Fishy, and others from Parva Lignem avert thine eyes.
Say I give an NPC mage a Talisman that is effectively a long rope (or chain), and has been enchanted to move under the mage's mental command.
A Talisman extends the mage's Touch range. This one is at least 10 paces long.
How can this be abused? Nerfed? Just in case my players come up with ideas I didn't prepare for.
Surely he couldn't trace out a Circle 10 paces in radius, for Circle Target/Duration spells?
I think he could do so.
That is, provided your troupe agrees to understand ArM5 p.112 Sun/Ring
... and the magus must physically trace out the ring. The magus may not move more quickly than ten paces per round (five feet per second) while doing this.
in a reasonable way. Namely, that it addresses the speed of the tracing proper of the ring - not just the speed of the magus' feet.
Iirc the games from folktales podcast episode from very early in the run had some ideas for a plumb line talisman and what you could do with it. Think the episode was called angels with leaden wings. Might have some inspiration for you?
Well, a 10m (roughly 10 paces) long rope (perimeter of a circle), will make a circle 3.2 m in diameter (perimeter = pi x diameter). However, it will require a high Finesse roll or the use of a spell similar to Scribe the Perfect Circle (p 96, the Mysteries) for the rope/chain to make such circle.
If you intend to use the talisman to draw a circle 10 meter in radius, same challenge: a ReTe to move the talisman and a high Finesse roll for a perfect drawing.
Otherwise, the Talisman can deliver touch-based spell - but it means that the mage must reinvent all voice and sight range spells - it takes time, but of course, Penetration score will be higher.
To further extend your touch range, you can enchant the rope to shorten / lengthen at your mental command (I did a slight variation of this with a whip previously for an Animal conjuror). That character also put an enchantment into the talisman to allow it to read her surface thoughts, then linked triggers to that enchantment to make multitasking easier.
Don't all Voice range spells that are cast silently become Touch range spells?
I hadn't actually considered the above until now. This thread is working.
Don't all Voice range spells that are cast silently become Touch range spells?
Yes, but the level of the spell remains unchanged, thus the Penetration is lower than the Touch variant. If the mage is not concerned about Penetration, sure no need to reinvent spell.