OOC: Character Creation

Thread to discuss character creation. Rules for character creation and character ideas, etcetra.

I wanted to see what people's thoughts are on Magi ages and pre game advancement, if any.

I like the idea of a group of us fresh out of gauntlet striking out on our own. Im just wondering we wanted to do a few years out of gauntlet to shore up some weak areas? Like 1-5? Do we want the more experienced 5th ed players have up to 5 years out?

My thought with Raynard is he'd would join an established covenant straight out of gauntlet and have a bit of an ego. When a Covenant wanted him to "pay his dues" it wouldn't take long for him to break rules for better access to books etc. He would want to strike out on his own soon after, but reasonably it would take a little time before he was fed up enough to leave. For him I'm thinking two years maximum, but more like one.

Then again he is they type of character to split immediately after gauntlet, over confident and naive.

Also, I know we are not using RoP books for Magi. (I actually just had my RoP:M stolen of all things, so I am no longer help with citation). Does that extend to Magic Animal Companions and/or Familiars? I'm just concerned about how I've built Marie.

I made her to be a grog level character a while back. She's also under powered for a grog, she could have 2-3 more points in Magic qualities. She's not meant to be powerful, a story hook and possible growth into a companion character. She's also not meant to be a familiar and can't be one. You'll notice I made her characteristics like a Bjorner. This is because she's not exactly a Fox of Virtue as much as a spirit embodiment and 'cursed' Magic Spirit.

Mechanically speaking, she's a Fox of Virtue with Animal Ken that can shape change. Though she will shape change very rarely.

I've been working on her story as a main character elsewhere, but here (in this saga) she's just a story hook for Reynard.

Should I keep her as is or change her around? I can do mundane Fox and add 10 might, for instance.

I'm entirely happy with going straight after gauntlet. The weak areas every starting magus has will force us to find other magi to co-operate with, and force us to rely on companions more at the start. It's up to Emelric what power level he wants us starting at.

Marie looks OK as a magical animal companion - she doesn't have powers that will massively overshadow the companions and she's a low might, small creature so not physically super-tough.

I'm trying to keep away from crossing over with other people's characters, so I'm currently looking at a Bonisagus Herbam specialist and should be able to post it tomorrow.

I am fine with straight from the gauntlet for my character. I am also fine if someone wants to play a more experienced one too.
So far we got a Tytalus trickster, a Vertidius armor-smith and a miscellanea warrior. On the last one, I will cross mine out, no need to have two of them. Also, that one will be way antisocial , are you ok with that John?
We also seem to have a Bonisagus Herbalism master and a Merinita something or other. That leaves 2 more I think? Trogdor's and mine. Any hints on what those characters will be would help me narrow down my choices so we dont overlap.

As for companion, is everyone ok with me playing a redcap?

Let's keep the magi at the same age, and, say, 2 years past gauntlet. Please use the below xp allocation for advancing the 2 years (borrowed from Johnathan.Link's campaign). I would also like to borrow his formatting request for the character threads. You can make a new thread if needed; I'll tidy up afterward.

I have always wondered about this spell. In the Requisite section (ArM pg 114) , 4th paragraph

It seems to me that a teleport spell is the same. I realize that the text says that you need requisites but that does not seem to match the RAW. Is there an errata that I am missing?

Hmmm... on the other hand though neither Seven League Stride nor Leap of Homecoming (AM 135) have any requisites...

How much does a personal vis source (minor virtue) yield?

RAW suggests one tenth of the expected vis income of the convenant at the start of the saga, but I suspect that might be so low that I would scrap the virtue altogether.

Well what is usually expected by the book is a lot. May take a look at other pbp campaigns at their solutions. I'll probably buy Vis sources with build points, but does that go into a pool of everything for the Covenant? I'm unfamiliar with Covenant building.

I normally expect to get between one and three pawns of Vis per season from Personal Vis Source so not bad really. The Vis is yours alone so in a campaign where Vis is tough to get it can be a real boost. Also if you have a character like mine who learns from burning Vis on a regular basis (as he can't read Latin) it is a "must have"

I am fine with the anti-social scary Ex -Misc warrior for sure, that is the build.

It seems that 5ed implies that the virtue should be relative to the general vis availability, so that it should never be a major boost; it is a minor virtue after all. 3ed said four pawns/year, and I think 4ed was the same. I thought that little at the time, but if vis is scarce in general it may well be huge.

I am planning a Verditius, so yes, vis is of pretty critical essentiality.

Anyway, I need SG's opinion on this.

Give my Magi's story line if we have two years post gauntlet I would probably only burn Vis to study as he is alone with pretty much zero resources other than himself and his personal Vis source. The Covenant threat seems to be working towards a level 5 aura (assuming we are using his ruined covenant as base for the saga. How do I roll for the effect? Do I just do it myself and you trust my honesty or would you provide me with 8 1D10 rolls? Also how much Vis per season would you see Personal Vis Source providing per season. 1 per season = 40 starting Vis per year for the covenant so given the number of Magi I can't imagine it would be more than that and could be less.

Yes the virtue is 1/10th of the starting covenant Vis per year. so 40 vis per year = 4 personal vis per year or 1 per season. Can't imagine it would be more than that?

I should read more attentively. It's just 10XP per season! I can work that out myself - hehehe

The covenant decides what to do with its vis. There are boons and hooks to reflect existing covenant charters (vis right(?) and vis salary). In a PC-only covenant, the party may change the charter at any time, and generally do as they plelase, at least as long as they all agree.

Where did you get the number (40p/y) from? That's 200 build points, where a starting covenant has 0-300 to spend by Covenants 5ed.

I struggle a bit with this concept. While i can always allocated 10x4x2 = 80 xp, I don't see the story. Was he just allowed to remain in his parens' covenant and use the library for two years? Did he mysteriously find an abandoned lab in the woods to use? Was the new covenant started already two years ago? And we are already there?

I don't see a problem with a bit of overlap. At the end of the day, I do not think it matters much what you choose, other than to your own pleasure. I imagine the two most useful house stereotypes would be Jerbiton and Guernicus.

Canonically, there is a problem, as all the redcaps of Stonehenge reside at the same non-covenant squat, was it called Mercere House?

I toyed a little with an idea of a Redcap serving Loch Leglean, but with half the Scottish magi leaving on their own, with no covenant. The young Redcap wants to join a covenant, and with only three in Loch Leglean, he finds that a new one in Cumbria is pretty suitable. It is probably a bit of a stretch, but it was the best justification I could find.

I am not saying that we need to play by the canon, but we should have SG approved assumptions about how the redcaps operate. It may make a difference to the story as soon as we see a hint of Hermetic politics.

Following what JL has for house rules you could figure that you have a lab and aura of 3. Libraries don't matter in that you get 10XP per season. No virtues some into play. Study vis = 10xp. read a book 10 xp. go on an adventure? 10 xp.

I am going to assume that the Mystery cult members can't get initiated in a secret in the 2 years. Correct?