Here you can make duggestions for characters, ask for ideas, and discuss concepts.
Wow, your pm helped me a lot!
The problem with Cata is that her Talisman doesn't fit the rules of the game. If her talisman doesn't work properly (and Fixer is right, it doesn't), she can't carry around all the stakes she needs for the vilano concept. If the vilano concept is flawed, cautious with/Puissant finesse are the wrong virtues and harmless magic is the wrong flaw. The ability xp (e.g. Finesse) are then assigned wrongly and so are the art xp (because she would now need different spells). If Perdo were her main weapon, her major virtue should be Flawless magic. And apart she falls.
One of the ideas of rewriting her would have been as a pro-Diedne historian trying to recover the secrets of the house (by learning from ghosts etc). But I can see why House Diedne fits poorly with Andorra.
I like Cr Co specialists and could easily make one that fits the rules. I won't make him or her a fascist though (House Tremere always reminds me of the Nazi party). Maybe a Magical mercere.
These can't use the arts (at all/well). For me, the Ars Magica system is about TeFo, not some supernatural ability.
This still tempts me. It is easy to build, powerful enough without me having to use all the virtues for mechanical stuff, which means I can use some fun virtues.
So I'll either build
a Necromancer - Mutantes Mercere, good at: Co Cr Mu Re, focus on either: aging (minor), or: male or female (major), fighting style Creo spells + undead servants
OR
an Apromor Flambeau, focus: either cold/ice or forgetting, flawless magic.
I'll try the Flambeau first, because it's new territory for me.
interesting concept Pralix, I was working me too on a magus Perdo but I was in doubt, so now I will choose the other idea, probably Creo Auram.
This concept may not get accepted because of the ghost parens. If it is not allowed, I'll build my backup (a Mutantes Mercere Necromancer/longevity magus) - if you want to avoid overlaps.
A CrAu can also be quite impressive - a good penetration and Incantation of Lightning mastered for penetration, multiple casting, and two other masteries allows you to cause 5x +30 damage = + 150
Some might call that overkill, but it sure sends a message.
Yes, of course I will take the Lightning but I dont want to max it and become immediately a powerplayer. My magus is Criamon, not a war mage, so he can be very dangerous but killing is not his major issue, as a Flambeau. About necromancy I gave him one spell for this me too, and a bad reputation "necromancer" because it. But we could do a bit 2 different type of necromancers, why not? my "necromancer" is not really this, it's more a reputation simple people gave him because they saw him animate corpses.. but he is more a weather mage. (I have only 1 spell for animating corpses)
I love the idea of the Flambeau with a ghostly mento/parens. It includes a quest for Val-Negra, shows what d!@ks Castra Solis can be, and gives me all sorts of ideas.
Fredrika the ex-miscellanea scholor seems quite interesting also 
For the Criamon, I am more concerned with philosophy than with magic.
Good to hear my concept has the thumbs up! I need to bring up my idea for Weak Magic Resistance. In the corebook, it's a major flaw - something an enemy can (potentially) easily exploit. I'd like to discuss a minor flaw version for Frederika: one that works when she's too far away from a good quantity of earth or stone and the like. Echoing Antaeus as it were.
Sailing would trigger it, being up a tall tree might, but being in a stone tower wouldn't - that's what I'm thinking. The weakness is there, but it's harder for an enemy to exploit than the default version (hence minor, rather than major).
Also, I'm really struggling with what sort of spells I should be starting with. It's sort of like being asked to work your way through an international buffet when you don't even know what any of the food tastes like. Can anyone give me any pointers for the sort of thing I should be packing in my repertoire?
What do you think of this?
