Covenant design discussion

Hey, you've got good reasons, I appreciate the heads-up. RL always takes precedence over fun and games.

Couple of quick questions:

Am I missing something painfully obvious, or do Charged Items not cost build points? I've reread the section on making them a couple of times, and I'm thinking that if they do (which I doubt), that they would cost your two points per (Lab Total/5).

If you're making a text using Resonances (p. 87), do the build points for the book come before or after figuring the +1 Quality for said resonances? (I'm thinking probably after). I've got an idea for a really wicked Corpus tract, the pages of which are human skin, the ink human blood, and the cover boards Rego'd human bone. (Overkill, maybe?)

Honestly, I've been feeling pretty guilty about that,. I designed the lab beforehand, thinking that it was going to be 40 of my personal build points - which seems much more fair. But then Jonathan said that it should come out the 250, because you can't very well bring your lab with you. Which makes sense.

I wonder - maybe I can shuffle things around, and then just give 40 bp worth of stuff out of my personal 75 to the covenant as a whole? That seems much fairer. And also, Iosephus is totally uninterested in worldly goods, so he would totally give a lot of his stuff away if asked. Not apt otherwise.

So maybe I'll re-jig to plan for that.

I don't see it as a big deal. Others are free to do the same. More spent on labs means less spent on something else. It may create some friction between the characters (I don't see this as a player problem, because everyone has the same level of opportunity to do the same). So now that the lab is created in bps, your character should write a letter on one of those nice sheets of parchment describing his dream lab to someone... :slight_smile:

Believe me, I was just kidding when I said that. I passed on the chance mainly because I like the slow process of upgrading a 0 point lab.

Fiona's 75 build points

[b][u]Library (Books)[/u][/b]

35 All the Plants of the World, and Their Various Abilities Mystic and Mundane by Richard Overfork ex Miscellanea (Ability Summa on Herbalism). Level 7, Quality 14.
10 Pictorial Works (p. 91) on Herbalism.

[b][u]Library (Lab Texts)[/u][/b]

4 Seat of Nature (MuHe 20)
3 Gift of the New Body (MuCo 15)
4 A Spell to Kill Weeds (PeHe 20)
9 Create a Statue for the Garden (Muto Corpus 45)
Range: Touch; Duration: Sun; Target: Individual; Requisite: Terram.
This spell allows the caster to transform the target into an unmoving, unbreathing stone statue that is practically immune to the elements for the duration of the spell.
Base level 25 (Turn a body into a solid inanimate object), +1 Range, +2 Duration, no modifier for the Requisite (included in the guideline difficulty), +1 for increased size.

[b][u]Magic Items[/u][/b]

0 Draught of Frigid Temperance: Upon drinking the potion, the user becomes immune to the effects of below-freezing temperatures (particularly being immersed in ice water for long periods of time) for Sun duration. R: Personal, D: Sun, T: Individual. Base 2 (change someone to give them a minor ability), +2 for Duration. Effect Level: 4. Lab Total: Int 1 + Magic Theory (Potion-making) 7 + Muto 16 + Corpus 14 + Corpus (for Minor Magical Focus doubling) + Aura 3 (assumed) = 55. (55-4) ÷ 5 = 10.2. Number of potions (each for one charge) = 11 doses.
0 Essence of Gillweed: Upon drinking the potion, the user gains the ability to breathe water as if it were air for the duration of the effect. R: Personal, D: Sun, T: Individual. Base 2 (change someone to give them a minor ability), +2 for Duration. Effect Level: 4. Lab Total: Int 1 + Magic Theory (Potion-making) 7 + Muto 16 + Corpus 14 + Corpus (for Minor Magical Focus doubling) + Aura 3 (assumed) = 55. (55-4) ÷ 5 = 10.2. Number of potions (each for one charge) = 11 doses.
10 Armor That Fits: The item changes its size anywhere from Size +2 to Size -2 to fit the current size of the wearer. The armor is made of leather, with iron fittings (buckles etc). The base level is 5 (Change something made of animal products in a major unnatural way). R: Personal, D: Sun, T: Individual. There is a +1 Magnitude for the Terram requisite (the iron fittings). Frequency is twice/day. There is an Environmental Trigger, when the wearer has Preternatural Growth and Shrinking cast upon them. Final Effect Level is 24.

How many build points do the Draught and Essence cost?

I think someone asked about charged items right, and how it's tough to assign a cost? Maybe it should be a lab text instead?

Yeah, that was me. I'm assuming that they don't cost Build Points, since charged items don't really have an Effect Level like invested/enchanted items do, but it's kind of a judgment call. If they get vetoed, I can easily take them out. I just figured they were something she had made for her old covenant to help with vis gathering, and since she was leaving (and was ever so slightly annoyed with the elder magi there) she would just...bring them with her, since she made them and everything.

It should have a cost, it took at least a season to make. Bringing a lab text of the formula might be a better way of doing it.

