One obvious item that "borrows" from existing sources.
Yes, I've previously thought that a device like this, or casting tablets for the spell, would have to exist for the game to work as presented. It's very apprentice appropriate.
Cheers
I'd wager that bronze charm is in the shape of a mirror with a tiny little reflective surface so our apprentice can get a shape bonus for it.
Unless you're like me and think the purpose of the shape and material rules is to encourage the creation of devices that make thematic sense, a charm placed upon a door to hide it makes sense, a mirror less so.
The rego imaginem guidelines don't address controling volume.... but they should.
Edit: I see Aurelentus from Magi of Hermes did this with Perdo at base 3. I'm judging that putting a cap on volume is equivelent to moving the sounds 5 paces away (out of the room), is that too low?
We've traditionally done these as wands. But yeah, they really do need to exist.
Pendant of the Smiling Negotiator
This copper pendant of a closed smiling mouth protects the wearer from supernatural effects intended to force the wearer to tell the truth, up to level 20 + stress die (no botch) effects when activated. Copper grants +3 deception bonus to the lab total.Perdo Vim 15 (base (gen taken as level 10), +1 Touch, +1 Diameter)(+5 levels for 24 uses per day)
Note: in the design I used the PeVi base akin to the anti-teleportation effects from cannon which use level +4 mags in their design, selected a level 10 effect base, and then subtracted two mags for Touch & Diameter. Kind of the same as selecting level 0. I am not certain this calc is legitimate. My intent is to protect against FBotSL.
This one has been done many times but I really like it as a covenant improvement device, and very low level.
Gaze of the Perceptive Watchman
This helmet is enchanted to grants the wearer the sharp nightvision of a cat, able to see in all but total darkness. Activated by putting on the helm.
The Helm grants a +6 lab bonus, although this will be limited back down to the apprentice’s Magic Theory score.Gaze of the Perceptive Watchman – As per Eyes of the Cat (Ars p.131) (MuCo/An 10), (Base 2, +1 Touch, +2 Sun), with +5 for 24 uses per day.
An Embarrassing Splash of Colour
A small hazel wood box with a hidden heart of mercury allows the user to change the colour of all the target's skin, clothes, and possessions to a garish hue of pink. The item serving as an arcane connection is placed within the box when activated.Designed by an unapologetic master to use upon his apprentice when summoned or as punishment. Better still is the fact that the apprentice made the item.
Mercury core grants a Muto +3 bonus to lab totals.
Muto Imaginem 15 (base 1, +4 Arc, +1 Dia) (+5 levels for 24 uses per day)
Pendant of the Smiling Negotiator
This copper pendant of a closed smiling mouth protects the wearer from supernatural effects intended to force the wearer to tell the truth, up to level 20 + stress die (no botch) effects when activated. Copper grants +3 deception bonus to the lab total.
Perdo Vim 15 (base (gen taken as level 10), +1 Touch, +1 Diameter)(+5 levels for 24 uses per day)Note: in the design I used the PeVi base akin to the anti-teleportation effects from cannon which use level +4 mags in their design, selected a level 10 effect base, and then subtracted two mags for Touch & Diameter. Kind of the same as selecting level 0. I am not certain this calc is legitimate. My intent is to protect against FBotSL.
It may be my strong, strong dislike for that anti-teleportation effect, but I do see two "technical" problems with the effect as written, and possibly a third.
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the types of magic the effect dispels against are a bit vague. Does magic that tortures the target into telling the truth, like the infamous "TickleTruth Cantrip", get dispelled? Does magic that makes the target forget he should not be telling the truth? Does magic that reads the mind of the target, like FBotSL? The answer to this last question would in fact seem a clear-cut no: FBotSL does not force the target to tell the truth, it simply detects lies.
