Character Development

Here is a just post-gauntlet version. I am still not certain about the 'Mythic Blood' thing. Any suggestions on something I can use to more distinctly reflect the giantish/rune magic lineage? Or how do people think the Mythic Blood feels in the build?

Saga: Shores of Albion
Setting: Mythic Europe
Current Year: 1220
House: Ex Miscellenea
Age:
Size: 0
Confidence: 1 / ( 3 )
Decrepitude:
Warping:

Birth Name: Rurik Svenson
Year Born:
Gender:M
Race/Nationality: Norse/Denmark
Place of Origin: Zealand
Religion: Norse Paganism
Title/Profession: Magus
Height: 6"9
Weight: 230
Hair: Blonde
Eyes: Blue
Handedness: Right

Sigil: Runic Images and Effects in his magic and in/among his tattoos/skin.
Covenant:
Domus Magna: Cad Gadu
Primus:
Parens:
Covenant of Apprenticeship:

Ex Misc: Mythic Blood: Jotun - Puissant Corpus - Necessary Condition: Runes

Mythic Blood Power: Intellego Mentem lvl 30, ( Base 5, +1 Concentration, +4 Sight ) ( Translates Any Written Language for the user. )

V ( 10 ): ( Mythic Blood: Minor Magical Focus: Direct Wounding/Killing ) Affinity: Corpus ( 1 ), Puissant/Affinity: Perdo ( 2 ), Exotic Casting ( 1 ), Flawless Magic ( 3 ), Puissant/Affinity Magic Theory ( 2 ), Puissant Parma Magica ( 1 )

F ( 10 ): Disfigured: Runic Tattoos ( 1 ), Warped Magic: Glowing Runes/Glyphs ( 1 ), Incomprehensible ( Rune Magic ) ( 1 ), Blatant Gift ( 3 ), Close Family Ties: Duidsan Tradition ( 1 ), Mentor ( 1 ), Hermetic Patron: Ash Guild ( 1 ), Proud ( 1 )

Reputation:

( Magi ) Aggressive Hoplite

( Magi ) Bellicose Magus

( Giants etc. ) Giant-kin lvl 4

Attributes:

Intelligence:
Perception:

Presence:
Communication:

Strength:
Stamina:

Dexterity:
Quickness:

Abilities:

( Childhood 45/45 ) ( 13 years, Later Life 195/195 ) ( Apprenticeship 240/240 ) ( Post Gauntlet: )

Norse ( Warriors ): 5 ( *Native )

Athletics ( Running ): 2 ( 15xp )
Stealth ( Forest ): 2 ( 15xp )
Area Lore: Denmark ( Giants ): 2 ( 15xp )
Survival ( Forest ): 2 ( 15xp )
Swim ( Not Drowning ): 2 ( 15xp )

Brawl ( Grappling ): 4 ( 50xp )
Single Weapon ( Sword ): 2 ( 15xp )
Great Weapon ( Great Sword ): 4 ( 50xp )

Profession: Sailor ( Longships ): 3 ( 30xp )

Latin ( Magi ): 4 ( 50xp )
Gaelic ( Runes ): ( 0xp )
German ( Demands/Orders ): 1 ( 5xp )
English ( Demands/Orders ): 2 ( 15xp )

Magic Theory ( Perdo ): 5 ( 50/75xp ) ( +2 Puissant )

Profession: Scribe ( Copying ): 1 ( 5xp )
Parma Magica ( Corpus ): 1 ( 5xp ) ( +2 Puissant )
Penetration ( Perdo ): 2 ( 15xp )
Finesse ( Perdo ): 1 ( 5xp )
Concentration ( Spells ): ( )

Duidsan Lore ( Initiations ): 3 ( 30xp )
Order Of Hermes Lore ( Stonehenge ): 1 ( 5xp )
Magic Lore ( Giants ): 1 ( 5xp )

Arts:

Perdo: 13 ( 62/92xp ) ( +3 Puissant )

Animal: 3 ( 6xp )

Herbam: 3 ( 6xp )

Corpus: 10 ( 40/60xp ) ( +3 Puissant )

Vim: 3 ( 6xp )

