to simplify we will remove the enriched items and special vis as starting options. It does not seem to get a lot of traction in the troupe, and less rules is better.
That's a house rule I have been using for a while. I wonder how many of us came up with it independently.
What are we using as the definitive source for who speaks what languages where? The 5th ed. tribunal books seem like good resources, but your discussion above makes it seem they may not agree or be the best?
Since we're getting deep into historical accuracy I want to be correct with my character's origins/language.
According to the Triamore book and GotF
French (waloon) is the one of this area, about 50 miles in every direction from Triamore. Then we have Flemish to the west and Low German to the north and east. Correct?
French (Waloon) for Lower Lorraine both east and west
French (Lorraine) for Upper Lorraine
Low German (Flemish) to the north and northwest of Lower Lorraine
Further west of Upper and Lower Lorraine is High German
While my history isn't so great. I thought my geography was better. Isn't it mostly French further west of Upper and Lower Lorraine? Isn't High German mostly roughly southeast of the Lorraines? And it's Frisian (I think placed in Low German in ArM5.) spoken north of Lower Lorraine?
Okay, this is the more detailed language distribution in relation to Lower Lorraine - Triamore. I hope this would be enough.
| Low German (Flemish) | Low German (Friesian) | Low German (Saxony) |
| French (Picard) | French (Waloon) | High German (Franconian) |
| French (Champenois) | French (Lorrain) | High German (Swabian) |
1 Like
With French and low German most characters should be good then.
I ednited the rules as follows:
- Put the ruling that you cannot be poor or wealthy of the covenant will support you. Well, you can be Wealthy, but will lose the use of the ability once the covenant starts supporting you without further benefit. Up to you
- Added the 5/5 V&F companions, with 6/6 being possible with troupe approval.
- removed the options for vis and enriched items since they did not interest you and they were not playtested.
- Sympathetic Magic: if you do not have a Magical tradition, you can use S&M items equal to your Lengend Lore -2.
the rest remains as it was for now. I am sure we will change some other stuff in the future as we encounter things that do not look good
Yeah, right. Copying the table from your post duirectly to the Abilities section. thanks for the remainder
Hmm... In your mention of social Abilities, you didn't include Leadership explicitly, and it makes the total greater than 6. Does it still exist on its own, making 4 existing ones, or does it fit within one of those listed above? Thanks.
Oh that's a good question. Alexandre will need Leadership to lead a group of craftsmen.
True. Leadership would be his own ability I guess. We never discussed it as a social ability in my live troupe and afaik we just kept using it regularly. It does not seem to fit "charm" very much here, since it also has a component of forcing your will on others even if they want you to do it... So we are keeping Leadership as is with tactical knowledge dumped into it.
1 Like
Regarding the AEGIS of the Hearth, it is not exactly what the hermetic Aegis looked like, but it works. There are casting tablets that describe exactlyu what you need to do to cast it. If you deviate from the exact formula (that includes stuff like raising your arms at concrete moments, rolling on the floor and licking key boundarty features) it does not work. But if you do as written and you have thr Gift, it works. Some theoreticians are trying to work on why this is the case, but advances have been scarce.
There are descriptions of the ritual for different levels of Aegis. Triamore has 3 copies in its library, one of level 10, one of level 25 and one of level 40. The last one has never been cast.
Casting total for the Aegis is Communication + Highest Supernatural ability + Lowest supernatural ability of your tradition + S&M bonuses +D10. Extra Supernatural participants add Comunication + their lowest supernatural ability to the roll. it is a Ritual, so if your tradiiton admits other bonuses ot rituals they also count here. As usual, it requires 1 pawn of vis per magnitude.
This smells to me too strongly like a common Magic Theory of all and sundry hedge traditions.
I'd rather tie in the substitute Aegis with
(1) the initiations into the Restored Order of Hermes,
(2) perhaps the Parma Magica Arcane Ability of the participants,
(3) and a further Aegis Arcane Ability of the ritual leader, which also requires the Gift.
You have already several initiations, enabling several levels of Parma. The first initiation could also enable supporting the Aegis ritual, and another - likely the second (for Parma Magica 4 to 6) - enable leading it and provide the new Arcane Ability Aegis to do so.
So maybe:
Casting total for the Aegis from a text is Communication + Parma Magica Ability + Aegis Ability + Shape&Material bonuses + stress die. Extra Supernatural participants - their number perhaps somehow limited by the leader's Aegis Ability - add Communication + their Parma Magica Ability.
How's that? Turn the stress die into a simple one under specific conditions to casting and leader?
1 Like
That sounds good! Parma and Aegis being interlinked is a great idea.
Level of Aegis can be like that of Parma: Parma of the leader x5. So it will be level 20-45.
1 Like
This allows streamlining and doing without the Aegis Ability! We can do without the text as well!
Furthermore we have a motivation for the Restored Order of Hermes to initiate trusted members to the 2nd level of Aegis leader.
1 Like
That streamlining sounds good.