Cata, filia Pralicis (development and sheet)

Play by Post Campaigns Ars Magica 5th Edition: Light of Andorra
1

Cata ex Miscellanea, filia Pralicis, 14 pg (=ready to play, I believe)

A gently gifted maga motivated by her beloved husband and children. She is good at perceiving magic and finesse. She mostly uses Herbam and Imaginem magics, and is a generalist. Her favorite battle tactics include using Arcane connections, using armed wooden servants, and shooting pieces of wood using herbam vilano spells. She tries to stay out of danger by flying on a wooden chair, becoming invisible or using wizard's sidestep. She has magics that allow her to scry on and communicate with her family wherever they are. Her latest plan is to join House Flambeau.

Characteristics: Int +3, Per +5, Pre +0, Com +0, Str -1, Sta +1, Dex -1, Qik -1
Size: 0
Age: 36(35)
Decreptitude: 0
Warping Score: 0(4)
Confidence Score: 1(3)
Virtues and Flaws: The Gentle Gift; Hermetic Maga; Comprehend Magic (House Virtue); Cautious with Finesse, Great Perception (2x),Improved Characteristics, Inventive Genius, Puissant, Minor Magical Focus: Exotic Magic (House Virtue), Puissant Comprehend Magic, Puissant Finesse, True Love: Miguel (Acquired Virtue); Dependents: children, Study Requirement, Weak Magic Resistance for Pralicians (House Flaw); Ability Block (martial), Harmless Magic, Meddler (minor), overconfident (minor)
Personality Traits: Meddler +2, Overconfident +2, True Love (Miguel) +3, Caring+1
Reputation: none
Combat: -
Soak: +1 (+4 with Doublet of Impenetrable Silk, usually active)
Fatigue: OK, 0, -1, -3, -5, Unconscious
Wound Penalties: -1 (1-5), -3 (6-10), -5 (11-15), Incapacitated (16-20)
Abilities: Animal Handling (Horses) 1, Area Lore Catalonia (Barcelona) 2, Artes Liberales (Astronomy) 1, Athletics (running) 1, Awareness (search) 2, Charm (wit) 1, Code of Hermes (Certamen) 1, Comprehend magic (magic beings) 4+2, Concentration (spells) 1, Etiquette (Patrician) 1, Finesse (precision) 3+2, Folk Ken (children) 1, Guile (disguise) 1, Intrigue (allies) 2, Latin (Hermetic) 4, Leadership (children) 1, Magic Lore (Hedgies) 1, Magic Theory (Muto) 4, Medicine (children) 1, Occitan (Catalan, Merchants) 5, Order of Hermes Lore (ex Miscellanea), Parma (Shared) 3, Penetration (using an arcane connection) 2, Philosophy (ceremonial casting), Profession: Scribe (hermetic magic ) 1, Riding (long distance) 1, Stealth (inside a building) 1, Survival (cooking) 1, Swim (sea) 1, Teaching (children) 1
Arts: Cr 5, In 8, Mu 9, Pe 5, Re 8, An 6 Aq 5(2), Au 5, Co 5(1), He 10, Ig 5 Im 7(2), Me 6, Te 5, Vi 6
Twilight Scars: none
Equipment: Talisman robes (pocket 1: full of wooden statues turned to grain, pocket 2: a set of elegant wooden chairs turned to grain, pocket 3: spears turned to grain, pocket 4: wooden crates turned to grain), Arcane Connections to Miguel (Fixed) and Miguelito (Fixed), as well as to her other children, the nanny and her sanctum (not fixed), longevity ritual lvl50
Encumbrance: 0(0)
Spell Sigil: Clarity
Casting Sigil: Crystal lens
Spells known (TeFo+Sta+Talisman):
Doublet of Impenetrable Silk (MuAn15) +16
Warm And Dry (ReAq(Ig)10) +14
Ease the Suffering of Childbirth (MuCo15) +16
The Inexorable Search (InCo20) +15
Long Shot (ReHe15) +22
The Magic Carpenter (ReHe25) +22
Pinocchio (ReHe25) +22
The Flying Armchair (ReHe25) +22
Clothe the Wooden Puppet (MuIm15) +13
Summoning the Distant Image (InIm25) +16
Veil of Invisibility (PeIm20) +15
Voice of the Distant Lover (ReIm20) +16
Kiss Goodnight (ReMe10) +15
The Minute of Reckoning (ReVi10) +16

