When fixing an arcane connection, can I change it's form?
For example: I have some vomit. Can I create a silver ring and add some of the puke when fixing a connection, or do I really have to carry the vile stuff around with me?
AFAIK, the rules don't say that you can do this.
However, I don't see a problem with allowing magi to do this. If the magus is going to the bother of fixing the connection, then it doesn't seem a problem to let him fix the connection to some other item (destroying the connection between the target and original item).
Are you turning the puke into a ring? Transfering the connection to a ring? Did he puke on the ring?
i would go for 1 and 3, not so sure about 2. Maybe with MuVi.
I'm not sure you can do this, well maybe turn the vomit into a ring (but It want to see the magus face when you dispel the transformation).
IMHO I wouldn't bother allowing to change Its form, just trap some puke inside the ring.
I like keeping the original item. The alternative perhaps cuts down on focusing the time at the table about how to transport the phial full of vomit safely, but it also separates the present story from the story where the connection was gained. As a SG you can prompt your players to gloss over the logistical difficulties if they're not fun, meanwhile keeping an inconvenient connection feels really magical to me, and this felling will be brought in to your story when ever you reference the item.
Also the rules don't seem to imply that you can so allowing it is either more rules (hence more to remember for next time, or more SC wishy washyness that could (I admit, its somewhat unlikely) come back to fuel hurt feelings if you should decide that it's not the wisest choice to bend rules for another player at a later time.
Ok, I start to see the fun in this (vials of blood and puke and where's that hair again?). And here is where it gets really disgusting:
Next question:
Imagine you've got your target's excrements and fix them. That stops the connection from decaying, but does it also stop the excrements from decaying (magical shit!)? And what happens to the connection if the excrements decay non-magically? Is it possible to find magical soil that used to be shit that is still an arcane connection to a magus?
Same thing applies to all Arcane Connections, fixed, or not, regardless of material: if the physical item is destroyed then you no longer have an Arcane Connection.
There is a CrCo 2 guideline (preserve a corpse from decay) that can help in this specific case.
Put excrement Ina vial and it eventually dries out. Is dessicated excrement an AC? Sure, if it was fixed an it wasn't destroyed, just changed a bit. Does it make a difference to the story?
If it turns into maggots, you have an arcne connection that can reproduce itself.
(I'd disallow that)
I don't believe that excrement turns into maggots, more like maggots spontaneous generate from excrement.
Do said maggots retain an Arcane Connection to the individual who created the excrement, though?
I'd say that Muto would preserve the AC, since the hasn't changed. But the maggots are real maggots (assuming that the AC turned into maggots), and the maggots had no contact or relationship with the original target. At least according to what I think the rules are.
But I'd prefer to see the AC not apply, or at least lose one level permanently for each transformation if it's not fixed, the same way I'd prefer a gem encrusted sword that is transformed into a laurel wreath lose its original Form and Material bonuses for the duration. Definitely not RAW, iirc.
At the risk of looking like I endorse the MoH, there's a device called the Vessel of Etain's Children, p. 32, which transforms blood into a polished stone.
It explicitly does not change the value of the AC.
That said, I think I'm with Ovarwa on this one.
EDIT: Corrected spelling.
Such sophisticated discourse on magical metaphysics :mrgreen: