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A case of Extremely Detailed Character Creation, with accompanying discussion.
Characteristics: Int +2, Per 0, Str -1, Sta +1, Pre +1, Com +2, Dex 0, Qik 0
Size: 0
Age: 23
Decrepitude: 0
Warping Score: 0
Confidence Score: 1 (3)
Virtues and Flaws: The Gift; Hermetic Maga; Good Teacher, Inventive Genius, Oak Gild Trained (GotF, p. 20), Personal Vis Source, Puissant Magic Theory; Ability Block (Martial), Driven (Minor: finding a way to live eternally), Fostered Apprentice (HoH: TL, p. 26), Optimistic (Minor)
Personality Traits: Peaceful +3, Bookish +2, Friendly +2
Reputations: None
| Weapon/Attack | Init | Atk | Dfn | Dam |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fist | 0 | +1 | +1 | -1 |
| Kick | -1 | +1 | 0 | +2 |
| Knife | 0 | +3 | +2 | +1 |
Soak: +1
Fatigue Levels: OK, 0, -1, -3, -5, Unconscious
Wound Penalties: -1 (1-5), -3 (6-10), -5 (11-15), Incapacitated (16-20), Dead (21+)
Abilities: Alsatian Area Lore 2 (Villages), Black Forest Area Lore 1 (Villages), Artes Liberales 1 (7) (Grammar), Athletics 2 (Hiking), Awareness 1 (Searching), Bargain 1 (1) (Healing), Brawl 1 (3) (Knife), Chirurgy 2 (1) (Bonesetting), Code of Hermes 1 (Tribunal Procedures), Concentration 1 (1) (Lab Work), Durenmar Lore 2 (Great Library), Finesse 1 (4) (Corpus), Folk Ken 1 (Patients), German 5 (Alemannian Dialect), Intrigue 2 (Magi), Latin 4 (4) (Hermetic), Leadership 1 (Grogs), Magic Lore 1 (Creatures), Magic Theory 4+2 (21) (Traditionalist), Medicine 2 (Physician), Order of Hermes Lore 2 (Rhine Tribunal), Parma Magica 1 (6) (Mentem), Penetration 2 (Rego), Profession: Scribe 2 (3) (Orderly), Survival 1 (4) (Alsace-Lorraine), Teaching 2 (1) (Apprentices)
Arts: Cr 6, In 6, Mu 4 (1), Pe 5, Re 4 (1), An 0, Aq 0, Au 0, Co 8 (1), He 6, Ig 6, Im 0,
Me 0, Te 0, Vi 6
Twilight Scars: None
Equipment: White Robes (washable!), Belt with Knife and Small Pouches (Basic Bandages, other Healing Materials).
Encumbrance: 0 (0)
Spells Known:
Description and Background:
Griphaia is not only a character but also a rules exercise; she is created using Extremely Complex Character Generation guidelines. Since I had to find an appropriate Bonisagus teacher for her, I chose Martin from Houses of Hermes (for ArM4). For Fosterage reasons, I gave Martin Teaching and Artes Liberales scores of 2 (not at all unreasonable). For a covenant, I took the library from Semita Errabunda and Martin's spells. The Gild training may seem exaggerated, but I needed a way to teach those extra 90 xp; I compressed them into two seasons because they are supposed to be an extra bonus and not applied instead of regular teaching. I assume that winter is Jan-March, spring April-June, summer July-September, and fall October-December.
Early Childhood (0-5): The night before Easter Sunday, the night that Anne was born, her father, Hermann, lost his wife. Although he was a Bader (barber-surgeon), he could not stop the young woman's bleeding and so it pleased the Lord to let her join the choir invisible. But for Hermann Bader, life had to go on and so he took his daughter and kept wandering through the Alsatian villages, drawing an aching tooth in Hochstatt and setting a broken bone in Burzwiler, all for some bread, a few eggs and sometimes even a smallish piece of meat. In those early years, Anne learned German 5 (Alemannian Dialect), Alsatian Area Lore 2 (Villages), Athletics 2 (Hiking), Awareness 1 (Searching), Folk Ken 1 (Patients), and Survival 1 (Alsace-Lorraine).
