I'm working on Alexis' further development and I have a quick question (I'll probably have more).
Looking over a couple of other characters, I notice that they have an adventure and give all 10 xp to a single skill/art. That violates the standard ArM5 rules. Are we waiving that for character creation?
Damn. I didn't know about that rule. I'm a culprit on that. I could go back and mix up the adventures to even things out if you like.
Sorry about that.
I hadn't noticed anyone do that--good catch. If it's feasible, people should try to correct that, but I suspect in most cases it won't matter, since a character who got 10 XP in Ability X during Story A and 10 XP in Ability Y during Story B could just get 5 XP in each during each story.
You'll also notice characters getting 15 XP from some stories, which violates the rules as well. We're allowing it here, so long as the average is 10 XP per story. This doen't mean, though, that you can expect 15-XP stories in this saga (I won't rule it out categorically, but such a story would have to be truly epic).
As an explanation: I had to advance Viola close to 20 years for the Andorra saga, and the SG there allowed 15-XP stories, and I really didn't want to go back and do everything again, and so I figured I'd allow everyone else the same benefit (though, ironically, I've had to go back at least once and correct a bunch of stuff anyway).
Scott
I think you may have misunderstood my question. The ArM5 rules state that regardless of how much XP is awarded for an adventure, only 5xp can be spent on any one particular ability or art (so you can spend 5xp on Pe and 5xp on MT, but not all 10 on Pe). In character creation, I have seen characters spending all 10 on a single art or ability. So my question is are you allowing all 10 XP to be spent on the same thing (which is a violation of the rules).
Yeah, I just edited my response, but you replied before I could finish that. 
Scott
Okay, I have another random question. If I want to have Alexis meditate on the Enigma for a season, would that count as Practice? And if so, what quality would that be?
Isn't the default Source Quality 4?
Yes, meditating on the Enigma would be Practice. I'd be inclined to say there's a limit to how much you can learn that way, without any outside inspiration, but that's more or less reflected in the fact that it's a lot less useful than reading a book.
Scott
Yeah, I just can't see a lot of Enigmatic Wisdom Summa's out there, and definitely not in non-Criamon covenants. And the crimson are all about the individual magus interpreting the riddles in their own way, so meditation/practice makes sense to me.
Just wanted to check in and let folks know I'm still picking away at the feral magus. Particulars are mutating a bit, but I think I'm going to have something good shortly.
OK, great.
Scott
Just to say I've updated Sophia's stat block slightly in the covenfolk character sheets, as I realised her soak didn't allow for the +3 bonus skinchangers get in their animal forms.
I realize that if Stephen arrived in Spring 1228, then I did his last few seasons incorrectly.
This is what I originally had for his last year:
[size=150]1228, Age 46[/size]
Spring: Invent Vessel of the Clouds ReHe40 (ReHe LT=58, accumulate 28/40 pts) [2 xp MT, goes to 6+2 (28), 2 xp MT for familiar]
Arts: Cr 15, In 5, Mu 8, Pe 11, Re 17+3, An 5, Aq 5, Au 5, Co 14, He 12, Ig 5, Im 9, Me 5, Te 13, Vi 5, MT 6+2, Fam. MT 6
Summer: Invent Vessel of the Clouds ReHe40 (ReHe LT=58, accumulate 40/40 pts) [2 xp in MT, goes to 6+2 (31), 2 xp MT for familiar]
Arts: Cr 15, In 5, Mu 8, Pe 11, Re 17+3, An 5, Aq 5, Au 5, Co 14, He 12, Ig 5, Im 9, Me 5, Te 13, Vi 5, MT 7+2, Fam. MT 6
Autumn: Invent Grip of the Choking Hand PeCo25 (PeCo LT=54, accumulate 25/25 pts) [2 xp in MT, goes to 6+2 (34), 2 xp MT for familiar]
Arts: Cr 15, In 5, Mu 8, Pe 11, Re 17+3, An 5, Aq 5, Au 5, Co 14, He 12, Ig 5, Im 9, Me 5, Te 13, Vi 5, MT 7+2, Fam. MT 6
Winter: Adventure [10 xp Greek, goes to 5 (0)]
Correspondences:
Vladimir ex Tremere [1 xp MT, goes to 6+2 (29)]
Vladimir ex Tremere [1 xp MT, goes to 6+2 (32)]
Vladimir ex Tremere [1 xp MT, goes to 7+2 (0)]
Vladimir ex Tremere [1 xp MT, goes to 7+2 (1)]
Aging Roll: 1d10-8 (1d10-8=2, really 0-8=-8; no increase in apparent age)
Arts: Cr 15, In 5, Mu 8, Pe 10, Re 17+3, An 5, Aq 5, Au 5, Co 14, He 12, Ig 5, Im 9, Me 5, Te 13, Vi 5, MT 7+2, Fam. MT 6
