Same here. Immortality of the Forest physically limits you to the forest whose spirit is maintaining your immortality. That is a real restriction and a thematically fitting one. Allowing a character to navigate any of the auras they really care about is not as interesting from my point of view, although I quite understand that character's player would certainly prefer it.
The most natural generalization of Immortality of the Forest would be to tie the character to a specific locale (e.g. within the boundaries of a specific aura, rather than merely "any magical aura"). Even then, it's still a damn good deal, even compared to Guardian of Nature or Living Ghost, both of which have definite drawbacks. Immortality of the Forest itself is a good deal, except for the part where you have to find a forest with a spirit that can actually sustain you.
Wanderer, if you feel so strongly about ensuring that characters can have access to agelessness, without the drawbacks of true immortality, why not make it so that in your saga, Longevity Rituals completely stop aging with no chance of failure?
Which is rather unfortunate, since I purposefully tried to balance it with immortality virtues from HoH:MC and TMRE (do you have HoH:MC ?). I especially inspired myself with the Criamon Path of the Body. I purposefully did NOT try to balance it with Immortality of the Forest. The latter is a crappy, nerfed virtue, which is way unbalanced with the other immortality methods.
Yes, but please do remember that my virtue will not protect from Warping accumulation, which means you will still ultimately meet your demise from Final Twilight, sooner or later, whereas Nephilim do not accumulate Warping.
Well, if you think the Virtue is in need of some addtional drawbakcs, I think I could adapt this kind of Nephilim drawback to it, only substituting regular contact with friendly auras (or vis as a substitute) for food. What do you think of it ?
Do you mean the extra Botch dice for overtaxing Aging rolls ? Do you deem this is enough of a counterbalance, or should I add some additonal drawback, such as the aforementioned Nephilim-like need for auras for sustenance ?
Hopefully , i will have TMRe in a few days time.
Yes , i did mean the extra Botch Dice from overtaxing Aging rolls.
Deciding counterbalance is (for me anyway) something you actually need to playtest.
Personally , i dislike physical penalties as drawbacks.
The Nephilim food requirement i find a bit Nerf-like.
I might include an extra vulnerability to an opposed Realm ,
or possibly , debilitating Magics like Perdo Corpus ,
with a Penetration Bonus to a spell targeted against the character.
(this would be when you were outside your Realm)
The Nephilim Virtue , afaics , does not give an immunity to Twilight , if this is taken by a Magus character.
IMO IotF is a rather crappy, nerfed buggy prototype of a mystery that might only have looked as decent deal back in the distant past when more advanced and refined immortality mystery paths like alchemy, spirit magic, theurgy, faerie magic, Enigma magic, nature magic itself, had not been developed yet. It is only fit for bookworm lab rats that won't see the outside of their sanctum in a century. I am welcoming to hear and discuss about adding some additional drawbacks to the virtue (such as the Nephilim-like mystic starvation) but I'm NOT willing or interested into using IotF as a game balance comparison, the same way that not all Major Hermetic Virtues are created equal.
I might point out that as written, the Virtue does not allow most characters to enter the Dominion, which cuts them off from cities, towns, and pretty much any settled locale in ME. That's a significant travel limitation. As I said, I might strengthen in that entering forbidden auras also gives fatigue or starvation, not just loss of benefits, but NOT any kind of specific locale requirement. I want to build agelessness fit for adventurers, not lab rats.
Oh, please be serious, this is just exactly the same deal as IotF, you just made a deal with another kind of magical spirit and you specific locale hasn't the "forest" descriptor. Big advancement
First of all, Supernatural Life is a mid-level immortality method, as it grants freedom from age, not Warping, and Final Twilight will eventually fell you, sooner or later. It balances with the alchemical Unaging-Lesser Twilight combo, or the Criamon Station of Spiritual Nourishment, as it was my purpose, and it occupies that halfway step between vanilla Longevity Ritual and the full immortality Mysteries, which allow truly unlimited lifespan. Living Ghosts CAN travel by doing some possession, as long as they accept some chances (which boil down to making themselves vulnerable to bing killed again). Guardians of Nature can reverse the ritual, move on, and re-do it as many times as they wish. So they aren't really tied to a locale.
