Francisco DeFay (development)

Play by Post Campaigns Ars Magica 5th Edition: Light of Andorra
21

The core reason for having the degree of focus in woodworking that he does is the sheer power it offers in faerie. He has a roll for creative 'collaberation' to change a faerie with a score of 7+3+5+2+3=20 plus a die roll. He can grant a faerie a minor virtue with a total of 12 if they pay might+10 pretense points (character points, not actual levels), and can grant a major virtue for 30+might points with a total of 24. If he goes into arcadia he can make a story 'offer' of 2+7+3+2+3+stress die, which is, other factors being balanced, enough to eliminate a major threat to the party with an offer of story change.

Now consider a child of 6 or 7, who first begins working wood because it seems like a fun craft. In one season 4xp=> 6 from affinity, which gives him an ability of 1+3, with a 1 dx (5-4) and free expression, which gives him a score of 9+roll to effect a change, at which point he could reasonably give virtues to his childhood playmates. Having discovered that kind of power at that age do you think they would not pursue it?

Now, if there are concerns that this makes the character too powerful, or that we just don't want that level of faerie involvement, I have a backup character concept I can go with. I think however that his reasons for pursuing this degree of focus in woodworking is well justified.

22

I am not concerned with level of power. I just do not understand any of what you just said :laughing:
And you suspect correctly. This saga does not have a strong faerie focus. It has been mainly background flavor in a few characters if anything. And I don't have the Faeries book, so I can't make any fair judgment.
So I leave it all in the hands of our other players :slight_smile:

23

Didn't noticed that before.
For a character that focused on Faerie, this seems strange. How do you see this? What's the reason for this particular flaw?

A child of 6, 7, 8, 10?
I may be wrong, but I don't think so. IMO, he would play and have fun with it. Sure, overall, he'd gain XP and do some practice, but not all-year-long "I'll become better at my craft".
Practice is not having fun by, say, doing drawings of what you want to draw and caricaturing your friends (which is fun, and "magical" and what a child would do). It's drawing face after face after face until you're satisfied, then doing the same for the hands, for a leaf, for whatever... It's work, and it's dull.

This is not a question of power, this is a suspension of disbelief problem. I told you, the numbers look ok, so, for what it's worth, you have my green light, but he doesn't feel unified. The stats tell a story to me, whereas you tell another, and I have trouble believing in him, something I hadn't with Fleur or your librarian grog.

As it is...
We have a child, born from a faerie (SFB), that grew among fairies (faerie upbringing), and kept a friend from that time (faerie friend). He is a jew, or more probably a muslim (Outsider), at any rate clearly different, and you want it to be an important part of stories around him (major flaw). He is almost never believed (trusted guile), and doesn't really know how he stands toward God (uncertain faith), maybe because he feels very important (Proud), maybe because he's so important for the faeries he lived with.
He had an adventurous childhood, and lived in the wilderness (almost all his skills), being taught how to survive in the woods, by someone who gave him at least passing familiarity with a wide range of skills (Jack of all Trades). All the while, he undertook intense mystical training in woodworking (Craft Skill + Faerie Sympathy), or twice that as Practice (Assuming 5xp practice for sanity's sake, that's 5 and a half year of constant work-without-fun)

I'm trying to fit his virtues/flaws and skills into your background, but it doesn't cling much. It's not my character, though, so if this don't bother you more than that, whatever, come out and play*.

* yeah, I like to do bad musical puns

24

Lets straighted out a few points:
he is Christian, but raised primarily by a mother who was raised Muslim and converted, in a community of faeries- hence uncertain faith. His religios upbringing was inconsistent at best.
He also looks Moorish, which is what makes him an outsider, as a member of an 'easily recognized group' and most people will assume he is muslim.

It seems however that the major difference between our understanding is the idea that practice cannot be fun. To me someone with that much focus on an ability almost certainly does enjoy it.

25

Well, practice is not doing things for fun. It's actively trying to improve your techniques. This requires discipline, too much for a child.

For exemple, I learned english by my own, reading comics, and I enjoyed it. But it was exposure, and took me years: My learning english was coïncidental to my trying to understand the words that came with the pictures. I made no try at all to remember anything.
OTOH, practice would have meant actively learning words and grammar and all, and would have been waaay faster, but I'd have never done it :wink:. I just picked up things as I went along (like "frown", which I picked up only because it appears every 2 pages in the malazan book of the fallen), but it was veeery slow, and I'm still learning.
See also my drawing exemple above.

26

To be fair Fixer, while what you say is true for the "average child" there are exceptions. The one that keeps popping into my mind is Tiger Woods. He was on the Mike Douglas show at the age of 2 and was a child prodigy at golf. That doesn't happen with just exposure. He was disciplined and practiced heavily to achieve that level of skill.

Other examples would be many proffesional tennis players, olympic gymnasts (who are basically old by the age of 16), and figure skaters. Now, many of them in later life complain about how they missed their childhoods and wished they had played more, but there is precedent for children singularly focused on a skill.

27

meh
Faeries are messed up in the head.
But you do need a broader skill set though. Everyone knows how to brawl a point or two.

HOLD UP!!!

I just remembered the reasoning behind the HRs for increased XP is just for that very reason. To have a broader skill set, not to push them all in one ability. So, sense or no sense or whatever, I say you need to make some compromises for the good of the game.

28

I think at this point I am going to scrap Francisco and go with a different character concept. It would seem he is a poor fit for this story.

If you would close this thread...