Spells: ( 120/120 )

Lesser Evocation of the Runes Against Men
Perdo Corpus: 20
R: Voice D: Momentary T: Individual
( Base 5 ( inflict a light wound ) - +2 Voice - +1 Size )
Inflicts a light wound on a person up to 10X the size of a regular person.
Mastery: 1 ( Multi-Casting ) ( * )

Lesser Evocation of the Runes Against Beasts
Perdo Animal: 20
R: Voice D: Momentary T: Individual
( Base 5 (inflict a light wound ) - +2 Voice - +1 Size )
Inflicts a light wound on an animal up 10X the size of a pony.
Mastery: 1 ( Multi-Casting ) ( * )

Runes Against the Mundane Foe
Perdo Terram ( Herbam/Animal ): 30
R: Touch D: Sun T: Individual
( Base: 3 ( Destroy Dirt), +1 Touch, +2 Sun, +1 Part, +1 Complexity, +2 Metal )
Destroys the section of any inanimate object ( of the forms Terram/Herbam/Animal ), that makes contact with the target for the duration. The beneficiary can, with a ‘keying’ of special gestures or words in the spell design allow ‘in’ objects, so that they can still handle objects that they desire to.
Mastery: 1 ( Stalwart Casting ) ( * )

Rune of Disjoining Terram ( End Of The Mighty Castle, Modified )
Perdo Terram: 30
R: Voice D: Momentary T: Structure
( Base: 3 ( Destroy Dirt ), +2 Voice, +3 Structure, +1 Stone, +1 Size )
A single structure of stone or earth collapses into debris. Anyone within takes +10 or more, depending on their situation, from falling and the collapse of the building on top of them.
Mastery: 1 ( Multi-Casting ) ( * )

Glyph of Striding ( Wizard’s Leap )
Rego Corpus: 20
R: Touch D: Momentary T: Individual
( Base 15 ( Transport the target instantly up to 50 paces )
Mastery: 1 ( Fast Casting ) ( * )

Mythic Blood is a Hermetic Virtue. You need a Major Supernatural Virtue for Ex-Misc.
Unless Sally already handwaved that and I didn't notice. In that case no big deal.
As for your Mythic Blood Power, I don't think InMe is what you are looking for. Whose "mind" is being read? I hink the Form you are looking for is whatever substance contains the writing. That would potentially include multiple different Forms, but since you are not casting it as a spell Requisites wouldn't matter (and they would not increase the magnitude, since they are requisites required for the effect). Basically, the Form of the power should be whatever is eing targeted by said power, and there is no mind present in written pages/tablets/etceteras. Jusr semantics, the level and the resulting effect would remain the same.

Also, watch out for Valten. I (the player) will turn a blind eye whenever I can. But if he suspects you of being in league with the Order of Odin or some other group of rival hedgies, then things could get ugly.

Then again, ugly can be fun :smiling_imp:

Mmm. You really are quite correct about the Mythic Blood. I honestly hadn't looked at it that closely and only really went and selected it as it was recommended by Arya. I think I would rather have something else that was more 'Rune Magic' oriented, but I'm not sure what. Any recommendations?

As for the power, I don't think you are correct on that point. The Base spell is a Mentem Sensory spell, Thoughts Within Babble, that is a 'Hearing' Sensory spell. There is no target whose mind you are reading. The spell, basically, takes sounds and, if there is a meaning... a mental significance if you will, can instantly infer that. You don't target a person, you perceive the meaning of sounds. The logical extension of that guideline and that spell when you take it up to 'sight' is that you can then perceive the significance and meaning of anything visual in the same way. The target, in effect, is the caster because it is sensory magic.

And note that I took the 'Hermetic Patron: Ash Guild' for my guy. The inference is that he is quite militant and aggressive within the Ash Guild in hunting 'enemies of the order' and in particular Vitkir etc. Leaving unspoken that his private goal in that regard is to pillage their rune magic and integrate it with his own.

It's okay with me as your Ex Misc virtue if you feel it fits the bloodline better. It makes no sense for Mythic Blood to be Hermetic when Faerie Blood and Giant Blood are not. I suppose because Mythic affects your spellcasting. Meh.

