Conachar Mor - Development

Retired Play by Post Campaigns Ars Magica 5th Edition: Canaries Are Dying
1

I was tossing an idea for a mage round and Peregrine allowed me to join. This is not the idea I originally had. It was closer to what cunningrat1 posted in the Bibracte saga but after some review, I did not think it would fit well in a Loch Leglean game. So here is my shot at a Highland Mage. This is just out of gauntlet so I will end up aging him 5-7 years. He lives in the area of Loch Ness near his clan. I'm sure I can steal some of the Covenant's cattle so we can get to know each other :smiley:

I need to make up his magical hound companion. It will have to wait until I'm home. Whistle up Wind is from the HoH:S in the Ex Misc section. Background is just basic. Still working on it.

Please give some feedback.

Conachar Mor ex Misc
Characteristics: Int +1, Per 0, Pre +1, Com +2, Str +1, Sta +2, Dex 0, Qik +1
Size: +1
Age: 27 (25), Height: 6'6'', Weight: 250 lbs, Gender: Male
Decrepitude: 0
Warping Score: 0 (0)
Confidence: 1 (3)
Virtues and Flaws: The Gift, Improved Characteristics, Unaging, Inoffensive to Animals, Major Magical Focus (weather)(M), Subtle magic, Large, Hermetic Magus, Skilled Parens, Performance Magic (Music), Affinity with Auram*, Whistle up the Wind*

Necessary Condition (casting tools)*, Magical Animal Companion, Proud, Optimistic(m), Susceptibility to Divine Power, Hedge Wizard, Twilight Prone(M)

Personality Traits: Cheerful +2, Proud +1, Sanguine +1
Reputations: Hedge Wizard 3
Combat:
Dodge: Init: +0, Attack ‑‑, Defense +1, Damage ‑‑
Spear, Short: Init: +2, Attack +6, Defense +5, Damage +6
Fist: Init: +0, Attack +0, Defense +1, Damage +1
Kick: Init: ‑1, Attack +0, Defense +0, Damage +4
Soak: +5
Fatigue levels: OK, 0, ‑1, ‑3, ‑5, Unconscious
Wound Penalties: ‑1 (1‑6), ‑3 (7‑12), ‑5 (13‑18), Incapacitated (19‑24), Dead (25+)
Abilities: Galic 5, Animal Handling 2, Area Lore: Highlands 1, Hunt 1, Athletics 2 (running), Folk Ken 1 (peasants), Latin 4, Artes Liberales 1(reading), Philosophiae 1, Code of Hermes 1, Finesse 2, Magic Theory 3, Parma Magica 1, Penetration 1, Concentration 2, Leadership 1, Music 3(singing), Stealth 2, Single Weapon 3, Whistling the Wind 3

Arts: Cr 6, In 5, Mu 5, Pe 5, Re 5, An 4, Aq 0, Au 13, Co 2, He 0, Ig 0, Im 1, Me 1, Te 0, Vi 2

Equipment: Partial Leather Scale Armor (Soak: 5) (Soak: 5; Protection: 3); Shield, Round (Init: 0; Atk: 0; Dfn: +2; Str: ‑1; Cost: Inexpensive)
Encumbrance: 2 (3)
Spells Known:
Charge of the Angry Winds (CrAu 15) +26
Air's Ghostly Form (CrAu 5) +26
Jupiter's Resounding Blow (CrAu 10) +26
Stench of the Twenty Corpses (CrAu 10) +26
Ward Against Rain (ReAu 10) +24
Whispering Winds (InAu 15) +24
Wreaths of Foul Smoke (CrAu 10) +20
Broom of the Winds (CrAu 15) +26
Clouds of Rain and Thunder (CrAu 25) +26
Wind at the Back (ReAu 5) +24
Circling Winds of Protection (Cr(Re)Au 20) +24
Soothe the Ferocious Bear (ReAn 10) +11

Background:
Conachar Mor is the bastard son of a prince from the House of Ulster and a weather witch from Scotland (Ealusaid). When the King heard of his son’s affair, he placed the pregnant Ealusaid on a boat and cast it adrift. Ealusaid sang up the wind and sailed to Scotland. Cú Líi was born not long afterwards and raised by his mother and her clan Urquhart.

