Character Development

Play by Post Campaigns Ars Magica 5th Edition: Base Camp
21

That's fine with me--so she's coming in with none?

Shouldn't she have a Hubris score, or am I forgetting how that works?

Um...Warping. The magi in Magi of Hermes have an average of about 2 per year, so go with that (plus the Longevity Potion). You argue for a little more in this case--weirdly, it looks like lab explosions and covenant fires don't inflict Warping Points, but there's another result on the Disaster chart that does. Mind you, maybe she doesn't get out much, and that reduces spell-casting botches.

Did I mention your lab is in the basement? More like the sub-sub-basement.

Scott

22

A couple of things on the familiar:

I don't see any reason why you can't take "Lab Assistant" as a specialization to Magic Theory (yes, all familiars would have it--but they tend not to be very bright, and therefore need all the help they can get).

However, Int of +3 is, by the RAW, very, very high. Most magical animals have Cunning rather than Int, and therefore have Int -3 after being bonded. There are going to be some magical animals with Int, even positive Int, but it's hard to justify +3. Even for, say, Int 0, there should be a cost of some sort; for +3, the cost would have to be very high (since a familiar with Int +3 is like a normal familiar who's already earned 105 XP's in Magic Theory, and can furthermore still improve his MT score easily).

Also, note that Warping doesn't generally produce something you'd want as a familiar (see pg. 79 of RoP: Magic), so you might want to change Sunshine's backstory.

This is a really good example of why I think familiars are one of the few places were we really need house rules. The current guidelines are very loose. We know that most animals have Cunning, but also that some have Int. This implies that most familiars should have Int -3, while a few have Int much higher, but what's a fair way to determine which potential familiar has Int and which has Cunning? Hm...maybe there could be a little points system for choosing familiars that balances good and bad things (Int, relative independence, Might [as a proxy for overall power level], how easily the familiar can travel in mundane society, etc.). It wouldn't so much change the RAW, as provide a supplement to it.

Scott

23

All primates possess intelligence above and beyond the level of other animalia, and langur monkeys are particularly known for their intelligence even among the catarrhines.

Most primates and a few species of psittaciform should default use Intelligence rather than Cunning, IMO, as a biologist. (Granted, I'm a microbiologist, so take that with a pillar of salt :p)

24

OK, you can teach chimps sign language, so maybe they should have Int -3 or so, and your monkey is no chimp. That would still leave them with negative intelligence after bonding.

However, later today let me post my proposed list of positive and negative familiar traits. It would be a way to let you have higher Int if you want, as long as you balance it with something else.

Scott

25

Can I ask Portia to brew me a longevity ritual in exchange for a +2 An lab item?

26

You sure you want to ask someone who's guaranteed to experiment on your longevity ritual? :slight_smile:

27

Well, someone could always rebrew it without the flaws couldn't they?
Btw, in the long run - after a few seasons of gaming - Aetos might be able to increase a familiar's intelligence as well, but only if it is a bird (CrAn ritual).

28

Another character idea I had was for a Bonisagus trying to invent a way to instill the equivalent of a longevity ritual into a familiar bond (beyond just the standard bronze cord bonuses). Experimenting repeatedly on his own familiar, offering people cheap longevity potions if they let him experiment...

29

You might be able to do that down the road, once you've figured out the system better. I have said you could make two characters, after all.

