Torros Grogs

Retired Play by Post Campaigns Ars Magica 5th Edition: The Price of Freedom
1

Hans The Guard

Appearance: A tall warrior with wide shoulders and a big burn scar in his face. He has brown hair and brown eyes. Most time he is dressed in leather scale including a leather helmet that covers most of his scar. When he speaks, his voice is loud and his words straightforward.

Age: 19
Characteristics: Int -1, Per 0, Com -1, Pre +1, Dex 0, Qik +1, Sta +3, Str +1
Personality Traits: Brave +3, Loyal +2, Subtle -2
Warping: 0

Virtues: Covenfolk (0), Large (1), Tough (1), Warrior (1)
Flaws: No Sense of Direction (1), Disfigured (big burn scar on his face) (1), Covenant Upbringing (1)

Abilities:
Area Lore: Valnastium (brewers) 2 (15)
Athletics (running) 2 (15)
Awareness (bodyguarding) 3 (30)
Brawl (grappling) 3 (30)
Carouse (drinking) 2 (15)
Charm (when drunk) 2 (15)
Craft: Leather (Armor) 1 (5)
Folk Ken (magi) 1 (5)
Great Weapon (Pole Axe) 2 (15)
Guile (lying to magi) 2 (15)
Language: High German (talking about fighting) 5 (0)
Language: Latin (understanding orders) 3 (30)
Music (drinking songs) 1 (5)
Single Weapon (Shield, Heater) 5 (75)
Survival (in the Mountains) 2 (15)
Thrown Weapon (Axe) 3 (0)

Combat:
Axe/Heater: Init +0, Atk 10, Def 10, Dam +7
Axe: Init +0, Atk 9, Def 6, Dam +7
Hatchet: Init -1, Atk 8, Def 6, Dam +5
Dodge: Init 0, Def +3
Fist: Init +0, Atk +5, Def +3, Dam +1
Kick: Init -1, Atk 3, Def 3, Dam +4
Grappling: Init 0, Atk 4, Def 5, Dam +1

Possessions: Axe, Heater Shield, Full leather Scale Armor, Throwing Axe , Leatherworking Tools (small), Knife, Pack to establish a camp.

Background: Hans grew up in Valnastium. The Covenant decided to train the large boy in martial arts. Due his size it was obvious that had he had a chance to become good warrior and/or shield grog. Hans enjoyed the drill and developed his skills well. For some time he hoped to become the shield grog for one of the magi in Valnastium. More than one girl in the covenant had an eye on the large and tough young soldier. One bad day Hans simply stood on the wrong place. An magical experiment went wrong, destroyed one lab and burned the face of the guard standing close to the door. The guard on the door was Hans. After his face was disfigured none of the magi of Valnastium was interested to retain Hans as a shield grog anymore. For some frustrating time he had to guard places where his disfigurement would not bother the people around. Being asked he happily agreed to join Torros on a long journey.

2

Franz The Servant

Appearance: Franz has an average size and wears the robes of a novice. His roundly face always looks a bit anxious with his blue eyes constantly scanning his enviroment

Age: 23
Characteristics: Int +2, Per +2, Com +1, Pre 0, Dex 1, Qik -1, Sta 0, Str +0,
Personality Traits: Brave -1, Loyal+3, Anxious ?
Warping: 0

Virtues: Covenfolk (0), Puissant Bargain (1), Educated (1), Well traveled (1)
Flaws: Offensive to Animals (1), Missing Ear (1), Fear (being on a sailing boat) (1)

Abilities: (Specialty) score (Exp) Total Exp. 415
Area Lore: Denmark (Monastries) 3 (30)
Artes Liberales (rhetoric) 2 (15)
Awareness (Searching) 3 (30)
Bargain (hard sell) 3+2 (30)
Charm (first impressions) 2 (15)
Civil and Canon law (papal Law) 2 (15)
Etiquette (peasants) 2 (15)
Folk Ken (peasants) 3 (30)
Language: Low German (Bargain) 5 (0)
Language: Latin (church ceremonies) 4 (50)
Language: Danish 5 (storytelling) (75)
Philosophiae (moral Philosophy) 2 (15)
Profession: Scribe (copying) 2 (15)
Profession: Steward () 2 (15)
Stealth (hide) 2 (15)
Survival (Rivers) 3 (30)
Swim 1 (long distances) (5)
Theology (biblical knowledge) 2 (15)

Possessions: Parchment, quill and ink, pack to establish a camp.

