Character creation discussion

Retired Play by Post Campaigns Ars Magica 5th Edition: Via Experimenta
81

Regarding Amelie's stats...

She has 4 Personality Flaws, while ArM5 page 37 (in the top box) says "You should not take more than two Personality Flaws, and cannot take more than one Major Personality Flaw."

One way to fix this might be to make Proud major and get rid of 2 of the others. Note that you mentioned that you added the Weakness to give her a reason to work for the covenant. Simply being a woman who wants to do business might be enough. And with a female steward, the covenant is well justified to take the Suffrage minor hook (grants equal rights to men and women).

By my calculation, she has 5 xp in excess. (Setting aside the native language): Early Childhood (45 xp) + Later Life (16*15 xp) + Privileged Upbringing (50 xp) + Well-Traveled (50 xp) = 385 xp vs 390 xp for the character. That's a minor thing, though.

82

I think Proud as a major flaw overstates personality in terms of difficulties she has had. An image I have of her working for others after the death of Julien and her father is one of a "rabble-rouser" who insists on better working conditions, making the workplace more efficient, etc. I was thinking about Driven instead, but I think that might be too narrow and stereotypical. Instead, I am thinking Meddler; she likes to involve herself in things that are probably none of her business in order to make them better. Her family would have rolled their eyes, but other employers might take offense. Overconfident is another possibility. I am planning to leave Non-combatant, and remove Continence and Weakness.

Hmmm... How about I make her age at the beginning of the saga 22, and give her 10 more experience points? I am assuming that we are starting sometime after the manor and shared lab are (re)built, and the covenant is underway.

83

For those who aren't from the Rhein, how did we meet?

84

Aedituus' abilities have been updated. (I edited the last version; thanks for the heads up on the abilities, Arthur.)
I will think about spells again; this is the first time I am playing someone with a Vim specialty.

On a separate note, I will be out of town and without books for the next week. Internet access may become sporadic if even possible.

85

Ok, it's been a while since anybody's posted. (For my part, I was on vacation so I didn't feel like posting as much.)

Where is everyone on their magi?

Petronius is pretty much ready to begin play, although I can still add some scenes from his past to improve background. My magical cooper companion is still in the concept stage but should be fairly quick to build once the primary virtue is agreed upon.

86

At some point, Aedituus left the Stonehenge coventant where we was apprenticed, and became a peregrinator in the Rhine Tribunal. He probably met Petronius at one of the covenants where they were guests.

87

Bother. :neutral_face:
I just updated Aedituus' character thread, then noticed that Petronius already has Aegis of the Hearth. (By the way, Arthur, how is your casting total 22? I must be missing some bonuses.) I am debating about changing Aedituus' spell to Wizards' Communion instead, but everyone involved must know the spell in order for this to be useful. I'll think about this more, but if anyone has suggestions, let me know.

88

Actually, only one of the magi needs to know the specified spell when joining in a Wizard's Communion, so that would work if you learn WC.

As for my casting total, it's Sta 0 + Re 11 + Vi 5 + Artes Liberales 2 (+1 for specialty) + Philosophiae 1 (+1 for specialty) + Mastery 1 = +22

(Ironically, Petronius has much more difficulty casting WC at the level he knows it. BTW, since a Sun version of the WC is needed to use it for rituals, its effective level be 10. Which means we need 30 more effective levels of WC to be able to cast a level 20 ritual using it.)

Edit: Actually we only need 29 more levels, since Petronius' mastery score in AotH adds to the effective level of the WC (small perk of a Mercurian). Any mastery in WC would add, too, be he has none there (yet).

89

Was unhappy with what I had. Re-wrote from scratch, keeing concept.
Ended up very similar.

I have some spell levels to spend though.

90

Much the same situation for me. I'm not overly fond of my character. He has been hard to write for. I'm playing with some other ideas while trying to move forward. What little time I've had, lately has gone to Bibracte.

91

Thinking about Aedituus' spells, I would like to change Aegis of the Hearth to Wizards' Communion. This will require me to swap his Mu and Im scores, in order to learn a 20th level WC. Given the need for wards and AotH to penetrate, however, it seems like WC would be a pretty common spell to teach apprentices.

