Ranulf from MoH now 150 years post apprentice!!!!

Games Discussion Ars Magica
181

That was 9 years study and 4 seasons in the lab. He took an apprentice after the 3rd year of this period so that means he'll devote 11 of his remaining 20 seasons to teaching. This leaves 9 seasons for lab work.

His talisman has 45 pawns of capacity opened. It has 30 pawns worth of effects in it. He'll spend a season opening it the rest of the way to 52 pawns, (17 Muto + 35 Creo). This costs him seven pawns and gives him (52-30) 22 pawns left to fill. He'll add another attunement. Here's the quote from MoH rearding the staff's makeup

So far his talisman has
+6 to fire related effects,
+4 to control things at a distance,
+2 repel things,
+3 to divination,
+4 destroy things at a distance,
+4 affect dead wood
+1 terram
+3 project bolt or missile
+4 leadership in war

He's going to go with +4 to wards (from lead )

The next season he'll enchant an effect

This takes a pawn and allows another attunement +7 for protection from storms (from oak). His talisman has 21 pawns of capacity left

The following two seasons he'll add another effect
It's Mu Ig (Co)
and his lab toal is
Muto 17
Corpus 14
corpus again (from focus) 14
Magic theory 10
Lab 9
Int 2
aura 3
talisman bonus 5
shape and material (+6 ignem +3 project bolt or missile, +4 destroy things at a distance, capped by magic theory) 10
Other muto and or ignem effects in talisman +7
apprentice 4 (that doesn't seem unreasonable)
for a total of 105

He'll take another attunement; +3 affect living wood (from dead wood). His talisman now has 14 pawns of capacity left open.

He spends a season on the following spell

That leaves him 4 seasons

182

This is how he hopes to defeat a truly gargantuan giant

His Muto ignem total for enchanting his talisman is
17 Muto
17 Muto again from his focus
35 ignem
10 magic theory
2 intelligence
3 aura
11 familiar
9 laboratory
5 apprentice
5 talisman
10 shape and material
8 other muto or ignem effects in the device
132 before adding in unusual lab schedules

If he goes for early riser for one season of the four he can instill an effect with a level of 106 (he could, by going overtime and nocturnal for three seasons and then double overtime and nocturnal for a fourth, pull off a level 110 effect but he isn't that desperate).

this uses 11 points of the Talisman's capacity leaving 3 pawns still open. He adds one more atunement: +7 to harm or repel faeries.

Upon the completion of this enchantment he writes a will that includes (among other things such as the bequeathing his copy of the school of the founder's advocate to Castra Solis) specific instructions that his talisman be given to the sociates milites and they are instructed to lend the staff along with clear instructions for its use (provided in the will) at each meeting of the Flambeau tournament to the magus or maga who has best embodied the code of Garis during the previous four years, providing that they can multicast at least three pillums of fire.

Ok that's all of the numbers done. Now I just have to put this all in an updated character sheet.

183

I find it interesting, and also perhaps a bit ironic that the Talisman could be in the hands of a non-Flambeau, is that your intention? Are you relying upon the Primus to ensure that never happens?

It is quite possible that, since the Tournament is open to any comer, a Tytalus decides he wants it, or wants to see if he can acquire it. So, for four years, he does everything a Miles would do, fights the enemies of the order, serves as a hoplite, competes in other Tourneys that might be available, then shows up at the Flambeau Tourney, performs well with his newfound Hermetic Prestige preceeding him. He claims the talisman, because the will is non-specific, and let's face it, everyone there was talking about how well he embodied the Code of Garus, until it was time to award the talisman... Because I can see a Tytalus wanting to acquire it, just to stir up trouble and demonstrate that he can... Well, one in particular, anyway...

184

I'm OK with this. First of all Ranulf doesn't know whats going to go on after his death. But I don't think that he'd be especially worried about the possibility of a Tytalus who for the sake of suberfuge treats her servants justly, guards and upholds the honor of her sodalis, respects the holy church, always speaks the truth and remains faithful to her pledged word, and so on. The Milites, who have to judge the magi, are either going to believe that the Tytalus is more worthy than any of the the claimants and give the staff to her, or they'll think that she's putting on an act to get his hands on the pretty bauble and therefore not really "despising wickedness and deceit" and "never consenting to wrongdoing" as the code demands of her.

185

For the record, and to follow up on one of C-Hound's recent posts, by 5th Ed, as far as I understand it, a tytalus could try it for the challenge, which would require him to be better than every flambeau out there in every way, thus leading to his own improvement (from conflict, grow, or something like that). Not to be a jerk or immature adolescent afterwards.

In fact, although it is a famulously good "freebye", I can almost see a tytalus gaining the right to the talisman, and then giving it back to the Flambeau, because his goal was on winning the conflict, not the staff. He might even say he's not worthy of it (because he doesn't truly believe in the Code of Garis), thus both telling the truth and paradoxically proving himself yet a better flambeau (secondary objective achieved).

186

Rather than getting a spell cast for him is it more believable for Ranulf to have acquired a casting tablet for the following spell and used it twice (with a third use coming next time he has 11 pawns of applicable vis available, beyond what he's prefer to have around in case he needs to cast Gentle Caress of Asclepus)?

187

The Gift normally makes magi seem to be untrustworthy psychopaths, however this doesn't mean that (all) magi are untrustworthy psychopaths.

Ranulf is protected from this effect, by his Parma, and so he can make clear headed judgements as to the true character and trust-worthiness of other magi. I don't see any reason listed for Ranulf to be abnormally paranoid, so I think it is quite believable that he could a) find a trustworthy magus to cast Stamina of Heroes on him and b) actually bring himself to trust that magus to do so.