Spring 6: Hermann lets Anne help with Chirurgy (Bonesetting). The Training yields 8 xp: 1 (3).
Summer 6: Anne observes how her father bargains. She gets 2 Bargain Exposure xp: Bargain 0 (2) (Healing).
Fall 6: Anne keeps observing her father's bargaining (Exposure): Bargain 0 (4).
Winter 6: No traveling in winter. Anne is bored and plays around with a knife (Practice): Brawl 0 (4) (Knife).
Spring 7: Hermann keeps Training Anne, although the patients don't like either her (due to the Gift) or the notion of a child performing chirurgy. She gets 8 xp: Chirurgy 2 (1) (Bonesetting). Not bad for a little kid!
Summer 7: This season they travel through a new region: the Black Forest. This is a scary place for a young girl! She gets 5 Practice xp: Black Forest Area Lore 1 (0) (Villages).
Fall 7: Business is better around Strasburg. Anne watches as her father bargains; she understands the concept of money when he gets a silver coin. Exposure 2 xp: Bargain 1 (1) (Healing).
Winter 7: Anne wants to become a good Bader, so she practices with her knife. Practice 2 xp: Brawl 1 (3) (Knife). She feels like a dangerous kid now. She tries to heal a strange man with a limp. The strange man talks for quite a long time with her father, who sends her away with "Master Martin."
Spring 8: Master Martin takes Anne to a strange place. He says that she is Gifted, and that he can teach her to become one of the best healers in the world. He Teaches her the basics of the 15 Arts.
Summer and Fall 8: Anne has to help in the kitchen (Exposure, 2 xp each season): Survival 1 (4). Is she a slave or a maga?
Winter 8: Fosterage begins: Jerome the Scribe starts to teach her to write and the other basics. 12 xp Teaching. Anne thinks, "I love academic study!" Artes Liberales 1 (7) (Hermetic)
Age 9: Another apprentice of Anne's age arrives. His name is Michael, and he says that he is from another covenant. His magus is called Occultes. Together they are taught Latin, Magic Theory, Profession: Scribe and Teaching by Martin:
Teaching two pupils: 8 xp each in:
Age 10: Michael and Anne are sent out for Fosterage. Occultes and another Bonisaga, Susanna, continue to teach them Latin, Magic Theory, Profession: Scribe and Teaching.
Teaching two pupils: 8 xp each in:
Age 11: Michael and Anne have to work with Occultes and Susanna. First they have to help Occultes in the lab for three seasons and then in Susanna's lab for the winter. Susanna helps Anne through her first period—and discovers that Anne's breasts (which have started to grow) give a drop of mint-flavored milk, which is Creo vis (4 pawns/year)! Is it coincidence or another example of Susanna's weird fertility magics? Exposure: 4 xp, Concentration 0 (4) (Reading); 4 xp, Magic Theory 2+2 (5)
Age 12: Master Martin is overjoyed to hear the news. He has sense enough not to fumble with Anne's breasts himself but asks Marie, the Perfumer, to win the Golden Milk. Master Martin keeps the apprentices busy in the lab all year. Anne begins to wonder if she'll ever learn magic! Exposure: 6xp, Magic Theory 2+2 (11); 2 xp Concentration 1 (1) (Reading). Anne is very sad when she has to say good-bye to Michael, but she promises him that she will learn how to write!
Spring 13: Master Martin teaches Anne more Magic Theory. Teaching a single student yields 11 xp: Magic Theory 3 (7). She cannot stand the lab anymore and misses Michael!
Summer 13: She has to help in the Lab again. Exposure: 2 xp, Magic Theory 3 (9).
Fall 13: Martin says that if she helps Jerome for a season she can have him in winter as a teacher. She gleefully copies texts for Jerome. Exposure: 2 xp, Profession Scribe 2 (3).
Winter 13: Jerome Teaches her more Latin (13 xp): Latin 2 (14).
Spring 14: Jerome Teaches Anne more Latin because she still cannot read the books from the library. He is a bit impatient and calls her a lazy teenager. Teaching a single student yields 13 xp: Latin 3 (12).
