Corvus ex Merinita - Development

Retired Play by Post Campaigns Ars Magica 5th Edition: Loch Ness: A New Dawn
1

[size=150]Corvus[/size]
At gauntlet

Characteristics: Int +3, Per 0, Pre +1, Com 0, Str 0, Sta +1, Dex 0, Qik -1
Size: 0
Age: 24 (24), Height: 5'6'', Weight: 158 lbs, Gender: Male
Born: 1193
Decrepitude: 0
Warping Score: 0 (0)
Confidence: 1 (3)
Virtues: The Gift, Alluring to Mundane Animals (Bonus: +3 to Communication and Presence with Mundane Animals), Independent Study, Faerie Raised Magic, Minor Magical Focus (Crows and Ravens), Affinity with Muto, Affinity with Animal, Inoffensive to Animals, Animal Ken, Hermetic Magus, Faerie Magic*
Flaws:
 Faerie Upbringing, Secretive, Twilight Prone, Incomprehensible, Weird Magic (Botches on Stressed Casting: Extra botch die), Plagued by Supernatural Entity (Lord of the Grey Tower)
Combat:
Dodge: Init: 1, Attack , Defense 1, Damage
Fist: Init: 1, Attack +0, Defense 1, Damage +0
Kick: Init: 2, Attack +0, Defense 2, Damage +3
Soak: +1
Fatigue levels: OK, 0, 1, 3, 5, Unconscious
Wound Penalties: 1 (1 5), 3 (6 10), 5 (11 15), Incapacitated (16 20), Dead (21+)
Abilities:
[table][tr][th]Name[/th][th]Skill[/th][th]Mastery[/th][/tr]
[tr][td]Gaelic[/td][td]5[/td][td][/td][/tr]
[tr][td]Bargain[/td][td]1[/td][td]Faeries[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]Animal Ken[/td][td]3[/td][td]Birds[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]Latin[/td][td]4[/td][td]Hermetic terms[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]Artes Liberales[/td][td]1[/td][td][/td][/tr]
[tr][td]Finesse[/td][td]2[/td][td][/td][/tr]
[tr][td]House Merinita Lore[/td][td]2[/td][td][/td][/tr]
[tr][td]Faerie Lore[/td][td]2[/td][td][/td][/tr]
[tr][td]Magic Theory[/td][td]4[/td][td]animal[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]Parma Magica[/td][td]2[/td][td]Corpus[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]Philosophiae[/td][td]1[/td][td][/td][/tr]
[tr][td]Awareness[/td][td]2[/td][td][/td][/tr]
[tr][td]Guile[/td][td]2[/td][td][/td][/tr]
[tr][td]Faerie magic[/td][td]1[/td][td]Charms[/td][/tr][/table]
Arts: Cr 9, In 3, Mu 10, Pe 7, Re 5, An 10, Aq 0, Au 1, Co 7, He 1, Ig 0, Im 5, Me 1, Te 1, Vi 5
Equipment:
Encumbrance: 0 (0)
Spells Known:
Cloak of Black Feathers (MuCo(An) 30) +25 (quite casting)
Beast of Outlandish Size (MuAn 15) +18
Doublet of Impenetrable Silk (MuAn 15) +18
Demon's Eternal Oblivion (PeVi 5) +11
Dreadful Bane of the Fae (PeVi 5) +11
Curse of the Unruly Tongue (ReCo 5) +13
Conjurer Huginn (CrAn 25) +17
Talk to Me (MuAn20) +25

Background:
The Mage now known as Corvus was abandoned as a young baby in the Highlands of Scotland. He was gathered in by a Faerie Lord known Lord of the Grey Tower and raised as a servant in the Faerie Court. He might have stayed their for his entire life but for a Hermetic Mage Peragro ex Merinita.One of the Wayfarers, he had found the regio where the Lord of the Grey Tower lived. He found the human boy and with a quick test found he was Gifted. He stole the boy and brought him back to the normal world where he was taken as an apprentice right away.

Apprenticeship was difficult for both the Master and the boy. Peragro had to teach him many skills that a normal boy might have. Magic came very hard to the apprentice at first but only because the teaching method was not something that the boy understood. Once he understood a concept he could invent a spell without any lab time just by watching Master Peragro.

The Faerie Lord who's Burgh he had been found has not forgotten the boy. He or a servant will often try to involve Corvus in any plots he has thought up. It was the Lord of the Grey Tower who made sure that Corvus got an invitation to Insula Canaria.

