Enchanted Items: A shield that protects you from fire

Games Discussion Ars Magica
1

So... if you want a shield that protects you from fire only while you're holding it how would that be made with the enchanted item rules?

I'm away from my books, and a player is inquiring about it, as a preface for their infernal holiday...

thanks,

Vrylakos

2

You control the conditions under which the effect is triggered(P. 98 base book), and cannon recommends a physical action, so you really don't have to do anything other then make the item.

3

In addition to Saxonous's answer, I'd make it D:Conc with the item maintaining concentration. It can then be switched on and off at will - although you'll need uses per day as well.

If it were made a D: Sun effect, it could be triggered "only when you're holding it", but then it would until the sun sets.

Mark

4

Hm, turns out the mage wants to create a charged item with D: Moon, to cover all the grogs for the duration of their trip into their infernal destination. I would have thought a potion with ground rubies in it, but he's looking at a shield that everyone would heft and says "Thank you, Magus Coraldo" to trigger the effect.

Seems a little funky to me, but they've only got two seasons to prepare...

V

5

Conc and maintains would be +10 levels, + extra because you're likely going to want to use it multiple times a day.

If you want a truly 'only works when held' item, best bet would be to just make it instant duration (which can be made to last for a single round if I recall?), and just unlimited use, and the trigger being 'when held'. Cheaper really.

6

Yes, theoretically. I find this to be quite gamey, though. Achieve constant use without using constant duration....

Xavi

7

It's not constant use though.. it's only while you're holding it, not necessarily the same thing, and according to the writeup, there'd technically be a flicker between effects, though what that means mechanically is unknown

Could argue that it would only protect from one fire attack (per person if group) per round.. as that would seem to match other instant defense spells, would mean a concerted attack might well get through while it flickers

8

Point. Protecting from a single attack or fire effect per round sounds fair and good to me. I would still go for Conc + maintains concentration, but that is me :slight_smile:

Cheers,
Xavi