Grog Development

Play by Post Campaigns Ars Magica 5th Edition: Light of Andorra
149

Name: Anna Bowyer
Characteristics: Str -1, Dex +2, Sta 0, Int 0, Per -1, Com 4, Pre 1, Qik -1
Traits: Impulsive+2, No respect for Mundane Authority+2
Age: 19
Confidence: 0
Decrepitude: 0
Warping: 0
Virtues: Affinity with Craft: Bowyer, Good Teacher, Great Communication
Flaws: Branded Criminal, Fragile Constitution, Motion Sickness

Abilities:
French 5 (Street talk)
Craft: Bowyer 7 (Arrows) (Note this costs 93 xp)
Teaching 2 (7)
Bows 3 (Defense)
Bargain 2 (Black Market)
Brawl 2 (Kicking)
Area Lore: Paris 3
Guile 2 (Rich people)
Folk Ken 1 (Rich People)
Hunt 4 (Poaching)
Survival 4 (Private Forests)

Anna was a talent young girl. Unfortunately for her, that talent was making bows and most city girls don't get to exercise that talent. But she did, becoming the leading producer of black market ranged weaponry. Made her money when her family would have otherwise starved. Most homemade stuff like that wasn't guild quality but hers was. And the guild took note. They branded her and banished from the city. Scholars might note that this is not in fact a power that guilds have. However the kind of thugs who grab people for silver and main them are not scholars.

The brand made it impossible for her to fit herself back into society elsewhere leaving her to fend for herself with her weaponry. Which swiftly led to her being an actual criminal engaging in poaching, trespass and outfitting of bandits and outlaws. Arrows to the knee where the order of the day for any band of hired adventurers who went after her.

150

Name: Faith Forest
Characteristics: Int +3, Com +2, Str+2, Per-3, Pre+2, Qik+1, Sta+0, Dex+0
Traits: Fear of Priests +3, Peaceful +3
Age: 14
Confidence: 0
Decrepitude: 0
Warping: 0
Virtues: Educated, Arcane Lore, Improved Characteristics
Flaws: Noncombatant, Divine Stigmata, Fear: Priests
Note: Divine Stigmata manifests infernal symbols apparently scratched into her skin.

Abilities:
Faerie Lore 2 (Dragons)
Infernal Lore 3 (Dragons)
Magic Lore 2 (Dragons)
Latin 5 (Curses)
Artes Liberales 2 (Geometry)
Philosophiae 3 (Disease)
Medicine 3 (Disease)
Chirgury 3 ( Blood Letting)
Catholic Church Lore 2 (Corrupt Members)
Civil and Cannon Law 2 (Loopholes)
Divine Lore 2 (Saints)
Profession Scribe 1 (Letters)
Stealth 3 (Moonlight)
Survival 2 (Forests)
Area Lore: The Nunnery of the White Widow 2 (Hiding places)
French 5 (Curses)

Faith's earliest memories are of the orphanage/nunnery at which she was raised. The place was normal as far as she knew, but it was far from normal. The order of nuns had been nearly completely corrupted or failing that enthralled with dark power. Everything was tense when a priest showed up the nuns fearing the priest would become suspicious which led to Faith's fear of priests. Eventually it came time to have Bless become initiated into the infernal rituals and such and Faith promptly fled when she found out, sneaking away in the dead of night. Wandering in the wilderness she came to the covenant lost and hungry. Will they really turn away a young lost orphan who is educated in matters mundane and mystical?

151

If I might offer a suggestion on faith?

Reading up her background, she looks like a potential loremaster, something we're solely lacking of (You have no idea how many times I wanted arachné to delegate matters to someone skilled in all these mundane Arcane Lore skills no one has at a high enough level).

Instead of making her one of the "yet another one of the best teachers ever" crowd, why not emphasize that aspect? Shift Good Teacher (Which is, likewise, IMO wasted on Anna) for Improved Characteristics, raise her Intelligence to 3 and suddenly, she loses somewhat in teaching potential (with a dreadful individual SQ of 12 + Teaching skill), but becomes much more useful as a ressource, as well as increasing vastly her potential to do some Natural Magic.

As it is, once she's raised her skills, she won't be able to do anything else than teach them in a few seasons, and then nothing.
Making her a loremaster would vastly increase her usefulness in stories (Increased chance to make those knowledge skill rolls) and in downtime (Inceptions, Reagents, Ligatures, Enriched Items...)

