How much damage for herbam spells?

Games Discussion Ars Magica
1

Hi there!

Severin, one of the characters appearing in TOME has left me thinking about Herbam spells. Severin has some really cool spells, and even if some of them have really weird specializations (like indirect spells with penetration mastery...) his spells are well designed.

One of his spells throws an arrow at an opponent with a ReHe spell. It is extremely low level (ReHe5) so the penetration potential is high. Still, it is limited by the ammount of arrows that he has on hand. However the damage that can be done appears to be low: the spell mentions a damage of +4 for an arrow propelled by magic? That appears low to me.

Looking at Piercing Shaft of Wood (Mu(Re)He10), a 2 foot branch is mentioned to cause +8 damage, and a wand +5. I guess an arrow would be in the league of a wand, but slightly larger, since a wand is shorter. Does +6 damage for an arrow propelled by magic sound right for you? Or would you go for a +4 as mentioned in the official spell?

IN general, thrown wood items are mentioned to cause the following damages in the different spells:

  • Staff +10
  • 2-foot branch +8
  • Wand +5
  • arrow +4 (???)

ON a related note, the invisible sling causes +5 damage for a fist sized stone.

As a side effect, you can get the same spell with a CrHe5 spell

Obliteration of the Ravenant (Cr(Re)He5)
Creates and throws a sharpened stake at a nearby target. The stake causes +8 damage to the target hit by it.
(B2: create a processed plant product. +2 voice, +1 Rego req)

In fact you can create a processed wood product, so you could throw a log or a sharpened staff for the full +10 damage, but hey. :slight_smile: Do the damage level seem right to you? Thx :slight_smile:

Cheers,
Xavi

2

Actually, this would be a Re(Cr)He 10 spell, since the spell to fling the stake is higher level than the one to create it, resulting in (ReHe base 3, +2 Voice, + Creo requisite). Hugh had a not-too-dissimilar spell in an earlier draft, but his Short Ranged Magic proved an impediment.

I use the base damage of missile weapons as a guide. Thus a shaft the size of a clothyard arrow would inflict +8 damage, and a standard-sized arrow would be +6. This corresponds nicely with a sling bullet inflicting +4 damage, and a fist-sized stone inflicting +5. These 'launched' missiles have superior generantes (initial movers) than a javelin, which is why they do more damage. Magic is probably a superior generans as well, which is why I would rate them similar.

Mark