Talk:Kuari Character Sheet

From Ars Magica

 "...although they may have surprising abilities, such as intelligence, or the ability to
 move, these abilities are always suitable to the kind of creature in question."
 
 "The abilities of magical creatures are always explicable, at least after the event, in
 terms of the abilities of the mundane version."

Kuari's powers are supernatural versions of those possessed by a real hawk. Thus we have options relating to speed, flight, sight, and hunting prey.

Could you explain why you choose to remove the things I proposed? Kuari is an inteligent being, why should it not have skills? The example magical animals does have skills. You said it could have some kind of abillity to be able to communicate, why did you remove it? --Samuel^<Talk> 13:53, 3 April 2006 (PDT)

Since talking to you, I have read up on magical animals in a couple of ArM5 books. The way that magical animals are listed varies between books, but one of the latest publications does away with skills. I don't really think she needs skills either, at least until the point where she starts to learn a language. She does bird things as well as any bird, if not better. The matter of communicating with Kuari more effectively will no doubt be solved once you turn her into a familiar. You can walk around in public with Kuari because she is, essentially an improved version of a regular animal, as opposed to one wreathed in flames. It appears that a might 15 creature is likely to have one notable power, which I have left for you to detail, though try to make it something which fits in with a birds normal abilities.

Cheers, --James\\^Talk 08:32, 4 April 2006 (PDT)

All three of the magical creatures in the ArM5 bestiary have skills. Only one of them is an animal: a magical wolf. Its skills are Area Lore 6, Brawl 6, Hunt 7, Living Language 5, Survival 6. While it doesn't indicate whether or not the wolf can speak, he does have a Language ability, which seems to indicate that the ability would be required for the language to be understood, at the very least. Doesn' really seem much different from magical animals in AM4, from what I see. Without skills, a hawk would have worse vision than a perceptive (+3) human with a few levels in Awareness-- and that just shouldn't happen. If it helps any, these are the skills my AM4 hawk familiar had: Athletics (flying) 4, Awareness (alertness) 5 (plus Keen Vision), Brawling (talons) 4, Hunt (rodents) 6, Survival (wooded areas) 3. As a familiar, he had the Shared Speech bond quality (now defunct), which conferred to him all the languages my maga knew at the level she knew them: Latin 4, Gaelic 5. Also, a hawk should have a much higher perception, IMO. The mundane "Bird of Prey" from the old AM4 book had a per of +5. --Eirlys 01:29, 5 April 2006 (PDT)

There are two magical birds listed in AM5 books, and a mundane hawk listed in the AM5 bestiary supplement, which I used as a basis for this magical companion. The magical companion is a hook, not a boon, for creating story and adding another dimension to your character. --James\\^Talk 03:05, 5 April 2006 (PDT)

Companion a Hook... Yes but it is a Minor hook instead of a Major explicitely because "the character gets some solid benefit from the situation" (ArM p40). By the way, in what way does the two powers you gave Kuari add anything to the storry?

Why should Phaedrus turn Kuari into a familiar? They have been together this way for >15 years!

I thought someone said they were going to do so... it may have been Sally. I presumed it was because Phaedrus wanted to bond the familiar himself, once his skills had reached the point where he was able to do so.--James\\^Talk 03:05, 5 April 2006 (PDT)

>Are you saying that Sandor (who does not speak either, and have the same Int) shold not have skills?

Employ sophistry against me at your peril. :P As I said, in a more recent ArM5 publication, the skills were omitted for magical animals, with an n/a, indicating that it wasn't a typographical error. Another way to look at it is that the hawk has skills, but I haven't written them down anywhere. The hawk can do the things a hawk can do, and in a number of cases, it can do them much better than a normal hawk.--James\\^Talk 03:05, 5 April 2006 (PDT)

>Besides, How could Kuari _learn_ a language without skills?

I already answered this.--James\\^Talk 03:05, 5 April 2006 (PDT)

Or understand what people says without learning the skills English and/or Latin? --Samuel^<Talk> 01:12, 5 April 2006 (PDT)

Well, animals aren't reknowned for understanding speech, but as you have been together for 15 years, and she is rather intelligent, I think it is fair that she should have a language score of 2 or 3. The fact that she never produces language is a significant handicap, which is down to her species more than anything else. She can't even manage Pidgin English... cheep cheep. :P :)--James\\^Talk 03:05, 5 April 2006 (PDT)

You said this:
Your animal companion has 10 - size Magic Might, which is around 14/15, and an Intelligence characteristic, rather than Cunning. However, it is unlikely that it can produce human sounds. You could give it a special power with 0 cost that aided communication though, or higher if it worked at range. I'll generate the creature for you before it is taken out on adventure. --James\\Talk 13:49, 18 March 2006 (PST)

when I asked about speach for Kuari. What made you sudenly change your mind? The power I wrote down was more or less an exact translation into game mechanics for the thing you described. I probably should have expanded on "Works like speach" and said that it was a CrIm (sound) effect of low volume a few centimeters from one of the targets ears, using whatever language Kuari knows. --Samuel^<Talk> 04:22, 5 April 2006 (PDT)

Okay... there is inconsistancy in the books on this matter, and other players are suggesting that it isn't such a bad thing, so I'll give her an ability to communicate out loud. --James\\^Talk 09:29, 5 April 2006 (PDT)