Custom Spells explained:

Warm And Dry (ReAq(Ig)10)
R: Touch, D: Sun, T: Ind
This spell keeps the target dry, and wards the effects of cold rain, sleet or snow, keeping the recipient comfortably warm. The spell provides a +3 bonus to cold-related damage (from spellswiki)
(Base 1, +1 Touch, +2 Sun, +1 Ignem requisite, +1 for slightly unnatural control)

Ease the Suffering of Childbirth (see MoH 22)

Long Shot (ReHe15) +22 (see Acorns for Amusement TOME 55, Range: Sight, Vilano version)

The Magic Carpenter (ReHe25) +22 (from Covenants)

Pinocchio (ReHe25) +22 (=Carved Assassin from TOME 55, errata included)

The Flying Armchair (ReHe25)
R: Touch, D: Sun, T: Ind.
Cata the Pralician invented this spell so she could quickly fly around in her armchair. Concentration is needed for the chair to move, when it ceases, the chair hovers in midair. Finesse can be used for fancy flying tricks.
(Base 5, +1 Touch, +2 Sun)

Clothe the Wooden Puppet (MuIm15)
R: Touch, D: Sun, T: Ind.
Makes a wooden statue look, sound, smell and feel like a living person. Cata the Pralician uses this spell to disguise he wooden servants when mundanes are around
(Base 4, +1 Touch, +2 Sun)

Voice of the Distant Lover (ReIm20)
R: Pers., D: conc., T: Ind.
Allows a Maga to project her voice to a location she has an Arcane Connection to. Cata the Pralician invented the spell to secretly talk to her distant lover.
(Base 15; +1 diameter)

Kiss Goodnight (ReMe10)
R: Touch, D: Sun, T: ind.
Cata the Pralician invented this spell to be able to send her children into a deep magical sleep from which they were unable to rise all night. Because of her sigil, the dreams under the influence of this spell are clearly remembered. She can also use this spell with an Arcane Tunnel effect to send someone to sleep from a distance.

The Minute of Reckoning (ReVi10) +16 (from HP 80)

Talisman – Cata’s Robes
Cata’s talisman is a practical hooded brown riding dress made of linen with many pockets. Its buttons are made from Rowan, Birch, and Apple wood. The dress allows her to change her body and outfit into that of any other human (that fits into the dress) whenever she wants. She can make herself or others look better, and evade attacks by the use of illusion. The dress can also turn wooden objects into grain, which greatly facilitates transportation and shoot these objects using a Vilano effect.
Vis spent to open: 12 pawns (all filled with enchantments)

Anydress
MuHe10
Pen n/a, 24 uses/day, item maintains concentration
R: Per., D: conc., T: group
Changes Cata’s dress into any set of clothes she wants including things like gloves, a cloak or a veil (as long as it’s all made from Herbam. Maximum10 pieces of clothing). Finesse is needed to make clothes that look good and fit well. This can give a bonus to social interaction, disguise, or stealth.
(Base 3, +1 conc, +2 group.; Modifications: +5 item maintains concentration, +10 unlimited uses)

Mother’s Blessing
MuIm5
Pen n/a, unlimited uses, item maintains concentration
R: Touch, D: conc., T: Ind.
Cata uses this spell on her family and on herself occasionally. Like Aura of Ennobled Presence, but can be turned on and off at will (very useful when you have to flee the throne room because your speech failed to move the evil king)
(Base 3, +1 Touch, +1 Conc.; Modifications: +5 item maintains concentration, +10 unlimited uses)

