I had a magus with Chaotic and Weird magic. From my experience, you can survive Chaotic Magic on the averages. If you figure you will roll a 5 and you roll between 3-7 you will be fine. The extremes get you. My magic rolls would have followed the standard bell curve for when i had an effect. perhaps 4 in 10 times.
Spontaneous magic is such a big part of a magus and the game I really am careful about limiting it too much in my characters.
I apologize for a lack of writing. i got laid off on Friday so I'm in full job hunt mode. THis throws a lot of uncertainty into my time. For the moment I'm going to call a halt to the game. I'm hoping to come back to it later as I have done a lot of research and writing for plots but I can't justify it at this time.
Sorry to hear that, man!
Good luck with the job hunt!
Ouch, sorry to hear. Good luck on the job hunt.
Good luck with the job hunt, I hope it goes well.
Question on LR for non-magi (specifically, Ankoydes's wife). Would he purchase one for her normally (Vis cost + whatever extra vis + one season of his time)?
Good question. if Ankoydes is doing it it just base cost the vis plus a season. Otherwise it is purchased with no season cost but the vis is the same. There are two breakthroughs with LR. One with the Mercere for non-magical folk that give a -1 per 5 on the lab roll rather than 10. The other is with the Bonisagus that allow fertility with the LR. The creators are working together to try and combine their breakthroughs.
There are a couple of player-created spells I want to get the okay on before I finalize Ankoydes
Neither spell, I think, is a game-breaker, but I still want to get the official seal of approval, since they're not in any of the books that I have (as far as I know) nor on the Net Wizards' Grimoire site.
Looks good to me.
Both spells are fine.
There would be a Finesse roll on the crafting?
It is a Creo spell so no. A Rego with the proper materials...yes.
Creo spells still need a finesse roll if you are interested in the aesthetic result of your creation. For an arrow? Not so much.
Hopefully everyone had some good holiday time. Took the family to see Into the Woods yesterday. Outstanding movie. I would not take a kid younger than 7 even though it has Cinderella and Jack and the Beanstalk and Little Red Riding hood. it has some themes that are a bit tricky for young kids.
I'm going to get rolling soon. i know that Arktos is going to capture, catalog and store magical animals so that will be in his contract. There are two directions your residency can take. 1) Hospites - these fellows are paid by the Tribunal for doing jobs. 2) Foederati - this is an outsider. They are more restricted than others in what they can do and where they can move. Please refer to the Transylvania Tribunal sticky first post for an explanation of all the the levels of residency.
IIRC, Zoltan is a Hospites and Ophelia is a Socii because she is a hoplite.
We will need to figure out what Ankoydes is going to do at a "research" covenant.
I was thinking Arktos would be a Hospites(?) whose job is not only to catch and tame local creatures, but also provide security. Maybe the Tremere heard Eve was attacked by a dragon of some kind, and Ophelia recommended / the Tremere knew Arktos as a capable creature handler, who is from the same covenant as she?
I'll try to get legible versions of Arktos' final sheet up, and some of the trickier new effects here for your consideration.
I kind of went crazy with custom spells this time around. I'm no rules expert, so some of these might be faulty or otherwise unworkable. It would be great if someone could check them out before we begin:
Inscribe the Magic Circle (PeTe 10) +17. Base 3, Touch +1, D: Mom, Part +1, to affect stone or glass +1. This spell inscribes a magic circle into the surface of the object touched. The circle may be as large or small as the caster desires, up to around 5 feet diameter. The spell affects simple materials such as dirt, clay, or sand; and harder substances such as stone or glass. It may also affect other materials subject to requisites at time of casting. Filched from ironboundtome.wordpress.com
Look at Me, Beast (ReAn 5) +37. Makes a Cunning target look the caster in the eye. Base 2, R: Sight +3, D: Mom, T: Ind. (Base 2 "plant suggestion)
Strabo's Pencil (CrHe 5) +17. Grows a sturdy vine at most 100 paces long in a pattern decided on casting. Elaborate patterns may necessitate Finesse rolls. The vine extends at a walking pace from wood or soil touched by the caster. It can grow around and over obstacles as a natural vine could. Base 1 CrHe, R: Touch +1, D: Sun +2, T: Ind, Size +1.
