Craft Magic for Book Binding

Games Discussion Ars Magica
1

We consider Binding the Mundane Codex ReAn5 [Cov:97] with the optional book quality rules, and IMHO it looks completely off.

  • Rego Craft magic otherwise always requires a finesse roll, but this spell only does in special cases.
  • Other canon Rego Craft spells use finesse+per, while this one uses int in those special cases.
  • The spell explicitly grants a bonus which otherwise requires exceptional skill, without a comparable finesse requirement.

Is this a feature or a (set of) bug(s)?

2

[Side Note: It was used again in TME [p.103]. All three versions of the spell (which includes Binding the Hermetic Codex) have errata.]

A key point of the "Sound Bonuses" in the Extended Rules for book quality is a lower base bonus [+3 vs +6] which is offset by them. Under the standard rules, all bindings are considered to be of sufficient quality that they give the bonus which is split off in the Extended Rules.

Since the spells are to be used both with and without the Extended Rules, they were written to give roughly the same result between them. Which means they need to provide the +1 bonus.

So it is a feature to maintain roughly equal power between people using RAW and people using the Extended Rules.

3

Thanks for the reference. This description corrects one of the problems though, as there is a finesse requirement in all cases, which brings it more in line with standard Rego Craft magic. The inconsistency must certainly be a bug. (The errata I find only concern the level calculation.)

It is still not clear why it takes finesse+int, when other canon rego craft spells use perception.

In what way do you have equal power? With core rules, the spell replaces a mediocre craftsman. With extended rules, the spell is more powerful, as it replaces an expert craftsman.