Character Creation for Plot_Device (OOC)

Retired Play by Post Campaigns Ars Magica 5th Edition: The Heir of Laimunt Valley
124

Here is familiar, based on the Lindwurm in the book but with some changes. Not quite finished with virtues/flaws but otherwise done.

Magic Might: 11 (Animal) [15 before size]

Characteristics: Int 0, Per +2, Pre +3, Com –3, Str +8, Sta +5, Dex +1, Qik -2

Size: +4

Season: Summer

Confidence Score: 2 (6)

Virtues and Flaws: Magic Animal; Enduring Constitution, Great Stamina (x2), Variable Power (x2), Puissant Brawl, Self-Confident, Tough, Improved Characteristics x2

Essential Flaw (avaricious, major), Magical Monster,

Magical Qualities and Inferiorities: Greater Power; Gift of Speech, Improved Fatigue (x2), Improved Defense (x4), Improved Soak (x6), Personal Power (x2); Susceptible to Deprivation

Personality Traits: Avaricious* +6, Fierce +4, Jealous +4

Reputations: Avaricious 3 (local)

Combat:

Constriction: Init –2, Attack +13, Defense +10, Damage n/a

Large Teeth: Init –2, Attack +13, Defense +10, Damage +13

Soak: +19

Fatigue Levels: OK, 0/0, 0/0, –2, –4, Unconscious

Wound Penalties: –1 (1–10), –3 (11–20), –5 (21–30), Incapacitated (31–40), Dead (41+)

Abilities: Awareness 5 (in lair), Brawl 6+2 (constriction), Penetration 5 (10) (Aquam), Swim 3 (speed), Hunt 3 (Deer) Survival 3 (Mountains)

Powers:

Poisonous Breath, 2 points, Init –3, Auram, Penetration ?

R: Touch, D: Diam, T: Group

The linnorm can breathe a cloud of black smoke five paces across that coats victims with a contact poison (Ease Factor 12, inflicts a Heavy wound).

CrAu 35 (Base 15, +1 Touch, +1 Diameter, +2 Group, +1 Size)

Greater Power (35 levels, +1 Init, –2 Might cost)

Variable Power (+1 magnitude per 5 Might: +1 Wound severity, +1 Size magnitude)

Venomous Bite, 0 points, Init n/a, Aquam, Penetration ?

The bite of the linnorm injects a deadly poison into its prey (Ease Factor 12, inflicts an Incapacitating wound).

CrAq 35 (Base 15, +1 Touch, +2 Sun, +1 continuous effect)

Personal Power x2 (35 levels, –3 Might cost), Improved Powers (–1 Might cost, 20 xp Penetration)

Variable Power (+1 magnitude per 5 Might: +1 Wound severity, +1 EF)

Vis: 3 Perdo in fangs

Appearance: The lindwurm is a huge, bat-winged worm about 50 feet long and as thick as a tree. It has cat-like eyes that shine through the darkness. It's thick, overlapping scales are a pale, ashen green.

125

I didn't notice until now that the Size and description of the lindwurm in RoP:M don't match. :frowning: With birds Size is 2 greater than weight indicates, but 1 greater is probably reasonable for non-birds. (I think there was an example of this 1 greater somewhere.) Using a green anaconda as a model, it would be Size +2 with a length roughly 3x what is listed for height for Size +2. So the RoP:M lindwurm's Size +5 looks good for weight and length, but they didn't account for wings. I wouldn't change anything, though, unless you really want to. I'm more commenting because I hadn't looked at it so carefully until now.

126

Isn't his ring only good against mundane animals? Since the linnorm has Might, it wouldn't work against it. (I may have missed the ring having a second power that works against magical beasts.)

Since you are giving Kiefskala a lower Might than the Lindwurm from RoP (Base Might 15), then he should have a total of +15 in the balance of Magical Qualities and Inferiorities. Right now I am counting +17.

Also, his Virtues and Flaws don't add up. He has 6 points of flaws and 10 points of virtues.

It's difficult to start from an existing creature and modifying it.

