After much character design and thought I am failing miserably on the Mercurian concept. I am falling back on a giant blooded Flambau fire wielding magi straight out of apprenticeship. Much simpler, much easier to manage.
Can I suggest having been apprenticed at Polyaigos, if you don't have another background in mind? (Let me know if you don't have the Theban tribunal book, and I can provide more details.)
I have the tribunal book and that fits very well for me. I will change the language and area lore and should be good to post tomorrow for your comment and review.
I'm not familiar with it--could you give a page reference?
I'm coming up short on a mythical figure for the tunneling idea.
Scott
HoH:S p. 128 states
ArM5 p. 189
There is sight mentioned explicitly again, but magic sensitivity does not sound as such a strict visual necessity as second sight does. Independent of regio related usage... What about other uses of comprehend magic? Do they work without eyesight? If not, do they work with InIm based eyesight for an otherwise blind magus?
Just to check that I'm understanding things right with regards to Finesse:
Creo rolls usually summon what you imagine, but Int + Finesse may be needed to make high-quality items.
Rego requires Per + Finesse with a difficulty 3 higher than the mundane craftsman would to do up to a week's work, with longer periods of work requiring bigger finesse.
I'm trying to figure out whether to use Creo for everything or to use Rego wherever possible to save on vis. I'm also wondering whether having a decent knowledge of Craft:Mason has any value if you're going to be magicking it all into existence.
What would be a good "inherited" personality flaw? I thought about "envious" for the conflict with Hariste, but ArM5 explicitly discourages it for player characters. Ambitious might be fitting as well, there quite some ambition required to form one own order of magi as opponent to the order of Hermes... Thoughts?
Do I need to take Classic Greek as my dead language if I am from Polyaigos rather than Latin? I note from the forum posts that you seem to be running Latin as the default covenant "hermetic" language.
We have an npc mason with Craft:mason and a real quarry at the covenant.
Could mean that effects to shape or move stone are handy but I don’t think it’s critical. It’s just one of the income sources.
All correct to my understanding. I like multiple Rego spells but it does tend to take away from the breadth of what spells you can start with.
BTW - There is an optional way to improve the finesse rolls - design a more specific effect into the spell which adds mags but may reduce the finesse difficulty. Like hard coding that the spell creates a statue that always looks like the caster rather than giving the caster a choice when cast. It should make the finesse roll easier.
I don’t think this has come up in this game so we would have to see if it is accepted as a house rule.
Polyaigos' does look like a covenant that would favour greek over Latin. You can take Romaic greek at 6 if you don't plan to write any texts rather than Classical Greek. That said, I have a feeling all of our library is in Latin, and none of our magi speak Greek (although the covenfolk generally do), both of which could be problems if you have no Latin.
I think Int + Finesse on Creo rolls is needed in particular if you're creating artificial rather than natural objects.
There's a small amount of value in Craft: Mason 5 - HoH: S (pg 62) suggests you can get a +3 bonus on finesse rolls for things you have a deep familiarity with (and implies ability 5 is the relevant threshold).
Might be better putting the XP into Finesse instead of a craft skill though depending on what level the character was intending to take. Wider magical applications.
I'd substitute any sense for sight here. As I said before, unless this is integrated into Hermetic magic, you won't be able to use Hermetic magic to enhance those sense or create new ones (e.g., sight for a blind character).
Scott
I don't see any marked as Greek (and I did mark some as Greek in an earlier saga, so I would have done it in this case, I think).
Did we not have the Greek vs. Latin books discussion during setup?
Scott
So it does work, more or less the same without eyesight? Maybe reduced range, e.g. not the hedge wizard on a far hilltop... But otherwise the same?
All of our magi to date have been Latin speakers from outside the Theban tribunal, so I'm not sure it's come up much (and if it has, the answer has probably been "Latin please").
Rereading the Polyaigos description, the school there teaches both Latin and classical greek, so him having Latin isn't implausible if you want him to.
As a practical matter, magi who want access to the widest selection of books possible are going to need to know Latin--the numbers of Hermetic books in Greek will necessarily be limited. In a sense, learning Greek is something of a luxury, since it adds essentially no value in Hermetic terms. It does have a social value in the tribunal, but given its lack of practical use, it's entirely plausible that even some Thebes natives wouldn't learn Greek, or at least not more than a smattering.
Scott
I think it's possible to imagine circumstances where it won't help much (say, where the color of a barrier has significance), but for the most part, yes.
Scott
I'd still argue that boundaries (and other things revealed by supernatural virtues) are naturally invisible and hence have no color at all. Visuals (and visual nuances) are made up by visually oriented bearers of those supernatural abilities. However, the realm of non-visual senses is equally rich in nuances.
In short: I'd understand certain restrictions in range, though that depends on the environment (during night or otherwise in darkness, hearing or touch could be better than sight). I don't think we need limitations in scope.