Background:
Born in low Germany as a son of merchants his parents died early. Their ship sunk in a storm and only Franz survived. He was raised in the monastery of Vestervig. Here Franz learned Latin, Danish, Theology, Philosophy and Civil & Canon law. He also developed his profession scribe here.

As Franz was 19 he took a journey to Rome with other monks of the monastery. During their journey, they were surprised by bad weather in the Alps. The group of monks lost their way in the unknown terrain, blinded by the storm, eventually sheltering themselves in a small grove of trees. Huddled together for warmth, they tried to wait out the storm. When it passed, only Franz had survived, still facing death by hunger and frost. Pushing his way forward, he was found by Torros who was looking around searching some nice formed Ice. Franz was brought to the House of Jorgos and recovered after some time. Still, Franz lost his left ear because of the frostbites he had suffered.

For the next four years, Franz lived in the household of Jorgos. He enjoyed the atmosphere and all the beautiful thinks around. But he still felt deeply indebted to Torros and was happy to serve him, so Franz followed him when the young magus decided to leave Jorgos' covenant.

3

very minor point: I believe Grog's don't get confidence?

4

Regarding Hans:

  • Leatherworking is a craft, rather than a profession.
  • If he's from a covenant in the Greater Alps (as his Covenant Upbringing flaw would seem to indicate), then his native language would be High German, not Low German. Note that with the Covenant Upbringing flaw, he could know some Latin.
  • Grogs don't have Confidence.

Regarding Franz:

  • Your servant should not be a warrior.
  • Again, how come his native language is Low German, since Torros was apprenticed at Valnastium? That's not a language spoken there, so how did he end up working so far from his home area?
  • How did he learn Danish living in the Greater Alps? I could see Italian or French, but Danish?

In both cases, background and description are much more important to me than stats.

5

Deleted the confidence for both and added a short background.
Hans has some latin now (and less carouse and grate weapon)
Franz stats are still the same but the background might explain his abilities.

6

I repeat: The servant is your magus should not be (as in "cannot be") a warrior. That means no Warrior virtue, or any other virtue/flaw that would give him access to martial abilities. He is a personal servant, groom, majordomo, intermediary, slave, whatever. But he's not and has never been a fighting man.

In the case of Franz, if he was the son of a cook, he might have been a cook and wounded when the mercenaries' baggage train was sacked by enemies. But he cannot have been a fighting man himself.

7

I Changed the Abilities and the background of Franz.
If needed I can reduce his age and delete or decrease some of his abilities.

8

Starting with the most important first. :wink:

What did his parents do as a living? He would probably have picked up some of their trade/profession before they died. It would also have colored his view of life.

At what age did his parents die? At what age did he undertake the trip to Rome? How much time did he spend as part of Jorgos' household?

I would expect the background to provide hints as to why he has those virtues and flaws. Was his father a merchant? If so, why wasn't he taken in by a relative? Was he cursed by faeries so that animals feared him?

His area lore should probably reflect the languages he knows, and the area should be defined as a mundane would see it (examples: Saxony, Denmark), rather than an artificial boundary that magi use (Rhine Tribunal).

Finally, I can see that your are struggling a bit with English, so I will give you a few corrections. I'm simply trying to help here. :slight_smile:

  • bolt --> bold
  • Personality trades --> traits
  • German (Low) (Bargain) --> Low German (High German and Low German are considered different languages)
  • Danish 5 (storrytelling) --> storytelling

If you want, after you've made the background a bit more detailed, I can go through it and make some corrections there as well to make it easier to read. :slight_smile:

9

If the following additions are ok I will include them in the Background of Franz.

