I´m playing with the idea of a verditius magus of the rhine tribunal as a nonplayer-character. He should be one of the peregrinatores (wanderers, without a fixed covenant) of the rhine tribunal.
The peregrinatores of the rhine tribunal are roaming the countryside, but for bigger projects or longer phases of study, they settle temporarely as guests of different covenants in the tribunal. This verditius magus mustn´t bother with this, because he has some artifacts, that allow him to create a simple but functional sanctum (bedroom + laboratory) in an instant. Maybe they create a hut or something like that with suitable content. The Verditius lives and works a season in the hut, then cancels his magical home and is on the road again.
Do you think something like this is possible? And if you think it´s possible: Do you have tipps for me about the artefacts, the Verditius should possess? The magus can be an older, experienced man (but he shouldn´t be an archmage).
Creating a temporary house/lab is certainly possible. In wood or stone, size requisite, ritual and that's it. Or you try the temporary duration of moon... hoping no mundane will catch it when it will in the end disappear and you will have to recreate it. Another idea, for a verditius would be to have an item creating the house on concentration and maintened until the day he doesn't need it anymore, then stopping the concentration maintened by the item, until next time he wants to use it.
The tools will need either to be included in the first spell (raising the level and requisite, maybe even changing the base guideline used); if not created, flaws like "missing tools" may be adequate for the lab.
The ingredient will be harder since this is gold, diamond or other precious gemstones, plants, liquids... which are yet harder to create in one spell. If you do not create those, flaws like "missing ingredient : form X" should be appropriate.
With some little items such as "auto-reparating tool" (see MoH for ideas), you would not need a lot of coins , reducing the upkeep below 0 would be a good idea for such a magus.
(Another idea is to create a temporary hut to live in, but to have a mental construct laboratory. Harder to create, less easily modified and refined, and according to your saga, may not allow to enchant items or bind familiars or other material tasks, but only spell invention. Similar difficulties to extract vis.)
Eventually, a magus needs some books to study from , and if he can't have them with him, a perfect memory (see HoHTL in Mercere section) to study from his memory only could be a good thing too.
IIRC, don't wanderers have the right to benefit and use from (and covenants of the Rhine the obligation to lend) a laboratory for the duration of the stay?
What does "ritual" mean in this case? Does the magus have to spend vis every time he uses his create-sanctum-artifact? I´d like to avoid this.
O.K., but is the Magus able to work and study in the lab, if he has to be concentrated just to sustain it?
Now for the tools and ingredients: It would be good, if the laboratory could be used as a standard laboratory. This means you need all the usual tools (mainly metal and glass, I think > terram) and ingredients. Because you have special ingredients for every technique and form (well, maybe only for every form, I´m not sure), you´d need an all-embracing set of requisites. That would mean, you´d have to be a very adept generalist to install such an effect in an artifact. Is that true?
Maybe there is another option: He could split the spelleffects for the ingredients in single form-spells. That would mean, that he´d need only moderate technique and form levels, but he´d need to install many effects in the artifact. Perhaps I should mention, that the magus is initiated in the Inner Mystery of House Verditius "item attunement". I´m not very familiar with this mystery, yet, but it seems to me, that it could be helpful.
Yes, that´s true. If this is really necessary, it´s no problem for the magus, to settle as a guest in a rhine tribunal covenant. But he has to pay for this stay and I want to minimize the necessity for this. He should be a loner, emerging only rarely from the forests of germany. Perhaps he carries some important summae with him, arts he will learn mainly through vis, etc.
Setting up a laboratory properly is something that takes two seasons of work. This partially is because it needs to be aligned with celestial constellations, etc. So I wouldn't allow setting up a lab in an instant, especially considering mobile labs aren't possible by RAW.
A big problem is finding an aura to set up the lab in - which might be used to link your Verditius into stories.
Otherwise, have him use Rego Craft Magic (Covenant p.49) to set up the building without need for vis, and then move his lab equipment in with Rego as well (Covenants p.122 The Ambulatory Laboratory). The Verditius' Finesse better be verrry good (in the 10s) to pull this off repeatedly and without losing parts.
I think covenants gives an item for mental labs and says that "material activites" may not be permitted since you are all doing in your head.
If you goes for a "real hut/house" with creo instantaneous ritual, yes. That's why I put just after the "moon duration" version. Harder and less discreete (building disappear every 28 days and need to be redone... if you are labworking, troubles!)
Items may maintain the concentration of "concentration duration" effects. That's a +5 level adjustement. The item maintains the concentration indefinitely unless the magus "takes the concentration on him" and the item does no more maintain the concentration. The magus then can stop concentration or change direction (but in your case, that's not appropriate).
Yes, and it would also mean you would have a base 25 since it's the higher base of Creo Terram among all (natural) creations you can do in Creo magic and that you need in the lab. Forms requisite would be free or not, depending on SG. Some SG would say that (An,Aq,He,Ig) requisite may each need +1 for additional effect. I think not but ysmv.
Works too. But if you need the ingredients for at least more than a month you're back in the "moon duration is bad for ongoing labwork which take 1 season" and back into the "i need a momentary creo ritual" (lot of vis required).
Last solution: an item to produce ingredient... but some SGs might say that ingredients become part of your labwork and if the ingredient is eventually dispelled when the magical item lose concentration (because the magus change of convenant), the magical item he has done in lab with those "magical" ingredients are lost as well.
Yep that would work. Be careful that books are big at the time if my ASG said right to me and transporting a pair of them might already require a cart! A bag with effects of "shrinking what is put inside" might be useful to carry such books... but be aware of warping for the ongoing effect if it happens your magus let his books too long inside the effect. Warping magical arts summae may give you headheaches!
