Interest Check - Ars Magica Play By Post

Stories about games that you run and/or have played in.

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Kurama314
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Post by Kurama314 »

I haven't gotten to the point of stats yet but I'm thinking of a Bjornaer magi with a bear heartbeast.
As for setting/scale ideas I'm up for pretty much anything but personally I find the idea of a spring covenant pretty appealing. The process of amassing power and earning a reputation seems like it would make a great campaign.
Korgan0
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Post by Korgan0 »

Longes- looks good. Once we get a better grasp on the exact details of the covenant we can figure out the precise details/backstory. However, your Parma Magica, as someone just coming out of apprenticeship, should be 1. Members of House Ex Miscellaena often come out of a specific sub-tradition, so if you wanted to grab one out of the Societates book or just make one up that could be fun.

Did any of the rest of you want to weigh in on what kind of Covenant you want to be playing in? Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter?
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angelfromanotherpin
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Post by angelfromanotherpin »

I have a vague interest in trying 'younglings in an Autumn covenant,' but Spring is generally the best. The freedom that comes with being your own boss is the best.
Korgan0
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Post by Korgan0 »

If we're going to go for a spring covenant, any ideas on location? If you guys wanted to be involved with mundane conflict, we could readily be a covenant in Prussia during the Teutonic crusade, or in the levant. A Covenant in the black forest would lend itself to wizardly intrigue, given its status as the heartland of the order, as would one in northern italy. Any ideas?
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Longes
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Post by Longes »

This wiki has a lot of useful stuff

Also, does anyone has any advice on achieving UNLIMITED PAWAH!!! with magic? How does the magic spread looks? Should it be more focused?

EDIT: How would I go about being an awesome necromancer? Mentem and Corpus?
Last edited by Longes on Fri Apr 25, 2014 10:04 am, edited 3 times in total.
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angelfromanotherpin
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Post by angelfromanotherpin »

Hermetic Necromancy is Mentem for ghosts and Corpus for animating bodies; you would probably want a Magical Focus Virtue. There are non-Hermetic traditions and you could use one of them, maybe summoning spirits to puppeteer bodies around.

In general, I like starting with more focused Arts, because lower levels in Arts are relatively easy to get, and starting play with higher-level spells is nice. But the key is to be able to cast the spells you want to have available when the game starts. If you want a bunch of diverse effects, diverse is fine.

If you want actual unlimited pawah, you could try the long game and pursue one of the paths of immortality; although in practical terms its unlikely to help much over the course of one pbp game. If you just want big asymmetric pawah, consider finding a demon and seeing what you can get for your soul. :biggrin:
Korgan0
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Post by Korgan0 »

I guess a lot of it depends what you mean by unlimited power. If you had a large enough source of vis and the power to avoid the Quasitores you could probably try to jump-start the industrial revolution with enchanted items. Maybe use Creo/Muto Herbam to create an incredibly potent and addictive strain of weed (I know weed isn't actually addictive, hence muto) and use ti to get the entire nobility of western europe in your thrall. Again, the Quasitores might have something to say about that.
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angelfromanotherpin
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Post by angelfromanotherpin »

Since the general mood seems to be 'wizards first, other stuff later,' this suggests we're going to be a random grab-bag with basically nothing in common except being gauntleted at about the same time and having a desire to strike out away from previous authorities. I suggest that the best Tribunal for that is Normandy, which is big and disorganized and full of tiny covenants.
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Longes
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Post by Longes »

UNLIMITED POWER!

But I was just asking what should I choose to be a good necromancer. I think my social skills should cover being a politian without bothering with magic, so I might as well choose something fun.
Korgan0
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Post by Korgan0 »

Unless we can figure out a way to unify an Ex Miscallenea politician-necromancer, a wildist bjornaer, and whatever it is that angel's playing (let alone anyone who joins) it seems like the best way to do it would be to have your parens be in contact with each other and just throw you together. Sound good?
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angelfromanotherpin
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Post by angelfromanotherpin »

I prefer the agency of just meeting at a Tribunal, hitting it off, and deciding to become roommates start a Covenant after graduation Gauntlet. No need to have pushy NPCs, unless that's part of some political thing you're having them do.
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Longes
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Post by Longes »

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Longes
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Post by Longes »

What year the game is set in? The covenant can be set in Constantinople - plenty of opportunities for dealing with aftermath of the crusades (and plenty of dead crusaders to summon into my ghost army), exotic turkish magic to one side, plenty of space for politics and adventure. I rather like the idea of having senior magi in the covenant, as in the sample covenant, who can help with healing and enchanting.
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The Major 2.0

House: Ex Miscellania (reworked Orphic Cult)
Age: 25
Personality: Brave +2, Manipulative +3, Cheerful +3

Virtues: (Performance Magic (Music), Strong Faerie Blood), Gentle Gift, Deft Form (Mentem), Second Sight, Hermetic Magus, Book Learner, Inspirational, Well-Travelled, Enchanting Music, Mastered Spells