Well, if you really think so Only in comparison to, say, vanilla Longevity Rituals and in the utter lack of all the other Mystery agelessness or immortality methods, and even that is rather questionable, given that it's package comes with Difficult Longevity Ritual, which Minor Magical Focus: Aging does not quite balance, so you are crapped if you wish to rely on your LR for traveling.
Well, I might, indeed I might. But I also find more intellectually rewarding (and more useful) to come up with something (like a new Mystery Supernatural Virtue) that I, or other gamers, might use in games where I'm not the SG.
I have been obliquely inspired to use need for periodic nourishment with friendly auras, or the characer will go into fatigue, hibernation, and starvation, as an additional balancing drawback. Something like Blood of the Nephilim, only with auras instead of food. Possibly vis as substitute. How that would go to balance the virtue further ?
The problem there is that you have thrown away the part where Criamon magi on the threshold of repose (whether on the Path of the Body or the Path of Walking Backwards) view immortality as a duty rather than as a goal. The restriction come from their indoctrination, much like in the setting, the Code and the Church are supposed to be checks for the power of magi.
For what it's worth, I don't consider Immortality of the Forest to be "nerfed". It still lets you learn at the normal rate after all which the other immortality methods don't.
They are neither human nor can they be hermetic magi, so the issue of Warping as a limit on lifespan is moot.
Can you tell us what are your design principles for that virtue? What do you want to achieve exactly, both in terms of flavor and of practical benefits?
Meaning that it burdens the character too little, or too much ?
Well, I don't like much the idea of making the charcter susceptible to "opposed" realms, since almost all PC that has the Virtue would be in tune with faerie, too, so it would be a susceptbility to Divine and Infernal, and it's rather easy to dodge the latter (just pick a infernal virtue or flaw, rather easy to do), so in many cases it would be just the Dominion (or Infernal Auras for holy mages), it's thematic, but I'm not persuaded it would be enough. I'm absolutely opposed to making the character especially vulnerable to any specific technique or form, but adding some magical vulnerability when the character is long away from attuned auras (again the default is for Gifted or magical/faerie characters to be attuned to magic AND faerie auras, that is a basic assumption) looks like a rather good idea. As a first try, reading your suggestion, I was thinking: when the character is away from his attuned auras for more than say a week (difficult to use a stat that would be generic enough for all realms), he suffers some combination of the following Flaws: Clumsy, Enfeebled, Fragile Constitution, Painful Magic, Deleterious Circumstances, Weak Magical Resistance, Weak Magic. Precise arrangmeent yet to be decided (maybe Clumsy + Fragile Constitution + Deleterious Circumstances + Weak Magic, after a first period of deprivation, say a week, and Enfeebled + Painful Magic + Weak Magic Resistance gets added after a more prolonged period, say a month). What do you think of this ? However, this would need me to choose whether to keep mundane areas, too, safe fro characters that have multiple realm attunements, or to have the safe off-aura period to be increased (maybe doubled), or both. What do you suggest ? I think that eating vis should be kept as a way to stave off mystical starvation.
As a matter of fact, I inspired myself (and held as a game balance comparison) with the Station of Spiritual Nourishment, not the thresholds of repose for those paths, which are rather more radical and beneficial forms of immortality.
Criamon indocrtrination is not really relevant, since I was trying to develop this virtue, as an half-way stopgap temporary measure for those mystery paths (spirit masters, theurgists, merinita, alchemists) who happily wallow in theri pride and look to immortality as a fitting goal for themselves. Something halfway between vanilla longevity rituals and Becoming, Living Ghost, Daimonic Ascension, Great Elixir, while they are working to master the latter. Criamon monks may be left to tend to their delusions, for all that I care.
As if the hypocrite "I'm doing this only for altruistic duty" were a true limitation. Gimme any Criamon or holy magus character, and I'll give you an handful of reasonable common-good excuses why he must regretfully delay his appointed hereafter meeting with his Maker or the Enigma, and stay around in the vale of tears for a couple millennia or so.
Your opinion, and you entitled to it. But let's agree to disagree on this. IotF is only a decent bargain for the Bonisagus extreme lab rat character that won't see the outside of his sanctum for the next century or so. Not quite appealing.
