Cédar of Merinita

Current Year: 1230 (Winter)
Age: 35 (Apparent age: 20)
Size: -1
Confidence: 1(3)
Decrepitude: 0
Warping: 0
Year Born: 1195
Gender: Male
Race/Nationality: Occitan
Place of Origin: The Apple Mile, Oleron, Duchy of Acquitaine, Britain (But really france)
Height: 5'3"
Weight: 112 lbs.
Hair: Deep Green
Eyes: Brown
Handedness: Right
Covenant of Apprenticeship: Oleron

Characteristics
Intelligence: 2
Perception: 1
Strength: -2
Stamina: 0
Presence: 2
Communication: 3 (4)
Dexterity: 0
Quickness: -2

Virtues
The Gift
Hermetic Magus
Affinity for Herbam
Minor Magical Focus: Awaken the Trees
Strong Faerie Blood: Apple Dryad
[tab][/tab]-Second Sight
Special Circumstances: Carrying an apple wand.
Gentle Gift[tab][/tab](This is probably going to go when I decide what else I want.)

Flaws
Covenant Upbringing
Faerie Upbringing
Faerie Friend
Small Frame
Noncombatant
Vow: Complete Quest
Weird Magic
Vulnerable Magic: Snapping a previously whole apple wand.

Abilities
2[tab][/tab] Area Lore: Oleron [tab][/tab][Legends]
5[tab][/tab] Living Language: Occitan (native)[tab][/tab][Poetry]
3[tab][/tab]Concentration[tab][/tab][Spell Concentration]
2[tab][/tab]Stealth[tab][/tab][Natural Areas]
3[tab][/tab]Awareness[tab][/tab][Alertness]
4[tab][/tab]Charm [tab][/tab][Courtly Love]
4[tab][/tab]Dead Language: Latin[tab][/tab][Hermetic Usage]
3[tab][/tab]Faerie Lore[tab][/tab][Faerie Forests]
3[tab][/tab]Folk Ken[tab][/tab][Magi]
3[tab][/tab]Ettiquite[tab][/tab][Faeries]
2[tab][/tab]Civil and Canon Law[tab][/tab][Customs of Normandy]
2[tab][/tab]Organization Lore: OoH[tab][/tab][Personalities]
3[tab][/tab]Profession: Scribe
1[tab][/tab]Athletics[tab][/tab][Grace]
3[tab][/tab]Second Sight[tab][/tab][Faeries]
3[tab][/tab]Intrigue[tab][/tab][Gossip]
1[tab][/tab]Profession: Orchardry
4[tab][/tab]Magic Theory[tab][/tab][Enchanting Items]
1[tab][/tab]Parma Magica[tab][/tab][Mentem]
1[tab][/tab]Magic Lore[tab][/tab][Creatures]
1[tab][/tab]Philosophae[tab][/tab][Metaphysics]
2[tab][/tab]Artes Liberales[tab][/tab][Ritual Magic]
2[tab][/tab]Organization Lore: Cult[tab][/tab][Personalities]
1[tab][/tab]Guile[tab][/tab][Elaborate Lies]
1[tab][/tab]Faerie Magic[tab][/tab][Faerie Vis]

Magical Arts
Creo: 5
Intellego: 4
Muto: 5
Perdo: 1
Rego: 6

Animal: 0
Aquam: 0
Auram: 0
Corpus: 0
Herbam: 12
Ignem: 0
Imaginem: 0
Mentem: 6
Terram: 0
Vim: 5

Spells:
Conjuration of the Obedient Vine
Cr(Re)He 10 VSI (spellswiki.wikidot.com/creo-herbam)
As 'Conjure the Sturdy Vine' (CrHe5 - ArM5 136) with a magnitude added for a rego requisite. This is fitting with the theme/magical focus.

Gardener's Insight
InHe 15 TMG (spellswiki.wikidot.com/intellego-herbam)
As 'Probe Nature's Lore' (InHe 4 - ArM5 136), expanded in size and target to group (+3 mag.). I think that this change to the base spell is more appropriate for someone who was tending to a grove of trees.

Intuition of the Forest
InHe 10 TSG (ArM5: 136)

Lord of the Trees
ReHe 25 VCI (ArM5: 139)

Stir the Slumbering Tree
MuHe 25 TSI (ArM5:137)

Trap of the Entwining Shoots
CrHe 15 VSG
As "Trap of the Entwining Vines", but saplings.
(ArM5: 135)

Shriek of the Impeding Shafts
InHe 15 PSH (ArM5: 136)

Hide In the Hollow
MuHe 10 TSI (spellswiki.wikidot.com/muto-herbam)
I'm mixed on this one. It allows the caster to hide within a tree, by creating a magical hollow in the tree for a day. I like the idea of this character being able to 'meld' with a tree though.