Anyman
MuCo5
Pen n/a, unlimited uses, item maintains concentration
R: Touch, D: conc., T: Ind.
Cata uses this spell to take on the form of other people or disguise her family .
(Base 3, +1 Touch, +1 Conc.; Modifications: +5 item maintains concentration, +10 unlimited uses)

Wizard’s Sidestep
ReIm5
Pen n/a, unlimited uses, item maintains conc.
R: Pers., D: conc., T: Ind.
Cata used to cast a spontaneous version of Wizard’s sidestep, but when her husband tried to kiss her after they had hunted a pack of wolves and missed her by almost a pace, she realized that she needed a version of the spell she could end whenever needed. That is why she chose to imbed it into her talisman.
(Base 4, +1 conc.; Modifications: +5 item maintains concentration, +10 unlimited uses)

Pocket full of grain
MuHe5
Pen 0, unlimited uses, item maintains conc.
R: Touch, D: conc., T: Ind.
Cata the Pralician is not a strong woman. In battle she uses Aimed Herbam spells. To make sure that there is always some wood around for her to use, she prepares and then puts the items into the pockets of her dress. The effect transforms up to a a piece of wood (up to a cubic pace) into a grain, which makes it a lot easier to carry around. To end the effect, Cata has to take one grain (or more) out of her pocket and throw it away. Cata’s dress has several pockets for different items (a dozen fancy magic-looking rods that she uses to confuse people watching her, wooden containers, spears and wooden arrows in different sizes, statuettes up to the size of a small human, and even a set of ornate chairs carved from a single piece of wood)
(Base 3, +1 touch, +1 conc; Modifications: +5 item maintains concentration, +10 unlimited uses)

Acorns for Amusement – Vilano style
ReHe10
Pen 0, unlimited uses, item maintains conc.
R: Voice, D: Mom., T: Ind.
Cata imbedded this effect to be able to use her primary form of attack in all auras. It allows her to pick up a piece of wood within voice range and shoot it at an enemy within voice range. A Finesse roll is needed. Damage depends on the item used (+0 to +10). She usually carries plenty of ammo in her dress.
(Base 4, +2 Voice; Modifications: +10 unlimited uses)

Attunements:
+1 Cr, Co, Vi
+4 dead wood
+3 living wood
+4 protect self

2

Character history

Elionor Sala was born as the natural daughter Matieu Grony, the son of a Barcelona Patrician and Anna, a maid in the house of Matieu’s father. Although Elinor was never officially recognized, mother and daughter were allowed to stay with the Patrician household and she got even to spent time with her father.

Elionor managed to charm Matieu into taking her along on some of his business trips through Catalonia, and she learned even more by just observing how business was done at the house.

There was a talented a Pralician apprentice named Cata, who preferred wandering through the forest with a herbam summa to learning magic to destroy wondrous creatures. There, she started dating a boy named Miguel, who could talk to animals and was to supposed to become the apprentice of the resident Bjornaer magus. Since his master insisted that he learn Latin first, she undertook it to open the boy’s arts herself.
She totally ruined the boy’s gift. He forgave her easily, but his master didn’t. The Pralician (together with his troublesome apprentice) were expelled from the covenant they lived at and forced to move elsewhere. To add insult to injury, the apprentice turned out to be bearing the boy’s child.

Year 1, winter : Fix an arcane connection to Miguel’s ring (her lover). Miguel’s ring is a simple silver ring. Exposure MT 2xp
Year 1, spring: fixes an Arcane Connection to Miguelito (her son, age 1). It is a small wooden crucifix that can be worn around the neck (she had put it into his bed the day he was born). Exposure Vim 1xp, In 1xp.
Year1, summer: Miguelito starts walking, but is very scared by the other magi at her covenant. Cata improves her Parma and changes her specialty to “Sharing Parma”. The nursemaid reports that he is much happier now.
Year 1: Fall: Cata takes off a season to look after her son herself, which proves to be quite an adventure: She learns more about teaching (children) 1 and about medicine (children) 1 (10xp). She can’t really enjoy it, because she still misses Miguel and has no idea where he might be.

Year 2, winter: She wants to invent the inexorable search, but since she doesn’t know the magic to cast it, she first improves her Co to 5and In 5(1) (30xp).
Year 2, fall: She invents ‘The inexorable Search’ InCo20 using a lab text and learns where the Bjornaer magus has taken Miguel. She writes to the Bjornaer magus, begging him to return Miguel to her and even offering Vis as compensation. There is no answer. Exposure: MT 2xp

Year 3, winter and spring: To be able to watch her son while working and to see how Miguel is doing, Cata needs a scrying spell. Cata reads to increase In to 8
Year 3, summer: Cata invents ‘Summoning the distant image’ (InIm25) using a lab text. It is quite useful for watching her son (who gets a new nanny now she sees how negligent the old one is), but fails to reveal much about Miguel (who is often either outdoors – not in a room – or behind an aegis). Exposure MT: 2xp
Year 3, fall: Cata studies penetration to be able to see Miguel anyway Penetration 2 (using an arcane connection). With a bit of luck she manages to make a nativity horoscope for Miguel. Carving a figuring using craft magic is easy for her. Now she has a penetration ability of (2+1) and a multiplier of 9, which allows her to penetrate the Bjornaer’s covenant. The first time she watches Miguel, she hears him whisper her name in his sleep. She also sees that the bjornaer magus uses him as a lab slave: Deeply moved she decides she must free him as soon as possible. Before she mounts a rescue operation, she must prepare.

Year 4, winter: Cata improves her comprehend magic ability to 2 (hermetic magic). Using her spell, she studies the Bjornaer magus when he renews his parma and finds out his magical strengths (like herself, he is very good at Animal, followed by Herbam as a close second). He is weaker than Cata at Rego, and has big problems with intellego, which suits her just fine.
Year 4, spring: Although he’s almost 20 years out of gauntlet, she sends him an open heart-breaking letter to challenge him to certamen without using vis over Miguel at the beginning of the season and then delves into her Herbam books to prepare (10xp).
Year 4, summer: The Bjornaer refuses to duel, claiming that Miguel is rightly his and citing tribunal rulings to make it clear that he can get away with it. Magi from all over Mythic Europe write her to express sympathy for the young lovers. Miguel still has no idea about it all. She starts looking at the Code of Hermes (certamen) 1 (5xp), but sees that his argument is solid. She decides to kill him in a Wizard’s War.
Year 4, fall and

Year 5, winter, spring: She decides she needs to inform Miguel before striking against the Bjornaer. To do so, she needs a means of talking to him. She decides to invent a spell called “Voice of the distant lover” (ReIm20; base 15; +1 conc) that allows her to contact him. But since her lab total and concentration are insufficient, to do it in one season, she decides to raise both Rego to 8 and Imaginem to 7 first. She also improves her concentration (spells) 1. (30xp)
Year 5, summer: She finally invents the spell Voice of the distant lover” (ReIm20; base 15; +1 conc). Now she can talk to Miguel and listen to his answers. She asks him to get her an arcane connection to his master. Exposure: MT 2xp.
Year 5, fall and

Year 6, winter: Cata studies mentem 5(5) (20xp)
Year 6, spring and summer: Cata raises vim from 1 to 6 (20xp)
Year 6, fall: Cata invents “The Minute of Reckoning (ReVi10)” (HP 80), exposure: MT: 2xp

Year 7, winter: Using her new spells to stay in touch with her son, Cata summons a magical chair and flies it across Europe and back to pick up an arcane connection to her enemy that was dropped by an animal friend of Miguel’s. This improves her flying skills: Finesse 2 (10xp)
Year 7, spring summer fall:
Wizard’s War against the Bjornaer Magus: Wizard’s war is declared. Cata uses her spying and intangible tunnel spell together with her arcane connection (bolstered by name, horoscope, and figurine) to attack the Bjornaer magus hiding inside his lab at sunset. Since he is in his wolf heartbeast form, her newly acquired Mentem skills are wasted, but a spontaneous ReAn spell puts him to sleep for a diameter. She contacts Miguel, who is locked up for the duration of wizard’s war. That doesn’t stop him from calling on the covenant’s birds to attack the sleeping magus in his wolf shape. The birds tear the helpless magus to pieces.
Cata then flies to Miguel and informs the resident magi of the death of their sodalist. They come to an arraignment: The covenant gets to keep all of the Bjornaer’s possessions except Miguel. And the reunited loves? They take some time off and ride into the sunset… (2 Virtue seasons to gain: true love, one unproductive season)

