[OOC] [Awakening 2E] To the Strongest

[Caladriu]

Here's the OOC for a Mage: the Awakening play-by-post game, using "To the Strongest" from Dark Eras.

Players: Hardwire99 Silver_Smoulder Exthalion Tambov Woland

Let's make some character sheets first. If you can, download this PDF, fill it out, and upload it to Google Drive or Dropbox or something, then link to it here.

Create characters as per Mage 2E page 82, with these changes:

• Start at Gnosis 2, not 1. You may raise it with Merits as usual. Spend 15 XP (counts as either regular or arcane) however you want, and indicate what you spent it on.
• Instead of Order Status, you have 1 free dot in Great Cult Status. You do have High Speech. You can also buy dots in Darshana Status, which applies with anyone who shares your Darshana. Remember that you can use Status to requisition other Merits, similar to how Resources works.
• Remember to create a Nimbus Tilt, described on page 90 under "Crafting a Tilt." Also remember that you have 1 free dot in Occult, and one free Praxis per dot of Gnosis.
• Don't buy these Merits: Hallow, Fast Spells (doesn't exist yet), or any Order-specific Merits. You can pool your dots to buy location merits like Safe Place/Sanctum, but be aware that it's going to be an abstraction of equipment that moves to different locations with you, not a single permanent place.
• Your shared mentor is represented by a free 3-dot Merit called Patron, which I will write up later but works similarly to Mentor. You can still buy the Mentor merit to represent other characters.
• You have the free Multilingual 1 Merit (CofD 46), representing whichever 2 of these languages you don't already have: Greek, Egyptian, or Persian. You can still buy the more in-depth Language Merit if you want to be more literate.
• Your sheet already reflects this, but these Skills are replaced: Computer>Enigmas, Firearms>Archery, Drive>Ride. This is explained in Dark Eras pages 23-31. Also note: Streetwise will be used to represent "street-level" knowledge of other cultures, managing a long trip by caravan, practical economics, and general worldliness along with its usual uses for finding illicit goods and services and dealing with seedy characters. Soldiers, sailors, merchants and travelers possess Streetwise, not just thieves and smugglers.

Don't worry about starting equipment right now, but FYI: I use the full Resources/Availability rules for getting equipment (and magic interacts with those rules), and they're actually going to be kinda important in the first chapter.

If you don't have Dark Eras, or for that matter Mage 2E, let me know.

[Hardwire99]

I have a question, I am Darshana: Vajrastra/Adamantine Arrow. Would I be able to take the Ardent Hand merit as they are called the Adamantine Arrow. If no then that is cool.

[Caladriu]

Not at character creation, but you can learn it in play from other Arrow mages.

[Hardwire99]

On initiation to a Legacy you get the first Attainment do you need to spend an Experience point for that as well.

[Tambov]

Would it be possible to join a Legacy of alchemist-physicians? Do I need Gnosis 2 or 3 for this?

[Caladriu]

Yeah, all legacy attainments cost XP. If you want though, you can spend one of your praxis slots to get the attainment, and start with 1 less praxis. It's common to pick spells that future attainments will emulate as your praxes. The way that works in play is that you spend the XP for an attainment, and then if you already have that effect as a praxis, you can cash it in for an XP refund and no longer have it as a praxis.

Tambov link me to the legacy if it already exists, and you need Gnosis 2.

[Hardwire99]

This post was moved to keep all character related information in one place.

[Caladriu]

Looks good! Only issue is that Defense should be 4, not 5.

Which benefits did you want for levels 2 and 4 of Sleepwalker Retainer? You have the choice of one of the listed merits at each level. Also it would be good if you gave her a name, and 3 things she's skilled at doing that she might roll dice for during the game.

[Hardwire99]

Here is the second Draft of the Character Sheet.

