Arcane connection question

I'm trying to understand spell benchmarks that require an AC. In some cases spells based on the benchmarks have R: AC, but in other cases they don't. Two examples:

InCo 3: Locate a person to whom you have an AC
The Inexorable Search (level 20, R: AC, D: Conc, T: Ind)

ReCo 35: Transport the target instantly to a place to which you have an AC
Leap of Homecoming (level 35, R: Per, D: Mom, T: Ind)

My best guess is that LoH doesn't require the AC because the target of the spell is close at hand (Personal, in this case). Is that right? Either way, why does the InCo benchmark (and others like it) mention the AC at all? Including it suggests the use of the AC is already accounted for in the base level, like the size enhancement in 'ensuring a plant grows well' benchmark for CrHe level 1.

This is somethign I've been struggling to understand.

The answer is: depends on what book you're using. Different books give different systems, and its never been clarified, that I can see.

So far as I can tell, there are two ways that ACs are used.

One is a spell where the base level includes a sliding magnitude scale for distance, for example teleportation spells for humans. ReCo15 transports 5 paces, ReCo20 a little more .... ReCo35 to a point to which you have an Arcane Connection.

The other is for a generic effect that does not change dependant on distance. This includes spells like Pilium of Fire. Pilium of Fire uses the guideline for creating fire, which says intensity is equal to (level + 5). This means you can adjust the range to any form of spell. R: Voice is + 3 magnitudes; R: Sight is + 3 magnitudes R: Arcane is +4 magnitudes.

The same applies for Inexorable search.

Does this make any sense whatsoever? No. Not at all. Its wildly inconsistant. Which is why some teleportation spells (Wizard's Leap; Leap of Homecoming; Seven League Stride) use a sliding scale of increasing base-levels to adjust for distance and others (The Unfaithful Favour, ReAn20, HoH: TL) teleports a hankerchief to an Arcane destination, where it strangles someone to death.

All other spells seem to use Base level + Arcane. There is no rhyme or reason to it.

One way to think of it is this, though.

Every effect has a sliding scale of potency, regarding its primary purpose. Creating fire becomes more intense the hotter it is. Wind is harder to create the harder it blows. Emotions are harder to manipulate at their extremes. Since these are the primary purpose of these effects, secondary attributes carry a fixed difficulty.

Teleportation is harder as distance grows.

However, as there is no official explanation, this is strictly IMAO.

The Target of TIS is being affected (located) through the Arcane Connection, and therefore, requires R: AC.

The Target of LoH is not being affected through the Arcane Connection, but rather by the caster himself (R: Per).

The AC Range is not accounted for in the base level of TIS, which is 3, but the AC is mentioned in the guidelines because locating a person to whom you do not have an AC is either impossible or irrelevant as you'd need to sense your target.

There are a number of really dodgy spells in HoH: TL and The Unfaithful Favour is one of them. Using the Base 1 guideline for manipulating something from an animal product to teleport that item would not pass muster with me. Also, the target of your spell is the hankerchief, which is actually at touch range, not arcane range. In general that book needed more editing and less "kewl effects for these kewl splats". Ignore The Unfaithful Favour and the system makes more sense. Leap of Homecoming is a good model.

Amidst a lot of confusion in the rest of the thread, Yan's post nails it.

As an example, a mage could develop a modified Leap of Homecoming at R:Arc. The level would be 4 magnitudes higher, and it would allow the caster to pick any target he has an AC to (this is the AC range) and send that target to any place the caster has an AC to (this is the base guideline). So the caster could, from Durenmar, pick a target in Sicily and teleport him to Britain -- this would involve two Arcane connections, one to reach the target, and one to get him to the destination.

As a passing note, several of the spells in HoH:TL are plainly against the guidelines, and the handkerchief one is one of the worst offenders. Poor, poor editorial control (at least for the high quality standards Ars Magica 5th edition has spoiled me to).

What Yan and ezzelino said.

An AC in the guidelines is not connected to the AC range. It just means that an AC is needed to cast the spell, regardless of range. The spell still needs to have a Range to affect its target, which MAY also happen to be the "Range: Arcane Connection", but the spell doesn't HAVE to have this range (and as ezzellino notes, the two arcane connections can even be different).

Some spells just require the caster to have the AC item, and may have whatever Range irrespective of that - including the AC range.

Yair

It just occured to me that if you cast a Leap of homecoming without requisites (so you appear without items or clothes at the destination) into your lab, you leave the AC to your lab in the original position: it does not travel with you unless it is a Corpus AC.

Funny, and can have all sorts of consequences :smiling_imp: :mrgreen:

Xavi

Not so Xavi. Basic clothes teleport without requisites i am pretty sure (or was that simply a house rule we had?).

I'd imagine that the arcane connection goes with you too.

Ezzelino, my old necromancer had a tocuh range version of leap of the home coming. combined with an arcane connection to a very small island many miles out to sea in the atlantic, it made an excellent spell for getting rid of people he didn't like (with the possibility of getting them back later if he wished). It saw more use teleporting badly wounded shield grogs home to the infirmary though.

Under 5th, it is a House Rule. But IIRC, it did in 4th, so you probably just carried it over without realizing

As The Fixer said, plus your talisman can go with you without requisites regardless of what its made of, as long as you're touching it. This is because it is not merely on you but actually part of you.

Chris

You would also take along any Corpus you had with you, so if you're wearing a peculiar leather jacket, have a bone through your nose, or are eating a long pig dinner you're in luck.

You worry me. You could have suggested a lock of hair or something, but no... :wink:

Hey, I didn't even think about "leatherface" masks until you mentioned this. :mrgreen: