Caelarch has said before the Aura is +4, but Ovarwa has said his familiar increases it to I don't remember how much...
No word on lab texts yet.
Might I make a suggestion on Lab Texts?
Presume that spells in published books are amongst those available. Not every single spell, just the ones that we happen to want to study. Anything else has to be invented.
After CharGen, the spells we all took can form the core of our lab text library. Or they can all be rearranged (fire, trade, etceteras).
Also, in my backstory I killed my former parens and took all of his stuff. The lab equipment I can use I will be utilised. The excess goes into storage. I figure he must have had some items. These can be donated to the covenant and/or given over to pay old debts my master had. Finally, his lab texts either instantly combusted upon his death, and/or they have been circulated into the library.
Thoughts?
Hi,
Within the zone of ohmigod, the Aura is at least 5. With a starting Aura of 4, a maximum of 9 is possible, depending on the source of our Aura, and a minimum of 5, depending on the sources of that Aura 4. Naturally, I'm hoping for at least 7. Mmm, Warping. Nothing says "I'm home" better than clouds of bees, gnats and spiders, except for clouds of magically warped bees, gnats and spiders.
Cue the three-eyed fish from The Simpsons, only a frog....
Anyway,
Ken
I like this idea a lot. It will make my life a lot easier and its not like the covenant can't procure most any "standard" lab text. So feel free to learn any standard spell from the books. Your Aegis is Level 45, so no learning higher level Aegises.
Caelarch, if we are to play Tribunals, Tourneys and other timeline events in our characters' advancement, we need to know exactly how old they would be in 1220.
Are we going to do the die thing or can we just choose an age between 40-60 after gauntlet?
i'll post your stress die results in your individual character threads.
Hi,
I didn't see this until now. Thank you! I like it when my weird stuff is appreciated and accepted.
Of course, the wizard has to be ready for the attack. If he is not, he will never be able to concentrate sufficiently to cast that spell while being stung by 2 million buzzing bees especially when he opens his mouth and they sting his tongue, or even concentrate well enough to activate an enchanted item. Being stung to death is distracting! Hell, even if they cannot attack him, he'll have a hard time concentrating with all those bees buzzing angrily around him, crawling on his eyeballs and failing to attack him...
Anyway,
Ken
Isn't a ward some space away from a person? Thus the bees would be angrily buzzing a pace or two away 
No. The base effect simply says that the animal does not attack the target. The bees can still crawl on his eyeballs, into his ears and down his throat.
Wards usually are Circles, which is what makes the space.
Indeed, technically the guideline he used isn't a Ward, and the guideline is always a Circle....
Anyway,
Ken
Wards don't have to be circles. See ArM p. 114. The spell i posted is a kind of "ward" because its range is to the thing protected, not the thing affected. However, I think Ken is right that it only stops animals from biting/stinging/"attacking". A true Hermetic animal ward (using the guidelines in HoH: S) that prevents the beasts from touching the maga would be something like:
Untouched by Lesser Beasts
ReAn 15
R: Personal Dur: Sun Tar: Ind
(Base 5 +2 Sun)
The caster is completely warded against mundane animals, which cannot touch his person or close personal effects.
Hi,
Wards do have to be circles:
HoH:S 114, first paragraph: "....and Target Circle, since Warding always uses those same parameters."
Edit:
However, the spell is much easier to cast, only level 5 for the Ward. It's easy enough to miss.
There is a Mystery that allows personal Wards by crafting an amulet.
Anyway,
Ken
I think this is a problem of interpretation that arises from discussing Hermetic "warding" and Columbae "Warding" without being very clear which are being referred to. Columbae "Warding" always uses circle/ring. See HoH:S p.112. Hermetic spells that "ward" are not so limited. See ArM5 p. 114. The ward guidelines that you quoted say that the guidelines are given at circle/ring because "Warding always uses those parameters." The use of the capital W is important because it tells us that we are talking specifically about "Warding" (i.e. the hedge tradition of the Columbae). If all wards, Columbae Warding and Hermetic warding required the use of circle/ring there would be no need to provide the text that those were the guideline range/duration. It would be understood that all wards are of those parameters.
Finally, HoH:S specifically says that Hermetic magic can create wards of Target other than circle in the shaded box on page 113:
Ahhh. Thanks!
(Better to find out now than later.)
Hi,
Btw, if you're here, I'd definitely appreciate a reply about the magic theory book.
You probably haven't read that thread yet, so to recapitulate, Deborah wants access to a better MT summa than the MT4 primer. You said something about book trading? How she can do this? (MT4, btw, is a pretty poor MT book! )
Anyway,
Ken
Yeah, crawling on my eyeballs or in my nose definately counts as an attack or aggresive action. The subject being warded against cannot touch the thing being protected by the ward. Wards don't have to be circles, they are just often better that way.
If I have a personal ward against animals, they cannot bite me, claw me, touch me, crawl on me, invade my bodilly orifices, or any of that. The can surround me and obscure my vision, or make many so much noize as to make it difficult to hear. I don't think the could force a Concentration oll, though their presence could make one more difficult.
Theoretically, the animals would be pushed out of my way as I passed trough their blockade, which is why I think Individual range wards, which are mobile, should have a resistance bonus rating. I point to the example of ReIg25 Ward against Heat and Flames, which gives a bonus of +15 to soak (and notes that it keeps flame from ever actually touching you unless the damage inflicted exceeds this score)
Hi,
You really think that being surrounded by swarms of bugs millimeters away from your face shouldn't force a concentration roll? What about someone showing up in your face and screaming "boo!"
Well, if you walk into a grizzly bear, your ward is probably not going to push it away, sort of the way a ward against rock isn't going to make the castle give way! You were probably talking about bees and gnats though. 
Anyway,
Ken
That's an example of what I am talking about. Let's use Rego Ignem as an analogy...
Base 4 gives a +5 soak, and prevents fire of less than size +5 from even toughing you.
Base 4 + two magnitudes grants +15 soak & etceteras.
If this same scale were to be applied to the Art of Animal...
Base 4 grants +5 Soak versus animal attacks, and that the animal has to roll a SD + Str to touch you or resist your movement. Enough for insects and small animals, not for bears. A stronger personal ward, one that grants +15 soak, should indeed push bears out of the way.
Hi,
Yes, but that's Ignem, which is intangible. Walking through an intense but still weightless fire is completely different from walking through a 700 pound grizzly bear!
This isn't about the damage, but about moving a 700 pound animal.
Anyway,
Ken
Hi,
Moving a grizzly bear--just moving him as a touch spell--is base 5 +1 Touch, +X duration, +1 size, or lvl 15 + duration. Call it 15 for Mom, to deflect a bear you touch.
The ward against damage being able to deflect a grizzly for less than this and do the warding too doesn't make sense to me. I might be missing something about the system, but applying the Ignem effect to Animal in the manner you suggest is weird.
Anyway,
Ken
Welcome to Ward Weirdness
So there I was in the shower, and something suddenly occurred to me about Wards.
The typical Circle ward works pretty much as expected, though might need a size increase to protect against really big things of its kind. A ward that protects against dogs might lack the oomph to protect against elephants, as is typical of all Hermetic Magics. Size matters.
But if I want to create a similar ward to affect my person, at Personal or Individual Range, I also need a Corpus requisite, because the Target is me, which is Corpus (unless I'm Deborah). This isn't necessary for the Circle version, because it is the area that is targeted by the Ward.
Anyway,
Ken