A few questions and suggestions before play beings:
I see arya imported her laetitia character from Bibracte over here. This confuses me, as I was under the impression that we could only be at most 10 years out of gauntlet. Am I wrong? Is she? What age are we supposed to be?
For initiation before play, if I follow an existing script and apply it, is it okay?
Reminded by the recent Aegis thread, I'd really like a "Might Soak" rule to be in effect, in order to limit the effectiveness of Might-Strippers, especially multicast ones. It also tends to make containment/wards less puny than destruction. I'd suggest we base it on (might/5) times a mod
As a reminder:
Assuming a ward and a might stripper of equal strenght:
It takes one casting to ward against a creature, assuming you have a circle ready... Which is moot, since this require preparation.
It takes 2 castings to destroy a creature under the core rules (1 round to empty might pool, another to destroy might score)
It takes 3 castings to destroy it if it has a soak of Might/5.
It takes 4 castings to destroy it if it has a soak of 2*Might/5.
It takes 5 castings to destroy it if it has a soak of 3*Might/5.
Play preferences may vary, but I'd suggest at least a 2*(Might*5) soak against might strippers.
BTW, you might also want to adopt my multicast HR:
Just thinking outloud re: multicast. I think it's broken. I think, given the fact that there are other mastery abilities (quick and precise) that can be taken more than one time, I think an easier method is to just allow multiple casting to be taken as many times as desired, but leave the spell's power intact.
For example, Marcus of Tytalus, I find it somewhat ridiculous that he can multicast 6 PoF, just because he has multicasting once, but a spell mastery score of 5. I think his being able to multicast 2 is reasonable. I like picking multiple casting more than once, because it really forces a character to choose between finesse and brute strength. And finesse, in this context, doesn't mean the ability finesse.
Alternatively, divide the mastery score by two, if the caster has multiple casting and round it, but always allowing at least one copy if multiple casting is selected. For example, with Marcus, and a mastery score of 5 and the multiple casting, and the Bibracte rounding rule to make it an even number, he could cast 2 copies. Both options have their merits. The first option tones down multicasting and makes spell mastery a bigger XP sink. The second option still tones it down, but it isn't as such a big XP sink.
Don't get me wrong, I like The Fixer's might stripper enhancements, too. The multicasting thing has been one of those things I've been ruminating on for a while. The idea that Marcus can flink of 6 PoF or BoAF at a squad of men is truly frightening and devastating. I can only imagine the morale hit for a mundane group of men should that ever happen. With 3, I think there's a chance, a slim chance, of holding the group together. wWth 6, I'd say not a chance... YSMV.
Edited: due to a fat finger of typing "he would cast 3 copies" changed it to two copies.
I think that's a decent idea for balancing Mult-Casting. It's similar to the Verditius mystery of enchanting casting tools. One of the effects allows for multi-cast, but you have to pay for each cast separately and has a fixed amount. Having it as a fixed amount (1 cast per time taken rather than per point in Mastery) works well IMO, plus of course you still get the benefits of the Mastery score.
I'm taking a Verditius btw, a bit of a lab rat, a generalist as far as magic is concerned.
I like the idea of multicasting based on the number of multicast abilities taken, rather than the mastery score. There's too few mastery abilities in the RAW, and being able to take one multiple times helps address that.
Except for certain types of foes, might strippers and might containers are the only things that can harm them or kill them. incorporeal beings might skill be killed by might strippers.
As for me, I will have a Bonisagus Mind twister/Mind reader expert with a little thievery and sticky fingers.
I let her bring in Laetitia because she's already an established presence in the covenant and is directly ported over from the other saga. If there's consensus concern that Laetitia might be overly powerful or overshadowing, I'll work with her to lower the level some.
But yeah, new characters should be ≤ 10 years post-gauntlet
I don't see why not.
Sounds like there's support for the Might Soak rule. How does "All creatures with a Might Score have an effective Might Soak score equal to (Might Score/2) which only affects spells, powers, etc. which target their Might"?
So, if I multi-cast Pilum of Fire at some jabroni, and get it off three times, he doesn't get hit with three pilums each doing +15 damage, but instead with one pilum that does +25?
What if the number of extra spells you could cast was your mastery score? e.g. with one Mastery with Multi-casting, you could cast two PoF? I always thought it odd that you could put five (or, with Flawless Magic, no) points into Multi-casting and still be able to cast four or five copies a round. I'd have to look at the Mastery options and see what would be affected by this.
I think we should leave multicasting alone for spell effects: I cast 2 pilums of fire:
If they are two different targets it is +15 damage to each but at only one target, it would be +20 damage? I don't like it.
What I would do is turn multicasting into a repeated multiplier like precise or quick casting. So If you master a spell to level 4: multicast, penetration, precise x2, when you cast it, you cast it twice (once normal and once for the single level of multi-cast). If you want to have 3 or 4 copies then you need to master it with multicast 2 or 3 times (and don't get the others). I think the same should apply to penetration. You want 2 or 3 to your penetration, you take penetration 2 or 3 times, not just once.
