Thomas ex Tremere (Development)

Play by Post Campaigns Ars Magica 5th Edition: Light of Andorra
1

-Insert Backstory Here!- And by that I mean, I'm working on it right now.

Things to note:

Pending troupe approval, I changed Inoffensive/Alluring to a single virtue, given my restricting it to such a small target group (Ghosts vs all Magical Creatures). It's largely a 'fluffy' choice, so it's no skin off my nose if you folks don't like the idea.

Thomas ex Tremere
Age: 26

Int: 2
Per: 1
Pre: 1
Com: 1
Str: 0
Sta: 1
Dex: 0
Qik: 0

Confidence 1 (3)

Virtues:

Affinity - Rego/Mentem (2)
Book Learner (1)
Inoffensive/Alluring - Ghosts (1)
Inscription on the Soul (1)
Lead Worker (1)
Minor Magical Focus Certamen (1)
Puissant/Affinity - Magic Theory (2)
Second Sight (1)
Spirit Familiar (1)

Flaws:

Ambitious (1)
Cabal Legacy - Cult of Worms (1)
Favors - Fellow Cult Members (3)
Magic Spirit Companion (1)
Mentor - Vocis (1)
Weak Spontaneous Magic (3)

Abilities:

Artes Liberales (Ritual): 1 (5xp)
Athletics (Running): 1 (5xp)
Awareness (Alertness): 1 (5xp)
Bargain (Magi): 1 (5xp)
Brawl (Dodging) 1 (5xp)
Charm (Magi): 1 (5xp)
Cult of Worms Lore (Initiating Self): 1 (5xp)
Code of Hermes (Defense): 1 (5xp)
Concentration (Spell): 1 (5xp)
English - Native (Prose): 5 (75xp)*
England Lore (Politics): 2 (30xp)*
Etiquette (Magi): 1 (5xp)
Finesse (Rego): 1 (5xp)
Folk Ken (Magi): 1 (5xp)
Guile (Magi): 1 (5xp)
Intrigue (Magi): 1 (5xp)
Latin (Hermetic Use): 4 (50xp)
Leadership (Ghosts): 4 (50xp)
Magic Theory (Rego): 5 (75/50xp) (+2 Puissant)
Order of Hermes Lore (Politics): 1 (5xp)
Parma Magica (Ignem): 1 (5xp)
Penetration (Mentem): 1 (5xp)
Philosophiae (Ritual): 1 (5xp)
Profession - Scribe (Copying): 1 (5xp)
Second Sight (Ghosts): 4 (50xp)
Swim (Not Drowning): 1 (5xp)

Arts:

Creo:
Intelligo: 5 (15xp)
Muto: 5 (15xp)
Perdo: 5 (15xp)
Rego: 10 (60/40xp)

Animal:
Aquam:
Auram:
Corpus:
Herbam: 5 (15xp)
Ignem:
Imaginem:
Mentem: 10 (60/40xp)
Terram:
Vim:

Spells: 150/150

Aura of Ennobled Presence
MuIm 5, Per, Sun, Ind
+3 on rolls to influence, lead or convince others

Blink Step
ReCo 10, Per, Mom, Ind
Moves up to 5 paces, instantly

Breaking the Captain's Batton
PeMe 20, Voice, Mom, Group
Targets ceases to be able to co-ordinate as a trained group

Coerce the Spirits of the Night (Potent 5)
ReMe 20, Voice, Conc, Ind
Makes a ghost obey you. Com + Leader + (Misc) to see how effective.

Endurance of the Berserkers
ReCo 20, Per, Sun, Ind
Ignore wound/fatigue penalties

Lay to Rest the Haunting Spirit (Potent 5)
PeMe 10, Voice, Mom, Ind
If the spell penetrates the resistance of a ghost or similar spirit, it loses 10 Might.

Ring of Warding Against Spirits
ReMe 30, Touch, Ring, Circle
Ghost w/ Magic Might can't enter/leave

Shriek of the Impending Shafts
InHe 15, Sun, Conc, Hear
+9 Def vs Wood, Dodge Missiles fired from 10+ paces

The Call to Slumber
ReMe 10, Voice, Mom, Ind
Target falls asleep

Trust of Childlike Faith
PeMe 10, Eye, Diam, Ind
Target loses judgement and believes almost any lie for the duration. 6+ Int to resist.

