~ Suggestions & Improvement ~

[Albert]

Some type of journalist school?

[Schwarzbart]

Hmm a Writer Club could be interesting where one can learn Calligraphy (except Forgery and Orthography), Grammar and Rhetoric.

Edit: Maybe its a Acedamagica specific club where you get a invite as soon you write your first book i.e. with the Write Travelogue ability.

[Svinik]

Given the subject I'm wondering if it wouldn't be some incredibly prim and proper elocution-lesson type deal - learn how to speak and write properly for one's station / to fit in with one's betters and all that. Orthography could be included (the proper way to draw phemes, none of this sloppy vague waving the wand stuff) and forgery (as collateral - they don't mean to teach it but learning to mimic the proper styles for various occaisions could somewhat teach you to mimic generally).

[Albert]

That Sphinx adventure when getting the crown(likely a worthless piece of crap of statueonamentation) for example.

Anyway, back to the case, after summoning using incantation the smog to make it harder for the guards to see you or what was going on, you coudl use Gates. I kind of assumed I would use gates to get past the guards or somewhere near the sphinx..... But it was a summoning action to summon an exotic monster to scare the guards away.

 

I would have loved to have two gates chocies there, the summoning of an extremely dangerous creature(intentionaly), or a gate/teleport out of there option.

 

Also, I realise that in that situation it would likely have been as efficient to Glamour up a scarry smokemonster given that the only thing you need to do was scare the guards. It would even have seemed a lot safer for the character to use a glamour for that so you don't get stuck with a real "monster" that's hounding you.

 

Gating in/summoning a monster seems like an action when you really want to hurt others and don't care for consequences or personal safety..... A less malevolent Gates option as an optional solution(escaping while hidden in the smog) and maybe a glamour option for that Sphinx Adventure where you create an illusonary beast.

[isadorbg]

i don't think you really knew what you would summon.

 

That's another downside of Gates actually even you master the pillar enough to properly summon a creature you might have unexptected consequence like this creature carry an illness that might cause a deadly plague or it might go berserk etc..

[Albert]

i don't think you really knew what you would summon.

 

That's another downside of Gates actually even you master the pillar enough to properly summon a creature you might have unexptected consequence like this creature carry an illness that might cause a deadly plague or it might go berserk etc..

While I like Gates for transportation and teleportation, (sure, things can go wrong with sideeffects) but I really can't see the point of intentionaly wanting to summon dangerous creatures, that seems very stupid.

 

But really, Glamour would have been great, if all the monster was supposed to do was scare the guards to run away then a Glamoured beast can do that Also, a second Gates option where you teleport past the guards rather than summoning a dangerous beast to drive them off.

[Metis]

...I really can't see the point of intentionaly wanting to summon dangerous creatures, that seems very stupid.

To fight wars, to do chores on the pain of being set on fire or outright commanded to do so by way of Mastery, or for more innocent things like summoning a bird for a literal bird's-eye view of an area.

 

Gates it pretty much a hotline to Servant-and-Slaves-R-Us, it's just a matter of not dying trying to put them to work.

[Albert]

To fight wars, to do chores on the pain of being set on fire or outright commanded to do so by way of Mastery, or for more innocent things like summoning a bird for a literal bird's-eye view of an area.

 

Gates it pretty much a hotline to Servant-and-Slaves-R-Us, it's just a matter of not dying trying to put them to work.

Until you get a dragon and your Mastery skill isn't at the same level as that king who mastered that small young dragon.

There tends to be plenty of people or animals around anyway, just tell them to get to work! If you are charming enough they might do it without too much of a fuss anyway. Just ask nicely

 

As for Bird's eye, that's what I immagine using my Hawk familiar for Flying around scouting, patroling... Spying... Reading lips....

 

On last adventure I named my Hawk "Hawkes".

 

In later years, if I can get that skill to get another familiar then, maybe, a parrot if possible! It could act as interpretor for the Hawk... though I understand there are Revision spells that you can use to make your familiar speak the human language. It was in one of those random events involving a lizard in the library.

I think there was a student in one of the lore documents that had an actual dragon familiar(Not the small fake one)... That grew really big... Kind of seems like it's too much for me though.

