This thread will display the house rules and rule interpretation on controversial or misunderstood RAW.
The very first issue. Aegis must penetrate to have an effect.
To be clear:
To block a creature of a certain Might, the Aegis must be able to penetrate that Might, as Wards do. A magus may enter the Aegis, at will, however his Parma and other effects may be knocked down by the penetration of the Aegis.
The effect on limiting magic cast from within or from outside of it is as written, because magic does not exist within the one who works it.
Totals which get divided result in X.5 get rounded to the even number (divisible by two). Others are rounded to the nearest number.
In cases where a magus uses spontaneous magic without fatigue and the unrounded result is less than the level of effect (say 4.6, which rounds to 5 or 9.5 which rounds to 10) then the effect will still go off, but the player must roll and check for a botch result. Botches in these cases will be a bit more serious than normal.
Warping, as normal from Longevity ritual during post gauntlet years, whenever you started down that path. Do not give 2 points/year since gauntlet. (Hate that rule).
Exposure experience for labwork is only allowed once play commences. Creating items before play begins is a good exchange for 10xps/season spent. Sorry Max, I should've caught that earlier.
Color coding text.
Please pick a color for you chracters to speak in, so long as it is readable against the horrid yellowish-beigh background and another character hasn't claimed it alrady, please.
It appears Fiona/Peregrine has picked this color. (#0000BF)
Please avoid the reds, as I'll use those for NPC interactions.
If you happen to be running multiple characters within a thread (grog and magus, use your color for the magus, and an alternative color for your grog (doesn't matter, as long as it is legible). I'll post the claimed colors to future edits on this post.
Thanks!
Wizard's Communion, (WiCo) being a Mercurial construct integrated imperfectly into Hermetic magic, can be used to join Magi together to power a ritual. The duration from the RAW indicates it has a Momentary duration. In oder to take account of the Muto Vim errata, players should substitute Sun duration for the spell. Since Sun duration adds two magnitudes to the spell, it will subtract 10 levels of power from the "level you know" the Wizard's Communion spell at.
Mons Electi has an Aegis text of 35, but 15 levels of that is an increase in magnitude due to the area the Aegis covers. Apollodorus knows an 8th magnitude Aegis, but it only becomes 30 levels of added power to the spell. The players need to provide the remaining 40 for the first casting. If 4 other characters (including the one who knows AoH) assist they need to know WiCo to at least 20th level, each.
If a player botches on their casting of Wizard's Communion, it will not affect the casting of the Aegis (or any ritual). The caster of the ritual may choose not to cast the ritual, and wait for the effects of the botch to be resolved, and to try casting Wizard's Communion again. A botch on Wizard's communion would have only 1 botch die.
Characters may take exposure experience in French until they get to the Ability score of 4. If they take exposure experience in a season for another Art or Ability they may not take the French exposure experience. This exposure experience is different in that it has a source Quality of 4, not 2.
This makes it consistent with the Practice Source Quality for languages when you're immersed in the language. Practice experience is normally 4, but in cases where one is immersed in a language it becomes 8. A similar doubling of exposure seems warranted.
Following only applies to grogs and companions. They can get 30+ XP per year for 10 XP per season for three seasons[1]. Anything over 30 xp is based on whether or not the character is involved in adventures. In the case of convelescence, XP should be spent on non strenuous abilities, given that the character is in play, and at a covenant, it is possible for characters to pick up academic abilities during convelescence, if someone is able to teach them.
This does not apply to specialists or anyone who isn't fully statted out. Specialists will advance much more slowly, based on a formula to be explained below.
[1] This mimics the wealthy virtue, and since the covenant is wealthy this makes some sense.
Arcane Connections may be fixed in 1 week, rather 1 season as the MRB indicates, they still cost 1 pawn of vim vis. For connections lasting hours, the process must be initiated quickly and the pawn of vim vis spent. The rest of the week is spent attuning the connection, for lack of a better word, if the time spent doesn't happen for some reason, the AC is lost, as well as the vis.
That being the case, don't go crazy with 'em. If done during a season of labwork, they count as a distraction, and penalties to labwork may apply. It may be possible to fix one during a Princeps season, but to do so, you'll have to work in the lab and not be interrupted, requiring you to negotiate with the vice princeps.
Techniques associated with a form will have a tendency to vary along that form. If a technique is not associated with a form, it will taste as descrobed below.
Cr: fresh fruit at its most ripe.
In: It has no taste, but makes one thirsty (as in thrist for knowledge)
Mu: Can taste like anything, needs repeated tries to differentiate, as it will always taste different. However, it will never taste like your favorite or least favorite foods. Two magi testing at the same time who have differing results can be assured that it is Muto, unless it is Im or Me.
Pe: rotten foods
Re: dried foods
An: tastes like meat (cooked)
Aq: doesn't taste, or tastes like water, the mouth becomes wetter.
Au: the mouth dries out, but has no taste otherwise
Co: tastes like blood, slightly mettalic and salty
He: tastes like grass or leaves
Ig: Ashes
Im: The best thing you've ever eaten, if it happens to be the same as the mentem, this version tastes better than you can imagine.
Me: Favorite food from childhood, exactly as remembered.
Te: dirt
Vi: salt
Help in the Lab
All magi can benefit from help in the Lab, the RAW indicates that a leadership score can increase the number of people one can have as lab helpers. In the interests of establishing some clarity, and avoiding a Leadership (lab) specialty, all magi other than Bonisagus can use Leadership+1 to determine the number of lab helpers, and the familiar is always available, despite the leadership score or number of helpers. Bonisagus, reflecting HoH:True Lineages may have Leadership +2.
Mercurian Magic is a Major Hermetic Virtue which includes a substantial mechanical flaw penalizing a lot of game play possibilities. Because I believe in a carrot rather that stick approach and the flaw is to mechanics, and not a Story flaw, in the nature of Diedne magic, I am adjusting the last flaw as follows:
Mercurian Magic
(changing the last paragraph)
Your concentration in ritual magic has other benefits. If you cast spells ceremonially, whether because you have a formulaic spell with ceremonial mastery or it is a spontaneous ceremonial casting you may add a bonus of 5 to the roll. Ritual spells which you know can be cast as if you have the stalwart mastery, but this does not add to a mastery score. Now, there are no negatives and there are a few more tangential positives relating to a focus on ritual magic.
You must have a lab total > lab text to be able to make use of it. Else, you just can't understand it.
- If you do the same enchantment (as per the RAW), it adds the level to your lab total
- If you do the same general type of enchantment (Talisman => Talisman, Lesser Item => Lesser Item), while not following the RAW, it adds Level/2 to your lab total, which is still a pretty sweet bonus.
- If you change the type, it adds level/5, as the insight granted is still useful, but a lot less.
In general, if you think an action can reasonably be required to have a die roll, make the roll, instead of asking me if one is necessary. More than likely, I'm going to favor the good rolls over the bad rolls, if the need for a die roll is questionable.
Knowledge rolls, unless in a library containing the answer, are always stress rolls. Some rolls might be unnecessary, such as being told something in character. It helps if you can refer me to that instance, in the event that I have forgotten. Or, I might ask for that reference while trying to locate it myself.
Die rolls for social interaction between the player characters are suggestions and not strictly enforced. Not going to get into situations where a PC A is seduced by another PC B and the player of PC A doesn't want their character to be seduced. A good roll might cause PC A to be tempted at best, but then some last minute change of heart occurs...or something.
If a spell can be cast and doesn't need a die roll, please include your CS. If you think you might need penetration, make the roll so I can get the full calculation.