wait list

The Maltese location is a bit removed from the rest of the order, at least at this point, the duelist might not work well for this location. Unless he was on the run...

Okay so ideas-
[center]Maga characters[/center]

Evangelist of House Merinita. These stories about these exotic hedge wizards in the south? The covenant would be the perfect base of operations to bring the word of Faerie, Magic and the Order. Take Cabal Legacy and some if the inner Merinita mysteries. Go on a recruiting spree for the order and then get them to join House Merinita. What could go wrong? Nothing, absolutely nothing. Would a hedge wizard blackmailed into joining the Order share knowledge of Parma Magic after she teaches them? Of course not! There is no forseeable way this could give the Sahirs and their Order Parma. None! Besides its her duty to recruit all Hedge Wizards. Not her job to stop crime.

Ex Misc Researcher: Hedge Magic is best magic. Okay actually its 90% crap magic. But sometimes it has a trick or two the Order doesn't have exactly. And then you can integrate them and make the Order stronger. That will show them! That will teach them I'm not a Hedgie!!!

Refugee from the rest of the Order: Made someone angry. Maybe she wasn't a good cultist. Maybe an older wizard owes her two queens of vis, and will Wizard War her if it looks like she might try and collect. Maybe she got a couple of Tremere Magi marched. Whatever the case someone really powerful is really mad at her and she's fled. Can't declare war if you can't find her sanctum! (Or her.)

[center]Companion Ideas[/center]
Holy Monk: Everyone loves nuns. She meditates, uses holy methods, pets kittens. Preferably using Church rules. But less Catholic Nun and more wandering "heretic", but still strongly divine. Actually, Muslim with some rules from The Church for the mechanics would probably be best.

Experiment Gone Wrong: Transformed human. A crazy Hedge Wizard/Sahir is obsessed with making the perfect wife. Now has parts of her body either infused or replaced with metal. Built with Transformed Human Virtue, not the rules for magic creatures.

unGifted Sahir: Fellow Wizards! We should be friends! Would you like to join our Order? Or maybe our Order could join yours? Or just Free Trade! Everyone loves Free Trade! Well really its pretty hated, but I'm sure one day everyone will love Free Trade! Wants to make friends and bring peace so everyone can advance and share knowledge.

[strike]Bandit Leader[/strike] Freelance Security and Acquisitions Manager: Actually an outlaw leader. Trying to go legit. Wrongly and falsely accused and now on the run trying to clear her name. That's a lie, but the crimes she committed were not crimes against justice, but for justice. She attacked slave traders. They deserved it. Seriously those guys are bastards.

[center]Grogs[/center]
I don't know how many Grogs you want, but I have a never ending supply of ideas

Dragon Killer Jane: Take one Divine Virtue of Immunity to Dragons (their rare), add one Bow skill, stir well and we have a heroic action girl. Might upgrade herself to Holy Monk.
Escaped Slave: You guys hate slavery right? This one is educated and skilled in crafts. She would love a place to set up shop where her owners won't find her.
Singer of Hymns of the Dead Gods: Ancient Hyperborean Magic. Those are minor virtues for some reason. Obviously would be time lost. Seems munckinish though.
Its a witch!: You can make a grog level witch. Makes vis, sees ghosts and has premonitions. Pretty cool overall. Probably thinks you are fellow witches just like her. She'll take a job at your coven refining cheap vis for a small wage and room and board.
Freelance Security and Acquisitions Expert: Comes with the Freelance Security and Acquisitions Mostly escaped slaves though.

You may be a Cat, but if so you are certainly a clever Cat. I like the various ideas. The Merinita strikes me as slightly more interesting, but any of the Maga would work.

keep in mind that mystery initiations are very heavily restricted for starting characters- I would much rather they be developed in play.

That being said, faerie tends to be more prevelant in my campaigns than many others I've seen.

Also I do not have a problem with faerie companions or magical companions or grogs.

If I make a magical grog what should the starting might be? I'm thinking unGifted Sahir for the companion and the refugee for the Maga.

Oh and can I start with a small familiar? Like a weasel? Or a ferret? With low might?

When I say a magical grog, I am referring to a being of the realm of magic, as outlined in ROP:magic. If you want a grog with magic, simply add a supernatural virtue of the magic realm such as skinchanger, dowsing, or premonitions.

