OOC Discussion

Posting will be spotty for the next couple of weeks. We're moving a lot of our equipment here to a new site, and it will be a while before I have time and energy to finish characters.

Just a heads up, aunguard10 expressed interest in the saga on the GMs looking for players thread. Adauli and I have said it's fine by us if he joins, though we might not be able to wait for him to finish his character before we start. Feel free to drop by the thread and express your opinion.

Since we were planning on five magi to begin with, it doesn't seem problematic to me to add a new fifth. He says he's familiar with the system and is willing to join in the SG rotation.

Then I mention it here also again: I'm also quite busy in RL at moment so that I doubt I can continue to work on my characters this and probably at last next week. At last I can check the forum once or twice a day.

I notice there is a dryad grog. Was planning on making my maga with magic blood, her mother being a dryad. Was working on the back story this morning as to why her sister, a branch cut from her mother before she died, was in her care. Is that conflicting?

The maga was going to be a minor focus in "maturation" ... fruiting if you will for corpus, herbam mentem? Something to do with the harvest. Fertility applied across a few forms?

I hadn't worked that quite out. Her nature lore for Merinita initiation I was researching to see what would encompass grape vines, olive trees, fig, anise etc.

I don't see that it would necessarily be conflicting. There are many dryads out there. It doesn't seem impossible that we'd have a connection with two of them.

Just as an FYI, and the others can correct me if I'm wrong, but I was thinking that this saga would have a more mundane focus, looking at the intersection between the magical and the mundane worlds and how the two might begin to overlap and mesh together. I don't expect it to be a "high fantasy" game where talking animals would not be remarked upon. I guess I'm trying to caution that there may not be many stories catered to a cat companion.

Definitely

I was debating taking the delusional flaw. He just thinks of himself as being royalty, like most cats, just a bit more since he's a cat of virtue.

With the Judged Unfairly flaw, he is a bit annoyed that the proletariat don't venerate his honorable duty of protecting parts of the city/farmlands from the supernatural.

I could forgo gift of speech as well. His temperament around humans is skittish and timid at best, so if he had gift of speech it wouldn't be used around mundanes. Possible to split the difference with a personal power with an inferiority that requires familiarity?

My stork also has the gift os speech- sort of necessary if they might do things like instruct apprentices. However it is hoped that they have the discretion not to speak in front of those who aren't already aware of the "high magic" elements of the world.

A ssilveroak said, we'll have magical animals with the power of speech, so that's not an issue.

On a side note. I've used my copious free time to work up a wiki for the game: houseofmercy.wikidot.com/

It's still very much a work in progress, but it has some useful info on it.

Because we have powerful animal familiar (companion level up to might 20 or 25 if I remember right) I think a normal magic animal Companion becomes a bit on the replaceable side.
Also a player cat companion might have some problems with the main theme of this saga, the integrating of the Hermetic world of the Thebes Tribunal into the mundane world.
As soon there social interaction with adault humans of the city what I suspect will be regular in our campain a cat companion unless it can turn it self into a human will stay on the sideline.
Beside that might will prevent you to enter a Aegis and so you need a token to enter the regio with our labs what might need a reason why our magus give one to your companion.
(Just to note I'm not against you playing one I just want you to be aware that with your magic animal companion you might draw the sort stick in my opinion and be forced to play a grog or magus more often)

I thought we said 20, but I may be misremembering.

That was my concern too. I can't guarantee that there will be a whole lot of stories that cater to a cat.

I wouldn't think that would be a problem. I'd be happy to say that he's a regular member of the covenant or a friend of the covenant (assuming he can talk to us). All the other companions will be friends of or part of the covenant. Why not the cat?

Btw, if you send in an application to join the wiki, please send me PM or post here (probably a PM is best since I need your email address. If you just go through the wiki, it might be delayed, since the wiki is registered with an email address I don't check all that often.

Oh, and I put a link to the wiki on the first post in the Covenant information thread.

Ok, will do.

I need to post my Maga later today as well.

