Is Houses of Hermes : Societas an Atlas projects ? If it is, when will it be theoratically coming ?
For spells that ward against a mundane threat (ie : ReAn2, ReAq5, ReAu3/4/5/10, ReCo15, ReHe4/15, ReIg4, ReTe2/5), what is the target of the spell, and if it is the caster, why Repel the Wood Shaft (p. 138) is Range : Voice ?
A magus with the Diedne Magic Virtue try to cast a speel without expending Fatigue, he can decide to divide by 2, but he then need to roll a stress die, but will he add the stress die result before dividing by 2 or is it just to see if he botch ?
Why the Guernicus House magi begin with the Hermetic Prestige Virtue ? I understand the status and the implications, but not the Reputation ? Is each Guernicus magus is known personally in the Order ?
In a group I ran the game for, the characters creation despaired me a bit. When I told them that each year after the apprenticeship reward for 30 expn and the ones berfore only 15 exp, they all chose to begin apprenticeship at the age of 5. Isn't a disadvantage I didn't see to do so ? Or is it only the less munchkin of the palyers who will chose to be apprentice at 7 or even 10 ?
You might find the generel paragraph on wards in the very start of the Spell chapter helpfull:
The spell Repel the Wooden Shafts you describe is actually not a ward, since the wooden weapon is the target and not the thing protected (in this case the attacked) so the ward rules as such do not directly apply. I also think that as it is this spell could be used to repel an attack against someone else and not only the caster, as long as the caster can see the weapon and his voice reach it.
Ward spells may however have ranges such as Voice. The motive for having such Ward spells would be to ward someone else from the Form in question. There is a trade of however - if creating a spell with Voice instead of Personal it will have a higher level and thus have lesser Pentration (which is important vs Might etc), and if the caster wants to cast it at himself, he has to, as with all non-Personal range spells, to penetrate or lower his own Parma Magica.
He adds the die result before dividing as anyone else rolling a stress die in relation to casting magic. The Diedne are the masters of spontaneous magic.
The Reputation is probably just "Guernici" - and simply being thus gives you respect within the Order.
I am not too experienced in this field - my troupes current magi where made before the publishing of 5th ed. so I we havent had many experiences with character generation experience . But in general terms, some advices. Whne your troupe makes their characters the SG, in coorporation, should set their approx. age and how many years they are out of apprenticeship. Mostly they are set as being just out of apprenticeship - but most importantly if not having a specific vision of why to do it differently, they should be equally in years away from the Gauntlet. It is actually an optional rule to allow any to be years beyond their Gauntlet. So basically you should only allow this if you feel confortable with it - and that their choices are out of the character and not just to minimax their stats. I would personally need a very good reason for anyone claiming to have been apprenticed at a very young age - both the Characteristics and the Abilities hint that you are not at all fully ready at the age of 5. If not neccesarily in terms of stats, then at least in terms of story, I would make sure to let it have impact.
The thing I have seen done in every game is this...You can create a Magus X years or d10/5 years out of gauntlet.
What this means for your group is this: They will all be twenty years old when the game starts. They won't have any mundane abilities to speak of, and their magical abilities are subpar.
Magi who take three or more years more before apprenticeship, will have more experience in other things...like a craft, survival, and area lore. These aren't too important..but what if you are playing a Verditius or Bonisagus? Those two years could be spent learning Magic theory and Arts liberales...Now you start with higher score..you can do more.
Don't base the start of the game by starting the Mages off at a specific AGE, start them off at a specific time past Gauntlet.
Or do as I prefer - start them off at a specific time prior the the Gauntlet!
My current troupe - running on its 3rd year - started approx. 13-15 years before their Gauntlet. I have claimed so before, but I cant stop promoting the apprentice version Ars!!
I'm curious. How did you handle advancement? Didn't the apprentice characters end up with beaucoup experience points, much more than a by-the-book magus? I imagine that, if every player was crafted in this fashion, it wouldn't be a problem. In our troupe, we've had player characters teach apprentices, and the apprentice always ends up with three or four times the regular amount of experience points, which has caused some tension among players.
First of all the saga was started prior to 5th edition. On one hand we didnt not have the more smooth new rules but on the other hand nor the implications of those. I primarily used a system inspired by the 4th ed. Apprentice Training Rules-proposal by Andrew Smith you can find on the internet.
Since they all did this they are somewhat hard to compare to others since there are no other magi player characters. But as I controlled their apprenticeship, influenced by their various masters, virtues, flaws etc, I put together a excell sheet that enabled me to compare them to somewhat keep them leveled. One trend was very apparent - that intelligence on a longer stretch, plays a major role.
Nevertheless my troupe are not the jealous kind - they are interested in their own character and his/hers aspiration, and mostly out of interest in the story, but do not compare like that, so even if ther had been significant differences I know that it would not be a cause for tension.
We have added new players later on - and both of those who now have "magi"-characters, are playing apprentices. One of them to one of the characters. This one is a very new young apprentice, and of course she is in a completely different league - when it comes to power alone - and even when she will be gauntleted many years from now, I do not think she will have grown more powerful then the others. More the opposite because she only entered apprenticeship as they were gauntleted. The other apprentice is a somewhat special case - a criamon who would have been close to her gauntlet if it wasn't for her master leaving her (believing her lost, although she was only in a Twilight). She is quite powerful in some fields, mostly due to a string of horrible twillights rather than knowledge from being taught, and she still has a lot to learn and understand. A bit too old and too late her education has been resumed. But at a cost.
So there is a significant difference in power between the players main magus character, as two of them are still apprentices at different stages, but it really does not matter. To my troupe it is a cause for interesting ingame scenes and relations, and forced straitjacket. The newcomers might aswell have started with fresh of the block new gauntleted magi. What matters to us is what makes the best roleplay not the best rollplay. And right now it has been to explore the master-apprentice relations and ones steps into the Order.
. But in general terms, some advices. Whne your troupe makes their characters the SG, in coorporation, should set their approx. age and how many years they are out of apprenticeship. Mostly they are set as being just out of apprenticeship - but most importantly if not having a specific vision of why to do it differently, they should be equally in years away from the Gauntlet. It is actually an optional rule to allow any to be years beyond their Gauntlet. So basically you should only allow this if you feel confortable with it - and that their choices are out of the character and not just to minimax their stats. I would personally need a very good reason for anyone claiming to have been apprenticed at a very young age - both the Characteristics and the Abilities hint that you are not at all fully ready at the age of 5. If not neccesarily in terms of stats, then at least in terms of story, I would make sure to let it have impact.
