The Wizard's Communion spell Zoltan has can't be used to lend power to ritual spells. If it's Sun Duration, that will use up the 2 magnitudes for communing in the 10th level spell. At least I'm thinking it's the same as we had in Bibracte.
There's been an errata on the spell (and all MuVi spells). Basically it needs to last as long as the casting of the spell it modifies. For a formulaic spell, no problem, the casting takes second so a Wizard's Communion of Momentary duration works fine. For a ritual spell, well, the casting takes 15 minutes per magnitude, that's one hour even for the lowliest ritual. Sun duration is just the simplest way of making sure your Wizard's Communion lasts long enough, although you might be able to make Concentration duration work (if you are confident in your ability to concentrate long enough), and there are more exotic durations that may work just as well...
Changing the duration beyond Momentary takes power away from being shared via a Wizard's Communion. Wizard's Communion 10 with D: Momentary lets 10 levels be added to the communion, if you change the duration to Concentration/Diameter you lose 5 levels. If you change it to D: Sun, there's nothing left to share for the ritual.
OK, so I'll take 10 of the extra xp I have and make the spell level 20, adding Sun Duration to it. Sound good? I'd still have 20 xp left over, I'll buy Single Weapon at 2 with that and use the last 5 xp to Master another spell. If that meets approval, I think Zoltan is finished.
OK, Zoltan should be all set. I set his Apparent Age at 25 and added Wizard's Communion at 20 with Sun Duration, added Single Weapon 2 (Swords) and gave him Mastery of Charge of the Angry Winds with Quick Casting (from the Societates Book in the Flambeau section) to give him a little boost on initiative, though it is not the same as Fast Casting. His age and missing xp are done.
When I get a chance I'll try my hand at designing the 4 faeries that he often has available to him. 1 is a Faerie Friend per the flaw he got with learning Animae Magic, and the others are from his Animae spells.
If anyone else wants to take a crack at it though, feel free.
Throwing some ideas out for the contract with Zoltan and the Tremere. They don't have a bad relationship necessarily, but I think it'd be safe to assume that the Tremere suffer Zoltan's presence in the Tribunal and allow him to stay. Which is fine with me, the deal might not go as two-way between the two. If this not the case let me know.
Here are some things I figure the Tremere would want, and as a Merinita Zoltan's demands might seem a bit strange.
Research on the fae of the Tribunal. This would include useful Tracti and Summae on the subject of Faerie Lore. The timeframe is negotiable as they'd want books that are productive.
Interrogation and questioning of fae prisoners, to also include those aligned with the fae. This skirts the Oath of course, but if it comes to Tribunal it will be excused. Zoltan would have assurances on this.
Making of magic items as needed to deal with the fae, paid the prices that Verditius magi could expect, these would be items that take advantage of the unique Mysteries of Merenita so as not to intrude upon the Verditius.
Accompaniment of specialist grogs and possibly Tremere on expeditions into Faerie auras and regios, paid for his time with hazard pay incentive.
Expectation to teach both Tremere and specialists for the purpose of dealing with the fae (thinking the Fectores here).
Investigation of items and effects associated with the fae.
Trading non-fae vis to Tremere for their fae vis at an advantageous rate to Zoltan (in other words, Tremere with faerie vis they'd rather not use can trade it with Zoltan, but at a rate that benefits Zoltan).
I tried to think of Zoltan as a mercenary, perhaps a friendly native for an occupying army. So their demands would be high, but the pay might be pretty good.
That's what I've been thinking about as we're getting nearer to the start. 75 can go pretty quick, so I'll likely sink the rest into vis. Hope ya'll don't mind faerie vis.
Well...I was looking more to vis sources than stocks, with sources it's considerably less, but it is an ongoing harvest. I was going to put some in stocks though.
I always put a big chunk into specialists. Some basic specialists should come standard. A team of copiers, lab techs, level 6 metalsmith and glassblowers. A tutors of lore and latin and arcane powers. Magi need to have a good support staff to operate at maximum efficiency.
I can see the point on Specialists, I wouldn't mind investing some of the excess points maybe. Books wise, we're not going to be able to get much of a library, we'll likely be bargaining in game a lot for books and lab texts.
