the owner of the lab to avoid having the breeze disturb delicate manipulations during his lab work. Should he wishes to protect longer-running experiments, the fan can be placed in a closet or a chest, so that the breeze only blows within that much smaller room.
(Base 1, +1 Touch, +1 Conc, +1 unnatural, +1 requisite; +5 for 24 uses per day, +5 item maintains concentration, +3 environmental trigger) - Enchant lesser item: Fan of Summer Breezes (x2) using lab text -- Lab total 36 (no Inventive Genius) -- Costs 4 pawns -- Sold for 12 pawns
Build Points: 46 bp
- 23 left over from previous period
- 25 added
- 2 converted to vis
Raw Vis: 26 pawns
- 10 left over from previous period
- 22 added (10 from bp, 12 from selling items)
- 6 spent (enchant lesser items)
Enchanted items: Fan of Summer Breezes (1)
After all of those years moving from one covenant to another, it seemed that there might be a place for Bartholomeus at last. The covenant of Three Lakes, in Novgorod, was offering him a place as a junior (probationary) member. Three Lakes was trying at the time to introduce new blood. For Bartholomeus, it was a chance to settle somewhere long enough to truly work at his craft.
After settling down, he begins to search for a magical creature to become his familiar. In the cold forests of Novgorod, he discovered numerous magical creatures, but none was a kindred spirit willing to be bound to him. He finally finds one in Garapadax, a giant mountain hare. The results of the binding caused some consternation amongst the womenfolk of Three Lakes, as Bartholomeus went through a period of… libidinous behaviour. Thankfully, things soon returned to normal and Bartholomeus returned to his studies.
Year 11: Seasons Not Advanced (10 xp), Organization Lore: Order of Hermes (5 xp), Area Lore: Novgorod (5 xp), Language: Finnish (20 xp)
Year 12: Area Lore: Novgorod (10 xp), Language: Finnish (10 xp), Magic Lore (10 xp), Concentration (5 xp), Survival (5 xp) -- 1 point of Warping, Aging roll -3 (roll 8, +4 for age, -15 for LR; no aging effect)
Year 13: Seasons Not Advanced (20 xp), Charm (15 xp), Teaching (5 xp) -- 1 point of Warping, Aging roll -12 (roll 2, +4 for age, -15 for LR, -3 for Bronze Cord; no aging effect)
Year 14: Familiar Artes Liberales (5 xp), Familiar Magic Theory (30 xp), Familiar Philosophiae (5 xp) -- 1 point of Warping, Aging roll -9 (roll 5, +4 for age, -15 for LR, -3 for Bronze Cord; no aging effect)
Year 15: Corpus (5 xp), Herbam (35 xp) -- 1 point of Warping, Aging roll -5 (roll 9, +4 for age, -15 for LR, -3 for Bronze Cord; no aging effect)
Details of lab activities:
- Longevity ritual: 15th magnitude -- Costs 27 pawns
- Find familiar
- Bind familiar: Lab total 43 (Int 5, MT 7, Mu 18, An 10, Aura 3) -- Costs 9 pawns of vis -- Gold +1, Silver +1, Bronze +3
Build Points: 68 bp
- 46 left over from previous period
- 25 added
- 3 converted to vis
Raw Vis: 5 pawns
- 26 left over from previous period
- 15 added from bp
- 36 spent (27 for longevity ritual, 9 for familiar)
Enchanted items: Fan of Summer Breezes (1)
His more stable position as a member of Three Lakes helped Bartholomeus develop his abilities, but also his confidence in them. So, with the Verditius Contest coming, he decided to attend, hoping to get to know more of his fellow Verditius. By that time, however, rumours of the magical sickness were starting to reach even Novgorod, so other in Three Lakes advised against doing so. Things were becoming tense out there, they said. But Bartholomeus was eager to improve his reputation. He dared not enter the Contest itself, but it would be a good time to showcase the items he could craft.
This soon meant getting more raw vis, as he did not have enough to enchant all the items he wanted to display. So he spent some time preparing a wand for a magus who was looking to hunt a dragon (a wand of elm with an emerald and glass).
This gave him plenty of vis to enchant a very useful item, which he called the Staff of the Cargo Master, with several effects to help transport and handle bulky cargo.
