De Moribus (OOC)

You said you'd review my character's spells at gauntlet.
Once you have done that, I can start planning the three years post gauntlet.

You've got some PeVi spells listed as up to 24 plus a die roll, though they should be up to 25 plus a die roll.

I am totally sorry. I thought I had done that, but completely spaced it!

Morat is ready for review, both gauntlet and +6 year version.

Valentine is also updated in his thread.

That's a really good question. And one I don't have an answer for. The books are not very clear as to whether or not Parma is even visible, other than the obvious effects of a spell being cast. Due to that, I'd have to rule on the side of caution and say that there is no way to know other than to cast another spell and see if it gets through. Unless someone knows of a canon source that clarifies this?

And on the topic of Parma...is it just me, or are magi complete dicks? Parma is the last thing taught to apprentices, which means they have zero protection during their training.

"Do what I tell you, boy, or I'm gonna fry you. Again."

With Parma 1 it isn't like it would matter, Your maser can curb stomp you either way.
Really it is level of investment thing. An apprentice can run away or any number of other things. Once he has trained 15 years and sworn an Oath it is less of a risk.
You have to extend your Parma to your Apprentice to train him any way, so they do have some protection when you are around.

I'd like to join the game if still possible!

So I have finally settled on a concept...to an extent.

A mature Bjornaer Maga with either a Wolf or Lion Heartbeast. Around 30 years post Gauntlet. Married, with a family (True Love Flaw). Mute, so communicates mentally, or through her writings. Interested in writing superb books, Mysteries, education (mostly for the Bjornaer), etc. Harmonist, fascinated by Man's artifacts, but very wary of humanity's excesses. I have advanced 3 versions of the character around 25 years, and this has brought several points to my attention, some merely observations, others rulings I'd like from Ghost (and opinions from the other players).

•Not being able to have a Familiar makes the Bjornaer fairly weak! The Bond scores, the lab aid, ugh. Certainly we are not meant to have one before Saga start, but it seems something that's a huge hole as they advance. Even as the character spends relatively few seasons of those 25 -30 years in the Lab (mostly due to Initiations). More on this below.

•Bjornaer reliance on Teacher-student relations rather than books for their relevant clan skills: House Lore, Heartbeast, Goth Language, is also very limiting to the concept, and certainly for all Post Gauntlet activities. Specially for Heartbeast, strictly forbidden to write/read about, it's very hard to raise quickly, as there's no "Teaching activity" in the yearly Seasons, just the generic "take 10xp", when a Teaching season normally has a much higher Quality. I guess you could say those Heartbeast Teachers are Incomprehensible or something, bahh. House B shooting itself on the paw.

•I was planning on having my character write books. Can these be sold for their equivalent qp? . Because they'll be of an Excellent-to-Inhuman Quality 8), it becomes strange, as a rise in Q of 4 only garners 1 extra vis, and books clearly better than everything else ever written only net you a few more qps. Also, such books could be sold multiple times (copies), although I haven't taken that into account in the advancement so far, best to do that in game.
(Q8 tractati are very poor, but worth 2 pawns, while Q18 are incredible/unprecedented/unique, worth a lot more for your study season, but by Saga rules worth only 4 pawns + 2 qp. Just a weird thing.)

•Throughout the Advancement, the Maga has bought a bunch of books. Can she sell some of them back for at least ½ their qp? Inner Heartbeast Initiations are costly, lol. BTW, no books bought have been better in L/Q than similar books in the Semita Errabunda library, per Ghost's instructions.

How expensive are Lab Texts for spells, 1qp/magnitude?

•Can the character buy Spell Mastery books for Cult of Heroes/Mercurian/Mercere Spell Masteries? At least trade some of the superior books she will produce to some eager member of these groups in exchange for this?