The Call to Slumber
ReMe 10 VMI (ArM5 151)

Scales of the Magical Weight
InVi TMI 5 (ArM 158)

Sense the Nature of Vis
InVi TMI 5 (ArM 158)

A Minor Focus could simply cover "trees" I think.
Not that keen on such an abundunce of netgrimoire spells right out of gauntlet. My preference is to start with core book spells and maybe a few original designs. As you mature, you have access to non standard spells.
I don't get the apple wand deal.
You do have a pretty good grasp for a new player though.

Alright. I had been looking at one of the other characters who had 'throw fire', so I figured that 'move plants' was suitably restricted. I'll switch it back to 'Awaken the Trees', instead of 'plants'. I plan on eventually upgrading it to a Major Magical Focus via an initiation anyways, probably the initiation into Animae magic. Or were you saying to make it anything related to trees, instead of specifically giving them sentience/the appearance of sentience?

To the spells comment: It's just that a lot of the core spells are either combat-y (whole suite of spells that turn a staff into a weapon/make it entangle the opponent) or ignore categories of spell guideline available in the core book. I'll take a look again and make some replacements.

The idea with the apple wand is this: The character is a strong blooded dryad, and his 'mother' dryad is the fae of an apple tree. While he himself isn't actually tied to a tree the way a true dryad would be, he still has a sort of.. sympathetic connection with them. His sigil is going to also incorporate this link, and that's why he's powered up when he has a symbol of his tree on him (the apple wand in the special circumstance). What hurts dryads? Hurting their tree. Therefore, if you symbolically harm his tree (by snapping/grievously harming an appropriate symbol of it), it hurts his magic.

Vulnerable magic is quite a hefty flaw when compared with similar magic-reducing flaws (completely stopping old magic when in effect, and presumably new magic, as it's instantly broken as it's cast), so I wanted something that was an action instead of a condition. This is mirrored by the suggestion to have it be something like "saying the caster's name three times", which is an action instead of a state, like "Is touching iron". I figure that apple wood/branches/wands are easy enough to come by, so it's not too uncommon. Add to that the fact that he's always going to be carrying some apple wood/wands on him for his special condition trait, and it shouldn't be too hard for someone who wants to, and is aware of the vulnerability, to make use of it.

A Minor Focus may cover a single type of plant such as trees, or a single aspect (such as motility) of all plants.
Also, I intend for this saga to have some moments of high action. You might wanna consider a few combat spells. Your'e gonna need them sooner or later.

Oh, okay! I originally had 'awaken the plants', as a fancy way of saying "Cause plants to move as if they were sentient", but restricted it to trees. So, I'll change the name to make it more clear.

I've taken the noncombatant flaw, will that be a problem? In the spells I have right now, I've got a few 'combat' spells, that consist entirely of negating opponents without hurting them. Coils of the Entangling Plants holds a group in place until I can use 'Conjuration of the Obedient Vine' to tie them down for good. The Ties That Bind is a spell very similar to one in the book, that causes any plant-based clothing the target is wearing to entangle them (without causing damage, like the one in the book), quite efficiently from what I can tell. I also plan on taking the 'make your staff fly at and entangle enemies' spell. I can remove non-combatant from my flaws and add something else to reflect his heritage, but dryads are traditionally fairly peaceful, and the apple stands for the preservation of life!

I'm cooking right now, but after I finish cooking and eating (and cleaning afterwards), I'll push out the new version, with changes and additions!

I rarely nix peoples design ideas. Just warning that Non-Combatant may place you at a disadvantage.
I also feel obligated to share my personal philosophy. I think pacivism is immoral. It is one thing to decline self defense to make a point. "Do not resist the evil doer". But to refuse to defend the innocent when it is well within your capability, that is selfish and self righteous.
Now mind you, having the non-combatant flaw means it is not within your capability. No moral ambiguity there. But I honestly believe that the only way to insure peace is to prepare for war.

IMO, it looks too limited for a minor focus.
What do you mean by it exactly?

Don't have the time to check them, but be careful: Spells from here are often... discutable. You shouldn't take them at face value.

If by plants you mean "live plants" and not processed products (such as wood plancks or clothes), it should be okay.

I would advise you to remember why I deliberately avoided it.
Having a character that can create/conjure a lot of independant servants, each with their own powers that aren't related to the character's arts, can quickly get out of hand (see Ludovico here for an extreme exemple). I would advise you to stick to trees/plants and animating them, even enchanting them constantly with the base 10, rather than this.

I don't remember if we apply the HR that constant enchantments aren't resisted (I hope we do), cause you could have a greater enchantment as a Tree, with a constant base 10 effect, and all kind of constant spells to make it bigger sturdier, ward it against fire... Quite a companion (especially if his strikes bypass MR!)!!! You could even invest it as a taliman (and give it a non-constant power to shrink in size so that you may hold it). If you make it (before modifications) an apple tree...
Tell me if this doesn't interest you, for I'll be developing the idea for fun then.

Scratch the "as if they were sentient", so as to cover any tree-related ReHe spell. I'd even say any "live" plant-related ReHe spell.