[hr][/hr]

Command the Raven(ReAn25)
The caster calls out a command to a Raven which it will attempt to follow. The bird will not commit any acts that would lead to its death or commit suicide. Of course it helps to be understood by the bird ( Animal Ken).
R Voice, D: sun, T: Indiv
(Base 5, +2 voice, +2 sun)

Raven of the Earth (MuTe(An)20)
change dirt,sand or mud or clay to a crow
R: touch D: sun T Indv
(Base 5 +1 touch, +2 sun)

Raven from Stone (MuTe(an)25)
Change a stone of at least size -4, to a raven
R: touch D: sun T Indv
(Base 5 +1 touch, +2 sun, +1 stone)

Conjurer Huginn CrAn25
Creates a single raven

R: Touch D: Sun T: Indiv
(Base 10 +1 touch, +2 sun)

Talk to me (MuAn20 )
Gives an animal the power of human speech.
R: Voice, D: Sun T: Indiv
Base 4 +2 voice, +2 sun

Phantasmal Murder of Crows CrIm20
Creates an illusion of 100 crows bursting out of the caster. The birds will then swarm/circle the area of the caster for 1 minute than scatter in all directions. This is meant as an impressive way of hiding what the caster is doing. Corvus could change into a Crow and scatter with the illusion or use the confusion for other matters. The birds stay in a room sized area and make a lot of noise before scattering. The caster's view outside the illusion is as hampered as someone's view into the illusion.
R:touchD: Diameter, T: group
(Base 3 ( sight, sound, touch) touch +1, Diameter +1, group +2, +1 Changing image)

2

You seem to be short 2 experience (done in my head), but it's hard to tell because you haven't listed your experience anywhere. So you could actually be way over, just not having reached next levels in things. At the same time as your total seems low, you seem to have way too much in the stuff available only later. I only see Awareness 1 and Guile 2 for 20 of the 45 points from up to 5 years old. Similarly, I only see Bargain 1, Animal Ken 3 (up from 1), and Faerie Lore 1 for 35 of the 60 points for years 6-9. So it looks like you need to lower stuff from apprenticeship to find 50 points to put into allowable stuff over those first nine years.

Also, you might consider a score in the Faerie Magic Ability.

3

Some of this would have been easier if i had finished my write up. I am trying to play off the Faerie Upbringing. What would a child look like who was taken as a baby vs taken after 5 years old. It is the reason he is incomplete with the childhood points. He was a foundling. Abandoned by his parents because of the Gift and rescued when he was 9 years old by a Merinita.

I do not think Faerie Magic is a supernatural ability that has a ability score. It is not listed in the abilities section. It is a virtue that grants the special spell range, duration and targets.

4

There is a faerie Magic Ability, on p 88 of HOH:MC.

5

My Bad. Now added to the sheet. I am assuming, like all other supernatural virtues, that the ability starts at 1 with no point cost.

Any thought of replacing FFM with Faerie raised magic? I have never tried the later.

6

By the book it starts at 0, which makes not sense to me when all the others start at 1. I would house rule it to start at 1 myself to keep it consistent with the rest.

7

Where is that? I cannot find guidelines either way for the starting level of Faerie Magic (at least not right now...)

8

It's hidden in the errata, and I wish it would be removed. The errata show that magi with the Faerie Magic Virtue do not start with a score of 1 in the Faerie Magic Ability. In fact, a magus with Faerie Magic Ability listed had it removed by errata because it wasn't supposed to be there even though the magus had the Faerie Magic Virtue. This was because the magus was written prior to HoH:MC. But they haven't changed the ruling since HoH:MC came out, despite comments about it. Also, you may note that all the other Virtues granting a supernatural Ability say you get it with a score of 1, but not Faerie Magic.

9

Agree, and done. (Honestly, I keep forgetting that it doesn't.)

10

Background:
The Mage now known as Corvus was abandoned as a young baby in the Highlands of Scotland. He was gathered in by a Faerie Lord known Lord of the Grey Tower and raised as a servant in the Faerie Court. He might have stayed their for his entire life but for a Hermetic Mage Peragro ex Merinita.One of the Wayfarers, he had found the regio where the Lord of the Grey Tower lived. He found the human boy and with a quick test found he was Gifted. He stole the boy and brought him back to the normal world where he was taken as an apprentice right away.

