Item Enchantment Help

Games Discussion Ars Magica
1

Hey all,

So I am going over the rules in a way to try and analyze the mechanics so that I make sure I truly know what is going on. I created this Invested Item and I want to make sure that the item makes sense.

Tiny Silver Ring

When worn this tiny silver ring keeps the wearer warm even during the coldest nights while also making sure the air around him is clean and breathable, and flowing.
Invested Item, 6 pawns to open, 2 pawns Invested.

Warmth of the Day
CrIg9
Pen +0, Constant Effect
Range: Touch, Duration: Sun, Target: Individual
The wearer remains comfortable even on cold nights.
(Base 2, +1 Touch, +2 Sun, +3 levels Environmental Trigger [Sunrise/Sunset], +1 level 2 uses a day)

Breath of Fresh Air
CrAu 9
Pen +0, Constant Effect
The wearer always has a nice slight breeze that makes the air breathable and comfortable.
(Base 1, +1 Unnatural, +1 Touch, +2 Sun, +3 levels Environmental Trigger [Sunrise/Sunset], +1 level 2 uses a day)

Lab Total 1: 28 (Creo 6 + Ignem 6 + Intelligence 3 + Magic Theory 4 + Aura 6 + Ring 2 + Known Spell 1)
Lab Total 2: (Creo 6 + Auram 6 + Intelligence 3 + Magic Theory 4 + Aura 6 + Ring 2 + Known Spell 1 + Related Effect 1)

Season 1 - Prepare the Tiny Silver Ring. 8 pawns of Vis is used.
Season 2 - Instill Effect, Warmth of the Day. Lab Total 28 vs. Effect Level 9, one season covers all. Vis spent, 1 Creo/Igem.
Season 3 - Install effect, Breath of Fresh Air. Lab Total 29 vs Effect Level 9, one season covers all. Vis spent 1 Creo/Auram.

Quick question, would I be correct in saying that the heat created by Warmth of the Day is not considered magical and does not need to penetrate the magic resistance of the wearer. Because if it needs to penetrate magic resistance than such simple effects would be nearly impossible to exist, and I am not really sure I like that idea.

Now, another question. If my character had a Lab Total of say 35 could he install both effects in a single season?

Also, I would really like to find a way to include an effect that basically provides cooler temperatures on a warm summer day. Would an easy to create effect exist for that. And how would I be able to make it so that both the warm spell and the cold effect aren't active at the same time. Would another linked trigger be possible.

Finally, the magus could basically put aside the ring for years and then take it back out and put some more effects on it much later, right. Though at max the item could never have more than 6 pawns of effect (which means around 80 effect levels of magic) on it.

I just want to make srue that I am reading the rules right. Assistance and commentary on this would be much appreciated. Thanks! :slight_smile:

2

First question, yes it is considered magical. It's not as bad as you think, though, because Parma Magic is something that is not 24/7 (unless you are really careful and really paranoid), and something that can be lowered if the Mage desires. So, when you are safe, lower your Parma, and put the Ring on. Parma does not stop or suppress ongoing effects that "predate" it.

Second question, no, because multiple lab activities must share the Form and Technique. Alas, the Forms are the same, but not the Techniques.....

Third question, it seems to me that the easy solution is to proclaim that the temperature effect is set to comfortable (say 65 degrees or so). You don't need to do extra work.

Last question, yes and no. Yes, you can work on the Ring later. No, the total effects max out at 60 levels. Ten levels for each unit of Vis is the rule. Mind, that's not absolute, there are certain Mysteries know to the Verditius that can add "more spaces" to items.....

3

This is something that gets house-ruled out in our saga. We end up going by percentages - ie, if the first technique uses up 40% of your lab total, you can use the second lab total (whatever it is), but only at 60%.

But yes, according to the RAW, if you are doing multiple projects you need to use the same lab total.

4

That'd be PeIg. I don't believe there's a specific guideline for that sort of thing but I'd probably be happy with 2, much like the warming spell. Looking at what Base 3 provides with PeIg seems too potent.

Yup. You can invest more into an item like that whenever you wish to take the time to do it. Unless I'm being extra thick on a Monday morning, 6 pawns would be 60 levels of effect, not 80.

5

Dang dude, this is Ars Magica. House Rule? Please. If a player wants to do something like that, make them earn it. Original Research can be used for small things too.

