My basic rule:
Until it has been in play, nothing is final.
Agreed.
Thanks. I've made the updates, and added a background story about discovering a couple flaws.
I'm considering a change to the virtues & flaws of my magus to get rid of the Weak Enchanter flaw. Looking at the kind of projects I'd like my character to do (particularly his talisman), this specific flaw is beginning to irk me.
So I'm considering the following scenarios and would like the troupe's input on them.
First scenario is simply replacing the flaw with another minor flaw. Looking at the possibilities, I have the the following:
- Incompatible Arts (MuMe): I'm wondering if that one isn't abusive, considering that the character already has Deficient Mentem.
- Flawed Parma Magica: In either Ignem, Auram or Imaginem. Does Imaginem even make sense, since most Imaginem magic bypass Parma anyway?
Second scenario is to replace Deficient Mentem with Deficient Perdo. That would bring his Flaw points to 10 (he only had 9 before), so would allow me to pick an additional Virtue. Aedituus already has Deficient Perdo, but I don't think that would be crowding each other's concept. The additional virtue could be Free Study, Magical Memory or possibly Social Contacts (House Mercere).
Thoughts?
Either could work.
I have found reason to regret taking weak enchanter as well (in a p'n'p game) - it is very harsh.
Ok, I'll replace Deficient Mentem by Deficient Perdo and remove Remove Weak Enchanter.
I'm leaning towards Social Contacts to balance everything out. This would certainly explain how Petronius would be able to lay his hands on so much information when planning the creation of the covenant, and later on hear about rumors of things to investigate for his original research.
To explain it, I will integrate the fact that Clemens was fond of the apprentice and introduced him to every redcap who dropped by. The apprentice was a good listener, begging for tales of far-off places and charming the redcaps despite the effects of his Gift.
Would redcaps be considered a different social circle than Mercere magi? Or if "House Mercere" narrow enough for the virtue? It would make sense for Petronius to be known by, and know of, many Mercere magi. His area of research would certainly be of interest to the House, and the fact that is also a Mercurian magus means there would be kinship there.
As a side note, I'll also update his pater, Octavius, to replace Weak Enchanter with Deficient Perdo. That also makes sense for a healing specialist. I was thinking that Octavius should probably have Puissant Creo and Puissant Corpus. That would increase his CrCo lab total by 6, meaning that the longevity ritual he crafted for Petronius before saga start is a bit stronger. I don't think a base CrCo lab total of 55 is abusive for a healing specialist, and the fact that he made one for Petronius in exchange for only a single season of service is not unreasonable considering the Mentor relationship.
This actually orks really well I think!
Works for me I suppose
My own (p'n'p) necromancer/longevity specialist currently (age 42) has a Longevity Labtotal of 57 (including his awesome new familiar.
55 for a somewhat older specialist is believable enough for me.
Although Octavius is not a longevity specialist (his healing focus does not apply to longevity), his age is 72. So he's not just a little bit older, he's actually twice the hermetic age.
His relevant stats at the time were Creo 17+3, Corpus 19+3, Magic Theory 7+2, Int +2 (Total 53); Irminsul has a standard Aura +3; Petronius added 12 (Magic Theory 4+2, Int +3, Inventive Genius +3). I didn't add anything for lab specialization. BTW, the new longevity ritual that Octavius cooked for himself was pumped to the maximum possible vis benefit (Octavius is vis-rich), giving him a longevity ritual of 20. He's going to live a long time.
Note that I didn't build him using chargen rules, I simply estimated stats that would make sense for a magus that age.
Octavianus is a healer, so still focused on CrCo.
That's close enough to a longevity specialist for my tastes.
The necromancer I mentioned certainly had his focus in necromancy.
I've added stats for Edgar to the wiki. At 37, it feels like he should have a family, so I am contemplating a wife and child or two. If Monica the cook is staying in Koblenz with Prax, then maybe the main covenant site could use someone to run the kitchen ...
Indeed. The "Finances" section lists 18 covenfolk working as servants (cooks, maids, stablehands, etc.) so she can be one of them. I only indicated 3 dependents (children) because I figured there would be a few exceptions to the usual tendency that most covenfolks be outcasts or otherwise living apart from mudane society.
On the other hand, it is also concievable that he may not have a wife and kids. He could be a ladies' man, finding a woman in every city, which provides a counterpoint to Aedituus' pious life. His wife could have died years ago of a disease, and he finds solace in prayer alongside Aedituus. Or some other similar story.
Would this focus help with extracting Vis from an Aura?
It's not part of the original point of taking the virtue, it just struck me that it might.
I tend to think no. Your purpose isn't to affect the aura when extracting vis, is it? Any changes to an aura are a consequence of the action of distilling vis from the aura...
This isn't a definitive no, it's more like I don't see the focus applying because it's not related to the underlying action of distilling vis.
I also don't think the focus would apply to extracting vis. It is a minor focus, so it's scope should remain pretty specific. Vis extraction is just to peripheral to auras.
Excellent - I mostly didn't want to be accused of inverse cheating for not using it 
Just another question regarding the Greek vs Ancient Greek distinction. (Note that I don't have Sundered Eagle, so I'm working half-blind in this.)
I'd just want to be sure I understand correctly. Praxiteles uses (modern) Greek to cast magic? So all of his lab texts would be written in (modern) Greek?
Will Ancient Greek be any use at all in the saga? I'm thinking about Eberhart the Scribe (our librarian). I gave him Ancient Greek because I figured that would be the language he'd need for texts about Artes Liberales and Philosophiae, but now I'm wondering if it is really the case. Wouldn't any classical texts available in Germany already be modern Greek translations? Or would he have had access to text in Ancient Greek? Considering, of course, that he was trained in a monastery.
I know we discussed it previously, but see Praxiteles' stats (after reading some more of In the Ruins of Bibracte) made me wonder...
Greek to Ancient Greek is a -2, so Praxiteles had his Greek increased to 6, to be able to accommodate the difference. He actually works magic in Ancient Greek, but someone not at an effective 4 in Ancient Greek may not recognize all the words to use magic. Does that make sense?
I'd say, even though it technically violates the rules, that they are all written in Ancient Greek, after all the magus who knows Latin to 4 and has lab text we would presume that they are written in Latin, no?
The Theban Tribunal uses Ancient Greek because it is a "dead" language in an effort to lend it a gravitas. Romaic Greek, the modern Greek dialect of the time is related, and users can read it if their Greek score is 6. To write it, you actually need Ancient Greek 5, though.
I think Ancient Greek only becomes an issue if someone intends to write (summa or tractatus) in the language. As far as a teacher, it might be better from an overall experience point of view if they only know Ancient Greek 5, rather than Greek 6. A teacher and Praxiteles could communicate in Greek at an effective 3 (Ancient Greek -2). Does that make sense/seem reasonable?
Makes things much clearer. The implicit conversion of "knows Romaic Greek 6" to "casts spells and writes in Ancient Greek 4" was a bit difficult to guess.
As you say, it means that Praxiteles cannot write a book in Ancient Greek. Unless you say that his Romaic Greek has a specialty with Ancient Greek, which would decrease the divide between the two language to -1, for an effective score of 5.
As for Eberhart, his knowledge of Ancient Greek is not so that he can write or teach in the language, but so that he could read the original texts of the classical authors.
Thanks!
It does - and personally I prefer to discourage the specialty hack for writing purposes 
Agreed. The skill itself must be 5to write m