Right... this being the first post I make, I thought I'd include a short "Hello, World" note.
Hello, World!
Anyway, the single most boring thing a Magus can be forced to endure is to copy innumerable Summii and Tractatii said Magus desires for his personal library, and so i have for quite some time been thinking of making the Golden Quill of German Folk Story fame. (can't recall which tale 'tis though, sorry)
What i wanted was a quill that could on its own copy a book, just like a hired Scribe. Being a Verditius with Craft (noble metals) and a Terram specialist, I decided to have myself a golden quill, instead of an actual feather. (this also allows the item to contain enough Vis... I hope)
Well, the effect as I saw it was a pretty basic InAn(ReHe) (to "see" what was written ON the vellum pages)(the req's to allow copying papyrus and to make the Quill dance on its own)
So here is my suggestion;
InAn(ReHe) 14
Base 1 (Get a mental image of a beast) +1 req, +2 Sight, +2 Sun, +4 continous effect.
It could easily be argued that the base lvl should be higher... and here's the problem; I sort of think this effect should have a higher lvl. So, has this been discussed before? or if not, any ideas around? Also, what sort of Scribe Skill would the Quill have? I could argue for a +0 as it doesn't have any mental attributes, but I could also argue that it should have a +7 because of the Shape bonus...
It seems to me that the base should be InAn lvl 4 (learn a speciffic fact about its body), as words are pretty "specific" things. As far as the level and intelligence of the scribe, I like the idea that the basic spell could perhaps make a low ability scribe that then must gain experience in its abilities like any other grog.
Well, there was quite a debate over magically copying books, but that was regarding an instanteneous "xerox"-like effect. This strikes me as much more suitable for paradigm purposes.
I agree with Bohemian that this is a good, in-paradigm way of making scribe-free copies. Bear in mind when designing and using this, though, that the scribe sometimes has to turn the page, and she doesn't do that with her pen.
Although some people think they are more than others.
Actually, I've been toying with the idea of a Verditious making an automaton with the appropriate skills (Scribe Latin and Magic Theory) to copy and transcribe books.
Check out the spells on page 96-97 of Covenants for some official "Scribal Magic".
ReAq 1 can be used to directly move the inks based on the words of the caster. I'd use InIm 1 to directly reproduce the words and images found on the page, not InAn (or InHe for papyrus, InTe for clay tablets...) If invested in a magic quill, the quill moving around and writing on the page could probably be considered a cosmetic effect, as it doesn't relly change the end result.
Figuring out the correct Range is a bit annoying. I'll cheat a bit and use Reach (4th edition), which I arbitrarily place as the same level as Voice: it covers what you could touch without significantly moving from where you are.
Duration can be Concentration and maintained by the item, ending when one full page has been copied.
Of course, the annoying bit with using Rego magic is that the results are dependent on the Finesse skill of the person who casts the spell or activate the effect... If you want to invest an actual Scribe skill into the item, you'll have to go beg your local Verditius to build you an Automaton.
So, let's see:
ReAq base 1,
+1 mag for multiple inks,
+2 mags for InIm (also base 1) requisites
+2 mags for Reach
+1 mag for Concentration
+5 levels to maintain Concentration
however many levels are needed for uses per day.
We end up with a ReAq(InIm) 25+ effect, with probably also an extra magnitude for complexity thrown in.
Not easy, but feasible if that's the kind of magic you specialize in.