Also, she's called Faith but her background reads Bless :wink:

152

Ooh, I like that. Sounds like a good idea to me.

Also also, her Characteristics and Traits are a copy of Anna's (and don't match her virtues - Com 4 with no Great Communication)

153

That's a good idea. Consider it stolen and implemented. Good teacher on Anna is for teaching apprentice craftsmen. This way we can piss off the bowyer's guild even more. :stuck_out_tongue: Good catch on the name. The idea wasn't really to be a best teacher ever, but to write books that don't suck. Although the stuff from A&A is cool.
@Ansilano: Good catch on the characteristics and traits. Its what happens when I try to get a standard format and use copy paste. Whoops.

154

Magda [strike]is[/strike] was a 7 year old girl when she joined the educational program- we will introduce her in the near future via a story involving one of the current teachers (Marcus or Draganna) similar to the way Yanni was introduced. This character however may be more playable as a grog as she advances:

Stats:
Int 0 Per 0
Pre 0 Com 4
Str -1 Sta -1
Dex 0 Quick 2

Virtues:
great communication(minor +1)*
good teacher(minor +1)*
book learner(minor +1)

inherited traits gained after introductory story

flaws:
small frame(minor -1)
know it all(minor -1)
bastard(minor -1)

Abilities:
Basque 5
area Lore-Arans 2
charm 3
guile 2
music 3
legardemain 1
folk ken 1

personality traits:
self centered +2
curious +3

155

For the moment, I approve of this grog. The caveat is that I will inspect closer and post a reply when I get to the library today

156

An apprentice for Donna. I believe silveroak requested one. She'll be an artsy smith perpetually annoyed about not making cuter things. All swords should clearly be practical and pretty.

Name: Chloe
Age: 8
Personality Traits: Artsy+2 Gullible+3 Brave-3
Characteristics: Com+2 Pre+1 Per-3, Int+0, Str+2, Dex+3, Sta-2, Qik-2
Virtues: Prolific Artist, Free Expression, Unaging (Faerie)
Flaws: Gullible, No Sense of Direction Weak Characteristics
Abilities:
Catalan 5 (Apologizing while running away)
Athletics 3 (running away)
Swim 2 (returning to land)
Charm 3 (brushing over mistakes)
Stealth 3 (Hiding from people looking for her)

Life History and Personality: Chloe is one of the many children at the covenant everyone seems to ignore. The grogs are hard enough to distinguish on their own and their all having children. The children are just small hyper-active blobs people learn to avoid and ignore. Or at least it feels that way to Chloe. Whatever the case she wants to make shiny, pretty, cool things for a living. Who doesn't like a sword with a decorative engraving or a particularly cool, but somehow still practical axe?

Chloe believes just about whatever anyone tells her. Like the story about the castle with the talking candlestick and the friendly wolfman even though all the other kids say its stupid. Although in her defense it turned out to be true, and she met the guy. Also wolfmen have a terrible sense of direction. No one believed her about it, but that's only reinforced her gullibility. She is also easily scared.

157

I'm assuming this is how she is when Donna begins her apprenticeship- in spring 1237. By 1242 when Belinda starts at age 5 Chloe will be 13... how gullibility will interact with the faerie power of conjuration should be... interesting.
By 1242 she would have 36 points in craft:weaponsmith and 5 free seasons to study/do as she wishes.

158

Turtle (age:7)

Stats: (-4 for age)
Int 1 Per 2
Pre 1 Com -2
Str 0 Sta 0
Dex 3 Quick -1

Flaws:
unrully air(minor -1)
non-combatant(minor -1)
frail(minor -1)

Virtues:
artistic reputation(minor +1)
free expression(minor +1)
puissent woodcraft(minor +1)

Abilities:
Basque 5
area Lore-Arans 2
charm 3
guile 2
craft:woodworking 4
ettiquette 2
folk ken 1
carouse 1

Background: Turtle has a reputation as a child prodigy in artistic woodworking, and his parents have sacrificed a lot to give him that opportunity. His artwork grows more expensive though, and now he has been told he must find a patron or he will be given to someone as an apprentice, so he has ventured to the castle to seek patronage. He will be a fair craftsman with a bit more age, and is probably at the peak of his artistic ability for his age. He has some definite potential in either direction however.