Name: Anacletus of Criamon
Reputation: Necromancer +4 (local, Pyrénées) [size=85]("I saw him.. he commanded the dead and was fliying")[/size]
Age: 25
Gender: Male
Int +3 Per 0 Str -1 Sta +3 Prs 0 Com -1 Dex 0 Qik 0
Personality Traits: Brave +1, Stubborn +2, Far +2 [size=85]("Hey, are you with me?")[/size]
Wizard’s Sigil: chill breeze
Virtues: The Gift (0), The Enigma (0), Hermetic Magus (0), Improved Characteristics (+1), Affinity with Art Creo (+1), Affinity with Art Auram (+1), Method Caster (+1), Major Magical Focus - Weather (+3), Personal Vis Source (Corpus, +1), Tough (+1), Skilled Parens (+60 abilities and +30 lvl spells, +1)
Flaws: Infamous (-1), Delusion ("pope's child" -1), Indiscreet (Int 9+ to resist -3), Poor memory (faces -1), Arthritis (repetitive movements -3, botch phisical lock-up, -1), Clumsy (-1), Incompatible Arts (InIg -1),
Abilities:
Italian (Ligurian) 5
Latin (Hermetic usage) 4
Spanish (Catalan) 3
Area Lore - Provence\Liguria (Geography) 2
Artes Liberales (Ritual Magic) 1
Athletics (Running) 2
Awareness (Alertness) 4
Brawl (dodge) 4
Code of Hermes (Mundane relations) 1
Concentration (Spell concentration) 2
Enigmatic Wisdom (Twilight) 1
Finesse (Precision) 3
Leadership (Intimidation) 1
Magic Theory (Inventing spells) 4
Parma Magica (Corpus) 3
Penetration (Creo) 2
Philosophiae (Cerimonial magic) 1
Profession - Scribe (Lab Texts) 1
Artes
Creo: 9 (13) Intellego: 2 Muto: 0 Perdo: 0 Rego: 10
Animal: 0
Aquam: 0
Auram: 9 (13)
Corpus: 5
Herbam: 0
Ignem: 1
Imaginem: 5
Mentem: 1
Terram: 0
Vim: 0
Spells
Palm of Fire (CrIg 5 p.139) 16
Phantasm of the Human Form (CrIm 25 p.144) 20
Incantation of Lightning (CrAu 35 dam.30+ Size 6+ p.126) 33
Circling Winds of Protection (CrAu 20 req.Re Size 9+ -3/9 p. 125) 33
Wings of the Soaring Wind (CrAu 25 req.Re p.126) 33
Wizard’s Sidestep (ReIm 10 p.147) 21
The Call to Slumber (ReMe 10 p.151) 17
Clouds of Rain and Thunder (CrAu 25 p.126) 33
Awaken the Slumbering Corpse (ReCo 25 p.134) 21
Equip
Dagger (Init.0-enc Att.+6 Def.+4 Dam.+2 Load 0)
Black robe
Iron ring (personal vis source, Corpus)
Dodge +5
Soak +6
Anacletus (Antonius Doria of Genoa) looks more older than his real age: his hairs are few, long and gray\blond, he is 1m73 tall and quite slim, he looks pale and emaciated but what he lacks in phisical strenght he has in mental determination, the "strong will of the crazy" somebody could say..
His eyes are dark, looking near always very determined, unrest. At the same time he often appears "far", uninterested in mundane things and unable to keep secrets or important things as for him all is useless and mundane; seems his mind is usually busy thinking something greater, secret, mysterious. Not a surprise he belongs to the covenant of Criamon, most secret and mysterious magi of the Hermes Order.
He grew as a very intellectually gifted boy in the port of Genoa but his parents had to leave city for wars and rebellions, moving to Pyrénées mountains. As a very introverted and strange child at 10 years he was spotted by his future master, who took him from his relatives to take in his covenant. His Gauntlet was done a bit in hurry because, after his interest in controlling weather, he started experiment with undead (not necessarily for something evil..) and this granted him an infamous reputation in local population, around Pyrenée mountains.. He (generally) has never been an evil man but some villagers spotted him animate corpses, and this did a bit of scandal.. This attracted a bit too much attention also to local magi. For sake of his former Covenant he decided to leave for south, to Spain.
How to choose spells:
- Don't spend a lot of time on choosing arts before spells. Make a quick draft. You will have to change it anyway to learn your apprenticeship spells.
- Don't just take blasting spells.Take spells for every situation you can see your magus in. The list below is not a list to tick off, but an example of diversity. Choose spells you use. Ideally a spell has more than one function (e.g. invisibility: defense, disguise, information gathering)
- combat: against animals, humans, magi, monsters - the fewer spells, the better. Usually low-level combat spells are better because they have a better penetration. High-level spells only work if you have a good penetration or an enemy without resistance to your spell.