Scott

30

To add some more to the magical animal/familiars debate:

The white wolves of Tremere are statted up in True Lineages as:

"Magic Might 10 (animal)
Characteristics: Int +1, Per +3, Pre +1. Com +1, Str +2, Sta +2, Dex +2, Qik +2
Size: 1
Age: n/a
Decreptitude: n/a
Virtues and Flaws: The Visions Virtue [sic] occurs occasionally among these wolves.
Personality Traits: Loyal +2, Amused by Humans +1
Reputations: None
Combat:
Bite: Init +12, Attack +10, Defense +14, Damage +9
Soak: +7
Fatigue: 0, -1/-1, -3/-3, -5, Unconcious
Wound Penalties -1 (1-6), -3 (7-10), -5 (11-13), Incapacitated (15-18)
Abilities: [Area] Lore 6 (Pack Land), Brawl 3 (bite), Folk Ken 3 (Tremere magi), Hunt 6 (in a pack), Latin* 3 (hermetic terms), Stealth 3 (forests), Swim 1 (lakes), Survival 6 (forests)
*Cannot speak Latin without magical assistance, but some packs are trained to understand it by familiars which can.

Powers:
Theft of Voice, 1 point, Init +10, Mentem: the wolf can steal the voice of any human with whom it makes eye contact. The effect usually lasts until the next sunrise, although some individual wolves have variant powers, so that the effect ceases when crossing a stream, or entering a church, or by firelight.
Eyes like lanterns, 5 points, Init +5, Mentem: the wolf can paralyse a victim with terror. This requires the wolf to make eye contact, and the victim to fail a brave check with an ease factor of 9+. A victim who makes eye contact with several wolves may need to make several checks. The victim may make a new check each round if attacked, with an ease factor of 6+, so wolves tend to form a circle about a mesmerised victim and all pounce at the same time. Slapping or shaking the victim also allows a check, against an ease factor of 6+.

Equipment: None
Encumbrance: 0 (0)
Vis: 1 pawn Animal, tail
Appearence: large wolf, white to gray in colour, that looks amused.

White wolves are far larger than normal wolves, and are extremely intelligent. Over the centuries, their human allies have assisted the wolves to modify their pack lands. These reserves about the Tremere House covenants are more confusing than natural forest, and often contain runs, pits, and enchated items that the wolves can activate."

Obviously, this was created before the rules in RoP: Magic (or even in HoH: MC) were written, and the characteristics are quite nice but qualities/inferiorities are non-existent (if occasionally implied, i.e. powers). I can take this several ways:
[]Keep the book stats, and just add custom virtues and flaws.
[]Keep the book stats, but add qualities/inferiorities (including where implied by the build) as well as virtues and flaws.
[*]Completely redevelop based on the RoP: M, but following a similar general theme.

I'm inclined towards the first option, but what does the troupe think?

One possible approach to the "how does your familiar advance" issue would be to say that there are fundementally two types of magical animal. One doesn't age (without explicit flaws), but needs to consume vis in order to advance. The other ages and dies as normal (although possibly a bit more slowly), but can advance using standard rules. Might also want to limit the qualities the second group can have; e.g. say that they can only have minor qualities. That should give at least a little bit of a reason a magi might want a creature in the first group. The first group tends to be animals who happen to be magical, whilst the second are magical beings who happen to have the shape of an animal. Most magi's familiars come from the first group, as they usually have more reason to want to bind themselves to a mage.

Admittedly, that doesn't even attempt to address the main intelligence vs cunning issue.

31

Aetos ex Bjornaer, second draft, at 35 (12pg)

Concept: a magus who lives for and with birds
(ideas: Tolkien’s Radagast, Hitchcock, St. Francis)

Int +2 Per 0 Sta +2 Str +0 Com -1 Pre +2 Dex +0 Quk -1

Virtues
Free: Hearbeast
3 Major focus birds
1 affinity animal
1 unbound tongue
1 pack leader
1 inoffensive + alluring to animals
1 Animal Ken
1 no gestures
1 sensory magic

Flaws:
3 Restriction (No bird present; assuming Heartbeast form counts as a bird present; that means in human form, magic doesn’t work unless the caster assumes bird form or can see/hear/smell another living bird with his normal human senses; magical items still work in human form).
3 Waster of Vis
1 proud
1 dutybound: Help birds in need, eat no fowl, mediate conflicts between birds when asked
1 Limited Magic Resistance: Corpus
1 story flaw: King of the birds. As a Lord of the birds, he is responsible for his vassals (the birds).

