I am working on a concept for a new magus. I will choose his House once I know better about his main project.
He is himself a skilled craftsman, but "socially challenged" (Blatant Gift and more) and his area of expertise is going to be prostethics and automatons/golems.
He would like to substitute his inhability to lead a team of workers by creating enchanted items to assist him. I do not want to go into Craft magic (already done that).
I do find the Automaton mysteries of House Verditius a bit disappointing and I am not sure I want this magus to be a Verditius - a rival crafting tradition sounds more appealing to me.
The way he would build his servants would be an item invested with the appropriate ReForm (probably Terram, Herbam or Corpus for bone/flesh constructs) with a base level for moving in highly unnatural and specialized way (base 5 or around depending on the Form): The Obedient Servant of ... (Stone, Wood, Iron, Flesh...), including a link to effect 2) (see below).
Then, I would like an enchantment which would allow the enchanted item to draw the appropriate skill from the enchanter (since without the Automata major virtue it is impossible to enchant an item with a skill). I would see it done with:
- a item worn by the enchanter sharing his skills with the Obedient Servant: Probably a Creo Mentem effect ? (I would be tempted to use Base 5: create a memory in another mind, to simulate this effect, with a continuous effect to tap into a skill) or Intellego Mentem 25 (learn all the information you wish from a person's mind).
- a second enchantment on the main item "using" such knowledge to allow the enchanted item to perform a task given by the enchanter: InMe with Rego requisit ?
Then comes the questions I have for my sodales:
- Is it conceivable ? I do not find it is breaking any limits, but level might be of high magnitude
- I do not want the enchanter to control an unlimited amount of servants and I would like to tie his ability to control several Obedient Servants at the same time to a skill or a characteristic. Could it be his Concentration ? Finesse ? or even Leadership skill - even if he does not really issue orders, it could represent his way of keeping his thought clear enough for the magic to work properly. Should he look into the Art of Memory (and dedicate special loci for his skills to make them usable by magical items) ?
- How would you assign a physical characteristic to an magical item (to give them Dexterity and/or Strength)
- Because he will be using frequently using this effect, I am trying to keep the level below 35, or at least not to have more than one effect granting Warping point.
At the end, I would like the magus to be able to control several servants with a limited autonomy: once given an order they will perform it, but are still not able of independant thought or initiative. And to perform their task, they will use the magus skills. I also would like the magus to be able to manufacture high quality item using his servants (which is tricky by Craft magic - very high level required).
I am more and more envisioning him as a crippled man (lost leg or arm/hand) but very skilled before an accident/sacrifice prevented him to keep performing his craft (and for some reason healing magic did not work).
For pure magical lab work, I will simply use relevant virtues to grant General Quality bonus and such. But I am struggling more for the workshop aspect.