I was wondering, for the spell list of my necromancer specialized in "bones", how to use "Rego Corpus" to kill or damage things.
My idea is to break the neck -Darth Vadery style- or even strip a total squeleton from the rest of the body with a "Rego Corpus -Target : Part" spell. It would be creepy, it would be perfect.
But I lack proper guidelines to judge the damage you could do and the level of the effect. Perdro Corpus does instant wounds and many spell do +something level of damage. Rego Corpus is not presented that way but I want to have fun with "Target : Part".
Any idea ?
Edit : Here is my take
Expression of Profund Dissapointment by a Superior
R : Voice D : M T : P
At the sound of the bored voice of the maga, the neck of the target take a 90° angle in a few seconds. Death is instantaneous.
(Base : 5 +2 Voice +1 Part = 20ReCo)
Violent Comtemplation of Inner Self
R : Voice D : M T : P
At the sound of the angry voice of the maga, the whole skeleton of a human body move in an instant up to 5 pace out of the rest of the body. The death is instantaneous.
(Base : 10 +2 Voice +1 Part = 25ReCo)
Is only Perdro capable of such feat ?
I wanted to have fun with Part target, since few spells use it, and see if another route was possible. You can very well end up with the same effect with another route, this add variety.
This falls under similar Perdo/Rego territory as sharpening a sword. You cannot sharpen a sword with Perdo, even though sharpening actually involves removing bits of metal. Similarly, you cannot directly kill with Rego even though constricting the throat may be a movement.
Rego isn't really motion. It's changes in natural states. You could argue a crushed throat is a natural state for a throat. But that's supposed to be a Perdo-achieved state.
Besides, Rego can already do so much, it doesn't need more love.
Also, spells that can kill are much higher level. Base level 30 (PeCo guidelines).
Technically, yes, ReCo can move part of the body. And your spell is designed correctly, except the killing part... for the sake of game balance, instant death spell are high level.
Mechanistically: low level = high penetration = hard/almost impossible to resist. So if low level spells could kill, Parma would be useless.
So instant kill spell can only be high level to keep the paradigm in place, otherwise the Parma would not have been enough to create the Order.
Except that low level spell = easy to countercast (even if the spell effect is deadly !) since you had only to cast half the level of the spell !
Except a +25 damage fire is much lower level than insta-kill Perdro Corpus, but has quite the same effect.
However I get your point and you are right. But there is so much possibility to kill something easily with magic that using Rego and lower level spell didnt seem so cheezy to me.
I think the real usefulness of Parma is that it cancels the social penalty on the Gift between magus, not because of the MR it gives.
Even with Parma, any old magus can blast a young one with ease (and sometimes a young focused one can too if he find a weak spot). But with Parma, they can talk and exchange and collaborate.
Without Parma, two Gifted are suspicious of each other, even if they cant actually do harm to each other.
MR given by Parma is just the reason why Hermetic Magus are superior to other small tradition and absorb them with ease if they want to, and dont feel threaten by them. It permit the Order to live in magical autarcy if they want, and do politics regarding magic user just by themselves, and represent all magic user in Europe (as if only one country had nukes and was the UN at the same time, if you want).
It is my take on the universe, tho, so IMHO.
Reading again the Perdre/Rego part in AM5 I think you are right in the spirit of the RAW.
I wanted to bypass the "Perdro is the technic to make something a worse version of his ideal" by using Part of something and act on that Part in a manner where the Part is not worse but the whole is worse.
Maybe I could advocate this take on a real tribunal, but I will not be hypocritical that way in front of my SG I dont want to strip the Perdro specialist of all his toys.
Yeah, Target Part to Kill is a bit of a special case. My favorite 'this doesn't work' is ReCo 25 (base 10 to teleport, +1 target part, +2 range voice) Teleport someone's heart 5 paces into your hand.
Or what the spell should be:
PeCo 45
Base 30, +1 rego requisite, +2 voice.
It seems to me that teleport and part should simply just not be allowed as a combination under any circumstance. even teleporting part of an animal, or an animal based product is way over-powered, and there should be a certain recognition that if you are teleporting part of something you are inherently perdo-tearing it from the whole. I mean if you want to move someone's bone and watch the bodypart move with it that is one thing, wave their hand by gripping the bone no problem... but you can't convert the skin to parchment before the sheep is dead...
Anyway, I remember one spell for killing with Rego :
I named it "Fus-Ro-Da"
R : Voice D : Mom T : Ind
At the sound of the voice of the maga, the target is instantly thrown at 50 paces high.
He then take the fall damage according to the rule or, if he is thrown into a wall or another solid object, he take the damage according to the object.
(Base 15 +2 Voice = 25 ReCo)
This allow for high base damage, usually enough to kill someone not heavily protected (SG can rule that armor doesnt protect from fall damage).
(Falling from 50 paces is 125 feet so +62 damages, *2 if hard surface, /2 if soft. And it goes from +15 if thrown to a wooden wall or +21 if it is rock).
or you can use ReTe to throw rocks at them. You even get a choice of using penetration or finesse for variations on the same spell...
or I suppose ReCo to throw people with no parma at people with parma...
Yup, tossing someone way up in the air can be pretty deadly. This is one of the most deadly attacks against those who cannot fly or similar, or without allies who can save them during the several seconds of falling.
I would note, though, that 50 paces is 150 feet in canon, not 125 feet, which means even more damage (+75 instead of +62).
Yeah, we already discuss in another topic the "throw something" following throw rocks guidelines.
I will, I think, use a ReCo to throw bones implements (already prepared or magically created before). Not everyone agreed with the damage it could be, and some pointed the fact that damage would be maximized by the object itself while I was thinking that adding more magnitude could add speed to the projectile and thus damage.
It is worse Tho I think it is way over-the-top. Falling from 40 meter is not always a certain drop to death, depending were you land (I guess the SG could divide even by 10 the damage from falling into a pack of snow for exemple, if you want to test your soviet-paratrooper training)
If you want to guidelines to inflict injury with ReCo, maybe the chirurgy guidelines in A&A in the box on page 60(especially if you don't possess any great skill in Finesse?)? You can't inflict greater than a Medium Wound though.
I dont want to strip the Perdro specialist of all his toys.