Okay so there seems to be some inconsistent understanding of what the rules are, so I'm going to ask openly:
1 - the opening post says, for Arcanum, we get 2 dots in one, 2 in another, and 1 in a third; and that two of the three arcanum here must be from our Path; then a sixth dot that can be placed anywhere. This is also the character creation rule in the book. However, this does not appear to have been followed on everyone's sheet. Are we house-ruling that you don't have to do starting Arcanum this way?
2 - If we choose to start as a member of an order, do we get a free dot of Status: Order or not? Some have it, some don't.
3 - are merits from non-standard player sources allowed? Like if there's a merit from the Seers of the Throne book that's Seers only, can we take those merits? I'm asking because some of those groups get access to deliberately powerful merits because they're antagonists or have other special rules that apply to them. For instance, Banishers don't get rotes, so they have merits that make casting without a rote easier/better for them.
I'm not trying to be difficult but in my experience C/WoD games in general, and Mage games in specific, work best when there's clear communication and understanding of what the rules are and how they will be applied, and I want to make sure we're all on the same page.
1 is how it should be, I'm unfamiliar with 2 but don't object to it, and 3 should only be if a character is of that order. I imagine some people may have gotten abilities from lists of all the abilities in one thing, that didn't necessarily separate when they were for antagonists.
0
Options
cj iwakuraThe Rhythm RegentBears The Name FreedomRegistered Userregular
Ohhhh I had 3,1,1,1. I may have misunderstood the rules, or gone back and switched things in an incorrect way.
I guess I should fix that! I guess it'll have to be 3 fate, 2 time and 1.... Mind? Hrm. Then I have to fix rotes too
Thanks for noticing!
You also have 5 points sunk into a Banisher-only merit that is pretty powerful. Essentially making spontaneous casting almost strictly better than rote casting.
e: I should point out, all of this is fine, if cj is cool with it. I just want to know if cj is cool with it, because that may impact my choices! I don't care necessarily what the rules are, I just want to make sure I know what the rules are, so I know my options
Hrm. I am only going off online sources to be sure but what I was seeing was different than what you’re describing- the drawback on the merit is that the multiplier for learning rotes is much higher when you have he merit, so the part about not being able to learn rotes at all doesn’t jive with that.
It's really always a good idea to know the exact book wording of any type of ability you take, as well as book/page in case the ST isn't familiar with it
I did ask Cj if it was okay, but if I shouldn’t have access to it that’s fine- there’s time to change things still
Well now I'm even more confused because if it's okay then it's okay... @cj iwakura ?
I may have simply not been aware that it was a banisher ability. And if it's a banisher ability, it's definitely not okay, unless he's a banisher, and I'm pretty sure he's not. :P
0
Options
El SkidThe frozen white northRegistered Userregular
Yeah I am rip raring to go, though I still can't find any info on my familiar's stats. I will say the book is not organized well
The way I understand it is, based on its specialization, it has its own dice pools that it can use towards certain things.
@Bucketman@cj iwakura
Page 83 says ST stats up the familiar with the rules listed there. Note that, per the Merit's description, 4 dots gets you an "Embodied Familiar" rather than a "Twilight Familiar" (so you'd use the second set of stat rules on that page).
BrodyThe WatchThe First ShoreRegistered Userregular
And then w/e page is mentioned there for "spirit is level 1 'squire' (see page xxx)" is where they go through an explanation of spirits and their stats/skills/what Numen actually are.
"I will write your name in the ruin of them. I will paint you across history in the color of their blood."
When the book says that stats are 5/6/3 and skills are 9/6/3 I can assign those to any set I want right? Like the 6 could be in Power or Finesse or Resistance depending on how I want to build it?
I also assume some skills don't work for familiars? Like my bird can't learn Fireamrs
When the book says that stats are 5/6/3 and skills are 9/6/3 I can assign those to any set I want right? Like the 6 could be in Power or Finesse or Resistance depending on how I want to build it?
I also assume some skills don't work for familiars? Like my bird can't learn Fireamrs
Just run it by me first, so long as it's realistic... which firearms aren't, lol.
0
Options
El SkidThe frozen white northRegistered Userregular
So I'm thinking of putting my merits in Dream and Destiny. Seems like fun little things to do, if a little storyteller intensive.
@cj iwakura let me know how you feel about that- I'll shore things up throughout the day today.
