Vote for the magic item you would want

Games Discussion Ars Magica
1

Hi,

This thread is related to my IRL saga in which I offer you the role of the NPC who have to vote ingame. If you are not interested, let me thank you for your reading and have good day. In the other case, please enjoy this little post.

In my saga, the (Provençal) Tribunal decided to invest 50 pawns to buy magical item to fight against faeries, because there seem that faeries have decided to attack all covenants in the Order (and not only covenants, towns and villages too). In provence, the attack made some wounded magi (+- 10) and one died, 2 are lost in twilight and 1 archmagus (Valgravian) lost its mind due to an hermetic effect of unknown source. The Tribunal was rightly upset by the faerie thing and after a much heated debate, decided not to ask the upcoming extraordinary Grand Tribunal to make right to strike preemptively the faeries, but still to have a group of magi ready to defend the weakest magi and covenants of the tribunal.
The faeries used direct attacks (petrification and sword) and indirect ones on the buildings of covenants etc. (bombardment of huge rocks thrown by giants); most faeries where seen, but not all. The archmagus was attacked while he defended the cathedral of Andorra with the town folks inside from the rocks thrown by mountain faerie giants.

During the tribunal of 1270, after these events, there was a vote, and the tribunal decided that a commitee would vote on the proposed items by magi of the tribunal. The propositions are anonymous, only the praeco know which item is proposed by who. Hereunder you will only see what is proposed, not by whom. Some items are from NPC, others from PC. That's why I want to have an external decisive intervention: you.

The commitee gathers 1 PC (representative of his covenant) and 7 NPCs (representative : Garus Flambeau (Castra Solis) Ruberus Verditius (Aedes Mercurii) Gilbert Flambeau (Ostal des exilés) Mariola Jerbiton (Tolosa Paratge) Mélisandre Merinita (Ara Maxima Nova) Marcella (Stella Durus) Lucius Tremere (Berinor))

I think that it would be interesting if the decision is not taken by me, since some PCs have proposed items and hope to have the right to sell some item to gain the vis from the tribunal.

The item would be bought by the tribunal and given to a Brigade of INtervention (some magi who can teleport and are quite ready to help other covenants and magi against the faeries even if it means losing time or life).

If you are interested, you can cast 3 votes among the following list of item:

  • first one gives 50 points,
  • second one, 25 points
  • third one, 10 points.

When all votes (7 first persons who vote here and the player who has already cast his votes) are cast, I sum them up and each item is bought, according to the quantity the magus can do (in max 1 year) and in the order up to 50 pawns.

Each offer is one independant item (charged, lesser or invested), even if a magus proposed multiple options.

(Note: in our saga there is a house rule concerning PeVi guideline : they do base level might points, not +2 magnitude)

So the items:

  1. Charged wand : 16 charges
    PeVi 65 (b25, sight, 25l pén) : destroy 25 might fae 50 pén. Cost: 8 pawn
    Delivery: 4 seasons

  2. Wand, lesser item
    PeVi 50 (b2, sight, 40l pén, 5l 24uses) : destroy 2 might fae 80 pén. Cost: 15 pawn
    Delivery: 1 season

  3. Wand, lesser item
    PeVi 46 (b5, sight, 16 pén, #unlimited) : destroy 5might fae 32 pén. Cost: 10 pawn
    Delivery 1 season (+1 season per 2 additional item)

  4. Sword, invested item
    PeVi 65 (b20, sight, 25 pén, +5l 24 uses per day) : destroy 20might fae 50 pén.
    8 free pawns for investment
    Cost: 36 pawns
    Delivery 3 seasons

  5. Charged wand: 18 charges
    PeVi 85 (b30, sight, 40l pén) : destroy 30 might fae 80 pén. Cost : 7 pawns
    Delivery 1 season (4 seasons if offer 4 is chosen too)

  6. ring, lesser item
    ReVi 70 (b25, touch, conc, 26l pén, +4l constant, +5l maintened ): Ward against faerie 52 pénétration. Cost: 14 pawns
    immediate delivery

  7. Wand lesser item
    PeVi 61 (b15, sight, 36l pén, +6l 50 uses) : destroy 15might fae72 pénétration.
    Cost: 16 pawns
    IMmediate delivery

8] Wand lesser item
PeVi 73 (b20, sight, +3l 6 uses, 35l pén) : destroy 20 might fae 70 pénétration. Cost 25 pawns
Delivery 1 season

  1. Helmet of fae vision, lesser item
    InVi 75 (b5, pers, sun, vision, +4l 12uses , 36l pén) : see faes with 72 pén. Cost : 25 pawns
    Delivery 4 seasons

  2. Wand, lesser item
    PeVi 36 (b5, sight, 16 pén) : destroy 5 might fae 32 pén. Cost: 9 pawns
    Delivery 1 season (+1 season per 2 additional item)

  3. Wand invested item
    PeVi 66 (b10, sight, 10l # unlimited uses, 31l pén): destroy 10 might fae with 62 pénétration. Cost 21 pawns

Which item would you pick in order (3 votes to cast)?

Thank you for your participation!

(the list of items was normally in French so I'm sorry if any French remained while I translated in English)

2

Items 7, then 4, then 9.