Penetration for powers are based on the creature's Might, but can be improved by converting levels into mastery points (5 levels for 1 mastery point). These mastery points can be used for many things (see Improved Powers on p.41), one of which is purchasing the Penetration ability (5 xp for 1 mastery point).

Note that the Lindwurm's powers already benefit from having some of their levels being used to purchase mastery points (to improve speed or reduce cost, I think).

Finally, If you give your familiar Companion-level power, then one of the other players will have to play him (that's the same comment I wrote for callen).

127

First, his ring also wards against creatures of magic might.

Kiefskala as posted isn't done, still working on v/f and need to do the pen calculations.

He has a major inferiority you may not have accounted for. Basically I used the base creature but made him a size smaller and calculated his might from base 15 instead of the sample (which starts at 17 before size).

Re size, I went by length; lindwurms are 60 feet and +5, elephant eating serpents are 45 feet and +4. I don't know where Anacondas are so didn't reference them. I don't think the wings should particularly matter, length as a benchmark seems to make sense.

I had him growing but he might have grown too fast, I'm also not sure if he should keep growing or not. It gets into a weird corner case between natural cycles and the unchanging nature of magic beings.

I wasn't aware of a hard and fast rule about who plays familiars, but I don't strongly object to it being played by someone else.

128

Found the season where that was enchanted. I was only finding the first power, which is why I asked. No problem.

I'm only seeing Susceptible to Deprivation, which is Minor, not Major (RoP:M p.42).

But yeah, I'm aware he's still a work in progress. And, like I wrote, detailing a magical creature isn't easy.

It's not a hard rule, but seems to be strongly suggested for familiars (RoPM p.34, under Magic Might):

The big problem is that, if someone else is playing the familiar, then they should be detailing him... :grimacing:

Another option would be to make Kiefskala a weaker and smaller, but smarter, specimen of lindwurm. This may not be what you have in mind, so I'd understand if that's not the way you want to go.

129

I see that now.

I'd rather have him played by someone else, and big, but I don't know if anyone is interested. It depends on whether it would give someone else an opportunity to participate in my stories that they otherwise wouldn't have, I suppose. I don't really mind someone else detailing him, either; though I don't think I made any controversial changes from the baseline creature. I will give him a math review tonight, anyway.

If I make him Grog level he'll have to be fairly small, and him being a big strong combatant is one of the main reasons for choosing a lindwurm. But if nobody wants to play him I can do a more major change/rewrite. I also don't want to take up someone's companion "slot", though maybe that's not a consideration.

I did make him smarter and weaker/smaller, just not to the extent he'd be if he was 5 Might.

130

Taking up "the" companion slot of another player isn't an issue for me. I don't have a problem with another player taking a familiar as a secondary companion. So they could still have a "reguler" companion as well.

Having someone else detail him is relevant when it comes the time to select additional Abilities (the Lindwurm template in RoP:M has 175 xp that haven't been spent on Abilities, for example).

Having another player have control of your companion is much more fun, from a story perspective.

For a grog-level familiar, I could see allowing up to base Might 9 (before Size adjustments), just shy of a medium power-level companion.

131

Well we can table it for a bit, to see if anyone is interested in playing him. I can build him at Might 9 for now. I will also post grogs tonight, hopefully. I feel excited that we're maybe, hopefully, getting close to being able to start?

132

I'll read the entry in RoP:M and see if I can think of a good personality to use. I'll let y'all know.

So I don't need to change much on my Familiar, then. Good to know. I wasn't sure just where we were making the cut-off.

133

Fyi, not quite done yet, but I have got a working grog-level build, to keep things on par. Of course you're welcome to build and play if you want. But I figure we'll probably both be on stories fairly frequently so might be easier to both have grog-level.

134

Grog-level familiars are flexible in their use in a story. The magus' player can certainly control the familiar, either as an extension of the magus or when the magus isn't present. But control can also be passed to a different player when it can enhance the story.

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135

Whichever seems more fun!

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136

I generally like the idea of the player controlling both magus and familiar together to represent the idea of the closeness familiar bond. Familiar's are also a pretty big deal, so I think it makes sense to generally keep them off limits from others unless we otherwise agree on something.

137

I can go either way. I think the idea is that if you want an extension of your will, then you take a lower-power familiar. If you want a really powerful one, you don't get as much control. That's not unreasonable, and it allows for both options of control.

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138

Updated (grog level):

Kiefskala the Linnorm

Magic Might: 5 (Animal) [9 before size]
Characteristics: Int 0, Per 0, Pre +1, Com –2, Str +8, Sta +3, Dex +2, Qik -2
Size: +4
Confidence Score: 1 (3)

Virtues and Flaws: Magic Animal; Variable Power (x2), Puissant Brawl, Tough; Essential Flaw (avaricious, major), Magical Friend, No Hands

Magical Qualities and Inferiorities: Greater Power; Gift of Speech, Improved Soak (x10), Personal Power (x2), Acclimation Prone, Temporary Might, Susceptible to Deprivation

Personality Traits: Avaricious* +6, Fierce +4, Vindictive +4

Combat:
Constriction: Init –2, Attack +14, Defense +6, Damage n/a
Large Teeth: Init –2, Attack +14, Defense +6, Damage +11

Soak: +21

Fatigue Levels: OK, 0/0, 0/0, –2, –4, Unconscious
Wound Penalties: –1 (1–10), –3 (11–20), –5 (21–30), Incapacitated (31–40), Dead (41+)

Abilities: Awareness 5 (Alertness), Brawl 6+2 (Constriction), Hunt 3 (Deer), Native Language: High German 5 (Swiss), Swim 2 (Speed), Survival 3 (Mountains), Stealth 3 (Hide)

Powers:

Constriction (non-magical): The linnorm can only use this attack on a victim of Size +3 or less. Constriction is based on the grappling rules (see Non-Lethal Combat, ArM5, page 174). As long as the linnorm maintains the grapple, its opponent is considered deprived of air (see ArM5, page 180). The victim must make a Stamina check every five rounds, or suffer the normal effects of deprivation. Once the serpent has successfully grappled an opponent (and begun constricting), on subsequent rounds it can continue constricting and still attack with its bite. These attacks may be directed at the grappled victim (in which case the Grapple Strength adds to the Attack Total), or at another opponent. The serpent can usually only constrict a single creature at a time.

Poisonous Breath, 0 points, Init –3, Auram, Penetration 10
The linnorm can breathe a cloud of black smoke five paces across that affects victims with a contact poison (Ease Factor 9, inflicts an Incapacitating wound).
CrAu 30 (Base 15, +1 Touch, +2 Group)
Greater Power (30 levels, -3 Might cost)
Variable Power +1 magnitude (1 per 5 Might): +1 Wound severity

Venomous Bite, 0 points, Init n/a, Aquam, Penetration 11
The bite of the linnorm injects a deadly poison into its prey (Ease Factor 9, inflicts a Heavy wound).
CrAq 30 (Base 10, +1 Touch, +2 Sun, +1 continuous effect)
Personal Power x2 (30 levels, –4 Might cost)
Variable Power +1 magnitude (1 per 5 Might): +1 Wound Severity

Vis: 2 Perdo in fangs

Appearance: The linnorm is a huge, bat-winged snake about 45 feet long and as thick as a tree. It has cat-like eyes that shine through the darkness. It's thick, overlapping scales are a pale, ashen green.

139

Looks good overall. A few details stand out to me as needing refinement.

Reading its description, I'm not sure that Magical Monster is an appropriate flaw for a familiar. The flaw specifically says that "The character is a magical being that has no strong connection to human society, such as a person who looks after it or a community that accords it special respect."

As a familiar, Kiefskala has a person who looks after it (Wolfgang), and a community that accords it special respect (the covenant).

On the other hand, Magical Friend (minor social flaw) specifically says that "it is also particularly appropriate for Hermetic familiars or any characters with nonhuman forms that are strongly associated with someone at a covenant." This looks like a more appropriate flaw.

