General Table Talk

I'm on mailing lists for Bryn Gwlad, Ansteorra, and Æthelmearc. When I move again, I'll probably get on the new kingdom's mailing list (and barony, if they have a list), even though I'm pretty inactive.

xkcd.com/1095/

There is an internet forum for everything. And this webcomic is true for all of them.

Just wanted to say hi. My trouble accessing the boards ended a little while ago, as was probably noticed on the main Ars Magica forum. Well, Valentino died a heroic death. Guillermo, Knight of Seneca, is on his way.

Chris

Welcome back!

Callen used to play Valentino, and had joined us in the middle of the previous saga. So, I would point him out to newcomers as an example of how to adapt and keep up tp speed by focusing mainly on your character's pov. Indeed, you guys prolly know more of the old history than he can remember :slight_smile:

Valentino's demise...
Should I attatch it to the mysterious disaster or do you have a more personal event in mind?

I would attach it to the disaster. He would have been focused on healing the covenant and would have fought valiantly despite being greatly fatigued.

Just a heads-up: if you haven't heard, Hurricane Sandy is due to hit land Monday evening, and is supposed to be incredibly big. I'm 125 miles (200 km) inland from the nearest point on the coast and 170 miles (275 km) from where it's expected to hit landfall. Because of the high winds and heavy rain, even as far in as I am, they're talking about power outages that could last for several days. To be honest, I would be surprised if we lose power for more than a few hours, if that...but if I disappear this week, that's why.

God bless and be safe!

I'm north of where it's making landfall, just outside NYC. We've got our food, water, batteries & flashlights, etc. all prepared. Now we're just waiting at home, which is one of the safest places nearby.

You too! God Bless and be safe!

Yeah, I saw a footage on TV, thought about you guys. Take care of yourselves, I hope everything is gonna be alright.

Where I am (northeast Pennsylvania), we got off pretty light, at least here in the borough. Doesn't seem like we got much rain, but we had some pretty high winds that were making the tall pine trees in the neighbor's yard sway a lot. Out in the township there seems to be some people without power, but in town we never lost power (not even a flicker) and still have internet and cable. Mom was disappointed.

We didn't get hit too hard, either. Just south of us NYC is a mess. We managed to have only a few flickers despite lots of trees dropping along the street.

Ouf! I'm relieved.

The Pink Dot
How do you guys wanna handle the Pink Dot? We can go about it two ways...

  • Active Magical Effects are Resisted, but the mundane material is not (e.g. flamings sword, if flames are resisted the sword still strikes)
    or...
  • Agree not to abuse it or get silly (pink dotting the enemies sword will cause a bolt of lightning to strike from the sky because you violated the agreement; but active magical effects generally cause the whole item to be resisted (but you may design effects to be switched on & off)

And no matter what, I shall not consider any of the following conditions to be subject to MR as far as being touchable...

  • simply being opened for enchantment or attuned as a talisman
  • being under the effects of longevity
  • being enchanted as a familiar
  • posessing a supernatural virtue
  • use comon sense
  • no munchkinism

Little from Column A, little from Column B. Flaming sword shouldn't cut. Invisible swords probably should. Common sense is my vote, but then, I know that I am not a munchkin.

I dunno. Invisible Swords can only hit if we use option A. Otherwise it is an active magic effect and not a pink dot in that the invisibility is a distinct advantage. But in that vein, turning your opponent's sword invisible to befuddle him is acceptable, turning it invisible so it can't hit you is a pink dot abuse (and you get struck by thunder from heaven).
Hmmmmm....
My main motive here is that I am designing a magic sword for Alexandro (using Carmen's vis). In the prior volume we used option B (I prefer A, but the group favored B). So the sword I am duplicating is designed to have enchantments switched on&off as needed.
And in the Ars Magica Forum there is a discussion on magic swords (and another on pink dots) that got me thinking.
And a theoretical situation in a Jonathan Link game concerning talismans.

Just to be clear, just being opened for enchantment or attuned as a talisman does not make an item untouchable by MR in my POV. I think this is reasonable enough to not require a HR.
But the other aspects are debatable, and I want to know how you guys want to handle the Pink Dot.
Choices are A or B. Amul picked C, thus creating a new category.
:smiley:

Wait, you think an invisible sword should not be blocked by the Parma? I'm surprised at that. PeIm effects have often been the clinching argument in my games for Imaginem effects affecting the target, otherwise it's easy to say that the target isn't changed by the magic, just its image.

Totally agree on this. In fact, I sincerely think this is the intent of the RAW. I seem to believe RoP: M differentiates between active and inactive magical effects.

Problems with resisting the effect and not the material works well for flaming swords, but arises when you’ve got an invisible sword. Or when crossing a magical bridge. Do you go through it?

What I'd suggest for the Pink Dot is my own HR.
Parma is to Magic as Sunlight is to vampires: It destroys the weaker ones, but only makes the stronger flee.
As such, if they can’t penetrate, the weaker magical effects (say, level 10 and lower) are cancelled when crossing parma, and need to be activated again. The stronger ones are repelled, which included the item they're on (as per the RAW for magical effects).

This means that, if the grog with Eyes of the Cat punches a Magus, while, under the raw, he could be repelled (the spell is individual target. A part variant wouldn’t make him magical), under these, he’ll just lose the benefits of the spell.

Most pink dots effects are thus useless. You can still do it with more powerful spells, but then, if you can pink dot with spells higher than 10, you can probably destroy the weapons/stop the aggressor anyway… So I’m also going on B: Please, don’t try to abuse the dot. The HR is there to solve eyes of the cat problems, not to solve people problem.

Agree.

My feeling is that only the magical effect is blocked/resisted. Not dispelled. If you hit someone with an invisible sword, the Parma does not cast Winds of Mundane Change on the sword and render it visible. Nor does the Parma dispel the PeIm on the sword, thus rendering it visible. The sword strikes, it does damage as a sword. The invisibility part is immaterial - although I can see an argument that, as the sword strikes the magus (or his shield, or his parrying sword), the effect flickers so that it is visible for the split-second that it is within the Parma.

As to the theoretical flaming sword, I would argue that, when the sword strikes, it does damage as a normal sword but does no additional damage for the flame – and, again, the flames would flicker momentarily as they come within the Parma. However, if the flame causes the metal to glow red-hot as it strikes, it seems reasonable that the (mundane) heat from the sword would do heat damage (which would be reduced by his Ignem form bonus).

That's my tuppence on it.

TL; DR: The first option.

Wll, that's three votes for three different options :laughing: