Character Creation

Character creation will work as explained in ArM 5e, Chapter 3. However, there are a few modifications.

Base Characters
Each player will be required to make 7 characters. These must consist of:

Magus: Each player has one magus, whom they control.

Companion: Each player has one companion, whom they control.

Grogs: Each player will make 5 grogs who will be put into a pool of common lesser characters, usable by anyone. Please note that Râșnov is a larger covenant which is highly isolated. While some typical warrior grogs will be useful, when making your lesser characters, consider a list of skills and attributes that would be useful to the covenant as a whole.

Older Characters
Any characters you make can be older than the default starting age of 15. This is described in-depth in '''ArM 5e pg. 29.''' See below for specific deviations from those rules.

Any older starting character will be expected to be provided to the GM with a timeline of their life. For Magi, this should include specific lists of periods in which they were writing texts, making enchantments, etc.

Grogs
You may make your grog at any age. However, starting at age 35, grogs must make aging rolls as per ArM 5e, pp. 168-170. All grogs get 10 XP per year over 15.

Texts
Grogs may choose to spend time writing texts. Each text written takes one entire season. Be sure to note the text written and levels in accordance with the rules in ArM 5e pp. 101-102 and 165-166, and Covenants pp. 84-91. Each season spent writing a text costs the grog 2.5 XP, rounded up when the final time is tallied.

Companions
As per ArM 5e, you may make companions of any age. It is suggested that you make them under 30, so they have years of play left in them. All companions get 20 XP per year over 15.

Texts
Companions may choose to spend time writing texts. Each text written takes one entire season. Be sure to note the text written and levels in accordance with the rules in ArM 5e pp. 101-102 and 165-166, and Covenants pp. 84-91. Each season spent writing a text costs the companion 5 XP.

Magi
The rules for wizards are a little more complex. Magi get 30 XP per year over 15 to divide between Arts, Abilities, and Spells. Any Magus over the age of 30 must also take a Minor Flaw. Any Magus over the age of 50 must take a Minor and a Major Flaw.

In addition, any time spent making magical items, binding a familiar, or writing books is time the magus does not gain XP. Each season spent doing so costs the magus 7.5 XP. Round up if the final result isn't a whole number of lost XP. Obviously, there are four season in a year, so a full year spent in a task costs 30 XP.

Longevity
All magi must make aging rolls per year over 35. To age the character beyond 34, the player must make a Longevity ritual with the stats the character has at age 34. See '''ArM5e pg. 101''' for more details on that. If the Longevity ritual fails, that is your character's starting age in the campaign. Otherwise, you may age the character, making aging rolls each year. The character may continue to age until they have an aging crisis (see ArM 5e pg. 170).

At that point, the character starts at the age where the aging crisis occurred. It is assumed the aging crisis was minor (perhaps bedridden for a week). At that point, the player rolls for another Longevity ritual and notes the results on his sheet.

Magical Items
The player may choose to spend his time pre-play in making magical items, as per the enchantment rules in ArM 5e pp. 95-101. Each "invested" or "talisman" item counts for one full year of the character's life. Each "lesser enchantment" item or "charged items" take a half-year of their life. These do not precisely reflect what is in the books, but account for the time needed to gather materials, etc. Players must make all the appropriate rolls to create the item with the skill possessed at the age they made it. Players are discouraged from spending all their time in the latter years of their pre-play life making maximum powered magical items.

Please be sure to note the rolls and such on your timeline. It may be assumed for the sake of ease that the character gained access to the materials and vim necessary to enchant.

Familiars
As per ArM 5e pp. 103-106, the characters may have familiars. It is assumed the finding and binding of the familiar will take an entire year. Adding any powers to it afterwards will take two full seasons. Strengthening the bonds will take two full seasons. While this deviates from the rules, it also accounts for acquiring the necessary vis to perform these actions.

Texts
Mages may choose to spend time writing texts. Each text written takes one entire season. Be sure to note the text written and levels in accordance with the rules in '''ArM 5e pp. 101-102 and 165-166, and Covenants pp. 84-91'''.

Vim
Each magus may start the game with raw vim of any type equal to their age divided by 5, rounding up. If a magus wishes to start with more vim, they may sacrifice a season's worth of XP to gain a pawn of vim.

Older Characters and Material Wealth
It is assumed that all characters start with gear according to their purchased wealth stats (see social status Virtues and Flaws, ArM 5e pp. 36-61). Characters may not spend seasons acquiring further wealth.

Invented Spells
Beginning mages fresh out of apprenticeship, may have their own invented spells. Here are some guidelines to determine the level of the spell, largely detailed in ArM 5e, pp. 111-113. Add up all the totals, and then multiply it by the effect. Each 5 points of effect (also called a Magnitude) are equal to 1 level of Soak or Damage, as a guideline.

