Cool. You'll cast the spell spontaneously, I assume? From the spell index, I can see a spell named Rough Hewn Servant (ReHe 10) from ToME (which I don't have), so this may be the spell you are referring to. Or is this something else?
Just give the the broad outline of what you want him to do and I'll assign SQ and/or amounts of vis based on that. You'll probably want to spend a couple of season working on gathering resources -- such as by extracting vis from an aura, working for a covenant scribing texts, etc. This will shape the resources you brought to the covenant, and will give you xp as well, based on exactly what you do.
This will follow the low-resource approach of the saga, but I'll try to balance it so that advancement is similar to what you'll be able to achieve once the new covenant has been formed. This may end up being less than the 30 xp per year, although the learning of spells should be a bit easier (and you'll get exposure xp as well).
We can do this season by season and work into that the when and how you got into touch with the other magi of the soon-to-be-formed covenant.
Ok, I will try to post an outline by sunday (late night) or saturday. I wil, assume that I am resuding in a summer covenant, so ok resources but not awesomne texts or anything like that.
Ok, assuming a +0 lab and an aura of 5 for the covenant or covenanrts where I am residing, I will try to do this.
Learn Aegis of the Hearth at level 20. Lab total 23 (aura 5)
[strike]2. Learn Ritual Communion (sun duration) at level 20. Since it is Sun duration, the effect generated by the spell is only +10, so we need 4 magi casting the spell for it to work on the Aegis (+10*4 = 40 = double the level of the Aegis). Fortunately, there are 4 of us but it means that we all must be available to cast it.[/strike]
As suggested by Jonathan Link, practice Aegis of the Hearth and get a Mastery of 1. That increases penetration by 3 points (+1 mastery, +1 penetration +1 penetration specialization) so it might start to be less abysmal. I can have a grand total of penetration 14 using this (avg roll of 6, aura 5). It suchs, but I do not need to tie down the efforts of my companions to achieve this result.
Copy spells, if allowed. I can copy up to 120 levels (scribe (copying) 1, for an effective level of 2). I would like to copy the following spells from the core book (or variants).
Agony of the Beast (PeAn15) Useful to deal with all sorts of animals, so it can be really good for sea exploring
Soothe the Ferocious Boar (ReAn10)
Break the Oncoming Wave (ReAq10)
Sailor’s Foretaste of the Morrow (IntAu20)
Spasms of the Uncontrolled Hand (ReCo5)
Prying Eyes (IntIm5)
[strike]- Aura of Ennobled Presence (MuIm10) always useful, I think nobody has it[/strike]
Trust of Childlike Faith (PeMe10) IMO the best spell in Ars Magica for player characters
Supple Iron and Rigid Rope (MuTe10) Very useful for item manipulation
Rock of Viscid Clay (MUTe15)
[strike]- Scales of the Magical Weight (InVi5)[/strike]
Sense the Nature of Vis (InVi5)
(suggestions appreciated, I can centre in level 15-20 spells if you prefer). I assume that he would do this after the tribunal, so he would have a more or less clear idea on what to copy according to the needs of his covenant and newfound allies. He can do this for a second season if allowed and desired by the covenant members.
Quercus would try to get a scribe to write down spells for him if possible, since this way he would be able to get a lot more spells (300 levels for a scribe 5 dude). Dunno if that is an option. He can act as a lab assistant for a magus or distill vis, or run errands for the covenant to get this done. In this case I would like to get a few more spell levels for his efforts.
EDIT: Scales of Magical Wright and Aura of Ennobled Presence are already present in the spell books of the covenants magi, so I appreciate suggestions to substitute for them. other suggestions 100% welcome as well.
Secure money, lots of money. he will probably do that by distilling vis. He can distill 4 pawns of VIm vis in a season (lab total: CrVi 20) so it should be enough to grant him quite a few pounds of silver. This is very important to Quercus.
Secure lab equipment for the covenant. At least material for at least 2 labs at standard quality or 3 labs at -1. He already assumes that during the starting times the labs will be shared. He will try to use vis and money to get this.