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what is the target of the effect? At T:Ind it is obviously an individual spell (and at T:Touch the device user must be able to sense said spell to affect it). The oh-so-hated ward against teleportation works by affecting a Room, which the caster can then perceive even if he does not perceive the contents. A T:Circle effect would sidestep the problem in a similar fashion. But not a T:Ind spell.
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FBotSL is not meant to be used surreptitiously: the target sees the large clouds of mist billowing from his mouth just like the caster. So, in general, the target knows he is undergoing a "truth test", and if a magus protected by the Code must be willing to submit to it. Then, it is relatively straightforward to first check for the absence of active protective magics on him, with his permission.
Note that the first two issues are about whether the effect is "legal", while the third is about whether it's "useful".
There is enough pts to say this item has problems. Scrap it for this list then.
On Pt1 I agree. The wording should be more like “supernatural effects which probe the mind of the warded person to determine truth or falsehood”
On Pt2 Thank you for pointing that out, that lack of target and also trying to use R:Touch on a spell. However I was thinking that this is more like a personal ward which has a RaW example to draw from: Ward Against Heat and Flame (ReIg25), p143. Is a R:Touch/T:Ind ward.
I can’t rationalise why the spell is Pe instead of Re though - so a Technique change would be needed anyway?
On Pt3 - this is a device for an apprentice or covenant use so the “asking permission” isn’t really a show stopper. This device would be used in the wild. Fair point though.
Winterheart
ReAq 15, Unlimited uses
R:Touch, D:Inst, T:Part
This smooth, gnarled staff is awakened by the command "cheimochtypos" ("winterbeat"); the same command sends it back to sleep. When the staff is awake, the large aquamarine set in it pulses like a living heart, once every round or so. On each pulse, if the staff touches a body of water, it makes out of water a block of ice roughly 2 paces deep, 7 paces wide, and 20 paces long (the same proportions as the aquamarine heart); the ice block begins where the staff touches the water and its orientation follows that of the heart. The ice block will obviously be smaller if there is insufficient water; and the result may be somewhat less predictable in the presence of currents and whirlpools, since each is a separate Individual and Winterheart can only turn to ice the one it is touching.Creatures and objects caught in the frozen area get trapped in the ice. The ice is mundane, and above freezing temperature it melts over time; though in most situations a large block of ice will take days to do so. If kept in large quantities in an underground cellar, it may easily last for months or even a whole year; in fact selling ice could reasonably provide a source of income (there are mundanes who already do so in some parts of Europe, like the kingdom of Sicily). Even if obtained from salt water, ice melts into sweet water - so Winterheart can be used as a source of drinkable water at sea. Ice naturally floats and supports weight: a square a pace to the side, two paces deep, can support a large man. As the freezing process is very fast but not instantaneous (approximately a human heartbeat), and the frozen water is still part of the original body of water, someone walking on the ice while dragging Winterheart along can effectively "extend" the ice into a solid bridge potentially miles long.
Base 3 [turn water into ice], +1 Touch, +1 Part, +10 unlimited uses
The aquamarine "heart" provides a +3 S&M bonus to the Aquam enchantment
Bacchus' Blessing
MuAq15, 1use/day
R:Touch, D:Moon, T:Ind
This well-crafted barrel can hold about 80 gallons (300 liters). The first time in any given day a certain prayer to Bacchus (engraved on the barrel) is recited, the barrel changes all the water within it into a nearly miraculous wine. The blessed wine tastes wonderful, warming in winter and refreshing in summer; it makes the drinker cheerful, brave, relaxed and inspired (and sexually potent!), but brings no loss of mental faculties; and it leaves no hangover whatsoever. Because it is still essentially mundane water, it is "nourishing" and a man can live happily drinking nothing else.The barrel can produce enough blessed wine to keep all the grogs (and guests) of a typical PC covenant happily hooked on it, drinking nothing else. Alternatively, it can be exported to nearby communities, yielding a Lesser source of income - or possibly even Typical one if wealthy buyers are available. While it "spoils" in a fortnight or two, so does most ale of the period; and the blessed wine "spoils" into plain but still drinkable water rather than into something foul.
