This is a riff off a Instagram short where the title is "20th level fighter who killed a God but can't seduce the local barmaid" and the top comment is: "Evil Wizard cast the spell 'Friendzone.'" Got me thinking.
Clearly Rego Mentem, but how that would work strikes me as complex: The target of the spell needs to then have secondary effects on people who would be attracted to the target. Could also be a Minor Curse or 1 point story flaw of some sort. Thoughts?
Vanilla Hermetic Magic, particularly in 5th edition, is not well suited to "indirect" mind control effects. In general, you can cast a Mentem effect on the barmaid so she won't be attracted to the hero, but you can't cast the effect on the hero so he'll repel every barmaid he encounters. Incidentally, the Technique involved is not necessarily Rego. It could be Muto (changing any romantic feeling into a related one of plain friendship), or Perdo (just destroying any romantic feeling).
There are, however, some workarounds.
The most obvious is to summon some appropriate spirit and let it take care of the issue. This can be an airy spirit (well within the power of vanilla Hermetic Magic), or for some magi with access to theurgic effects, an appropriate daimon. Merinita magi with the mystery of the Anima can instead call upon minor faeries to the same result.
A somewhat more subtle nudge would be a variation on Aura of Ennobled Presence (see the Tytalus chapter in HoH:S for examples), to make the hero more homely, forcing upon him a -3 on all rolls to seduce appropriately compatible characters. A sneakier alternative would be a PeMe or ReMe (or Re(Pe)Me) effect that makes the hero subtly worse at seduction either by impairing his ability to seduce (see HoH:S p.66-67), or nudging him towards projecting a friend-not-lover attitude (perhaps impairing his perception of the issue). None of these methods is foolproof, of course: the hero could always encounter a barmaid who somehow falls in love with him despite seeing him as a homely guy utterly incapable of seduction and completely uninterested in romance.
A blunt solution would of course be the Phantom Gift. That certainly makes seduction almost impossible on most barmaids, but the hero won't be perceived as a friend either.
Of course, a magus who's sufficiently upset with the hero and willing to spend the time, can keep track of his love interests from afar with appropriate Intellego magics, and slap onto any Room he happens to share with such a person an appropriate Mentem effect, either at R:Arc or through a Wizard Tunnel. Or the magus could "hang" on the hero such an effect with a Waiting Spell or variation thereof, perhaps triggered by the aforementioned Intellego magics.
Finally, I'd rank such a "Friendzone curse" as a Minor Flaw (not quite a Story Flaw, because it does not really generate Stories like Curse of Venus does). In principle, if a magus warps a mundane character enough, said character will acquire Flaws from the Warping, and these will be "appropriate" to the source of Warping. It's ultimately up to the troupe to decide if a magus can, with sufficient preparation and/or Finesse, tailor the generic Warping inflicted by CrVi effects (or, simply, sufficiently long-lasting and/or high-level magics) so that it produces the desired Flaw. My troupe probably would not allow this to happen reliably as it can be abused, but it could certainly happen accidentally, e.g. as a result of the hero being subjected repeatedly to other barmaid-repellant magics.
Bjornaer Sensory Target effect?
Some form of D: Until merinita spell, such that while he might be able to seduce said barmaid, he's utterly unable to realise that she's showing signs of interest?
It seems to me the most effective approach would be a ReMe effect so that he will only be attracted to people who aren't interested in that way. That or the storyteller creates a daimon that can invoke that kind of story effect without following hermetic magic at all.
CrVi Magical Air?
Not exactly friendship zone. Honestly the daimon makes the most sense t me- anything else is to easy to counter and doesn't really quite get there. Of course it does require a storyguide sympathetic to the idea- which is always a help in and of itself
Vanilla Hermetic Magic does this. Has been clarified in the container discussions.
Circle of Friendship ReMe 20
R: Touch D: Ring T: Circle
All those that step into the circle are inclined to be friendly with each other. Stepping out of the circle ends the effect while anyone entering it will be affected.
(B:5 incline a type of response)
Room of Friendship ReMe 30
R: Touch D: Sun T: Room
All those that step into the room are inclined to be friendly with each other. Stepping out of the room ends the effect while anyone entering it will be affected. Each entry causes a warping.
(B:5 incline a type of response)
So ReMe 5 base will work; Bjornaer 'Sensory Magic' mystery at 'Smell' range (same as 'Group'), Merinta 'Illusion - Perpetuity' Mystery with an 'Hidden' duration (same as 'Year') -- this covers everything about the spell as described except for one thing: This affects only the magus. Handing the effect off from the original target (the mage) to the person they are trying to curse... I don't know how that would be done.
MuVi can normally change the target of the spell, though in this case the target is generally scent, but depending on your SG it might allow you to transfer the spell itself.
You might have to add a level for complexity since it not only inclines towards friendship but also away from romance. That would be a SG call though.
Long term magic (e.g. a curse) is an issue with Hermetic Magic. You can do it with vis, but it might be considered a waste of vis.
Making someone unattractive to a specific group is probably harder than making someone generally unattractive, and "Friendzone" is more a matter of making them bland to women. Giving him a magical air would work, but seems a bit of a hammer.
Hermetic magic is powerful, but often fails to be subtle.
Consider witchcraft.
Or you let on that it's a spell and you really just fire some ne'er do well to spread rumors to the lady that the man is in love with another man.
That's it. He isn't friend zoned, he just think he is.
Curse of the Friendzone
ReMe 30
R: voice D:Moon T: individual
Any flirtatious, or even overtly sexual approach by people this person could be sexually attracted to, is considered by the target as completely innocuous, and the kind of action a friend would make.
One could drop the range and/or duration, however, if you are going for a curse type effect, I imagine the target has annoyed the magi, so I imagine they will put in the effort.
B:5 R: +2 D: +3 T: +0
Individual is +0, so it's ReMe30.
Thanks. I continually make the error thinking self is 0, individual is +1, however, self is a range not a target.
I've edited the post, however, I think I've got to say this, so the response makes sense.