Personality:

Ambitious +2
Loyal +3
Serious +2

2

Thomas' Post Gauntlet time:

Pending approval on Gauntlet Magus.

3

First impressions...
Inteligence is too low
He has nothing qualifying him to take Heroic Virtues & Flaws (Gift of Tongues/Heroic Personality). For that he needs Mythic Blood or Latent Magic first.
Your new Mentor will be Vocis.
You should have a score in Profession-Soldier

4

Update:

Changed Int to 1.
Change around Virtues/Flaws.
New Mentor.
Spent points in Profession - Soldier.

5

The Heroic V&F were the only sticky point. Your Mentor can start off as your Parens, just that I would like to change it when you enter the game (Vocis is your new mentor). A positive Int will just save you a lot of pain for the Lab. Profession Soldier is not mandatory but very useful. The specialization should change to calvary. Knights are not automatically soldiers. Most are trained to be, as calvary. Many as officers as well.

6

Not an issue, just updated to save myself the hassle of worrying about switching it later.

Finishing up the last bit of his advancement now, should have it posted by tonight.

7

Updated version posted.

I'm designing his familiar now, it's a shapeshifting cat who also serves as his squire/mount. Heavily inspired by the original Puss in Boots fairy tales as it were.

8

Here are some of my observations.

What's the story behind this?

You also need to spend a season finding your familiar. So it takes two seasons get the familiar and bind it.

These are not standard spells, so they can't be learned from texts. Per Marko's rules, they have to be invented from scratch.

You're limited by Magic Theory in how many pawns of vis you can use in one season. With a 3 MT, you can only use 6 vis, which is far lower than the 15 you've noted.

Does this mean that you spent vis to buy lab texts? I don't see any note that vis was spent, so it's hard for me to tell.

This leads me to a question I've had regarding items that maintain concentration. Can they maintain concentration for multiple castings at the same time? There are two interpretations, as I see it. One is that if you have multiple charges per day, the item can maintain concentration on all charges at once. The other interpretation is that while you can cast the spell multiple times per day, they must be serially and not in parallel, since the item can only maintain one instance of the spell at a given time.

Can anyone give me any guidance as to which interpretation is correct?

9

I'll just go down the line, since I'm posting from a phone and don't want to deal with quoting:

  1. I was thinking about an adventure in Faerie that amplified how his magic works. His spells became more... rigid, but he became more adept at the ones he knows. If you would like a quick synopsis of said adventure, I'll write up a quick something.

  2. Yes, it surely does take a season to find my familiar, but during that time I could have easily 'had an adventure' and been awarded XP as per advancement rules, so I just lumped it into the XP gain seasons.

  3. I'm going to quote from Marko here for a second "it is presumed you have access to Lab Texts for spells from printed cannon or another approved source (such as the Andorra wiki). It is not that you had access to every spell, just the ones you happened to be researching. Other spells and variants will need to be invented from scratch. The same shall apply for texts concerning Charged Items and Lesser Enchantments, provided they qualify as a Similar Effect to a cannon or approved spell (e.g. a Lab Text for a charged PoF wand or a constant effect Doublet of Impenetrable Silk is fine; a wand that shoots bees or a doublet of steel silk are too original for a text)."

Here's my argument as to why I think I'd have access to them as texts. The reason they aren't anywhere in cannon is because WaHaF isn't built using actual guidelines anywhere. However, as part of Marko's House Ruling about Wards, he's allowed spells to be built using the same guidelines. In fact, there are versions of the Auram and Terram wards on the Andorra Wiki.

andorra.wikidot.com/new-spells#toc11

So by taking a slight leap of faith here, one would assume that these spells would be relatively common (at least among the more combat oriented Magi). So I'm asking for a Troupe ruling here, thoughts?

  1. You are quite correct about the Talisman and vis use in a season, I actually need to change that! I originally opened it with one pawn, but the troupe had me doubting my interpretation of the rules. However see my most recent post about Talismans in the discussion board, I think I've found the rules to back it up.

  2. I actually missed the part where Marko said that we were assumed to have Lab Texts for standard spells, so while I originally bought these with Vis, it looks like I won't have to.

  3. Read as Written, I don't see anything that would indicate that an item couldn't sustain more than one copy of the same spell. However, I'd be willing to add a bump for complexity if the troupe asks.

10

Do we get experience for that season? I don't think I did for Lucas. But I may have been incorrect.

I don't want to be difficult. But technically the 'common' versions of these wards are Sun duration spells at level 25. Yours are Conc duration spells at level 20. Those are technically different spells. Not sure what people think about whether modifications of normal spells are normal. Possibly yes.

I'm not sure it's quite as clear as all that. Certainly we all want it to be interpreted that way. Certainly it makes us stronger if it's interpreted that way. But I fear that just makes a moral hazard in our interpreting the rule.

I note that all the examples given are of devices that provide a single spell effect to a single person. Then there are the lines at the end of the description of the Concentration ability: "This effect is useful for things like invisibility rings, which have their effect when put on, and then maintain concentration and invisibility until removed.This allows the wearer to end the effect at will, and start it again if the device still has uses left." This last sentence seems to imply that the charges are to be used serially, not in parallel.

I realize as well that it raises another question. We know that magical devices have to have at least the range Touch. But when they do, does that require constant touch when the duration is Conc maintained by the item? Normally with spells the magus only needs to touch the target when the spell is cast and then it's good for the whole duration. But the first sentence quoted above says that if you have an invisibility ring with duration Conc and the target stops wearing the ring (i.e., comes out of contact with the ring), then the invisibility ends. It seems to imply that the device can only maintain concentration when it's actually in contact with the target. That might prove troublesome with your glove.

11

Point's moot I think, though it's still a question to get an answer to. As mentioned in the other thread, I don't think I can make the character work as written. I'll try to get him revised (heavily) and posted today.

12

I will analyze and respond latter. Pressed for time at the moment. Not worries aboout finding a familiar. I do need to examine spells. As for items, check with Fixer. I think an item can maintain multiple effects, but turn "on" only one at a time.

13

Sit tight for now, based on discussion with the troupe about Talismans, the core of the concept isn't going to quite work the way I had intended. So it's looking like I'll end up changing the concept (while retaining the house, so actually getting into the story shouldn't change).

14

Concept changed to Necromancer due to... issues (I can't read!). Character changed and re-submitted for approval.

15

Not RAW, but fine by me.
Love your Swim specialty.

As far as I can tell, yes. That's the big advantage of such items on magi.
Items have no concentration score, per se. Their concentration can't be broken by outside noises, pushing them... Such effects are more a "Sun with off switch" duration than "concentration".
As for items that maintain concentration, there's at least one published maga who has a talisman which does that.

However, it is that maga's talisman, which arguably makes it easier, by using the "sustain or supress a spell you have cast" guideline. As far as I can tell, non-talisman items would use the harder "sustain or supress a spell cast by another" guideline. I myself made that same mistake with Arachné's bracelet (I think I've corrected it, but I'll have to check)

As far as I can tell, just like a magus, once the spell is cast, there's no "range" to maintain concentration.

BUT if you want to vary the spell's effect, you need to be in range.
So, for exemple, a Touch range glove of levitation would only let you vary the target's height when touching it, making it very close to Superboy's "tactile telekinesis"

AFAIK, yes.

16

That does seem to be the generally accepted interpretation. But I'm still having trouble reconciling the invisibility ring example. It says that you turn visible when you take the ring off. Presumably something about taking the ring off breaks the concentration. It just says that taking the ring off ends the invisibility (i.e., stops concentration).

I suppose the example assumes that the action for activating the ring is putting it on, and the action for deactivating the ring is taking it off. But then you can't use it on multiple people because only one person can wear the ring at a time.

17

Awesome, glad you don't mind!

Hey, I don't have to swim well, I just don't want to drown! Oh the story I could tell you...

18

I'm getting vivid flashbacks to the last Pendragon game I ran. Full suits of armour, a bog, and a stray will'o wisp was the hardest encounter of the entire campaign...

19

Hah! Sounds about right!

20

Going to give folks til tonight to yell if they see anything wrong / have questions etc, but after that I'll try to get the updated version of him up here as soon as possible.