Cú Líi had a normal childhood for one living in the Highlands. He grew large and was as big as any man around when he was 10. Eoin mac Lochloinn ex Misc found him at the age of 12 and convinced his mother to allow him to train the boy. Eoin did not belong to any formal covenant and traveled around the Black Isle north of Inverness occasionally visiting other magi.

2

Only thing I noticed is that you seem to be short five points on Early Childhood. Other than that, it looks good.

Don't know if you noticed, but Doineann is also a weather-based Ex Misc, if you wanted to be from the same tradition. (Don't worry about duplicating her role in the covenant, though.)

3

I can switch him to a Corrguineach which would make him like an Irish Sahir :slight_smile:

Or make a Gruagachan

4

If you want to. Don't have to change his tradition.

5

I do not want to move out of your comfort zone. If I do a Gruagachan ( which looks really interesting) It would be different than normal Hermatic mage

6

Yes, it would. I'm not sure how that would work, to be honest. Have additional Arts (Give/Take, Blessing/Curse/Shape/Vision), or have a Gruagach companion? Or have a Gruagach magus that someone taught Parma Magica and had swear the Oath? Several options present themselves.

I'll have to reread the Mac Gruagach covenant description in Lion of the North to see how that can be retrofitted for 5th ed, too.

7

It looks like a hermatic Gruagachan just has Param and Code of Hermes but otherwise is like a normal Gruagachan. So I would guess mage or companion. I'm almost for a companion because it is a lot of new things.

I will read up on them tonight.

8

K. Here is a Gruagach just out of apprenticeship. Spells will take a little bit as I need to make several. After childhood, apprenticeship begins at age 10 and lasts 10 years. Well Trained Gruagach give him a bonus like Strong Parens. He started with 210xp for arts and abilities and 105 spell levels.

Unaging may go in favor of Cautious Scorcerer.

At this point he is not a in the Order. That can be done as part of a story or when I age him.

Conachar Mor Gruagachan
Characteristics: Int +2, Per 0, Pre +1, Com +1, Str +1, Sta +2, Dex 0, Qik +1
Size: +1
Age: 20 (20), Height: 6'6'', Weight: 250 lbs, Gender: Male
Decrepitude: 0
Warping Score: 0 (0)
Confidence: 1 (3)
Virtues and Flaws: The Gift, Gruagach, Improved Characteristics, Inoffensive to Animals, Cailleach Magic(M), *Fetch(Badger), Well Trained Gruagach, Puissant Give, Warrior, Large, unaging
Magical Animal Companion, Proud(M), Optimistic, Susceptibility to Divine Power, Hedge Wizard, Pagan
Personality Traits: Cheerful +2, Proud +1, Choleric +1
Reputations: Hedge Wizard 3
Combat:
Dodge: Init: +0, Attack ‑‑, Defense +1, Damage ‑‑
Cudgel: Init: +0, Attack +8, Defense +2, Damage +8
Cudgel(Giant form) init -3, Attack +8, Defense +2 Damage +16
Fist: Init: +0, Attack +0, Defense +1, Damage +1
Kick: Init: ‑1, Attack +0, Defense +0, Damage +4
Soak: +5
Fatigue levels: OK, 0, ‑1, ‑3, ‑5, Unconscious
Wound Penalties: ‑1 (1‑6), ‑3 (7‑12), ‑5 (13‑18), Incapacitated (19‑24), Dead (25+)
Abilities:Area Lore (Highlands), Athletics 1, Awareness 1 Galic 5, Stealth 1, Survival 1, Animal Handling( Cattle) 2, Pitcish 3(religious), Gruagach Lore 2 (Initiations), Artes Liberales 1 (Ogham), Single weapon 2 (Axe), Great Weapon 3 (Cudgel), Thrown Weapon 1 (Spear ),
Highland lore 2 ( Legends), Folk Ken 2(nobels)

