JeanMichelle's character discussion

Problem with just sending statues si that you wouldn't as much share of vis rewards (the statues would be like grogs), the flexibility from spont or ritual spells or intelligence. Magic resistance would keep you from seeing certain targets if you are trying to see through the statue's eyes.

If opponent is hermetic magus, then you are looking at scrying characters running statues by remote.

On the other hand, I could easily see you make large statue with seat inside and you suddenly having a magical Mech. Ars Gundam.

second attempt:

Plinius ex Mercere, at gauntlet
A magus who will be an invaluable creator of longevity rituals for all of us. He has useful knowledge on creatures of the Magic realm. I've hesitated about his fighting style for a long time, and then it hit me that creo corpus literally means „Create corpse“. So this character creates corpses to do the dirty work for him (or at least to step between him and harm)...

1 inventive genius
2 cyclic magic bonus fall, winter
3 MT+2
4 puis creo (Mercere bonus)
5 aff creo
6 skilled (foster) parens
7 focus (aging)
8 inoffensive to magical beings
9 Puissant Magic Lore
10 Puissant Parma
11 cautious with finesse

Int 3 Per 0
Com 1 Pre 1
Str -1 Sta 1
Dex -1 Quk 0

1 optimistic minor (pers)
2-4 Major Driven (classify the denizens of the magic realm) (pers)
5 mentor (story)
6-8 deficient perdo
9 Harmless Magic (HoH:MC 87)
10 Unimaginative learner

Abilities before apprenticeship:
Gaelic Scots (storytelling) 5
Area Lore Loch Leglean (legends) 2
Survival (Loch Leglean) 2
Swimming (currents) 1
Awareness (alertness) 1
Athletics (walking) 1

Hunt (tracking) 1
Leadership (wild areas) 1
Stealth (standing still) 1
Etiquette (first contact) 2

abilities apprenticeship110xp
30 MT (Creo) 3
50 Latin (hermetic) 4
05 AL (astronomy) 1
05 PM (mentem) 1

05 oohl (Loch Leglean) 1
05 coh (familiars) 1
05 Fairie Lore (Loch Leglean Fairies) 1
05 Magic Lore ( Loch Leglean) 1 +2
05 Finesse (corpus) 1
05 penetration (corpus) 1

Arts (190xp)
190xp
80xp Cr 15+3
110xp Re, Co 10

Spells at gauntlet (150 lvls):
healing spell CrCo 25 (wounds recovery bonus)

Create up to 10 corpses CrCo40
(Base 5, +2 sun, +3 sight, +2 group)

Animate Corpse (ReCo35)
(Base 10, +2 day, +3 Sight)

Leap of homecoming ReCo35

Gather the essence of the beast ReVi15

Next 10 years preview: spells, lab items, parma, Magic lore, concentration, Latin, familiar?, Talisman?, arts – ignem and vim, intellego, imagonem

Note: This character could create and control hundreds of corpses - I'm not sure if I want to go there...

double post removed (the forum has been hard on me lately, not diplaying my posts, refusing me to take part in polls, and now this)
Thanks for telling me Fixer

:laughing: ,talk about a focused character! :smiley:
You know you have double posted?

Awesome :open_mouth:

Deficient Perdo with Harmless magic with no perdo spells and casting total of 1/4 or 1/20 for most forms and 2 or 1/2 for PeCo strikes me as wrong.

Sort of the concept of a flaw that isn't a flaw shouldn't be worth many points ((I once brought this up someone that took mute, Im specialty, Deft form and then a CrIm spell for two senses sight and sound to give image of lips moving as voice came out).

The harmless magic is the one that seems the flaw that isn't a flaw.

I didn't catch what you were trying to say with the numbers.

The character doesn't have Perdo spells because he is so lousy at them! Not only is it hard for him to learn stuff like invisibility (or fight well in a certamen because of deficient Pe), but, on top of that, he cannot PeVi anybody ever (the three most important spells in this are barred to him so, because of harmless magic, it's not only hard but impossible for him to DEO/FEO/MEO incorporeal beings).

But I agree that this could be seen as double. Harmless magic is a minor flaw that is easily replaced by another minor flaw (frail constitution, or ability block martial, or weak characteristics - lowering strength to -3 and increasing other characteristics - actually makes the character stronger). I will remove harmless magic if the storyguide asks me to, of course, but using a different minor flaw doesn't really matter.

I'm having trouble following this, too. Why does someone have to take spells that they cannot cast to make it a flaw? Deficient Perdo pretty much takes Perdo off the table, Harmless Magic on top of that just takes the useful Perdo spells off the table, too.