Unless anyone has objections, I'll make the changes in Aedituus' character thread in a couple of days.

92

I've been on very bad nets having spent 3 weeks traveling on holidays :slight_smile:

Will get back to this now. After work.
(I think I'd like some kind of work sometime which doesn't pile up when I'm away...)

93

A first draft of my cooper companion. I will probably modify it before we start play, but that is a reasonable start.

Gregor the Cooper

Background: Gregor was born and raised in the city of Speyer, in Swabia (southern Germany). He learned the cooper's trade from his father, who taught him to use shape and infuse wood to make bareels both mundane and slightly magical. The young Gregor was rebellous and wished for a more adventurous life, however, so at 17 he joined to army of Frederick Barbarossa and was a foot soldier for the next 6 years, being part of Barbarossa's campaign in Poland to gain control of Silesia in 1163. Gregor's great strength was greatly priced for a soldier, but his carreer was cut short when his right leg was severely wounded in a river crossing turned bad. Unable to continue as a soldier, with his taste for the adventurous life of a soldier gone, and having to take care of a fallen comrade's family, Gregor returned to Germany and took up his father's trade again. Spending most of the wealth accumulated while campaigning, he managed to complete his training as a cooper and became a journeyman. His military past was often a hindrance, as other craftsmen looked down upon him. But through hard work he developped his abilities, delving into the magical secrets his father had taught him. That same military past, however, led him to make contact with magi of the Order of Hermes through their grogs. He entered into a partnership with them to set up a cooperage in Koblenz for them, after establishing his own position with the cooper's guild in that city.

Appearance: Although only slightly taller than average, Gregor is strongly built with a barrel chest and thick arms. But his strength is even greater than his stout build suggests, particularly when he exerts himself. His black hair (which he wears long to hide his missing left ear) is just beginning to be sprinkled with grey, and he wears a thin beard. His hooked nose has a noticeable scar, which does not detract from his solid and imposing presence. His heavily callused hands bear the numerous small scars from his fighting days. He walks with a pronounced limp, his right leg having healed badly from the crippling injury that ended his days as a soldier.

Age: 35
Characteristics: Int 0, Per -1, Str +5, Sta +2, Pre +1, Com +1, Dex +2, Qik 0

Virtues: Mythic Cooperage (Major Supernatural), Guild Master, Great Strength x2, Improved Characteristics x2, Reserves of Strength, Warrior
Flaws: Ability Block (Academic), Dependent (fallen comrade's family), Fear (Drowning), Lame, Missing Ear, Overconfident (Major)

Personality Traits: Brave +2, Hardworking +3, Loyal +1

Fatigue Levels: OK, 0, -1, -3, -5, Unconscious
Wound Penalties: Light -1 (1-5), Medium -3 (6-10), Heavy -5 (11-15), Incapacitated (16-20), Dead (21+)

Abilities:

  • Area Lore: Koblenz (merchants) 3
  • Area Lore: Poland (Silesia) 1
  • Area Lore: Speyer (craftsmen) 2
  • Athletics (running) 2
  • Awareness (keeping watch) 2
  • Bargain (hard sell) 3
  • Brawl (scuffle) 4
  • Carouse (storytelling) 2
  • Charm (first impressions) 2
  • Craft: Cooper (wine barrels) 7
  • Folk Ken (townsfolk) 1
  • Language: French (Norman) 3
  • Language: High German (Swabian) 5
  • Language: West Slavonic (Polish) 2
  • Leadership (in the shop) 3
  • Organization Lore: Koblenz Cooper Guild (politics) 2
  • Single Weapon (mace) 5
  • Stealth (hide) 1
  • Thrown Weapon (javelin) 3
94

While statting up the grogs, I happened to take a look at Amelie's abilities, and noticed that she does not know Latin.

How did she learn those Academic abilities if she cannot read Latin? I'm not saying it's not possible, just that it's unlikely and would probably need to be explained.

