We've got a lab text for the Tireless Servant listed (which is awesome) - asking if the folk with the ReCo lab total will be willing to spend seasons crating it for others?
If not, I'll buy one with my personal BPs.
Beatrix has that lab text. You could probably get more out of BP by getting Vis, enough to pay for the enchantment and to pay her to make it. Yes, her Rego being so high will make it doable in a single season, at least once we get labs set up. It only costs 4 Re/Co to make it, so 4/5 BP. Meanwhile it would costs you 8 BP to buy one. She also has an interest in earning Vis - she's going to be feeding her familiar a lot of it.
I think that was from callen's initial BP contribution, but seems to have been lost in an edit. If Beatrix (or anyone else) wants to pitch in for that, that would be nifty.
Beatrix has paid for it out of her own BP. I decided putting something so clearly necromantic into the covenant BP as opposed to what she brings didn't make as much sense.
Here are my forecast 75 BP for Beatrix:
12: 6x Things of Virtue (Amber, Basalt, Magnet, Magnetite, Mercury, Silver - all planned, along with many seasons of work, for her Talisman. Not sure doing that with silver is really valid since it ends up being worked for jewelry.)
35: 25x each Technique and 5x each Form Vis
8: Lab Text (Lesser Enchanted Device) - The Tireless Servant [ReCo40]
10: Lab Text (Spell) - Aegis of the Hearth [ReVi50]
5: Lab Text (Spell) - Suppressing the Wizard’s Handiwork [ReVi25]
5: Lab Text (Spell) - Divide the Gathered Essence [ReVi25]
The last three will be put in the library ASAP, so we can add them to the covenant's list right now. The Tireless Servant could certainly be added, though at the moment I figure she's the most likely to have a high enough ReCo lab total and she would be happy to build them for Vis so she can feed her familiar. I also figure I'll want to move some Vis around a little; for example, Beatrix will want to pay someone to cast a ritual to create her living quarters/lab. That could be the spell from ArM5 or the one PG mentioned using Herbam. Anyone who's good at Creo Herbal/Terram considering taking a tower spell? You'll earn a little vis for a few hours of work right off the bat from Beatrix.
Can we really spend half of our 75 starting BP to get 300ish vis?
Also, what's the advantage to having a Thing of Virtue as part of your talisman?
I think you miscounted. Spending You would have to spend 60 BP to get 300.
If you have a high enough Int + Magic Lore and spend a season, you can enrich a Thing of Virtue. This is useless to Hermetic magi unless part of their Talisman because even 0 magic resistance stops it, as does any Aegis of the Hearth that resists it. To include it in your Talisman you must have enriched it yourself. See RoP:M 124-128.
Yes, I did miscalculate. Let me rephrase:
We can really spend half our starting BP to begin with 200ish vis? That's really good.
Wow ... that's just ... wow.
So for a little effort enriching these items, you can get six additional Virtues? Amazing. I'm going to have to seriously rethink starting with my talisman already made. I can't think why anyone else would do differently.
How do you figure out what Virtues your Things of Virtue grant?
I was only sticking to things explicitly listed in RoP:M. I don't think the silver will actually work. Also, it costs experience plus BP plus a season, plus you may limit the items in your Talisman. For example, I really want to fit Necromancy in as a possible attunement. Meanwhile, there are other ways to get things such as Mystery Initiations, which give more options. So I can think of plenty of reasons to go other directions.
I didn't see Amber, Basalt, Magnet, Magnetite, Mercury, or Silver mentioned in RoP:M. What page are they on?
They aren't, but what a Hermetic magus can enrich them to provide is explicitly stated. I don't have the book on me right now. It may well be in the box about Hermetic magi using Things of Virtue.
I did a word search in the pdf version for amber, magnet, mercury, etc., and came up blank.
Oh, also, before you get too crazed by this, you might want to look at HMRE to see what the local gruagach and learned magician can do for you. Depending on what you want, there may be much better methods readily available.
Peregrine: Just out of professional curiosity, how would we handle things like Amber, Mercury, and Basalt as Items of Virtue in a talisman?
I don't have the pdf. Try searching for "puissant art" in there. You'll probably get a hit.
There it is. It says that "Any item that naturally contains vis and that gives a Shape and Material bonus to a specific Art can be Enriched to confer Puissant Art[.]"
Thanks.
This appears to beg the question "what kinds of thing naturally contain vis but aren't Objects of Virtue?"
(Niseag eggs)
Are any of our 75 BPs available during advancement after gauntlet, or do they materialize just before game start? In other words, is anything we might gain from the 75 BP available for use during advancement?
Yes, they are, so long as they're still available when the game starts.
I'm not entirely sure what "still available" means. I was thinking, in particular, as to whether Things of Virtue obtained with the 75 BP could be enriched and incorporated into a talisman during the advancement period or if that would have to wait until after game start.