Year 16: Terram (10 xp), Vim (30 xp) -- 1 point of Warping, Aging roll -11 (roll 3, +4 for age, -15 for LR, -3 for Bronze Cord; no aging effect)
Year 17: Seasons Not Advanced (30 xp), Perdo (10 xp) -- 1 point of Warping, Aging roll -12 (roll 2, +5 for age, -15 for LR, -3 for Bronze Cord, -1 for lab Health bonus; no aging effect)
Year 18: Perdo (5 xp), Vim (5 xp), Seasons Not Advanced (30 xp) -- 1 point of Warping, Aging roll -9 (roll 5, +5 for age, -15 for LR, -3 for Bronze Cord, -1 for lab Health bonus; no aging effect)
Year 19: Seasons Not Advanced (10 xp), Rego (30 xp) -- 1 point of Warping, Aging roll 4 (roll 18, +5 for age, -15 for LR, -3 for Bronze Cord, -1 for lab Health bonus; apparent age increases by 1)
Year 20: Rego (10 xp), Seasons Not Advanced (30 xp) -- 1 point of Warping, Aging roll -6 (roll 8, +5 for age, -15 for LR, -3 for Bronze Cord, -1 for lab Health bonus; no aging effect)
Details of lab activities:
- Prepare item for enchantment: Wand of elm with glass and an emerald (20 pawns of space) -- Costs 15 pawns (4 for wood wand, 1 for glass, 15 for emerald, -5 for Craft) -- Sell for 60 pawns
- Prepare item for enchantment: Staff of the Cargo master -- Staff of linden bound with iron (18 pawns of space) -- Costs 12 pawns (8 for wood staff, 10 for small iron, -6 for Craft including specialty)
- Invest effect into Staff of the Cargo Master: Lab total 77 (Int 5, MT 7+1, Mu 18, Te/An/He 10, Focus 10, Inventive Genius 3, Aura 3, Familiar 5, Craft 5+1, Philosophiae 4+1, similar spell 4) -- Costs 4 pawns
The Burdensome Cargo Reduced (MuTe/He/An 35)
R:Touch, D:Moon, T:Ind; Unlimited Uses
This spell shrinks an inanimate object originally no bigger than a large chest. Each of the object's dimension is reduced to one-tenth and its weight is divided by a thousand. The size decrease is based on the object’s original, natural size, so objects which have already been shrunk only go down to one-tenth of their original dimensions. Noble elements like gold, silver, and gems, are not affected by this spell. If any part of the item resists shrinkage, the item as a whole does not shrink. Animal and Herbam requisites have been included to cover targets of these Forms.
(Base 4, +1 Touch, +3 Moon, +1 excessive size decrease; +10 unlimited uses) - Learn spells from lab texts: Unravelling the Fabric of Terram (PeVi 20), Unravelling the Fabric of Animal (PeVi 15) -- Lab total 35 (Int 5, MT 7, Pe 5, Vi 9, similar spell 1, Aura 3, Familiar 5)
- Invest effect into Staff of the Cargo Master: Lab total 54 (Int 5, MT 7+1, Pe 5, Vi 9, Inventive Genius 3, Craft 5+1, Philosophiae 4+1, Aura 3, Familiar 5, similar spell 4, S&M bonus 3 "+4 destroy things at a distance" capped by MT score) -- 18 points accumulated -- Costs 4 pawns
Unravelling the Fabric of Terram (PeVi 36)
R:Touch, D:Mom, T:Ind; Unlimited Uses
This power will cancel the effects of any one Terram spell or effect whose level is less 26 + stress die. As the spell of the same name (ArM5 p.161).
(Base 16, +2 Voice; +10 unlimited uses) - Invest effect into Staff of the Cargo Master: Complete Unravelling the Fabric of Terram.
- Invest 2 effects into Staff of the Cargo Master: Lab total 64 (Int 5, MT 7+1, Mu 18, He/Te 10, Inventive Genius 3, Craft 5+1, Philosophiae 4+1, Aura 3, Familiar 5, Previous Mu or Te effect enchanted 1) -- Costs 3 pawns
The Unbreakable Staff (MuTe/He 19)
R:Per, D:Sun, T:Ind; Constant use
Makes the staff unbreakable and resistant to wear.
(Base 4, +2 Sun, +1 further hardness; +4 constant use)
Supple Iron and Rigid Rope (MuTe/He/An 10)
R:Touch, D:Diam, T:Ind; 24 uses per day
Makes a a flexible object stiff or a stiff object flexible. The power can affect objects made of Terram, Herbam and Animal. (See the spell of the same name, ArM5 p.154).
