I have been kicking around an idea for an enchantment my Magus would like to put on a sword. The base idea would be that if the blade of the sword tastes the blood of a opponent in combat then it would cause the opponent's lungs to fill with blood.
The problem i am having is with the technique and form. At first i though that it would be Creo Corpus and that is were I really am leaning toward; the effect would be creating an amount of blood in the lungs. A player at the table brought up Perdo Corpus because the effect is killing the target. And of course someone brought up Rego as well.
To prevent and argument I told the table that I would come here and ask for advice. Any input would be welcome. Here is what i have so far.
Level 20 CrCo
Lungs of Blood and Death
R: Touch T: Individual D: Sun
This effect causes the lungs of the of the target to fill with blood. The target will be unable to breathe . use the rules for deprivation page 180 ArM5th. This damage heals as a light wound. Treat with the Medicine ability.
Environmental trigger: blood on the blade
(base 2, +1 touch, +0 individual, +2 sun, +3 environmental trigger)
Id go for Creo Aquam. You don't even need to include a corpus requisite if you absolutely need blood,as this is purely cosmetical.
Check 4th ed CrAq15 for reference. Unfortunatly i do not know the english name of the spell...
Hehe. Don't shave with that sword. Nor draw blood to prove you're mortal...
But I'd say:
PeCo 30
R: Touch T: Individual D: Mom
(base 20, +1 Touch, +1 continuing damage until treated)
Reasoning: the target is suffocating and will die within minutes, if not treated - midway between an incapacitating and a fatal wound. Light wound if treated in time is mostly a cosmetic effect.
Aquam guidelines (ArM 121): (Aquam Spells) cannot affect liquids in a body, such as blood, this requires a Corpus spell.
If this means it cannot create blood outside of a body I'm not sure, but it does pretty much exclude Aquam to create blood in lungs.
My inclination would be to make it Creo Corpus, the individual target gets you plenty of blood, but blood in lungs would qualify as "very unnatural" to me, and I'd require a couple extra magnitudes.
I'd go with the Creo side of the argument, you create blood in a very unnatural way in a human body. But I would also add a perdo requisite I think. You create to destroy.
There is a guideline for aquam or auram about creating air into a person's lungs. You could cause the opposite: transform air into blood as it enters the body of the character.
In fact, any technique except intellego can be used it:
CrCo: creates blood inside the lungs
MuCo: turns air into blood as the air enters the lungs
PeCo: breaks down the veins around the lungs, so that the blood enters the lungs. Causes both direct and indirect damage.
ReCo: More tricky, but you could direct the blood of the target into entering the lungs, or order the lungs to stop working properly, so that the body overheats.
For the exact spell you want, I would go for Creo. Check Aquam and auram guidelines to see similar spells. That can give you a rough estimate of the level of the spell to be invested.
Actually you can easily make it level 5 reduicing the duration to Diameter. It render someone incapacitated if he does not drown duirectly. Opening their throats is easy when they are coughing in the ground. Increase the target to group and make sure all your friends carry the same badge and you do not have to worry much about mundane attacks.
The problem is keeping the Level vs Lethality for spells somewhat consistent.
In the original , it is suggested that the Deprivation Rules on page 180 are used.
Until the target falls unconscious due to failed Stamina checks and fatigue loss he does not get a wound result.
He makes a check every 30 seconds.
If this is the only result of the spell , then level 10 is fine.
Level 05 may only incapacitate you , not kill you.
Diameter would give 4 Stamina checks only.
Ease Factor starts at 03 , 04 , 05 , 06.
He would only lose a Fatigue Level if he fails a check.
Concentration checks for spellcasting may be called for.
that is indeed what I suggested, to use the deprivation rules. I could not think of a different way to reflect drowning and as an added bonus the rules are already there. It just seemed ,to me any way, to be the easiest way to do it. Do you have an idea that would work better?
Why do think that concentration checks would be called for?
No , i think using existing rules is fine.
There are some General Spells that do damage based on the level of the spell.
You could use the Aquam one to create a corrosive liquid in the lungs that does +02 damage.
(keeping the spell level at 10)
My reason for a Concentration check is the panic that most people would experience if their lungs started to fill with fluid.
Anyone who has a score in Swim (holding breath) might get a bonus to the check.
Even if the spell does not kill quickly (in combat round terms) ,
any treatment to expel fluid from the lungs will make you incapable of much else.
With duration Sun , unless magic is used , any Medical intervention is likely to wound you to some degree.
Not sure what anyone else would say , but i think it is a very nasty little spell for its level.
If you took the Spell Mastery option of Mulitiple Casting (page 87) and raised the spell range to Voice (making it Level 15) ,
it could be very effective at slowing people down.
Variations of the spell for increased size to affect an animal like a Horse would probably call for a Ride check at least.
Though i can't really see a potentially suffocating Horse being easy to control without magic.
