My understanding is that those seasons were truly lost, as in you gain nothing from them. It's an abstract way of saying that things happen in life and you're going to lose a season somewhere.
Yes, it is. But this was purely a fluff thing, if it makes you feel better, I can always say that Thomas did a favor (adventure) for a master craftsman and received these tools as a reward. Neither has any impact on character creation. The thing to note about the tool is that you're paying for them through upkeep every year, so they're not free.
It's worth pointing out that when I was building Acutus' lab, Marko considered this a "premium" free virtue and recommended I offset it with a free flaw.
Ah, I'm guessing that's the two enchanted items you have listed? My personal interpretation of the rules (which doesn't mean a whole lot) is that to get this bonus, the magic item has to be "designed for lab use", which in my mind means all it does it provide the lab bonus (ie. it doesn't have any other effects that you can use). This interpretation is backed up by the "Example Laboratory Items" presented, as they only serve to provide lab bonuses. Others may have differing opinions on that.
Noted, I'll take that under advisement, thanks!
See, I always took it to mean, you can't yank it out of the lab. The thought process behind the items is, now he's not having to cast spells while doing lab work and can focus on the things he's trying to do. Using your example, take a look at the Plant Pot on page 121. An Herbam specialist could easily do that (much like this guy could easily summon/make the ward), but it's an convenience thing.
Question, largely for Fixer, but anyone else can chime in. I'm thinking very heavily on scrapping Inscription on the Soul, in its place I'd be taking Personal Vis Source. If I lose the two seasons then I'd spent learning the two big rituals, I'd have them open to work on stuff in the lab. So here's what I'm thinking:
Have a big item (I liked the idea of a throne) with various carvings on it etc, but it also has various bits of Turquoise in it. Each piece of turquoise is enchanted along the lines of the two items I made (in fact two of them are the items I made), put another effect in there for control of ghosts, and maybe another to bind them into things. Heck, maybe even make one to detect ghosts! With a few magnitudes for complexity you could do some interesting things...
Anyhow, just an interesting idea I came up with that could be used to bolster the strength of the covenant. Obviously this is a very rough idea, but thoughts?
Scrapping Certamen Focus is not a good choice of an Ordeal for a Tremere and I would prefer if you didn't. You will never ever politically advance in the House without it, and you will get looked down upon.
You don't need to max out your lab up front. save some for development. It will make people feel more at east.
My opinions are just opinions. Fixer has the last word on RAW, Prince of Boredom has the last word on Balance. Trogdor and the rest may be highly valued for aesthetic opinion.
You cannot invent new lab specializations based on a focus. Your choices are an Art or an Activity as defined in Covenants.
Lost seasons are lost, no trading them or getting any refund or reward.
Do not get discouraged. You are almost there. The intent of the CharGen HR's is not necessarily to gain more power, though I do not discourage power. The intent is to give you space enough to spread out and keep up with the small essentials. The prime directive, by extension, encourages you to not max out.
- He actually doesn't want to advance in the house as he has little skill or patience for politics. Side effect of prefering the company of the dead to the living. He will never be good at Certamen (certainly not like the prior incarnation), rather he'd prefer to get as good as possible in his chosen area and serve his house that way. Also, there's no way that another Tremere would know that he swapped his focus.
If you're telling me I can't trade in the focus, I won't. However, I'd still strongly prefer to.
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I am saving quite a bit of room for development! Like I said, he really wants to get good at Corporeal Necromancy in the not so distant future. He's only halfway there!
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I'm very much aware of the troupe nature of play, it's one of the things I like about the Saga, hence my question to Fixer in my previous post.
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As I mentioned to Fixer, I'm swapping the lab specializations to Re and Me for the items.
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I was using it as a story bit, but like I said, I can easily justify it elsewhere.
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I'm not discouraged, it's always nice to work with a troupe! In fact when I start designing ghosts, I'll probably ask to see if anyone's interested in designing/playing any of them. As for maxing out, I think he's fairly well spread out, at least inside of his specialization with plenty of room to grow (Corpus, Animal and Creo come to mind). And do remember, House Tremere loves its specialists!
Is that opinion compatible with having Vocis as a mentor. He seems pretty keyed into helping House Tremere. Would he mentor someone with that much disregard for one of the central focuses of the House?
Also, I made a brief check through the character sheet and a few things jumped out at me:
1.) He is listed as having an 85 Familiar Bond. How did he get it so high?
2.) He has 2 seasons spent creating items and 2 items ReMe 40 and ReMe 30. I get a total of 60 for his lab total + familiar additions . That'll get the 30. But I'm still 20 points shy on the 40.
