Ah, so you can have as many bonuses as you like, but only the applicable at that time bonus is limited by your MT. (Presumably at the time you activated the bonus into the item, rather than current MT.)
So an IoQ wand talisman, with the "+3 project bolt or other missile" as the IoQ bonus, as well as the talisman "+3 project bolt or other missile" only gets a +3 when in use? am I misunderstanding you, as I would have thought that to be the point when a limit is applied.
Ah, sentence should have had a comma and an "also", should read :
"Surely that makes the heavily compounded talismans, and also Items of Quality far less effective?"
Not actually that hard, something like 60 years post gauntlet, and spent most of my lab time building items or inventing spells. all that exposure xp adds up fast. Plus, MT is actually only 10ish when I look at the sheet, may have added Int... (ah, Nope. The 15 was the lab bonus I've been needing to write up for another player, been on my mind a tad.)
any idea on the symbolic question?
If nothing else, the big book of verdi symbols is a nice idea for a story seed.
I would not include IoQ in the same conversation, because while it draws from the same table it is a very different beastie.
When making an IoQ, the Verditius magus draws out one bonus so it can be used when using that item for its purpose. The 'project bolt or projectile' bonus for a wand might work as a bonus to the aiming roll (using the wand as a tool for the purposes of projecting a bolt), but [serfs parma] it wouldn't factor into lab totals.
IoQs also can't draw out the quality of a symbol, you need the actual item iteslf. A picture of a sword on an inkpot won't allow you to make an inkpot of +4 damage vs. humans as an item of quality, though will allow you to better enchant an inkpot with a Perdo Corpus wounding effect.
Shape and Material bonuses for the purposes of enchanting an item are totally independent of IoQs, and do not adhere to the IoQ rules in any way; nor do the IoQ rules have anything to do with the Shape and Material bonus for lab projects. They both draw from the same list, and no more.
My apologies for being unclear.
I see very few talismans in use these days.
The Shape & Material bonus is used in several different ways as Tugdal mentions.
It can provide a bonus to your lab total when enchanting a device in ways appropriate to the device.
This bonus is cumulative and limited by the enchanter's MT score as mentioned above.
it can be used via attunement to a talisman (p. 98) to add to rolls for spontaneous, formulaic and even ritual spells.
For this purpose, there is no limit to how many attunements a given talisman can have at a given time, but only the highest may be used for a single roll, Thus they are not cumulative. They do not appear to be limited by MT though.
Items of Quality. These have their own limitations, which most people fail to read.
They have to be tools or items that would be used appropriately in a profession or trade. A broom qualifies, a staff?
only one magical property can be activated, ever.
Appearantly they can aid in casting a spell, though it surprises me if this is the intent.
This may or may not be cumulative with the bonus from attunement. This I would say is something your troupe would have to decide.
This bonus does not aid in enchanting that item.
In general, please write 'IoQ' if you wan to discuss IoQ, I think we all assumed you wanted to boost your lab total.
The bonus applies in so many different ways that I haden't even thought of this one. My bad.
What profession or trade uses a wand? Teachers?
No. Coumpounded talismans are extremely useful, but compounded IoQs (unless they are also otherwise enchanted) tend to be overkill.
Appearantly yes, as it is listed under the heading of Verditius Magic.
I believe there's a (rather broken) line of Ex Misc magi also able to use them though.
Since a lot of bonuses make no sense under the RAW rules (the nbonuses are too high for you to need to combine elements if you have an expert level of MT of 6 for example) we have modified it to be that you can use one material or shape per point of MT: Suddenly you can use the +10 anti-demon bonus of red coral even if you are not Bonisagus himself. Makes more sense for us. Naturally it increases the power of S&M bonuses, but we like that in our sagas (use of bat wings and toad eyes to cast spells over a bonfire...) so that is not a problem for us