If it matters, my goal is to have Laetitia train one of her daughters as an apprentice, who will then become my character, while the mater wanders off to Magvillus or some such.
I did make one change-- I swapped Venus' Blessing for Puissant Intellego, because having to make my characters flirt is really hard. I am terrible at flirting in real life, notorious for saying shit like "You're intelligent and well-read enough that it mostly makes up for your physical appearance" (which, yes, I had actually intended as a compliment.... Facepalm).
I think Might Soak is a horrible idea which would make even minor demons/faeries/ghosts horribly overpowered. Combined with 5th ed's penetration rules, Might Soak based on might score is unbalanced and broken. A Might 40 demon with 20 Soak vs Might stripping would be absolutely unstoppable, PERIOD, as opposed to the formidable and frightening but still manageable opponent that a Might 40 demon is according to standard rules.
If Fixer's problem is with multicast Might stripping spells, I'll pick a different mastery ability. Just please don't house rule in something that will give us good reason never to leave our Aegis. Let alone the roleplay implications-- if every Might 10 Faerie could whoop a junior magus' arse, there's no way the Code would prohibit molesting the fae; the Order would specialize and then wipe them out entirely.
This is RAW now.
Mastery of 1, with the Multiple casting selection allows 2 spells
Mastery of 5 with 1 single multiple casting selection and 4 of something else allows 6 spells
I think multiple casting either needs to be divided, or selected multiple times. I think either of those changes would minimize the effect of might stripping spells...
I'm not sure what strong P is? I think Rigid magic is a heinous flaw. And how do you plan on reconciling hubris with humility?
From a player contract perspective, I'd like to see parity. So make the daughter 10 years PG, and Laetitia can always be lurking in the background and put in apperances now and again. Characters generated by Bibracte's rules are 4 times more experienced (unadjusted by affinities or other xp multipliers) than the maximum aged character for everyone else. And if anyone takes time out to create something during chargen, the penalty is much more severe by RAW, as an overall percentage of XP.
I don't mind Arya's character's power. It's mostly intellego, and that's good for us all.
I also like the mind-reading bonisagus - erasing memories and restarting dialogues until the storyguide gave up was a favorite tactic of a retired character of mine (poor storyguide!)
Oh, and skilled parens was my missing virtue. And I'll make an attempt at the Verditius.
Humble means - no initiation.
It won't be the strongest character ever - but flexible and odd.
Refresh my memory – does Laetitia already have kids (before the newborn/toddlers she's bringing with her), or are these her first?
I was actually looking forward to Laetitia flirting/hitting on Wilhelm, and seeing her reaction if/when she figured it out.
I'm actually not well-versed enough with the rules to feel confident tinkering with them unless there's a clear need (in other words, I'm leery of house-ruling stuff unless I'm sure I know what I'm doing), and it sounds like there might not be one with the might-stripping rule. So I'm inclined to go with the raw, at least for now. Still undecided about the having the mastery more focused than it is now.
Also: don't forget, each magus/companion's character creation discussion stuff should go into its own thread.
Just throwing in my 2 cents, it will almost guarantee issues if one player is so much further along in power. Laetitia as an NPC, sure, but as a regular PC could overshadow others. Laetitia's filia would be a fine story addition also.
Can't seem to find this Shape/Material bonus, what would an anvil provide? I checked the Atlas website resources but it didn't have an anvil. I have that specced as base metal (5) and medium size, (X3) for 15 pawns to open.
Seems fair. With his Philosophiae he only needs to get a little bit more to have the full bonus of magic theory twice. Trying to make an item that could provide benefits and features in the lab, plus any Verditus lab needs a forge and anvil. Right now I have it going with a Phantom Blacksmith spell from the Covenants book for 3 pawns. What might be some other decent effects? I'm thinking an effect to heat metal or glass perhaps.
JeanMichelle: a Verditius with a focus on statues and statuettes.
LadyPhoenix: a Jedi (or is she Sith?) Mentem specialist.
darkwing: to be determined
The Fixer: to be determined
Plus, we have the established npcs: Drystan (a nature Merinita who is something of a Wilderist), Ion (a Bjornaer who fears she may be stuck in human form), and Doineann (the ex Misc weather witch).
As a reminder: darkwing, Jonathan.Link, qcipher, ladyphoenix, and JeanMichelle all have threads for their character-building discussions - feel free to rename them.
And Arya, if you want some help depowering Laetitia, I have her on MetaCreator - feel free to hit me up on yahoo or aim and we can work on it. Just send me a pm so we can schedule a time.
I am still working 7day weeks and 10-12 hour days, and would have no internetz time if not for my iPhone. I am unlikely to have any chat time, unless it's text.
If you want to just pop out a version you think looks about right, as long as we have some way that it makes sense in the context of the character already being established in the world with certain spell knowledges she cannot have at 10yrs PG, it's fine with me.
The big thing that unnecessarily bumped up her age was getting her to be able to learn Leap of Homecoming. She can probably be dropped quite a few years just with her Rego dropped to 5 and losing LotH.