3

9), then 7), then 6)

The Tribunal is to my understanding entitled only to defense against the faeries, not to assaults on faerie strongholds. So the items be better lasting ones, and useful in many situations - even shoddy peace negotiations with the faeries.

Cheers

4

6, 11, 2.

5

9, 6, then 2

6

6, 1, 9.

If the Tribunal have to deal with anything bigger than Might 50 would also mean that this voter would really think about moving to Transylvania.

7

I like number 4 the best. 50 penetration should be enough and it's range sight and 24 uses per day. But 50 might being enough is going to be saga specific. Yet in any saga, it's going to put the hurt on the vast majority of the fae.

Number 9 is a winner in that I think, as a rule, magi can handle faeries (depending, naturally, upon which magi and which faeries) if they can find them.

I'm tempted to push [strike]number 5[/strike] (whoops I see that note about delivery delay) number 7 as my third choice because the story guide put a bunch of items with really high penetration on this list indicating that some of the opposition have really high might scores. Having a big stick to beat down the biggest baddy from day one is good, the PC's can handle things if they've got a single weapon that works. My metagaming may not be completely tasteful, yet I figure that the presence of the items on this list indicates that the NPC's might have knowledge about exceedingly powerful fae creatures being present.

8

honestly if I'm facing faeries I'd rather smack them down physically and extract their vis instead of destroying their might. But there aren't three options on the list that don't destroy might. Personally I feel like if you need might destroying spells to take on faeries then you have a problem with incompetent magi...

9

Honestly, I'd agree that how much penetration is 'enough' is very saga-specific. I'm surprised that the tribunal didn't decide to mass-produce lab texts of varying levels of Faerie-Might destruction spells, which can use scribes instead of magi. I would definitely say 9 is the most useful; I'd put 6, the ward, as the next most useful for preventing sneak attacks. Because I don't know how strong faerie Mights in your saga are, I would be unable to vote for a third - in my home saga, anything over 30 might is unlikely to be out in the field, and probably chilling in his regio where his power base is.

10

I would pick 6, 9 and 7, If you can see them and they can't affect you well all you need is something to kill the big ones...

11

High penetration casting tablets can be mass produced by skilled scribes if you've got a single copy. If you have a single copy it doesn't seem too unlikely that someone could, using ceremonial magic, pull the following spell off to tide folks over until the scribal copies are completed.

Seventy looks like a high number but with artes liberals and philosophae together at 10 (including a specialty), a good aura (+4) and props (+5), a confidence point (3) and a good roll(8), they don't spend the confidence if they don't have a good roll, they'll only need 40 from other sources A +3 talisman bonus and a stamina of +2 gets it down to 35 for techniques and forms without pulling in any virtues or flaws. That's not a typical starting character, but it's very likely for a character 15 or more years out who has any sort of a creo emphasis or any character at all who has life linked spontaneous magic.

12

Hi,

THank you all for sharing.

I'll answer some questions:

  • penetration is 'high' in the sense that the PC's covenant was under presence (or attack, depending on your point of view) of Basilics, creatures whose range were around 38 might. When you see them, you are turned to stone, and the boss of them was able to turn you to stone if he saw you.

  • giants were destroying buildings. Contestants didn't see wards as fitting: your ward would not prevent thetower of the attacked covenant to crumble to dust. However once the attack is started, a rapid intervention can kill the faeries and protect more magi. Remember that the attacked magi are not the one receiving the items. The receiving magi are a "protective" team which would be aware of the attack by CrIm long distance alert/message service supervised by house Flambeau in Castra Solis. Thus seeing and overall killing the faeries were the objective of most contestants.

  • some faeries are hiding invisible and need to be seen to be hit.

Casting tablets are related to the CT of magi. Most magi are not warriors and fail to have bigger than 30 penetration. For those who have already, those items are useless : killing items would be given to young magi or not warrior magi who are good (to see faeries, track them etc.).

Faeries are usually 30- in normal areas, but the tribunal (or/and the Order) assumes some those faeries came from the Land of the Seasons, (Autumn and Spring Courts ruled by Kings of those seasons) and are responsible for the destruction. They may be sent by someone (does the PC guess, not the tribunal : the PC have not dissclosed that information because the tribunal might have some spies from that someone).
Those faeries where from low (5) to high (50 at most spotted), hence the penetration total submitted.

Most contestants felt that the only "all purpose" attack against faerie is PeVi. It's sure that individual magi would have better luck trying their speciality, but the item purpose is to be always useful.

Have a good day.

13

No items of quality using Iron's S/M bonuses or anything using the School of Raghallach guidelines from the Hibernia book, page 62/63?

14

if it is an enchanted item it doesn't rely on the mage's arts, I'd go with PeCo for a general attack on most fairies, PeAn for basilisks, and if there are that many of them attacking perhaps making the enchantment to only destroy the manifestation of faeries with a group, or perhaps boundary target...

15

Hi,

9: To kill the faeries, you first must see the faeries.
11 or 7: If you choose 11, you'll eventually get hit by something with Might>62. If you choose 7, you'll eventually be swarmed and will run out of daily uses. Choices! I'd give the nod to 11, since with 7, you might still get hit by something too high and Mighty.

Anyway,

Ken

16

Obviously the sword was made with iron s&M bonuses. But not an item of quality. I don't know those guidelines from hibernia book so I didn't use them. And the PC were not aware either :slight_smile:.