Trying to imagine the situation where a CrIm spell used as you indicated is a problem. If anything, he's taken virtues to offset flaws and it ends up being a net loss at worst, or no gain at best.

With the kind of spells you're posting in the Magus Lab you might consider making a Verditius and have him be the filius of the Verditius Necromancer at Voluntas in the Stonehenge Tribunal. My players loved/hated that NPC. I made him look like the master vampire in the original Salem's Lot movie, and he just loved to creep people out. His masterpiece was an enchanted Hand of Glory.

I actually don't have a problem with Deficient Perdo and Harmless Magic. Not only does he suffer a penalty when he tries to cast (or spont) a Perdo spell, it doesn't really work. The two combine to make a pretty hefty handicap.

That's a problem I have as well. The only virtue that isn't terribly important for the concept is Life boost (nice to have for a creo magus, but well). Mercere and Bonisagus have the right house virtues, but they don't feel like Necromancers. Verditius might be an idea, or Tremere (but that collides because of their stupid certamen focus), or ex Misc, or flambeau (sebastian), or Tytalus. Well, I can change that later.
I could also reshuffle the Magic Lore experience + virtue and make him Jerbiton.

I'll keep that charactewr, but I still have to fine-tune him.

Okay and now my 10 years pg (I may still shuffle a few things around)

year 1-3: raise parma and magic lore 3x30xp = 2x45xp-->Parma Magic lore 4
year 4: Latin to 5, Concentration to 1
year 6 +7: In 9, Vi (?) 5
Year 8: Fairie lore to 2, Medicine 2, Chirurgy 1
Year 9: spells/items
spring: lab item fresh meat table (not yet usable, because I can't set up my lab yet)
summer: open Talisman
fall: imbed Twin Corpse part I (2 uses/day?)
winter: imbed twin Corpse II
year 10: spells/items/longevity ritual
spring whisper through the gate
summer inexorable search
fall sight of the molten magus
winter longevity ritual? or Improved wizard's sidestep

Talisman: 5 components
form ideas: whip, crown, staff, basket, jewellery/clothing depicting more than 1 form
material ideas: Yew, silver, apple wood, brass, bronze, Onyx (!)

Finetuning ideas:

  • I could change the character's gender to female and the focus into a major focus women. That would make all the corpses female, and restrict the super longevity rituals to female characters (the lr lab total without the focus is still ok): The background story would include some sinister experience in her youth (women somehow mistreated?). I'd have to rename the spells ("Return of the lassie" etc) but the optical effect
    or
  • I could take qcipher's Verditius idea
    or
  • I could turn the into a Tytalus Necromancer and give him a sinister reputation (to explain why few people want his super lr rituals)

sigil ideas:

  • a smell of rotting meat? Fitting, but too obvious somehow
  • shadow:
    a) people think of the Bible phrase near his spell casting: "though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me."
    b) items have a dark and/or cold shadow
  • shudder running down the spine (because of: "someone walked over your grave")
  • youth (aging + ruined perdo): people feel young, corpses look young, and walk with a spring in their step

Verditius make for particularly cool Necromancers, you just let your most horrible imagination run wild as you come up with spell foci for the different spells. Then think of using relics and body parts for the various items. For that one magus, aside from the hand of glory, he had all kinds of tools to help him with grave robbery. His lab could be a true chamber of horrors with some of the excellent features available.

Verditius make for particularly cool Necromancers, you just let your most horrible imagination run wild as you come up with spell foci for the different spells. Then think of using relics and body parts for the various items. For that one magus, aside from the hand of glory, he had all kinds of tools to help him with grave robbery. His lab could be a true chamber of horrors with some of the excellent features available.

The non-canon De Domo Tremeris proposes the house rule that "Certamen Focus" is not a Minor Magical Focus, and thus Tremere can have magical foci.

obsolete

Hah,
another step forward!

I'll use Dr. Frankenstein ex Tytalus as a role model, a caring physician with a strange hobby.

New virtues:
1-3 gentle gift
4 puissant MT
5 skilled parens
6 aff. corpus
7 puiss. corpus
8 affinity or puissant Cr (not sure yet)
9 puissant PM (or the second choice from above)
10 inventive genius
House virtue: Tytalus - self-confident

new set of flaws:
1-3 Major driven (cure death)
4 frail (!)
5-7 deficient perdo
8 harmless magic
9 optimistic
10 beloved rival or mentor or heir story flaw (whatever the storyguide finds useful)

Unsure if I should take optimistic as major ("Hey, I'm sure we can talk to the Lich King") or proud ("I can overcome death") or compassionate (Hagrid: "oh, the poor giant spider. You've hurt him"), or if I make driven (cure death) a major.

The skills and post gauntlet development stay mostly what they are, the only major change is that most of the Magic Lore xp go into chirurgy, medicine, and basic social skills (charm, folk ken, etc).

The character I'm working on (which is mostly Laetitia's build but with enough differences that it can believably be a different person entirely) will be a filia of Corvus of Bjornaer, so if your pater is Desiderius then we will have done our apprenticeships at the same covenant :slight_smile:

I'm sure we can talk to the lich king is Overconfident. Optimistic, to me, yeah, that lich king gave us a beating, but, we'll get him next time!

Okay, a complete (and final?) draft

Int 3 Per 0
Com 2 Pre 1
Str -3 Sta 2
Dex 0 Quk 0

1-3 gentle gift
4 puissant MT
5 skilled parens
6 aff. corpus
7 puiss. corpus
8 puissant Cr
9 puissant PM
10 inventive genius
House virtue: Tytalus - self-confident

new set of flaws:
1-3 Major driven (cure death)
4 frail (!)
5-7 deficient perdo
8 harmless magic
9 optimistic
10 beloved rival or mentor or heir story flaw (whatever the storyguide finds useful)

Abilities before apprenticeship:
Gaelic Scots (storytelling) 5
Area Lore Loch Leglean (settlements) 1
Survival (Loch Leglean) 1
Swimming (currents) 1
Awareness (alertness) 1
Athletics (walking) 1
Guile (pretend to be someonne else) 1
charm (first impressions) 2

Folk Ken (patients) 2
Bargain (health services) 2

abilities apprenticeship 110xp (inludes 5xp for mastery)
30 MT (Corpus) 3
50 Latin (hermetic) 4
05 AL (ceremonial casting) 1
05 PM (mentem) 1

05 oohl (Loch Leglean) 1
05 coh (familiars) 1
05 Magic Lore ( Loch Leglean) 1
05 Finesse (corpus) 1
05 penetration (corpus) 1

Arts (190xp)
190xp
80xp Cr 15+3
110xp Re, Co 10

Spells at gauntlet (150 lvls):
Hercules ritual CrCo45, mastery 1: lab mastery
This ritual permanently increases the users strength (max +3)

Create a fresh corpse CrCo30
(Base 5, +2 sun, +3 sight, +2 group)

Animate Corpse (ReCo35)
(Base 10, +2 day, +3 Sight)

Leap of homecoming ReCo35

year 1-6: raise skills 180xp
45xp Parma (mentem) to 4
15 xp Concentration (spells) 2
10 xp Magic lore to 2
25 xp Latin to 5
05xp fairie lore (loch Leglean) 1
05 etiquette (nobility) 1
15xp English (health) 2
30 Medicine (physician) 3
05 chirurgy Wounds) 1
05 leadership (the undead) 1
05 intrigue (order of hermes) 1
05 Infernal Lore (demons) 1
05 philosophy (ceremonial casting) 1
05 Prof: scribe (hermetic) 1

year7+8: In 9, Mu 5
Year 9: spells/items
spring: Improved purification of the festering wounds CrCo25 (+12 recovery)
summer: open Talisman
fall: imbed Twin Corpse part I (2 uses/day)
winter: imbed twin Corpse II
year 10: spells/items/longevity ritual
spring whisper through the gate InCo(Me)15
summer inexorable search InCo20
fall animate lifelike corpse Mu(Re)15
winter wizard's long leap ReCo20 (max distance 500 paces)

Talisman:
A bronze necklace with a silver pendant in the shape of a crown, adorned with an onyx, an amber, and an opal

Attunements:
+4 death
+3 corpus
+1 terram

Lab total for talisman: In (<Cr) 9 + Co 18 + 3 aura + 3 inv gen + 6 MT + 3 int + 5 shape/material (limited by MT) = 47
Item lvl Twin Corpse 30+1 (for 2x)
47-31= +16 per season

[b]Open questions/notes:

  • Does the character have access to vis for rituals to improve his strength?
  • I haven't created the fresh meat table yet, but I'll do that as one of my first lab seasons (together with refining the lab and creating a longevity ritual for the character)
    [/b]
    sigil: freshness/youth

I'll post the new spells and write up the character.


Companion ideas:

  • a knight returned from the crusade?!
  • pirate posted)