JL's Companion

Retired Play by Post Campaigns Ars Magica 5th Edition: Canaries Are Dying
1

He's unnamed, and as of now, isn't really speaking to me. I leave him here for commentary from the troupe, qcipher in particular if he's going to grow into a role as a Venditore. This is a goal of his, we'll say that he's been shut out in Flanders, due to that Tribunal's issues with Magi dealing with mundanes. I made him Flemish, given Peregrine's statement about Flemish speakers in the 'burghs. He's familiar with Scotland, too.

Characteristics: Int +2, Per +2, Pre +3, Com +5, Str -2, Sta -4, Dex -1, Qik -1
Size: 0
Age: 29 (29), Height: 5'6'', Weight: 158 lbs, Gender: Male
Decrepitude: 0
Warping Score: 0 (0)
Confidence: 1 (3)
Virtues and Flaws: Great Communication × 2, Social Contacts (merchants), Affinity with Bargain, Puissant Bargain, Well-Traveled (50/50), Linguist, Privileged Upbringing (50/50), Educated (50/50), Clear Thinker (Bonus: +3 to resist lies, confusion, subterfuge), Avaricious, Ability Block (Martial), Poor Stamina × 1, Overconfident, Clumsy (Dexterity: -3 on related rolls, extra botch die)
Combat:
Dodge: Init: -1, Attack --, Defense -1, Damage --
Fist: Init: -1, Attack -1, Defense -1, Damage -2
Kick: Init: -2, Attack -1, Defense -2, Damage +1
Soak: -4
Fatigue levels: OK, 0, -1, -3, -5, Unconscious
Wound Penalties: -1 (1-5), -3 (6-10), -5 (11-15), Incapacitated (16-20), Dead (21+)
Abilities: Flemish 5, Bargain 6+2, Swim 1, Latin 5, Order of Hermes Lore 1, Charm 1, Folk Ken 2, Area Lore: Area 2, Area Lore: Area 1, Civil and Canon Law 3, Arabic 4, French 4, English 4, Scots Gaelic 4, Artes Liberales 2, Awareness 3, Etiquette 4, Guile 3, Intrigue 2, Concentration 2, Carouse 2, Sailor 2
Equipment:
Encumbrance: 0 (0)

2

What is his social status. I don't see one either as virtue, freebie or flaw.

3

Merchant. I added it later in MetaCreator but not here.

4

First thing I noticed is that his stats are, like, all over the place. Not that that's a bad thing, I just don't remember seeing a character with both Great Characteristic and Weak Characteristic before. Just from that, it looks like he's a great speaker, a great teacher, maybe a great writer, but very scrawny and gets sick a lot?

It also looks like his Virtues and Flaws are unbalanced – I'm counting 10 points in Virtues and 9 points in Flaws, and that's if both Avaricious and Overconfident are Major; however, that results in two Major Personality Flaws, which you can't take (insert, p. 37).

And for the bigger issue you mention (the character not "speaking" to you) – I know that feel, bro. If the character doesn't work for you, maybe walk away and come back to it, or scrap it completely and make a new one, or just come up with a new one after play starts when one comes to you. (Some of my favorite characters didn't come to me until well after I started the book).

5

I was hoping that having to defend certain choices would make the character come alive. But I'm like... meh. And you're right about the flaws, I only have 7 points of flaws. I think a version on my personal computer has 10 points in Flaws, but I don't remember what they are off the top of my head. Overconfident is minor, and Avaricious is major.

I'm still working on him. I worked on Talia forever until I got to a concept, had to change houses to make something speak to me. Need to play around some back story a bit, sometimes that helps.

6

The recent Failed Apprentice thread, which you just commented in is starting to influence my thoughts. Might still have a strong desire to be a Venditore, and would actually be good at the magi would ever let him out of their labs...

Back to the MeteCreator file!

7

And i realized, as I was writing that, that Claudia's master Salamandrus was a Flambeau. Granted, it was only (I think) a couple of years between her being apprenticed and the accident, but she really should have just a hint of Flambeau-ancy to her mindset. I should probably reread the Flambeau section to see what I can do with it.

8

Well, she was reckless. I don't think Flambeau are normally known for restraint. Take Alexei for example... :laughing:

9

Ysebrand
Characteristics: Int +2, Per +2, Pre +2, Com +5, Str -1, Sta -4, Dex -1, Qik 0
Size: 0
Age: 29 (25), Height: 5'6'', Weight: 158 lbs, Gender: Male
Decrepitude: 0
Warping Score: 0 (0)
Confidence: 1 (3)
Virtues and Flaws: Failed Apprentice, Great Communication × 2, Unaging, Educated (50/50), Linguist, Well-Traveled (50/50), Social Contacts (Merchants), Puissant Bargain, Affinity with Bargain, Hunger for Corpus Magic, Avaricious, Overconfident, Black Sheep, Clumsy (Dexterity: -3 on related rolls, extra botch die), Poor Stamina × 1
Reputations: Drunk 2
Combat:
Dodge: Init: +0, Attack --, Defense +0, Damage --
Fist: Init: +0, Attack -1, Defense +0, Damage -1
Kick: Init: -1, Attack -1, Defense -1, Damage +2
Soak: -4
Fatigue levels: OK, 0, -1, -3, -5, Unconscious
Wound Penalties: -1 (1-5), -3 (6-10), -5 (11-15), Incapacitated (16-20), Dead (21+)
Abilities: Flemish 5, Arabic 3, Scots Gaelic 4, French 4, Castillian 3, English 3, Latin 4 (10), Artes Liberales 1, Magic Theory 4, Finesse 2, Order of Hermes Lore 1, Bargain 5+2, Awareness 2, Carouse 2, Concentration 1 (3), Area Lore: Area 2, Area Lore: Area 1, Charm 2, Etiquette 4, Folk Ken 2, Intrigue 1, Profession: Merchant 3, Guile 1
Equipment:
Encumbrance: 0 (0)