Sure. As I said, my main goal is to develop a mystery virtue which will cover that halfway area in the path progression of those mysteries (especially the non-alchemical ones) between vanilla longevity rituals and full immortality methods. As such, it should be the rough equivalent of the Unaging plus Lesser Elixir combo or of Criamon path of the Body's Station of Spiritual Nourishment. It should offer full immunity from Aging rolls (and maybe some minor addtional benefit, like the Criamon method, but it's not essential, I care for the immunity from eating/drinking/breathing mostly because it thematically fits with the "mystical nourishment and longevity from auras" idea, plus if we are to add enfeeblement from prolonged out-of-aura stays, some added minor benefit to agelessness would be nice), but still cause Warping points accumulation, just like a perfect Longevity ritual. Thematically, I was inspired by the Merinita mysteries that allow a magical effect to last forever as long as it stays in a magical or faerie aura, and by the legends such game bits are inspired to, but I wouldn't have stuff like instant death of legends the monent one steps outside the aura, it's not really fitting for PCs so I would seek for effects like suspension of the benefits, and maybe some reversible physical and/or magical enfeeblement, for prolonged stays outside the nourishing environment.
The default condition should be that The Gifted, or companions with a strong magical/faerie link, are allowed to be ageless in any magical or faerie aura, both realms and no fixed specific locale, so that a thematic reasonale for their immortality exists, but they are allowed some serious freedom of movement for adventuring. Some limited "grace period" and/or subsitute limited resource (such as vis) should be available to allow travel between safe locations. Characters that have full connections to multiple realms (such as faerie or infernal mages) should enjoy some addtional benefit.
This virtue should allow mystae mages to completely sidestep age the same way alchemy mages do with the Unaging/Lesser Elixir combo, while they search for full immortality, and still allow some serious adventuring. No being sequestered in a fixed place. The main balancing limitation on this condiction would be that the character continues to add up to his Warping bill, and that in default conditions, prolonged stays in unfriendly auras are a no-no.
How would having this Virtue affect a Familiar ?
Would it cause Warping in an unborn child?
(female magus w/o longevity potion assumed)
The Nephilim food requirement seems a bit restrictive for operating outside an environment with a regular food supply.
You need 03 times the amount of food of a normal person.
(this is more a result of the +01 size though)
A single day without food puts you in an deep slumber.
Without outside intervention , you die in your sleep.
If you are rescued , you need to eat your own body-weight in food.
(i guess you can be woken up to eat)
If anything , i would at least have allowed a Nephilim to survive by being able to eat more types of food.
They could eat grass , raw grains or other items not normally nourishing to humans.
It would not be an exciting or fulfilling diet , but you could thrive on it.
It's so annoying when you forget to go back on-line for posting after you wrote a long answer, and the stupid browser eats your answer up
Anyway, regarding familiars, the basic rule is that familiars age the same way as their mage, so I see no reason to deviate from it: their aging is stopped while their maga or magus are under the effect of this Virtue. Mind it, in most cases, this Virtue will be initiated by mages that are on the quest for immortality, and any such mage would be quite wise to initiate Spirit Familiar and Inscription Over the Soul, and to postpone getting a familiar until they do so. Trying to pull an animal familiar into immortality is nothing but unnecessary grief.
Regarding unborn children, I must admit I had not given thought to this situation until you mentioned it, so my answer is tentative. Also the likelihood of a maga initiating it before 35 might be limited. Anyway, I guess that yes the baby would get Warped, but I would not use the normal rules for Warping. I would use some adaptation of the rules for Twilight or experimentation, to see if the fetus got positive or negative changes.
Regarding Nephilim, I heartily agree to your assessment of their diet problems, and your proposed houserule, but then again, I've never given much thought to them: I'm not much fond of Divine characters (to make a polite understatement) and I find them a rather crappy and unappealing implementation of a major supernatural heritage (in comparison with Strong Faerie Blood, Hyperborean Descent, Mythic Blood, or Devil Child), so I've never given them much thought, nor anyone else in the troupe picked them for a character so far. I agree to your food substitution idea, though.
