Laboratory improvment

Hello fellow magi

I have here some items up for discussion and some questions regarding laboratory items.

First I like to present some magic items that should in my opinion improve the general quality of a magus or magas lab. The use of fluids could certainly be used in many different magic operations. Some of you might recognise the spells of these items from other sources, but then this is the fifth edition and they haven’t been recreated with the new rules. Now enough of the rambling and onto the items.

The separator. An narrow brass cone with a glass window along it’s length, in the bottom of the cone there is a tap. The brass cone rest in a tripod which isn’t a part of the item. This item separated a fluid poured into it in a desired part at the top and an undesired part at the bottom. By using the tap the laboratory’s owner can separate the fluids. This item should give a +1 bonus to general quality, or perhaps +2 to aquam, muto, vis extraction or the making of a longevity ritual . Then again I prefer general quality. The magic used have the following stats. MuAq 10(Base 4, change a natural fluid into two or more different fluids, +1 touch, +1 concentration) and then +5 levels maintain concentration, +5 levels for 24 uses a day. Final level 20. This item should be created by an able magus or maga as an lesser enchanted device.

The fortifier of liquids. This is an vial made out of any chosen material, for those handling highly corrosive acids then either gold or magically protected vial should be chosen. This item enhances the potency of the liquid within. I am currently uncertain of how much so suggestions are welcome. This item is mostly used on fluids that are meant to be expended during the process of laboratory working. For example, by enhancing the potency of sulphuric acid an magus either could corrode something faster or by saving materials an dilute the acid with water. This could either save fund and thus reduce the upkeep or improve the general quality by 1. I am not sure if the rules allow it but it seems fair that item that reduce the amount of lab consumables needed should reduce the upkeep. This item also uses muto aquam magic and could there by be used to improve the laboratory’s muto or aquam, vis extraction or the making of a longevity ritual scores by 2. The item has the following stats. MuAq 5(Base 3 changing a natural liquid into an slightly unnatural liquid, +1 touch +1 concentration) +5 levels for maintaining concentration, +10 unlimited uses. Final level 20. This item should be created by an able magus or maga as an lesser enchanted device.

Now there is an end of the fun part and over to the discussion on laboratory items. In what manner should the magic item be a part of the process in the laboratory. No one know how the laboratory process works but I figure that items that improve the general quality or a activity specialisation should be items that a involved in the magical process, like the two items above. But then again a forge give bonus to items activity regardless if it’s used, I imagine that a crafter of wooden magic wand has little use for a forge. Items that improve the art score don’t need to be a part of the process but could be if chosen. For example an tree could be experimented on while inventing say herbam magic but it’s not needed the mere presence of a living tree makes it easier to work with herbam magic.

Please post your comments and while your at it please figure out laboratory improvement magic items. I am in practically looking for items that improve item activity specialisation.

That’s all for now, (and hope my English is readable).

Max

This is obviously a matter of style and preference. For common laboratory operations I would personally prefer that any bonuses are "general": superior Aquam lab, +XYZ for Aquam work, etc. Starting to detail individual lab items degenerates into a a miasma of rules and exceptions: can the magus benefit of both the Vial of Vitality and Crucible of Convenience? What about Scales of Serenpidity?

Things become rather different if you eg. specify an ancient lab-text that requires you to use an etruscan brazier, or whatever -- then substitutes might not work at all, or give a penalty.

If the point is to grant small material rewards different from books or Vis, then I would consider magical materials: water from a spring in Eden, giving a one-time bonus to any Aquam enchantment. This remains manageable: once the water is gone, it is gone. A tool is a long term proposition, and the way it will interact with other tools needs to be taken into account with much more care.

If the point is to just provide color, then bonuses are unnecessary: "Your apprentice broke the Separator in your lab, so it isn't completely outfitted anymore. It will take a month to make a new one, or a season to order one from your parisian Verditius supplier." All the color of a bonus granting separator, but none of the hassle. :wink:

YMMV, of course. Me, I like to keep things simple when I can.

Cheers,

--d

I very much like the items.

I think part of the point of laboratory items is thinking about how your magus works magic. This isn't detailed in the rules, and really should differ based on player and character. So while items such as yours are good, they should not be seen as universal.

I currently run two magi. One is an Ex Miscellenea interested in spirits. Although I've yet to make it, I have already considered a laboratory enhancement consisting of numerous trapped spirits. These do not know much so don't assist really, but their (annoying) advice can nevertheless aid prevent accidents (+1 Safety) and they are useful for research into Mentem (+1 to Mentem). (They effectively serve as a lesser guardian.) This item will be based on a CrMe D:Ring spell that was revealed to her in Twilight. It hasn't been approved yet, I'm not sure if I'll be using it at all :slight_smile:

My other magus is a Criamon, I've yet to design any such stuff for him but he would never use an item such as the one above.

Items such as a forge help in general for simplicity, that's good enough for me really. I don't want to add or not add to the lab based on whether the item being made is from metal or not. Deciding whether the process requires seperating liquids is even more difficult. I could understand if someone chose to preferred to consider all bonuses and decide on a per-case policy, however.

I find it hard to concieve of an enchantment that will allow a tree to create a bonus by merely being there. Excepting perhaps some Vim effect. If the tree is incorporated into the lab (its roots divide the lab into compartments, artificial veins and tubes run up and down it serving in the processes of distillation and transubstantiation, the sun's power is caught by its leaves and diffuses down into a golden liquid that drives the lab's mechanical devices...) that's different. I think it's also more colorful, but again this is a matter for the magi's personal taste and style in working magic.

I'm looking forward to seeing more ideas on how magi work their magic, and the items that help them do so... :slight_smile:

Yair

Hello

I have quite recently purchased a copy of the covenants book. It mentions as a suggestion that a magical distillation would improve the general quality. And I can think of a number of uses for magical fluids in most lab activities. Such as letting a magic wand soak in a mixture of magical herbs boiled in blood from a goat of virtue for example. A wizard using this method could use the separator to distillate the herb/blood mix and thus improving it’s potency, this is assuming that the mixture contains a few magical components that are the ones who does the magic.

Then again I am mostly searching for ways to improve my magus lab. As a Verditius magus he will crave for a greater lab as his hubris is rising. The laboratory chapter in the covenant book only touches a huge subject. The tree example was inspired from the feature virtue, which improves the labs herbam specialisation.

Thank for the thoughts

Max