Second cycle:
Year 8, winter: Cata realizes that she is pregnant with twins. Although the covenant has a decent midwife, she remembers the pains of labour too well and decides to use magic to help with the birth. But even with Miguel’s help, she is unable to develop a fitting spell, which is why she decides to improve her magical theory to 4 first and to change her focus to Muto (10xp).
Year 8, spring: Although she is reluctant to ask, Miguel is willing to assist her in creating the spell “Ease the suffering of childbirth (MuCo15, from MoH 22). Exposure: 1xp added to Mu and Co each
Year 8, summer: Javier and Joaquin are born. Cata takes care of them herself (season “wasted”). She also has a robe made for her from linen.
Year 8, fall: The enthusiasm of being a mother of twins doesn’t last long, and Cata happily leaves her twins in the hands of nurses (that she magically supervises. Don’t forget: she is a meddler, which is an old-fashioned term for helicopter mum). With winter approaching fats, she decides she needs some way of keeping the baby warm. Therefore she studies Ig 4 (10xp)

Year 9, winter and spring: she improves her Ig 5 and Aq 5 (20xp)
Year 9, summer: Cata invents the spell “Warm and dry” ReAq(Ig)10 (Base 1, +1 Touch, +2 Sun, +1 Ignem requisite, +1 for slightly unnatural control) to protect her husband/kids against bad weather. Miguel jokes that she made it day duration to make sure he comes home at sunset. Exposure: 2xp Aq.
Year 9, fall: Cata decides to create a Talisman, a practical hooded brown riding dress made of linen with many pockets. Its buttons are made from Rowan, Birch, and Apple wood. She attunes it to herself and invests 12p of vis. Exposure: 2xp to comprehend magic

Year 10, winter, spring, summer: Cata greatly improves her muto magic because she wants to enchant her dress Mu 9 (30xp).
Year 10, fall: Cata imbeds a spell that allows her to completely control how her outfit looks, sounds, smells and feels (finesse needed to create special effects or imitate existing clothes). Unlike a spell, she can make the effect end whenever she wishes to do so. This can grant a bonus to social interaction or stealth.
Change outfit effect: MuHe (base3, +1 conc, +2 group); 24/day +5, + 5 item maintains conc: lvl 20
MuHe. Attunement: +4 affect dead wood 2/12 filled; exposure 2xp to comprehend magic

Year 11, winter: Talisman effect: Mother’s Blessing (MuIm5, Like Aura of ennobled presence, but with a conc duration); +5 item maintains con, +10 unlimited used); Ever seen a mother straighten her children’s hair before she sends them off to school? Cata uses this spell to beautify friends and family. She sometimes also uses it on herself – but not for a whole day (she can’t admit to herself that she is so vain)– only sometimes…
Exposure: 2 xp to comprehend magic, Attunement: +1 Cr, 4/12 filled
Year 11, spring: Cata imbeds Wizard’s sidestep into her dress (conc duration, item maintains conc, unlimited uses). Exposure: 2 xp to comprehend magic, Attunement: +1 Co, 6/12 filled
Year 11, summer: Cata imbeds an effect that allows her to change her body (mostly to disguise herself as a man in public); MuCo5 (Base 3, +1 conc, +1 includes sex change; +5 item maintains conc, +10 unlimited uses) Exposure: 2 xp to comprehend magic, Attunement: +1 Vi, 8/12 filled
Year 11, fall: Cata imbeds an effect that changes pieces of wood (her weapons and statues) into grains of wheat, when they touch a pocket of the dress MuHe (B3, +1 touch, +1 conc; +5 item maintains concentration, unlimited uses). This effect allows her to carry an almost unlimited supply of carved wooden figures and spears that she can use in battle
Exposure: 2 xp to comprehend magic; attunement: +3 affect living wood 10/12 filled