0
Options
cj iwakuraThe Rhythm RegentBears The Name FreedomRegistered Userregular
I'm good with it, just run the finished product by me.
cj iwakuraThe Rhythm RegentBears The Name FreedomRegistered Userregular
I would like to get the IC thread rolling tomorrow if that's alright by everyone, since I'll be busy the remainder of the weekend. Any stragglers can contribute when time allows, I won't make things roll on too much until everyone's ready.
+2
Options
cj iwakuraThe Rhythm RegentBears The Name FreedomRegistered Userregular
Tox has informed me that he needs more time. I'll leave it up to the rest of you if you mind waiting or not.
cj iwakuraThe Rhythm RegentBears The Name FreedomRegistered Userregular
Then I say we wait til' the gang's all here, so to speak.
+1
Options
cj iwakuraThe Rhythm RegentBears The Name FreedomRegistered Userregular
edited January 2020
Tox has unfortunately told me that he won't be able to join. I'll leave it to the rest of you how you want to handle, I can always open back up recruitment if you want a fourth person.
cj iwakura on
0
Options
cj iwakuraThe Rhythm RegentBears The Name FreedomRegistered Userregular
Hopefully you're all still down, I have a fourth person who PMed me, we're hashing out concepts.
0
Options
BrodyThe WatchThe First ShoreRegistered Userregular
Sounds good. Hopefully I haven't leaked out too much of what I read re: actual rules in the meantime.
"I will write your name in the ruin of them. I will paint you across history in the color of their blood."
4th person is me. I've never played Mage before so I'm reading the book and trying to get a concept. Maybe some sort of Free Council or Silver Ladder character.
+1
Options
cj iwakuraThe Rhythm RegentBears The Name FreedomRegistered Userregular
Grunt's character sheet is good, so as long as @Brody@Bucketman and @El Skid (how on earth do I tag that...) are set, we should be rolling soon.
+1
Options
BrodyThe WatchThe First ShoreRegistered Userregular
"To be honest, I am dead. Well, not physically. But I died and was reborn. And that's where my story begins.
I was a stock broker and a decent one, to be honest. I grew up in a poor home so I learned at a young age to worship the Almighty Dollar. My father was an auto mechanic who worked long houses to bring little in, my mother was a nurse who worked longer hours to bring little in. I watched them struggle for years to keep the house, the cars, and food on our plates, until it finally broke their marriage. When they divorced, I told myself I wouldn't be like that. I would be rich. And I sort of did that. As a stock broker, I worked with rich people and got to work with their money. Commission was great and I moved from my small shithole town to New York City and got a nice apartment in a high rise, a beautiful girlfriend who I spoiled with gifts, and a bank account that was fat. I had figured out how to make the Almighty Dollar grow, and with it, I was living very well.
Then, my company came under investigation for fraud, insider trading, money laundering, tax evasion; you name it, they apparently did it. Everyone working there, from the CEO to the janitors were being investigated. Our bank accounts were frozen, our work was taken as evidence, and we all had to go through each investors' accounts with investigators step by step from day one of when we started working on them to when the investigation started. This when on for months. I lived a bit off my off shore accounts but those didn't last long before I was nearly broke. No other investment firm would hire anyone who was tied to the company, and my girlfriend left me for some rich tech guy who made billions selling his drone company to Tesla or something. I became depressed, started drinking heavily and got to a bad spot. It was in this drunken, depressed state that I decided to end my life, but I wanted one last fun trip before I did. I gathered a weeks worth of clothes, emptied what was left of my bank account, and got a one way ticket to Las Vegas. I flew out on a plan to drink, gamble, and die. But something had a different plan for me.
I spend each night breaking even at the tables and slots, enough to keep my drinking but not enough to make me feel like stopping. I kept going, and for three weeks I stayed in a cycle of drinking, gambling, drinking, and passing out in the hotel room I was renting. This was my life, but I don't stop to ask why my luck was holding out, why I was still alive, what it all meant. Instead, I kept going around in circles, until the circle came to a crashing halt. I had stepped out of a strip club, drunk and lost. My hotel was just down the street but for some reason I decided to take a 'short cut' through an alley way. Two men jumped me and stabbed me before I could even say anything. As I laid there bleeding out, I saw these men not as humans but monsters, with twisted faces and horns. Their knifes were just claws and they kept stabbing me with them. Then an angel appeared in bright light, surrounded by a white flame and drew a sword and blasted fire at the demons. This angel was a police officer but I didn't see that. I passed out and woke later to more angels, paramedics, hovering over me, using magical light to heal me. I passed out again and next saw me on an alter, with angels performing rituals around my body. This was the surgery room and the angels for now doctors but I saw this as a bystander watching from afar. This is when I first touched Magic. Every time my heart stopped the machines would malfunction. My heart stopped four times that night. I spent a month in a coma during this time I saw myself not on Earth but in a heavenly place. There I spoke to Angels who explained to me that heaven and earth have been separated by a dark chasm. It was up to people like me, the ones who were Awakened, to bring the connections between the Heaven and the Falllen World together again. Only then would suffering end. We must gather the Awakened and defeat those who would keep Heaven and Earth separated, and bring forth a new era.
