As it should be, hence why I'm not nudging you!
Entirely fair, if there's anything you need help with, give me a yell!
Re: Companions In General
I'd like to encourage everyone to build two Companions, attached to different Magi. The goal here is to make a real feeling "supporting cast" for each Magus as well as to give us all characters (a mix potentially of Magus, Companions, and Grogs) to play in all of our intended story threads.
The attachment of Companions to Magi is roughly the explanation for how a given Companion became the friend/retainer (Companion) of a Magus and thus (more or less) entered the Magical World and affiliation with the Order of Hermes. This should stay their "primary" magical affiliation (a relationship with that particular Magus), but it doesn't mean they dont' go on adventures with other Magi or groups of characters.
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Re: Companion Concepts
I have been kicking around a couple of ideas. If anyone has thoughts/input, that is quite welcome.
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UnGifted Fire Elementalist Hedge Wizard, attached to @Callen's Maga. The intent here is to do a type of magic that she can't/won't to fill in something of a gap, and thus be useful and also leaning into the more combative temperament of the Maga with a Companion who can somewhat fight magically.
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A mundane crime boss/factor/king pin, who has become affiliated with @RafaelB/Atheus. I am pondering some touch of magic for him, but haven't completely settled on anything. The real intent would be a character who could play into the social networking and influence operations that the Mage is intended to be going strong on.
The only caveat I want to add is that two is more work than one, so if your schedule only allows for one companion character, that's totally fine! Just be aware that it increases the chance that you're without a character in an active story is all.
Gotta admit, I'm highly amused by the idea of a hedgie that is more of a 'traditional' Flambeau than the maga they're attached to.
Entrancement seems an easy fit?
To facilitate pairing companions and magi, could we add a post, perhaps to Inchmore Covenant - General Information, naming magi and companions, perhaps with a single-phrase or single-sentence descriptor? Being able to see who is in what category and who is attached to whom in one place would be helpful. Otherwise we're digging through here and character sheets.
That's cool. That will fill in for her weakness in cool ways. If I remember correctly, elementalists work best with advance preparation, which is the basis of the school she hopes to start. So their approaches could work well together, too. Happily, she should be able to give the elementals some good protection with her spells, too.
A couple things I've been playing around with, some of which would merge in some way:
- There are some Irish who have tattoos (the Cruithnigh), which isn't commonly available.
- A dwarf crafter with Strong Faerie Blood feels fitting with so much faerie around.
- I've got some ideas with Touched by (Realm) or Mythic (Crafter), and that could be very helpful for the covenant and its grogs or other companions.
- I'm not sure there is anything that requires you to have the Gift with Enigmatic Wisdom, and I thought it could be interesting to a have a Failed Apprentice who is still good with Enigmatic Wisdom. While The Enigma is a Hermetic Virtue, Gorgiastic is just a General Virtue, so even the Virtue access allows for it.
Other ideas that might partially merge:
- I think the Class are interesting, and certainly fitting to an Irish game.
- It could be fun to make a strong leader for shield grogs. Several magi might appreciate this.
- Such a leader could arrive with his own group of warriors rather than recruiting from general covenant grogs, which might make for some interesting rivalry/tension between groups of grogs.
- Alternatively, just an enhanced individual warrior as a single protector/companion could work.
- If such a warrior is particularly suited to Faerie, he might be able to travel comfortably with magi outside the normal world.
On a side note, I want to swap the "cloak" and "shroud" names I used for some spells. More commonly you put a cloak on yourself or a shroud on someone else, so they will make more sense if swapped.
Done. Drop me a line in here and let me know what you folks want as your short little description. And that goes for everyone.
All seem rather interesting!
Yeah I think these are bloody awesome! Was trying to find the right character to make them work, but alas, neither of my two so far are particularly martial.
Speaking personally (and entirely selfishly), I know that Ronan would be well served by someone with significant martial skills, as he's more or less entirely useless on that front. Interestingly enough, a dwarf crafter with a sympathy trait in weapons can be rather good at both crafting, and bashing folks' heads in.
Flambeau focused in animating wood, seeking to start her own Flambeau school.
Class??? Auto-correct!!! Clesa!
I have found one that fits in a design right now.
Yes, I was thinking of making the companion for him. I'm working in a heavy Faerie influence as well as using FĂĄenchless, which is great for a protector. I could potentially make him good at crafting weapons as well, though avoiding Dwarf here and not doing Wondrous Items. I'm looking at this combination:
Affinity with Single Weapon [1]
Cautious with Single Weapon [1]
FĂĄenchless [1]
Flight [1]
Puissant Single Weapon [1]
Strong Faerie Blood: Lugh (Sympathy: Weapons) [3]
So there is room to throw in more, and crafting and combat both pair well with Lugh. I'm debating variants around Faerie Upbringing. I need to look through Ronan more carefully to make sure it remains complementary.
