I have no idea what you're saying when these statements combine. Nowhere in my question did I ask if one could have multiple boundaries, either. T:Boundary guideline says quite plainly it's 100 paces for the standard size in the Targets and Sizes text block. In the target description on the same page, it says it must also be a well defined boundary.. The Targets and Sizes text block on page 113, at the end, states it very clearly that one can increase the size of the boundary by increasing the magnitude of the spell: "every five levels added multiplies the area by ten or the diameter by a little over three." Also in that block of text is the description of the base boundary size.
If we apply this to Aegis of the Hearth, say you have 3 spells of 6th magnitude each. One spell could be standard boundary size of 100 paces and protect at the standard 30th level strength. Another could cover a circular area of about 300 paces in diameter, but with a 25th level effect, and another could cover about 900 paces for a 20th level effect. Of course this presumes that the size of the Aegis can be varied. The text of the spell, as I indicated suggests that the parameters can't be varied.
That would make it at least Target "Extremely large boundary" at +10 Magnitudes IIRC. With standard Boundary at +6(although iĀ“ve never used the "100 paces" definition for this).
So it does. I recant my heresy. Guess I haven't built a T:Boundary spell in a while.
So, sobering up...
I'd have to guess that AotH, as presented, represents another legacy spell description, and the authors took a bad page from my book and overlooked the new Boundary definitions.
I'm going to guess that few Troupes worry about that - either ignoring it completely or assuming that their covenants are less than 100 paces diameter, or close enough not to worry about.
Comparing the text of Aegis from 4th to 5th it didn't change, but the boundary guideline did. I'm generally of the mind that this is an oversight on the part of the Aegis, and that the boundary size can be adjusted. I'd just prefer something more substantial to base my hunch on.
As of "Antagonists", this has been clarified: The Waimee chapter clearly states that it needs to penetrate.
Another interesting (and logical, but I never thought about it) bit that appears in it is that, having a Might Score, Relics are also repelled by the Aegis
This clarification is actually well recieved by me, since now the actual Casting Total matters - so magi don't just find the biggest Aegis they can juuuust pull off (and afford). So the poor SG has the option of having creatures of managable Might stop by and not just repelled by the huge Aegis.
Plus it gives a reason for using Wizard's Communion
In sagas where the Aegis Penetrates, most, if not all, magi I've seen have learned Wizard's Communion at one point or the other, and cooperate in the casting. This, IMO, is very flavorful and what an Aegis casting should look like.
Conversely, in other sagas, one magus does it all while his sodales just sit by.
And yes, the fact that a junior covenant can't set up an Aegis that stops everything short of an elder dragon is, IMO, a good thing, too.
I see this as also giving more strategic choices: You may have the "usual" aegis, whose penetration equals its level, that you use to ward of magical creatures. Yet, when expecting magical attacks, it may be worthwhile to cast instead the Big aegis, who whose penetration will only stop minor pests, but that'll be harder to penetrate by ennemy attacks and that'll impede more any intruding magus. Instead of, say, just the aegis
Cool. Thanks. I don't have my copy yet, so I hadn't seen that. This is actually how I like to play it for several reasons you mention in your next post. I'll have to adjust the first page for that.
Yes. Take a look a few lines down from what you quoted and you'll see a note that includes "things" with Might along with "persons" and "creatures." The only thing this may change is that there may be something explicit. Otherwise it just adds weight to what is already there, and I would include a note about that.
Huh. Interesting clarification. I guess that means there's still room for a Ward specialist to place their "Circular wards against X" on covenant buildings: or at least those with the Circle Magic virtue (from Ex Misc.)
EDIT - in the sense that the covenent could choose to have the "Aura-strong, Ward-weak" style of Aegis, then get a Circle Magic ward specialist to cast normal Wards against Divine/Infernal/Farie/Magic - and since that virtue allows you to target structures, they would basically protect the same thing as the Aegis.
I suppose if your covanent is spread out over several buildings it might not work - in that cast you may need some sort of big ring (such as a stone ring buried just underneath the ground) and then just cast a series of 'normal' Circular wards around the covenent; the circule could probably be the normal demarcation for the aegis, as well.
And the circular wards couldnt' be turned off via tokens - so you might need to develop a MuVi effect for that.
OK, so it won't work for everyone. But I can certainly see a resource-poor covenent hiring a warding specialist to give them a single set of lvl 30 or so wards vs. magic beasties, and then having only a lvl 10 or 15 Aegis inside that (semi-permanent) circle.
I'd like to have your insight on a few cases. That's why I used my necromantic powers to raise this subject from the dead.
Willingness to enter an Aegis :
1.1. An infernal creature has the form of an object (for example a hailstone). What happens if a grog takes the creature inside the aegis (let's suppose the creature Might is far less than the Aegis level and penetration)? My concern here is that the Aegis text says "Creatures with a Might score cannot enter the area protected by the Aegis unless they have a higher Might than the Aegis's level." It's not clear if "enter" means by itself.
1.2. Now the hailstone is not taken inside by a grog. Instead it simply falls from the sky. What happens when it hits the Aegis limit?
"The Aegis is also able to block foreign [...] spells that were cast before they entered the Aegis" sentence :
2.1. A maga has cast a spell on herself (range Personal). She's entering an Aegis she hasn't been invited in. Her Parma is greater than the Aegis penetration. However, her spell penetration is 0, as it was a forceless casting. Is the spell blocked? (And what means blocked? Is it dispelled? Does it cease to function while inside, and function again when she goes out?) Or is the spell protected by her Parma ?
2.2. That same maga is also affected by another magus' spell (range Voice), prior to her entering the Aegis. Is the spell also protected by her Parma?
2.3. A demon uses coagulate to create a body, and then he crosses the Aegis. Let's say his Might is greater than the Aegis level. However, the coagulate Penetration is less than the Aegis level. What happens? Is the coagulate protected by the demon Might (the Aegis cannot penetrate the Might, so it cannot block an effect on the demon)? Is the coagulate blocked? If so, what happens? Does the body simply dissolve?
I'm pretty puzzled by this "The Aegis is also able to block" sentence. That could means it is very easy to cancel long lasting effects. It means it is much more powerful than Wind of Mundane Silence. I'm not sure I'm ready to allow this in my campaigns.
For example, the Aegis would be the easiest way to end a possession, since it's an effect. It could be blocked by entering the Aegis. It could also easily remove a curse, even permanent ones.
Demonic possession is verrry tricky and can sneak under wards and the Aegis in several ways.
Read HoH:TI p.32 Possession:
The demon may choose to extend its power over its host to give it Magic Resistance equal to the Possession Might; if it does so, then the host is excluded from wards against supernatural beings just as if it were the demon itself. The same is true if the host is currently under the effects of one of the demonās Powers. In all other situations, the demon can āhideā within the host, and walk through such wards with impunity.
That is also a tricky business, because the core book ArM5 does not yet cover the interworking of the Aegis with non-Hermetic powers. This is generally done in the books introducing these powers - like HMRE p.7 Hedge Wizards and the Aegis of the Hearth.
Reading ArM5 p.161 Aegis of the Hearth, you see that there is a difference made between "fizzles out" and "blocked". There is a difference: so spells just "blocked" - like those that were cast before they entered the Aegis - don't "fizzle out" and are hence resumed after they leave the Aegis, if they still make sense and have any duration left. But I fear, that there are too many different situations to sort them out abstractly.
