I would definitly have a ferret if from Thebes. But this guy doesnt have the philosophiae to know better. If I can bind a ferret with ignem, I will. Otherwise I think it's the golden eagle.
I think an eagle is more Flamebeau type familiar
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Thank you both, I will adjust the character accordingly.
Yah, but ferrets are domesticated and easy to come by. Polecats are easier to catch and have as a pet, that and they don't wreck books turning pages lol.
I think it may be easier to find a small dragon than buy a Golden Eagle, heh. It would be like trying to buy a war horse.
But you can't familiar a non-magic animal. Makes friends with a magic animal. make animal familiar.
A mundane familiar doesn't have an xp restriction and can learn on their own. Something like a ferret can turn pages on their own and so one season of teaching Artes Liberales and Magic Theory is all they need before studying. They're also smart enough not to completely suck. A crow or a fox would be great too, but the latter is easily killed. I would argue a crow should have a 2 or 3 cunning or human intelligence.
A crow, ferret, or eagle can be with the character and then hide or escape much easier in a conflict. Having no might is actually an advantage in some cases.
I don't really view mundane animals as having much of a Technique and Form alignment. Not using Animal or Vim means not getting a bonus when Enchanting the bond with useful things like speech or shape changing. But if he needs an eagle, then he needs an eagle.
I also don't see getting a magical familiar off camera as being allowed either, I generally wouldn't without a story unless we were advancing characters decades. But that's me.
I may need to switch him to a bonisagus or ex miscellanea because the Puissant Ignem is over the top. I could wait for a familiar and make a talisman instead.
I'll have to look at stats and see about the Pine Martin, what's available etc. Weasels are super small compared to the Pine Martin, which is about the size of a cat. Polecats are listed as -5, but I would think -5 for a ferret, -4 for polecat, and a -3 for Pine Martin.
At the start of the saga, magi can bring the following with them when they travel to the site of the new covenant:
- 60 BP of Summae, Tractatus, Lab Texts, and Casting Tablets (see rules on pg. 71 of core rules for the 1st three, Casting Tablets cost 2 BP per 5 levels)
- 10 pawns of vis (any Art) + what you have left over from the 2 years of advancement post Gauntlet
Assume that you'll be able to cobble together enough money to feed everyone in the group for 1 year.
Is there anything else that you'd like your magi to bring? I'm open to suggestions.
Do we bring any staff of any sort? (Grogs, labourers, servants, whatever)
I am thinking of maxing out with two Summæ, but I have not decided on the arts. Being a generalist, everything is of interest; I just want to avoid duplication. What are others planning?
I am likely to take Perdo and Intellego around level 15 if nobody else does. Say level 15, quality 16, for 30 bp each.
I wont be taking any art suma or tractus. Instead I am looking into abilities and lab tax.
I still have not answers to some of my questions, but I will post the draft of my magus soon. I will not be taking those two years time after Gauntlet, instead lets just say my magus had time traveling spent. I suspect I will have to do major tweaking.
All of this may be true but what is stated in RAW is that the animal has inherit magic. It may have a might score or not.
I don't think the rules are very well thought through on this account. In ArM3-4 a plain, mundane animal was permissible, but AFAIR, it was a requirement to befriend the animal without any kind of coercion. How on Earth do you do that under the curse of the Gift?
Assuming a magical animal of some sort, a free friendship with a gifted character may be justified.
However, if your character has the gentle Gift, why could he not befriend a plain, mundane creature and bind it as a familiar?
One way or the other, I think that familiars should be the result of adventuring over some period of time, not down-time mechanics.
Most beast of legend have a Magic ability, when I say mundane I'm saying no Magic might. Like the weasel in question can cure poison, regular crows have second Sight, etcetra. Or I can have a dragon. I mean if we're nitpicking over mundane familiars one can buy as a pet, I'll start with a dragon, cool? You befriend a mundane animal the same way as one with Might, except the mundane one likes you.
No intelligent animal with Might loses its immortality for nothing. Based upon that I'd argue only retarded Magic Might creatures can be bound Without a long arduous quest, instead of the customary one easy season passed. Seriously, that alone says that mundane animals are bound more than Magic ones. ArM assumes you're binding animals that live longer, not shorter, when you bind them.
So do I get a mundane animal or a dragon, those are the options as I see it. We could pass two years and no Magic Eagle is going to get close enough for him to ask and get laughed at. Anyone one that is selling a mundane eagle is selling it to noble born.
So now we are all on the same page as to the difficulty involved and why he'd start looking for other animals. Over the course of a year or so, he will occasionally look to see if there is a ferret or Pine Martin that doesn't do the normal hiss and bite. If there is, he'd like to make it his pet. Or just buy one. I mean if it's so hard, no one has familiars especially Magic ones that used to be immortal.