OK, that's good. Now that I'm settling on the other one, I'll see what comes together well here.
Haha no worries, I knew precisely whatcha meant!
Looks interesting so far! And FĂĄenchless is for sure one of my favorite ones.
I'll get off my arse and get the rest of his stuff up today then!
I think Ronan's Alluring to Faeries can tie in nicely. This guy, with his Faerie Supernatural Abilities and all, would be affected by that. So when they come across each other in their history, my guy would be drawn to Ronan.
Perfect, that's precisely what I was going for with the pairing, so sounds great to me mate!
Seems nice!
I was thinking exactly that he will eventually threaten someone with a broken leg, and needed a person to break said legs.
An Outlaw Leader in Athlone?
The Entrancement suggested by Nithyn is good, but Piercing Gaze is gooder IMO, and leaves open space for other cool stuff. =9
Atheus ex Tytalus - Mundane meddler in True Love with the daughter of a wealthy merchant.
Also a great choice! Really depends on how 'magic' he wants the character to be. That said, you can do a whole heck of a lot just with a purely 'mundane' character.
@Pendry I was thinking about a potential companion for you. Was looking at either Whistle up the Wind or Summon Animals as rather interesting things to build a character aroun.
I think I have the Failed Apprentice (erratum rules out lab work) figured out as a failed Criamon with Enigmatic Wisdom and Mythic Tattoo Artist (Corpus and Vim). The character would be quite good at lore in general, but also generally capable (at least after some workshop time). I was thinking of being from Circulus Ruber, starting apprenticeship about when the magi did, providing a bond with a couple of them.
So, after seeking some input with Vort and Nithyn about how much involvement with the Infernal were they thinking for the Saga and thinking a bit more about how I want to play the character, I think a former cultist might not be the best option.
So, for Vorsutus I'd like to propose a viking warrior with Valgaldrar. Since Valgaldrar requires both Com and Leadership to work properly this guy should be able to act as a face for Vorsutus when dealing with mundanes (but not an exceptional one).
He can also speak with the dead and, if given enough time to prepare, rise a small group of zombies with might 9 to do his bidding. No Infernal for this guy, but he would probably have learned his craft with a ghost ancestor (I'm thinking Ghostly Warder, a Magical version of Faerie Friend, or Plagued by Supernatural... something like that).
How does this sound like?
For a second companion (since we were prompted =9) I'm thinking about a Learned Magician, a disciple of Ădhamh Brathair (TCI p.44). The idea is that he botched a roll and got himself Plagued by Infernal, after what his master arranged for him to be under the covenant's umbrela (and Aegis).
In his free time he helps further Ădhamh's goals of Original Research. Otherwise he makes charts and amulets for the covenant, teaches the covenfolk and manages the library. Occasionally he requests help to deal with the diabolic trouble.
Thoughts?
This looks like a lot of fun!
Since he won't undergo twilight, what's his use for Enigmatic Wisdom?
Predictive stigmata, labyrinth meditation, and potentially following a path and using it with what the path provides. Also potentially writing books on Enigmatic Wisdom.
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I admit to always being leery of failed apprentices, but this sounds like a ton of fun, so I'm all for it! Plus, how often do you see a Criamon of any type in the game?
I adore the ability, and thus, the idea! I remember once trying to build a non-Hermetic necromancer, and was sad that there was nothing like this at the time.
I suspect being leery comes from pre-erratum. Before the erratum there was a huge mechanical incentive to them because they could assist in the laboratory.
Nail, head.
Total aside, but bloody hell is Imaginem an incredibly broad art with some rather complicated, yet in some places entirely undefined rules. Going Vim heavy with Ronan, but Imaginem seemed a suitable second art given the whole fae angle, and spell design is taking more out of me than I thought. Things like, how do you adjudicate loud noise, bright lights, or illusory flames that are designed to affect touch? To say nothing of, can you just have an 'illusion' affect touch and not sight? Just a lot of cans of worms as it were!
Loud noise - Add magnitudes, with troupe agreement.
Bright lights - Ignem.
Flames - Visual + touch (+ sound?). Moving image. Ignem to give off light.
Touch, not sight - E.g. a rough surface feels smooth, though it still looks rough, or vice versa.