Sympathy for the Magus (PeAn 5) +27. Makes a beast shed some of its feathers, hair, scales, or similar. The amount lost is minuscule, and does not hamper the beast. The procedure in itself is unnoticeable, but an alert beast may roll against +12 to notice the part falling of. Base 3, R: Touch +1, D: Mom, T: Ind, Size +1 (Affects up to +4).
The Tiger's Leap (ReAn 35) +37. As the Leap of Homecoming, but Animal.
Understand Me (InMe 20) +28. The caster speaks two words to an intelligent target, and the target understands them. Base 15, R: Eye +1, D: Mom, T: Ind.
Understand Me, Beast (InAn 15) +25. The caster speaks two words to an animal, and the target understands them. Base 10, R: Eye +1, D: Mom, T: Ind.
The following ones I intend to use with Tentacle, Arktos' leather whip talisman:
The Tentacle of the Eye (InIm 5) +14. Extends the caster's field of vision and hearing with the "viewpoint" of something that he touches. The spell ends when the caster no longer touches the thing in question. Arktos mainly uses this on the Tentacle. Base 2, R: Touch +1, D: Sun +2, T: Ind.
The Tentacle's Elongation (MuAn 5) +27. Changes the length of something made of animal products up to 32 times. Arktos uses this to elongate and shorten the Tentacle. Base 1, R: Per, D: Sun, T: Ind.
The Tentacle's Slime (MuAn 5) +27. Something made of animal products becomes unnaturally slippery and impossible to grasp. Arktos uses this to prevent the Tentacle from getting stuck or grappled. The spell has been designed such that it affects neither the grip of the Tentacle nor the first half-pace of its length. Base 4, R: Per, D: Diam +1, T: Ind.
And these are instilled into the talisman itself:
Slithering, Level 30: Base 3, R: Per, D: Conc +1, T: Ind; Unlimited uses +10 levels, maintains concentration +5 levels, Penetration 22 +11 levels. Allows Arktos to control the Tentacle's movement and shape by concentrating. When left on its own, the Tentacle keeps the shape last assigned and resists changes. Complex shapes, delicate or fast movements, and attacks may require Finesse rolls. The Tentacle has a strength of +5. It carries its own weight and is capable of lifting things at most 6 feet above the ground. It moves as fast as a person could swing it.
Tough, level 25: Base 4, R: Per, D: Sun +2, T: Ind, +1 Frequency: 2/day, +3 Trigger: Sunrise/sundown, +11 Penetration 22. The Tentacle is unnaturally durable. It cannot be cut by weapons or broken by force.
Clean, level 20: Base 5, R: Touch +1, D: Sun +2, T: Ind, Frequency: 1/day. Keeps Arktos and his apparel, including the Tentacle, dry even if submerged.
The quick and easy out would be for him to be "security", to help protect the magi and all the mundanes who live and work there.
However (and this is just me coming up with stuff off the top of my head), perhaps he could be building on his initiation into Clan Sirnas and the Oath of the Helpful Stranger and work on ways that Hermetic Magic can protect people. Wards to protect them from mundane threats as well as magical (something akin to an Aegis of the Hearth is almost certainly undoable but would be pondered. Perhaps a Parma-like protection against steel, fist, and fang.
But I imagine that his "field of study" would be protection-oriented, both magical and mundane.
He is a skilled swordsman, and a decent fighter and archer; with his Teaching skill, I can also see him passing along those skills so people can try to protect themselves as well.
Ophelia is a hoplite of the Tribunal and incharge of the security of the Oppidum. If you come in as a Foederati and be placed in the Oppidum. Laterala would not mind more combat oriented magi. The Oppidum has a Zenodochium that they must look after but it has more to do with healing.
Sounds good to me. Do we want to hand-wave the correspondence, and have Ankoydes arrive, believing that Laterala would have notified his new sodales of his imminent arrival?
Your call. If you want to round out anymore story you can post some.