Character Creation for Arthur (OOC)

To discuss the creation of all of Arthur's characters (magus, companion, grogs, familiar, apprentices). This includes the concept, drafts, background, advancement, lab work, etc.

Final versions of the characters will have their own topic.

For my magus, who will play the role of the Heir.

With the covenant buildings being so... unfocused, shall we say... I was thinking that a magus with some sort of specialty in Muto would be appropriate.

Probably a Jerbiton, though other possibilities (like Tytalus) might be appropriate.

Concept: A Jerbiton practicing the esoteric and ephemeral art of water sculpting.

Strong in Muto and Aquam, with a Minor Magical Focus in making unnatural changes to liquids, makes extensive use of the spell Sculpt the Living Water (MuAq 20, from Guardians of the Forest p.96). Will probably want to develop a D:Moon version, as well as enchanted devices that could sustain his sculptures for longer periods.

His focus and Arts have several potential applications, from the merely useful (indoor plumbing) to the deadly (changing blood to acid).

I'll have to work on why he accepted the position of Heir, his relations to his grand-pater, his pater and his "uncles".

Still unsure if he will be any good at his art and whether he will have Gentle Gift or not.

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No doubt we will have overlap in magic, just wanted to note that I am thinking of going strong in Aquam as well :slight_smile:

Not that l'm in any way against that, but l have a feeling that you might've regret such a focus as it will age badly.

How so? Just curious as to why it would age badly.

It pretty much covers all of Muto Aquam, since natural changes would be covered by Rego. In fact, I'm worried that it might be a bit too broad, as I am having trouble finding an example of Muto Aquam that would not be covered (a minor focus should be "slightly narrower than a single Technique and Form combination", as per ArM5 p.46).

Note that he's a Jerbiton, so brute power is not what he's looking for. So this is more thematic than power-reaching.

Most foci is gonna age badly: if your goal is some amount of specific spells, it would make you more good to have better lab total/more Int/more Arts and just learn them usual way. Only two exceptions are spells that could scale (with penetration or LR) or mighty rituals of some 10+ magnitude.

Well, since it has several potential combat applications (change target's blood to acid, shape water into a weapon) the added Penetration can be useful.

It also means that any requisites can be compensated more quickly, as any improvement in the requisite Art are also doubled.

More importantly, it will allow him to invent more advanced or specialized spells for his sculptures, adding magnitudes for complexity (such as color and movement).

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Penetration also shows up.

But if you have a Focus, you can work in it heavily like Ranulf in MoH. Then you just never run out of spells it applies to so it remains quite valuable.

Arthur, yes, you're right. MuAq is essentially by definition unnatural changes to liquids. But this is only barely broader than a mMF is allowed. How about a slight narrowing, like changes to natural liquids, which might include a little ReAq for state changes but leaves out enough liquids you should be OK? A little tweak like that should make it work.

Changing natural liquids might work. It would rule out changing liquids that were initially unnatural (such as the ichor of a supernatural creature) but still allow him to transform a natural liquid into an unnatural one. It would only cover the few ReAq effects that changes the state of a liquid (such as changing water to steam or ice).

So Breath of Winter and Bridge of Frost would be included in the focus, but I would draw the line before Ice of Drowning since it includes pounding the ice against anything on the water's surface.

Correct? Is that ok with the troupe?

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Works for me.

l feel like it's not exactly right, but l can't specify, so - ok.

Is it the foray into ReAq? Turning water into steam or ice can have several application, so I could see excluding it because it may actually wider then the exclusion of unnatural liquids, ending up with a minor focus that is slightly wider, overall, than a single TeFo combination.

More likely it's that l can't think of unilateral and clear way of expressing what this focus is.
I mean, it's nice to have examples, but not when without them boundaries are mostly unclear.

I hear you. It is so much neater when you can express it with a single word, like "wolves" or "aging".

But it is a bit harder with minor magical foci, since they need to be narrower. Even in the basic examples, you have "creating metals" and "changing memories".

Even things like "necromancy" needs a short explanation to clarify its scope.

So "changing natural liquids" seem reasonably clear. There are a few border cases, but since it is a minor focus, we should err on the side of excluding things from the focus (and do the reverse for a major focus).

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I think your first version was less broad than the new one...seems like steam and ice would be more commonly dealt with than demon vitae?

That said I don't actually have a problem with either version.

Come to think of it, I'm not sure demon vitae would be unnatural...nor can I think of any other examples.

Water faeries, water elementals, and other Aquam-based creatures would be excluded.

But I can go even more restrictive and say "Changing water". That would exclude other liquids like wine, oil and blood, but would then include changing water to steam or ice.

"Changing water" is something that l would be completely fine with.

I think I would push that "changing water" would also include purifying it through CrAq. Would you agree?

And, speaking of that, even spoiling water with PeAq.