6

Maybe with ReIg, to keep the heat at bay? A low-level (without the added magnitudes for extra soak) Ward against Heat and Flames should be more than enough

1 Like
7

Thanks everybody, I appreciate the help and the comments. Though I got some of the details wrong I am at least glad I understood the rules enough that the item I designed could feasibly exist.

Also, I just realized I totally could have an additional lab total by having help in the lab, which could bump the total a little bit higher. hehe

Also, question, can one use a Lab Text and instill another effect in the same season using the multiple laboratory activities rules.

Example, I have a Lab Text for a CrIg 20 Light Source effect (creates light like a torchlight) and a lab total of lets say 38. Could I instill both the CrIg 9 Warmth of the the Day effect and the CrIg 20 Light Source effect at once. I figure I could, cause lab totals wise I have base 9 + 9 excess + 20 for light source. Though I might be min maxing just a little bit. Of course, in reality the effect lets the user of the ring not be cold and also have a light source that he can turn on and off at will, so its not like its game breaking (unless the SG wishes to have the darkness of a room be an element of the saga, lol).

Torch Light
CrIg 20
Pen +0, Unlimited Uses
Range: Touch, Duration: Concentration, Target: Individual
Creates a light as bright as a torch that one can use to light up the dark and read from.
(Base 3, +1 Touch, +1 Concentration, +10 levels Unlimited Use, +5 levels Maintain Concentration)

Saxonous,

I am kind of sad that warming a person is something that needs to penetrate magic resistance, I get why but its going to take some getting used to for me to accept such limitations. hehe

Gottcha on the multiple lab activities. That makes sense as RAW.

Would you consider that just to be part of the CrIg Warmth of the Day effect or would you think I would need a PeIg effect, or maybe even a requisite of Perdo to represent the balance of things. (The Creo and Perdo effects both exist to make the temperature of the wearer comfortable year round.)

Yeah, I realized after I posted that the shape and size bonus was +6 not +8, and so I changed some of the text in the post but not all, lol, by bad. It is all very cool though, its a nice thought exercise.

KevinSchultz.

Interesting. I will have to keep this in mind for further developments.

Psitticine,

I would love it to be Base 2, but in my reading of it doesn't it seem similar to the Base 4 Chill an object, of course the one right under that is chill a human to cause damage, which is much more powerful than I was in anyway contimplating. This is just to make one's life easier - which personally seems like a great investment in the first magic item to be crafted by the magus. hehe

And yeah, my bad on the 80 to 60 thing,I realized I screwed up the math at one point and though I changed the references in the post, but I guess I forgot stops. Still, at least it means my thought process was right - and its interesting to consider the various scales for magic items and what they can have based on sizes and shapes. (It makes that one Breakthough described in I think Rival Magic where the size of an object no longer represents how much it can be prepared something that really would change the face of the order - making a small number of highly powerful items much more prevalent than a large number of lower powered items)

The Fixer,

That's an interesting way to do it, its not so much reducing the heat in the area its keeping the heat from effecting the wearer in question. But this effect, t hough nifty, wouldn't help them be warm on a cold night, it just stops them from being warm on a hot day. Right.

Other than that, I very much thank all the comments helping me understand things.

8

Yes, it's all about the Lab totals. As to the heating/cooling effect, I would let it work as it, but if your ST is really tight, then all you need is CrIg(Au). This is why we have secondary requisites......

9

You can, but you'd need a higher lab total. You'd consume 18 of your total to do the first effect and then would have only 20 left over for the next effort. Since it is a level 20 effect, you wouldn't have anything left over to make any progress. To do both in one season, you'd need a lab total of 58. If you had 39, you'd get a point of progress towards the second effect and would only have to invest another season to finish it (39 - 20 = 19 points of progress).

Since it really is a minor effect, I'd probably accept Cr(Pe)Ig if I were SG but I think that's an individual judgement call. One might also step up the level of the combined spell by a magnitude, similar to the way Preternatural Growth and Shrinking has a step-up because it goes both ways.

To me, base 2 seems to mimic how CrIg 4 injures and CrIg 2 just warms a bit. PeIg 4 fatigues, so PeIg 2 cools a bit, at least as I see it. Anytime you are departing from the published guidelines, it becomes a judgement call, so it is definitely a call-it-as-you-see-it situation.