Year 12, winter: Cata imbeds ‘Acorns for Amusement – Vilano style’( ReHe10, +10 unlimited uses) into her dress, so she can safely use the spell even inside a strong hostile aura and without words and gestures, Exposure: 2 xp to comprehend magic, attunement: +4 protect self 12/12 filled
Year 12, spring, summer and fall: Reads up on Cr 5 and Pe 5 (30xp)

Years 13, winter: She decides to incent the spell “Kiss Goodnight” (ReMe10); Exposure: 1xp Comprehend Magic (rises to 3), 1 xp mentem (to 6)
Year 13, spring: She uses a labtext to invent “veil of invisibility” (PeIm20); exposure 2xp: Im
Year 13, summer and fall and

year 14, winter, spring summer, fall: Parma to 3 (shared) (15xp), finesse to 3 (15xp), Comprehend Magic to 4 (20xp), Philosophy (ceremonial casting), and concentration (spells) 1 (total: 60xp). Rosa is born.
Cata and her family decide to move to Andorra, because she wants to take Miguelito as an apprentice, but doesn’t want him to become an ex Misc magus, which is why she asks to join House Flambeau!
(she’d also accept it if another reputable mage were to train him)

Mustering out(2*21=42p):
2 lvl 50 longevity rituals bought (30p spent)
12p spent on Talisman
all vis has been spent!

3

Open questions:

  • Does she start with a reputation?
  • Is her Talisman okay?
  • Do you want me to stat the kids (extra thread/s?)?
  • Do she have grogs I can/must stat (a nanny maybe)?
4

IMO

  1. No rule for it, but it seems perfectly reasonable to me.
  2. No need
  3. If you want to. Giving their names is fine, too.

I totally hate this kind of thing.
"Let's drop a magnitude from "Disguise of the new visage", and I can do the same thing, only better?"
It's counter intuitive, and makes no sense regarding published material: Persephone of Tytalus, in MoH, has one effect to take a guy's face, another to take a guy's body, and even, IIRC, a third effect to take his voice. Why bother with all this, or at least the first 2 effects, if a lvl 05 spell could to the same? Likewise, the succubus's trick use this guideline to change your sex and nothing else (you look like a genderbend twin). This is a waste if you can change anything as you please.
How I see it, for what it's worth:

  • This works, but for one specific appearance, like "Take the face of Roberto" (which is still cheaper than what persephone did)
  • Add magnitudes for complexity, which, as it happens, is also the road taken in Sub Rosa with Belin of Mercere's item.

Assuming this can be done with that guideline, this seems awfully cheap.
Take, for exemple, Preternatural Growth and Shrinking (which uses a guideline which explicitely allows size changes): It only allows a +/- 2 size change: No taking a human and making him as small as a grain (which would be what? Size -12? -14?). Object of Increased Size is even more limited (doubling the size). This also does more than simply shrinking the items, since it also changes their appearance.

It also suffers from a fatal design flaw: Due to the flicker at sunrise/sunset, every item should regain its real size at this moment. Including a linked trigger doesn't help, as only Constant effects are truly seamless. At best (Group target, +1 size, linked trigger), all items would briefly regain their true size, becoming a huge problem, before shrinking again. I wouldn't like to be the robe, or wearing it, at that time.

5

I see and understand your points, Fixer.
The MuCo effect could easily get a +1 flexibility, if I limit the number of uses.

The thing is that the robe's ammo muto effect to help transporting things is central to the character's fighting style, because she won't be able to carry a single log, let alone a mannequin, without it. I thought all she had to do was concentrate for a second at sunrise and sunset to avoid the flickering (that was my reading of the rules for concentration items).

So it would have been really helpful to know that this doesn't work before the character was okayed. I even pointed out that I was uncertain if the robe's enchantments were okay.

As it is, I'm left with the ruins of a character idea.

