So, Ferrator Panvictus, Flambeau Terram magus, has Difficult Longevity Ritual.
He's just now realizing that yes, it is indeed a Major Flaw. Everyone else is slapping down their first Longevity Rituals, hitting 8 and 11 strength rituals, and he, being a Terram specialist, with no Corpus book in the library, is putting down a measly 4 even with assistance from the residence Bonisagus (who doesn't want word to get out he's helping out. Sssh!)
TO MAKE THINGS WORSE!
The covenant is located within a Subterranean labyrinth, and the lab itself is Dirty due to smoke and soot and terrible ventilation - he's a smith, you see. All told, the flaws he accepted for his lab give him a +2 penalty on his aging rolls, which kills half of his Longevity Ritual, the poor sod.
SO, now, the covenant via gmail chat is bemoaning his plight, and he is looking for some means to increase the Health statistic for his lab.
To that end: how would one remove smoke and soot? PeTe? CrAu? CrTe? Does anyone have any other ideas to throw to this poor doomed Flambeau, who might die before his first Wizard March at this sorry rate?
Whoops, my thought was only half finished. He's looking at items or laboratory-wide enchantments to get rid of the humour-imbalancing problems within his lab due to its sooty dirtiness. Of course, any bonus to Health would be a good things.
That said, any suggestions for our erstwhile magus?
Get your lab to the surface. Much more airy. Smithing under the ground has never been a very clever idea
Get a doctor to design a food and exercise menu for you. You are gonna eat worse in terms of enjoyment, but you can reap a +2 or so to your living conditions
The foodstuffs et al that a normal covenant get give you a -1 to -2 bonus to aging rolls. Did you count on those?
To remove smoke et al I would go for PeAu
A ReTe spell to keep all that dust down would be nice. Or a PeTe spell to DESTROY the dust before it rises.
And go out and look for someone that can really brew a lab potion. A specialist that can real a lab total of +50-+70 or so. You are gonna have to mortgage quite something to pay for it, but it will be worth it in the medium to long run. Besides this is always the source of 1 to 3 adventures, and that is COOL STUFF (TM) saga-wise having to go to your childhood village to get an acorn from the tree where you used to play when you were a kid, or go around searching for something that the potion brewer asked if you as part of the payment.
The Bonisagus is an elementalist with high Magic Theory and Intelligence. He does not, however, have a 30+ Creo Corpus total, which is needed to make a Longevity Potion for another person, and thus he cannot be the leader in the lab work.
First of all a question of mine regarding Health Score in general: If you got a score of -1, does that give you -1 living condition modifier or not? It says half and round down. Mathematicaly it would be correct, but i dont like it that way. If you round down the absolute score, -1 Health would not modify the aging roll yet.
As an enchantment of the whole lab, i agree that destroying smoke would be PeAu. But other ways are possible. You could change the air into clean, fresh air. A fan as a CrAu enchanted item to blow away the smoke would work too. As long as the player can explain well, why that specific combination would help with health it should be fine.
A good way to help with aging is also the bronze cord of binding a familiar. A score of 3 shouldnt be too hard if he is a specialist.
And also, the negative health score of his lab only applies if he spends at least 2 seasons in it. Since you can but dont have to study in your lab, if he isnt enchanting items or such, the modifier doenst have to apply every year.
'Chamber of Spring breezes' should take care of the poor air, smoke and dust - right?
And perhaps commission some NPC expert to do the ritual for you, paying the price. I imagine it is better in the logn run, to spend some more resources then you'd do by making it yourself, but getting a better product, lasting longer. In the end you should spend less time this way.
having to go to your childhood village to get an acorn from the tree where you used to play when you were a kid, or go around searching for something that the potion brewer asked if you as part of the payment.