Apprenticeship was difficult for both the Master and the boy. Peragro had to teach him many skills that a normal boy might have. Magic came very hard to the apprentice at first but only because the teaching method was not something that the boy understood. Once he understood a concept he could invent a spell without any lab time just by watching Master Peragro.

The Faerie Lord who's Burgh he had been found has not forgotten the boy. He or a servant will often try to involve Corvus in any plots he has thought up. It was the Lord of the Grey Tower who made sure that Corvus got an invitation to Insula Canaria.

[hr][/hr]

I will be changing my spells eventually. i am mulling over some options.

11

Pretty sure Faerie Magic is an Arcane Ability.

12

There's a Faerie Magic that's a Virtue (AM5, p. 42), which is an Outer Mystery for Merinita; and there's a Faerie Magic that's an Arcane Ability (HoH: MC, p. 88), which is granted by the Virtue at (per hourse-rule) at a Level of 1.

13

Post gauntlet:
Year 1: Creo 5-> 9 30xp
Year 2: Parma 1->2 10xp, Faerie Lore 1->2 10 xp, Awareness 1-> 10xp
Year 3: Merinita House Lore 1->2 10xp, An 7 -> 10 19xp ( 28 xp with Affinity), Im 0->1 1 xp, Te 0-> 1 1 xp
Year 4: Im 1-> 5 14xp, Master Cloak of Black Feathers 5xp, Vim 3->5 9 xp Au 0->1 1 xp, Me 0->1 1xp

14

The spells you have described (Command the Raven, Raven of the Earth, etc.)...are those spells that he knows that just missed getting put on his list earlier in the character sheet, or are they spells that he had in an earlier version that were dropped in a revision? I'm confused on that.

Also, what's his current age? I think it's 28.

And another also: his scores are too low to have Raven from Stone: Mu 10 + Te/An 1 + 1 for Minor Magical Focus + Int 3 + MT (Animal) 5 + Aura 3 = 23.

15

The spells below are from the Magus Lab and I am just recording them here so I do not have to go hunting for them. i can move them off the sheet or move an official sheet to the wiki and use this as mainly a scratch pad.

The only spells he currently knows is on the sheet under spells known.

28 is correct age. I have at least one more year I may do to age him.

Spells Known:
Cloak of Black Feathers (MuCo(An) 30) +25 (quite casting)
Beast of Outlandish Size (MuAn 15) +18
Doublet of Impenetrable Silk (MuAn 15) +18
Demon's Eternal Oblivion (PeVi 5) +11
Dreadful Bane of the Fae (PeVi 5) +11
Curse of the Unruly Tongue (ReCo 5) +13
Conjurer Huginn (CrAn 25) +17
Talk to Me (MuAn20) +25

16

Last season of improvement Age will be 29 at the start of the game.

year 5: Quest to find/befriend and bind a Raven Familiar

Crone - Raven of Virtue

Magical Might 9
Characteristics:
Int +1 Per +2 Pre -2 Com 0 Str -7 Sta 0 Dex +1 Qik +5
Size -4
Season Spring
Virtues and Flaws:
Magic Animal, Magical Friend, Essential Virtue (Understand Portents), Keen Vision, Unaffected by the Gift, Compulsion( steal shiny objects), Weak Characteristics

Magical Qualities and Inferiorities:
Improved Abilities x2, Improved defense x2, Minor Virtue: Premonitions, Minor virtue: Second sight, Susceptible to Deprivation

Personality traits: Raven +3 Understands portents (intelligence) +3, Morbid +3, Nurturing +2
Reputation: Bad Luck (local) 2
Combat:

[table][tr][th][/th][th]Init[/th][th]Attack[/th][th]Defense[/th][th]Damage[/th][/tr]
[tr][td]Dodge[/td][td]+5[/td][td]n/a[/td][td]+12[/td][td]n/a[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]Beak[/td][td]+5[/td][td]+7[/td][td]+11[/td][td]-6[/td][/tr][/table]

Soak: 0
Fatigue Levels: OK, 0,-1,-3,-5,Unconscious
Wound Penalties: -1(1), -2(2), -3(3), Incapacitated (4), Death (5+)
Abilities:
[table][tr][th]Name[/th][th]Score[/th][th]Specialty[/th][/tr]
[tr][td]Athletics[/td][td]3[/td][td]Flying[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]Awareness[/td][td]3[/td][td]shiny objects[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]Brawl[/td][td]3[/td][td]dodging[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]Hunt[/td][td]1[/td][td]voles[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]Premonitions[/td][td]4[/td][td]blood shed[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]Second Sight[/td][td]4[/td][td]ghosts[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]Stealth[/td][td]1[/td][td]hiding in trees[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]Survival[/td][td]3[/td][td]fields[/td][/tr][/table]

Vis: 2 Intellego, 1 in each eye

17

Updated Crone to a companion level. i stuck the Raven of Virtue for a template and built from there.