During the time that I was in a coma strange things have been happening in the hospital. It was how the Silver Ladder identify me as Awakened. They paid for my hospital bills, took me in, and began to train me in the ways of being a Mage. Many of the other mages that I have met have similar stories, and many have the same goals as I do, to reach the Supernal World, where the Aether, my Heaven, exists. I'm not a stock broker anymore, but a Mage, new to this world and learning it's ways. It's why I have chosen the name Phoenix, because like the legendary bird, I have been reborn and maybe one day my flames will light the way to the Supernal World and bring peace to the worlds."
0
Options
cj iwakuraThe Rhythm RegentBears The Name FreedomRegistered Userregular
edited February 2020
IC Thread is live. Feel free to make note of any Sights being utilized, otherwise, what you see is what you get.
cj iwakura on
+1
Options
BrodyThe WatchThe First ShoreRegistered Userregular
Sorry, so we each received a phone call asking us to meet someone at this location?
"I will write your name in the ruin of them. I will paint you across history in the color of their blood."
Sorry, so we each received a phone call asking us to meet someone at this location?
That's correct.
0
Options
BrodyThe WatchThe First ShoreRegistered Userregular
I'll go ahead and use Supernal Vision. A quick check on the two at the roulette table and a sweep the room to see if there is anything of note supernaturally. Do we roll to use our own Mage Sights as a rote?
"I will write your name in the ruin of them. I will paint you across history in the color of their blood."
cj iwakuraThe Rhythm RegentBears The Name FreedomRegistered Userregular
Your Mage Sight is innate, as long as no one's resisting it.
There is definitely magic at play in the room, and it's being brought to bear against the roulette table.
You can't be sure of anything else without closer investigation.
0
Options
El SkidThe frozen white northRegistered Userregular
Hope also has Mage Sight active. She would also cast Winds of Chance on herself before going in to try to make sure this meeting goes smoothly for her- I guess I should roll for that?
0
Options
El SkidThe frozen white northRegistered Userregular
Posts
1 is how it should be, I'm unfamiliar with 2 but don't object to it, and 3 should only be if a character is of that order. I imagine some people may have gotten abilities from lists of all the abilities in one thing, that didn't necessarily separate when they were for antagonists.
Hrm. I am only going off online sources to be sure but what I was seeing was different than what you’re describing- the drawback on the merit is that the multiplier for learning rotes is much higher when you have he merit, so the part about not being able to learn rotes at all doesn’t jive with that.
Here’s what I was using:
http://nwod.org/wiki/index.php/Extemporaneous_Affinity
I did ask Cj if it was okay, but if I shouldn’t have access to it that’s fine- there’s time to change things still
E-ohhhh I see. This is actually house ruled perk heh. I didnt see that in the top right.
More rework then! I’ll figure stuff out and come back with something else.
Edit: Not chat, but also, I'm much more ready to go.
The Monster Baru Cormorant - Seth Dickinson
Steam: Korvalain
Well now I'm even more confused because if it's okay then it's okay...
@cj iwakura ?
I may have simply not been aware that it was a banisher ability. And if it's a banisher ability, it's definitely not okay, unless he's a banisher, and I'm pretty sure he's not. :P
@Bucketman @cj iwakura
Page 83 says ST stats up the familiar with the rules listed there. Note that, per the Merit's description, 4 dots gets you an "Embodied Familiar" rather than a "Twilight Familiar" (so you'd use the second set of stat rules on that page).
The Monster Baru Cormorant - Seth Dickinson
Steam: Korvalain
I also assume some skills don't work for familiars? Like my bird can't learn Fireamrs
Just run it by me first, so long as it's realistic... which firearms aren't, lol.
@cj iwakura let me know how you feel about that- I'll shore things up throughout the day today.
Is @Tox ready to go?
Sorry I'm trying
I'm fine either way.