6

:frowning: Sorry, wasn't there. I saw this thread, with the questions up front, and answered them :frowning:

You can perfectly concentrate at sunrise/sunset to offset the flickering.
Problem is, you need to concentrate on each effect, which is a problem I've tangled with more than once...
And there, you don't have one spell, but instead the same effect, cast a bazillion times, so the concentration EF would be insane :frowning:

You could work a little around this by making the spell Group target, with 1-2 extra sizes for magnitude, so you'd have to concentrate on one effect only.
This would work, but, although you could conceivably do this a long time, I wouldn't be willing to put my talisman and myself at such a risk: One little interuption is all you need, or being unaware of the sun/unable to act (say, you slept too much, or are wounded). OoC, Marko would never do this to you, but to me, in game, this is not something I'd do.

But don't worry, your fighting style is not dead yet!

Options:

  • First, I'd like to stress out that wooden items are pretty much everywhere at the time ^^
  • Still following Severin's exemple, carry a quiver of unfletched arrow shafts to throw around. These do +6 damage, IIRC.
  • You can have some mannequins follow you around, passing as humans. You already have the MuIm spell for this. And you can use ReHe to throw them at your ennemies, too, before they grapple with him!
  • If you really need a fresh mannequin, you can easily carve a new one given some wood, especially with your finesse. I believe the spell for this to be around ReHe 10, meaning... Re 8 + He 10 + Sta 1 mean you can spont this without trouble.
  • Assuming you can do a "reduce size" herbam spell, I'd avoid the flicker problem by giving it Moon duration, and using a low-level PeVi touch spell to dispell it as needed. And I'd empty my pockets carefully each month, in advance enough to avoid life's troubles. Picture the thing, though, with wood erupting from nothing! :wink:
  • Have a room full of logs. When you must go out, take a small bit from each log, keep these in a pouch. Then, when needed, cast an intangible tunnel to it, and then use a touch range ReHe spell to teleport the log to you (guidelines in TME, IIRC).

For the Muto Corpus spell, problem is, this'd make it equal in magnitude to Disguise of the New Visage, which makes little sense to me :frowning:
As an exemple, Wirth has this exact same effect designed as a Personnal lvl 15 spell, making it one magnitude higher than disguise of the new visage. The Belin article of Sub Rosa goes even further, adding 3 complexity magnitudes, 2 more than DotNV!
=> I'd change it for a Muto Imaginem spell akin to Disguise of the Transformed Image.

For the reputation, I'd say 5 "reputation XP" per cycle seem good to me, as a general rule. These could be piled on in a single reputation, or spread out among some.
So, for you, this'd mean a lvl 1 reputation in your choosing, such as "Fierce Warrior", "Surprising Underdog", "Not to be underestimated", or whatever you like.
What do people think about this?

7

Thanks Fixer.
I can't have Cata carry the logs herself (negative strength), but I can easily carve the mannequins in a way that allows them to carry stakes/bolts (whatever) - some pouch/backpack hole. She is also gently gifted, which means she can use a horse.

I need another day or two to think what I do with the carrying effect embedded
a) keep it for emergencies, but doesn't usually run around with pockets full of stuff
b) she exchanges it for sth else, like a teleport spell/effect.

8

Or you can use a T: Group and have a mob.

9

I thought about this all week.

Mannequins don't need to be exactly human-looking, since they're covered in illusions. So they can have imbeded quivers in their back, into which Cata can reach at will. Imagine her hand seemingly reaching into someone, only to pull an arrow out of him...
Similarly, I can imagine her having animated "dogs", with similar quivers on their backs

She can have a kind of multiple shot arbalest, only without the actual bow: Just the backpack, the handle, and a slight hole on the side or underside to touch the loaded quiver in order to send it flying.

I thought about the spell, too.