Flaws: Twilight Prone, Optimistic (Major), Curse of Venus, Faerie Friend

Characteristics: Int 3, Per 2, Str -3, Sta 1, Pre 3, Com 3, Dex -2, Qui -2

Abilities:
Tribunal (Area) Lore (Politics) 3, Bargain (Magic related) 2, Charm (Authoritah) 3, Concentration 1, Etiquette (Nobility) 2, Folk Ken (Magi) 3, Guile (Fast-talk) 3, Intrigue (Politics) 2, Leadership (Inspiration) 1, Music (Sorcerous Music) 4, Native Language (Eloquence) 5, Artes Liberales (Ritual Magic) 3, Civil and Canon Law (Byzantine) 3, Latin (Eloquence) 5, Theology (Heresy) 1, Code of Hermes (Muggle relations) 1, Finesse (Mentem) 1, Magic Theory (Mentem) 3, Parma Magica (Mentem) 1, Enchanting Music (Lyre) 2, Second Sight (Illusions) 1

Arts:
Techniques: Intellego 5, Muto 5, Perdo 5, Rego 5
Forms: Imaginem 8, Mentem 8

Spells:
Aura of Ennobled Presence (MuIm 10) (Mastery 1)
Aura of Rightful Authority (ReMe 20) (Mastery 2)
Trust of Childlike Faith (PeMe 10) (Mastery 1)
Perception of the Conflicting Motives (InMe 15)
Confusion of the Numbed Will (ReMe 15)
Calm the Motion of the Heart (PeMe 15)
Invisibility of the Standing Wizard (PeIm 15)
Disguise of the Transformed Image (MuIm 15)
Coerce the Spirits of the Night (ReMe 20) (Mastery 2)
Reworked Cult of Orpheus (originally from Societates book) is a tradition based around magical music and ghosts. I'll add more details later. :)

The biggest problem that I see is that summoning ghosts is a level 40 spell :(
Last edited by Longes on Sun Apr 27, 2014 7:26 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Korgan0
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Post by Korgan0 »

1220 start date, unless yall really want to fuck with a particular historical event.
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angelfromanotherpin
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Post by angelfromanotherpin »

The Major still has two Story flaws, which is a no-no.

Yeah, actually calling up ghosts is rough. Less-skilled necromancers can spend a lot of time looking for ghosts that are already manifested. You should probably think about Minor Magical Focus (Ghosts). And if you are ever looking at getting those high-level ghost spells, you should either do your best to start with at least one (for big similarity lab bonuses later), or else find a more experienced necromancer and start sucking up hard, because trying to invent spells that size from scratch in-game is going to suck. Probably worth investing in some Penetration as well.
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Longes
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Post by Longes »

angelfromanotherpin wrote:The Major still has two Story flaws, which is a no-no.

Yeah, actually calling up ghosts is rough. Less-skilled necromancers can spend a lot of time looking for ghosts that are already manifested. You should probably think about Minor Magical Focus (Ghosts). And if you are ever looking at getting those high-level ghost spells, you should either do your best to start with at least one (for big similarity lab bonuses later), or else find a more experienced necromancer and start sucking up hard, because trying to invent spells that size from scratch in-game is going to suck. Probably worth investing in some Penetration as well.
Or Caananite Necromancy Supernatural Virtue can solve all my problems...
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angelfromanotherpin
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Post by angelfromanotherpin »

Sure, if you were special optimized for original research, you might be able to integrate that ability into Hermetic theory in time to do one or two things with it before the campaign ended. But I thought you wanted to be a necromancer, not a lab monkey.
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Longes
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Post by Longes »

I seriously don't get how spell levels and magnitude work. Can someone explain please?
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angelfromanotherpin
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Post by angelfromanotherpin »

The part where in the spell creation rules magnitude means 'a value added to spell level that might be 1 or 5 depending,' and in every other part of the rules means 'spell level divided by 5' confuses a lot of people. The term 'magnitude' actually does have two distinct but slightly related uses, which is fucked, though not as bad as D&D and 'level'

Most of the time, the magnitude of a spell is simply the level of the spell divided by 5. So a level 5 spell is magnitude 1, a level 10 spell is magnitude 2, a level 40 spell is magnitude 8. Simple.

When making a new spell, you start with the base level, and you improve it by adding 'magnitudes' (to increase range, duration, damage, etc.). And if the base level is 5 or above, each magnitude adds 5 levels to the spell. But where the disconnect happens is if the base level is below 5, in which case each magnitude adds 1 level to the spell (until the level is 5, then in increments of 5 as above).

So if you have a level 5 base effect and add +2 magnitudes for duration, that's a level 15 spell. Add +2 more magnitudes for range, that's a level 25 spell. Add another +1 magnitude for size, and that's a level 30 spell.

But if the base effect is level 1, adding the same +2 magnitudes for duration only makes it a level 3 spell. Adding the same +2 magnitudes for range makes it a level 5 spell. And only then does adding the +1 magnitude for size take it up an increment of 5, to level 10.

Less simple.
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