Confused about Wizard's Communion / Aegis of the Hearth

[John_Prins]

@Jonathan.Link

There are numerous freebies in the base spell guidelines, Wizard's Communion isn't the only recipient, although it may be the spell that gets the most benefit.

Goodness yes, far more than any of the other guidelines.

Ritual spells, IMO are anticlimactic. It was part of my thread of rethinking ritual magic.
While ritual spells have a time requirement of 15 minutes per magnitude, in active play this tends to get lost or ignored, because Ars goes from the season or year (advancement) or to the story, which is much more of an in the moment experience. Aegis is little more than a bookkeeping exercise, and other rituals will often get handwaved.

Very true. In general our troupe masters rituals before casting and won't bother in anything but calm, safe conditions. It's not even the risk of botching, it's the risk of wasting umpteen pawns of vis. The length precludes casting ritual spells in 'emergencies', or at least 'imminent doom' type emergencies. I liked how 4th edition had vis-boosting of spells built in without going through the ritual business.

There's an interesting spell-power gathering system used by the Musupelli in Rival Magic. A ritual exercise where the length of spellcasting was not pre-determined would be more dramatic. For example, where the caster generated Casting Score - Spell Level points (per interval) until the points equaled or doubled the Spell Level, Fatigue Rolls at intervals (people dropping out as they become exhausted), continuing the ritual to gain more Penetration (possibly at the cost of extra vis - heck, spells could be cast for less vis if the magi are skilled and lucky enough)...it wouldn't be too hard to make Rituals more interesting.

At the same time, many sagas move fast enough that you could do one or more Aegis casting per session, at which point it's more of a book-keeping headache than an exciting moment.

[Jonathan.Link]

Wait, Aegis of the Hearth, itself gets the most benefit, with T:Boundaey and D:Yea, 8 magnitudes for free. Opening the Intangible Tunnel gets 5 magnitudes for free.

But let's face it things break when you need to add 8 magnitudes to an Aegis that protects against might 30 creatures. Similarly Intangible Tunnel becomes much more difficult to cast, though I confes that it might be a feature rather than a bug.

[Thanatos]

@Jonathan.Link

There are numerous freebies in the base spell guidelines, Wizard's Communion isn't the only recipient, although it may be the spell that gets the most benefit.

Ritual spells, IMO are anticlimactic. It was part of my thread of rethinking ritual magic.
While ritual spells have a time requirement of 15 minutes per magnitude, in active play this tends to get lost or ignored, because Ars goes from the season or year (advancement) or to the story, which is much more of an in the moment experience. Aegis is little more than a bookkeeping exercise, and other rituals will often get handwaved. And David Chart's comments to the contrary (not errata, mind you) the risks of casting rituals, IMO are way too high: Magnitude+1 + other botch dice considerations. One would be insane to cast a powerful ritual under stressful conditions. The system is poorly designed to handle the importance of rituals, IMO. So, that a spell like Wizard's Communion seems anti-climactic to you, I'd place that on the nature of rituals, and not on the ability to commune or not.

I actually thought that the entire point of Rituals was to be things you didn't have to spend entire seasons on, but that were also too strong to be balanced if they could be fired off rapidly during story-time...

That, and to be occasionally super dramatic, as your armies turn back the forces of darkness for as long as they can to let you cast the ritual that will turn the course of the battle, but that's sort of stuck in a rut, since it wouldn't be very dramatic if it happened often.

[John_Prins]

@Jonathan.Link

Wait, Aegis of the Hearth, itself gets the most benefit, with T:Boundaey and D:Yea, 8 magnitudes for free. Opening the Intangible Tunnel gets 5 magnitudes for free.

My bad, I meant MuVi guidelines.

[Tellus]

@John Prins

Before the errata, it was presumed that Momentary MuVi spells were sufficient to cast rituals; so WC was sufficient for Mercurians.

...if they were casting D: Momentary rituals. Did you ever read that box on p. 159, or the debate on this forum?

Maybe 6th edition will make MuVi guidelines more consistent (fewer exceptions). I think a MuVi spell should have to last the full duration of the spell it's cast upon or the spell will change back - just like any other Muto effect. Ritual spellcasting should have the concept of multiple participants built into it - just like adding Artes Liberales and Philosophae is built into it. Make Wizard's Communion the quick and dirty spell version of ritual group casting, great for Momentary duration spells but really hard for Moon Duration stuff.

Tightening up MuVi happens to be one of my main wishes for 6th edition. And I made a list.

Ritual spellcasting should have the concept of multiple participants built into it

This is one of the main effects of the original Mercurian Magic Virtue from The Tempest.