Secure a knarr for use by the covenant, and a minimum crew of 4 to man it, including the pilot. It would be preferable if the crew members are OK about working with magi, even if they distrust them. Silver goes a long way to turn distrust into mild dislike. A knarr is a clinker-built ship common in the area, and has a cargo capacity of 24 tons. It can be maned by few people, so it is OK for starters, even if he plans to have bigger ships in the future. He will give the ship the cheesy name of Freedom Carrier, just because he is like this :mrgreen: Same as above: use money and vis to get this.
The Knarr is not as important as the other mundane resources (money and lab equipment), so he will pass over it and just secure passage for them all if it is OK.
7 & 8. Copy tractatus (plural) on Magic Theory, or Summae on Magic Theory of level 5 at least. I can copy 1 tractatus per season, or 8 Summa levels. I will copy fast if that does not detract heavily on the quality. That gives me 24 levels towards the summae. If he can, he wants to be able to get books on the Hermetic Arts as well. Roots and Branches would be perfectly OK. I assume that the available roots and branches are L5 Q15 books, or Q15 tractatus. All Arts welcome as long as he can get his hands on them. I am going for Roots and Branches since I suppose these will be the only books more or less freely allowed to be copied. It takes him 2 seasons to copy a root/branch book. I would prefer to pay a scribe to write those, and pay in vis extraction and the like, since this is much more efficient, but dunno if scribes are allowed to copy hermetic books in the current saga, so I will err on the side of caution here. If they are cheaper (like in 2x1 price over roots), he might try to go after tractatus of quality 8-11 instead.
As with the spells, I assume he will try to secure books on the areas that his covenant mates favor, If he has to do that without knowing it, can choose he will try to get them in Intellego, Rego, Perdo, Vim, Animal and Aquam for starters.
All in all, 8 activities listed. Not all of them require a whole season (securing resources could be achieved in less time). I can list more lab activities if you fancy. I give priority to secure mundane resources and copy books over inventing spells and getting a knarr. Some activities might be repeated to get these results, like copying books, copying spells, acting as a lab [strike]slave[/strike] helper or distilling vis to get leverage. I can see him distilling vis like a madman to get these end results, and developing quite a dislike for it... If he can get a +1 lab he would be able to get 5 pawns of vis per season. Maybe he can increase Vim to 4 via exposure and start getting 5 pawns per season instead of 4.
Can't you cast the Aegis all by yourself ? My magus for one does not have the Arts to learn a level 20 Ritual Communion. Well, perhaps if another magus acts as lab assistant for a season.
I can. However, it will have abysmal penetration. Abysmal meaning a penetration total of 12 assuming an aura of 5, a roll of 6 in the die and use of Ceremonial casting (+6). If we want to have an effective aegis I need you all to concentrate in learning the spell once I write it down for you If the troupe considers that the penetration 12 is enough (I do not :mrgreen: ) we can pass over the last biut until something nasty takes a stroll through our courtyard.
I just noticed that Aura of Ennobled Presence and Sense the Nature of Vis are already part of the members of the covenant, so there are 15 spell levels to reassign if anyone has suggestions. All the spells listed in the wannabe copy list are suggestions, so feel free to suggest changes for the others as well. Any spell you are interested in is a strong option to appear on the list, since I made it on the fly perusing through thre core book and thinking "ah, this is good"
It's a ritual spell, it uses Ritual casting, always, not ceremonial casting if you feel like it Or did you mean Confidence ? And Penetration 12 isn't so bad, anything over 20 would be wasted anyway, at least with that level of Aegis. We're a new covenant, we can't be too picky.
Anyway, I'm quite ready to learn Ritual Communion, but I'll have to study some first. Pytheas starts fresh out of Gauntlet, and he was apprenticed early, so he is a bit on the weak side. Plus my Cyclic Magic penalizes my Lab Totals, at least until I can find a weird regio where the tide keeps rising for three straight months at a time (I can dream !)