•For Mysteries, the books reference "The Mysteries" continually, obviously. I think this book needs to eventually make it into the allowed books. One point I need your ruling is in varying Scripts: HoH:MC only mentions adding or modifying elements to these Scripts, how about removing elements? This is clearly delineated in TM, but not in the 5 books you have allowed. It's particularly limiting for the Refinement Initiations, specially as one advances in HBjornaer Lore + Presence! Otherwise, per Saga rules, the Maga has used the Initiations as written, she'll later research others.

•For her husband, her True Love, I built him as a Failed Apprentice grog. This may strike everyone as cheesy munchkinism, no doubt! Looking to shore up her lack of Familiar, and her relatively low Art scores/Lab Total throughout her career. Just noticed in those 120 Seasons, she only used his help for about 15 Seasons, too many other seasons of Study and Initiations and vis wages. House Bjornaer apparently lends Apprentices to members in good standing, as they share their education collectively, this is also something that's not modeled in the Saga Advancement rules.
Another problem was the LR for both, that was expensive, and they weren't that high (+10 hers, +5 his), and I really haven't rolled aging, maybe one or both died during advancement :laughing: .
But I obviously see that this is something others may not agree on, even though he can aid them later.
So, is this ok?
If not, I will build him as a superb teacher with some scribe/crafter skills.

•I wanted to go for the Lion Heartbeast, but the Wolf is the one that mentions is known for his Communication, for Epitome Inner Heartbeast purposes. If you allow it, I will choose the Lion, planning to increase Communication. If not, shrug, Wolf it will be.

•Hehehe, as characters advance and become very good at some particular activity, it seems bizarre to sell services for 3 pawns vis wages, very undervalued.

•At start, the character looks like this, in terms of Virtues and Flaws (subject to change based on your rulings):

Virtues
•The Gift
•Heartbeast
•Flawless Magic
•Book Learner
•Great Teacher
•Affinity with Muto
•Personal Vis Source
•Affinity with Magic Theory
•Skilled Parens
•Cautious with Concentration

Flaws
•Mute (Major)
•True Love (Major)
•Fear (Hunting dogs)
•Chaotic Magic (Major)

I just noticed that the house rule for charged items makes no sense:

The more charges an item has the cheaper it is to buy???

The formula is wrong. That subtraction should be multiplication. House rule updated.

Re: Charged items,

Please note that charged items cost no vis to create, although they do cost time.

I pulled these house rules from Marko. And you're making me wish I would have stated "3 years post-gauntlet with no purchasing of anything".

There is no good way to really cost charged items. They would either get so cheap that they were super OP or they will be the same cost as lesser items but worse. I'm content with how things stand. I would only make a charged item it it were a pretty extreme emergency.

Can I create my Talisman as an excellent item (despite the fact that we are not using city and guild)?
That would give me +3 to attack and Defense roll in physical combat situations
It would require a difficulty of +15 on the roll, which is quite possible using craft + specialty + dexterity + confidence point + 3 from simple spontaneous muto spells that make the wood easier to work + the ability of Verditius magi to form wood in miraculous ways = 15 + roll (easy)

I would not have him ever create above-average quality items for any lesser purpose, of course.
Using his magic staff as a club will be an unlikely last-ditch defense for a magus anyway, so the bonus is more about him being a tinkerer creating his personal staff than about getting a fearsome advantage that unbalances the game.

Edit: Selecting high quality items seems reasonable - I did that with my Magus.

Ya, I was going to let Ghost break the bad news to him.

City and Guild is not an approved source. So you'll have to use the rules in the approved sources.

Okay, so my Verditius master carver will produce an average quality weapon as a talisman.

In HoH: Societates p.61, crafting is discussed, in the context of Rego Crafting, but it doesn't give any pluses, unfortunately. Still, with your skill, you would create something beautiful, not "average".
(Confidence cannot be used for a Seasonal activity, though.)

*edit: Also, related question, as I've hardly ever created a Talisman: It takes 2 Seasons minimum, correct? 1 Season for Opening, 1 Season for Attunement?