I've done a thorough rewrite of the Virtue, following our discussion.
v. 1.3
Supernatural Life (Major Supernatural Virtue)
The character's life force is sustained by the power of supernatural auras. This Virtue requires The Gift or a Major Supernatural Virtue as a prerequisite, and grants all the benefits of the Unaging Virtue. You do not make an Aging roll for each year you spend in a supernatural aura that grants a bonus to the powers of the realms which you are aligned to (e.g. to a character with The Gift or Strong Faerie Blood, this means Magic and Faerie auras). You instead gain one Warping point per year. You also get a +3 bonus on all rolls to recover from wounds and diseases, and you do not need to eat, drink, or breathe, while in a mystically nourishing aura, although you may do such things if you wish. This does allow moving from one aura to another, as long as the two auras overlap. Characters with Supernatural Life become instinctually aware if they are about to leave a mystically nourishing area, much like normal humans may sense the lack of breathable air. However, the character's physical and magical abilities get tied to spiritual nourishment, and become progressively more weak and feeble the longer he stays away from mystically nourishing auras: after a day, he begins to suffer a -3 penalty to all rolls involving physical activities, Lab Totals and Casting Totals, and rolls to recover from wounds and diseases. He also gains back the need to eat, drink, and breathe. After a week, physical and mystical enfeeblement worsens, and the character suffers the effects of the Enfeebled and Painful Magic Flaws on all physical actions, spell-casting, or use of supernatural abilities (or the penalties double if he already suffers such Flaws). He also begins to age again. Finally, after a month, the character's magic or supernatural powers begin to weaken also, and all Lab Totals, Casting Totals, supernatural abilities or powers rolls, and Magic Resistance Totals are halved. If the character's powers or nature are aligned to more than one supernatural realm, all the periods he can spend in mundane areas (but not unaligned supernatural realms) before suffering penalties from mystical starvation are doubled. Moreover, the character can venture in mundane areas and retain the full benefits of Supernatural Life by consuming a pawn of a vis type fit for a Longevity Ritual, every week. This Virtue may sometimes be the result of a supernatural blessing or heritage, but it is most often initiated by mystae that include a quest for immortality in their practices. Drawing nourishment from the Dominion or Infernal auras requires to affirm one's allegiance to that realm: in Infernal areas, one has to remain in a state of mortal sin, and perform some kind of major sin every Moon duration, whereas in the Dominion the character has to avoid mortal sin, and do regular Divine worship and penance for any venial sin, every Moon duration. Supernatural Life does not protect from aging effects that are caused by Warping or botches of one’s magic or supernatural abilities; Aging or Decrepitude from other mystical sources inflict one additional Warping point. Aging rolls that are caused by overtaxing of one's body and mind (such as from unusual lab routines) generally convert into extra botch dice. Penalties from mystical starvation recover when the character spends as many days in a spiritually nourishing aura as it was necessary to cause weakening. A character who ages, for every length of time, during a year must make an Aging roll at the end of that year, even if the Unaging effects of the Virtue work in any case. Normal Longevity Rituals lose their effectiveness on characters with Supernatural Life. However, one may temporarily regain the protective effects of Longevity Rituals in the year when he must suffer an Aging roll from mystical starvation, by using a modified dose of his Longevity Ritual. This only works for that year, and causes one additional Warping Point. Any mage with Supernatural Life knows how to prepare the modified formula.
The only immediate thing is the physical penalties and the State of Grace for the Dominion.
(the text block is a slightly dense read physically)
A modified version of the Deprivation Rules (page 180) might be better for allowing a character to do Adventuring outside a sustaining aura.
A Stamina roll every 03 days starting at an ease factor of 03 ,
which increases by +01 very time you fail a roll ,
is the RAW standard.
Rego Corpus spells can help mitigate the enfeeblement.
The character would most likely have an enchanted device or Talisman effect for this.
Instead of weakening the character so severely ,
what if they were unable to regain the benefits of the virtue for a full year if they leave for a season (or other time period).
Someone with this virtue would almost never want to leave a home realm.
If they could leave for up to 10 days in a season (as per Distraction from Lab Work on page 103) before the possibility of incurring any penalties perhaps.
Remaining in a State of Grace is nearly impossible.
Venial Sins are easy to commit even for the most Faithful.
Daily Worship is likely for anyone with True Faith or a positive Pious trait.
Mass & Confession once a week at the very least.
Someone with a Dominion version , if not an Ordained Priest ,
very likely has one as a Companion.
(though even a Priest needs a confessor)
Muslims and Jews would have different allegiance requirements also.
Sorry, a long-standing defect or my writing style. I'll try to split it up a bit.
Well, this is a rather good idea. I hadn't thought of using the Deprivation rules, sometimes the most simple way is just under our nose and we don't notice it, D'oh.
That's how I've thought of implementing it, spiritual starvation inflicting fictional "Fatigue levels" and "wounds" that only create penalties (but not real damage), cumulative with the actual stuff. Starting after 1 week and going e very 3 days, just like real food. Quite like the "pain levels" from Painful Magic. Would it work better ?
Well, I suppose so, but I'm not enthused about it. I've already provided for vis consumption to stave off the enfeeblement, and modified one-shot doses of longevity Rituals to be effective against renewed aging. Wouldn't spells and enchanted device effects trivialize it too much ? Hmm, maybe making it ritual spells. That might be a good compromise. Anyway, I think they should be Creo Corpus, with a Vim requisite, not Rego.
No, I don't like it. This kind of "one strike and you're out" one-shot irreversible penalty is already included in renewed aging. I wish the rest of starvation effects to be reversible stuff, just like fatigue.
Well, with the new system this is effectively done. If you start deprivation rolls after one week, at ease factor 3, you are almost garanteed to succeed on the first roll or two, unless you have a really crappy Stamina score (unlikely, at least for magi).
Well, previous system just told you have to do penance for venial sins every month, which is rather affordable for most characters (and a Faithful guy is likely to seek penance rather more frequently than this). Anyway, I've removed venial sins from the loist of requirements.
Daily worship organized worship rituals (such as the Mass) may be rather difficult if someone is say traveling. So I've kept the weekly worship requirement, and added a daily requirement for prayer.
Not necessarily, by any means. What if the Holy character is an heretic heremite ?
Maybe, but I'm lazy and I'd like not to reread RoP:D back to back to write detailed prescriptions for every Divine religion, picking and choosing among the 613 mizvot and the myriad nuances of the Sharia. Isn't avoid mortal sin, pray every day, worship every week sufficient for any Divine religion ? Anyway, I think I can add a blanket mandate to follow the basic behavior prescriptions of your religion, for Muslim/Jew characters.
Even an Aura of 1 is sufficient to give good nourishment. It's simple on the SG to manage, reliable for the player and character, and anything more restricting, you cripple the ability to travel too much. Are you suggesting that especially powerful auras should give some additional benefit ?
The character's life force is sustained by the power of supernatural auras. This Virtue requires The Gift or a Major Supernatural Virtue as a prerequisite, and grants all the benefits of the Unaging Virtue. You do not make an Aging roll for each year you spend in a supernatural aura that grants a bonus to the powers of the realms which you are aligned to (e.g. to a character with The Gift or Strong Faerie Blood, this means Magic and Faerie auras). You instead gain one Warping point per year. You also get a +3 bonus on all rolls to recover from wounds and diseases, and you do not need to eat, drink, or breathe, while in a mystically nourishing aura, although you may do such things if you wish. This does allow moving from one aura to another, as long as the two auras are not too distanced. Characters with Supernatural Life become instinctually aware if they are about to enter or leave a mystically nourishing area, much like normal humans may sense the presence of breathable air.
Characters with Supernatural Life become physically and magically dependent on spiritual nourishment from aligned realms; and prolonged disconnection causes them to suffer mystical starvation. After a week of separation from nourishing auras, the character begins to suffer deprivation and must make Stamina deprivation rolls every 3 days, starting at an ease factor of 3, which increases by +1 for every time period that passes. When the character fails a check, he loses the equivalent of a Fatigue level in mystical starvation. This reduces all the character’s actions (rolls and totals, including magical resistance) by the appropriate Fatigue penalty, which is cumulative with any from actual fatigue or injuries. The first failed check also brings back the need to eat, drink, and breathe. After all the equivalent fatigue levels have been lost, the next failed check results in the equivalent of a Light Wound (even if the character does not suffer any physical damage from mystical starvation, only the equivalent penalties). He also begins to age again. This “starvation wound†gets one step worse for every subsequent failed check. Beyond Incapacitated, the character falls into a deep slumber, a kind of supernatural hibernation. Supernatural starvation levels recover just like Long-Term Fatigue levels, once the character is exposed to a nourishing aura. If the character's powers or nature are aligned to more than one supernatural realm, it doubles the safe period he can spend in mundane areas (but not unaligned supernatural auras) before suffering supernatural starvation, as well as the time period between deprivation checks. Moreover, the character can venture in mundane areas and get sufficient supernatural nourishment by consuming a pawn of a vis type fit for a Longevity Ritual, every week.