Ah yeah. No ceremonial casting, true. Tabletop house rules interfering here.
Then my awesome casting total drops to 7 + confidence. :mrgreen: Now, THAT is a barrier!
Well, it's not ceremonial casting, but Ritual Magic does get the benefit of Artes Liberales and Philosophiae.
Altering one of the specializations for AL or Philo could be an easy way to add another point of penetration. If you can get to 10 penetration, you can keep a lot of ankle-biters out of the covenant.
Ah, true. I was not that mistaken then. I have a grand total of penetration 11, then. I can rise it up to 13 if I specialize both in ritual casting. I wil, specialize AL in it. Thanks for the pointer. I am certainly not the maths expert in my troupe, even if I tend to be alpha SG
Also, if you take one of those seasons and practice Aegis, instead of learning a spell, you can get a Mastery Ability. Take Penetration, and you can add another 3 to your penetration. +1 for the Mastery Ability +1 for the Penetration Score +1 for The specialty.
And you reduce the botch chance quite a bit... This is actually pretty important in a resource limited saga, if and when you can eliminate botch dice a 0 is just a 0, and it doesn't mean Vis is wasted.
Remember that this is a low-resource saga, and that the Order has calcified. Senior magi control the privileges it grants to junior magi. If you want something, you need to pay for that. You may choose to have some of the things you acquire/do explained through favours from a friend or your pater. In which case, you will have less "goodwill" to call upon once the saga starts. Otherwise, you need to pay for each of them, usually through time.
If you are residing at a covenant and want access to their library, you need to provide services to them. Up-front. So, when you arrive at that covenant (which you may want to either select from one of the existing one, or invent out of thin air if you prefer), you need to negociate the fee and the specific accesses you'd like (library, lab, something else).
A standard year of residence costs you 3 pawns of vis or a season of service. Access to a laboratory adds one pawn per season. Access to the basic parth of the library for study is another pawn per season. Copying lab texts will need to be negociated on a case-by-case basis. Same for the copying of low-level summae and some tractatus (and you won't know the level and quality beforehand). Copying of high-value summae are impossible. Access to them is negociated on a case-by-case basis.
So, shall we start anew? You arrive at a covenant and ask to be hosted as peregrinator. What do you offer as payment for them receiving you? They give you a choice of 3 pawns of vis or one season of service. They will offer you a lab for free if you choose to extract vis as payment.
Another option is to spend one season hunting for raw vis before going to a covenant, if you prefer. In which case, give me some idea of where you go and how you'd like to proceed. This will be the equivalent of having participated in a story. Experience will be acquired based on that, as will raw vis found. It also runs the risk of failure (no vis found), although that is an extreme case. But the yield for a season won't be that great (something like 1 to 5 pawns per season).
EDIT: You can also offer specific services to the covenant, like copying of texts or acting as a lab assistant.
Well, it might have been better if I knew all that when you asked me to post my plans. I would have written it differently. Still, I do not lknow what type of price I will have to pay for books, lab materials or lab texts.
Given that, I will work to get vis or service in exchange for (in this order) a text on Aegis, mundane resources, books (roots and branches) and texts on magic theory. The mundane resources and vim vis will be used to get me the lab equipment. I will do whatever they ask me to. I plan to get at least 4 XP in exposure in my Vim. In the end I did not use a lab except for extracting vis, so no biggie on the aura. I can get 4 pawns even in level 1 auras.
So, reviewing what I did. I will get a contact Triamore for the foillowing stuff:
1 season of service. I will offer vis extraction as my payment, but can offer other services like lab assistance if they prefer that. I am not above any collaborative effort. I spend the first season doing whatever they want, bu I assume vis extraction.