I'm with Mark on the spell effect, though. Paper doesn't have a Mentem for you to perceive; if you could use the writing as an arcane connection to whomever wrote the words, that would sort of make sense, but it'd be much higher level at that range, and the arcane connection to the author wouldn't last long enough for the effect to be useful, anyway.

Also, doesn't really fit the theme of Jotun blood. The Jotuns were pretty straightforward, apocalyptic death-death-death-brunch-death kind of folks. Divinatory abilities stemming from their blood doesn't fit. I could see Jotun blood letting you sprout sharp teeth and claws, but anything related to scholarship? No way.

Thoughts Within the Babble has always bothered me, too. It should not be personal range, because the spell isn't perceiving knowledge from your OWN mind; you're gleaning the meaning of words from the individual speakers so the target should be Voice... only backwards, since it's the target's voice range, not the caster's. (I guess that's why they said "screw it" and made it Personal. I still disagree with it though.)

"Join or die" never says you can't torture information out of 'em before they do the dying!

I am not saying the spell should have a different level, just a different associated Form (or Forms). This is a minor point and has no real impact on a Mythic Blood power. Another option for a Mtythic Blood power relating to Jotun blood would be something that increases your size a few points. Since it is a non-Hermetic power that only targets you, I would say that your increased size isn't subject to magic resistance (much as the personal powers of magical creatures).

I dunno. I'm feeling rather frustrated with this build, not being able to find anything that really feels like it 'fits' with the Damhad Duidsan concept for the free major virtue and my desired character path. Combining that with the overlap I've now noticed I have made into the character with Valten and not having the focus I was originally thinking of and I'm honestly considering scrapping it for another character.

Doesn't Societates already have a well defined Ex-Misc package for the Damhad Duidsan ? Why not just go with that?

It is just a couple of paragraphs. And a lot of it refers to the infernal book stuff that the corrupted version of the tradition gets, with the whole corpus/injury based magic they can get based off of Incantation+Consumption. As Arya doesn't want that in her game, which I fully understand, I was strying to make a non-corrupted version of the tradition. Which, honestly, I very much like the idea of. But I don't like being so very close to what you are playing, and I just can't seem to come up with an idea that I find satisfactory for the major virtue.

I am playing a mean SOB. That is the core concept behind Valten. I don't mind a little overlap :slight_smile:

Just go with Giant Blood, and use your other Virtue points for your magical specializations.

If you don't like overlap, let's take inventory. We've got:

  • An academic Jerbiton who slightly favours Intellego
  • A noble Jerbiton social butterfly with a preference for Mentem
  • A mean SOB who focuses on Perdo
  • A Mercere lab rat focusing on Rego and Corpus
  • You've got an NPC Merinita undine healer, and an ancient Criamon knock knock knockin' on Final Twilight's doooor
  • We may be joined in the future by a Criamon who likes to talk to sticks and stones

So, it looks to me like the usual suspects we're missing are

  • someone with pewpew lazorz, maybe an Ig Flambeau or Elementalist Ex Misc
  • someone who can do physical damage, a big brutish Bjornaer or a Giant Blooded... Merinita faerie knight?
  • Someone who could cast a decent Aegis would be fabulous :slight_smile:

Just some thoughts, if you're stuck for ideas.

I've been thinking through alterations now that I'll have a mage. I was working on two variants of the companion I'd had, one focusing on the warrior aspect - a big, tough Verditius, and the other focusing on the other faerie parts - a more social jewelcrafting Verditius. I have had an idea in mind that could work well as a Merinita who could do the pew-pew stuff if that would be desired. Let me know soon since I was trying to finish things really, really soon.

Chris

I didn't hear back from anyone (not that I gave you much time). I've gone the brute way, though he's not big. He's someone we might want casting the Aegis of the Hearth, too. It looked like covering those two would be helpful.

Edit: He's not the one to do the Aegis. While he could do it more efficiently than the better person with a really low level Aegis, the low level Aegis just isn't worth it. We have a Mercurian who's also stronger in ReVi than my character. So I abandoned the Aegis part.

