Aargh, yet another Parma Magica question

SO
So IF
"This seems to illustrate that you just have to be aware of the Arcane Connection, and not holding it in your hand" is true...

I only need to see a Magi's familiar to have an arcane connection to the Magi???

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I disagree. It means that you don't need to be able to sense the spell's ultimate target but still need to be able to target the arcane connection itself.

Two quick house rules - feedback welcome

a) You need to be holding the connection in a way that it would be within your own magic resistance. Or at least partially for large objects.

b) The connection cannot be enclosed by the magic resistance of the thing you are trying to target.

This means that

  • You cannot use an arcane connection to yourself, ever.
  • If a familiar is protected by its magus's Parma, you have to wait for it to lapse at Sun.
  • You do need to clip some hair, get a drop of blood, etc from a magus you have prisoner if you want to penetrate his Parma. You can't just grab his hand.

"be able to target the arcane connection itself"

What does that mean, besides 'you just have to be aware of the Arcane Connection, and not holding it in your hand' ??

Even if they make no sense, even if your SG tells ya how things really are, & even if some house rules will clear it up - I just want to get to what the words written in the book MEAN.

It seems that the rules say you only have to be AWARE of an arcane connection.

I know this is ridiculous since you can be aware of the hand of the mage you are facing, and this rule means you can then use his hand as an arcane connection.

I just wanted to be sure I was not mis-reading something...

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Bemusedly & Confoundedly Yours...

No, the part you are referring to deals with the fact that you can normally only cast spells on things you are aware of, subject to the specification of the actual range you are using. That means that you shouldn't be able to cast a spell to a magus who's far away in his sanctum but if you do have an Arcane Connection, you only need to be aware about the connection and not of the magus himself.
It does not tell you whether the connection itself needs to be at Touch, Voice or Sight range. For that, you need to turn to the definition of the Arcane Connection range, on page 112, which says that you need to have an Arcane Connection, which I take to imply that you must be holding it. The part on that page about "distance [being] immaterial" again refers to the final target of the spell, not the arcane connection itself.

In other words, if you have a lock of the King of France's hair, you can cast a spell on him wherever he is and whether or not you know he's there.

Is seeing the same as having? I think not.

Ahhhhh! HA!

-bow- Thank You!

Page 112 clears it up for me, and I now understand & get it.

:smiley:

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