Ysebrand's Gift was destroyed by his unidentified master's experimentation in trying to improve the health and vitality of his young apprentice. The ritual was horribly botched leaving Ysebrand with a Hunger for Corpus vis and a destroyed Gift. Since that incident, he has avoided working with Hermetic Magi as much as possible, but frequently enough to acquire Corpus vis. Ysebrand pursues risky ventures in an effort to finance his Corpus vis addiction. Finding a more stable source of vis could induce him to take a more formal service with a covenant, but 4 pawns of Corpus vis a year may be too high a price to pay...

10

Ysebrand
Characteristics: Int +2, Per +2, Pre +2, Com +5, Str 1, Sta 4, Dex 1, Qik 0
Size: 0
Age: 29 (25), Height: 5'6'', Weight: 158 lbs, Gender: Male
Decrepitude: 0
Warping Score: 0 (0)
Confidence: 1 (3)
Virtues and Flaws: Failed Apprentice, Great Communication × 2, Unaging, Educated (50/50), Linguist, Well Traveled (50/50), Social Contacts (Merchants), Puissant Bargain, Affinity with Bargain, Hunger for Corpus Magic, Avaricious, Overconfident, Black Sheep, Clumsy (Dexterity: 3 on related rolls, extra botch die), Poor Stamina × 1
Reputations: Drunk 2
Combat:
Dodge: Init: +0, Attack , Defense +0, Damage
Fist: Init: +0, Attack 1, Defense +0, Damage 1
Kick: Init: 1, Attack 1, Defense 1, Damage +2
Soak: 4
Fatigue levels: OK, 0, 1, 3, 5, Unconscious
Wound Penalties: 1 (1 5), 3 (6 10), 5 (11 15), Incapacitated (16 20), Dead (21+)
Abilities: Flemish 5, Arabic 3, Scots Gaelic 4, French 4, Castillian 3, English 3, Latin 4 (10), Artes Liberales 1, Magic Theory 4, Finesse 2, Order of Hermes Lore 1, Bargain 5+2, Awareness 2, Carouse 2, Concentration 1 (3), Area Lore: Area 2, Area Lore: Area 1, Charm 2, Etiquette 4, Folk Ken 2, Intrigue 1, Profession: Merchant 3, Guile 1
Equipment:
Encumbrance: 0 (0)

Ysebrand's Gift was destroyed by his unidentified master's experimentation in trying to improve the health and vitality of his young apprentice. The ritual was horribly botched leaving Ysebrand with a Hunger for Corpus vis and a destroyed Gift. Since that incident, he has avoided working with Hermetic Magi as much as possible, but frequently enough to acquire Corpus vis. Ysebrand pursues risky ventures in an effort to finance his Corpus vis addiction. Finding a more stable source of vis could induce him to take a more formal service with a covenant, but 4 pawns of Corpus vis a year may be too high a price to pay...

11

Oh God...Ysebrand and Nevin. This is going to be so awesome!

12

Forgot your negative signs on your Characteristics.

Still need to define your Area Lores, and work on your specialties when you get a chance.

Also, as near as I can tell, you're 50xp short somewhere.

So, he's from south Belgium somewhere?

13

Yeah. Need to do the find/replace in the rtf file.
MetaCreator doesn't think I'm short. I'll send the files when I'm closer to being finalized.

14

You get, I think, 50 more points each for Well-Traveled, Educated, and Privileged Upbringing, and I was shifting stuff all around to get 50/50 on each of those. My MC is showing 505/555.

15

New version doesn't have privileged upbringing.

16

I might be missing something here...

17

Repeat post... I posted before. The forum indicates I posted at 8:26, but it is not displaying the post.

I'm not sure I understand what you mean by this. I'm not totally familiar with the Pony-verse...

18

Yep. That fixed it.

19

That's Discord. The Big Baddy in the first two episodes of Season 2 (voiced by John Delancy), who basically escapes from his imprisonment and sows chaos everywhere. My favorite line: "Hold on a second! Eternal chaos comes with chocolate rain, you guys! Chocolate! Rain!"

Basically, I can see all kinds of interesting things going on with those two characters.

20

Ahh, OK. I knew it was Discord, and I flipped when I heard the voice for the first time my wife thought I was a bit off (she's not SciFi crazy, but I pointed out he was Eugene on Days, and she got it).

Anyway, I was trying to remember characters named Nevin and Ysebrand from the ponies.
Ysebrand is Avaricious about vis, by the way Muhahaha!