Mobile lab. A large wagon or a flying ship with a lab inside. Cramped, but doable.
Mental lab. Ther eis a virtue in the mysteries (I think) that allows you to have a lab in your mind. It does not work for creating items, but it can beuseful to research spells and the like. Now, if you invest an additional virtue I would allow you to export items from the head of the magus to the exterior in a suitable medium (ear wax? Icky but doable)
Insta-lab. An item that sets up a virtual lab. Kind of an holographic lab set up with everything you need. -1 to lab totals due to the lack of solidity, but you can work on it. It would keep stuff on the vitual tables using unseen porter-like effects and the like. Ypou need to bring the components with you though, so he is likely to have a large cart with materials none the less.
REAL insta lab. Requires vis, though
REAL temporary insta lab. Item maintains concentration, room effect, touch range. Same as option 4, but the item maintains concentration. It is like the level 3 insta lab, but the materials are solid. You still need to bring the components yourself, so the cart will still be part of hios necessary stuff. I think this a really feasible one
Portable regio. A regio access in something he carries with him. The lab does not move, but he can access it from wherever he is.
Reduced lab. A spell to take a lab on a wooden circular floor (or even a whole hut with the lab inside) and reduce it to be a pace across. Lots of requisites to reduce all materials and features in it (Te, He, Aq, An, at least). Item maintains concentration. Reduce weight as well!! Then he puts it in a cart and moves it to a new location. ONce he arrives, he cancels the efect and tadda! Insta-sanctum.
Never noticed those - mea culpa. But actually the "Mobile" virtue is weird, because I'm pretty certain it somewhere stated that labs couldn't be mobile due tu astrological correspondences. I'm certain I read it somewhere, because I wouldn't have thought so myself otherwise - I also remember it being in particular reference to labs on ships. Can't remember where though.
Mysteries only has Dream magic, which explicitely forbis laboratory work in dreams, and the Art of Memory which is only for storage not working environment. I found the "Mental Construct" virtue ExarKun mentioned though: Covenants, p.120.
If the magus has Magical Memory or uses the Art of Memory, I'd definitely allow developing the lab texts for enchanted devices even if you don't end up with a physical item afterwards.
some of your proposals are good, but I´d prefer to avoid some trouble, they result in: I´d like the Verditius to be the lonely wanderer... if it is possible, let´s avoid the wagon / flying ship et. al. The mental lab is fine, but he is a verditius and wants to create artifacts, of course. Materials are o.k., but I´m not sure, what kind of encumbrance does it mean, if you´re taking your whole lab equipment with you... I´d better avoid it. Vis is fine, but I don´t like the idea, that he needs vis, just for building up a temporary lab. As Verditius he needs a plenty of vis anyway.
Two ideas of you I think are promising: The first is the temporary lab, that has only the duration "month". What is the downside, if you have to use the artifact two times more during a season, you are working on a lab project? Maybe the disadvantage is acceptable (I don´t know where to search for the possible consequences of such a case).
The second is this one:
Yes, it´s something I thought about already, but didn´t dare to ask. A portable regio access..., that could be working. Is this a Rego Corpus spell (transport the target instantly to a place to which you have an Arcane Connection, Base 35) with Vim requisit (for the change of realms)? Is there some material in this issue in some of the sourcebooks?
If the Verdi is making an item for an insta-lab I point towards rego vim and sustaining spells. It would probably be a quite high level, but if you can get someone to do if for you, it lets you have all the other enchantments in the item only have momentary duration. Plus you can probably claim a big bonus to lab work since magic only decays if you want it too.
You do not need any special source book quotes for that. Whether an Arcane Connection into a regio level allows you to teleport into it with standard The Leap of Homecoming (ArM5 p.135) depends on that specific regio level.
If your Verditius inherited a regio level with an Hermetic lab in it, into which he can teleport, and always carries an Arcane Connection to that regio level around, that is all he needs. He would keep regio and lab a secret, and you can build stories around that mysterious lab, or around some invasion from higher regio level or even The Magic Realm.
I have to smile, because my idea shrinked more and more until there is no more than a simple spell. But it´s o.k., the most important thing is the effective operation of the character. So, I think I´ll take the "Leap of homecoming"-option. Just tell me one thing:
What does that mean? I didn´t find an explanation in the RAW.
There just is no general, hard and fast rule whether somebody can or cannot ReCo-teleport with an Arcane Connection into a regio level. Read it up on ArM5 p.189f. So, if you - the SG - wish, your Verditius knows a regio level he can teleport into from everywhere with an Arcane Connection.
I don't really know what more to explain here. It looks like you need to help me to find your problem.
Exactly that was it, what I wanted to know. I´ve read the passage and I see a possible antagonism between the options for entering a regio (RAW, p. 189-190 - teleport spells are not mentioned. Does this mean they are not appropriate?) and the ReCo guidelines (RAW, p. 134 - regio boundaries are not mentioned. Does that mean they can be ignored when casting Rego Corpus spells?).
For the same reason I thought about adding a vim requisit (allowing the teleport into a magic aura) and wanted to know, if there are some hints in a sourcebook.
For now, in my eyes the character is at least possible.
No need for a spell. Just have him transport a door to the regio. Say a rope inscribed with runes that he tries between two trees and a portal to the regio appears. Or a piece of chalk that he uses to draw a circle on a wall with certain symbols, and you get a door there. Make the rope the only known entry to the regio, but not the only real entry there for added fun. he controls one of the entries only but might find surprises stepping in from time to time.
I still like the idea of the small house transported in a cart that he makes larger, but the regio is more convenient, yes.