Ok, so I missed the original question about charged items. Mea culpa. So, I'm looking at the items. You're on a hilltop in the mundane world and a mountain in the regio. These items may not get all that much use. So, given that, If players want their characters to bring charged items, up to 22 total charges of fairly innocuous design, that's fine. No wands of Pilum of Fire, etc. I consider these potions to be more about flavor than anything, based on the setting. Charged items you wish to bring should be similar in nature, designed to add flavor, not for power.
Sound good?

Lab texts for the two Level 4 effects would be, what, two points? If need be, I can tweak the Herbalism summa to balance out the 75.

The point is moot. I shall move along.

Covenant Build Points (250)

[b][u]Experts[/u][/b]

6 Scribe
5 Percamanarius

[b][u]Vis Sources[/u][/b]

10 In the ruins of Bibracte is a small fountain that still pours water. Every winter, the mouth of the pipe freezes over. At dawn of the first full moon after the pipe starts to thaw, the ice fully breaks free. The chunks of ice gathered at this time form three pawns of Aquam vis.
15 Every fall, an albino squirrel starts to gather nuts in the neighboring forest for the coming winter and buries them on the edge of the covenant. The first three nuts that he buries become Herbam Vis if unearthed under the light of the next full moon and exposed to the light of the moon for at least a Diameter.
10 Every so often, whenever a major decision (or a series of them) must be made in the area of Autun, two gemstones appear at the Pierre de la Wivre. One is a garnet in the shape of a woman, the other is an emerald in roughly the shape of a serpent. Each one is a Pawn of Rego Vis. (not sure about the timing on this one, might need a little tweaking...but I'm going for something that's not easily predictable. Basically, the mystical energy from making a decision, or the accumulated energy of a series of decisions) Also, I'm thinking we need to do something with the Wivre...that's just too awesome an idea to let lie fallow, but I'm currently at a loss as to what :frowning:

	[b][u]Library (Books)[/u][/b]

25 The Grandest Jest by Garkin ex Tytalus (Perdo summa). Level 15, Quality 10.
28 The Secret Lives of Our Verdant Brethren by Henrike ex Merinita (Herbam summa). Level 16, Quality 12.
23 Twilight's Inevitable Triumph by Istavan ex Criamon (Vim summa). Level 14 Quality 9.
31 Illuminating the Body Human by Marius ex Bonisagus (Corpus summa). Level 16 Quality 15. The Quality of the text includes the following Resonances: The vellum is made from human skin, the ink is composed of human blood, and the cover boards are human bone that has been Regoed to their current shape.
27 Knowing the Beast Without by Mikhail ex Bjornaer (Animal summa): Level 15, Quality 11.
25 Peering into the Aether by Fulminous ex Miscellanea (Intellego summa): level 14, quality 11

[b][u]Casting Tablet[/u][/b]

14 The Bountiful Feast (CrHe 35)

[b][u]Laboratory[/u][/b]

10 Lesser Feature (Minor Structure Virtue): Still (this is a Hermetic still, as on p. 121 of Covenants, as opposed to the other still she has which she uses to make whisky).

[b][u]Magic Items[/u][/b]

21 Lamps of Illumination: These lamps, carved from pine, are enchanted to provide illumination (light as bright as direct sunlight on a clear day) up to three times per day. The lamp must be touched and the command word given to activate, and again to end the enchantment. R: Personal, D: Concentration, Target: Individual. Base level 5, +1 magnitude for Concentration, +2 for number of uses, +5 to have the item maintain concentration. Final item Level 17. Build points: 7 each. There are three Lamps, all of which are stored in the Library.

Based on the Regio entrance we just saw, we'll need to maybe invent an item or two to help with it.

From a defensive standpoint, I say we leave the entrance in Midair. People that don't know and shouldn't be in there will suffer a nasty fall. True there could be accidents, but I believe it's a good security feature. Maybe we could make a cheap item for all to wear that provides a feather fall effect.

I had actually read that last exchange between Apollodorus and Janos as meaning that Janos was to build the structure on the regio side of sufficient height that the regio entrance would be in the structure.

Of course, I could be wrong...it has been known to happen, on occasion.

Unfortunately, that's not a choice up to the players. Apollodorus thinks a bit differently about defense then Alexei does. :slight_smile: The construction and design is to put a balcony wide enough to go around it and allow easy transit between levels. Remember, you have mundane staff that need to come into the Wizard's side. Trekking to another regio entrance could be problematic.

Additionally, this is within the Aegis on both sides, or it will be once yet another entrance is discovered and a viable path opens up to walk the boundary. I mention this, because a certain character has second sight, and the other opening will be immediately obvious to him.

Aesthetics and convenience vs defense are always issues aren't they?

And in IT, it's the continuum of security and usability...

Apart from writing what Onesiphorus crafts as items I am mostly done with my magus. What should I do now? I am thankful for a few hints as there is a lot of text to read.

Come up with a few Grogs and the build points for the Covenant (250), plus the 75 build points that you're bringing. 4 grogs i think is what we're supposed to each make. I'll be making 5, but one of them is an instructor I paid for with Buildpoints.