As a Magical Animal, Kiefskala should also have the No Hands flaw for free (but not Mute since it is removed by Gift of Speech).

From what I understand, the Penetration ability can only be purchased using xp from mastery points in their powers, unless the character has an appropriate virtue (see the paragraph above the table for Starting Experience on RoP:M p.34).

Am I correct in assuming you are designing Kiefskala as a Summer magical being? If so, there might be a few xp missing, plus what was invested in Penetration. That's a good thing, for Kiefskala needs to spend some of that xp in language. Gift of Speech allows him to speak, but he still needs to have a score in the languages he uses.

RoP:M p.75 describes optional rules for the Constriction attack and states that a dragon can use it against a victim whose Size is less than its own. So Kiefskala would only be able to use it on a victim of Size +3 or less, not +5.

140

Ok. Will adjust. I grabbed constriction from elephant eating serpent, didn't know it was in RoP:M, other changes make sense from baseline lindwurm.

141

Dagny

Shield Grog to Wolfgang Weiß

Age: 27 (end of Winter 1204)

Stats

Characteristics
Int 0, Per -2, Str +2, Sta +3, Pre -1, Com -2, Dex +3, Qik -1

Virtues & Flaws
Turb Trained, Large, Tough
Sleep Disorder, Poor Sense of Direction, Busybody

Personality Traits
Loyal +3, Brave +3, Independent +2

Abilities
Animal Handling (Horses) 1
Area Lore: Scandinavia (Campsites) 1
Area Lore: Germany (Towns) 1
Awareness (Alertness) 5
Brawl (Punching) 1
Craft: Blacksmith (Repairs) 1
Craft: Swordsmith (Longswords) 5
Craft: Armorer (Chainmail) 4
Folk Ken (Townsfolk) 1
Language: High German (Bavarian) 5
Language: Latin (Hermetic Usage) 4
Ride (Staying In The Saddle) 1
Single Weapon (Longswords) 5
Survival (Mountains) 2

Background

Dagny was born in the city of Augsburg, daughter of a swordsmith. Her father had no sons, so he taught her the trade, but as she got older, and skilled enough to be named journeyman, she found that it wasn't an option, even though her skills surpassed any of her peers. The only way for her to become a craftsman was to "sponsor" a man, and do work under his name, which she found distasteful for a number of reasons. Refusing to get married just so she could practice her trade, she took to the roads, hoping to find a way to settle down and practice her craft.

She got lost often, and had dangerous encounters, but her hammer and her broad shoulders always proved protection enough. But while she could find work at simple labor, she found it impossible to start a smithy, or find work in one.

Increasingly desperate, she eventually sought employment with the strange people who wore robes and lived apart from everyone, in a manor house called Fengheld. Due to her reaction to the Gift, and poor social skills, she wasn't clear about her trade, but she was clearly big and strong, so the covenant recruited Dagny as a grog, training her in the sword. She didn't fit in well, though, and eventually she was sent to Durenmar, where she met a tiny magus named Wolfgang. She was at his side for the short-lived war in the northern reaches of Norway, and trapped with him for an entire winter, during which time they became good friends. She still finds him strange, but they've saved each others' lives several times each, and their bond is solid.

He was the first magus to pay enough attention to her, as a person, to learn that she was actually a smith, not just a big strong warrior; and he's promised her a chance, to put her real talents to good use, which she is eager for.

Appearance

A plain but voluptuous woman, well over 2 paces tall, with long pale-blond hair and ice-blue eyes. Though Dagny towers over many people, especially the diminutive magus she protects, she is a gentle soul, although she doesn't back down from anyone, sometimes not even when she should. She is reserved, even shy, and gets tongue-tied around people she doesn't know, but she is confident in her abilities as a warrior and a smith, and she is brave enough to go into battle against giants (which she has done) armed only with a spear and a shield.

Advancement Log

1205: (to be determined)

Notes and details

Dagny and Gwyneth are both very close with Wolfgang, and to outward appearances the three of them sometimes appear too intimate, but this is a simple bond of friendship they share from their years spent together in various wild places. In fact, the two women are a couple, and while Wolfgang doesn't understand it, and it makes him a bit uncomfortable, he is very fond of both of them, in a platonic way, and happy to provide them with cover for their unconventional relationship.

Combat stats

Equipment: Longsword, Heater Shield, Full Chainmail, Smithing Tools, Hardtack, Cheese, Waterskin

Gwyneth

Shield Grog to Wolfgang Weiß

Age: 28 (end of Winter 1204)

Stats

Characteristics
Int 0, Per +1, Str +2, Sta +1, Pre -1, Com -2, Dex +2, Qik +2

Virtues & Flaws
Custos, Second Sight, Magic Sensitivity
Magical Fascination, Nocturnal, Fragile Constitution

Personality Traits
Loyal +3, Brave +1, Curious +2

Abilities
Area Lore: Scandinavia (Geography) 3
Area Lore: England (Geography) 1
Awareness (Alertness) 3
Charm (First Impressions) 1
Craft: Bowyer (Longbow) 5
Craft: Fletcher (Broadheads) 2
Folk Ken (Townsfolk) 1
Language: English (West Midland) 5
Language: Latin (Hermetic Usage) 4
Magic Sensitivity (Auras) 3
Ride (Staying In The Saddle) 1
Second Sight (Invisible Things) 3
Single Weapon (Longswords) 3
Bows (Longbow) 5
Survival (Forests) 2

Background

Gwyneth was born in the traveling covenant of Semitae, daughter of the turb captain. She was raised to fulfill two roles – an archer in defense of the covenant, and a crafter in times of peace, creating the equipment she and others wielded. As she grew up, the magi discovered that she had remarkable magical abilities, and there were high hopes that she had the gift, but it turned out that she didn't. For a while, one of the magi there studied her, wondering if some strange effect of traveling through auras had resulted in changes to her nature, but he discovered nothing. She's always been very curious about her abilities, and where they came from, and about the nature of magic itself, but she was surrounded by mysterious Criamon and secretive Verditius, so there were no magi willing to answer her questions.

Eventually, the legendary Hugh of Flambeau asked to borrow a few of Semitae's excellent archery-trained grogs, and after some unknown renumeration, he brought a few of them to Durenmar, to join the ill-fated Muspelli war, alongside a tiny magus named Wolfgang. She was at his side, and trapped with him for an entire winter, during which time they became good friends. She still finds him strange, but they've saved each others' lives several times each, and their bond is solid.

He was the first magus to be patient enough with her to answer all her questions about magic; and he's promised her that when they settle down in a covenant, he will make sure she is taught to read, and allowed to spend her free time in the library, which she is very excited about.

Appearance

A tall, lean, athletic woman, with long flame-red hair and deep green eyes. She is freckled, and pretty, but has a very intense energy, full of questions, and has a tendency to talk too quickly, and sometimes forget her manners, which puts people off.

Advancement Log

1205: (to be determined)

Notes and details

Dagny and Gwyneth are both very close with Wolfgang, and to outward appearances the three of them sometimes appear too intimate, but this is a simple bond of friendship they share from their years spent together in various wild places. In fact, the two women are a couple, and while Wolfgang doesn't understand it, and it makes him a bit uncomfortable, he is very fond of both of them, in a platonic way, and happy to provide them with cover for their unconventional relationship.

Combat stats

Equipment: Longbow, 20 arrows, Longsword, Heater Shield, Full Chainmail, Bowyer/Fletcher Tools, Hardtack, Cheese, Waterskin

142

Finally posted grogs above.

I know Visions is a story flaw, but it fits the character, and it's unique in that her visions can really trigger stories for anyone, depending on what she sees. But I will change it if people want me to.

143

I am not completely against it. I will note, however, that with so many main characters (magi but also companions) around the covenant, having triggers for stories is not necessary. There are a number of possible alternatives in Grogs that could fit the bill, such as Hallucinations, Magical Fascination, (Realm) Stigmatic, Susceptible to Warping, or Warped by Magic.