ReMe LT: 15 (Re) + 30 (Me doubled) + 8 (MT) + 2 (Int) + 5 (Aura) + x (Familiar) + 11 (Lab, charitably) = 71 + x. Is your familiar going to be worth +9 untrained?
3.) The whole question of items and spells and the numbers you got for lab totals are a bit opaque. Is there any way you could write out the lab totals for each? I mean, you should have them, so it shouldn't be much trouble.
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Central Focuses of the House? First, I've always had an issue with their focus in Certamen, they're the only House that has such a massively restricting virtue. Two, there are actually very few actual disputants (duelists) inside of the House, people just think there are a lot more. Third, there's no way that anyone inside the House could realistically know that he's swapped his focus. Fourth, the House actually has a long tradition of Necromancy and makes very good use of ghosts and the like. So it should be noted that in his mind, swapping the focus allows him to better serve the House. As stated previously, he's aware of how he's best able to serve the House and that's all he wants to do. Not every Tremere is some Certamen/Political master (or even aspires to be!).
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See my previous point about the house rules section in regards to Lesser Items (IE lab texts). Long story short, since these spells are cannon, when making an item that uses them, I'm assumed to have a lab text.
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I'd be happy to break everything down for you!
Re(15) + Me(15) + Focus (15) + Potent (6) + Int (2) + MT (8) + Aura (5) = 66
Now, adding in the Lab itself, even with changing the two items to affect Re and Me respectively and removing the flawless, I'd get a bonus of +12 to ReMe effects. So now we're sitting on 78.
Now we come to the sticking point, the familiar itself. Keep in mind, the 85 is when he's reworking the bond between them, not the initial time.
First, if we assume a Silver Cord of 2, that gives a +2 to all lab and casting total involving spirits (Spirit Familiar). So now we're at 80.
Next, assuming that the familiar never actually learned MT and instead received all of its experience through exposure, we're still looking at a 3 in MT, specialized in either Mentem or Rego. So now we're at 84.
Assuming even just a 1 Intelligence gives us 85.
None of that would apply until after it became a familiar, but you can spend a second season to retemper the bond.
Yup, if you look at his advancement, he spends a season in his third cycle doing just that.
I'm making some changes based off of the feedback received, I'll try to get a new version posted tomorrow. While still retaining the Necromancy feel, he's going to be significantly less specialized in it now.
Thomas ex Tremere
Age: 30
Int: 2
Per: 2
Pre: 0
Com: 0
Str: 0
Sta: 1
Dex: 0
Qik: 0
Confidence 1 (3)
Virtues:
Affinity - Creo/Rego
Arcane Lore
Book Learner
Educated
Flawless Magic
Minor Magical Focus Certamen
Puissant - Parma Magica/Penetration
Flaws:
Driven - Serve House Tremere (Major)
Favors - Fellow Tremere
Mentor - Vocis
Study Requirement
Abilities:
Artes Liberales (Ritual): 4 (50xp)
Athletics (Running): 1 (5xp)
Awareness (Alertness): 1 (5xp)
Bargain (Magi): 1 (5xp)
Brawl (Dodging) 2 (15xp)
Charm (Magi): 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): 4 (50xp)
Folk Ken (Magi): 1 (5xp)
Guile (Magi): 1 (5xp)
Intrigue (Magi): 1 (5xp)
Latin (Hermetic Use): 5 (75xp)
Leadership (Intimidation): 1 (5xp)
Magic Theory (Rego): 3 (30xp)
Order of Hermes Lore (Politics): 1 (5xp)
Parma Magica (Ignem): 1 (5xp) (+2 Puissant)
Penetration (Rego): 5 (75xp) (+2 Puissant)
Philosophiae (Ritual): 4 (50xp)
Profession - Scribe (Copying): 1 (5xp)
Swim (Not Drowning): 1 (5xp)
Arts:
Creo: 10 (60xp/40xp)
Intelligo: 5 (15xp)
Muto:
Perdo:
Rego: 10 (60/40xp)
Animal: 5 (15xp)
Aquam: 5 (15xp)
Auram: 5 (15xp)
Corpus: 5 (15xp)
Herbam: 5 (15xp)
Ignem: 5 (15xp)
Imaginem: 5 (15xp)
Mentem: 5 (15xp)
Terram: 5 (15xp)
Vim: 5 (15xp)
Spells:
Aura of Ennobled Presence
MuIm 10, Touch, Sun, Ind
The target gets +3 on rolls to influence, lead or convince others.
Blink Step
ReCo 10, Per, Mom, Ind
Moves up to 5 paces, instantly
Command the Living Air
ReAu 20, Voice, Conc, Ind
Allows the caster to control the actions of an Air Elemental up to size 0.
Command the Living Earth
ReTe 20, Voice, Conc, Ind
Allows the caster to control the actions of an Earth Elemental up to size 0.