Range
Personal: +0

Touch/Eye: +1

Voice: +2

Sight: +3

Arcane Connection: +4

Road: +2 (see the House Merinita outer mystery on ArM 5 pg. 92-93)

Duration
Momentary: +0

Concentration: +1

Diameter: +1

Sun: +2

Ring: +2

Moon: +3

Year: +4

Bargain: +3 (see the House Merinita outer mystery on ArM 5 pg. 92-93)

Fire: +3 (see the House Merinita outer mystery on ArM 5 pg. 92-93)

Until: +4 (see the House Merinita outer mystery on ArM 5 pg. 92-93)

Year + 1: +4 (see the House Merinita outer mystery on ArM 5 pg. 92-93)

Target
Individual: +0

Circle: +0

Part: +1

Touch: +1

Group: +2

Room: +2

Structure: +3

Boundary: +4

Bloodline: +3 (see the House Merinita outer mystery on ArM 5 pg. 92-93)

Note: As detailed in '''ArM 5e pg. 113''', increasing the base size of your spell's target is done by a factor of 10 times the base size described in the Form of the spell per 5 levels added to the spell.

Rituals and Requisites
Ritual: Any spell that is a ritual has -2 to its base level, due to the difficulty of casting a ritual spell.

Requisites: A requisite that is necessary for the spell's effect (see ArM 5e pg. 115) reduces the spell's effective level multiplier by 1. A requisite that only adds a cosmetic effect does not adjust the spell's effective level. A requisite that adds an effect adds 1 to the spell's effective level multiplier.

Rolls to Create Spells
In order to give players more flexibility at character creation, there are no rolls required to invent starting spells. Have fun!

New Virtues and Flaws
There are some virtues and flaws specific to the setting.

Freeman (Free, Social Status)
While you are technically free, you owe at least one season a year in service to the local lord (usually a Count) in your area. You may own possessions, and the work you are required to do is strictly limited by the law. In practice, this simply means you go about your business and provide your taxes. In theory, it means your local lord may commandeer you for one season a year in any task suitable to a freeman. You may not be ordered into battle, nor to handle money, nor to deal with corpses, as examples of tasks you may not be required to perform.

Golden Freedom (Minor, Social Status)
For whatever reason, you have been granted complete freedom. You may own all your possessions and answer to no one. This is mostly found among the gentry, nobles who have enough wealth to essentially buy their freedom, and foreigners who settle in Hungary.

Hungarian Noble (Minor, Social Status)
You own your own land and are thus, technically, a noble. You are not indebted to anyone for it. The size of the land is based on your personal wealth. At the very least, it is the size of a large building or a small farm.

As a noble, you may own serfs, but have no specific legal rights. You simply own your land, free and clear. No one may command you to give it up.

Conditionarii (Minor, Social Status)
You are "half-free." You are technically a serf, but have greater legal rights, and are less likely to be molested by your superiors. You live in a village that is dedicated to one task serving the crown, and you are expected to spend your time performing said task.

Royal Pact (Minor, Story)
For some reason, an ancestor of yours made an agreement with the crown. In most cases, this will be to secure land and title (see Hungarian Noble, above). You have some hereditary duty to the crown that uses up no more than one season every two years. It could be tax collecting, judging at a court, accompanying the crown's representatives as protection, or even as dull as taking a census or carrying messages.

Serf (Major, Social Status)
You are, for all intents and purposes, a slave. You may not own property of any kind (personal or land), though in practice, your master may allow you to own things. You may be ordered to engage in any tasks. You may not represent yourself in court. If you are killed, the murderer owes your owner some money, and must perform a penance to said owner, but your death would not be considered a murder in the legal sense.

Unlike in other places, serfs in Hungary must be paid for their work, and may buy their freedom. In practice, few do, largely because they live fairly prosperously as a rule, and often spend their earnings on things that enhance their lives.

Udvornici (Minor, Social Status)
You are "half-free." Like a freeman, the work you do is limited, but you are still considered property. You are a serf on royal lands, directly serving the crown, with more rights than a regular serf.

Language
Languages in the region often overlap. It may be that you speak a language that allows you to understand the others. Here's how it works:

Speaking Similar Languages
Consult the tables below. The modifier affects your effective level in speaking that language, as well as the experience required to purchase the similar language.

For example, a character with English at level 5 effectively speaks Saxon at level 2. If he decided to purchase Saxon, he would need to spend the XP necessary to raise it from level 2 to 3, thus, 15 XP.

German
Spoken in pockets all over the country by the Teutonic Saxons and German travelers.

Oghuz
A precursor to modern Turkish and descended from Oghur, the language of the ancient Bulgarians. Spoken largely in the east and south.

Magyar
The language of the Huns, which has split into eastern and western dialects. Hungarian is the predominant language of the western half of the empire. Transylvanian competes broadly with Vlach in the southeast.

Romance
Vlach is a trade language that has loan words from the other languages listed, but is primarily Latin in basis. Romanian is much like Vlach, descended from vulgar Latin with a strong Baltic influence. Romanian is predominant in the northeastern part of the kingdom, where it completes with Transylvanian and Hungarian.

South Slavonic
The south Slavonic languages are spoken in the Orthodox churches in the eastern part of the country, and in the south, and often by traders from Serbia and Bulgaria.