Summer and Fall 14: Lab time! Amelle and Marie try to teach her about cosmetics but Martin forbids it! 4 Exposure xp: Magic Theory 3 (13).
Winter 14: Martin realizes he has not taught her yet this year. He decides to finish her Latin education and promises her a piece of used parchment for a letter to Michael. Anne learns diligently. Single-student Teaching: 11xp, Latin 4 (4). She writes her letter to Michael and waits for an answer.
Spring 15: Michael answers and says that he has fallen in love with a kitchen wench, so they must become "best friends" (Anne cries secretly). Martin starts Teaching Anne the Arts: 11 xp; Anne learns Corpus 4 (1).
Summer and Fall 15: These seasons are spent in the lab. 4 xp of Exposure: Magic Theory 3 (17).
Winter 15: Anne is allowed into the library. She wants to find out more about healing so she grabs the Creo summa (21 xp). She now knows Creo 6, and is ready to boost recovery rolls with spontaneous magic!
Spring 16: Martin Teaches Anne more Corpus Magic. She is a good girl and very interested. 11 xp: Corpus 6 (1). She realizes that a good book is twice as good as a personal teacher!
Summer and Fall 16: Once again, these seasons are spent on lab activities. Anne begins to like the lab, though, because she and Martin create healing potions for the covenant from the Golden Milk vis. 4 Exposure xp: Magic Theory 4 (1).
Winter 16: Martin points to a weird book about something called Vim (21 xp): Vim 6.
Spring 17: Martin Teaches Anne Finesse (11 xp): Finesse 1 (6) (Corpus).
Summer and Fall 17: Teamwork in the Lab. 4 xp of Exposure: Magic Theory 4 (5).
Winter 17: Anne asks if magic can help with a diagnosis. Martin smiles and refers her to the Intellego summa (21 xp): Intellego 6.
Spring 18: Martin Teaches Anne some Rego (11 xp): Rego 4 (1).
Summer and Fall 18: Teamwork in the Lab. 4 xp of Exposure: Magic Theory 4 (9).
Winter 18: Anne reads the Herbam summa (21 xp): Herbam 6.
Spring 19: Martin Teaches Anne some Muto (11 xp): Muto 4 (1).
Summer and Fall 19: Teamwork in the Lab. 4 xp of Exposure: Magic Theory 4 (13).
Winter 19: Martin makes Anne read a Perdo summa. She thinks that it is gruesome (15 xp): Perdo 5.
Spring 20: Martin goes away, telling Anne to do whatever she wants to. She reads the Corpus summa (15 xp): Corpus 8 (1).
Summer and Fall 20: Teamwork in the Lab. 4 xp of Exposure: Magic Theory 4 (17).
Winter 20: Master Martin Teaches his pupil her first spells. His highest Lab total (InCo 16 +12 +10 +4 +5) is 47. Anne learns The Inexorable Search (InCo20), Wizard's Sidestep (ReIm10) and Lifting the Dangling Puppet (ReCo15). Anne's sigil is as golden as her hair.
Spring 21: Master Martin Teaches Anne some more spells, namely Whispers through the Black Gate (InCo15), Charm Against Putrefaction (CrCo10), and The Chirurgeon's Healing Touch (CrCo20).
Summer and Fall 21: Guess what? Teamwork in the Lab. 4 xp of Exposure: Magic Theory 4 (21).
Winter 21: Martin instructs Anne to read the Ignem Summa (21 xp): Ignem 6.
Spring 22: In her second to last season with Master Martin, Anne is Taught (11 xp) the Parma Magica 1 (6) (Mentem).
Summer 22: Master Martin knows that he has to teach his pupil more spells before he can send her to Durenmar, so he Teaches Physician's Eye (InCo 5), Pilum of Fire (CrIg 20) and Wizard's Communion (MuVi 20). Then he hugs her, wishes her good luck and sends her off for Oak gild training at Durenmar.
