A Compendium of Spell Botches

I find that at the table, when someone rolls three 0's on a spell botch, I am at times ill-prepared to supply an interesting effect as the spell slips from the caster's control.

The Quaesitor is often sponting InVi spells, and I usually have something happen to his eyes - surely there must be other things I might do.

So, I submit a list (to be expanded) of botches with possible Tech/Form connections.

InVi:

The caster only sees from the point of active spells. If no spell is active, he is effectively blind.\

If anyone has particularly interesting spell botches, please add to the list!

Vrylakos

InVi?
I wouldn't limit it to sight. Any of the senses are up for grabs. A triple botch is a pretty significant event, but it should be tempered by the desired effect level. Also, such an event gives 3 warping points and also forces a Twilight check. I'm disinclined to push the botch result depending on how the Twilight experience is resolved and other environmental circumstances.

I think at the time he was busy sponting a Target: Vision spell, hence the focus on the eyes.

Part of my reason for this thread is to be better prepared in future, rather than "You go blind... AGAIN!" as he always seems to botch spells dealing with his sense of vision.

Vrylakos

Well, just because his target was vision doesn't mean it has to affect his vision on a botch... With In spells, you can legitimately target any of the senses. He starts smelling emotions, or feeling magic (painfully). Go back to the generalities of the Technique and Form and don't conform your botch results to the intended spell effect. They do not have to be related, except in Technique and Form. In face to face games, when a botch ocurrs, if nothing comes to me, I'll solicit the players. I'll sometimes combine their suggested results.

Also I can see an Intellego botch hitting another character in such away that they receive the intended effect. So the grog starts seeing the magic, or whatever.

You might also have an InVi botch awakens the spirit of the place, who then take a special interest to the character. Giving the character an urge to return to this place, and/or sending him dreams (perhaps, as Jonathan pointed out not through a sight/vision medium, hearing a puzzling tune, whispered in a forgotten language for example), for the next month - which might offer you, as SG, as way to reconcile the severity of a multiple botch with the sometimes non-pertinent time that these could occur, when you do not want to disrupt the flow of your story/players investigations too much.

Or have the botch gives him an uncanny insight into the sigil of another magus, while investigating the fading remnants of a spell. You could make this into a one time vision revealing some real clues about this other wizard's abilities (affinities, focus...), except that this apparently beneficial side effect of the botch might very well give this person some legitimate grounds for magical scrying! Potentially leading to political troubles, even for a Quaesitor, given circumstances of course.

Or, if blindness is a theme you'd rather keep for Intellego botches, then the botch could have him seeing the subtle vis flow of his/her own Parma Magica, each time the character cast a spell (again, for the next day/week/month etc, relevant to the severity of the botch) - that way you'd give the player the choice of either risk being utterly distracted by his own Parma Magica when casting spells or choosing to not raise his Parma on days he goes investigating. Risky and uncomfortable either way, but actually letting the PC make this choice would reinforce his circumspection and respect for spont.casting.

So if he uses magic to see, he is scrying!

The quickest way to resolve this is marching the quaesitor.

Seriously:
1.) Be nice: Say: "oh just roll again", I don't want a botch right now - and then give him all kinds of bullshit.
2.) Anything that can happen when people take drugs.
3.) How about some comical swap effect, like for the rest of the session, he has the magical abilities (and looks?) of another character (and vice versa)
4.) The spell is always on (scrying problems) for a day or so.