OOC Chat

[AleBelly]

You are correct!

Took a bit of a look at the magus and the Arts look a little lower than I'd typically expect, but it seems like maybe you put more points into the non-magical skills and abilities section--so overall it should be right.

At some point you'll want to select your starting known spells (120 levels), but they're not immediately critical and in fact you could always fill them in as we go if it feels better. It's not a huge deal.

Safe travels!

Hi - yep, I used 95 points on Arts and 145 on abilities. I figured this reflects the focus on surviving the travel to Alsace to join the covenant, and Bjornaer's relative aloofness from the other magic houses.

[Keehnelf]

No problem there at all! I assumed it was something like that but I just didn't do all the math out. Thanks for clarifying

[AleBelly]

Bran of Bjornaer is uploaded into the character sheet folder. I modified the template a bit. He's just finished his apprenticeship at age 26. Welcome to any suggestions as I haven't played this before!

One last question before I can launch a story for this magus - what is his heart beast form?

He's a raven.

I started looking into spells and I think I understand how they work...so I made a couple minor adjustments on the Arts allocation. I think I'll select a few and leave some of the levels open as we go if that's OK.

[AleBelly]

By the way, I picked Cork in Ireland because I lived there for awhile. But if it's too far from Alsace, etc. I'm happy to adjust Bran's origins.

[Keehnelf]

No, that's all cool either way. Thanks! I think that's all I need, so I can get something going in a bit.

[Keehnelf]

Grognardsw, will you upload a character sheet for your companion to the google drive when you can? Thanks!

[AleBelly]

OK, I just made a companion - Gertrude von Lithrigen. I based her off Gertrude of Dagsburg. Her abilities are pretty high due to her wealthy virture, which gave her more points. Please let me know if she'll be useless, but I had her boost education and charm, guile, etiquette, etc. Not going to be much help in combat!

[Keehnelf]

Three things:

1. grognardsw, do you mind Cugel's native language being French? Since he only has the one language, that'll make him being near the covenant and entering a story with Bran easier (since they'd be able to talk to the locals and each other). The other option would be that Cugel is ALSO Irish, without any language skills that would help him on the continent, which feels like a mismatch with his story

2. Gertrude is awesome! I love it. Companions need to bring interesting relationships to the world and realms of possible activity--and hers sounds great! Both opening story doors and built-in conflicts. Love it.

3. Combat is not a central part of Ars Magica. Certainly, it can happen--but due to how magi work, there are many "traditional" combats their abilities allow them to sidestep completely, if they want. Often, combat happens more because the PC isn't willing to make the story trade-off that would be needed to avoid it, than because it starts off as an unavoidable fact. Also, there are ALWAYS (or almost always) Grogs for fighting. Typically no more than one or two Companions need any kind of fighting ability to more than cover what might be useful. Grogs get to have their own personalities as the chronicle advances, too, and they're collectively controlled so even if you have all non-combat-interested characters, there are still ways to engage with that system.

[Grognardsw]

French is good. Cugel is likely in the Covenant to avoid many enemies he has made.

[AleBelly]

Cugel's instincts have guided the rogue's career and helped sidestep many a trouble. As he approached the open seat in the tavern, Cugel had an intuitive feeling that the man in the next seat was...something more...

Cugel sat down. "Good morning. Yes, the Lord bless us all, we certainly need it." A smile as he slyly studied the man. The cut of his clothes, pale countenance, the ink smear on his fingers, the slight slouch - perhaps a scholar or...

"I arrived this morning, on my way up the Rhine, but the weather isn't cooperating. I am Cugel," He nodded to the man. "Your accent - where do you hail from?"

Nice flourish with the fancy 'c'!

[Keehnelf]

Agreed!

[Enoch]

I think I'm going to take the Merinita mage pretty much as-is, though I'm considering swapping Presence and Communication (I see them as more charming than well-spoken), and possibly taking the Virtue "Diedne Magic" and flaws to balance it.

I have ideas on a backstory, but I'm not clear on whether magic runs in families, if parens are usually a mage's parent, when House Diedne was destroyed, etc. My thoughts:

• Character is the child of a somewhat powerful Faerie.
• Somewhere in his paternal ancestry was a druid who was part of House Diedne before it was destroyed.
• Character's father had a falling-out with the faerie, and in a fit of spite revealed the father's (and character's) descent from House Diedne, prompting the character to flee to Alsace, where his is unknown. It's likely his mother did not intend for this to harm her son, but done is done.

[Keehnelf]

A few thoughts/answers:

Diedne was wiped out about two hundred years ago.

Magic is not typically hereditary. The lifestyle and effect of the Gift makes it so a lot of wizards don't have children, and the parens relationship relates to descent through the Order in a given House--parens is the equivalent of "master" in a traditional master/apprentice relationship.

It would be within the realm of imagination that your character's parens (who would also be Merinita) committed some substantial faux pas against the faerie of his home area and that your character was somehow implicated by it, forcing him into exile--still engaged in a study of Faerie but unwelcome within that particular Realm until they conduct some kind of penance (if they can find a safe way to do so). Perhaps the nature of the offense is unknown, and the character is seeking out other Realms in the hope of learning what it is so that it can be undone?

[Keehnelf]

Diedne lineage wouldn't be off the table--you'd be in disguise as a member of another House, but truly be descended of House Diedne--but you'd have to take the Dark Secret flaw to account for that. It's a hugely-impactful story choice.

[Enoch]

I saw that it came with Dark Secret. If it's going to be disruptive or difficult to handle I'm happy to drop Diedne Magic and take something like Entrancement or Cyclic Magic and really double down on the fey ancestry.

[Keehnelf]

No, feel free to do whatever you like! I just wanted to make sure you were aware that that would be a big investment, story-wise. It sounds fun, I just don't want you to stumble into something that might be a bigger deal than you were thinking.

[Enoch]

I don't mind my character being put in tough spots...but I did just see that the pregen has Plagued by Faerie (thinking the character's mother, who has his best interests at heart but does not understand the mortal world), which is a Story flaw, and so is Diedne Magic. The rules recommend only a single Story flaw. Is this OK?

[Keehnelf]

Yeah, as long as you don't mind me eventually putting you in a spot where you have to choose which story to move toward resolution on at the expense of the other

evil DM cackle

[Keehnelf]

Thanks for your patience on the next post—my wife is traveling and I’ve been scrambling a bit to juggle work and solo kid custody

[Enoch]

No worries!