Viola is probably going to search for an apprentice soon. Look to have a lot of independence. 
Scott
Do you think these are generous? The intent was to rein in familiars in. But yes, the help in the lab is a big deal; not having played a Bjornaer, I'd never thought of that.
By the way, any more ideas for Negative Traits?
Scott
I'd love to get feedback on Aetos,I've reduced his power by halving his pg time.
Does everyone feel comfortable with him around?
especially on the question where he can get an lr from (either before play, or as his very first adventure).
For your familiar, for example, under this system, you could take "Independent" to give you 2 points worth of Positive Traits, which you could use on Human Int and then Positive Int--that would give you close to the Int you were looking for to begin with. I suppose we could even change Positive Int to +3, and Great Int to +5.
Scott
He looked fine to me. Yes, you can get a LR if you want--what you'd need to do is to devote vis or a season (acting as a lab assistant or whatnot) in exchange.
Also, you should figure in a vis income for pre-game time. If we include vis you gained or spent in stories in the total, does 5 pawns/year (plus any you distilled or received as payment for something, or gained from a Personal Vis Source) sound about right? Or you can just use the ArM5 guideline of up to MT x 5 per year, but none saved--unless you're using that much every year or two, in which case it gets a little abusive.
In case I didn't say it already, given the Tribunals we're close to, you can figure an Aura of 5, but with a default (0) lab--unless you specifically devote time to developing a lab (let me now cry at the waste of nearly two years of Viola's time on lab improvement at Andorra)--for example, after Portia invents her lab-creation spells, and spends the required vis, she can gain the benefits of Superior/Flawless Equipment and Tools.
Finally, you can figure picking up the equivalent of about point of Virtues every 10 years in new resources, such as a Personal Vis Source or Social Contacts. If you're using Detailed Character Creation, write those into any stories you took part in in your background.
Scott
Actually, you could also add other Virtues (or Flaws) through a trip to the Magic Realm--Viola did that. That's using gaining and using vis in lieu of gaining XP's, though, so it's already accounted for in the total.
Scott
My character is a waster of vis. It wouldn't be proper to have him start with ANY vis.
He used the raw MTx5 (which are rather generous). But there never is any shortage before the game starts.
If he gets a virtue after 10 years, it would be discovering that his tail feathers, when plucked in summer contain An-Vis. The Vis gained through that source would all go into those pre-game lab activities.
I'll have him devote 2 seasons on a lr (-10 by maker + -2 him assisting = -12), one for doing unspecified survices to a ritual creator, one for assisting him/her.
I'll use the two remaining seasons to invent two spells (lvl 25) that increases animal recovery (not just birds) from wounds and diseases.
He'll start play at 36, or 13pg, less experienced then Portia, but with a rounded out specialty. There are still challenges for him (bringing his arts to apprentive training level, discovering the inner heartbeast, creating an intelligent race of birds, supporting the wilderists).
His covenant motivation/Why did he go east? Wild areas attract him and his parens is the bird king of central Europe, so he had to find himself an unclaimed territory.
I'll do a better-looking write-out. We'll need a finished character thread (sticky?)
I'm happy with this. Couple of points, though:
[]Do you get fatigue if you fail to cast a fatigueless spell (for example, if trying to cast a spell without a variable outcome relying on the stress die)? RAW doesn't seem to make it clear for Diedne magic.
[]The combination of the two virtues is identical to Diedne magic to an outside observor (who's watching closely and knows what Diedne magic looks like). If you want to avoid this causing problems for Viola in game, we should probably decide either that Diedne magic doesn't actually work like that, or that (almost) no-one has any idea what Diedne magic looks like other than that they were really good at Spontaneous spells.
I'll have a go at statting up Alcimus based on this and the RoP:M rules. Am I interpretting correctly that this is an additional set of restrictions; that is, in order to have size +1 as a wolf, I need to have both the large negative trait and buy my way up to large through the other character creation rules (this seems entirely reasonable, but I just wanted to check I've got it right).
Since contacting Scott, I've been working on my character concept for my magus.