- defense: Wizard's sidestep (ReIm10) is a classic, but there are others that also work against beings that see through illusions. Impenetrable Silk (MuAn) is a classic, too. Which wards do you use (animals, weather, demons etc)?
- transportation: do you ride a (magically subdued) horse? Fly a magic broomstick? Walk the winds? Become a bird? Teleport? Transportation spells may also allow you to: Climb, escape, get into locked rooms
- information: What do I want my magus to be able to see/hear etc? Vis? Long-distance scrying? Searches? Talking to objects to learn about the past? See through stone? Need a light?
- social: People happen. Do you read their minds? Force them to tell you the truth? Look good (MuIm and Me spells)? Make them forget you asked them?
- Metamagic: MuVi spells are complicated for beginners, but some InVi, ReVi and PeVi spells are useful.
- healing: master your rituals
- appearance/disguise: Shapeshifters need clothes. Female mages need male faces in the sexist 13th century.
- Choose at least one spell that shows what your character is really about, no matter how useless it is. Give a dryad magus the ability to heal trees, a loving mother a spell to scry on her kids and a Puckish figure the ability to
- A word on spell levels:
- Low level spells are easier to learn by yourself later. Choose high level spells.
- High level spells may not work in all auras. Choose low level spells
- So mix wisely.
I've been thinking about my Flambeau character again and I have realized, if I tweak it a little, I might even play the character fresh from Gauntlet.
Pe 15+3 means that all Pe spells up to lvl 30 are within easy reach, which is all that the character really needs.
pe 80xp
60xp = 5 in Me, Vi, Te, (Ig or Im)
Weightless armor
forgetting spell, calming spell
Invisibility spell
Cold spell
PeVi spells
Pralix you are right, I forgot some low level spells to have nice penetration.. my lightning will always be resisted
I finished my magus, I changed quite a lot Anacletus.
Now it's a Tytalus, a better covenant for type of action magus I created.. Now he is mostly Ignem (fireballs..) and rego corpus for Undead and teleport. He also have some other utilities spells as Phantasm of the Human Form he uses often to accompain him. He is not a bad combat mage but I didnt give him mastered spells, I don't like powergaming. He is fresh of Gauntlet.
Marko, should I create a post about this Magus in detail?
Yes, make a separate threat for posting your character for discussion and development. This is meant moreso for discussing your ideas for characters and guidance for concepts.
Hi,
I'm slowly beginning the process of character creation to join the amazing Light of Andorra Troupe, here's my draft :
I came up with the idea of a Bjoarner from Sirnas clan with a glossy Ibis Hearbeast and phoenix mythic blood.
Heatbeast*
Hermetic magus*
The Gift*
Mythic blood phoenix (as suggested in HoH:MC p37)
----Minor focus (aging)*
----Higher purpose (weaken the burden of aging on magi)*
----Coat of flame (range touch)*
Pack leader
unbound tongue
Subtle magic
Affinity Corpus
Affinity Creo
+2 virtues tbd
Restriction (on birds) which includes me while in Heartbeast
Mentor
Weak magic resistance (complete Darkness) because phenix is associated with sun
Generous (not sure but this seems fine with focus and higher purpose)
Any suggestion ?
Your Restriction is too restrictive. It means you can never have a Longevity Ritual crafted by yourself.
Cecilio can do the ritual! She can get like 11 magnitudes with her lab if you let her experiment. And if you let her experiment she'll do it for free.
Disclaimer: Side effects may include, but are not limited too, drymouth, hair loss, nausea, psychosis, rapid aging until death, rapid deaging until non-existance, death, Twilight, insanity, warping, fire, and loss of hope. Do not use Ceci-Longevity without consulting your corpus specialist. Do not teleport or use powerful magic until you know how Ceci-Longevity will affect you.
That's tempting :mrgreen:
I realise that a) I'm short of my quota of characters, having created no grogs; and b) Antoine could probably use a shield grog. So let's make a grog! I'm thinking someone they could meet in the Levant might be an idea. My knowledge of the precise chronology of the Crusades etc. here is a bit lacking; is it plausible that they could find a Christian Knight (as in the social status) left behind who could be persuaded to join them? I'm thinking either the disillusioned type, or a proper zealot who was forced to stay due to an injury (now healed).