So, basically, you want an item that imbues the water with the power to transform people into pigs.
Doesn't that sound a little bit like an enchanted item that creates a charged item (in liquid form) to affect a target later on? Am I the only one who gets a little uncomfortable with that?
I know the intent is not munchkinism and is in sync with the maga's concept (I follow the Bibracte saga in my spare time), but I would be very careful of how this could set a precedent in the "enchanted item creates charged items" direction. Just IMHO.
There are other ways to get multiple people to drink from the same recipient -- some kind of large cup used during feast, that gets passed around to celebrate a victory. With a delayed effect, that could work just fine. Particularly if you add a Mentem effect that makes people (and possibly only certain kind of them, like warriors or murderers) want to drink from it.
EDIT: I would note that this does not mean I would be totally opposed to the multi-effect approach proposed; only that it should be darn hard and expensive time- and vis-wise. This is stretching hermetic magic quite a bit, and should probably be more a matter of original research than straight combination of effects.
That is an interesting idea ... maybe a fountain or something, with a constant CrMe effect that makes nearby people want to drink or wash directly from the fountain. Or perhaps better yet, a CrMe spell cast on a Circle surrounding the fountain. (No reason a well wouldn't work too - just seems a little less reasonable for lots of people to drink directly from the bucket - but hey, that's what Creo Mentem is for!) Just for fun, add another spell that provides a compulsion to tell other people how deliciously refreshing the water is....
I agree with gerg about the viability of the slow transformation; I would not even add a magnitude for complexity.
One way to link the effect to the water is to create an effect that destroys all water that is poured out of the bucket into another container -- forcing everyone to drink directly from the bucket.
What if the item were, instead of a bucket, a well or small fountain, the triggering action being to drink from it without saying "Ave Fiona" or something like that? Still touch range, since you'd have to be touching the fountain to get the water.
So long as the target is actually touching the well of fountain when he drinks. This might be easier if there was some kind of drinking ladle (large deep spoon) hooked to the fountain, specifically to allow people to drink water? Instead of enchanting the fountain to change them, you can just enchant the ladle.
Sure, if it's the only water around... Note that the bucket does not destroy water that gets drunk or splashed out of it -- only water that gets transfered to a different container.
I'm kind of liking the "ladle" concept. Have a little fountain with a metal ladle sitting on it, acting all innocent and stuff. Base metal is 5 pawns, and a ladle looks to be about a x2 modifier, so it can hold 10 pawns. The two effects I did earlier total 9, so that should work. Right?
With all due respect, this is doing what Rego Vim does... but without using it. I, on the contrary, would say that, at the very least, it should have Rego and Vim requisites.
Yeah, I'm not finding anything that would allow a spell to be delayed as I'm describing without using a second spell. I'm not convinced that "one hour after the triggering action" is a valid part of an enchantment. I could be wrong, though - it's been known to happen - and welcome any citations to the contrary.
I would insist on the use of a ReVi effect, to supress the transformation for a periode (Dun is my favorite), thus requiring an invested item as discussed earlier
The last several replies seem to be interpreting the idea under discussion as: a spell that immediately transforms a human into a pig, but includes a built-in delay timer so that the immediate transformation doesn't happen right away. That's not what I'm thinking of at all; I'm thinking of a spell that transforms a human into a pig gradually, so that the transformation takes 12 hours (say) to complete.
If the latter idea went against how "normal" spells worked, then I would understand the need for extra complexity/ReVi/whatever. But I'm not convinced that a slow transformation is any less "normal" than an immediate transformation.
Look at the CrHe guidelines, for example. To speed up a plant's maturation process, slow is easier, fast is harder. There are other examples of core spells whose effects are gradual even though they could have been written to be immediate (the first two CrAq spells, the ReTe Creeping Chasm, perhaps the MuCo Mists of Change), not to mention plenty of precedent in fiction and legend.
I feel like if the authors of ArM5 had chosen to describe Curse of Circe as a slow transformation (and we were all used to that), and someone wanted to invent an immediate-transformation version, these forums would be abuzz with Munchkinism! Trying to make it more useful for free! Add magnitudes rinse repeat!. But the immediate-transformation version isn't globally more useful; it's more useful in some situations (combat), less useful in others (sneakery). The converse applies as well to the present situation.
I would vote for a ReVi effect to go along the main effect as well to allow for the delay. Hermetic magic takes place immediately generally, and tinkering with that should require the use of Vim.