159

Silveroak, QPac, I assume those stats are their "final" stats when they reach full maturity (ie. without the age penalty)? I'm wondering if maybe we should come up with a standard convention for the young folk. Maybe show their final stats, but next to the "Stats:" line put the stat penalty in parentheses next to it? So for Turtle it would look like:

Stats: (-4 to all)
Int 1 Per 2
Pre 1 Com -2
Str 0 Sta 0
Dex 3 Quick -1

Does that make sense? It's just easier than having to remember what the penalty is for each year when you're looking at character sheets. I'm up for other recommendations. I originally thought just putting the current stats as is would work, but I actually think this is better.

160

Yup stats at start.
I'm trying to figure out how you calculated this and I'm having trouble. How are the seasons split up? And is Donna working on the off seasons so Chloe can train under Donna?

Secondly, 36 experience seems like almost no training was bothered with. Indeed, she could learn more by forgetting the apprenticeship and just trying to learn how to smith on her own. (Also known as practice.)

161

Reviewing my notes it appears I only counted the seasons of actual training (1 per year) and was actually a year short in that- so it should be 45 xp from training, she would also have 2 seasons/yr of exposure while working and 1 season free (the exposure does not need to be in weapon smithing) per the standard apprenticeship in city & guild. The first year she only has one season working as she was recruited in spring rather than winter.

162

Epona's son: revised version:
Mayhew age:5 (in 1442)
Int 0 Per 2
Pre 1 Com 2
Str 0 Sta 0
Dex 0 Quick 0

Virtues:
voice of the sky(minor +1)
Master of air creatures(minor +1)
mild aging(minor +1)

Flaws:
magical fascination(minor -1)
bastard(minor -1)
dependance(minor -1)

Abilities:
Occitan 5
Area lore:Mallorca 2
magic lore 1
Spanish-Aragonese 3
swim 2
carouse 1

163

Silvia was an apprentice to one of the former magi who called Andorra home. Alone in her Pater’s tower when the covenant was attacked in 1229, the 14 year old apprentice feared for her life. When the attacker’s attempted to gain access to the tower, Silvia attempted to spontaneously cast a powerful Rego spell she had no ability to control. When she eventually returned from Twilight, she found that her Gift had been lost and the Rego magic had backfired, binding her forever to the tower, ensuring she could never step foot outside again.

The powerful Rego magic that she attempted to channel seems to have attached itself to her. She seems to weakly nullify magic directly around her, causing such minor inconveniences as magical candles flickering as she walks by. However it’s most devastating effect is that anything requiring very precise magical conditions, such as laboratory work, is completely impossible when she is around. Thus her years of studying Magic Theory seem to be wasted. Alas, the one benefit of this lingering Rego effect is that it seems to also nullify the negative effects of the Gift directed towards her.

When Solomon took over the tower in which Silvia resides, he found a scared, broken little girl. She has since grown into a more confident woman, aiding Solomon as his lab servant (making sure to exit the lab before he begins any activities within it) and in general ensuring the tower is well-kept.

Silvia
Characteristics: Int +2, Per +0, Pre +1, Com +2, Str -1, Sta +1, Dex +0, Qui +0
Size: 0
Age: 23 (as of Winter 1241)
Height: 5’5
Weight: 95#
Decrepitude: 0
Warping Score: 4

Virtues:
Failed Apprentice (minor)
Hermetic Experience (minor) [Grogs, pg 75]
Unaffected by the Gift (minor) [RoP:M, pg 47]

Flaws:
Bound to Solomon’s Tower (minor) [Grogs pg 78]
Lesser Malediction: Lingering Rego effect (minor)
Generous (minor)

Personality Traits:
Generous +3
Forlorn +1
Kind +2

Abilities:
Area Lore: Andorra (legends) 2
Artes Liberales (ritual magic) 3
Awareness (alertness) 2
Charm (first impressions) 3
Code of Hermes (apprentices) 3
Concentration (lab work) 2
Dead Language: Latin (Hermetic usage) 4
Etiquette (nobility) 3
Finesse (rego) 1
Folk Ken (magi) 3
Guile (lying to authority) 2
Intrigue (gossip) 2
Living Language: Occitan (Catalan) 5
Magic Lore (magical traditions) 3
Magic Theory (rego) 3
Order of Hermes Lore (history) 2
Penetration (rego) 1
Philosophiae (ritual magic) 3
Profession: Scribe (copying) 4
Stealth (hide) 1
Teaching (Latin) 2 (21)