As a sign of goodwill, I will also volunteer to repair the door of the covenant and any structural wooden stuff they need repaired. I will also create logs of wood for them on demand, so that the covenant expenses drop. In general, I want to appear useful for them and collaborative. 2 exposure XP points towards OoH lore. I would like to query for copy of spell lab texts, books on Vim (both Summae and Tractatus) and the Roots of the Arts. Tractatus on Arts would also be asked after, in case they have cheap books available for copy. I will offer more of my time as a lab assistant or extracting vis for them as payment. I can also create a small item based on Herbam if they think it would be useful for them. I would require that they grant me the necessary resources to create the item, though, and would like free access to all the premises and lab and library usage for my remaining three seasons of the year, since an item is valued at a higher price than vis extraction. It is a fairly good offer for them.
2-3. Second and Third seasons are spent in my newly acquired visitor lab performing further vis extraction (8 pawns), so I have "hermetic currency". I assume I need to pay for these seasons as normal (2 pawns), so I end up with 6 pawns in my hands. Maybe I can get the 4 exposure XP in Vim?
In the fourth season I would like to put forward the possibility to get lab texts on ReVi (Aegis) for study. I guess that is a pawn (library access). I will pay it gladly. 5 pawns remaining. I will take advantage of my library access to get an idea on what kind of texts they have available besides roots. I will ask first the librarian about copying parameters and what books in his collection he thinks would be useful to young magi like myself. I will show an special interest in the roots and branches. Once I get the info, I will try to approach the magi for the concrete resources I am asking. Triamore has an amazing library, so the roots should be there. Text should be cheaper resources-wise than in other covenants due to the sheer size of their library. And I am not asking for any special text, but some of the few widely known ones. If I cannot get this, I will keep creating vis and move to another covenant for my second year. Man, I hate extracting vis!
Note that if I can get access to the library and available texts prior to that, I will move my request for further stuff (copying of roots, tractatus and spell levels) to an earlier time. During my whole stay I will try to be friendly useful and collaborative, both with the magi and the mundane servants.
Lets see what you answer before planning year 2 (and if I can get Aegis in season 4).
Roots should be easily available, even in a calcified Order (but of course that's not my call), but the Branches of the Arts are the books that are most carefully guarded even in the Canon Order, so I'd be (very pleasantly) surprised if you managed to copy one
LOL! True. I had the weird impression hat roots were technique basic texts and branches Form basic texts. I checked Covenants after your comment and saw my mistake!!!
Well, I am only asking for Roots then Editing the original post.
Sorry about that, I should have defined the parameters better before you started working on this. I though my mention of "season-by-season" was clear, as in "post one season and then once that's resolved we moved to a second one". But of course it was nowhere that clear.
And you're the first to go through the wringer, so some stuff I hadn't thought about just popped up when I read your plans. So it wasn't lost efforts, believe me!
I've edited your quotes below to reflect the unavailability of branches. They are indeed in the category of "not to be copied, pay for access only".
I think you have your formula wrong for vis extraction. You extract 1 pawn for every 10 points (or fractions thereof) of your Creo Vim lab total. So I calculate your lab total as Cr 7 + Vi 3 + Int 2 + MT 3 + Aura 2 = 17. So unless I'm missing something you'd get only 2 pawns per season. So you'd need to spend 2 season to extract enough to pay for your year.
Most of the members of Triamore seem happy to see you, particularly the junior ones.
Do you want to revise your plans to take this into account? Do you try bargaining or offering something else (or in addition to) vis?
True, 2 pawns, not 4. Now you can see why I tend to direct story arcs but delegate all the lab work to other SG in the table! 8)
Halancar already corrected my branches mistake. No biggie here since what I really want to get is the Roots.
The general plan is to get along well with the Triamore people to ensure that they respond ffavourably to petitions to get copies of roots and MT books. I will do whatever it takes to get those. And lab equipment. However, triamore is not necessarily a good place to get mundane resources (in fact it is quite a bad place for that), so I will centre in the Hermetic resources.
I offer lab help for anything related to Muto, rego and/or Herbam. I will also offer to help them repair parts of their covenant. Since the covenant is unfinished they might get a good use for a wood shaper to get that roof to be less leaking-prone or to get easy free wood on a regular basis while I am around. They are not THAT buoyant in mundane resources, so any savings they might get is a boon for the covenant. I can offer to supply them with a log-creation item (CrHe5 to create a log for Moon duration, +10 unlimited uses per day) if they allow me free access to lab and library for the remaining 3 seasons. I want to make it clear to them that I represent an asset and an ally, and that I want to get a profitable relationship for both sides.
