I wish for your opinions on a different matter, the creation of temporary arcane connections using Creo Vim. In the RoP Infernal there is a spell guideline of creating a temporary arcane connection to a target and I wanted your opinion on the following.
• Does such spells need to penetrate?
• Could it be possible to create variants of the spell with different target?
• If such a thing is possible which categories of targets are reasonable? Faeries and other realm targets are quite obvious but how about hermetic magi?
If the Target place, person or creature has any sort of Magic Resistance (Magic Might, Parma or Aegis of the Hearth, etc.) then of course it does.
As with any Hermetic spell, I don't see any reason why not. Different variants might require requisite forms of course.
As with the previous question, I'd say any person, place or thing you can conceive is a valid Target.
Nevertheless, if it is a magical person, place or thing with any sort of MR, then you would have to penetrate. If you make a connection to a magus of the Order though, beware that you are committing a High Crime and likely to find yourself in a wizard war pretty quick if he/she gets even the slightest inkling that someone is Targetting him with a spell.
I personally am not fond of creo vim creating temporary arcane connections. AC's are a source of flavor and color in the game. Creating temporary ones with a spell seems to me to be a way avoid being interesting and cool. That's not the sort of thing that I like to avoid.
Have to say I do agree with you there Erik. Regardless of what MAY be possible with a spell, my view of Arcane connections is that they are tangible things which must be obtained personally by the magus who desires to utilise them.
For this reason I don't even take a favourable view on the idea of simply purchasing such things from Redcaps (which I think in some cases would put House Mercere in a very tenuous political situation with many covenants and perhaps the Order as a whole).
I'm actually confused on the usefulness of the example spell (pg121 RoP:I)
"this spell creates a temporary AC to a specific demon within the casters voice range allowing him to penetrate MR more easily with additional spells...it cannot be fixed in the lab and does not convey any penetration bonus"
Is it just so you can then summon the demon to you and then try to get more from it?
I see no reason this wouldn't work on other realms, not sure of what use it would be...
Hmmm... not having the RoP books, I must say I too am confused as to this spell's usefulness having now read it. Thanks for posting it btw.
Not only do I find its possible usefulness lacking, but as worded it seems to be a completely contradiction in terms in and of itself. How can the the AC created by this spell in any way assist in "...allowing him to penetrate MR more easily with additional spells" IF "it...does not convey any penetration bonus"? lol. What a waste of time!
One of the biggest problem with demons is the Limit of Arcane Connections - if you can't perceive it in some way, you can't affect it at all. Thus to use Demon's Eternal Oblivion your target must be in physical form, and it can always escape by taking its spiritual form - literally "out of sight, out of range".
This spell allows you to affect a demon you cannot otherwise sense, as long as you use a spell with R:Arc. Although it has a Penetration multiplier of x1 (which is my interpretation of "no penetration bonus", the very fact it exists allows you to employ a spell in the first place, and use any sympathetic connections to the demon which you might have.
Definitely not useless to a demon-hunter!
To go back to the original query, I'm not sure I would allow the creation of Arcane Connections for any creature other than principally spiritual beings like demons, genii, and so forth. Just my personal thoughts. And yes, it would have to penetrate, but as a low level spell the chances are good.