Fall 22: Murion herself helps in training Anne. For the time of the gild training, she gives her a rare ring with a Creo Mentem effect, so she can learn harder than ever before. At the same time Occultes teaches her. She is so tired that she wants to scram! Murion Teaches (15 xp) Penetration 2 (Rego) and Occultes Teaches (15 xp) Order of Hermes Lore 2 (Rhine Tribunal). From the way that the two behave, she is Taught (15 xp) a lot about Intrigue 2 (Magi).
Winter 22: Old Caecilius is asked to Teach Anne. He is even harder than Murion and beats the basics of the Code of Hermes (Tribunal Procedures), Leadership (Grogs) and Magic Lore (Creatures) into poor Anne (5 xp in each, for a score of 1 in each). Andrus, the Librarian, shows her the Great Library and allows her to read one book of her choice. She chooses Healing for Healers (15 xp) and learns Medicine 2 (Physician). She also gets to know the library quite well (15 xp), which equals Durenmar Lore 2 (Great Library).
Before her gauntlet, which is set for the last day of the year, Anne is allowed one week off to revise all that she has learned. She sleeps all week.
Murion herself asks the Gauntlet questions. She looks so grim during the examination that Anne is sure that she has failed. But at the end Murion congratulates her and Martin gives her the name that she has wished for, Griphaia, and her sigil, a yellow braid sewn to a black circle of cloth as a background.
Observations:
Point 1: Game Balance:
If I had created Anne the normal way, I would have had 45 xp for Early Childhood (+ native language), 30 xp for childhood (2 years x 15xp), 240 xp for Apprenticeship and 90 xp for Gild Training, which means a total of 405 xp. Anne now has 499 xp plus 25 levels of spells more than the normal 120. Mathematically, she is about three years superior to a normal character her age. This is not because of some kind of generosity on my part. The Early Childhood xp and the Gild Training xp are the same.
The really big difference can be found in the years of Apprenticeship: 240 xp divided by 60 seasons of apprenticeship means an average of 4 xp per season. Here two seasons per year are used up in helping the magus, giving 2 xp of Exposure each season. One season is spent with Teaching (around 9 xp for an average magus who has no clue about Teaching (which is rare—think of the Exposure xp for the teacher!), at least for 10 of the seasons (4 for spell teaching, 1 for opening the Arts). The fourth season can be spent in the Library—reading books is a very fast way of learning.
Point 2: Fosterage:
Cui bono the Bonisagus system of Fosterage?
A round of Fostering takes 4 years. Students are taught for 8 out of 16 season and spend the other 8 in the lab. Normally they are only entitled to 4 direct teaching seasons during that time, but with a +3 source quality because they are single students. So what do they do with the other 4 seasons? Nothing academic early on, because they cannot read Latin—but of course they could practice it, be taught by a scribe, or be sent to a monastery where Latin is spoken. As soon as they can speak Latin and have learned Artes Liberales 1, they can go to the library and teach themselves Magic Theory; using a good summa is definitely better than listening to a magus. So I do not see a big numerical advantage for the students. But the networking potential must not be overlooked, of course. As for the magi, they have to spend 4 seasons teaching the students anyway, and get competent lab helpers early on, so it is a good deal for them.
Point 3: Gild Training:
Anne's last two seasons—the gild training time—are just silly. How can somebody learn so much so quickly? The Virtue grants three full magus' year's worth of extra experience!
Point 4: Learning Spells:
Most apprentices towards the end of their studies can expect a spell-learning Lab Total something like this: Aura 3 + Magic Theory 4 + Int 3 + Technique (max. 10) + Form (max. 10), for a maximum of about 30 (maybe 35 with Virtues), and a minimum of a lot less. If the master teaches one spell only of his best Form/Technique combination, they should have a higher Lab Total than their Apprentice and have more flexibility in teaching different Form/Technique combinations. Unlike Arts—a good summa can teach Arts better than a magus—spells should be taught by people, not books, for maximum effect.
Point 5: Constraints:
A character created by the Extremely Detailed rules has more xp available but is much more limited when it comes to choosing Arts and spells. Still, those constraints make a character more real to me.
Text copyright © Andreas Volker 2008.