164

[size=150]Eva, a disfigured orphan from the streets[/size]

Age: 8
Year: 1239

Int +2
Per +2
Str +1
Sta +1
Pre +1
Com 0
Dex +1
Qui 0

Virtues
Clear Thinker
Improves Characteristics
Strong-Willed

Flaws
Disfigured (port wine stain across her face and neck)
Raised in the Gutter (orphaned and grew up on the streets)
Soft-Hearted (she knows what it is to be looked down upon)

Abilities
Area Lore: Valencia 2 (places to hide) 0 (+15)
Athletics 2 (running) 15
Awareness 2 (alertness) 15
Bargain 1 (food) 5
Brawl 1 (dodge) 5
Charm 2 (first impressions) 15
Concentration 1 (sitting still) 5
Etiquette 1 (townsfolk) 5
Folk Ken 1 (townsfolk) 5
Guile 1 (about her condition) 5
Living Language: Spanish 5 (street slang) 0 (+75)
Legerdemain 1 (palming coins) 5
Profession: Beggar 1 (looking pitiful) 5
Stealth 2 (hiding) 15
Survival 1 (urban) 5

Background
Life was never going to be easy for Eva. She was born with a large port wine birthmark that covered half of her face and neck, which marked her as different, and to some, cursed by God. Her parents were kind, however, and for the first several years of her life things were good. They were not well-off by any stretch of the imagination. But they were never hungry, and that was something. Her father was a laborer in Valencia, and her mother was a seamstress. Unfortunately, in the course of just a few months when she was but six years old, Eva's father died in an accident at work, and her mother died of the flux. Eva was orphaned with no family nearby to care for her. She was sent to a fosterage to be raised by the Church. But the fosterage was a terrible place, and Eva ran away.

Most six year olds in this situation would have died of starvation or the elements. But Eva was clever. She learned that on the street, her birthmark could be an advantage. The worse someone looked, the better the alms they got. And small as she was, there were places she could sleep, and hide, where others couldn't fit. It would be wrong to say that she thrived. But she did survive. Though that can't last forever. As a child, she escapes the notice of most of the people on the street. But she won't remain a child forever. Eventually she'll grow up, and then she'll find that there are few places for her to go, especially with her disfiguring birthmark - that is, if she survives the streets for that long.

165

This is Patxi, one of the children trained as part of the first recruitmrnt, and the one who remained as a teacher in the covenant
As he arrived at age 9 (1236):

attributes:
Int 2 Per 2
Pre 3 Com 1
Str 0 Sta 0
Dex 0 Quick -5

Flaws
poor quickness(minor -1)
poor quickness(minor -1)
lame(minor -1)

Virtues:
good teacher(minor +1)
unaffected by gift(minor +1)
mild aging(minor +1)

Abilities:
Occitain 5 (wit)
area Lore-Arans 2 (smooth paths)
charm 5 (eliciting sympathy)
guile 3 (feigning helpless)
ride 2 (speed)
folk ken 1 (detecting hostility)

and after training in winter 1241 abilities grow to:
Occitain 5 (wit)
area Lore-Arans 2 (smooth paths)
charm 5 (eliciting sympathy)
guile 3 (feigning helplessness)
ride 2 (speed)
folk ken 1 (detecting hostility)
Latin 5 (hermetic usage)
Blood Legacy organization lore 2 (5) (developing traditions)
artes liberales 1 (writing)
magic theory 1 (7) (recognizing hermetic forms)
teaching 7 (14)(teaching gifted students)

during his training he has spent his free time developing the initiatory path he has heard of from rumors which both Fleur and donna attempted to create but lacked the time or presence to move forward with effectively. He began in hopes it might cure his crippled leg, but has since moved to see its true potential and hopes to develop it into a fuller mystery path.

166

Lucia and Epona have been updated. Trying to decide if I should do Guy and Vidal, too, or wait until they make an appearance.

167

Wow! I forgot we had this thread!

168

I've been doing some deep thread-diving, with the mining had and the ropes and the spikes and everything. (Among other things, I wanted to double-check which of Vibria's fingers is smaller than it should be and exactly when that happened.)