[Ars Magica] Joseph Heim

[Rojito]

Joseph Heim

- Background:
Scholar
Bonus Feats: Literacy, Skill Focus (Any Knowledge)
Bonus Skills: Any Two Knowledges

- Ability Scores +6
Strength -1
Dexterity +1
Constitution +1
Intelligence +3
Wisdom +1
Charisma +1

- Character Class
Adept – This is the class for supernatural power. In Ars Magica, for players, this means Magi. Adepts have a poor (1/2) combat progression, Favored Will save, and 4+Int Skills. They begin with 4 feats of their choosing, which can be from the Adept or General lists.

- Combat/Saves (determined by class)
Attack: 1
Dodge: 1
Parry: -1

Fortitude: 1
Reflex: 1
Will: 3
Toughness: 1

- Skill 7+2 knowledge
- Concentration (Wis) 5
- Disable Device (Int) 7
- Knowledge Arcana (Int) 10
- Knowledge Religion (Int) 7
- Knowledge (Nature) (Int) 7
- Language (None) – German, Greek, Latin, French
- Chirurgy (Wis) 5
- Notice (Wis) 5
- Ride (Dex) 5
- Search (Int) 7

- Feats / Power +4
Literacy
Skill focus Knowlege Arcana
Water Shapeing
Wind Shapeing
Weather Shapeing
Elemental Blast

- Equipment:
Basic equipment: Traveling clothes, any odds and ends for magical use, probably a knife and/or a staff as well.

Knife: Str+1 (+0) damage, 19-20/+3 Crit, Piercing/slashing, 10' range increment

Staff: Str+2 (+1) damage, 20/+3 Crit, Bludgeoning, 10' range increment

Heavy Crossbows are +3 damage, 19-20/+3 Crit, piercing, 120’ range.

Spear is Str+3 damage, 2-handed, 19-20/+4, 20’ range

Horse with riding saddle.

Conviction: 3
Virtue: Compassionate
Vice: Wrath

[Rojito]

Ok, so i need to know the feats/powers list, and if there is any knowledge specific to this realm. I think i got most everthing else taken care of.

[Yakumo]

From my understanding, you automatically get full ranks in your Bonus skills. And I don't know if you were dividing them up on purpose, but I believe that each skill you chose is an automatic +4 for it. So like if you picked concentration as one of starting skills, you could have +5 in it.

[Rojito]

ok, see i read it as i get a number of skills equal to 4+int, so i chose 7 skills, the current number are just my attribute boni, so if i get more boni for being trained in them i will need to add them in. FYI i have never played this form of rpg so i know nothing bout the setting, or the way its all done.

[TheUdjat]

Yakumo's on the ball on this one. When you pick skills, you are essentially treating them as if you are a first level D&D character putting full ranks into them; i.e. 4.

So yes, you begin with 4 ranks in all your chosen skills and then add your ability scores to those. Concentration becomes 5, Ride becomes 5, Knowledges become 7 (except Arcana, which begins at a whopping +10 with your Skill Focus).

With regard to your Saves, I'm assuming Toughness 11 is a typo? Should simply be +1 (Constitution).

You can also add in your Combat totals. Your characters attacks at +1 (0 Combat + 1 Dex), Dodges with +1 (0 Combat + 1 Dex) and Parries with -1 (0 Combat - 1 Str). Just good numbers to know.

I'll hit feats next, but I was hopnig for a general idea of what kind of powers you're interested in. Elemental magic? Mind manipulation? Combat boosts? Divinations? Help me out here, there's a lot to go on.

EDIT: As far as game-specific knowledges... I couldn't really think of any, of the top of my head. D&D is based on the middle ages and so is this, so the knowledge apply nicely. Architecture/Engineering, Nobility/Royalty, Geography, Nature, History, Arcana, Religion... I might add in 'Faerie Lore', but I also might just roll that into Arcana.

[Rojito]

Lets go with elemental powers, if i could focus them abit more, towards like Air Magic, always been a big fan of air... The knowledge i will take...Geography, i guess lol...

[TheUdjat]

Elemental powers basically boil down to 'Shaping' powers. You'll have to choose whether to specialize in one and take the successive powers building off of it, or to take several and sort of generalize. If specializing, there are even feats that could make you better with a specific ability--very 'one trick horse', but potentially useful.

Your 'Shaping' powers are the following: Cold Shaping, Earth Shaping, Energy Shaping, Fire Shaping, Light Shaping, Plant Shaping, Water Shaping, Weather Shaping, and Wind Shaping. If you're leaning towards air as your last reply suggests, you'll be most interested in Wind and Weather Shaping, I should think--or you could go with Wind and Cold for a icy angle. Or even just Wind, to specialize.

The description for Wind and what you can do with it takes up the better part of a page in the book, so I'll refrain from typing it unless you pick it. In brief, you can create winds going virtually any direction (inward, outward, circling, or just one direction) in a span of area, the speed of the winds entirely dependent on your Power Check, but ranging from light wind (a gentle breeze) to a Tornado. The latter is not likely to be possible for your character at this level, unless there's already some pretty high winds in effect.

Weather, now that I'm looking at it, requires Wind and Water as prereqs. It's a pretty impressive power, though, letting you dictate weather patterns in a vast area, though it takes some time.