Nimbus:
Long term Nimbus: Self Doubt, The long term effects of his nimbus causes self doubt in others as they start to question if they are on the right track in life. This self doubt can lead to sudden career changes as you try Fates fickle hand, however tainted with decay this rarely improves the victims lot in life.
Immediate Nimbus: Déjà vu, There is a momentary replay of time when you cast a spell and everything replays as it had originally with the exception of barely visible strands of fate leading from the old into the new. You watch as these stands decay into nothing as the path is chosen.
Nimbus Tilt: Fate Lock Upon witnessing the effects of Déjà vu there is a feeling that your Fate has been sealed, this causes an overwhelming feeling of doom that stirs from deep within. Effects: -1 Resolve, -1 Composure.
Signature Nimbus: Vortex, His signature nimbus is that of a dark vortex interlaced with the golden strands of Fate.

Experience Expenditure.
Gnosis = 5 points.
Arcana (Prime) = 4 points.
Merits (Darshana Status 2, Shared Safe Place 1, Shared Sanctum 1) = 4 points.
Legacy Attainments = 2 points.

Wife
Name: Kemsit
Skills: Persuasion, Stealth, Enigmas.

#2) Ritual Savvy, #4) Relic Attuned

Sorry about the Defense but I moved a point from Athletics to Weaponry and forgot to adjust the figured characteristic.

[Exthalion]

Regarding legacies, can we say a custom legacy already exists IC so as to take advantage of the earlier entry? Conversely, can we create IC an existing legacy the won't exist for centuries?

[Caladriu]

Yes to both. It's up to you if you want to start out in/learn a legacy that exists already IC, or you can play out the process of creating a new legacy of your own IC. The suggested Legacies for the era note that, for example, an equivalent legacy to the Bokor exists in Egypt even though the main legacy isn't developed until much later.

If there's a legacy you want that's already written up, link to it in this thread. You can also design your own. I've converted a couple Legacies so I'm available to help with that if you want.

[Woland]

So, here's my character sheet. Hope everything is in order. I took the liberty of listing my character's Legacy as Clavicularius, although strictly speaking they only exist as such from the 17th century. But I figured that since they base their philosophy and activities on the works of King Solomon, then there had to be *someone* that had the idea before them. If that's too much of a reach then just say the word.

Spent XP:
- Status: Darshana - 2 points
- Legacy Attainment -1 point
- Arcanum (Spirit) - 4 points
- Skills (Subterfuge and Stealth 1 dot, Investigation 2 dots) - 8 points

[Caladriu]

Clavicularius is fine. Actually they're mentioned in the chapter, they're called the Binders of Daevas right now and they're mainly a Karpani tradition, so your character would've picked it up in Persia. Is there an existing writeup you want to use? Apparently there will be an official conversion of them at some point, based on new spells that will be introduced in Signs of Sorcery, but we can get creative until then.

That reminds me, anyone starting in a Legacy: were you initiated by a tutor, or did you learn/steal it from a grimoire/soul stone/stolen soul? A tutor is the most common option, and if you go that route, you can earn an arcane beat once per chapter by interacting with your tutor. If you were initiated by a tutor, give me their shadow name and a sentence or two about who they are and where they're based.

[Hardwire99]

Where would I find the Statistics for a Mace? It isn't in the Core Book or the Dark Era's book.

I also noticed something odd at the bottom of the PDF for the characters sheet. For Rotes it has "Rotes – choose spells with 6 total dots" instead of the Rotes you get 3 that is standard for 2e. I thought the "Rotes – choose spells with 6 total dots" was 1e stuff.

[Hardwire99]

I found a couple of errors on my sheet so I corrected them. What was changed is listed below.

I removed the Praxis Grave Misfortune as it is a Fate 3 spell and I only have Fate 2.
I Had the Rote Skills set wrong my Darshana Rote skills are Athletics, Weapons and Intimidation. I had it as Occult, Weapons and Imtimidation.
Moved the Rote Sacred Geometry to a Praxis replacing Grave Misfortune
Added Interconnections as a Rote Spell replacing the Sacred Geometry.
Filled out the Legacy Attainments area with more than just the Name of the Attainment.
Updated the Skills that are associated with the Rotes that I know and corrected the book abbreviations and page numbers of the Rotes and Praxis.