This Virtue may sometimes be the result of a supernatural blessing or heritage, but it is most often initiated by mystae that include a quest for immortality in their practices. Drawing nourishment from the Dominion or Infernal auras requires to affirm one's allegiance to that realm: in Infernal areas, one has to remain in a state of mortal sin, and perform some kind of major sin every Moon duration, whereas in the Dominion the character has to avoid mortal sin, follow the basic behavior prescriptions of his religion, pray daily, and do appropriate Divine worship at least once a week.
Supernatural Life does not protect from aging effects that are caused by Warping or botches of one’s supernatural abilities; Aging or Decrepitude from other mystical sources inflict one additional Warping point. Aging rolls that are caused by overtaxing of one's body and mind (such as from unusual lab routines) generally convert into extra botch dice. A character who ages, for every length of time, during a year must make an Aging roll at the end of that year, even if the Unaging effects of the Virtue work in any case. Normal Longevity Rituals lose their effectiveness on characters with Supernatural Life. However, one may temporarily regain the protective effects of Longevity Rituals in the year when he must suffer an Aging roll from mystical starvation, by using a modified dose of his Longevity Ritual. This only works for that year, and causes one additional Warping Point. Any mage with Supernatural Life knows how to prepare the modified formula.
At this point i don't have more to add.
(need some time to mull things over)
But i would want to playtest this (if i had a group) to see how it would work.
Lets see if any of the more experienced Ars people have anything to say.
With any luck i will have 04 Ars Magica books arrive on Thursday ,
so i can finally read TMRe & HoH:MC.
Maybe Ancient Magic might have something useful as well.
I'm abit currious as to why you added unaging to the mix - since you only age outside the auras, this bonus seems to counter the main intent (linked to the aura for survival).
This isn't exactly what I'd use, but it does give me an idea for a minor mystery virtue that would allow ageing rolls and soak/fatigue rolls(totals) to be adjusted by the strength of the local aura (positive and negative - following the realm interaction).
The character indeed ages (and gradually enfeebles) from prolonged absence from the aura. Unaging only ensures that this does not mean wizening or physical deterioration, only accumulation of Decrepitude. As for why I'd ve added it to the mix, there's several reasons: first of all, I've firstly conceived the Virtue as the equivalent for non-achemical mysteries of the mid-level condition on the longevity-immortality path, which is composed by Lesser Elixir (which supercharges the longevity ritual) and Unaging, so I wished to duplicate that. Moreover, it felt appropriate that a Virtue that gives longevity by partaking of the essence of supernatural realms, would also add the seeming of immortality. And after everything else, it just felt right that aging from mystical starvation would manifest from accumulation of decrepitude (i.e. shortening of maximum lifespan) but not physical deterioration, or getting the seeming of senility. It felt appropriate, and I like the effect, that's all.
You are welcome to use my major mystery virtue as inspiration for developing a similar but less efficient version that would work as a minor mystery virtue. I would be highly appropriate for mystery virtues. Please let me see the result of your efforts when you're done. Getting bonuses to aging rolls from aura pluses would be highly appropriate for the minor version of this virtue.
I think it is good enough for magi who are questing for true immortality: you don't age while you're in the forest (or wherever if you adapt the virtue), you can go out and adventure, but the price you pay for that is that you'll age that year. Personally, I think it quite fair. A good enough stopgap while you're working on a better solution. I don't want to sound like a curmudgeon, but the ability to leave and do as you wish without much consequences (looks like you increased the penalty in your later versions) sounds like a player wanting to have his cake and eat it too. I haven't yet caught up with your newer versions, but the ones I have seen pretty much imposed as constraints on the character things that the player wouldn't want anyway, while giving them the stuff they want.
The immortality virtues tend to open the door for immortality work, they don't just give it to you out of the box, especially for the better ones. Even the Lesser Elixir requires a significant amount of work.
I don't quite call it balanced, since you dropped the Enigmatic Wisdom score and meditation requirements, aura strength and type restriction, as well as added extra benefits such as Unaging, the ability to sense auras or the wound recovery bonus.