Yeah, I was thinking of using the rules from RoP:M, but what would a Grogs Might score be?

And for the Spirit Companion flaw from page 31 of the cradle and crescent, how should that be designed?

A magical spirit companion would be either an NPC or played by another player, the storyteller or allowed to be passed as a grog despite it's status as a flaw- this could be either magic or faerie character (infernal will be strictly NPC), and will be designed as per the guidelines for that flaw- 5 for 'grog', 10 for 'companion' and 15 for 'magus' level. If creating a fully pc magic character (not tied to someone else's flaw), faeries get pretense points based on an average magus age of 40, magical entities are built based on high power and spring season.

Any potential future room for a Jerbiton with the Gentle Gift who prefers to waste it by spending all his time in the lab [strike]irradiating[/strike]Warping things? Creo Vim researcher interested in strong and unusual Magic auras, such as those frequently found at very old magical sites. Like this one!

sounds interesting to me...

Okay, currently I've got something of a scholar who has attended a university, probably Italian, given location and the number of good Italian universities nearby, long enough to be a Baccalaureus, that's fairly heavily specialized in Creo and Vim, with Weak Spontaneous Magic as a Hermetic flaw so probably going to pick up some Mentem and Corpus to shore up a weakness in utility outside a lab. How long are most of the magi out of apprenticeship in this saga? And should I advance past apprenticeship assuming a set number of experience per year or work out each season individually?

For any new characters it will be at 30xp/yr as described in the book. The bigger question is how he would wind up in Malta...

I feel like he'd probably end up there for much the same reasons the caravan/covenant would have, ancient sites often have powerful auras, and he's interested in studying them both from a general academic perspective and from a Hermetic research perspective, in addition to them being just generally beneficial to labwork of most kinds. Unusual auras are also potentially of interest, not just the powerful ones, I was looking at RoP:Magic just now, and its sections on tethers, aligned auras, and the potential effects of Hermetic magic on aura strength. Aligned auras of pretty much any kind would be of interest, and it seems more likely you'd find unusual auras in relatively unspoiled territory, as opposed to in the middle of a major city.

Given that 30 xp/year figure, could I break that down into seasons and then assume, say, that a single season would be worth 7 xp? I think there is some labwork/writing I'll need to do as part of character generation, but I'm not sure it'll be cleanly divided into years. I'm currently thinking 10 years past Gauntlet/finishing university for an age of around 35. I'd paste my current character sheet for at Gauntlet but I need some time to clean it up a little, so it'll have to wait until sometime this afternoon.

as in the book taking a season off for labwork or otherwise costs 10xp er season, with a cap of costing 30xp in one year.

new characters need to be in their own threads, I will move these later, but please if you have any more characters start new threads for them.

I'd like to join the wait list, if I may.

I have an idea for a Finesse magus from Venice who specializes in crafting, particularly glassware. He claims that his great skill in crafting comes from the fact that he's a direct descendant of Daedalus. But who can tell if that's true or just bluster?

Why would he leave Venice for Malta?

He was born in Venice, but left for his apprenticeship. He's not looking to return because he doesn't want to have to deal with rules and competition in Venice. He's more of an artist than a manufacturer (though he's perfectly capable of that). He's looking for somewhere quiet where he can practice his art. Kind of like an artist going to an artist's colony to work.

You are aware that Malta and Venice are more or less at war? Plus the existence of a covenant in Malta is not generally known through the order, they are still listed as a traveling caravan on the redcap lists...

Hmm, I did not know that Malta and Venice are at war. I might have to change my background a bit, probably come from someplace that isn't at war with Malta.

As for how to find the covenant, I'm welcome to any suggestions. If it's a hidden covenant so far, my opportunities will be slim. Perhaps I've retreated to Malta as a quiet retreat already and they'll find me there. I was debating taking an apprentice as a companion (with the limitation, I know, that the apprentice would be run by someone else), though I would certainly defer to what the troupe said about that. But maybe I wanted somewhere quiet to raise an apprentice. Though it is odd to go somewhere that doesn't have an Aegis, I know. I'm just trying to toss out ideas. Really, I'm good with about anything that would work to draw him in.