I would say his parents were traveling grocers (that fits to well traveled and bargain).
They died shortly after Franz early childhood began. His parents got ill and Balduin was trying to help them but his prayers did not work and both died.
First Balduin thought about to bring the child to a monastery or to some relatives who lived far away. After some time Balduin recognized that he don’t wanted to give the child away and he started to teach him.

I would select Denmark as area for the area lore. The specialty should be monasteries (if possible).
It is not too far away from Helgoland. That might be an advantage for Franz and the Covenant.
Franz does not know why animals don’t like him. He hopes Torros will get behind this and maybe fix it. (Franz didn´t know about Torros problem with Intellego. And Torros will not tell him anything.)
Franz had lived the last four years in the household of Jorgos. He enjoyed the atmosphere and all the beautiful thinks around.
His journey to Rom started and ended as he was 19.

Corrections are welcome and appreciated :confused:

10

Sounds good overall, although I don't think that a wandering monk would have taken such a young child along in his travels.

Though monks did indeed raise orphans (who often became monks themselves), he would have been raised in a monastery under the tutelage of the whole community of the monks, rather than being attached to Balduin. So that seems incompatible with the Well-Travelled and Puissant Bargain virtues to me.

Now, if he was orphaned much later, then that might make sense for him to have picked up Well-Travelled and Puissant Bargain (from his parents) before being taken in by the monks.

11

Ok :smiley:
Then let his parents died as Franz was 12.
Then he was raised in a monastery (do you have any ideas which one?)
I suppose it should be one in Denmark?

12

A monastery in Denmark would make sense, certainly. Here's a list of monasteries in Denmark. I think that Glenstrup Abbey or Vestervig Abbey might be good choices if you want to go one on the peninsula. Perhaps his family died in a shipwreck? That would explain why he was taken in by those monks. And he might now be scared of storms (or of sailing in ships) because of this traumatic event.

13

Then let it be Vestervig. That’s near to the coast and its geographical location seems to be one where many ships could sink. Strong winds from North West can drive a sailing vessel on a sand bank. The waves will then destroy the hull of the ship or turn it over.

And let´s take the fear of Sailing in ships. :smiling_imp:
This is a hard one on an island.
To get Franz on a boat to Helgeland could become the first challenge for Torros.
Maybe I should also change the ability swim to something different :question:
I would take the fear as a flaw instead of continence. (If it is ok for you)

14

Sure, make the changes to the flaws. :smiley:

Now, being afraid of ships is not the same as being afraid of water. He could still know how to swim (though perhaps at a lower score than right now), but be fearful of what can happen when sailing in a ship (being trapped inside when it sinks). Or, as you surmised, he could not know how to swim and be afraid of drowning.

An alternative skill that might make sense is a Profession skill. Either from his father's merchanting (Profession: Merchant) or from his activities at the monastery (such as Gardener, Cook, Scribe, Illuminator, or something else). Note that such a Profession skill will probably influence his role in the covenant, so I'd advise selecting something that will be something you'd be interested in having stories about.

15

Adjusted Franz.

:question: If he has the profession scribe, does this mean he can read or does this require Artes Liberales?

16

One doesn't need to be able to write to be a scribe, so he could have Profession: Scribe without Artes Liberales. But yes, Artes Liberales is required for him to be able to understand what he is scribing.

Are you keeping Profession: Steward anyway?

17

Sorry for my late answer.
I had problems with my Internetconnection.

Yes I like to keep the profession steward, but not necessary on the actual level.
If possible I like to add Artes Liberales and reduce the profession steward.

18

Sure, he's got Educated so having Artes Liberales is almost a must.

19

Done! :slight_smile:

20

I edited him a little bit for formatting and rewording his background story a little bit. But I consider him ready for play. :smiley: