So,
How many pawns of vis per year does a PC magus get in your saga?
Exclude vis gained from lab work and from real adventures. Exclude vis gained from virtues like Personal Vis Source.
Include vis gained from vis sources that are only nominally contested.
Just curious.
Anyway,
Ken
My first campaign was a scattershot attempt at figuring things out. My current campaign in Thebes started with 7 pawns of vis per year, and expanded to 10. It felt a bit low, but the Flambeaux was intending to go vis-hunting often, and our eldest magus can extract 5 pawns of vis a season to make up any lack for Aegis or longevity rituals.
In my saga the alliance gets 36 per year (they are 4 magi). We are playing with the Rhine Gorge setting from Guardians of the Forest and they have claimed all vis sources in the book (even some not fully detailed).
I expect they will be Vis rich in some years (they already have more than 100 pawns stored). They have had to create the covenant from scratch, so they are laking in other areas.
I've played with as much as 20+ yearly pawns of vis/magus, and as little as -4 (meaning: every magus had to obtain 1 pawn/season and "pay it" to an external entity, or face dire consequences). Currently, the magi in my saga are mature and fairly powerful, and they net about a dozen pawns each, perhaps a little more, with ample stocks. I am not counting vis earmarked for covenant's use" (e.g. casting the Aegis).
From my experience, there are roughly 4 levels of yearly vis income, in terms of the reactions they elicit in our PCs.
Starving: 3 pawns/magus or less. At this level, getting more vis is a high priority for most covenants. Our magi still won't spend seasons to acquire it (they are almost invariably jealous of their time). But they will be willing to spend a few days every season to chase it, will constantly be pushing their mundane servants to look for it, and will often sacrifice lesser goals/advantages for it (e.g. they will be willing to antagonize other covenants/supernatural creatures over it). Vis is virtually never spent in certamen, to boost spellcasting, or to heal a grog, and is certainly never given away; it's valued more than confidence.
Hungry: 4-7 pawns/magus. At this level, getting more vis is important, and the magi will still be proactively looking for it (and pushing their servants to do the same), but it's not their top priority, and they will rarely sacrifice magical/political resources for anything other than vast quantities of it. They will occasionally spend it in certamen and the like if the stakes are high enough. 1-3 pawns of vis are "valued" about as much as point of confidence. I think this is the sweet spot for sagas involving young magi.
Sated: 8-15 pawns/magus. At this level, magi don't casually throw away vis, and welcome it when they obtain it. But they won't be proactive about obtaining more (unless the stocks are really really low), nor will they sacrifice magical or political resources for it (even vast quantities of it). They will often spend it to boost certamen, and spellcasting, if somewhat conservatively. They will occasionally spend it to help valued grogs, or give it as a gift to a favoured redcap. It's definitely worth much less than confidence. This is the spot where our magi tend to end up when they "grow up".
Bloated: 16+ pawns/magus. At this level or higher, magi tend to be very casual with vis: they refrain from spending it more to avoid botches than anything else, but they will not hesitate to burn a rook for what is mostly show. It's almost impossible for vis not to accumulate in vast quantities over relatively little time. Paradoxically, I've found that vis shortages are more common at this level than at the previous one, because magi tend to lose track of how much they have!
About 4 pawns/year. CJ makes "low vis" as per the core rules look moderately generous.
I just realized mine is pretty low, actually... considering it's set in the Black Forest.
It's 4-5 per year from covenant vis sources.
One house rule I have for my sagas is that I disallow 'Personal Vis Source' as a virtue, but I give every magus 1 free Form vis a year of their specialty (free virtue). So my ice magus has 1 pawn/year of Aquam, Danielle's bonisagus has 1/year mentem, Allison's Bjornaear has 1/year Herbam. I didn't want to try to estimate what the 'typical' income is for purposes of calculating the virtue since I worried it would be either under- or over-powered, so I just give 1 pawn/year for free.
My go to is 1-2 per magi plus enough to cast the aegis. But I'm pretty generous with adventure derived vis.
Praesidium aurae averages 3.8 vis/year per magus. The covenant, however, is stockpiling quite a bit and releases a lot for authorized projects.
I would argue Praesidium Orae averages takes in over a hundred, which is over 13 per magus; most is stockpiled, and they hand out smaller numbers per year.
I was only counting what they hand out.
Which is interesting that it falls in so well with standard guidelines for vis distribution giving the amount of build points, work, and adventures that have gone into growing the base supply.
Of course they are also vilified throughout the tribunal for hording said resources when so many other covenants have to sell their works outside the tribunal to have the vis they require...