Chris

PS: Knowing how Mark likes his Flambeau, I bet he'll like my Verditius.

Currently I'm leaning towards a 'True' Merinita Nature Magic type person. Probably strong on the Muto with Elemental Magic and using the requisite effect and the like to try and come up with interesting property manipulation and/or shapechanging type effects.

That sounds great. Have you checked out the House Rules? In this saga, "true" Merinita receive Nature Lore instead of Faerie Magic.

Hey all,

I am trying to build a mage to join the group, and would like to check on a few items before finalizing a concept. I was going to build a Criamon, but after reading thru Chap 1 I love Lamentus and can't even come close to pulling that off - which, yes, I know, he's Criamon, be completely different and it makes sense, but Lamentus is soooo good at it! :slight_smile:

So, I started making a Blinker (Quiet x2 and Subtle Magic) and was wondering - do we still need a muscle-bound brawling monstronsity of a physical mage? And, as a rules question to Arya - if I'm casting a Touch Range spell without gestures or speaking, can I use Brawl and physically punch for damage at the same time with enough Concentration? (I did mention I'm a min/maxer :stuck_out_tongue: )

Or Blinker as a range specialist - also very doable and very specialized. Would probably go Perdo heavy or Ignem heavy; neither art seems very well covered at the moment by the magi.

Finally, a Blinker is almost always paired with a Gentle Gift socialite, but with two Gentle Gift Jerbiton high social members in the group, I was planning on shying away from it. However, if the group/party as a whole is veering more and more into Mundane politics and interactions (and yes, I know it's only the 2nd chapter so it's still mostly intro) it would make sense that the Hermes world is sending more and more Gentle Gifted freshly minted - I mean Gauntleted - mages to the same location to work their magic in keeping the Mundane and Magical world seperate.

With two Magi already Rego hefty, are we good on the Aegis? Of what level/is one of the older magi casting it? Because I can always go back to the Criamon build with stupid amounts of Vim and dropping a lvl 30-35 Aegis on us, Probably wouldn't be able to pull off one much higher as a freshly Gauntleted/Gauntleted and +5 years.

There will be much more Hermetic politics in this saga than mundane politics.

The Aegis is cast by Lamentus. He will stick around NPC-like until the PCs are at a point where they can worry about handling the Aegis themselves. The character is an NPC who will only be played by a real-world friend of mine infrequently as his hectic schedule permits. Don't let the character deter you from a Criamonis, if you want to play one :slight_smile:

A combat magus is always fitting in the borderlands. And yes, a sufficient concentration check would let you deliver a touch range spell and deal Brawl damage.

Since qcipher and I are trying to build probationary mages to join you "experienced" members of the covenant, any way we can get a roll call of the magi again? Player characters first and then the NPC you plan to keep around Arya? I mean, yes - not every magus/maga is going to be different, but I shied away from creating a Skinchanger/shapeshifter due to Maruska and Erro. And Arya, I know I ran some ideas past you already, but I don't mind if they're struck down/if approved, can really be applied to almost any type character, so...

And maybe, a character concept would even encourage us to build something similar but not copying for a little friendly competition and rivalry! :slight_smile:

Maruska will continue as an NPC but she will not reside at the covenant unless someone else wants to play her; the character will be in the covenant charter as a provisional member, but she has her own agenda and will be spending a lot of time away from the covenant and thus will not be involved much in sagas unless the PCs decide to seek her out. Erro, likewise, will be an NPC ally, though he will not be a covenant member.

Can't say much about Elysante since she's part of the current adventure, but suffice to say, she won't be part of the covenant.

So, for active covenant members, there are only Tabanus, Rhodri, and Attravere.

Thanks for taking the step Chicoazian and asking for the role call, I read though all the posts but was having trouble myself figuring out who was who and such.

Does the concept I mentioned in the other post sound like it could work? The Rival Magic book basically re-awakened my interest in that character I made for another game.

Would they be starting Magi or have some additional years? I'm fine either way.

All of the character concepts I've heard thusfar sound fine :slight_smile:

Characters should be 4-7 years out of Gauntlet. You would first build your character at gauntlet and provide their background information; how you progress your character will be vary greatly based on the background.