Maximus I didn't originally create for the saga here, I was thinking to fit him in would be my Maga's friend and potential familiar. Though as I originally created him he wouldn't allow himself to be bound.

The original idea for the character was he was a pet of a magus that had succumbed to final twilight. Dark secret it was demonic influence and Max defended himself when the Magus went mad. Subsequently found a space with the covenant by warding and being knowledgeable about various things. With out the intention of being a part of stories that take place outside of the covenant and surrounding area. He was basically a storytelling device to introduce various plots in a campaign that never took off.

I hadn't quite ironed out him fitting in here. Either he's a pet of my Maga, Phoebe, or a stray in the city that would take interest as he feels he has a duty to protect the mundanes he views are under his watch. Both would be fun to play, but it's up to you guys if you would want to role play an intro or just write it in as his origin with the covenant. Maybe he isn't a part of the covenant at first, but seems to always be around when spirits are restless.

My Maga could find him in their back story and he could be eyes and ears while she's off doing whatever. He wouldn't be much help in a lab, unless laying on important things, getting fur everywhere, and whining for attention is help. :0)

I agree though as far as stories are concerned he wouldn't be much of a part of many.

I'm perfectly willing to work the cat into back stories and say that he's a "part" of the covenant - pet, familiar, what have you.Bit given the goal of the covenant to protect the city, having an overprotective cat doesn't seem so out of place.

Another player asked to join the game, in the GM's looking for players section. I've asked him to come here.

Ah. Been juggling a bunch of Ex Miscellanea ideas, but I haven't actually pinned down anything I specifically want to play yet. Partially struggling with the Immunity virtues. Would an immunity to blood loss be a valid Greater Immunity? What about to non-ferrous weapons? Is poison lesser or greater? Does an immunity to illusions even make sense?

I feel you, redone my Maga at least 3 times here. I can't help you with immunity much, maybe go off the "form bonuses" you get for score in forms for ideas? Like ignem, aside from magic resistance is gives soak vs heat and cold. Aurum vs suffocation and lightning.

When you consider fire resistance is immunity, for the most part, an entire form... should put it into perspective. Also the Major and minor foci can be good inspiration to propose to the troupe.

I'm a bit new here, but Trogdor understands a lot of the desire of the troupe and is on a lot. But I find it's more of a 'come up with something see if its kosher' approach. Personally I think immunity poison is a minor. I mean unaging is minor, aging is a minor focus, and a social character that never visibly ages is huge. No where close to immunity fire though, that's my comparison for major.

For character concepts I love design, so may be able to help there.

I was toying with a "muse" mystery cult idea, think I'm going to try to make my own cult, in game though. Also an Atlantian Storm elementalist idea, take Elementalism as major, atlantean Magic as Minor and chaotic magic major.

I'm trying a sort of agricultural human centered fertility Maga. Trogdor is doing an alchemy numerology guy. Both of us have creo corpus... I can't wait until we try to talk about things because our paradigms are so very different.

Also remember we are doing troupe style so you'll story tell once :smiling_imp:

I mention it because I've been intentionally stearing my character concept in a direction she won't be interested in the plot I run.

Most off our Magus are Creo Corpus focused ^^

That seems a bit of a stretch. Does that mean that if all the blood is drained from your body, you still keep going? All the other immunities described prevent a thing from happening (stop you from getting sick, stop you from being harmed by something). It would be strange to have an immunity that takes effect after the harm was done.

One example given is iron (and only iron) weapons. It seems that expanding that to non-ferrous metals would be going against the spirit of the virtue.

Realistically, being immune to all poisons would probably be a greater immunity since poisons are potentially deadly. Lesser Immunity is to things that aren't potentially deadly; and Greater Immunity is to things that are potentially deadly. I suppose you could make it lesser and say it only applied to non-lethal poisons. (Though really, poison as a threat is likely to be so rare that making it a minor virtue wouldn't be terrible.)

I don't think so. The description talks about an immunity to one "hazard." I don't see illusions as a hazard.

Sorry to be so negative but I took the interpretations one-by-one and just went with where I thought the rules took me.