"Indirect" attacks with Corpus?

Games Discussion Ars Magica
1

Hi everybody!

I'm starting to feel a little useless in the saga I'm playing in :frowning:
My magus is (going to be) a Corpus-Specialist. Unfortunately, as soon as he could dish out some punishement, there were no more opponents that could be targeted with Corpus-Spells.
So now the Ignem-guy and the Auram-guy do all the fighting, while my magus can wait in third row until the fighting is done and stitch up the pieces afterwards...

This is boring. So now I need some advice on how to use Corpus to attack "things" that cannot be attacked with Perdo Corpus.

So far I've come up with a Cr/Re-Co equivalent to Crystal Dart, and Cr/Re-Co to conjure a giant hand to slap opponents.
Maybe Cr/Re-Co to conjure long strands of hair to tie up opponents.
Maybe some MuCo to boost my magus for melee, but I dislike melee-magi --that's what grogs are for...

Any ideas?

2

That is a tough one. Are you telling me you never go whup sommundane thugs or anything with a humanoid body???

Go become a corpse-based necromancer then. Use ReCo to animate corpses and have them whup whatever strange things you're fighting.

3

Create corpses and bury your opponents if all you wanmt is artillery. It has the advantage that you can pile corpses around someone, so it does not need to be lethal if you do not want to.

You can always create a giant spear out of a giant's femur with CrCo and rego it to impale anyone. Being shot at point blank by an arbalest is more than most people can stand regardless of armor.

Make yourself tough and go fight in hand to hand....

Xavi

4

100% Co or as is more common do you have at least a little in some Techniques?

My preference would probably be to go for some low level attack spells based on your best Te (as long as it´s Cr, Re or Pe it´s not that hard) and your second best Fo after Co. Possibly aimed since your Penetration will suck. Or you simply let the others handle anything that has lots of MR and isnt Co based.
If there´s at a least a little time, then it might be a good idea to spend a season each on raising the Te you prefer and a secondary Fo, one that you only get up a few points, just enough to let you use it to get a combat spell with it.

For example, a CrIg PoF that only does +5 damage is something you can cast no matter what as it´s just level 10, a level 15 version at +10 damage is also easily in range most of the time. You can get a PeIg level 15 spell to cause fatigue loss (by RAW in a "person" which i would assume would cover any kind of persons, human or not, and it could also be used for chilling things in general).
Essentially the idea is that you get something that can do SOMETHING effective but by itself doesn´t have to be the ultimate attack or anything. Ability to consistently apply +5 damage is enough to make you part of a fight.

OR, you can develop more Co spells to boost grogs, other magi and alike. Creating and then controlling corpses is as mentioned another possibility.

5

As mention creating a corpse to fall upon a target is pretty low level. When we had the post about making level 45 spells that would kill armies I came up with some Corpus spells because I was at that time playing a necromance.

The Last Maneuver of the Doomed Army Re/Co Lvl 50 (or 45)

The spell instantly translates 10,000 persons 50 paces into the air allowing the natural attraction of the earth to determine the fate of the targets.

(base 15 (move person 50 paces), R: Voice +2, D: Mom, T: Group +2, size +3) Lvl 50

(base 15, R: Touch +1, D: Mom, T: Group +2, size +3) Lvl 45 This later is pending the group/touch debate...

As well as this spell which was just necromancer nasty:

Rain of the Dead Spell Lvl 45 Cr/Co

Traditionally a healer, Helen expounded on her specialized knowledge to create the most horrific spell to have ever been used in war. 10,000 human corpses appear hundreds of paces over the gathered army and begin to rain, crushing and maiming all those below and leaving the survivors in the mire of gore and blood drenched ground. Driven mad after creating and using this spell, Helen Romero tossed herself into a open volcano.

base 5 (makes a human corpse), R: Sight +3, D: Mom, T: Group +2, +3 size

The first is not that helpful for non-corpus creatures, unless of course you have a army or a village of mortals you would like to use as a weapons to drop on something. hahahaha

6

Those magi with the direct damage spells are only powerful while you're fighting weak supernatural creatures, or mundanes; against a target with moderate to high MR they are probably going to be shooting blanks soon as their Mag 7 spells will not have enough penetration. Go the indirect attack and control method, and bring grogs with you, particularly missile weapons. What you control, they can kill.