[Metis]

Kindly asking animals to fight wars for you takes a wee bit more than just a Charm/Persuasion roll. And of course there's the risk of running into someone that's better at Gates than you are, but, well, that's true for all pillars. The difference is that with Gates there's at least a chance that you, personally, won't die horribly as a result (unlike if you face off against someone with, say, better Incantation).

[Albert]

Kindly asking animals to fight wars for you takes a wee bit more than just a Charm/Persuasion roll. And of course there's the risk of running into someone that's better at Gates than you are, but, well, that's true for all pillars. The difference is that with Gates there's at least a chance that you, personally, won't die horribly as a result (unlike if you face off against someone with, say, better Incantation).

There is this skill; seeking friends in hidden places.... Morvidus skill I belive it is, where you can talk ot animals and charm them into helping you. Animals were persuaded to help humans fight the dragons in the past.

It's kind of like a Gandalf like skill or that other wizard that Gandalf knew that liked animals and nature.

 

Friendly manners rather than Mastery or other control methods. Kind of like Writing a formal invitation with Caligraphy that looks so thoughtful and impressive and almost becommes a command. Without being Mastery.

 

Mastery is something you use on enemies when you get desperate and want cannonfoder to throw at your enemies and cause some terror and pain.

 

You can even use Astrology to gain allies if your natural charm and natureskills arn't enough.

 

My students try to use all other possibilities before Mastery and Gates, Mastery and Gates are plan Z, when there is nothing else left to try. It's still nice to have the option just in case.

[isadorbg]

there's a difference between befriend an animal (wich take times and dedication) and asking it to perform some minor task and forcefully summon a creature from an other world (which is described as a traumatic experience) and asking it ''nicely'' to fight for you from the get go.

 

Also who says the creature you summoned isn't sentient and thus disqualify as an ''animal'' or you don't know how to communicate or it goes berserk because of disorientation etc.

 

I'll add that the more dangerous the animal is the more dangerous is to deal with them even in real life their are regular accident of professional that deals with dangerous animals and again:

 

there's a difference between befriend an animal (wich take times and dedication) and asking it to perform some minor task and forcefully summon a creature from an other world (which is described as a traumatic experience) and asking it ''nicely'' to fight for you from the get go.

 

 

 

Mastery was popular for a reason. Not only to mess with your enemies but also to get ''loyal allies'' or more precisely puppet.

[Albert]

there's a difference between befriend an animal (wich take times and dedication) and asking it to perform some minor task and forcefully summon a creature from an other world (which is described as a traumatic experience) and asking it ''nicely'' to fight for you from the get go.

 

Also who says the creature you summoned isn't sentient and thus disqualify as an ''animal'' or you don't know how to communicate or it goes berserk because of disorientation etc.

 

I'll add that the more dangerous the animal is the more dangerous is to deal with them even in real life their are regular accident of professional that deals with dangerous animals and again:

 

 

 

 

Mastery was popular for a reason. Not only to mess with your enemies but also to get ''loyal allies'' or more precisely puppet.

I wasn't nessesarily talking about asking a summoned through gates animal/creature nicely.

 

Finding friends in hidden places seems more like finding a bear and asking it to help you "Defend the forest against these evil intruders that wants to kill everone in it". Or even more directly looking to hunt "it".

 

You can use Persuasion, deciet, Rallying or any set of social skills and manipulation as long as you got the skill to "speak with the animals and understand them".

Yeah, sure, it might take quite a bit of skill and understanding of your audiences priorities, like protecting the cubs or nests.

 

So, for minor favors it might be enough to be charming and ask nicely. For larger ones you might have to use more advanced skills to attach them to your cause, or rather make it seem like you have joined the cause of the "People" and they are doing this for themselves. That's what warmongers and others do all the time.

 

I'm sure Mastery works aswell, but why bother unless you have to.

 

When doing Ilaros adventure I manipulated a bear to steal the staff from the triplets! By befriending it and playing fetch with it, using a glamoured stick that looked like the staff. Then when the stick was thrown in the direction of the Triplets the bear went for it and must have assumed that the staff the Triplets were carrying was it's fetch toy.

 

I loved that part of the adventure. It was really creatively written. I wonder if they told the legate that a bear stole the staff from them. It was a fairly simple trick but it worked, the bear didn't know any better.

 

Asking nice might still work on gates summoned servants, I summoned a troll to polish some silver once! The troll just wanted back home so it did what was asked and was then rewarded by getting sent back home to it's family... Kind of evil though.

