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I am onboard with making a bodyguard apparition spell, from an apparition more suited to the role.
Rider is not it, it is a fighter on a horse, and not taking advantage of the main strength of it feels like a waste.
Group of charging riders, not my first hoice for apparition spell, but then neither was the rider, but as we have a rider, we should work with it, and make the cavalry charge spell.

One of the benefits of Bodyguard, assuming you have more than one anyway, is that you can charge yourself and, in a lot of ways, it becomes a cavalry charge spell.
 
Okay, finally caught up (curse you sleep+work).

My thoughts:

Because the rider looks like the Dämmerlichtreiter, and because the argument was put forth that we need to share this spell to fill combat related holes in the Grey spellbook, I definitely think we should only bind one. Having multiples plays against both the aesthetic of the spell and its purpose, and overcomplicates things.

That also has the advantage of meaning that we can call the spell finished and move on to our next project.

That said; I am rather in love with the idea of just popping out an entire squad of them at a future Supreme Patriarch duel. But I think that would be cooler if we went for a simpler "knight" aesthetic (Mathilde's Heraldry maybe?) over a bunch of Mathilde clones.

So I will be angling in the future to bind a full Lance of knights, in addition to the single one we have now. But that's a future project, not an immediate one.

As for its role, I think people might be splitting hairs too much. It's a dudette on a horse who stabs people. The how isn't super important. I like bodyguard because it keeps it close to Mathilde and is more reactive, charge is good for saying "fuck shit up over there", and duel is "fuck that specific guy's shit up".

Since 9/10 Mathilde is going to be directly fucking shit up herself, the Rider's behaviour comes out more or less the same.

Still, I think I'll refrain from the Bahaviour vote unless I see a really compelling argument one way or the other.

[X] [NUMBER] One
 
Boney do the difficulty estimates of the finalised spells account for the possibility that Mathilde rolls 1 or more nat 100's on designing the spell?

No.

The Rider will lay dormant until you attack or are attacked by someone, at which point it will manifest and fight alongside you until combat is over or it is slain.

How much control do we have on when the rider does or does not appear?

Well, you can control whether you do or don't attack someone, and in some circumstances you can influence whether or not you are attacked. But no, you don't get to give a final yes/no on whether a certain attack 'counts' or not after the spell has already been set up.

@Boney Now that we have an Aparition do we know if there is any limit to how many we can bind or could we theoretically get the 120 knights for every spell variant with room to spare ?

Mathilde will know if she starts getting close to hitting any hard limits that might exist, but can't map them out in advance. If a method exists to measure the surface area of a soul, Mathilde doesn't know it.
 
One of the benefits of Bodyguard, assuming you have more than one anyway, is that you can charge yourself and, in a lot of ways, it becomes a cavalry charge spell.
Unless the rider inherits our momentum, no it won't.
And even if it does, it still removes lot of the psychological effect of a charge.
Not to mention that we are not in a habit of charging enemies horseback, even if we would be very good at it.
Or fighting on horsback for that matter.
 
[X] [BEHAVIOUR] Charge
[X] [NUMBER] Lance

They're knights on horseback (sort of); let them act like it!
 
We went into this primarily looking for a way to bail Mathilde out when she gets in over her head, as has happened before. Grey Battle Magic does not particularly lack for "screw those guys over there" options. So while I wouldn't be too upset about being able to deliver a cavalry charge on demand, it feels a bit redundant. Meanwhile, it does lack for "protect the squishy caster who finds themselves in melee combat" options.

It's a bit of a shame the form doesn't lend itself as well to this work as others would have, since we didn't know we were going to be limited by training in this manner, but them's the breaks; I don't think it's worth spending another 2 AP to make our pocket bodyguard slightly more optimal.

And with the Coin, it's very likely that One will be brought down to FC level, which is very important.

[x] [BEHAVIOUR] Bodyguard
[x] [NUMBER] One
 
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We went into this primarily looking for a way to bail Mathilde out when she gets in over her head, as has happened before. Grey Battle Magic does not particularly lack for "screw those guys over there" options. So while I wouldn't be too upset about being able to deliver a cavalry charge on demand, it feels a bit redundant. Meanwhile, it does lack for "protect the squishy caster who finds themselves in melee combat" options.

And with the Coin, it's very likely that One will be brought down to FC level, which is very important.
I suspect there are better apparitions for a bodyguard, personally. A big ol' horse with a rider doesn't scream 'bodyguard' to me (unless they're guarding someone on horseback), at least.
 
Well, you can control whether you do or don't attack someone, and in some circumstances you can influence whether or not you are attacked. But no, you don't get to give a final yes/no on whether a certain attack 'counts' or not after the spell has already been set up.
Ah, ok, so we have to activate it beforehand, and it won't just pop out when we're attacked.
 