Early Childhood:
German (Bavarian) 5
Athletics (Climbing) 2
Survival (Forest) 2
Brawl (dodge) 1
Awareness (movement) 1
Swim (river) 1

Childhood (Years 6+7):
Animal Handling (birds) 2
Animal Ken (Birds) 2
Folk Ken (Hunters) 1

Apprenticeship (100 skills and 140 spells):
Latin (hermetic) 4
Magic Theory (Animal) 3
Parma Magica (Ignem) 1
House Bjornaer Lore (rituals) 1
Artes Liberales (music) 1
Magic Lore (magic animals) 1

Cr 6 Re 7 An 14 Ig 6

Spells at gauntlet:
Flock of the Ancestors CrAn 35
This spell creates 10 eagles. Aetos master told him they were his bird ancestors, but this cannot be verified since they have no memories of previous lives). Aetos believes that when the sun rises/sets or they are killed they return where they came from.
Base 10, +1 Touch, +2 Sun, +2 group

Command the birds at hand ReAn35
When birds touch the caster, he can give them commands.
Base 15, +1 Texture, +3 Moon

Charge of the Angry Winds CrAu15
Eyes of the Cat MuCo5
Aura of Ennobled Presence MuIm10
Wizard’s Sidestep MuIm10

post gauntlet (still a mess layouting-wise)
Year 1: Reading to prepare
MT to 4 (20xp)
An to 15 (10xp)

Year 2:
Season 1: Get used to shiny new lab (sponsored by House V)
Season 2: Refine lab (gained: spotless, highly organized, infested)
Season 3: Create lab item – Golden Dove (Lesser Magical Item);
ReAn20
This golden dove is set on a pedestal in the middle of the lab. When commanded “Sing for the [insert name of the bird]”, it will start to twitter soothingly, calming the designated bird. This adds +2 to animal effects in this lab.
(Effect: Base 4, +2 Voice +0 cosmetic imaginem effect; +10 unlimited uses), 3 pawns of vis
Season 4: Attune Talisman
Exposure: MT 4(8)

Year 3:
In 4
Mu 4
Te 4

Year 4:
Season 1: Open Talisman (silver ankle ring set with a magnetite, a polished piece of basalt and the engraving of a lightning bolt); opened with 6+2 pawns of Vis; Attunement: +3 Animal
Season 2: Embed Perceive the Change (HoH: MC, 24); Attunements: Animal 3, Ignem +3; 2+1 pawns of Vis
Season 3+4: Embed “Adapt Talisman Size” (MuTe22) into Talisman
Adapts Talisman size to Eagle or human foot as needed; 3+1 pawns of Vis
(Effect level: base 1, +1 conc., +2 metal; +10 unlimited uses, +5 item maintains conc., +3 linked trigger)

Lab Total:
Mu 4 + Te 4 + MT 4 + Int 2 + Aura 5 + 4 shape and material bonus + 5 Talisman bonus + 1 Lab bonus = 29
Advancement: 29-22= 7 +2 from experimentation = 9 of 22
invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/2744053/
Discovery: 15xp MT, MT rises to 4(8) + 6xp (3 exposure seasons) + 15xp discovery = 5(4)
invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/2744053/
Season 4: 22-9-10-7 done! No special effects in this season
invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/2744058/
invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/2744060/

Attunement for seasons 3+4: Animal 3, Ignem +3, +3 Perdo, +2 Intellego, +2 Auram
2xp Exposure: MT 5(6)

