for discussion, design and advancement of the aforementioned magus
A preliminary build is up, still have some questions.
Not ready for the math check yet, I have left 7 years of xp unspent pending what you want to do about initiations etc. I'm hoping to get some of the Bjornaer inner mysteries, but also spend quite a bit of time on refining the inner heartbeast.
About spells; I realized that anything he casts on himself as a Heartbeast is going to have problems with size mods; but that won't cause spells he cast on himself in human form to break, will it?
Using his healing spell as an example; I know that spells maintain between the two forms regardless of Co or An; but does adding a An req to a Co spell, or vice versa, make it castable in both forms? (I realize that the current recovery spell he has won't work in heartbeast form because of size, but as a principle).
To determine more about a site (for instance, whether it's an ancestor site), can that be accomplished by adding magnitudes to a spell for detecting auras? Or would it be one for detecing magical effects?
If a spell has an effect that can be done with both corpus on humans and animal on animals then pick the one with the higher guideline and add the other as a requisit. If it can only be done on one of the two then simply add 1 magnitude with the requisit. These guidelines apply only to those with the heartbeats virtue and only with range: personal.
As to ancestor sites, I am going to have to rule that there is no widely known guideline to detect one with a simple spell. Clan Ilfetu may have such a guideline that they guard jealously known only to its higher level mystagogues, or it may be possible to discover such a guideline through experimentation, but it is not a known effect.
On the other hand "learning more' is always possible- InTe might be able to gain a sense of the site's history, InVi detect spirits, and so forth...
That makes sense.
Regarding mysteries, I know you don't like laundry lists; but it has been the character's focus moreso that studying magic. Trying to avoid annoying you but not sure how I should address it.
Also, regarding chimera inner heartbeast (which I realize is an inner mystery, sorry if this question is premature); my reading is that you start from outer heartbeast and add traits and statistics from the ones you are combining with it; to make a new "base" form; is that accurate? or does every change have to be refined to exist?
as noted you have to have a Bjorner house lore of 5 before you even begin looking at developing any of the inner heartbeast mysteries.
Once you undergo the initiation the base heartbeast is transformed as described with several aspects changing at once- for example if you chose a bat as your second animal you would gain things such as the wings and probably some other attributes of a bat immediately. Traits that you want which are not part of this initial transformation can be added via refinement- for example a +3 size crocodile becomes size +4 on gaining the chimera inner heartbeast, if you want to grow to size +5 this would require a refinement, as would individual virtues, powers, anima qualities, etc. realistically there will need to be some discussion for every change and exactly what it will entail.
Bjornaer House Lore is 11+2.
Should I just write up a proposal of everything for you to approve?
Of course everything done with any character requires SG approval, but my understanding was that Bjornaer making refinements to their inner heartbeast is a customary thing, once they have the inner mystery, akin to enchanting talisman or enchanting familiar bond.
If that's wrong, I understand, but that was a big part of the thinking behind the character design so I may go back to the drawing board.
It is a customary thing, and most will likely get rubber stamped, but individual effects may require discussion, and I don't want to find out 5 refinements in that you have stacked things up in a way that would not be allowed...
keeping in mind as I say hat that I have already approved the goal of dragon...
I have drawn up everything on a subpage of the character.
I apologize if you didn't want me to list everything this way - it seems like a lot, but it's also a major chunk of the character's advancement - the seasons for the initiations (28 seasons/7 years total) as well as the xp spent on House Lore.
http://amfightorflight.wikidot.com/draco-initiations-and-heartbeast-refinements
One other thing: How do you handle characters purchasing, instead of making, longevity rituals?
draco should have a negative reputation to go with his outsider social status, however it also does not state that outsider is an exception to the one social status limit, which means that as a magus you cannot take this social status- I know in past editions they have indicated that the combination of hermetic seclusion and the Gift have rendered it meaningless.
I will review the proposed initiation scripts later.
The initiation scripts seem to be simply copied from the book, so aside from issues of copyright, are not an issue. However as written this character is 28 years past guantlet and the upper limit is 25 years. even then I think you underestimate the difficulties of unlocking a full dragon inner heartbeast, which could take closer to a half century to a century to fully realize.
sorry for copyright, I will delete them. Since they were small excerpts, thought not an issue. I was trying to make things centralized.
It's meant to be 25 years PG, so there may be a math error. 1178 to the end of 1203 is 25?
in terms of "full dragon heartbeast", I'm not sure what you mean... What's the difference between "a crocodile turning into a dragon by getting bigger and adding elements of other animals" and full dragon? Or are you saying that the qualities I bolded in the other animals need to be added via initiations? the text for mystery of the chimera indicates that some elements just happen immediately, but it's not clear how many, I was leaving to your discretion. I don't know myself what the "finish line" is to being an actual dragon in heartbeast form, I just added things that made sense to me.
I didn't say it was a copyright problem, simply that I did not know if it was- unlike chatting online a wiki page is a pretty permanent representation, and it is probably better to have a reference to page and book rather than copying text.
What I am saying is that when you are an apprentice you gain a crocodile heartbeast, when you have gained house lore 5 you start looking for an appropriate ancestor, which could take years, as opposed to one season. Then you create the chimeric inner heartbeast (I assume with an eagle) and then spend additional years refining that, probably while pursuing other goals as well. We haven't really even begun to walk through the process for this level of initiation and you have declared it finished in your character write up- while we still have issues with the character at gauntlet.
I see.
His character sheet is done, except I need to find a replacement for Outsider - but you can check the math - it should be 18 years PG (25 -7 that I set aside).
He spent a large amount of advancement on Bjornaer Lore; I was interpreting that as practice xp gained while looking for ancestors/ancestor sites.
Are you not happy with my idea of having the four natures? Or is it just too soon for that to be developed?
I'm basing my math on your background when I pointed out that he was 28 years post guantlet... I haven't finished the rest of the analysis, but I have repeatedly asked that when a character has initiations that they first be done to gauntlet, get that checked, and the discuss what is required to initiate, not simply in term of the initiations but in terms of getting a mystagogue to give you that much of heir time dedicated to your personal advancement.
Jumping to the end always tempts me to simply reject the character on the basis of not following those directions, and it does not save time, it increases my frustration exponantially.
I will repost up to gauntlet tonight. Or if you want to reject to make an example of me, I understand.
Lets start from guantlet and go step by step.
Draco is back to gauntlet numbers now.
One note: I'd like Draco to be Clan Ilfetu, but didn't have room in the build for the virtue (which gives 50 xp - clan membership is not the main benefit). Is that virtue necessary for membership in the clan? Mostly choosing the clan because it makes sense that someone so focused on House Lore would be there.
okay, first of all, yes, the virtue is necessary, secondly your spells are too powerful for your arts at gauntlet- even with a teacher or text you could not develop them.
Ok, I fit the virtue in.
I was forgetting his lower than normal Int - but the extra xp from the virtue allowed me to fix.
Int 1 + MT 4 (with spec) + Te 5/10 + Fo 2 + Aura 3 = 15/20
(I know, a couple of forms are 3, but keeping it simplified for the formula.)
This still leaves conserve the demanding spell, wizards veil, rainment of the wizard, and eye of the aquatic hunter coming up short, but I also see 15 xp unspent...