Water, in case you're interested, lets you lower water levels, raise water levels, shape the flow of currents, or even just make a big splash from pre-existing water sources (you could daze an opponent, but it's essentially non-damaging). Handy, but not a big combat power.

The other 'Shaping' powers are pretty self-explanatory, though as a general guideline, remember that they affect pre-existing material of that element and do not create new things.

There are also a group of powers that require certain Shaping powers as prerequisites. These are Elemental Aura, Elemental Blast, Elemental Resistance, and Elemental Weapon. Aura lets you (surprise) create an aura of damaging elemental energy as a defense (in the case of Wind, this is electricity). Blast lets you strike a foe with elemental force (in the case of Wind, this is non-lethal damage). Resistance gives you a bonus against harm from your chosen element as long as you are conscious and capable of exerting will. In the case of Wind, this also grants Electrical Resistance. Elemental Weapon, lastly, lets you imbue a melee weapon you wield with elemental energy, allowing it to deal +2 damage. In the case of Wind, this is Electrical damage once again.

So there's a rundown of the elemental side of things. For specializing in a single element, you can also pick up feats like Empower, Quicken Power, Subtle Power, Supernatural Focus, Supernatural Talent, and Widen Power. Empower/Quicken/Subtle/Widen should all be pretty familiar by their D&D equivalents, and work largely the same, but Focus and Talent are new. Remember that Powers are treated a lot like skills in that they have ranks and are affected by a key ability--Supernatural Focus is just like Skill Focus, except for a particular Power, granting you a +3 bonus on Power Checks with that power. Supernatural Talent is like 'Talented', granting you +2 with two different powers.

So if you really want to specialize in wind and take, for instance, Wind Shaping and Elemental Blast, you could then pick up Supernatural Talent (Wind Shaping, Elemental Blast) and wind up with a +9 Power Check for each (4 ranks + 3 Int + 2 Feat). For you could burn two feats to Supernatural Focus them both, winding up with +10 for both.

Or pick up more powers, or more general feats. Your call.

[Rojito]

As ever i seem to choose to take the most difficult of choices, Wind is the one i wanted, and still want. But now i am more than slightly confused, for the Weapon thing, what is the difference between the checks? say i roll a 15, is that any better than 10?

[TheUdjat]

That depends on the power. Some powers don't even require a check--like Elemental Weapon, which just gives a flat bonus. and, apparently, Elemental Blast (I thought that one had a check. It doesn't. No point taking Supernatural Focus for that!).

But say, for instance, Wind Shaping. Your power check becomes very important, influencing what speed of winds you're capable of changing. That one tends to run in 5-point increments beyond a result of 10, for instance. So a 20 would allow you to change wind speeds up to 2 'levels: from 'light wind' (a breeze) to 'strong wind' (gusts that impose penalties on ranged attacks and notice checks, knocking down smaller creatures, etc). You could also do the opposite and decrease a Hurricane to merely 'Severe Winds'.

Just as an example.

[Rojito]

ok what is the flat bonus for weapon? cause i think i am plannign on focusing on wind, atleast for now, maybe going into water and weather later. Elemental weapon, does that create a weapon or enhance one? Cause as of right now i am thinking Weapon, Blast, and Shaping, then probably focus in shaping

[TheUdjat]

It's a +2 bonus, and it enhances an existing weapon. Remember that you're automatically proficient with simple weapons (club, staff, knife, spear/longspear, morningstar, maces, sickle, pitchfork, punching dagger, spiked gauntlet). Let me know what you're interested in and I'll give you the stats. If you want to better weapon (i.e. melee), it's probably best ot pick up Weapon Training as a feat.

EDIT: Also, if you plan to rely on melee, you may want to adjust those ability scores.

[Rojito]

i was thinking the same thing, but i wasn't sure what the powers or abilities were, as of yet i am not sure i even want to be a fighter, or just kinda a randomly useful guy. Ok was wondering if i took Water Shaping, Wind Shaping, and Weather Shaping, and then Elemental Blast would it apply to all three or do i have to specify which one i want it to go with? Cause now that i think about it, i believe as a scholar it would make sense for me to control the weather a little bit, and could prove to be a rather useful thing... Blast would allow me to be atleast half useful, and then the weather control could be randomly useful... i dont know feelin odd today

[TheUdjat]

You can absolutely do that, and Elemental Blast would apply to all three--mind you, wind and water are effectively the same kind of blast (nonlethal), but weather blasts would call down lightning. And you'd have the abilities of all three.

I would, however, recommend Knowledge: Nature if you're going to go with route. It makes sense that such a character would understand the workings of the natural world, instead of just geography.

[Rojito]

Yeah Geography was more my thought when i was going wind, you know understanding how it flows over every feature... but yes if i go Weather, then i will need nature... ok so its set, i'll fix the sheet rock on

[Rojito]

Ok whatever basic equipment i would get from the base...

[TheUdjat]

Basic equipment: Traveling clothes, any odds and ends for magical use, probably a knife and/or a staff as well.

- Knife: Str+1 (+0) damage, 19-20/+3 Crit, Piercing/slashing, 10' range increment
- Staff: Str+2 (+1) damage, 20/+3 Crit, Bludgeoning, 10' range increment

[TheUdjat]

You also get a horse! (I forgot). Comes with a standard riding saddle. This is reflective of your practice and experience with riding.

[Rojito]

ok he is updated and ready