Character Creation for Pralix (OOC)

No, the familiar bond does not cause warping at all.

Spring 1196

On one of their first outings after the long winter, Placidus and Doom saw a formidable woman with a red cap wander towards their covenant. With a sinking heart, Placidus realized that it was his mother, probably come to see his new familiar. He felt a pang of guilt, before he realized that he was an adult and it was none of her business really.

Placidus and Doom quickly flew to Fengheld, where they were asked to investigate rumors of a fire dragon plaguing villagers near Halberstadt. The dragon turned out to be an easy to find lesser fire drake named Varkos. After some skirmishes, Placidus managed to get the drake to talk. In the end, they accompanied Varkos east to Novgorod where they found Lyria, a charming water drake, that immediately fell in love with Varkos' daring ways.

Season Mechanics
5xp in Parma magic, from 1(5) to 2, 5xp in Magic Lore, 2(10) to 3; 2xp in Reputation: Protector of the Wild Places, from 0(3) to 1

3/3p of vis gained (the year before), 24/45xp gained, 1/1 warping gained

Summer and fall 1996

Segafrada ex Mercere, Placidus mother, was waiting for them at Lusatia, when they finally returned. Placidus had hoped to read the Ignem primer in the summer months, but his mother kept interrupting him ("Merlin dearest!"), so it took him two seasons rather than one. At least, she approved of Doom!

Fortunately, she left at some point in fall, so that Placidus eventually managed to finish the slim book.

Season Mechanics
Reading a primer: 15 xp gained in Ig, from 0 to 5; 6xp gained in concentration, from 1 to 1(6)

3/3p of vis gained (the year before), 45/45xp gained, 1/1 warping gained

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One of the heirs of Leonardus of Jerbiton, whose legacy was used to establish the new covenant, is Wilhelm Weis. Wilhelm is a member of Fengheld and lives at the Rheingasse chapter house in Cologne. At some point, you may arrange for Placidus to meet him, as that would give an in-character handle for Placidus to join the new covenant.

@Arthur How do you do those triangles that you use for your character sheet?

It's the "Hide details" functionality, in the gear button. The code is:

[details="Summary"]
This text will be hidden
[/details]

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I've tried to roll dice, but it is weird with the given online roller and doesn't add the modifiers.

I'd like Placidus to experience a twilight. How do I roll properly?

You can use your preferred online roller and post a link (preferred method), but if it is too problematic you can use a physical die and report the results. I believe in the honor system.

1197, winter (year 4 starts)

Winter saw Placidus paint a circle on the floor of the servants’ bedroom in Lusatia. The servants looked on curiously. Then he spoke a quick spell. The floor inside the circle was no longer cold, but had a nice temperature to sleep on. He asked them if there were other rooms that needed warming, but they seemed quite happy, so he only drew one more circle: In his own bedroom.

He then withdrew to the lab to learn some more spells, for which he had fetched texts at Fengheld a few days earlier: Ward against the beasts of Legend and Soothe the Ferocious Bear. Doom decided to help him, and flattered around the lab excitedly, announcing potential explosions with glee. Placidus didn’t have the heart to tell her that he could have invented the spells just as well without her, and was happy that she was keeping him company.

Season Mechanics
2xp exposure in MT, from 3(2) to 3(4), two spells learned
0/3p of vis gained, 12/45xp gained, 0/1 warping gained

Spontaneous spell: Ig 5+ Cr 0 + 3 aura + 2 Int = 10, can be used to create a spont. CrIg(Te) 5 effect
lab total: Re 5 + An 8 + Int 2 + aura 3 + familiar 3 + Magic theory 3 = 24

1197, spring and summer:

When Placidus and Doom return the borrowed texts to the Fengheld library in spring, Horst gives them a letter and asks them to deliver it to Wilhelm Weiss in all secrecy and haste. They promise to help him and fly to Cologne at utmost speed.

Wilhelm Weiss, after reading the letter, informs them that a demon is suspected of having corrupted a companion of Fengheld name Brother Adalbert, a man who is working at the Archbishop’s palace. Placidus feels uncomfortably in the city and feels that he is out of his depth, but hesitantly agrees to help the other mage. His own transformation magic doesn’t work reliably, and eagles are rare in a city anyway, but he convinces animals to spy for him. Wilhelm Weiss has connections inside the church, who manage to drive off the demon, but not before it takes Brother Adalbert’s soul with him to hell. During the showdown, Placidus experiences a Twilight in which he walks through a version of Cologne that is populated with animals only, and he encounters an angelic creature that shines a bright, warm light on him.

Wilhelm Weiss is glad that greater damage was averted and that his deeds have led to a tentative cooperation with the Church in Cologne, and offers to have a companion teach Placidus city magic as a reward, if he stays for the summer. Placidus accepts, but, although he really likes Wilhelm, is glad when he gets to leave the city at the end of summer.

Season Mechanics
Dominion Lore (true faith) 1, Infernal Lore (demons) 1, Philosophy (ceremonial casting) 2
0/3p of vis gained, 37/45xp gained, all 7 remaining warping points gained


I have decided to get the remaining 7 warping points in one fell swoop; I've rolled the roller Stephan Fleetwood uses (rolz) and have finally managed to add +2 (intelligence) to the first roll (comprehension roll) and to 1 (the warping score) to the 2nd roll (vs. warping score). The result means my character gets something nice out of the whole twilight thing. A virtue would be cool, but I do not want to choose myself. Any ideas?

When determining the effects of a Twilight experience, it often helps to know what triggered the Twilight in the first place. I like to link the result to the Arts combination that was used at the time. Not mandatory, but helpful.

Have you thought about the Twilight Scar he gets, in addition to the beneficial effect?

It was triggered by a botch in a divine aura. He could have been trying to cast a version of aura of ennobled presence on himself?

I thought the botch had happened during the showdown with Brother Adalbert (or maybe even the demon itself). Was there other mundanes involved in the showdown, than made casting Aura of Ennobled Presence useful?

I thought they needed to access the church.

During the fight itself, it would probably be some spontaneous Muto spell? Or the ReTe Sling of Vilano effect? My character is good at ta(n)king physical damage, but not at dealing damage.

How about getting the Animal Ken virtue? That would be in sync with the experience of Cologne inhabited by animals.

It costs more xp than it is worth, especially with the spell he already has, but it would be something he might unconsciously yearn for. On the plus side, this would probably be a divine virtue, so it would work well in cities.

An alternative might be inoffensive to animals, or improved characteristics Presence, if it was Ennobled Presence, or potentially Cautious with Finesse if it was the Vilano spell.

I'm not sure that think a magical Twilight experience can grant a virtue attuned to the Divine. Wizard's Twilight remains a magical phenomena. Still I'm intrigued and open to the possibility.

Another option would be to go with someting other than a virtue. Perhaps a spell outside of his usual specialties, like Demon's Eternal Oblivion. Or maybe Ward Against the Hounds of Hell (a version of Ward Against the Beasts of Legend against infernal animals)? ArM5 p.89 suggests the spell level to be of a magnitude equal to the number of warping points gained, so it would be level 35. Impossible to cast for now, but potentially quite valuable.

What would a Magus with deficient perdo do with a lvl35 DEO? He'd need a casting total of 140 to pull that off and penetrate, and it would completely ruin any infernal story if a lvl 35 demon could be offed so easily.
Same scepticism about the ward - wards have to penetrate, I assume?

I think inoffensive to animals is a good compromise - we don't have to argue about the realm it's attuned to, it fits him, it's not a game changer (few magi are probably killed by hotile mundane animals), but it's not entirely useless either.

I forgot about the Perdo deficiency and agree that DEO wouldn't be a good fit. That would still leave a Rego Animal Ward Against the Hounds of Hell as a valid option. Sure, wards need to penetrate, but there are ways to achieve a higher casting total (such as Wizard's Communion). But I get the feeling that you are not satisfied with that possibility. :wink:

My only hesitation with Inoffensive to Animals is that Placidus already has Inoffensive to Magical Beings. RoP:M p.45 mentions (in regards to Inoffensive to (Beings)*) that "This Virtue may not be taken more than once; to design a character that is not disturbing to more than one sort of being, instead take the Gentle Gift and the Offensive to (Beings) Flaw, below."

