This thread will display the house rules and rule interpretation on controversial or misunderstood RAW.
DON'T BE A MUNCHKIN!!!
The system is easily abused, so don't abuse it. Be sane, be reasonable, stick with a concept, and focus on story and character.
And, if you have a good character concept that requires some bending of these or other rules, talk to the troupe as a whole and perhaps we can flex things a bit.
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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.
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Vis salary during character creation:
First 10 years past gauntlet 3p per season. second 10 years will be 5p per season and the 3rd 10 years will be 7p per season. This is the salary gained by the character from lab work for another.
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.
Creating items before play begins is a good exchange for 10xps/season spent.
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.
Mastered spells that are based on the mastery level ( Multiple casting, Penetration) are based on the number of times that those masteries are taken. Not the mastery total for the spell. For example, to be able to multiple cast 3 spells you need to take 2 levels of Multiple Casting.
Mysteries
A Cult Score of 1 is required for your first Initiation, a score of 3 for your second, and an additional point for each Initiation thereafter. The required XP cost is reduced by 5x your score in that Cult Lore, as mentioned above.
Initiation Scripts in printed cannon may supersede the limits and guidelines given here. Just follow what they say.
Cabal Legacy allows you to start with one Initiation for free (as part of your initial Virtue & Flaw balance). In addition, you qualify for an Initiation with each point of your score in that Cult Lore.
Tremere Certamen Focus
The certamen abilities of House Tremere are unquestionably good. However, it fails as a minor magical focus as it cannot be used for any lab activity and only exists to improve House Tremere’s capability with certamen. It has been suggested on the Atlas-Forums that this makes the Tremere weak, but my experience is that it really doesn’t make them weaker, since not everyone has a focus. As a result Tremere may take an actual Minor Magical Focus and the house Virtue is now called Tremere Certamen Focus.
Multiple casting
Multiple casting is a really useful spell mastery ability, but by RAW it is too powerful, especially when compared to Precise casting and Quick casting which must be taken multiple times and add bonuses of the number of times taken. Being able to fling 6 Pila of Fire with one spell casting and only a score of 5 in the mastery ability with a number of other mastery abilities chosen seems overpowered. You must now take multiple casting multiple times, and the number of times taken indicates the number of copies.
Buying a LR. (Normal vis cost you would pay) + (1 per mag up to 10) + 2 per mag from 11 to 15) +(3 per mag from 16-20) + 1 season
Example 35 year old Magus gets a 15th mag LR would be 7 + 10 + 10 or 27 pawns of vis + 1 season
A Magus with Waster of Vis would only add to the normal cost, not to the cost for the magnitudes of the ritual.
Magus with difficult LR pays the same for 1/2 the magnitude of effect.