[size=200]Crone[/size]
Magic Might: 15 (Animal)
Characteristics: Int +1, Per +2, Pre ‑2, Com 0, Str ‑7, Sta 0, Dex +1, Qik +5
Size: ‑4
Season: Summer
Age: 100 (10), Gender: Female
Decrepitude: 0
Warping Score: 0 (0)
Confidence: 1 (3)
Virtues and Flaws: Magic Animal, Minor Essential Virtue (Understands Portents), Keen Vision (Sight: +3), Unaffected by The Gift, Premonitions*, Second Sight*, Size: ‑4, Magical Friend, Compulsion (Steal shiny objects), Weak Characteristics: ‑3
Qualities and Inferiorities: Improved Abilities × 2 (+100 exp), Greater Power × 2: 75/100, Ritual Power × 1: 25/25, Gift of Speech, Improved Defense × 2 (Dodge: +4), Minor Virtue (Premonitions), Minor Virtue (Second Sight), Susceptible to Deprivation
Personality Traits: Understands Portents* (Int) +3, Raven* +3, Morbid +3, Nurturing +2
Reputations: Bad Luck (local) 2
Combat:
Beak: Init: +5, Attack +9, Defense +13, Damage ‑6
Dodge: Init: +5, Attack ‑‑, Defense +15, Damage ‑‑
Soak: 0
Fatigue levels: OK, 0, ‑1, ‑3, ‑5, Unconscious
Wound Penalties: ‑1 (1), ‑3 (2), ‑5 (3), Incapacitated (4), Dead (5+)
Abilities:
[table][tr][th]Skill[/th][th]Level[/th][th]Specialty[/th][/tr]
[tr][td]Premonitions[/td][td]4[/td][td]homicide[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]Latin[/td][td]2[/td][td]speaking to Magi[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]Animal Handling[/td][td]3[/td][td]Crows & Ravens[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]Athletics[/td][td]3[/td][td]flying[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]Awareness[/td][td]3[/td][td]shiny objects[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]Brawl[/td][td]5[/td][td]Dodge[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]Intrigue[/td][td]1[/td][td]plotting[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]Hunt[/td][td]3[/td][td]voles[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]Leadership[/td][td]4[/td][td]inspiration[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]Stealth[/td][td]3[/td][td]hiding in trees[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]Guile[/td][td]2[/td][td]lying to authority[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]Survival[/td][td]3[/td][td]fields[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]Art of Memory[/td][td]3[/td][td]Oaths[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]Second Sight[/td][td]4[/td][td]regios[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]Gaelic[/td][td]5[/td][td]platitudes[/td][/tr][/table]

Equipment:
Encumbrance: 0 (0)
Powers:
The Crow's Song (Greater: 40), Points: 4, Initiative: Qik‑4, Form: Corpus, Range: Voice, +2, Duration: Spec, +5, Target: Ind, +0, Level: PeCo40, Design: 40 levels, Base 15, +2 Voice, +5 Spec, ‑2 Special Duration
Call the Flock (Greater: 35), Points: 4, Initiative: Qik‑3, Form: Animal, Range: Special, 0, Duration: Diam, +1, Target: Group, +2, Level: ReAn35, Design: 35 levels, Base 2, +1 Diam, +2 Group, +4 special range, +2 size of group
Oath‑Swearing (Ritual: 25), Cost: 25, Points: 10, Initiative: Qik‑10, Form: Vim, Range: Touch, +1, Duration: Mom, +0, Target: Group, +2
Vis: Vis: 2 Pawns of Intellego (eyes);

18

By the way, jebrick - on Corvus's finalized planner? Tribunal is in Summer of 1221, not 1220.

19

I will update. I was traveling this week ( in SF) and was rushing any updates.