I will take Affinity with Imaginem, and a Minor Magical Focus in Artistry, so my contribution will be Mentem and Imaginem in the Arts department, then change my character slightly, so she is actually an artist in several media, was thinking Music when it comes to the non permanent arts, and stained windows/sculpture when it comes to permanent ones. I was also thinking about creating beautiful gardens, but maybe that is too much into Herbam territory, although that could be a secondary focus.
Question to clarify the Monte Carlo aspect of mastery - I read that rule as the saga seeking to discourage using non-stress rolls where a exploding result is needed for the desired success. Essentially to avoid gaming the mechanics.
What about using a spell repeatedly where each casting is a legitimate use? e.g. the same combat spell 4 rounds in a row, each a legit roll which is not seeking an exploder for success? Like casting Crystal Dart at different targets.
I have no intention of enforcing that during combat. The purpose of repeated casting of the same spell in combat isn't to achieve an outlier result, just to kill the thing dead ASAP.
Jonathan.Link regarding initiating new virtues/mysteries, I think during development I would like to either a) bargain with the followers of Pendule in house Merinita to learn Glamour/Spell Timing or b) create "my own" mystery in order to initiate these. Which one are you more up for?
Bargaining with the Followers of Pendule will cost two three seasons of development. Then initiating each virtue will cost a season of development. You can minimize the initial cost of development time to two seasons by initiating Faerie magic, first. One for befriending and one for initiating Faerie Magic.
I would, however, suggest that your character is still in development and just being a Merinita might be more appropriate if you have an interest in these virtues. It's much cleaner and matches an aesthetic I have of keeping mysteries and secrets that canonically belong to other Houses within their House.
On page 102 in Societates it says: "..., and other lineages dedicated to his magic still exist in other Houses..." His magic being Pendule's Glamour etc.
I hope this can give leeway to Jerbitons, at least a few have this mystery and I can gain it from them
You also kind of chopped off a pretty important bit of the sentence. The entire sentence reads as follows.
And the preceding paragraph has the following bit...
It seems, then, that I need to modify my original ruling on this matter, as it seems clear that Faerie Magic is a necessary virtue to possess to initiate any of the Illusion Mysteries. You must be adopted into House Merinita, at least informally by being taught Faerie Magic to initiate any of the Illusion mysteries. The line about other lineages in other Houses suggests different magic altogether, when combined with the facts that he took 4 different magi, 2 from House Merinita, and only those learned or able to learn his illusion Mysteries.
That being said, you can attempt to self-initiate, but that pushes the Ease Factor to 30 to initiate a virtue you do not have AND you have to experiment to invent a script, since you don't have it. Given your character's presence and the lack of a mystery cult lore, you need to generate a Script bonus of 28. That's kind of painful...
It seems, then, that I need to modify my original ruling on this matter, as it seems clear that Faerie Magic is a necessary virtue to possess to initiate any of the Illusion Mysteries. You must be adopted into House Merinita, at least informally by being taught Faerie Magic to initiate any of the Illusion mysteries. The line about other lineages in other Houses suggests different magic altogether, when combined with the facts that he took 4 different magi, 2 from House Merinita, and only those learned or able to learn his illusion Mysteries.
That being said, you can attempt to self-initiate, but that pushes the Ease Factor to 30 to initiate a virtue you do not have AND you have to experiment to invent a script, since you don't have it. Given your character's presence and the lack of a mystery cult lore, you need to generate a Script bonus of 28. That's kind of painful...[/quote
For a Tremere, this is really difficult, because you can't take an apprentice into Transylvania, nor can you send an apprentice there. With very few exceptions, magi aren't allowed into Transylvania, even expatriated Tremere. Of course, this is more grist for the story mill. Potential apprentices should be sent to Transylvania instead of being taken personally by expatriated Tremere.
To make things simple for advancement, I want to keep teachers and assistants for mustering out.
As far as refining a lab, let's leave that to the apprentice.
Assume no help in training your apprentice, they get 1 season per year of teaching and you get a lab assistant for the other three seasons. During the seasons they are assisting they get exposure xp. They will eventually be worth it, but the first 5 years makes it challenging. I know it is possible to fully flesh out an apprentice, I'm just not convinced it's worth it, because it slows down overall development. During this phase we are primarily interested in the assistance in the lab, which you need intelligence and magic theory. Teach magic theory early teach Arts, the compulsory abilities for being a Magus in the insert in the core rule book and the final three seasons should be devoted to teaching spells.
I am going to go with the story of the Secretary of Contingencies would have a plan to scatter some magi away from Europe so that the House/Order survive. As part of the plan they will give each of the magi chosen an apprentice ( and other material) and then send them out. Playing up the Tremere paranoia/pragmatism. My magus will not be fleeing blindly but be part of a plan.
Of course this gets to be the same as the person hiding in their bomb shelter and not coming out and not really knowing if it is safe.
Scatter magi away, yes. All apprentices should be sent to Transylvania, though. It's been communicated that it's vital to House operations, but it isn't part of any formal doctrine, that you must do so. So, again, if you want an apprentice, as a Tremere, it's going against the wishes of the House. When the House finds out, there will be consequences.
