Bit of a silly argument came up, and I was wondering about other people's opinions.
It started with me saying I was trying to play my Tremere as a WWI German officer and we segueed into aerial dogfights, and wondered what the magical equivalent would be like.
But we got silly, and asked could the battle be more like a WWI dogfight?
Basically, the two magicians fling Voice range spells with Finesse targetting at each other, and they are restricted as to their firing angles (ie ahead), and are unable to fire behind them. Thus aerial maneouvering comes into play.
A hermetic Magus is probably flying with something like "Winds of Soaring Wind" Cr(Re)Au 30. Flying up to speeds of 40mph, needing Finesse to hover, danger of crashing if you fail Concentration. Probably difficult to face backwards while in flight. One wonders what Voice range is in the middle of these soaring wind (ie are the winds silent, whispery, or a screaming hurricane?)
Then we tried looking at other flying means, and remembered the Folk Witch. The Supernatural ability Flight. Can fly at the speed of a galloping horse on the ground, and can stay airborne for a number of hours equal to the Supernatural ability score. Requires an Ease factor just to take to the air (and a long-term fatigue if using a fetish like a broom stick). Makes athletic rolls for complex maneouvers.
Conceivably a Hermetic Magus could be taught this Supernatural ability.
Thus, in an aerial dogfight between two magi, one using "Wings of Soaring Wind" to fly and the other using Flight and a broomstick, who would you expect to win?
There's many ways to make a sport out of this, for grogs, apprentices or magi. It might fit for the Normandy Tribunal in particular - or for a kind of Quidditch in Mythic Europe.
For competitions, the standard spells or items enabling the competitors to fly and to fire might be provided by umpires, referees or other impartial magi, to assure a fair environment - at least before the Tytali subvert the game.
Anybody who wishes to write up the spells/items, rules and history of the game for Sub Rosa or Peripheral Code?
How would you make a flying broomstick that a Magus could ride into an aerial dogfight? Or a flying staff, hobby horse, or even a chair?
Presumably you would start with ReHe to move the wood through the air. Do we need to add extra levels for complex maneuvers, and if so, how many? How fast is practical?
Would it be the same base level ReAn for enchanting a leather saddle to do the same?
In our troupe, nobody seems to put any study into improving their Concentration scores of their mage.
I think in character creation that the maximum Stm+Concentration is about 6. None of us could safely fly.
Every flying magus should know a ReCo spell similar to "Rise of the Feathery body" that they can Fast Cast to act as parachute.