New to the World

[angafea]

@BrianF

Hello! I'm a new addition to the Ars Magica world, and this looks like a great place to find and share ideas. I have a couple of questions, and was hoping for a few opinions.

Yes, welcome, I think you'll find the Ars experience to be unique to most gamers.

The magic system is the best I've ever found, and the unique Troupe playing system keeps interest high, as everybody is alternating characters often. I especially like the "focus" on one or two Mages, letting different characters be the spotlight every adventure. Add in to that the Council Meeting, and the occasional Companion or Grog adventure and I think it's the best thing around for adventure seeds.

@BrianF

In all honestly, we spent about all day figuring out how to make some characters and designing background stories to be as realistic as we could.... this takes quite a while the first time!!

It takes a long time the 100th time, too! I think the idea is the more time you spend picking exactly the right amount of background stuff, the more it will pay off in the long run.

If you intend to have a lot of NPCs (I highly suggest you concentrate on the PC Wizards the first several adventures, put the covenant in the boondocks of the Order), you might want to check out the Metacreator Software at www.alteregosoftware.com, it has a great deal of useful applications for the Ars Storyguide.

@BrianF

I guess my first question is about game material... perhaps there is an additional module that is best to not be without? There are far too many to reasonably expect to read through right off the bat, so I guess I'm just looking for anything "key."

Sadly there is only one module for 5th Edition available. The Broken Covenant of Calabis is, as other's above have said, a wonderful Ars adventure. However, I like the Return of the Stormrider Jump Start Kit, even though it's for 4th edition, it is very well set up to introduce to the world of Ars. Actually most 4th edition and before Modules (Mythic Places, Festival of the Damned, The Pact of Pasaquine) are all good, and convertable with very little work, if that sort of thing appeals to you. Also check out the Atlas Ars page for several adventures in PDF form and a Common Beasts PDF, which can provide fresly Gauntleted magi great opponents.

Oh, and check out our 100 Story Seeds Thread:

The "100 Ars Magica Plot Seeds" Thread

As seen here. 1. An unforeseen (astronomy? who cares!) solar eclipse occurs and terminates effects with Sun duration (why not), including Parma. It also triggers devices with "constant" effect, which will therefore fail that night as they are typically only designed with 2 uses per day. Hopefully, nobody relied on them for anything critical, like lab bonuses or flying castles. Smart magi may realize what happened, but they only have until sunset to solve the problem. Can they do it? 2…

@BrianF

Secondly... I notice many of the threads and discussions here deal with the use of magic to enhance the damage dealt in melee or light ranged combat. After reading the rules, it appears as though armed combat was meant to be a small part of the game (COMBAT is a subheading under OBSTACLES somewhere in the page 100's, and is a very short section). Does combat end up being a major piece for everyone?

I think you have just hit the forums at a time when several combat spells have hit it. There has been a call for several "utility" spells around level 10 to 15, so those have been taking a lot of focus as opposed to more grand "wizardly" things.

I agree the combat system is simple, and brutal, however this is designed to take the empahsis off of combat. I'm not sure how successful I find it, and my saga, which probally averages one fight a session, is toying with making healing a little more simple, more along the lines of 4th edition, that is one spell to heal for the short term, and the same spell allowed to heal long term if Vis is spent. We're also testing a system where a character can exert themselves (spend a fatigue level) and throw themselves out of the way of a blow, reducing the severity of a wound by 1 level (medium becomes light).

Obviously, since almost every reply here doesn't speak glowingly of the combat system it could be improved. However, it doesn't come close to making me not love the system.

@BrianF

... you can assign points in the martial skill of SINGLE WEAPON.... in my experience role-playing, this typically works out to be maybe a shortsword and dagger, perhaps a sabre and single handed clubs or maces. Under these rules, it governs everything up to and including lance combat from horseback....

Actually Single Weapon just handles normal sized one-handed weapons. the Great Weapon skill handles 2-handed weapons. Ride adds to mounted combat.

Also note that there are a lot of different weapons with different stats, making a person with the same skill but armed with a different weapon actually quite different. And if this bothers you too much, I suggest a House Rule that requires a person to "train" with a new weapon for a season to use it at their full weapon skill.

@BrianF

... but since many people seem to be centering their discussions around melee combat (spells to imbue hammers with lightning power, spells to enhance the archery skill, etc), it brings to mind the question of whether people just like the melee combat, or if there is something we don't have or didn't see.

I think another reason you see such on the Forums is that a lot of the other stuff is well covered in the Official Books, and covered well, you'll find lots of stuff on Astronomy, and spells to transform elements into Faeries, and rituals to live forever, so people who enjoy a more combat-centric Ars game fill in what the see as a need.

@BrianF

Lastly, the first character that I am developing is working out to be a Diedne descendant refugee in house Bjornaer. From what I read, this type centers around the use of spontaneous magic. How have you all found this to work? They seem to have great bonuses when using it, but I haven't gotten a chance to test it out in play... perhaps someone has some insight?

Great character! However I agree that that the Diedne magic is an overpowered Virtue, unless you balance it with the fear of being discovered. And not just the "Dark Secret" type of fear, but the sort of secret is much more likely to limit a player's choices all the time. Such as "Do I dare use my Diedne magic in front of my Covenant-mates, because it is obviously strange, and they might turn on me." sort of Secret.

On a related note, I vote for "Mythic Blood" being the second most powerful Virtue.

Please feel free to ask any specific or general questions you'd like, we love to help![/img]