(Base 3, +1 Touch, +1 Diam; +5 for 24 uses per day) - Invest effect into Staff of the Cargo Master: Lab total 61 (Int 5, MT 7+1, Re 10, Te/He/An 10, Inventive Genius 3, Craft 5+1, Philosophiae 4+1, S&M bonus 3, Aura 3, Familiar 5, Previous Re or Te effects enchanted 3) -- Costs 3 pawns
Levitate the Ponderous Cargo (ReTe/He/An 30)
R:Voice, D:Conc, T:Ind; Unlimited Uses
Move an object through the air as fast as a bird flies. When the user stops concentrating, the object immediately falls to the ground. The power can levitate items made of Terram, Herbam and Animal. (See Ominous Levitation of the Ponderous Stone, HoH:S p.38).
(Base 3, +2 Voice, +1 Conc, +2 affect metal; +10 unlimited uses) - Invent spell: Lab total 46 (Int 5, MT 7, Mu 18, Te/Au 10, Inventive Genius 3, Aura 3) -- 16 points accumulated
Fogarize (MuTe/Au 30)
R:Voice, D:Conc, T:Part
This spell turns a section of stone or metal (or an individual object, if small enough) into fog. This can weaken a structure (causing it to collaspe) when no longer properly supported, or excavate a hole into a wall as the fog flows down. If cast upon the ground, anyone standing upon that section immediately falls through the fog to the bottom of the hole. Catching someone in such a manner requires an Aiming roll.
(Base 3 Change dirt into air, +2 Voice, +1 Conc, +1 Part, +1 size, +2 affect stone, metal and gems) - Invent spell: Complete Fogarize
Build Points: 91 bp
- 68 left over from previous period
- 25 added
- 2 converted to vis
Raw Vis: 34 pawns
- 5 left over from previous period
- 70 added (10 from bp, 60 from selling item)
- 41 spent to enchant items
Enchanted items: Fan of Summer Breezes (1), Staff of the Cargo Master
After more than a decade as a full magus, Bartholomeus travels to Verdi for the Verditius Contest, hoping to show that he was really a good craftsman, despite the curse that hung on him. Unfortunately, with so much of his time he had lived on the fringe of the Order. All that the members of the House knew of him was based on his reputation. When he presented his work, he was ridiculed for the lack of sophistication of his work. He tried establishing contacts and exchanging ideas other Verditius magi, but he was mostly turned away. The only one who’d been decent to him was a dwarf-blooded maga called Calpurnia, but she’d been busy with her apprentice. And he’d of course spilled a goblet of wine on her. But she’d still promised to answer his letters, should he want to correspond.
Unfortunately, it was during his absence that Novgorod announced that it was closing its borders. When he contacted his covenant, Three Lakes notified him that he was no longer welcomed and should not try to return upon pain of death. Stranded away from what he’d believed to be his home with only a few grogs, his familiar and his magical items, Bartholomeus spent a few miserable years trying to find a place to fit in.
He finally relocated to Saxony, the land of his youth. Many covenants were closing their walls to newcomers and wandering magi. After a while, he set up a basic laboratory in an isolated minor aura in the Lüneburg Heath, writing letters and gathering what resources he could. It took several years before he’d recovered what he could of his formed belongings from Three Lakes, through the efforts of redcap intermediaries. Meanwhile, he wrote to every single magus he’d met along the years, trying to find a group of magi he could join in safety. Calpurnia was one of the few who answered.
While he waited for his belongings from Three Lakes to catch up with him, he crafted a few additional lesser items to make his life more comfortable for himself and the group of people that gathered around him, as well as for protection. This group came to be through the efforts of his grogs, who welcomed all kinds of people displaced by conflicts or outcast from normal society, promising protection by their master in exchange for allegiance and service. Though a bit dismayed by the responsibility this placed upon him, Bartholomeus tried his best to use his magic to help them.
This was not without suffering, for on two different occasion the small community was attacked by bands of brigands, one of them led by a rogue magus looking to pilfer the vis that could be found here. The magus was apparently weakened by the affliction, for Bartholomeus was able to defeat him by burying him and his men alive. Several of those who’d gathered around him were wounded and a few killed in the attacks, but things would have been much worse without him.
After searching for many years for the proper materials, he also gathered the components he could use to craft his talisman, amongst them the twisted branch from a lightning-struck hornbeam. He inlaid it with silver and electrum spiraling along its length, and topped it with the small likeness of a hare made of rock crystal (clear quartz), clutching a piece of amber.