[isadorbg]

Yes you might convince a gated creature to work for you but it can also think it's better to just eat you.

 

But hey thats the risk when you let them with their free will.

[Xandran]

The problem with not wanting to summon anything ever is what your plan is when a dragon shows up. Incantation? Dragon'll cast faster than you can. Glamour? Well, you can sneak up on it, but you probably won't be able to hurt it. Revision? Lots of things you could do with revision, but it's not likely you can cast fast enough that you won't run into the same problem as Incantation. Negation? I'm not even sure if Negation works on dragon magic. Still have the problem of speed. Astrology? Well, Astrology will probably be helpful, but I doubt it can take down a dragon by itself. Mastery? Only one person has ever mastered a dragon. Enchantment might be useful if you prepared enough stuff ahead of time.

 

And then you have Gates, which is known for effectiveness already. The Gates lore implies pretty heavily that the true masters of Gates don't have to work very hard to build an army. There are at LEAST three dragons around campus in year one. Probably a few more than that, although it's hard to say. Given the danger of a single lone dragon, studying Gates suddenly sounds a lot more tempting when you think about having to deal with multiple.

[isadorbg]

Although to control that army, you might need more than Gates...

[Albert]

I can pickup animals from the forest. They wouldnt be gates summoned.

 

Also there is an astrology spell that can turn an enemy into a friend/ally. I used it on that giant octopus lurker in the lake.

 

If you can call all the animals in the forest for help, then you don't rally need gates. If you can rally them into joining your army, even if it's only temporary then that works.

If some of them are hessitant or hostile you can use astrology.

If you get desperate enough you still got glamours and mastery. And yes, even Gates.

[Metis]

Small interruption:

 

Sync would allow you to create a bond with an animal (or human, really) sort of like your familiar, but that A: Takes time and B: Would not allow you to control an "army", in fact you probably wouldn't get farther than a renegade scouting party. Those bonds aren't proper Familiar bonds, so the part where Oan says

"Now that she knows how to do this, she can’t unlearn it, so the time we spent together working on it was well worth the sacrifice in my own studies."

 

Doesn't fly. Maintaining those Sync bonds takes effort and no person, wizard or otherwise, has the time or mental sanity to maintain more than a half-dozen, I'd say, without maintenance becoming a noticeable problem. BTW, "There are at LEAST three dragons around campus in year one."? Fantastic, here's to hoping those Dragons aren't too mad about the whole "revolted and escaped slavery" bit.

 

Anyway, proceed.

[isadorbg]

The three dragons are those of that exploration adventrue + diavesque

 

http://academagia.invisionzone.com/index.php?showtopic=2588&page=2

[Metis]

You mean the Exploring For The Sake Of...? adventure? And I don't know what Diavesque is, actually. Needless to say that I'm not interested in Gates (no matter what the Sphinx might think )

[isadorbg]

well if you aren't afraid of spoils, our loremaster free might teach one or two things here: http://academagia.invisionzone.com/index.php?showtopic=2799&page=2

[Metis]

If I tried to pay attention to such detail it'd just fly right over my head anyway, so it's either spoilers or ignorance. I choose the former.

[Albert]

I wonder what it's like for them to hide in humanform.... Nevermind a book and possibly other pieces...

 

I wonder if stalker goes to a tavern and gets drunk every now and then and starts talking about the days when he ruled the world! Then people just think he's a crazy hillarious drunk

[isadorbg]

what suprises most how ''friendly'' they are both of them. I expected some sort of superior complex but even morganna compares her youth and the pc almost as if we human and dragon are equal or something.

 

For some reasons, that makes me more nervous.

[Albert]

what suprises most how ''friendly'' they are both of them. I expected some sort of superior complex but even morganna compares her youth and the pc almost as if we human and dragon are equal or something.

 

For some reasons, that makes me more nervous.

Maybe humans in general gained some manner of respect by defeating her species.

 

Also, I think most species are very much the same when they are very young. She still has a superioritycomplex by telling you how much more powerful she thinks she was back then.

[isadorbg]

I don't know. It's kinda like the if you encounter the devil and he was like talking about his life and talking to you normaly. How would you react?

 

It's just too odd. I trust them even less with that kind of attitude