Unless the rider inherits our momentum, no it won't.
And even if it does, it still removes lot of the psychological effect of a charge.
Not to mention that we are not in a habit of charging enemies horseback, even if we would be very good at it.
Or fighting on horsback for that matter.

I mean, if you make one ranged attack, the Apparition(s) appears next to you. Then you charge and they come with you. Or teleport over to the enemy, leaving the Riders to charge after you. You have to be in the thick of it make them charge, but that's hardly impossible, or even especially difficult.
 
[X] [BEHAVIOUR] Duel
[X] [NUMBER] One

Having thought over the options the only two that really make it to final consideration are Duel and Bodyguard.

Duel is amazing since it lets us target leadership and other important targets. Sending out a our rider to smash through all obstacles and destroy our enemy is great. Additionally since we target one specific guy it should be quite usable as an aid in defense or as a supplement to help someone else (as long they're not between the caster and the enemy of course).

Bodyguard is somewhat good as well. However, the fact that it stays with the caster rather than being able to use it to charge off across the battlefield really hurts its desirability.

I also feel obligated to mention Charge as well. Charge ultimately feels like a compromised version of duel. The ability to specifically target someone with this spell is amazing and is what wins Duel for me over Charge. There's plenty of ways to hit a group from across a battlefield, being able target one individual is more impressive and rare. Especially if we get this spell to be sub-battle magic and chain cast it to throw a whole bunch at someone. Sending a few knights at an enemy group is good. Sending a few knights at specific targets is great.



As far as number goes the sheer potential of this spell as sub-battle magic makes it worth the gamble (Gambler Coin!). Imagine being able to throw as many of these things as we can catch.

Also the fact that we get the spell possibly completed immediately with no extra actions make this even more desirable.

Edit: I went back and forth over if I should add in a vote for Charge even though I prefer Duel. Ultimately the idea of renewable knight missiles wins me over. The Charge version lacks the same level of targeting but imagining a bunch of goblins finally managing to fight off one of these knights only for another to just respawn and keep coming makes this just too fun of an idea.

[x] [BEHAVIOUR] Charge
 
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[X] [BEHAVIOUR] Charge
[X] [NUMBER] Trio

Honestly in this case I'm of the opinion we should probably make both a Trio Rider charge spell AND a separate single rider bodyguard spell.

Afterall:
[ ] [NUMBER] One
1 Knights, 0 additional actions, possibly sub-Battle Magic.

Making a spell with only 1 rider only takes a single AP to bind the rider and make the bodyguard spell.
 
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Not sure anybody has mentioned, but this seems like a great addition to the Grey arsenal for SP duels. A damage-resistant beatstick that has more granularity in killing a target than, say, Pit of Shades.

[x] [BEHAVIOUR] Duel
[x] [BEHAVIOUR] Bodyguard
[x] [NUMBER] One
 
[X] [BEHAVIOUR] Charge
[X] [BEHAVIOUR] Duel
[X] [NUMBER] One

Grey battle wizards can teleport, unlike Mathilde they shouldn't be engaging on melee. But I do agree that they have better options for big magics so sticking to one seems to cover a niche they dont have.

On Mathilde case bodyguard may see more use, but she should be trying to assassinate targets and cause mayhem by jumping around, sending it to duel and charge would be more useful.
On her career the situation where she need one was before learning how to teleport and facing a magic dispelling Khornate warrior (which would dispel the bodyguard).
 
Boney do the gold wizard notes that Mathilde has access to say anything at all about a wild Dark Hound and a Gehenna's Golden Hound differing in strength or capability in some way?
 
Not sure anybody has mentioned, but this seems like a great addition to the Grey arsenal for SP duels. A damage-resistant beatstick that has more granularity in killing a target than, say, Pit of Shades.

[x] [BEHAVIOUR] Duel
[x] [BEHAVIOUR] Bodyguard
[x] [NUMBER] One
It might not kill the target, but it is going to try or be destroyed while trying.
 
@Boney for the bodyguard option, it's stated that it fights with us until the fight is over or it is slain, and that it's appears if we are attacked or we attack. Does that mean only melee attack or ranged too (also what about magical attacks) and how would it react to us being shot at?
Also also has it any time limit? Or is it "fights until Mathilde thinks it's over?"
 
Making a spell with only 1 rider only takes a single AP to bind the rider and make the bodyguard spell.
Making the spell with only 1 rider will (probably) take us a single AP because we rolled well. There's no guarantee that we'll roll 69 and 89 for our two binding rolls next time we bind a Rider. That's true if we want to bind more Riders in the future, and it's also true if we want to try and bind more Riders right now for a trio or a lance or what have you.
 
Does our new swording style even have a 'now you are fighting on horseback' part to it? Or would our swording style bonus stop applying once Mathilde decides she wants to take part in a cavalry charge?
 
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