The Monster Baru Cormorant - Seth Dickinson
Steam: Korvalain
The Monster Baru Cormorant - Seth Dickinson
Steam: Korvalain
@El Skid
The Monster Baru Cormorant - Seth Dickinson
Steam: Korvalain
"To be honest, I am dead. Well, not physically. But I died and was reborn. And that's where my story begins.
I was a stock broker and a decent one, to be honest. I grew up in a poor home so I learned at a young age to worship the Almighty Dollar. My father was an auto mechanic who worked long houses to bring little in, my mother was a nurse who worked longer hours to bring little in. I watched them struggle for years to keep the house, the cars, and food on our plates, until it finally broke their marriage. When they divorced, I told myself I wouldn't be like that. I would be rich. And I sort of did that. As a stock broker, I worked with rich people and got to work with their money. Commission was great and I moved from my small shithole town to New York City and got a nice apartment in a high rise, a beautiful girlfriend who I spoiled with gifts, and a bank account that was fat. I had figured out how to make the Almighty Dollar grow, and with it, I was living very well.
Then, my company came under investigation for fraud, insider trading, money laundering, tax evasion; you name it, they apparently did it. Everyone working there, from the CEO to the janitors were being investigated. Our bank accounts were frozen, our work was taken as evidence, and we all had to go through each investors' accounts with investigators step by step from day one of when we started working on them to when the investigation started. This when on for months. I lived a bit off my off shore accounts but those didn't last long before I was nearly broke. No other investment firm would hire anyone who was tied to the company, and my girlfriend left me for some rich tech guy who made billions selling his drone company to Tesla or something. I became depressed, started drinking heavily and got to a bad spot. It was in this drunken, depressed state that I decided to end my life, but I wanted one last fun trip before I did. I gathered a weeks worth of clothes, emptied what was left of my bank account, and got a one way ticket to Las Vegas. I flew out on a plan to drink, gamble, and die. But something had a different plan for me.
I spend each night breaking even at the tables and slots, enough to keep my drinking but not enough to make me feel like stopping. I kept going, and for three weeks I stayed in a cycle of drinking, gambling, drinking, and passing out in the hotel room I was renting. This was my life, but I don't stop to ask why my luck was holding out, why I was still alive, what it all meant. Instead, I kept going around in circles, until the circle came to a crashing halt. I had stepped out of a strip club, drunk and lost. My hotel was just down the street but for some reason I decided to take a 'short cut' through an alley way. Two men jumped me and stabbed me before I could even say anything. As I laid there bleeding out, I saw these men not as humans but monsters, with twisted faces and horns. Their knifes were just claws and they kept stabbing me with them. Then an angel appeared in bright light, surrounded by a white flame and drew a sword and blasted fire at the demons. This angel was a police officer but I didn't see that. I passed out and woke later to more angels, paramedics, hovering over me, using magical light to heal me. I passed out again and next saw me on an alter, with angels performing rituals around my body. This was the surgery room and the angels for now doctors but I saw this as a bystander watching from afar. This is when I first touched Magic. Every time my heart stopped the machines would malfunction. My heart stopped four times that night. I spent a month in a coma during this time I saw myself not on Earth but in a heavenly place. There I spoke to Angels who explained to me that heaven and earth have been separated by a dark chasm. It was up to people like me, the ones who were Awakened, to bring the connections between the Heaven and the Falllen World together again. Only then would suffering end. We must gather the Awakened and defeat those who would keep Heaven and Earth separated, and bring forth a new era.
During the time that I was in a coma strange things have been happening in the hospital. It was how the Silver Ladder identify me as Awakened. They paid for my hospital bills, took me in, and began to train me in the ways of being a Mage. Many of the other mages that I have met have similar stories, and many have the same goals as I do, to reach the Supernal World, where the Aether, my Heaven, exists. I'm not a stock broker anymore, but a Mage, new to this world and learning it's ways. It's why I have chosen the name Phoenix, because like the legendary bird, I have been reborn and maybe one day my flames will light the way to the Supernal World and bring peace to the worlds."
The Monster Baru Cormorant - Seth Dickinson
Steam: Korvalain
That's correct.
The Monster Baru Cormorant - Seth Dickinson
Steam: Korvalain
The Monster Baru Cormorant - Seth Dickinson
Steam: Korvalain
There is definitely magic at play in the room, and it's being brought to bear against the roulette table.
You can't be sure of anything else without closer investigation.
The Monster Baru Cormorant - Seth Dickinson
Steam: Korvalain
He means shadow names, though characters having IDs couldn't hurt.