188

Does the exact mthod matter here. Mechanically, he gives vis and gets warping and an inceased stamina.

189

Well, yes.
If he casts the spell himself he does not need to take warping.

190

That's not quite right. If it is from a Casting Tablet, I would say he does take warping, as it has not been designed for him.

191

Agreed, however the box on p. 168 states

  • appearantly you can reconfigure it for yourself on the fly.
    Unless you'd argue that casting from a casting tablet is not casting?
192

No, it certainly is casting. However, the rules for Casting Tablets are laid out in Covenants, not the MRB. On Page 90, it states, "A magus casting from a tablet does not understand the spell’s workings, and so may not tinker with decisions made by the author." Given the inflexible nature of casting tablets, I envision it as someone using their power to initiate a ritual that they don't really understand and can control. Warping is a reasonable compromise in this instance. It may not be within the letter of the RAW, but I think it is in the spirit of the RAW, given the inflexibility of casting tablets, and the requirement stated later that a magus must have a spell mastered to author a tablet. It is unlikely that a magus will create a spell and master it to create individualized casting tablets for the intended recipient. Might be a HR, but I think it is an entirely reasonable one.

If someone learns a spell, and can cast it, no problem.

193

Considering that we banned castng tablets completely, I shall bow to your superior experience with them.

194

Please don't do that! Have barely used them myself. Just an observation of the rules.

195

I wasn't thinking about this from the effects of the gift. I was thinking that if a casting tablet of this spell was available it would inevitably be passed around the order as any one magus only needs to use it a few times. It is one pawn less costly than the spell in HoH: TL and i can imagine that the magi who have sufficient vis available to cast it tend to be old enough so that they might have a bit of "If I want something done right I should do it myself" attitude.

On the other hand if someone knows "Stamina of Heroes" they can make a much better profit from casting it on people and they wouldn't have to spend time creating a casting tablet (more profit less effort).

Yet I can see someone inventing the level 55 spell because 5 levels can often make the difference between being able to research a spell in a reasonable time period and not being able to, especially for high level spells. One they've created a range personal variant then creating a casting tablet is the only way to take advantage of it.

196

With the casting tablet, our NPC has another hook to use to interact with the PC's.

197

Getting the Artisano's character sheet updated was the easiest of the tasks (it is unchanged apart from the increased abilities):

198

Here is a list of all of his enchanted devices (with as much detail as I could provide without posting the MoH text.)

Chest of the Ember Seed, see Magi of Hermes p.114 ,

Ribbon of Arcane Preservation, see Magi of Hermes p.113,

Casting Tablet (or not depending upon your take with regards to casting tablets and creo corpus boosting rituals, it’s here because that’s what it would be reasonable for Ranulf to do , not because it’s important to his story) :

Laboratory: Ranulf’s laboratory is described in see Magi of Hermes p. 114. It has the following qualities:
Highly organized
Excessive Heat
Excessive light
Lesser focus: Ignem
enchanted device : (+5 Ignem bonus)
Minor feature (balcony)
lesser focus (balcony)
Precious Ingredients
Superior equipment

These qualities give the lab the following characteristics
General quality +2
Upkeep +4
Aesthetics +1

Specializations:
Spells +3
Vis extraction +1
Ignem +7
Imaginem +2

It has the following enchantments
Eyes of the Acolyte see Magi of Hermes p. 114
Laboratory that has learned from experience see Magi of Hermes p. 114
Façade of Pentecost see Magi of Hermes p. 114

School of The Founder's Advocate
This invested device takes the form of a silver ring inlaid with a ring of polished hornbeam. It was opened with seven pawns of vis and the enchantment capacity of the item has been filled by the two effects Anticipation of Incineration and Unraveling the Fabric of Ignem.
This device was created by a Ranulf and a fellow school of the Founder flambeau socitates Milites. Because it was well known that both of magi favored ignem magic, they worried that anyone who had advance warning of them might very well protect themselves with rego ignem wards against fire spells.
As is usually the case with such devices, the wearer must suppress their parma magica as they place the ring on their finger in order to allow the Anticipation of Incineration to target them. The ring functions only while the wearer keeps it on his or her finger. Anticipation of incineration only functions once per day, so if the wearer takes the ring off, it will not work again until the next sunrise or sunset.

Talisman of Ranulf
A description of Ranulf’s Talisman is in Magi of Hermes p 115

At 105 years out of apprenticeship Ranulf’s talisman has been opened with 52 pawns of vis. 49 of these pawns have been filled. It has the following attunements
Bonus Subject
4 Affect dead wood
3 Affect living wood
4 Control things at a distance,
4 Destroy things at a distance,
3 Divination,
6 Fire related effects,
7 Harm or repel faeries
4 Leadership in war
3 Project bolt or missile
2 Repel things,
1 Terram
4 Wards

The Talisman has the following enchantments in it:
Topiary of Flames see Magi of Hermes p. 115
Flames of Stone see Magi of Hermes p. 115
Shadow of Spring times Departed see Magi of Hermes p. 115
Surfeit of Fuel see Magi of Hermes p. 115
Shriek of the Impending Staves see Magi of Hermes p. 115
Defense of the Roaring Furnace see Magi of Hermes p. 115

Adelbert, a "Magi of Hermes" look at intellego and Astrology
199

Covenants, p. 112

From your writing it is not clear which specialisations are active.

BIG THANX for sharing that

200

Plus four art specializations, of those no more than two techniques. Only the LR or the Vis Extraction need go...