Year 5:
Reading more on Creo. Creo increases from 6 to 10: Creo 10

Year 6:
Season 1: Talisman opened for another 10 pawns of Vis; costs 13 pawns of vis
Season 2+3: Talisman Enchantment “Hot Bird Escort Service”
CrAn35;
Creates an attractive female bird that lasts as needed. Can also be used to circumvent the magus’ restriction flaw (a well-informed attacker can attack the created bird companion though).
(Effect level: Base 10, +1 Touch, +1 Conc; +10 unlimited uses, +5 item maintains conc.)
Lab total: Animal 15 + Creo 10 + Focus 10 + MT 5+1 + Int 2 +Aura 5 + lab item 2 + lab 3 = 53 +5 Talisman + 3 shape bonus
61-35 = 26 per season
3 new Talisman attunements: Animal 3, Ignem +3, +3 Perdo, +2 Intellego, +2 Auram, +10 harm lycanthropes, +1 Terram, +1 intellego
costs 5 pawns of vis
Season 4: Invents the spell “Conjure the Woollen Garb”, using a Bjornaer Labtext (I assume this spell is very common among the House)

Year 7+8: Dedicated to Bird and House Affairs (dictated by flaws)
Animal Ken from 2 to 4
Animal Handling from 2 to 3(10)

Year 9+10:
Increases by reading:
In from 4 to 10: In 10
Re from 7 to 10: Re 10

Year 11:
Season 1: Invent “Charge of the Unicorn” (CrReAn20), see spellswiki
Season 2: Invent “Speak to the distant bird’s mind” CrAn25
Allows you to say words directly inside a bird’s mind.
Base 3 (see Mentem), +4 Arcane Connection, +2 Sun
Season 3+4: Invent “Read the distant bird’s mind” InAn35
Allows a magus to read the surface thoughts of a bird he has an Arcane connection to
Base 10, +4 Arc Connection, +1 Conc
Exposure: MT 6(2)

Year 12:
Finesse (animal) 1
Parma (Ignem) from 1 to 3

This is when Aetos needs a longevity ritual.
My suggestion:
If she does that for him (he's willing to assist)
He could invent a ritual that increases an animal's intelligence to 0 in 2 seasons (CrAn35) and master it - never use a ritual that you haven't mastered!
He'd use the other season to invent bird healing spells for his winged friends and start the game at 36 (13pg).

32

I have to admit that part of the reason I took it as a major flaw was that I was struggling for major flaws to take that could be made to fit the character (although, having taken it, I'm fully prepared to play to it), and needed to take a major flaw to cope with the “no more than 5 minor flaws” rule. I'd certainly be interested in other suggestions, though.

I'll have a think about this. The "Skilled parens" Gregorius has makes me inclined towards his parens having his own sigil (but Gregorius definitely doesn't).

Alchimus won leadership of the pack after the familiar who had previously led it died. This lasted until Carolus, one of Gregorius' former fellow apprentices at the covenant of Apuseni, but who had gauntleted 3 years ahead of him, took his pack-member Ferox as his familiar 3 months ago. The Tremere-pack culture which expected any familiar in a pack to be its leader was re-inforced by the by the enhancements Carolus forged into the bond, and Alchimus was deposed. Gregorius had long been friends with Alchimus, and suggested to him that, rather than chafe under Ferox's leadership, he come with him to where he could lead his own pack again (albeit of vastly inferior wolves), and promised that he would bind him as his own familiar as soon as he was powerful enough to do so.

I'm going to say the Laquerius school: In any round, can take a Defense Total equal to or less than their Finesse score. If they land a blow that round, they may choose to inflict no damage and instead reduce their opponent's Defense total for the rest of the duel by the Defense Penalty. This penalty is visible in the shared illusion as a tether marked by the sigil of the laquerius.

"Doctrinae Tremendi" is me pinching the genitive of Tremere from durenmar.de/articles/naming.html . I hope it's right. My knowledge of Latin is about 1, specialised in the current location of domestic servants. Re-reading the Tremere chapter, I think that I was slightly mis-using "Tremere doctrine"; it's specifically the way they make war, rather than a general philosophy : co-ordinated groups of soldiers, using tested equipment and methods, travelling carrying their own gear and reasonably capable in swimming, hiking and repairing their own equipment. The basic intent, though, is that he genuinely thinks the order would be better if it was more like the Tremere, and will try to work to make it so.