Yes, that is why I didn't elaborate on branches further. Just didn't want the quote to reflect the possibility of branches, while at the same time I was not comfortable simply editing your quote without mentioning why.
As for the number of pawns per season, you can now understand why the junior magi were so happy to see you arrive. They are sick and tired of having to extract vis to sustain the Aegis.
As a side note, I consider that sources of Vim vis are the rarest. Pure magic is not that common in nature. So covenants either have to rely on valuable Rego vis to cast the Aegis, or have regular seasons spend on vis extraction. Not to mention various lab projects such as enchanting items and longevity rituals. And guess who gets stuck with the boring extraction task?
They show some interest in the wood creation item. They counter-offer that this would simply count as a season of service if they have to provide all of the raw vis required for such an item, so no additional privilege should accrue to it. But they seem open to negociate, so you may try for your own counteroffer. If you provide the vis to enchant the item and do so, they would agree to both provide you with access to a lab and study access to the common library. Or something similar.
A few of the magi inquire about your value as a lab assistant. Most of them are relatively junior, so they can only offer you a few pawns of vis in exchange for this. Which of course could be used to pay your "rent". The only senior magus to inquire would require you for four consecutive seasons in order to agree to a deal, as he is working on a rather ambitious research project. On the other hand, this would cover your services for four years (including the one spent working for him).
((In case you wonder, yes I am making most of this up as we go. But I'm starting with the premises of the saga. Arrangments would vary from covenant to covenant, based on what they need or want, and what they already have. But Triamore has a fairly weak aura, so they are starved for vis as well as mundane resources. On the other hand, as you noted, they have a good library and are ready to use access to it in exchange for vis.))
This is starting to get too much In CHaracter to be in a character development thread, so I created a new thread for this. I hope you all find it OK
You can find it here: viewtopic.php?f=64&t=21668
Well, it seems I am going to live in Triamore for 2 years! My plan goes like this. I am sure arthur will mess with this neat scheme :mrgreen: but I can only plan to see if it goes well:
YEAR 1:
Help Aline in his weird experiments. I guess I can grant myself Vim exposure and MT exposure here. 8 XP total. 7 towards vim (vim 4+3), 1 towards MT.
YEAR 2:
Write a tractatus on Herbam "Oak: the sailor of storms". One copy for me, one copy for Triamore (to be copied by the Triamore scribes). 2 XP towards Scribe.
Learn Aegis 20. Secure what books they are giving me in exchange for my 4 years worth of service. 2 Vim exposure XP (vim 5)
Go adventuring and get at least 2 pawns of Creo or Herbam vis. XP as Arthur decides.
Create a Conjuration of the Chopped Wood (CrHe5: creates a log; +10 unlimited uses) item. I will gift this one to Triamore to keep their goodwill towards us.
So I hope to secure library resources, but mundane resources and labs will be scarce. Other people will have to secure us labs and mundane resources.
The negociation for the books didn't cover an additional season in the lab (in addition to one in the library), but once you explain your desire to gift the item to the covenant, you will be provided access to a lab to enchant the item.
The result of the vis hunt is that you are barely able to secure two pawns of Herbam. Your grog was injured in the process, but thankfully he recovered from his wounds without permanent damage (except for some new scars). You can add 10 xp from the story. Tell me what you think is appropriate and I'll confirm.
but it means that we all must be available to cast it.[/strike]
Or did you mean Confidence ? And Penetration 12 isn't so bad, anything over 20 would be wasted anyway, at least with that level of Aegis. We're a new covenant, we can't be too picky.
Now you can see why I tend to direct story arcs but delegate all the lab work to other SG in the table! 8)
They are sick and tired of having to extract vis to sustain the Aegis.