Enchanting the Covenant

[Fruny]

@Mark Shirley

This is exactly the same process that allows magi to see magically created or altered images, or be illuminated by a magical light source.

My understanding was that the emitted light was considered magical. The light itself, not the species that it lets propagate, which is why Parma would protect you from being blinded by a flash of light (like Flash of the Scarlet Flames, I believe). Meaning that magic light can reveal MR.

[Mark_Shirley]

@Fruny

@Mark Shirley

This is exactly the same process that allows magi to see magically created or altered images, or be illuminated by a magical light source.

My understanding was that the emitted light was considered magical. The light itself, not the species that it lets propagate, which is why Parma would protect you from being blinded by a flash of light (like Flash of the Scarlet Flames, I believe). Meaning that magic light can reveal MR.

I think if you created light directly (like Flash of the Scarlet Flames), that is true. But creating a magical light source (as I specified) will not. So a flame kept ever-burning by magic will still illuminate a magus because the light it emits, just like the heat it emits, is natural.

Mark

[Xavi]

And how is that different from flash of the scarlet flames? FotSF is a pyrotechnic effect in broad terms, no? it creates a small Ignem explosion, but the species are non magical as well (and so bypass MR)?

Xavi

[Thijs]

Okay, back to the topic.....

@Fhtagn

@Thijs

I reckoned it would just take 2 seasons to build such a lab, but according to Covenants the safety of such a big laboratory is terrifying.....(size = -1 safety...IIRC)

Two seasons to convert it to a lab after it has been built, which will also take a while. On the other hand, since it'd be a lab custom designed for a specific purpose, perhaps just one season and having it have a hefty penalty for all other lab activities would be better. Either way, it'll take at least a season to build a decent structure of any real size unless you shore it up with magic a great deal, and the warping score your lab would end up with then would be ... hefty.

If you read the examples in Covenants: they have a lab with the Sphinx as a Feature...... So no building needed. Okay, you get the Outdoors flaw, but hey. And size isnt a problem at all, you just get 4 times the free flaw Empty, which does not cause safety loss. Even better, use the flaw, which allows you to do only one type of laboratory activity (in this case Items) and building the lab costs you only 1 season.......

[Richard_Love]

@Mark Shirley

@Xavi

Jean, at this point I will suggest rereading the MR rules There seems to be some confusion here The thing here is that you find the covenant to be a cold place, not that it has a "no trespass" sign over the door.

It wouldn't even be a cold place. The covenant is being warmed, not the individuals in it. The hot stones of the walls radiate the heat, which the magi can feel, parma or no parma. This is exactly the same process that allows magi to see magically created or altered images, or be illuminated by a magical light source.

All correct, I think.

On the other hand if someone hits a magus on the head with the enchanted covenant, his parma will resist it.

[Cuchulainshound]

@Thijs

I reckoned it would just take 2 seasons to build such a lab, but according to Covenants the safety of such a big laboratory is terrifying.....(size = -1 safety...IIRC)

-1 Safety is not "terrifying" - it's just... mui macho. 8) 10% chance to roll on the disaster table - if it's only going to be used once, that might be an acceptable risk... for some magi.

And only 1 season, depending on the Lab Total needed. That second season merely brings it up to full speed, losing the -3 for a "basic" lab. But if that's all you need, no reason to waste time in overkill, especially if it is only for 1 use (like enchanting the Covenant structure).

@Fhtagn

Two seasons to convert it to a lab after it has been built, which will also take a while. On the other hand, since it'd be a lab custom designed for a specific purpose, perhaps just one season and having it have a hefty penalty for all other lab activities would be better. Either way, it'll take at least a season to build a decent structure of any real size unless you shore it up with magic a great deal, and the warping score your lab would end up with then would be ... hefty.

Nah, you don't use spells, the wise magi use items, which 1) have no Warping (unless huge?), B) are often portable, and so can be used from lab to lab, and iii) often have other purposes around the covenant.

@Xavi

I meant each mage having several personal labs in his sanctum, each room specialize din an activity. Not a single lab per magus but 5 or 6 labs per magus. All personal and all part of his sanctum. Quite a difference here The communal labs for the covenant are also a usual feature IMS.

By the Covenant rules, multiple labs can become brutally expensive, the "Upkeep" starting to get prohibitive. While most Covenants/Sagas don't worry about basic expenses, at some point Upkeep should be an unexpected problem for the mage who cares nothing of accounts and disposable income, not to mention the problem of improving them each individually - for the initial benefit of a bonus from a several "focused" labs, they would eventually become weaker than a single lab that was given equal attention in time and funds for improvement.

[Xavi]

Point. Not being very familiar with the covenants rules I missed that. Thanks for pointing it out

Cheers,

Xavi

[avenger314]

Rather than opening the entire Covenant as an item, would it be easier to create small items that have an effect of 'structure' that are on 'Sun' duration, renew at sunrise/set? Say, a crystal Orb that casts 'chamber of spring breezes' twice each day, range touch, duration sun, target Structure? Or a broom of poop removal that does a Perdo Corpus effect of sanitzation each night? Etc.

This would be a 'control panel' of sorts. You might not even have to put in the 'renew at sunset' clause as long as everyone remembers to tap each button daily.

Edit... d'oh, I just realized I resurrected an old thread (I was using the 'search' function and didn't check the date of the last post). Sorry bout that.