Arts: Give 2+2 , Take 2,
Bless 5, Curse 7 Shape 6, Vision 6

Spells:
Assume Shape of the Ancestors GvSh 15
R: Per D Sun T Ind

Create Hunters’ Blind GvVs 10
R: Voice D Sun: T Group

Track Presence of Vis TkVs 5
T Per D; Diam T Vision

Blessing of Urban Wisdom for the Rustic GvBl 10
R: Conversation D Limit T Ind

Blessing of the Swordsman expertise (Great Weapon) GvBl 20
R conversation D Limit T Ind

Blessing of the Swordsman expertise (Single Weapon) GvBl 20

Geas of the Retribution for the unthinking slap GvCu 25

9

I would propose that I advance him 7 years and make him a companion to a Mage I will make. I think he will be under powered for a mage and we have not done anything like a Gruagach and their magic. I'll make a mage who was a boyhood friend.

10

Sounds good to me.

11

I thought I posted the final sheet but I see I did not.

Conachar Mor Gruagachan
Characteristics: Int +2, Per 0, Pre +1, Com +1, Str +1, Sta +2, Dex 0, Qik +1
Size: +1
Age: 27 (27), Height: 6'6'', Weight: 250 lbs, Gender: Male
Decrepitude: 0
Warping Score: 0 (0)
Confidence: 1 (3)
Virtues and Flaws: The Gift, Gruagach, Improved Characteristics, Inoffensive to Animals, Cailleach Magic(M), *Fetch(Badger), Well Trained Gruagach, Puissant Give, Warrior, Large, unaging
Magical Animal Companion, Proud, Optimistic, Susceptibility to Divine Power, Hedge Wizard, Transformation Prone
Personality Traits: Cheerful +2, Proud +1, Choleric +1, Prankster +1
Reputations: Hedge Wizard 3
Combat:
Dodge: Init: +0, Attack ‑‑, Defense +1, Damage ‑‑
Spear, Short: Init: +2, Attack +6, Defense +5, Damage +6
Fist: Init: +0, Attack +0, Defense +1, Damage +1
Kick: Init: ‑1, Attack +0, Defense +0, Damage +4
Soak: +5
Fatigue levels: OK, 0, ‑1, ‑3, ‑5, Unconscious
Wound Penalties: ‑1 (1‑6), ‑3 (7‑12), ‑5 (13‑18), Incapacitated (19‑24), Dead (25+)
Abilities:Area Lore (Highlands) 3, Athletics 1, Awareness 1 Galic 5, Stealth 1, Survival 2, Animal Handling( Cattle) 2, Pitchish 4(religious), Gruagach Lore 3 (Initiations), Artes Liberales 1 (Ogham), Single weapon 3(Axe), Great Weapon 3 (Cudgel), Thrown Weapon 1 (Spear ),
Highland lore 3 ( Legends), Folk Ken 2(nobles), Brawl 3

Arts: Give 3+2 , Take 3,
Bless 9, Curse 9 Shape 7, Vision 7

Spells:
Assume Shape of the Ancestors GvSh 15
R: Per D Sun T Ind

Create Hunters’ Blind GvVs 10
R: Voice D Sun: T Group

Track Presence of Vis TkVs 5
T Per D; Diam T Vision

Gruagach side step GvVs 4
T Per D: Sun T: ind
Base 2 + 2 sun

Blessing of Urban Wisdom for the Rustic GvBl 10
R: Conversation D Limit T Ind

Blessing of the Swordsman expertise (Great Weapon) GvBl 20
R conversation D Limit T Ind

