With a bunch of friends we're starting a campaign of AM, I'm the GM but I only played a long time ago and with the 3rd edition, so i'm surrounded by questions especially regarding spells.
Here is one. A player wants to have a spell which will call the surrounding animals. Like butterfly with a light, they would gather around him and only do that for the duration of the spell. Then he would be able to speak with them and command to them with some other spells.
Obviously this would be a ReAn. First question base level 2 ? (plant a single suggestion into the mind "Come to me") or 15 as completely command the animal
Then I would say a duration of Con (so +1)
Then the Range Sight (+3) (or voice for a minor version of the spell)
My second issue is with target. Do not think that Group is correct (or this maybe would only call a group of the first type of animal the spell would hit ? ) and boundary neither. So I don't know what to use
And finally the size, but let say that we'll only "call" small animals, dogs, cats, rats etc
Base 2 might be enough. But the call would be something along the lines of "there's food here, come and get it." What happens when the animal doesn't find the food? If the idea is just to get the animal to come to the caster, Base 2 is enough. If you want to ensure the animal comes, and you can do something with it afterwards, then Base 15.
Hermetic Magic can only affect what it can sense, so if you see a wolf, you might be able to, for example, cast a Group size and get any of the nearby pack that can't be seen. I think you have to go with a single animal, and the character needs to choose. If the power is important, I suggest Summon Animals Supernatural Ability/Virtue (Major). It's in Houses of Hermes:Societates, but it does more of what the player seems to want.
I think base 2 makes a fine foundation for the proposed spell for an animal summoning spell.
The problem is, the spell itself is arguably non-hermetic since it involves summoning something without an AC. You used the Sight range which should work fine for animals you can see. Don't let this worry you too much as there are plenty of ways to fudge this and also no requirement to use the standard Hermetic parameters so long as whatever you choose isn't clearly more powerful than the standard parameters of corresponding value.
Group target is probably what you'd have to use since you want to affect multiple targets, but it is problematic in that it only works if the animals form orderly groups, otherwise they're affected as Individuals. As with range, there are ways to fool around with this so long as you keep power level comparable to vanilla Hermetic magic.
I'm not quite sure what your question is regarding Size, but an 'Indiviudal Animal' is +1 so paired with a Group target, that would let you affect: 50 dogs (Size -1), 300 cats (Size -3), 5'000 rats (Size -7), or 3'000'000 locusts (Size -15).
"What happens when the animal doesn't find the food?" I though about it but have no answer. I mean they can't be repelled with the same spell as this would be 2 different effects. So maybe a ward casted before to ensure that the animals would be calm (some kind of ReAn Target Circle Duration diameter or sun). And the character has "Inoffensive To animals" and animal ken so let's say he would handle the animals
Regarding the size it's just that I though that trying to attract massive beasts (bear for example) would require a bigger size effect.
In order to bypass the sense thing, with the Group target, would it be possible to use some kind of focus ? For example if the character crafts a cat miniature imbued with An Vis, can this act as a kind of "arcane connection" ? So this would attract a group of cats nearby event if he is not seeing any cats when casting the spell ?
I'd not allow a ReAn spell to target an unseen animal without an AC to that animal, barring Bjornaer or other mystery virtue, or special case. If I'm inside a Boundary, for example, and can see where I am, maybe that's ok with target Boundary? I'd probably allow that.
Calling the animal with food? That's probably CrIm, to create the scent of food, or CrAn or CrHe to create the food. And then the animal will act according to its nature.
Without special virtues, Hermetic Magic cannot target the unseen target without an AC.
Great that you are starting a saga. That is always good news About the spell, he wants to summon all the animals or just a type? I am asking because in Houses of Hermes: Societates there is a Virtue in the ExMiscellanea section called Summon Animals or something like that, that more or less does what you want to do here.
The Bjornaer also have Sensory Magic, that allows you to target unseen targets.
Finally, you could target the forest and not the animals themselves. This way you might be able to pass over the "unsensed target" part of Hemetic Magic, but the spell will be sensibly more difficult to cast.
Well, technically, I think you could attract up to five bears with a simple Group...
Well my first thought would've been something like 'Improved Voice' range or indeed "Sensory Magic" which are probably the easiest, but require specialized virtues (albeit those you can learn in play). Alternately, something like Defixio Magic or Adamic could certainly do the job. What I was suggesting, however, is that the player might create his own Range/Duration/Target that fits what he wants to do. I'll admit I can't think of anything myself just now that isn't grossly overpowered, but it's probably possible...
A forest might be a (very big) Boundary, which would work, but would need extra magnitudes for size.
I think a Bjornaer with Sensory Magic would be best. Then a spell "The call of the wild" summons appropriate animals who can hear your ROAR. (smell of the wild?)
The Supernatural Ability is Command Animals. It's in Houses of Hermes: Societas as an Ex Misc tradition based on the mention of "Hibernian Beast Mages" in the Sanctuary of Ice book. One of the PCs in my current saga has it. It's a great power because it easily does something Hermetic magic is otherwise not very good at. Coupled with Animal Ken, it gives the character the ability to call nearby animals AT WILL and send them on errands.
Summon Animals, not Command; that in fact is not covered with the ability, you depend on others abilities or powers, the summoned animals would do the most natural thing, not violent against the summoner but not compelled to follow orders or nothing. The combo, if you ask me should be Animal Ken and Entrancement or maybe Siren Song.
In fact i was thinking about one "Disney" Princess like a sort of Hedge wizard or maybe one Gifted Companion, i don't know if PC or NPC, she should sing to get the animals with her and follow some orders.
If you want to go a bit crazier, in Hedge Magic, Revised Ed., the Elementalist can summon animals of a type. If you have Fire Summoning, you can summon all animals associated with the sanguine trait. Meaning all predators and ( oddly) horses. Being that it is a Hedge Magic tradition, you do not have to sense them like the Hermatic.
I made a Ex Misc with this power rather than the Summon Animals from HoH:S. With a high Animal Ken, you can do well and it is more than a single species.
I refer to a different one, the outer Merinita Nature Mystery. That's an awesome supernatural ability, except no one is completely sure how it works, so it might do nothing.
Ok, thanks for your answers. I'll see with the player the ex misc supernatural ability as she choose this house. The Bjonaer mysteries are impossible she hates this house (reminds her some Vampire clan and she hates Vampire )
Another thing you can do, with permission, is create an Ex Misc tradition that also has the Bjornaer virtue in question, reskinning it, as it were.
For example...
Major "free" Non-Hermetic Virtue: Shapeshifter
Minor free Virtue: Sensory Magic, but instead of being based on heartbeast, it is based on your current animal shape. (more possibilities, but not usable in human form; more than fair exchange)
Major "free" Hermetic Flaw: Pick one, deficiency in Muto might make sense, or whatever feels right
Some virtues require set flaws to be workable (glamour, I see you), but others really don't need them.
I prefer not to break the fundamentals, but I find it useful to treat virtues and flaws as a toolkit.
You could use a special target. this would get you around mystery initiation at the cost of a significantly higher level spell.
You could develop a spell to detect animals near you (intellego spells get some wiggle room with the law of Arcane connections). Then use a special target rego animal spell to summon the "group" of animals that you find.
A Scent-targeted InAn spell seems like a naturally thematic fit; it'd help you figure out what's around you, which should allow you to target a ReAn effect upon the smelly, smelly beasts surrounding you.
Alternatively, there's MuCo on one's self to physically enhance the sense of smell. Giving yourself a hound's sense of smell should let you pick up on at least a good majority of animals surrounding your location.
I suppose both approaches are vulnerable to prevailing winds and the like, but I'm not sure how crippling that is since it doesn't appear vital that he bring in every last squirrel and tufted titmouse.
If the idea is just to get the animal to come to the caster, Base 2 is enough. If you want to ensure the animal comes, and you can do something with it afterwards, then Base 15.