Against mundanes while you're raising arts/designing the spells:

  • a ReCo spell to float a target 1 inch from the ground. A soldier cannot do overly much when they cannot move. It is low level (maybe 15-25), and if kept simple can use your higher arts to have a decent penetration total.
  • An alternate would be to even just slow a mundane target's motions, so that you can casually kite them around the battlefield while your bang-magic brethren kill them. Again a low-ish level ReCo effect (base ?), with target group (+2) and range voice (+2)
  • remember that with a reasonable ReCo you can also teleport yourself short distances, to get out of trouble. Use a cast-move-cast-move style. It should demoralize the attackers.
  • A group based Arm of the Infant (MuCo) would make most soldiers inconsequential.
  • have targets grow useless superfluous limbs (MuCo) which entangle and confuse them

Then against MR or Magi, and also mundanes:

  • Indirect attacks are best, and Pit of the Gaping Earth is hard to go past as a starting point. Shooting a magical land animal which is stuck in a pit is too easy.
  • You could also consider spells that control the battle field, rather than harm directly. Go the tactical route. A Wall of Bones around targets, or ramparts of flesh. Use them to channel the battle to areas where the targets can be neutralised easily. Even a magical creature will have difficulty harming you if it cannot target you, and you don't need to kill something to defeat it.
  • There are a few terram effects that could be re-worked as Corpus, like the effect that Creo'd a sharp pillar at the enemy; MR applies though.
  • you should consider too that buffing your soak will make you stay unwounded vs most encounters longer. A +3-6 bonus is a huge advantage in small combats, and it is learnable with a moderate Corpus. Bear's Fort with Doublet of Silk is a +6 bonus on top of your regular soak.
  • If you can prepare a daily horoscope to increase your Penetration(?) for battles with magi
  • a slightly off-track method would be to create MuCo effects that turn you into a creature too, but requires high arts in Animal too. A size +1 ro +2 creature can do nasty things in battle.

By the way the rain of corpses attack, and blade of bone, and hair attack spells are right on the money imho. Keep going in that direction.

7

I'd definitely go with "bones of death" Cr/ReCo spells, a la The Crystal Dart, and similar. Also, CrCo Grasping Hands.

My instinct is also to just summon (Cr & Re) giants. Having a Size +5 giant smack the opponents around can be quite effective. However, I suspect a Vim requisite would be in order, which would probably remove such spells from your reach. If you do invent some such spells, consider collecting "humans" other than giants - a swarm of tiny faeries, the bodies of the dead, half-man half-X monsters, and so on.

8

Magus could also animate / conjure a body using a base size 0 creature, then cast another effect afterward to make it huge. Might be cheaper. A reworked version of preternatural Growth and Shrinking will be pretty cheap if only increasing size, so you could add extra Mags to get really large creatures.

I drafted a similar spell for shape-changed magi recently, and you'd need to change the range to Touch, rather than Personal.

9

Having had gruagachan IMS, I would say that it is much more effective to turn yourself into a giant. Pure MuCo, no requisites if you have been creative and your equipment is made of human tissue. Make sure to bring with you a tree-sized staff with a MuHe spell turning it into staff size. Dispel it once you enter combat in giant form to have a ready weapon that bypasses MR.

Xavi

10

Way, way back in SoI, there was an osteomancer. She had spells which showered people with sharpened bones (page 72). She also had a spell which made eye sockets close over, rib cages grow thorns on the inside, all kinds of fun stuff.

11

How could I not think of these :open_mouth: They're classics!

Animal is on my whishlist. For use outside of combat as well. (Eyes of the cat, scent of th bloodhound, who-knows-what of the jellyfish...)

Collecting bodies? I need a +5 Air freshener ( giantitp.com/comics/oots0526.html ) :smiling_imp:
Road to damnation anyone?

Osteomancer? I need to do some Intellego in that direction.

Thanks for giving me a push here! Pieces are starting to fall in their places...