The time came to leave Saxony, however, as the letters he wrote finally bore results. A group of magi were ready to establish a new covenant in the far north, in Finland. Not all who’d gathered around him decided to follow, but many did.
Year 21: Survival (10 xp), Bargain (5 xp), Organization Lore: Order of Hermes (5 xp), Concentration (10 xp), Area Lore: Saxony (10 xp) -- 1 point of Warping, Aging roll -9 (roll 3, +5 for age, +1 poor living conditions, -15 for LR, -3 for Bronze Cord; no aging effect)
Year 22: Seasons Not Advanced (10 xp), Craft: Wood (10 xp), Finesse (5 xp), Parma Magica (5 xp), Creo (10 xp) -- 1 point of Warping, Aging roll -7 (roll 5, +5 for age, +1 poor living conditions, -15 for LR, -3 for Bronze Cord; no aging effect)
Year 23: Seasons Not Advanced (20 xp), Creo (10 xp), Parma Magica (10 xp) -- 1 point of Warping, Aging roll -13 (roll 0, +5 for age, +1 poor living conditions, -15 for LR, -3 for Bronze Cord, -1 for lab Health bonus; no aging effect)
Year 24: Seasons Not Advanced (20 xp), Creo (10 xp), Swim (5 xp), Area Lore: Finland (5 xp) -- 1 point of Warping, Aging roll -13 (roll 0, +5 for age, +1 poor living conditions, -15 for LR, -3 for Bronze Cord, -1 for lab Health bonus; no aging effect)
Details of lab activities:
- Enchant lesser item: Lab total 48 (Int 5, MT 7+1, Re 10, Au 5, Inventive Genius 3, Craft 5, Philosophiae 4+1, Aura 2, Familiar 5) -- Costs 2 pawns
Barrel of the Evening's Freshwater Bounty (ReAu 20)
R:Sight, D:Conc, T:Ind; 24 uses per day, item maintains concentration
This oak barrel has been enchanted with an effect that gathers freshwater from the surrounding weather phenomena, such as rain, clouds, fog or even dew. The time needed for the barrel to become full depends on the weather conditions, from only a minute when it rains to an hour on a regular night with only a light dew. In a desert, it would probably only work at night and probably take the whole night to fill. The effects ends when the barrel is filled, but the water can be tranferred to a different container and the power activated again. Bartholomeus' sigil means that the barrel is not quite round.
(Base 2, +3 Sight, +1 Conc; +5 item maintains concentration, +5 for 24 uses per day) - Enchant lesser item: Lab total 50 (Int 5, MT 7+1, Cr 7, An/He 10, Inventive Genius 3, Craft 5, Philosophiae 4+1, Aura 2, Familiar 5) -- Costs 3 pawns
Preservation Charm (CrAn/He 24)
R:Touch, D:Sun, T:Room; constant use
All food kept in the same room as the Preserving Charm is protected from decay and rot until either the food or the staff is removed from the room. Foods kept within the same room as the token for long periods of time will undergo Warping from the continuous magical effect. When placed within a chest, the charm only affects the contents of the chest.
(Base 2, +1 Touch, +2 Sun, +2 Room, +1 requisite; +4 constant use) - Enchant lesser item: Lab total 53 (Int 5, MT 7+1, Cr 7, He 10, Inventive Genius 3, Craft 5, Philosophiae 4+1, S&M bonus 3, Aura 2, Familiar 5) -- Costs 3 pawns
Wand of Firewood Aplenty (CrHe 26)
R:Touch, D:Moon, T:Group; 2 uses per day
Creates 100 pieces of cut firewood. Due to Bartholomeus' sigil, the pieces of wood tend to be crooked or twisted, unsuitable for anything but burning, and do not stack easily.
(Base 1, +1 Touch, +3 Moon, +2 Group, +1 size, +1 treated product; +1 for 2 uses per day) - Prepare item for enchantment: Staff of the Hare -- Staff of hornbeam struck by lightning, inlaid with silver and electrum, topped by a miniature hare of rock crystal (pure quartz) clutching a piece of amber -- Costs 6 pawns (12 for tiny semi-precious gem - 6 for Craft including specialty)
- Invest effect into staff of hornbeam: Use lab text for Unravelling the Fabric of Terram (PeVi 36) enchanted in year 18 -- Lab total 52 (Int 5, MT 7+1, Pe 5, Vi 9, Craft 5+1, Philosophiae 4+1, Aura 2, Familiar 5, similar spell 4, S&M bonus 3) -- Costs 4 pawns
Build Points: 111 bp
- 91 left over from previous period
- 20 added
Raw Vis: 16 pawns
- 34 left over from previous period
- 18 spent to enchant items
Enchanted items: Fan of Summer Breezes (1), Staff of the Cargo Master, Barrel of the Evening's Freshwater Bounty, Preservation Charm, Wand of Firewood Aplenty, Staff of the Hare
Is opening an item for enchantment really something that we can do for hire, selling for 3x the vis cost? Because that is by far the most efficient use of a season that I can think of. (A profit of 45 vis for one season of work? Sign me up!)