I understand that Privileged Upbringing only allows up to 50 xp to be spent on restricted abilities (Academic in this case), which constrains how much xp she can spend there. Since she does not have any Martial abilities, a potentially better pick for the virtue would have been Educated. I understand that this might not quite fit, since it seems like she picked up these Academic abilities directly from her father while working in his wine business.

In the description of the (Living Language) ability, it is said that you need a score of 4 to be able to study from books.

A possible abilities mix could be Latin 3 (reading books), Artes Liberales 2 (arithmetic). This keeps the xp cost the same. You could add Civil Law 1 if you don't mind moving some xp from another ability, or by making her 1 year older (which would also give you 10 leftover xp to spend somewhere else).

95

Regarding the composition of the tribunal...

As I continue to write the background pieces for Petronius, I will be describing the covenant where he spent his apprenticeship. I'm figuring a covenant situated close to Paderborn, at the edge of the Teutoburg Forest. The name of the covenant would be Irminsul (because of one such pillar found there) and it has access to large amount of Corpus vis from the bones of the Roman soldiers killed in the Teutoburg Forest. This explains why Petronius' pater Octavius was living there, since he is a healing specialist and having access to plenty of Corpus makes things easier for him.

Both Paderborn and the Teutoburg Forest are mentioned in GotF. This covenant is a potential political ally, with Octavius an influential member of that covenant.

Anyone has an objection to the covenant and its main features?

96

Tellus, I assume you are going to age Titus? How old will he be at the start of the saga?

I'm asking because I'd like to start a "Pre-Saga Correspondance" thread about in-character discussions the magi had before building the covenant, and Titus (as a fellow Bonisagus) might have been a good initial contact for Petronius to meet. Would it be possible that Titus would have been at Petronius' gauntlet ceremony in 1177 (7 years before the saga starts)?

It will also make sense for Petronius to correspond with Aedituus before they meet at Triamore in 1178, so I would include that in the same thread, since Aedituus will spend some time at Maria Laach investigating the area around Koblenz.

97

I was actually planning not to.

Would this be required?

I don't see why Titus wouldn't have been interested in such a discussion long before the end of his years as an apprentice.
His pater left him under no illusions that there would be room for him at Durenmar itself, certainly not before he had a proper reputation within both the tribunal and the House itself.

Where did Petronius take his Gauntlet?

Perfect. :slight_smile:

98

I don't believe so. However, he would have been less involved in the creation of the covenant. After all, his time is not his own at that point, so he cannot scribe lab texts, deal with other covenants, etc. unless his master wants him to. This of course can be integrated into the back story. This just means that his "share" of the effort to create the new covenant actually comes from his pater. (Could be that we got the sponsorship of Durenmar by accepting to take him on when he completed his Gauntlet.)

At Durenmar, almost certainly, since he is from the Rhine Tribunal. Which would be the occasion for our characters to meet.

Which is exactly what this thread will be about -- describing how the magi met and agreed upon forming the new covenant.

We just need to agree -- out of character -- how this would happen before we start that thread. For now, I'll propose a starting point on the Covenant thread.

99

Exactly. If not the suport od Durenmar, then of atleast one of it's members.

However, since the issue has been raised, I'll give a bit of thought if he should be a few years older.

Exactly my thought!

100

Actually, we don't need the support of the whole covenant. We just need 1 sponsor from each covenant.

That was why I asked the question about his age. If he's as is when saga starts, then he would have been only half-way through his apprenticeship at the time. It's still conceivable that his master would have thought far ahead enough to plan a covenant for him, but that's stretching it a little.

If you are ok with aging him a few years (7), then one possibility would be that they got Gauntleted at the same time in 1177. Makes for a stronger sense of kinship, which would reinforce the reason for them to work at establishing a new covenant. A slight variant would be that Titus passed his Gauntlet in 1179 during the tribunal meeting. Again this provides a good way for the characters to meet. Also that Petronius also spend the year 1180 in Durenmar, so he could also have befriended Titus during that time right before Titus passes his Gauntlet. So there is some margin there if you want to age him by fewer years.