Base 3 [turn a natural liquid into a slightly unnatural liquid: "ideal" wine] +1 Touch +3 Moon
A barrel, as container, provides a +5 S&M bonus to "create or transform within"
EDIT: note that 80 (US) gallons/300 liters are already a base Individual of processed liquids (e.g. wine) rather than a base individual of water (which would be 100 times as much). I think that restricting the change to the volume of the most "difficult" liquid, while still allowing 1 volume of a liquid to yield the same volume of another, is both within the letter and within the spirit of the rules.
Base 3 [turn a natural liquid into a slightly unnatural liquid: "ideal" wine] +1 Touch +3 Moon
Based on my experience with wine, I would argue that wine which leaves no hangover is more than slightly unnatural.
Nevertheless, my first reaction on seeing this item was "OMG, that's bloody brilliant."
In my game, I'd probably insist on a Size modifier, since the base Individual for wine is 1/100th the size, just to avoid the cheese factor. I think "Object of Increased Size" doesn't affect noble metals for the same reason.
Baton to Command an Attentive Handcart
An oiled oak baton inset with palm is carved with caricatures of dancing carts, chairs, and tables. When activated by lightly tapping the baton to a moderate sized wooden object, the user can control it's gross movement. Designed to assist movement of large loads using wooden platforms, carts, or tables. Palm grants a +3 bonus to animating wood.
Rego Herbam 15 (Base 3, +1 Touch, +1 Conc, +0 Ind) (+5 maintains concentration, +5 for 24 uses a day).
An item to assist in reducing the costs in a covenant, or to add as a quality of life improvement.
Brush Offcuts into Soap
A heavy brush of oak and boar's bristle is enchanted to transform a large block of wood into a block of soap 1/10th its original size once per day. The soap block can then be split and used till its remains revert back to the original form. Variations on this effect might create any manufactured herbam based product such as oils or perfumes.As a wooden item the enchanter is granted a +4 lab total bonus to affect dead wood.
Muto Herbam 15 (MuHe base 3 change a plant product, +1 for a manufactured item, +1 Touch, +2 Sun) (1 use per day)
An idea I was looking at when pondering my Merinita's spell options.
Lantern for the Enchanted Flame (ReIg 13)
R: Touch D: Conc T: Ind
This enchanted lamp was created by a Merinita apprentice, used for moving his masters fire-duration spells from one area of his over-sized and mostly-empty castle to another. The lamp can pull an enchanted flame from a safe distance into itself, feed off of the oil within, and then jump to a new combustible home. Particularly large fires have a risk of hurting a careless lamp-bearer when transferring the ensorcelled spell to the lamp, and the fire will diminish in size during transportation to roughly that of a torch (unless, as the careless apprentice found one day, the fire catches on his robes during the act of moving a fire from one hearth to another). Should the fire diminish, it can be built up again through the usual means.
Base 3, +1 touch, +1 Concentration, +1 size; +3 6 uses/day
And an idea originally tested as a method of better teaching. Theoretically, Sun duration is the same as concentration+item maintains, but I prefer the latter for its ability to be extended or ended.
The Master's Words (CrMe 15)
R: Touch D: Conc T: Ind
A small opal stone set onto a leather band, often wrapped about the wrist of an errant student apprentice. It creates a sense of attentiveness and diligence in the one wearing it, helping the younger apprentices get through more trying and difficult lessons of Artes Liberales and Latin, when they'd rather be out playing hide-and-seek. It theoretically only needs a single use a day, as most classes halt when the sun sets and dinner is prepared. A particularly spiteful Tytalus, hearing of this item, had an item crafted that activated numerous times a day, and lashed his students to the chairs in his teaching oratorium.
Base 4, +1 touch, +1 Concentration; +5 item maintains concentration.