[hr][/hr]
Well, there are a few things wrong with that. First, it should be 1227. Second, the seasons should go Winter-Spring-Summer-Autumn, not Spring-Summer-Autumn-Winter. Finally, I have him arriving at the end of 1227, not in the middle of 1228. Here is what it should read, with additions for the two missing seasons:
[size=150]1227, Age 46[/size]
Winter: Invent Vessel of the Clouds ReHe40 (ReHe LT=58, accumulate 28/40 pts) [2 xp MT, goes to 6+2 (28), 2 xp MT for familiar]
Arts: Cr 15, In 5, Mu 8, Pe 11, Re 17+3, An 5, Aq 5, Au 5, Co 14, He 12, Ig 5, Im 9, Me 5, Te 13, Vi 5, MT 6+2, Fam. MT 6
Spring: Invent Vessel of the Clouds ReHe40 (ReHe LT=58, accumulate 40/40 pts) [2 xp in MT, goes to 6+2 (31), 2 xp MT for familiar]
Arts: Cr 15, In 5, Mu 8, Pe 11, Re 17+3, An 5, Aq 5, Au 5, Co 14, He 12, Ig 5, Im 9, Me 5, Te 13, Vi 5, MT 7+2, Fam. MT 6
Summer: Invent Grip of the Choking Hand PeCo25 (PeCo LT=54, accumulate 25/25 pts) [2 xp in MT, goes to 6+2 (34), 2 xp MT for familiar]
Arts: Cr 15, In 5, Mu 8, Pe 11, Re 17+3, An 5, Aq 5, Au 5, Co 14, He 12, Ig 5, Im 9, Me 5, Te 13, Vi 5, MT 7+2, Fam. MT 6
Autumn: Read Vi Su (L9/Q10) [13 xp in Vi, goes to 7 (0)]
Arts: Cr 15, In 5, Mu 8, Pe 11, Re 17+3, An 5, Aq 5, Au 5, Co 14, He 12, Ig 5, Im 9, Me 5, Te 13, Vi 7, MT 7+2, Fam. MT 6
Correspondences:
Vladimir ex Tremere [1 xp MT, goes to 6+2 (29)]
Vladimir ex Tremere [1 xp MT, goes to 6+2 (32)]
Vladimir ex Tremere [1 xp MT, goes to 7+2 (0)]
Vladimir ex Tremere [1 xp MT, goes to 7+2 (1)]
Aging Roll: 1d10-8 (1d10-8=2, really 0-8=-8; no increase in apparent age)
Arts: Cr 15, In 5, Mu 8, Pe 10, Re 17+3, An 5, Aq 5, Au 5, Co 14, He 12, Ig 5, Im 9, Me 5, Te 13, Vi 5, MT 7+2, Fam. MT 6
[size=150]1228, Age 47[/size]
Winter: Invent Piercing the Faerie Veil (InVi LT=40, accumulate 20/20 pts) [2 xp in MT, goes to 7+2 (3), 2 xp MT for familiar]
Arts: Cr 15, In 5, Mu 8, Pe 11, Re 17+3, An 5, Aq 5, Au 5, Co 14, He 12, Ig 5, Im 9, Me 5, Te 13, Vi 5, MT 7+2, Fam. MT 6
Spring: Adventure travelling to Nova Castra [10 xp Greek, goes to 5 (0)]
Correspondences:
Vladimir ex Tremere [1 xp MT, goes to 7+2 (4)]
Vladimir ex Tremere [1 xp MT, goes to 7+2 (5)]
[hr][/hr]
Does that look good to you MTK?
Nothing leaps out at me, but at the moment I'm commuting an hour and a half each way, so I'm going to trust you on the details.
Scott
Looks reasonable to me.
I think we're pretty much done in the Still Caverns thread. We've got 5 pawns of vim vis and 4 points of mentem out of it, found a pound's worth of supplies and two enchanted doorways which we don't know what they do yet (but not the stonecarving knife that Theodoric had mentioned used to exist at one point). Also a mysterious regio, and a huge rabbit pelt and some notes from the previous covenant.
Anything I'm forgetting?
How much xp do we get? Any confidence?
Let's call it 6 XP's, since the story was important, but not all that dangerous. What's the standard for awarding Confidence points again? There's a cat on top of my rulebook at the moment.
Scott
According to the book, confidence points are awarded at the end of the "session" (which isn't terribly helpful in a PbP), and it is suggested that one point is awarded for each of the following:
Typical characters should gain 2 or 3 points per session.
Eligable characters I think are Gregorius, Fray, and possibly Alcimus (as he does have companion statting).
I'm going to put at least 5xp in an Area Lore - do you think it would make sense to start a new Area Lore for the regio/covenant, or just put them into the "Don Delta" lore score he already has?
OK, I'm at a loss for how to translate "session", though I figure a normal story would be at least two. Do you recall how many we've given out earlier?
It's hard to justify Don Delta Lore for such a very small area, and so I'd go with the suggestion to start a new Lore, for the covenant or regio--probably the former, since Gregorius doesn't have that yet.
BTW, just updated the chronology and the covenant page--the Vim source turns out to be 5 pawns every year, probably in Summer.
Scott
You haven't given out any confidence points previously (although I suspect that's been a question of oversight rather than deliberate intent). I gave out one for the Palace thread (which reading the list, was probably on the miserly side).
Does the vim vis source timing mean we'll get a second "harvest" this year?