Varinia ex Merinita

For discussion of the creation and advancement of Varinia ex Merinita

Character sheet is here: http://amfightorflight.wikidot.com/varinia-ex-merinita. It should be mostly done, barring spells and the Plagued by Faerie, and pending approval. In particular, I've taken Disfigured (goat legs), and Faun Blood (+1 to musical rolls, including dancing), which is one of the options for Samovily Blood in HoH:TL.

Before picking spells, a question: Do Magical Foci and a character's Magic Theory specialisation apply when figuring out maximum spell level at character creation?

yes they do.

To begin with which tribunal is this maga in? Traditionally the page is created as a link in the appropriate tribunal. As written she appears to be from the Rhine tribunal which doesn't open until game date 1210.

I'm planning the Hibernian Tribunal, as a place she's headed immediately after Gauntlet to seek out more (and new) faeries to study. I can put a link in the page, if the Hibernian Tribunal works alright?

That would be good.

faerie blood is not a mix and match process- Samovilly are not fauns, and are specific to Bulgaria which is not part of Varinia's background. Fauns would be satyrs blood and have +1 bonus to communication and presence when dealing with sexually compatible characters.
please define "metamagical enhancement"

I was going for creating a new option, where the book says "Type of Faerie Blood (pick one, or create a similar one)". I just cited Samovily Blood as an example for balance purposes. I had considered Satyr Blood, but from what I can tell, satyrs and fauns were fairly distinct things. Fauns were the Roman creatures, were the goat-legged ones, and where more musical. While satyrs were Greek, exclusively male, and had human legs, being characterised instead by their priapism. So would it be valid to have Faun Blood, distinct from Satyr Blood?

By metamagical enhancement, I intended any metamagic that had a beneficial effect on the target spell. So, Wizard's Boost, Wizard's Reach and Wizard's Communion, say, but not Mirror of Opposition. I was going to ask you whether that could include, say, Maintain the Demanding Spell, but I'm happy whether it can or not.

In ROP:faerie it specifies that satyrs include fauns. If you want to find a German faerie that we can look at designing a new type I am open to that, but I do not treat it as a casual exercise in the players picking whatever they want. Start with the type of faerie and what references you have to them.

I will take some time to consider the scope for "metamagical enhancement"

metamagical enhancements are fine, I calculate you still need 45 levels of spells and 15 levels of abilities, which may relate to the fact that your spreadsheet does not match your character sheet...

Ahh, sorry, hadn't seen that part of ROP:F. That bit actually specifies that female children of satyrs get Nymph Blood, so I'll definitely have to look into a replacement for that.

Found the missing 15 Ability XP; I'd copied my Concentration wrong. I'm still working on the spells.

Ahh, I see the discrepancy. The fauns described in ROP:F are a lot more violent than the more benign fauns I'd seen in myth. I could perhaps use the Pans, but they're Greek, rather than Roman, so it gets harder to explain how their blood ended up around the Black Forest (I'd been imagining it had to do with the largely Roman Order's long involvement in the Black Forest).

Another possibility is a Scottish faerie, the glaistig. A glaistig was actually what I used for the character picture. Moving to Scotland would require rewriting elements of the backstory, and swapping Gild Training for something else. But I think I'd actually rather have ties to the Loch Leglean Tribunal than the Rhine (in fact, I'd be opting to play in the Loch Leglean Tribunal if it was open yet). So I'll make that rework, if that's alright?

A glaistig would be fine for the benefits you are seeking, it will mean you are from Loch Leglean, which means seeking faeries is a weaker motivation for your character to be in Hibernia- not impossible just weaker because there are plenty of faerie in Scotland as well...

Yeah; I've tried to resolve that by giving her the Mentor Flaw, and explaining that she's basically splitting the research with her mentor: he'll cover the Scottish faeries, and her the Irish ones.

that works. Let me know when the final version is ready to be checked.

Will do. Just got 20 more levels of spells to sort; I'll probably get them done tomorrow.

Alright, I believe I finally have Varinia ready for review.

Restore the image of humanity- the base description suggests that it affects an individual, but the technical details indicate part.
Hear the music of vis: by canon different arts will look/sound different. You can keep the spell as written or adjust it accordingly.
The Ollamh harp: You seem to be confusing Creo and Rego craft magic- Cr He to create a harp is base 3, not base 5 (base 5 is rego for working unprepared timber) Neither does Creo magic require a finesse roll to create a basic functional item.
Revising the recent recollection: please be a little more specific than simply restating the guideline for a description of what the spell does.

I wrote it that way 'cause she'll probably cast it often with Individual (or Group) target, and only with Part target when she's casting it on herself. But I've reworded it to fit the Part target.

"Detect the presence of vis" is a Base 1 guideline, while "Discern the Art of Vis" is a Base 4 guideline. I figure the spell will allow grogs to find the vis, and Varinia can spontaneously manage a "sense the Nature of Vis" once it's been located.

The Base 5 is because of the Animal part. And the Creo description on page 77 says that creating an artificial thing with Creo magic does require a Finesse roll to determine its quality. You always get a harp (unless you botch), but with a bad roll, the harp might be horribly out of tune. I based the Ease Factor on "Sword from the Unseen Scabbard" in HoH:S (page 37).

I did wonder if Revising the Recent Recollection needed to be more specific, but Recollection of Memories Never Quite Lived (ArM5, page 149) isn't. Anyway, I'll think about what I want the spell to do, and specify it a bit further.

I've done a spot more digging, and I've realised where I went wrong with the harp-creation spell. I was using the level 5 Animal guideline and the level 3 Herbam guideline, but I had it as a CrHe(An) spell, while the fact that it uses a higher Animal guideline should make it a CrAn(He) spell. That'd preclude using Enchant the tree Above the Sapling on it however, so I'm going to have to change some things around.

What's more, it appears that the Celtic harp of both Scotland and Ireland is traditionally brass-strung, rather than gut-strung, and that's what gives it the brighter tone that I'd imagine Varinia playing, while gut gives a deeper tone. So really I want a CrTe(He). Like I say, I'll redesign the spell.