Command the Living Fire
ReIg 20, Voice, Conc, Ind
Allows the caster to control the actions of a Fire Elemental up to size 0.
Command the Living Water
ReAq 20, Voice, Conc, Ind
Allows the caster to control the actions of a Water Elemental up to size 0.
Coerce the Spirit of Magic
ReVi 20, Voice, Conc, Ind
Makes a magical spirit obey the caster, Com + Leadership to see how effective the
maga’s threats are. The storyguide should always give a bonus or penalty depending on
the potency of the threats, but note that any roll other than a botch compels at least
minimal obedience, while increasing rolls indicate a more cooperative spirit.
Demon's Eternal Oblivion
PeVi 10, Voice, Mom, Ind
Destroys 10 Might from an Infernal Realm Creature
Sap the Might of the Mythical Beast
PeVi 10, Voice, Mom, Ind
Destroys 10 Might from a Magic Realm Creature
The Faerie's Bane
PeVi 10, Voice, Mom, Ind
Destroys 10 Might from a Faerie Realm Creature
Updated.
Arts: 250xp
Rego to 20 - 100
Muto to 5 - 15
Perdo to 5 - 15
Herbam to 10 - 40
Terram to 10 - 40
Vim to 10 - 40
Abilities: 120xp
Finesse to 7 - 60
Mercurian Cult Lore - 15
Parma to 4 - 45
Spell Mastery: 170xp
Cycle One (Five Years): 20/20
Serves House (1 Season - Lost)
Bind Familiar (1 Season) (+2 Xp Exposure)
Learn Spells (3 Seasons) (+6 Xp Exposure)
150xp (15 Seasons) + (30xp Book Learner)
Cycle Two (Five Years): 20/20
Serves House (1 Season - Lost)
Initiate Mercurian Magic / Gains Weak Spontaneous Magic (20xp) (1 Season)
Learn Spells (3 Seasons) (+6 Xp Exposure)
150xp (15 Seasons) + (30xp Book Learner)
Cycle Three (Five Years): 19/20
Serves House (1 Season - Lost)
Learn Spells (4 Seasons) (+6 Xp Exposure)
150xp (15 Seasons) + (30xp Book Learner)
450 (Seasons) + 90 (Book Learner) + 20 (Exposure) = 560xp
Vis Use: 43/63 pawns
Nonstandard Lab: Size 60 QPVs, Virtues 20 QPVs, (20 Pawns)
Longevity Ritual: 15 (Level 50)
Familiar: 8 Pawns (40 Bond Strength)
Alright folks, I'm going to finish writing up his backstory tonight, figure out what he's doing with the remaining vis and stat up his familiar... But other than that I think Thomas is (finally!) ready to hit the 'tabletop'. Thoughts? Comments? Concerns?
Distribution for seasonal advancemet seems odd. Parma 4 in one cycle then never touched again? Yet it matters not as long as end numbers make sense.
Why is Perception so high?
Why is Magic Theory so cripplingly low?
Why so many custom spells?
What happened to necromancy?
I think you over did it on Arts. You should only spend half your xp on Arts. Your Ability scores are crippled.
But really, the only glarring issue I spot is the low Magic Theory. Flambeau magi gauntlet with a better score than that. Still, I don't mind that much. No whining when your por score distribution comes to bite you.
Lost seasons are just lost. Not service or duty. Just scrapped. Vacation, sicknesss, family issues, maternity leave, and such.
Perception is high because he's doing a lot of Finesse based stuff. I also had a virtue leftover, so I tossed it on Great Perception. If someone has a better idea for a minor virtue, I'm all ears!
A Magic Theory of 3 is hardly going to cripple him. Could he stand to get it a bit higher (especially for some of those bigger rituals)? Sure! But he's not a giant lab monkey, so it's not an immediate need.
It wasn't that he got to Parma 4 in one cycle, that Parma 4 is his final score across all three cycles.
Why so many custom spells? Because he has a significant focus in Rego Craft Magic, which isn't really too fleshed out in terms of spells. There are a handful of spells in Covenants, but many more that really should exist.
Necromancy is coming, eventually. I thought it would make for a better story for him to learn it during play as opposed to being able to show up with a veritable horde of ghosts. It'll make for far more interesting ghosts (they'll have rather distinct stories now). Plus I'm interested in exploring that Val Negra Cult.
As for the rest of his abilities, he's actually in a solid place with the 'essential' Mage ones, although Concentration could use a bump one of these days. I'd hardly call a Magus with Parma 4, Penetration 5 and a Finesse of 8, crippled.
I was explaining away the seasons and took no reward for them. If you'd truly like me to change it to just say 'lost' I can.