As I mentioned before, the covenant should have about 1000 bp total:
300 bp in vis sources (so around 60 pawns/year) seem to make sense
We could allocated 50 pb per player for things their magus collect over their post-Gauntlet years
That would leave about 400 bp for the library, specialists, lab texts, enchanted items and money reserves of the covenant
Any ideas on how to distribute those 400 build points? Probably most on the library, for entry-level books in the most common subjects (mostly Arts) as well as lab texts useful for the covenant, but what would those be in your opinion?
Also, is anyone planning of having his magus know Aegis of the Hearth? Or should we purchase a casting tablet?
Muto Vim Spells (p. 160): After Wizard's Reach, add: Wizard's Vigil. R: Voice, D: Sun, T: Group. This spell functions as Wizard's Communion, except that the longer duration allows it to be used with Ritual spells. For the purposes of its effect, treat it as a Wizard's Communion of two magnitudes lower.
Do people have any preferences for the library? I think it would be cool to have one particularly high level art summa, and maybe some deficient or missing areas.
I've always hated BP, especially for roots, but even more so for mundane texts. You can find mundane texts that you can buy for a pound that run you ridiculous amounts of BP. For instance, the Bible costs 50 BP. Those same 50 BP could buy 250 pawns of vis.
So I get frustrated and just kind of go with whatever on BP. I'm not picky.
Right now it looks like the biggest thing for my character would be to have a few mundane assistants, mostly trained in Philosophiae.
Since the BPs will be "acquired" during post-Gauntlet advancement, you could spend them on silver, then use that silver to purchase mundane books. It may not be at a pound for a book, but at least closer to their actual value.
As a general rule, I'm perfectly happy to give a Redcap a pawn of vis for them to acquire a book or set of books that could theoretically be bought for a pound or a few. They can make a healthy profit, and I've got someone happy to acquire more books for me.
For Hermetic tractatus, the covenant is "rich" enough in vis that it should be able to acquire a decent collection over time. Even if they cost 3 to 5 pawns a pop, you should be able to get a few each year if you decide it is a priority. Same thing for lab texts.
So I don't think we need to worry too much about the initial size of the library. It will grow quickly enough during play.
The only books that will be harder to obtain will be those great summae on magic. Covenants who have them may not want to allow copies to be made, preferring to rent access to them for study in exchange for vis. Particularly considering the peculiar situation of your covenant.
A good summa can provide for many seasons/years of study.
If you just plan to improve your score in an Art to the level of said book before play starts, though, it may not be worth your while getting that book. You have the option of just renting access, studying it and moving on.
As a Mercurian, I'd be happy to start with the spell if the coven wants a cheap, fairly low level version. This probably wouldn't be higher than 20. If the consensus is that we'd want a higher version...I'd rather not waste the spell slot.
It totally makes sense that none of us might know it, but coming together in a covenant for the first time we discuss IC and one of us decides to learn it. Although that may mean the heir has been without one for a year or two before the group comes together.
l would want to reiterate that tablets for Aegis and Vigil is a thing that is nice to provide as a bonus to such covenant from a position "l want other magi here and l want them see that l had prepared as much as l could in advance so they are less cautious about this endeavor".
Also, they aren't actually costly, so they could be easily afforded.