Basic concept is a smith, unassuming-looking, who since his Gauntlet (only a few years ago) has been travelling amongst regular people doing small smithing work out of a wagon (for his smithing tools, it's not a lab). He has Gentle Gift, so has been able to actually meet and talk to ordinary folk, moving from village to village trading his services as a smith for food and shelter mostly. He harvested raw vis when he found it, and occasionally stopped at a covenant to rent a lab for some study and work. He's close to ordinary people and try to use his magic discreetly to help make their lives easier. (A bit like the primary characters in the Recluce books by L.E. Modesitt Jr.)
Working name is Petrus. Most probable houses at this time are either Verditius or Ex Miscellanea.
That much overlap would bother me. If you really want to play a Verditius blacksmith I'll ditch Portia and come up with something completely different.
Given the Verditius' tendency towards pride in this edition (I don't know if it existed in previous ones?), the concept probably fits an Ex Misc better unless you want to have a character that's deliberately avoiding most of the Verditius' mysteries. My immediate thought on reading that description is one of the Ex Misc Rusticana described in Societates.
You're working with different crafts, so if he's an Ex Misc Rustic Magus with Craft Magic, there shouldn't be much overlap at all.
Arthur, since you don't have Societates yet, some quick guidelines:
All Ex Misc starts (for free) with a Major Supernatural Virtue, a Minor Hermetic Virtue, and a Major Hermetic Flaw. Yours, respectively, will be Craft Magic, Spell Foci, and Weak Spontaneous Magic. Craft Magic lets you incorporate your Craft skill into your magic in a variety of ways, including making charged items through crafting rather than enchantment. Spell Foci lets you craft foci that are similar to the spell foci used in ArM4. I need to go to breakfast, but if you want more details later, I can provide them--that should be enough to create a character, though.
In the RAW, Rustic Magus descend from a Jewish tradition and are more common in Rhine and Provencal Tribunals, and you can base your background on that if you like, but it wouldn't be out of the question for similar traditions to exist elsewhere.
Scott
As for the vis source, the additional Virtues I had in mind would be things that could be acquired in a Story. Mechanically, I suppose the effect is the same, but it would be a little more consistent if, say, the tailfeathers vis source had been created as a result of being touched by a faerie or something.
Let me set up the Characters sticky. Oh, as far as character sheet formats, does anyone have a preference, or want them uniform? I personally like to just include links to HTML files (they give me more flexibility in formatting), but I can do it in text if everyone prefers.
Scott
I'm happy to play a forge companion.
I don't mind doing a character of a different House but with the same general concept. I agree that overlap would be bad, although I was seeing my magus as a younger Verditius (no competition to Portia magic-wise), with a completely different focus. The only thing they have in common, really, is belonging to House Verditius. But an Ex Misc works just as well for me, so I'll go that way. I'm focusing on the person my magus is, not on the House he belongs to.
Although Verditii were sometimes described as greedy or prideful, it was mostly in the sample characters. It was not so systematic as it now sounds. Rusticana sounds interesting, but I not convinced it fits with what I have in mind. The joy of Ex Miscellanea is that I'm free to create my own tradition.
Nice to see that Mage-Smith (as Craft Magic was known in 4th -- introduced in The Wizard's Grimoire) endured in 5th edition. I was afraid it had been completely absorbed into Verditius Magic. I will certainly consider it, since I was leaning towards House Vertidius because it wasn't there. It's a minor virtue, right?
Spell Foci and Weak Spontaneous Magic are not to my taste, though. I'd like to go with a tradition similar to Rusticana but with a different spin. I'll work on something.
HTML is fine for me. Do you have a template we can use? I can do my own, but if you already have something it will save time.
No, it's Major, but it does three things other than the one I mentioned. You can do your own tradition, though, certainly.
Scott
I've got one that Mark in the Andorra saga gave me, though it's not the one I use. I could email it to you, or do you think I should just post something?
Scott
I've got 105 points in Blacksmithing that say otherwise Seemed moreso to me than perhaps it should have because my first draft I'd had Gentle Gift as well, though now that's replaced it's a bit less so.