I think that statement is a bit too strong, however, since Gentle Gift also cover mundane humans, which cannot be covered by either Inoffensive to (Beings) or Offensive to (Beings). So perhaps Inoffensive to Animals is a good option after all. I'm ok with it, even though I feel like the Ward would have been a more interesting choice. :grin:

I don't want to develop my character's arts to a point where any lvl35 spell would ever make sense. I'm quite happy with him dabbling with lower level spells.

That said, I do not want my character to break rules, which rules out Inoffensive to animals.

New alternatives (simply going through the core book virtues, leaving out any that do not fit at all, I've marked how much I like the ideas with +-symbols):

powerful ideas
++ the enigma (I've never played a Criamon, because I'm not entirely sure if this is a virtue or a flaw, but more twilights sound like fun), and it might make relations with the Criamon interesting
++ personal vis source (how else would one get a personal vis source, this would be linked closely to the twilight scar, like amber eyes that can see the advent of spring and create InVis that way? Probably too powerful)
++ piercing gaze, also goes well with a strange eye-color as a twilight scar (not overpowered)
++ mastered spells (mastery 4 in one of the spells used, like the Terram Vilano spell; this is a rather powerful option)
++ puissant animal handling? Puissant Infernal Lore? Puissant Finesse? (All nice and clean boni, useful as well and easy to justify)
++cautious with finesse (it went wrong once before....)

other ideas:

  • famous: normal people believe believe him to be a demon slayer. That will make him vastly popular, but will lead to a lot of trouble (especially since he doesn't see himself that way and is ill-equipped to fight demons with his Pe-Deficiency)
  • free study (boring, but harmless, who learns from vis in a world full of good books?)
  • harnessed magic (nice to have for any Muto magus, would tie in with his heritage)
  • hermetic prestige (same as famous, only with magi)
  • improved characteristics (could raise com to 2 or int to 3, would reflect a mental development "wisdom" gained)
  • luck
  • a focus on self-transformation (I assume that is mostly MuCo spells? It would eliminate the city fails for his shapechanging; nice to have, hard to justify)
  • protection (the archbishop of Cologne says THANK YOU)
  • Puissant animal? Imaginem? Terram? Rego? (more useful than interesting)
  • sense holiness or unholiness (would set him on a demon-hunter path)
  • side effect peaceful (+3? to personality rolls of those affected by his spells for a time, bit like inspirational, only weaker)
  • strong-willed (easily explained by a mind forged in Twilight)
  • subtle magic (would be very useful to him and make magic in a city easier as well, but doesn't tie in nicely with twilight)
  • unaging (weird stuff happens, Twilight scar taken care of)

One idea I toyed with was having him gain a spell of a lower level (say level 20), but also granting him a level or two of mastery in it.

I must admit I have a tendency to look at Twilight as a way to have a magus branch out in unexpected ways, instead of just granting the more boring virtues (like Puissant). And of course something that resonates with the nature of the Twilight experience. You offer some interesting ideas towards this:

  • Piercing Gaze, or maybe a variant that works with animals instead of humans.
  • Minor Magical Focus in Self-Transformation, or perhaps Understanding Living Animals (essentially covering all of Intellego Animal that deals with living animals).
  • Sense Holiness and Unholiness would fit well with the experience. Is the demon-hunting path something you are interested in?
  • The Enigma would also be interesting.

In the same direction, here's a few more possibilities:

  • Inspirational or Pack Leader (from HoH:MC p.37), because his interaction with the animal inhabitant of the Twilight Cologne brought out his leadership abilities
  • Intuition or Premonitions, as he gained a kind of animal sensitivity to danger
  • Magic Sensitivity, as he became more attuned to magic
  • Perfect Balance, as the experience gave him animal sense of equilibrium
  • Rapid Convalescence or Reserves of Strength, as the experience made him "healthy (or strong) as an ox", giving him unnatural health of strength
  • Keen Eyes, Sharp Ears or Keen Sense of Smell, as he became more attuned with his animal side
  • Special Circumstances (Divine aura), helping him alleviate the negative effects of the Dominion

So many possibilities! Can you select the 3 you find the most interesting for your character? I will make the final decision from those.