Blessing of the Swordsman expertise (Single Weapon) GvBl 20

Geas of the Retribution for the unthinking slap GvCu 25

1217 15xp Give 15cp Take
1218 17xp curse 6 xp shape, 7 xp vision
1219 30 xp bless
1220 20 xp Pictish 10 xp Survival
1221 15 xp single weapon 15 xp Gruagach Lore
1222 15 xp Highland lore 15 xp Area lore
1223 30 xp Brawl

12

He lacks a basic spell: something to punish the unworthy. Either a Take Shape spell or a Give Curse (was it Take?) spell. A gruagachan that cannot punish the unworthy is somewhat short handed. One of the coolest traditions out there for sure, and one that with their Shapeshift and Visions abilities can be quite powerful. I have learned to design all the gruagachan with Flexible Gruagachan Magic since it is AMAZING what you can do with that. Hosts of giants at hand. Ever seen an angry mob of clan giants? :mrgreen:

The covenant just acquired a really cool member if you are introducing the gruagach to it.

13

His last spell is a give Curse. do you find Cailleach Magic ( spontaneous magic) or Flexible Gruagachan Magic more useful? This is my first try at one so I'm guessing.

14

I have not run the maths for powerful gruagachan yet, since I only created one as an exervcise to see what I could do, so no idea really. Dunno if anyone will play a shapeshifter in our incoming saga, but it is likely to be the case in our hint for the Spider cameo saga.

Cailleach seems to work for powerful gruagachan, and works very well with Give Shape (they tend to be low level) for a really dynamic shapeshifter. However, that requires you to be quite powerful in Arts to take full advantage of it. Since gruagachan advance their arts much slower than Hermetics (difficult Techniques + MUCH lower access to tractus and summae) that might take a while. FGM works quite good even for a starting character. You can add up quite an arsenal of personal spells easily for your low levels. Formulaic GvSh spells at level 2 are quite a boon with FGM, since you can up duration from Diameter to Sun and increase to R:Touch at the same time to give the powers to others. Having teams of giant friends is useful, as is being able to transform everybody to ducks for long distance travel with a level 10 spell (upping it to 20 at casting time), or have a GvSh4 spell that transforms you to a wolf for Diameter duration, easily "boostable" to level 10 for a Sun pack of animals (casting the spell several times during a few rounds) or a Diameter pack of animals (cast during a single round). You can get basically a 5x2 discount for mammals when it comes to Give Shape spells and a 2x1 for other kinds of animal.

However, the preference of one over the other in my case is a thing of personal preference. I like formulaic magic over sponts any day of the week. I like FFM as the ,ain virtue for quite a few of my characters, and I prefer to have adaptable swiss knife characters than McGuiver characters that improvise. Persnal prference here :slight_smile: As such I prefe rtto have my spells listed up and ready for consultation and use.

Still, in the case of gruagachan you are unlikely to get your techniques over level 5 or so, so you are likely to be adding +5 to you casting total with Cailleach Magic, a sensibly lower boost than what you would expect to achieve with the hermetic equivalent. Certainly not the value of a Major virtue. For a minor would be OK but for a Major there are clearly better options. Here you can read "Mythic Herbalism" instead. :mrgreen:

Cheers,
Xavi

15

I just consulted the stats ad spells for Ewan McDougall, my gruagach :slight_smile:

One spell tha tyou might appreciate is Return the Lycanthrope to its Natural Form. Having to walk around as a giant for Sun duration gets somewhat annoying if you have to do anything but kick ass and do public works. Having a giant approach a village is quite a recipe for disaster, generally, dunno why they get so scared :mrgreen: A Return the Lycanthrope to its Natural Form of level 25 can affect your spells up to level 30 and level 15 of spells cast by others, so you can counter an enemy giant gruagach, for example as well as be able to pretty much affect all the shapeshifting spells that you will ever learn. It has the advantage that it can be cast without gestures to finish your own spells. You need a casting total of TaSh15 to achieve that. Your casting total is 2+4+3+7=16+aura, so more than enough for that.

Cheers,
Xavi