Assuming MuHe base 3 lets you shrink things, it stands to reason that it would work on a similar scale than Object of Increased Size: Weight divided by 8, dimensions divided by 2 in every direction. In Ars Magica terms, that's about a -3 to Size (Weight/10), one more than Preternatural Growth and Shrinking.
Still, this is too big and heavy for your purposes: A log a yard across (for +10 damage), would still weight from 5 to 9Lbs, and be too long, too.
Each added magnitude gives -3 size, so that would make things much more manageable:
With 1 extra mag, our log would be down to, say, 0.075 lbs, with a length of about... I hate feets and inches... 10 inches. Still too long IMO.
Let's say 2 extra magnitudes. Weight becomes negligible. Length becomes 1 inch. Sounds perfect, but that puts you at a starting base of 5.
Depending on the rest of the Troupe's thinking, I'm willing to let you go with just base 3, +1 for, say, extreme change (or, as in the MuHe guidelines, "changing a plant into something else"), but pure base 3 is really too much for me.

So, we're at MuHe base 3, +2 for extra size reduction. We'd need range touch +1, and then, either duration moon +3 (think to get everything out of your pockets before it expires), or Group target +2, maybe with some sizes. I wouldn't trust having to concentrate twice per day at a precise time, so let's take Duration Moon. That gives level 3, +2, +1, +3 = lvl 25. Add 5 levels for 24 uses per day, and we're at lvl 30, or level 25 at best, for a purely hermetic (non-glamour) Hermetic Herbam Bag of Holding.
Now, either she learns a PeVi herbam dispell, or you enchant one with a linked trigger (pulling something out), and you're good.

If you really want to shave costs, I'd say you can still use your original idea of Conc and Maintain Conc, of course, but Cata's gotta be careful to empty her pockets in a large space before each sunrise/sunset.
Hum... If I was her, I'd only do this when adventuring, and not close to morning/night. Most important of all, I'd also keep the logs in a separate purse I'd discard, so as not to wreck my talisman should worse come to worst. That'd give an effet 1 or 2 magnitudes above your calculation, for a final level of 25-30 still? Ah, ok, maintain concentration and unlimited uses get the most of you... :-/

So, as a spell?
Say, a Moon duration spell would be MuHe 20-25, perfeclty doable for Cata. She casts it a few times each moon in controled conditions, as above, aaaand... You talisman does the PeVi dispelling, with a trigger like "getting an herbam product out of a purse while saying -small log to big log-", so that's PeVi lvl 5-10 before uses per day, perfectly doable.

I think this is probably why we get all these forum discussions about space magic and tardises :-/

10

Thanks for the inches, I appreciate it, but I'm from a metric part of the world, so I had to translate them back. :laughing:
Your design is elegant - moon duration spell, PeVi and everything. I would have to replace the harmless magic flaw though.

By the way, I found a spell that uses a weight reduction effect like the one in the talisman - it's Alexander from MoH p. 12 - Bag of Teeth ( I know MoH is not the most balanced of the books :unamused: ). It even addresses the problem of size expansion when changing back. In fact, it creates a whole new school of fighting. Imagine the effect, when a minimized item is put into an iron bottle with plenty of nails. One of the mannequins carries the contraption, and when the spell ends (PeVi - a shame she hasn't got harnessed magic), you've got a beautiful non-magical nail bomb.

So, the easiest way to do this is give her an extra season (14,25pg rather than 14pg, so she can have both the spell and the PeVi effect). For reasons of math aestethics, it might make more sense to stretch the second cycle by a full year (so she'd be 15pg), and put the other seasons into xp.

I'm going to wait for another day or two (or five) to give everyone time to add their comments.

11

Thank you for your research.

I had a look at MoH again, and, funnily enough, found something about exactly similar to what I wrote above for the "generous option", with the Convenient Warehouse, p69:
Base 3, + 1 for "excessive size change", to shrink any herbam item to the size of a grain of wheat.

So, if we go with that, you can take all my calculations above with the lowest values.

T-T
I spend half my post time doing conversions :laughing:
Gonna bang my head on a wall.

Arachné is in love, although I agree about MoH and balance (I mean, this effect is great, but flies right in the face of other size spells and effects).

Trying to come up with development ideas for her, alone or with Arachne...