Yes, I realize that Bartholomeus has the advantage of being a Verditius and needing only 15 vis to open the item, whereas most everyone else needs 20 (and a higher MT). But even without that efficiency, selling an opened item is staggeringly good for return on investment.
Assuming a similar MT of 8 for a non-Verditius, that's still opening a device with 15 pawns of space for 15 vis and selling it for 45 vis, a profit of 30 vis for a season of work. Nothing else even comes close.
When I asked about it, Jonathan stated that this service was only in demand in limited circumstances. In his reply he specified:
I limited myself to doing this only once for a big-ticket item like that, with a few other times Bartholomeus enchanting and selling lesser items instead. So I think I was reasonable here. I even gave the item a specific purpose for the opening: "So he spent some time preparing a wand for a magus who was looking to hunt a dragon (a wand of elm with an emerald and glass)." That specific makeup provided multiple bonuses for someone looking to enchant destructive effects against dragonkind, and wouldn't have been easy to prepare by a more action-oriented magus. Getting Magic Theory to 10 is a massive investment of xp.
True, not everyone gets up to 10 MT. But 45 vis for a single season of work? Doesn't that seem a bit excessive?
Normally to make an item that costs 20 vis would require making an item with a level of 191-200, not really in the realm of possibility. Opening an item for enchantment is odd because it's only based on MT not TeFo.
That all having been said, if it's allowable, does that mean that the rest of us can have a bite at that apple if we had our MT up to level 10? (Not quite as hard with Puissant MT.) That's a profit of 40 vis for a season of service, and well worth the investment, in my opinion.
I know that JL was keen on limiting the vis available during character generation to force us to make difficult decisions about what to spend it on. But it seems to me that with opened items for sale and PVSs, it's fairly easy to do an end run around that limit and avoid the difficult choices. True, you have to spend a virtue or spend the seasons to get your MT up high enough (which comes with its own rewards). But it still seems eminently doable to get plenty of vis to do all that you want during character generation.
Still, I'll follow the rules as they're set forth. I just want to make sure I understand them properly.
Selling items is kind of a raison d'etre for House Verditius, though. Prices for non Verditius selling things will vary...
I understand that House Verditius sells items. It's what they do. But if there were an activity that gave a profit of 40 vis for a season of work, don't you think that others would try and get in on it too?
I'm thinking that a high MT Bonisagus might see his Verditius sodales getting 45 vis for a season of work and think, "I could do that too." Wouldn't basic economics say that the Bonisagus will try and get in on the deal? After all, he's just as capable of opening up a complex item with his high MT. And with his lab work, he'd have a constant need for vis.
In fact, realistically, the Bonisagus would probably try and undercut the Verditius (who can't negotiate) by dropping the price a little. "The Verditius magus says he'll charge 60 vis for the item? I'll do it for 50. That's still a profit of 30 vis for me." That would mean that no one would hire a Verditius for opening a complex item because other magi would do it cheaper.
Presumes that the Bonisagus is doing things for vis profit and not pursuing lab activities. Also, it presumes that such a Bonisagus does this regularly and is known to do this regularly. I'm not certain that those are reasonable positions. A Bonisagus with a high MT score might very well be capable of doing such a thing, but it's not necessarily clear that others would know what he could do AND/OR he's willing to sell that capability as a service.
That being said, I'm not saying no, so much as proceed with caution.
Understood. Thanks for the clarification. I'll probably take the route Calpurnia did and take a PVS for character generation. As your comments imply, that would fit the concept of a Bonisagus more.
Ever since his Gift has awakened in his youth, Bartholomeus' hair has been a source of Vim vis. Every year near the end of winter, his hair gradually changes color from its usual red to silvery-white. When spring comes, his white hair simply falls off (though it can also be cut off as soon as all of it is white), to be replaced by new growth of red hair.