If a magus were clever enough to find a way to break some or all of the limits of warping, what would be the consequences?
As I see it, there are multiple mechanics that flow from this limit and each might be a separate breakthrough.
-First, receiving warping points from high level magical effects not designed for you
-second, receiving warping points from high level auras (not for magi obviously)
-third, receiving warping points from continuing magical effects
-fourth, receiving warping points from spellcasting botches or lab accidents (which both seem similar enough to lump together, lets call it loosing control of ones magic)
-fifth, receiving warping points from a CrVi spell designed to do just that
The one that really interests me is the third source of warping. Negating this would have several effects. First, it dramatically extends the longevity of magi (and makes corpus mages capable of making really, really good longevity potions obscenely rich) as now, violence aside, old age not final twilight is almost certainly your final doom, second, it allows for much more casual use of magic items that read minds, like the prosthetic limbs in the above mentioned thread. Third, no reason not to have multiple long term spells active on your person at all times.
This would change the balance of the game and make for much more powerful magi. This of course isn't necessarily bad, it just means different stories.
I could see a game set a few hundred years later than period where this limit has just been broken and the ushering in of a new age of magic.
Anyone experimented with doing away with warping in any sense?
Seems to me the Limit of Warping has been broken/dealt with already. Warping from continual magic effects? Warping from Magical Failures? Both stop being an issue (At least a big one) when you have a Familiar, yes? Seems to me you can make a solid argument that your Familiar is acting as a "Warping" sink, "eating" your warping points to deal with the fact it's not in the Magic Realm. What you really need to do is figure out a way to expand that protection. A Longevity Ritual sustained by your Familiar bond? Oh, that would be a Pearl of great price......
In one saga, my magus managed a Breakthrough (Hermetic, so it certainly wasn't easy, mind you) that made his spells and spell-like effects not cause Warping. Sadly, this didn't apply to his Longevity Rituals, but he was in fact able to have numerous level 30+ effects protecting or buffing himself on at all times (in addition to his numerous defensive layers of enchanted cloaks and jewelry).
... He was a liiiittle too Proud, and got Marched for refusing to share the Breakthrough with the Order as a whole. That saga ended three sessions later, with the Order mostly destroyed by civil war as some magi sheltered and supported the Marched magus to support their political movement to keep non-Bonisagus magi from having to share their discoveries. And he ended up sharing his Breakthrough anyway so his side would win. The Order had 67 magi left at the end. It was beautiful. Not sure those are the effects you're looking for, though.
I seem to be missing something. I don't remember reading anything about a Familiar reducing the number of Warping points received from a magical Botch or continual effects. The closest I can think of (and this is a bit of a stretch) is that the Golden Cord reduces the number of Botch dice rolled from a magical mishap, but that still would only reduce it to one regardless of the relative Cord Strength and magical whoopsiness, and it does nothing to mitigate the amount of Warping received itself.
Well, reducing the botch dice to one does make Twilight impossible for that roll, and Twilight itself tends to throw a bunch of Warping points at you... But I wouldn't call that overcoming Warping as much as reducing one of the already-variable (and reduce-able, since Mastery is a thing) sources of Warping. On the other hand, mixing a high-level gold cord with Flawless Magic means that you wouldn't even have to worry about botching in pretty much any situation (very nice if you visit low-level Dominion auras a lot). This still does nothing to prevent high-level effect or constant effect Warping, however.
It would seem to me that having an Unnatural Law or Immunity would be the easiest way to counteract this, though that would obviously have to be covenant wide, and thereby also limited to the covenant...
Yes, thinking of the Familiar's bond cord reducing botch dice. As to high level effect and constant effect Warping; Magic, high level, constant, etc, causes no warping if enchanted through the Familiar bond. You could have a thousand levels of magic on you on all times with no warping.....
Saxonous, I completely forgot about the familiar bond and how it ignores warping. That's an excellent idea about expanding the bond.
I can see a bunch of breakthroughs, each expanding the remit of the familiar bond and chipping away at the dominance of warping points for continual effects. Familiars would become so important to the order that everyone would aim to get one as soon as they can bind them. It would increasingly suck to be a Bjornaer.
Even as the rules are now, being a Bjornear sucks, because the familiar bond is so useful.
I personally see very little reason to (voluntarily) be under the influence any long-term effects not in the familiar bond, aside from Longevity Rituals.
This reduces your Warping gain to just 1/year (from longevity) plus whatever you get from botches - which the Gold Cord already (slightly indirectly) reduces.
But if you really want to break the Limit of Warping, forget those 5 points of yours.
Figure out how to get rid of Warping points already gained, (presumably) regardless of source.
Ah, much depends on one's perspective. You can make a solid argument that Bjornear are the best House, the ones who care the least about Warping. They are, after all, the only canon group of Magi in the Order with an official route to Immortality, Great Beasts.
As to expanding the Familiar bond, the first thing to Research, of course, is using the Familiar bond to maintain the Longevity Ritual. Second, I think, would be to Research a Familiar bond ability to share Warping between Mage and Familiar, much as we saw them able to share wounds in previous editions. Figure out a way to go into Twilight, with your Familiar getting all the Warping points (What does he care, he's a creature of Magic, right?)? The Criamon will sing your praises for a thousand years!
Maybe. It is my understanding that, in canon, no one is sure if you become a Faerie, or make one that replaces you. Heck, they are still arguing about the return of the Founder, under just those terms, right? I don't want to give an impostor all my stuff, I want to be immortal, so I am thinking "the Becoming" is my last option.....
I toyed with finding a way to remove warping as a tar-like substance.. It only let you remove warping from the past year and also removed an xp per warping pt removed