A "solution" that effectively mandates to character to stay immured in the same limited area, or lose any effective protection vs. aging (since part of the path to get IotF requires Difficult Longevity Potion, be mindful of it) is IMO completely unacceptable. It quite writes off adventure. It may be acceptable for the Bonisagus lab rat NPC that won't leave the walls of his covenant in a century, but it's totally unacceptable for PCs. Even Living Ghosts have far more freedom of movement than that. I fear we have radically different and irreconciliable visions of this virtue.
Well, are you really sure you aren't just a bit unfair ? In the last versions, I gave characters that leave protective auras for long periods a set of progressively worse enfleeblement disadvantages, from a set of increasingly severe physical and magical flaws (which I later modified because other posters told me it was too severe) to inflicting magical starvation in the last version. That means fatigue and wound equivalent penalties to rolls and totals (cumulative with the real things) up to coma. In addition to loss of any benefit except Unaging (which I'm not going to drop, characters with this virtue do not wizen, period). If this ain't enough, I shudder in consideration of what you would deem a fair counterbalance.
Well, maybe you should catch up, before you make a judgement, really, because I made substantial revisions, and there are severe drawbacks (in addtion to loss of benefits) for prolonged leaving. No character (or player) would judge fatigue/wound penalties from magical deprivation, trivial.
Both my virtue and Lesser Elixir just ensure the character will eventually meet her demise from Final Twlight, ot violent death, not senility. It's optimization of longevity, not true immortality. For that, you need the mystery secrets that will change your essential nature away from humanity. That's something you still must work to, if you want to live forever. These stopgap, halfway virtues just ensure that you will not wizen or enfeeble, but Final Twilight remains the great equalizer. It's not that much different from having a super-efficient Longevity Ritual.
And upkeep of a Lesser Elixir doesn't require all that work.
Which is a totally meaningless ability for Bjornaer, alchemists, spirit masters, theurgists, Merinita... It's like saying alchemists would need a True Faith score to use their powers. Apples and oranges. Instead, I substituted Enigmatic Wisdom (which Criamon would have high scores in) with a week (a nice round, fixed score), after that the Stamina deprivation rolls would start. And other posters told me that at least 10 consecurtive days of "grace period" would be fair to PCs. I Thought long and hard, but no trait seemed general enough to be fair for all mages and all supernatural companions, so I made it fixed period, plus Stamina rolls. Plus. It follows the general modeal of the Deprivation rules.
Meditation was necessary for Criamon (who are immune to sleep) in order to prevent them from having utterly unbalancing extra seasons of study. My virtue does not give immunity to sleep, hence no need for meditations to balance what isn't there.
Aura strength was meaningless for Criamon also. As for type, they have full benefits in magical and mundane areas. My mages have by default full benefits in magical and faerie auras (a rather more rare combo than magic + mundane, and more difficult for travel), a limited grace period in mundane areas, which just doubles if you have multiple realm affiliations (which only a few mages have), and can be extended indefinitely only if you keep eating vis, which Criamon only have to do in high faerie auras. Both have severe problems from staying too long in the Dominion or Infernal auras. Overall, it seems rather balanced to me.
Unaging is indispensable to my vision of this virtue, these mages partially partake of the supernatural realms and hence do not wizen or get senile from age, they just get weary of the world as they exaust their lifespan, even if they leave nourishing auras and never return. This is not-negotiable. And in the present version, it's really a minor effect, it just keeps these mages looking young and physically healthy, since the present rules ensure they slip into hibernation from really prolonged absences.
As for the ability to sense auras, it made only sense to me that when aligned supernatural auras become an indispensable part of your sustenance, you can sense them. So that characters can avoid do silly things like stepping out of a nourishing aura without knowing it. And it's more limited than either Magical Sensitivity or Sense Holiness, since it only works on nourishising auras, and only when you are touching the border of the aura, and it wouldn't allow to see regiones.
However, if you are fearful that this is going to be unbalanced vs. Magic Sensitivity or Sense Unholiness, I may add a reduced magic resistance roll, just like Magic Sensitivity. Let's see, I guess that a penalty equal to the number of realm auras the character finds nourishing (and can perceive on touch) should be quite fair. Magic and Faerie sensitivity, Range Touch, limited to auras only, easy detection, magic resistance penalty, it does not allow to see regiones.
The wound recovery bit is something of an add-on, it's not necessary to my idea of the virtue, if you deem the bargain would be too good with it, I can drop it with no fuss or regret.
Following recent criticisms, I've done some additonal revision:
Changes: dropped the bonus to recovery from wounds, added rules for aura sensititivy, added penalty to magic resistance, clarified that aura sensitivity does not help detect objects, creatures, or regiones.
Supernatural Life (Major Supernatural Virtue) v 1.5
The character's life force is sustained by the power of supernatural auras. This Virtue requires The Gift or a Major Supernatural Virtue as a prerequisite, and grants all the benefits of the Unaging Virtue. You do not make an Aging roll for each year you spend in a supernatural aura that grants a bonus to the powers of the realms which you are aligned to (e.g. to a character with The Gift or Strong Faerie Blood, this means Magic and Faerie auras). You instead gain one Warping point per year. You also do not need to eat, drink, or breathe while in a mystically nourishing aura, although you may do such things if you wish. This does allow moving from one aura to another, as long as the two auras are not too distanced. Characters with Supernatural Life become instinctually aware if they are about to enter or leave a mystically nourishing area, much like normal humans may sense the presence of breathable air. Roll a simple die + Perception + Awareness, or (Realm) Lore, whichever is higher, vs. an ease factor equal to 9 – aura level, only for auras that grant you a bonus. However, this affinity makes you more susceptible to supernatural effects: subtract the sum of realms that grant you a bonus from all magic resistance rolls you make. This form of aura sensitivity does not allow you to detect objects or creatures, nor to see into regiones.
Characters with Supernatural Life become physically and magically dependent on spiritual nourishment from aligned realms; and prolonged disconnection causes them to suffer mystical starvation. After a week of separation from nourishing auras, the character begins to suffer deprivation and must make Stamina deprivation rolls every 3 days, starting at an ease factor of 3, which increases by +1 for every time period that passes. When the character fails a check, he loses the equivalent of a Fatigue level in mystical starvation. This reduces all the character’s actions (rolls and totals, including magical resistance) by the appropriate Fatigue penalty, which is cumulative with any from actual fatigue or injuries. The first failed check also brings back the need to eat, drink, and breathe. After all the equivalent fatigue levels have been lost, the next failed check results in the equivalent of a Light Wound (even if the character does not suffer any physical damage from mystical starvation, only the equivalent penalties). He also begins to age again. This “starvation wound†gets one step worse for every subsequent failed check. Beyond Incapacitated, the character falls into a deep slumber, a kind of supernatural hibernation. Supernatural starvation levels recover just like Long-Term Fatigue levels, once the character is exposed to a nourishing aura. If the character's powers or nature are aligned to more than one supernatural realm, it doubles the safe period he can spend in mundane areas (but not unaligned supernatural auras) before suffering supernatural starvation, as well as the time period between deprivation checks. Moreover, the character can venture in mundane areas and get sufficient supernatural nourishment by consuming a pawn of a vis type fit for a Longevity Ritual, every week.
This Virtue may sometimes be the result of a supernatural blessing or heritage, but it is most often initiated by mystae that include a quest for immortality in their practices. Drawing nourishment from the Dominion or Infernal auras requires to affirm one's allegiance to that realm: in Infernal areas, one has to remain in a state of mortal sin, and perform some kind of major sin every Moon duration, whereas in the Dominion the character has to avoid mortal sin, follow the basic behavior prescriptions of his religion, pray daily, and do appropriate Divine worship at least once a week.
Supernatural Life does not protect from aging effects that are caused by Warping or botches of one’s supernatural abilities; Aging or Decrepitude from other mystical sources inflict one additional Warping point. Aging rolls that are caused by overtaxing of one's body and mind (such as from unusual lab routines) generally convert into extra botch dice. A character who ages, for every length of time, during a year must make an Aging roll at the end of that year, even if the Unaging effects of the Virtue work in any case. Normal Longevity Rituals lose their effectiveness on characters with Supernatural Life. However, one may temporarily regain the protective effects of Longevity Rituals in the year when he must suffer an Aging roll from mystical starvation, by using a modified dose of his Longevity Ritual. This only works for that year, and causes one additional Warping Point. Any mage with Supernatural Life knows how to prepare the modified formula.
And HoH:MC ?