For exemple, look at Arachné. She has 2 different ReHe spells.
One allows her to directly control her spiders (base 4 IIRC). The other allows her to animate a manequin and give it some autonomy (base 10).

Both guidelines should be applicable for this focus, if doing it on living plants (instead of processed ones, like Arachné's spiders or mannequins)

I like it. You don't kill or hurt, but you immobilize and incapacitate. Great.

I'm probably going to switch it into "moving (living) plants", instead of "Trees", as that's more in line with the character concept. He's got a big tie-in with trees (naturally), but I was focusing more on the idea that he believes (kind of rightly) that all of the living plants have some version of a dryad, and are therefore in some way sentient on their own.

To the Animae magic getting out of hand: I read through the rules, and it really doesn't seem like as big of a problem. Other summoning techniques, like Goetia and Theurgy are generic arts, wherein you can generally call up a spirit that has a wide range of powers to solve any situation, at a somewhat low level of effect. Each different animae spirit would require an entirely different spell, as far as I can tell. You'd need one for calling a might 10 faerie of X tree, and a different one for a might 10 faerie of X herb? Reading through comments, someone mentioned that Ludovico could summon might 40/50 beings. For someone using animae magic, this would be at least a level 50/60 spell at base, probably extending up into the ~70 level range. In addition, each spell to create an animae faerie isn't summoning up a true, self-sustaining creature as Goetia does. Presumably, once the spell that Creo'd them into existence (if they were called from scratch) fades, so does the faerie created? You could ostensibly use vis to make them permanent creations, but you cannot do that via Muto versions (those I'd be most likely to use), because Muto can never be made truly permanent (merely functionally permanent via enchantment and reoccurring spells)?

I just thought that the restrictions on power and type of faerie summonable would make it less obnoxious. I really want to take it because this particular mystery ties in deeply with the character concept. Going about waking up the faeries of the forest, and using those powers to (hopefully) slow the spread of the dominion by creating places (forests and woods) that have a strong faerie presence and eventually may develop faerie auras based on the stories generated by his action. However, if it's really going to cause a lot of problems, I'll look for some other way to do it.

EDIT: And if the problem is less an inherent flaw in the mystery, and just that it can be easily abused. I'm very willing to just tone it down. I've played in a campaign in a different tabletop wherein I was a focused demon-summoner, and had license (via the system) to essentially invent a demon, as well as select freely from a list of like... ~35 demons with vastly different powers, and I managed to not solve every single problem with demons (though it was tempting!)

Goat magic is banned, not so much because of abuse, but because it marks you as a badguy and I wanna saga of heroes and good guys. Also, Vortigern was trying to impose his own personal Gnostic theology on the game. Arawn chaffed against the setting too.
To spell it out clear for all: the Divine is Holy and Good and reigns supreme. That is just the rules of the setting. I made the mistake of allowing Command to be Tainted but not Infernal. But Ludo did other stuff that clearly marked him as evil. Vort got bent outta shape because I wouldn't allow Ludo to use Goat magic on angels.
If you indulge in evil you are damned. If you transform to a faerie or a daimon, you loose your soul. This has no bearing on actual game play tough. If you die you are dead anyway and it doesn't matter what you or I or anyone thinks happens afterward.
The potential abuse Fixer is worried about isn't the might (Ludo had fair scores to justify it, but chaffed when told he was overspecialized and could not open the Arts of an apprentice with so many zero art scores). The potential abuse is that you can cast it over and over again and have a legion of might 10 faries at your service.
I do not thing these spells can be naturally permenant. Your best bet is "Until (Condition)", and set the condition as something a sufficient long way off.
I am not so worried about potential abuse. But I made Fixer the Rules Shark for a reason. The Ludo situation demonstrates I am too lenient and allow players to do things just to placate them without considering long term ramifications.
My thoughts on Constant effects for Items: Still subject to MR. However, they are not "cancelled" by an Aegis or such. Leave the area and the effect revives and does not count as a "use" for the day. Not being subject to MR is a rabbit hole I do not wish to get trapped in and is a severe break from RAW that may have ramifications I have not considered.
BTW, I am glad your philosophy is to keep the Dominion in check rather than opposing it. I can work with that.

Yeah, the Dominion is capitol-'G'-Good, but for mages, it's not a good thing, especially for mages of Merenita and Bjornaer.

I've edited the first post somewhat to reflect changes, and add notes. Nothing major so far. At this point, I've removed one grimoire spell after reading through it more carefully and concluding that its spell didn't make much sense. Notes on why I've kept others are included under them.

Spell Removed:

The Ties that Bind MuHe 10 VMI (spellswiki.wikidot.com/muto-herbam)
This spell transforms the opponent's clothing into a source of entanglement, but the duration is momentary. Would the clothing not just revert immediately? A rego version of this spell, however, would simply move the clothing to cause the entanglement, which would persist after the duration. I'll be making my own version of this type of spell later, my current entangles will have to do for now.

There is a spell just like this in MoH, but more reasonably written I think.