Like seriously, am I allowed to play? If so why won't you stop nitpicking over lame crap?
My first character was rejected for having Virtue out of RoP:M, the variant of Mythic Blood. The same darn Virtue we needed to do the Not a Lycanthrope lycanthrope for Reynard.
Make up your minds and stop harassing. Either tell me I'm not allowed to play or stop nitpicking. I've made 3 characters. Pick one. Nearly a month. You can't comment or give feedback in that time? Just the all caps crap fest and quibbling over basics, but you have to argue because it's me?
I mean I copied a character out of the book and you're harassing me on the first thing I ask, a non-Magic pet ferret. Like wtf.
Be glad I'm not the one that asked for some Vis for items, we'd all end up owning Vis for the trouble.
Excuse me. Whom are you addressing here?
Emelric, who has not commented, but who would be in the position to say what you may or may not play?
Or the rest of us, who are merely trying to make sense of the rules, without any intention of making decisions about your character?
We all start the game with different assumption as to what will be the focus of the saga, what the mythic Europe will be like, the frequency of magic animals, exactly how a mundane creatures reacts to the Gift, what stats a given animal is likely to have, etc. Voicing this assumptions has nothing to do with your character. We voice them because we want to understand eachother's take on the world. At the end of the day, Emelric has to sort out what assumptions are valid or not, because they need to be compatible with the story he has planned.
Jebrick crapping on characters in all caps at large size isn't a discussion about differing assumptions. Flat out saying "you can't do that" isn't a discussion. The word choices used are confrontational. Two characters I'm not playing over nitpicking with no discussion, by a guy who's character has 2 story flaws.
Now I have a character that will skew all encounters. Either he solos it or it's too powerful for you guys to handle. But he's right out of the book. Hopefully it will be fun based on his flaws and on role play. I'll stop trying to make interesting characters. I just want to play and have something to do.
I'm allowed to spend the build points on books I choose? Or do I need a council meeting and approval?
Please read what I wrote. «it seems to me» and «I think it makes ...». If that comes across as confrontational, I am sorry, but I don't think I can say anything without upsetting you. If you have any suggestions for unconfrontational wordings, please share.
Now, Emelric decided that each player allocates some build points, and I do what I am told. I can play by his rules, even when I find them odd, and even if I would have done it differently if I were SG. It is not a big deal.
Emelric has only asked us as players to allocate build points. That does not imply that the resources belong to our magi, and thus it is not really related to the discussion you quoted. We have only been asked to spend build points on vis and books which are easily and naturally pooled when the magi meet, and the question of how it is spent remains open for the council. The council cannot usually choose the books for the library, that's decided (mainly) by external circumstances which can only be resolved out of character. The council can, in contrast, decide how they be used.
Simply put, a player decision can't be put to the covenant council, but PC decisions may. I hope we shall never debate build points or xp in character 
I did read what you wrote. When I mentioned the desire to, if we had build points to freely spend. Repeat IF. Then I would likely spend on Vis sources. To which you got on about how they are Covenant resources and it's highly unusual etcetera.
So apply what you said about my hypothetical to yourself. The library is the Covenant's by your own logic every thing you get should be approved in council just like everything I would want to buy. I don't understand why you and Jebrick need to be like this.
ok, I bring books and you'll sell them, right? Because I don't decide what to do with my points? Yours aren't yours then either? Or again this is one way?
So I ask, as it's legitimate question since you two have to argue with everything, can I spend the build points on books I wish or do I need you and Jebrick's approval?
How about you tell me what I bring since you guys gotta argue with everything.
Please, distinguish between what Magnus, my magus, gets to do/spend/use, and what I, loke, as a player, gets to decide.
Emelric has said that every player gets to decide on the allocation of 60 bp on books and texts. He has not said anything about what happens to those books when the saga starts. I assume that they will go into the covenant library one way or another, but I do not know until Emelric announces how to play it.
If he had asked us to include vis sources in this allocation, I would have made the same assumption. I.e. they be covenant sources, and not personal sources belonging to the magus, unless he explicitly said otherwise.
Of course, you can decide what to do with your build points, as a player. Then, if Emelric decides that the books belong to the covenant, the council of magi, in character, decides what to do with them; sell them or burn them, or whatever. Even if the individual magi bring the resources as a matter of background story, the books and 10p of vis may be a reasonable entry fee to join the covenant. Let's wait and see how Emelric plays it.
You'll need Emelric's approval. Obviously. Mine would be purely advisory, so please don't read more into it.