Hi all.
I've got a question about the spell The Ob of Mot, in Ancient Magic (Canaanite Necromancy).
The spell says:
The Ob of Mot
CrMe 25
R: Veil, D: Conc, T: Group
This spell allows those about the caster to speak with a specific person in the world of the dead — to them it appears that the caster is speaking with the voice of the dead person.The caster is effectively acting as a temporary container or vessel for the dead spirit, and botches of this spell might cause the caster to become possessed by a malevolent spirit. The caster must either have an Arcane Connection to, or otherwise be able to sense, the target, and the target must be in the world of the dead; that is, neither alive nor in Heaven. The dead person is compelled neither to speak nor be truthful. The caster is aware of the conversation, but cannot participate without making an Intelligence + Concentration
roll against an Ease Factor of 12.(Base 3, +3 Veil, +1 Conc, +1 Group)
I already know the errata who said "Group is +2, the total is correct".
But as far as i try to understand the spell by the rules, i just can't figure how the rules works with this spell.
Why is this spell a Creo Spell ? What did this spell does as a Creo effect, and why the base is 3 ? Why it's a Target: Group spell ? Did you target those who are around you ? In this case, why a Veil of Death Range ?
I would really like some explanations about this one, especially about the base level.
Thanks for reading (and sorry, i'm really lame when it's come to write in english, but i really hope i've been clear enough).
To me it looks, like the caster of this spell targets the minds of people around him, plus the mind of a "specific person in the world of ´the dead". In all these minds, the caster creates specific words (ArM5 p.148 box), which together form the communication.
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Shouldn't some images involved - e. g. of the caster speaking with the voice of a dead person - require an Imaginem requisite (ArM5 p.114f Requisites)? This might have appeared to the author as too small an effect to require the requisite.
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How does the caster know without an Intellego requisite, what the "specific person in the world of ´the dead" says? This may just be, because "the magus becomes partly of the world of the living and partly of the world of the dead" - so he does know what that dead person says without needing the requisite.
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How can the caster affect both living and dead humans with a spell with R: Veil? Perhaps because an Hermetic spell can only have one Range, and Veil (equivalent to Sight) is certainly the strongest Range needed. Here the author may just have invented an otherwise unmentioned property of R: Veil.
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With what you say, i've come to think about it again, and maybe i've found something.
I think maybe the spell is designed a little like the Exchange of the Two Minds spell in the Core Rulebook. The Range could be either because the caster is targetable with Veil of Death (I'm not sure about that, but it's possible since caster is part of the dead with Hermetic Integration, or it's just because it's his spell) or like you say, it's just the strongest range needed.
As the spell say the caster is acting as a temporary vessel, maybe the spell create a connection, or in some way, a space in the caster mind to let the specific dead able to express himself by using him (like some sort of phone ?)
As it's say, the dead are not compelled to speak or say the truth, not like an Intellego or Rego spell.
I'm concerned about the base level 3, who seems weak for me. Same base for Words of Unbroken Silence. I'm not really sure the magus can know what the dead say just because he's part of the world of the dead.