Botch Dice and Friendly Auras?

I've seen this come up a few times in threads here and wondered: How many people add extra botch dice for the aura rating for all auras rather than just foreign ones? And if so, do you find that Twilight becomes much more common for your magi?

We always use 1+Aura as # of Botch dice, whether or not in a foreign Aura.
And we really don't get very serious or dangerous Botch results, nor very often Twillight.

However we rarely have very high Auras these days. One of the old sagas did feature a +7 Magical aura at the covenant, but still not too many Twillights.

I only add botch dice from foreign auras (per core book page 183). Despite the blurb in True Lineages, I guess I've never seriously considered adding more botch dice for magical auras. I'd be interested to hear how it made characters act differently.

Just to quote the RAW for anyone reading who's wondering:

Having always run my games like this, I can't say if it makes Twilight more frequent or not... through I can't imagine it does. In my current saga (7 game years in, 1 RL real in play) I think we've only ever had one Twilight that wasn't deliberately self-induced. None of my players have ever been particularly concerned about it. I've never heard anyone say "gee, I shouldn't cast a spell here in the level 6 regio because I might roll a 0 and then have to roll 7 botch dice."

We just had this issue come up during a game this weekend and the SG determined that you don't add extra botch dice for a friendly aura but one of the players said he didn't agree with that and, in his games, he would house rule it so that you do. It was important because one player botched 4 times within 3 hours.

Just goes to show you how random this can be. I think we might have had 4 botches - total - in the whole of my current saga.

We had one botch last session, but many tests for botching under normal conditions. My experience has been for several tests for botch per session.

In one session i botched 3 times.

But our SG states that the "base" botche dice number is 3 (not 1), so i often go in twilight... perhaps mainly when it's the big battle time... and i'm away for the whole battle :cry:

We go by RAW, therefore only foreign auras add extra botch dice. We deem that extra botch dice ought not to be bestowed without a good reason, and the RAW ruling makes excellent sense, since it fits with the general spirit of the Warping system.

If you are attuned to the Aura, such as a magus in a magic aura, there are no extra botchdice. Even in a regio. However, it has been my experience that players can massochistic, and I have seen them insist on additional botch dice from stressful or chaotic conditions. I let them roll as many as they want :smiling_imp:

Are you sure about that second part of that? It doesn't sound right to me. Here's something I can find quickly:

The previously quoted rule makes it clear than a magic aura alone will not add botch dice to magi's spells. Yet somehow according to the rules (this quote) there must be a way that Magic Realm stuff can add botch dice to magi's spells. I thought that was in a regio. If not, I'm really confused. I'll have to hunt through ArM5 and RoP:M for regio rules.

Chris

I believe that line may be attributed to the fingers moving without the brain being engaged, and then not being spotted in later stages. I suppose it really should be pointed out to David Chart and an erratum requested. If it stands then it would have rather vast ramifications for the Order, as even moderate magical auras suddenly become extremely dangerous places to live.

I've always considered this true lineages quote a result of things just slipping through in the rush to get books out to support the new edition. True lineages was the first or second book out out after the new rule book (Calibais was actually printed first and fallen fane was released earlier).

Not necessarily. Regios already give you more botch dice than non-regio auras. Magical regios giving botch dice (greater than the none of magical auras) would be consistent with the rules quoted here. I would think most magi do their work outside of regios, so the ramifications shouldn't be so vast.

But perhaps it was a mistake.

Chris

Salvete, Sodales!

"However, any power used within a foreign regio attracts twice the normal number of botch dice." (Core Rules, p. 190)

Additional botch dices in magical regiones would probably not be inconsistent with ME as presented - but the rules are clear, and so that passage in HoH:TL is most likely a mistake still not errataed.

Vale,
Alexios ex Miscellanea

Please read the rules in HoH:TL p.34 on Realm-Aligned Spells completely:

Aligning a spell to a Realm has two effects:

If cast in that Realm, the Casting Score is not influenced by the Aura or Regio and

the number of Botch Dice is reduced by the value of the Realm Lore at the time of invention of the spell.

Therefore a realm-aligned ritual(!) spell flavored to the Magic Realm is much safer, even in a low level Aura, e.g. the Aegis.

Regards,
adumbratus

Yes, the rules for realm aligned magic in HoH:TL contradict the core book. The core book says extra dice in a foreign regio, HoH:TL just says regio rather than foreign regio when discussing the possible breakthrough of realm aligned spells.

I ignore the text about magic realm aligned spells and go with the core book. I'm happy with the results and I heartily recommend this take on things to everyone.

I'm not quite sure how you meant this, so I'll deal with both.

  1. If you mean this as an indication that Magical auras/regios could add botch dice to Magical effects, that is why I'd grabbed the quote I grabbed. And, as Erik said, this contradicts the main rule book, so we've decided the error lies in HoH:TL, not ArM5.

  2. If you mean a realm-aligned spell can remove botch dice not caused by the realm, you've missed part of the section. Making a spell realm-aligned removes the realm's effects. The next paragraph explains how those effects are removed. Botch dice added from sources other than the realm are not removed by making a spell realm-aligned.

Chris

Regios aren't aura... so the "friendly aura" thing don't work. Is it?