General Table Talk

If I may, a question, because it impact what I'll do with my character.

Something we did "naturally" when we played Ars, is to assume things were specific. So, for example, a spell to affect metal wouldn't affect stone, or gemstones, and vice-versa.

Over in Dusk of the Flame, I realised that Arachné had a ward against metal, but not against stone. So I though "I gotta invent one!" and then I did a double take, and realized that this was, maybe, an untold HR, in that, for some people, the metal ward would protect against stone.
What's the RAW on this? I don't know. I can only tell that there are weird things

The only thing I can tell from memory is that ReTe says things like "metal or gems", which could mean "either", or "and".

I asked Marko, but, to him, since I was the GM in that story, it was for me to decide. But this is a question about what I'll do with the spider! Do I need to spend a season, or not!

Sorry, I sleep too little.

So, I figured I'd ask you people, since it impact the game.

Option 1: Wards protect against anything at its level or below
This means that, with 2 spells (terram, herbam), you can be warded against almost any weapon. 3 spells (+ animal), you're protected vs animals and beasts. 7 spells (+Ignem, auram, aquam, corpus), you're protected against any physical attack.
This makes it easy for mages to be walking tanks

Option 2: Wards protect against a general category, but that's it, depending on delimitations in guidelines
So, to take ReTe, you'd have wards against earth, stone, glass, metal, and gemstones.
With Corpus and Animal, that's one ward
With Aquam, that's water, and acid
With Auram, that's winds and lightning.
This means that only truly dedicated magi (like those flambeau knights) will be tanks, and that mundane assassins and soldiers may be a risk to magi, if using weird blades. It also provides an incentive for combat magi to invent different spells to circumvent wards.

Thinking about it, this would be a playstyle question, between "super mages" and more mortal ones.
But there's one added thing that shifts the balance towards the second option for me. Magical foci.

To take terram, have 2 magi with a similar minor focus, one covering wards vs stone, the other wards vs metal.

  • Option 1: The Metal guy will benefit from his focus to invent and cast 1 ward that'll protect against stone and metal. If his lowest art is > 5, this means that his metal wards are better against stone than if he invented "pure" stone wards. This feels wrong to me. And the same goes for his "move metal" spells, "destroy metal" spells... you name it.
    Worse: The stone guy can do this, but his focus doesn't help, so it's noticeably more difficult for him. If he wan'ts to benefit from his focus while inventing a spell, it will be a "lesser" spell. This is unfair to me.
  • Option 2: both mages will have to invent 2 wards. The metal guy benefits from his focus to invent his metal ward, not the stone one. The reverse goes for the stone guy.

Tireeeeeeeeeeeed
And I still need to think up other things for her but my headspace is eaten up by wooork

I think a spell can be fairly wide if designed to be so. So yes, IMHO a spell could be designed to ward against metal and stone.

However, when it comes time to apply a focus, the spell cannot be wider than the focus if you want the focus to apply to your lab total.

However, even if the focus does not apply to the lab total, it could still apply at the time of casting the spell. For example, a magus with a focus with precious metals would not benefit from his focus when learning Unseen Arm. But casting the same spell to manipulate a gold coin from a distance would benefit from the focus. This could potentially mean the magus is able to cast the spell in adverse conditions without incurring Fatigue. Or with greater Penetration.

I have a question of my own. How can Marcellus secure some vis for his personal projects? Does the covenant "pay out" some sort of vis stipend?

He's tried to offer to make charged items in exchange for a small amount of vis, but he's been rebuffed rather bluntly by some of the other magi. Is his only choice going on a vis hunt? Seems strange in a vis-rich covenant.

He is a Verditius, after all. If he wants to make items, he needs vis.

So I figure you can always do something in a season, and making charged items counts, to earn at least 3 pawns a year. And you can draw a good-faith loan of 3 pawns every year.

Aaargh!

So in the Spring of 1246 Marcellus offers to enchant 10 charges of the Spear of Roland for 4 pawns of vis. Fleur nixes the idea, saying the covenant should not spend vis for charged item.

This was offered here, in a out-of-character topic. Wish someone had mentioned at the time the possibility to do it as a service to the covenant for 3 pawns. That is totally acceptable to me and a good way to get around the Verditius rates. If it is a service to the covenant, then that works for me.

So, does anyone have an objection to Marcellus doing 10 charges of the Spear of Roland (probably in the form of 10 x 1-charge items) for the covenant as a season of service?

He could do this during Fall 1246 or Winter 1247.

Well, technically Fleur had the right to reject. But her spaceship exploded on the way back to her home planet. My thing was that you should make the items first and then hope the covenant sees the value. Medieval culture was twisted like that.

Sure, I can do that! :laughing:

Salvate Sodalibus

I apologise for being somewhat non existing recently. Work has been busy, and still is. I’ve ventured into a more specialised area of my field.

Anyhoo, who is still onboard? When and where are we?

Salve Christian,

There are only 2 stories active at the moment:

  • Dusk of the Flame: Marko (player), The Fixer (SG)
  • A Firendly Visit: Arthur (player), The Fixer (SG)

That's pretty much it. Last time Peregrine popped up was at the end of Janurary.

In short, it is too quiet. :hushed:

Well, the Woad is ready for ...something. I don’t know what, but he is built for trouble. Nothing too big though, he is still a rookie.

Would he be interested in a hunt? Or investigating a missing merchant delivering supplies to the covenant? I could run that kind of story for you (and whoever wants to join).

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Yes and yes, either or both sounds like something for the Woad.
Plus someone with more grasp of local life and language

That depends on timing. The last story he took part in was in Summer 1245.

Right now Marcellus is in a story set the next summer (1246), but the "official" time is 1247.

That gives The Woad several seasons in which you can advance him, including improving his score in the local language. Do you have a preference in the time when the story takes place?

But, as you wrote, he can be accompanied by someone fluent in the local tongue.

I’ll check how many seasons of study he has.
Area Lore and local language is a priority so it’s good he has plenty of time. For a rookie magus there is always a lot of grinding.
As for what time of year, he is okay with anytime. He’s from Ireland, and while generally mild, it is said to rain there a lot and I’m sure they have some cold winter days.

The timing depends on whether he actually plans on going out of the covenant (such as for a hunt), in which case you will decide the exact season, or if you want me to surprise you as to the timing of the story (someone comes to him to solve a problem).

In the second case, you'll have to provide me with a schedule of your planned activities and I'll let you know when the story begins. Am I correct in assuming that you would prefer a story short enough that it won't interfere with your studies (meaning less than 10 days)?

Still here, lurking. Not really much to say. since the story Guiverna was in (The Troglodytae) ground to a creaking halt, and Vibria wound up not being needed to help cast the Aegis in Dusk of the Flame after all. I have no confidence in my ability to GM a story at this time, which is why I'm not volunteering there. (Shoot, I've barely done any writing in the last six or eight months either.)

But, yeah, as a player, I'm still up for stuff.

If you want to join the story with The Woad, either with your maga or playing a grog, I can probably pull that off. Guiverna is a bit more experienced than The Woad, but their focus is different enough that both can play a valuable role in the story.

Note that I will keep it focused on The Woad, but Guiverna should find it interesting as well.

For ease of bookkeeping, let’s say the Woad got 4 seasons of study, and were on in summer 1246.

Which story is that?

The one we are planning right now for The Woad. It hasn't started yet. We started discussing it starting there, about ten posts back.