General plans for the future of this character are increasing Rego Mentem and Magic Theory (will need to be 6 due to the Waster of Vis flaw) level to the point where he can bind Alcimus, increasing corpus (eventually up to the level he can use things like Seven League Stride), picking up some of the higher level tracking spells and probably learning some Animal and Perdo Imaginem. Also, Parma.

33

I think I'll start with a small amount from distilling. (Philosophic Alchemy is bloody brilliant!)

Oh yes. I just haven't gotten to calculating it yet.

Don't be a wimp. :wink:

34

Salutor-- All Tremere should have at least one weapon skill and something like Profession: Soldier, IMO.

35

I tried to reply to this early, but the site apparently was down, or at least I couldn't get to it.

I'd personally prefer consistency in the rules, and so I'd say use the RoP: Magic rules. However, I'm OK with a straight conversion or with just doing it however you want--it's your character, after all.

That could possibly work, yes. In a few minutes, I'm going to post my suggestion for the latter issue.

Scott

36

Viola owns the wimpage. Viola's first question, on encountering any difficult problem, is, "How can I reduce the number of botch dice?" (If you''ve got very high natural longevity, Warping starts to look like your biggest opponent.)

Scott

37

Here's a draft set of Familiar guidelines. The idea is to allow you to do whatever you want, but with good stuff balanced by bad stuff. I suggest that all familiars get one free point of Positive Traits (that is, a free Minor Trait, or a downpayment on a Major) one. We could use suggestions for a few more Negatives.

Familiar Traits

The default familiar is a Spring (120 XP’s) grog-level character (base Might 3), of a species that’s not typically taken as a pet, with Int –3 (formerly had Cunning and Size 0 or less; the familiar does get 6 Characteristics points for this Int).

Positive

Autumn Character (Major): the familiar starts with 720 XP’s.

Companion-level Character (Major): the familiar has a base Might of 10.

Great Int (Minor): the familiar has a maximum Int of +4. Requires Human Int and Positive Int.

Human Int (Minor): the familiar has a maximum Int of 0.

Inconspicuous (Minor): the familiar is of a species normally kept as a pet, or small enough not to be take notice of by most mundanes.

Positive Int (Minor): the familiar has a maximum Int of +2. Requires Human Int.

Summer Character (Minor): the familiar starts with 360 XP’s.

Negative

At odds (Major): the familiar often disagrees and argues with the magus, and they have trouble cooperating. This familiar should be played by another player.

Independent (Minor): the familiar has his own agenda, and may not always do what the magus would wish (he’ll probably help out in critical lab projects, but he may not want to spend all his free seasons studying Magic Theory). This familiar should be played by another player.

Large (Minor): the familiar is Size +1 or larger, and requires a Minor Virtue rather than a Free Virtue as a lab assistant.

Monstrous appearance (Major): because of his size or appearance, the familiar tends to inspire panic and/or loathing in mundanes.

Transformed Animal (Minor): the familiar is magical, but has a base Might of 0 and no Magic Qualities, unless he takes matching Inferiorities. A Transformed Animal starts with normal Abilities for his species (with, perhaps, a few more XP’s for any Abilities necessitated by magical traits).

Warped Animal (Major): the familiar is a Warped Animal, with no Might; he may begin with any Warping Score chosen by the player. A Warped Animal starts with normal Abilities for his species (with, perhaps, a few more XP’s for any Abilities necessitated by magical traits).

What do you guys think of this?

Scott

38

The more generous the familiar rules become the more bitter it gets to play a Bjornaer.

But alas, that is fate.

39

For a companion, I might try the blind seer concept - but I'm not sure yet.

I'd also love to play someone else's apprentice.

40

If you want to play my failed apprentice lab assistant / forge companion, you will be my BFF :slight_smile: