Magical Focus List & List of types of Bonds to Creatures

Games Discussion Ars Magica
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May not be all of them but it is a bunch of them. Helps for new character creation so sharing here. Would be nice if a complete list was added to the official Ars page.

If you like the list, please like this 1st post so others can find it more easily

Major Magical Focus (stone) Core book
Major Magical Focus (Flames) Core book
Major Magical Focus (Weather) Core book
Minor Magical Focus in wards HoH:MC p.14
Minor Magical Focus in Fear HoH:MC p.28
Minor Magical Focus in Legendary Creatures HoH:MC p.37
Minor Magical Focus in Wolves/Ghosts/Courage/Aging HoH:MC p.37
Major Magical Focus in illusions HoH:MC p.88
Major Magical Focus with Familiars, which applies to all spells and laboratory activities that affect familiars, either their own or those belonging to other magi. HoH:MC p.89
Major Magical Focus with Faerie HoH:MC p.96
Major Magical Focus with charms HoH:MC p.100
Major Magical Focus in counterspells HoH:MC p.102
Major Magical Focus with the wilderness, affecting natural materials unworked by human hands. HoH:MC p.106
Minor Magical Focus (Swords) HoH:MC p.121
Minor Magical Focus (Wooden Wands) - HoH:MC p.122
Minor Magical Focus with Storms HoH:TL p.143
Minor Magical Focus (soldiers) HoH:S p.17
Major Magical Focus with fire and flames HoH:S p.26
Minor Magical Focus Cold HoH:S p.28
Minor Magical Focus Darkness HoH:S p.28
Major Magical Focus Birds, Weather, Necromancy HoH:S p.29
Minor Magical Focus Poisonous insects, snakes, canines, teeth, acid, poison, boiling oil, lightning, poisonous gases, animated corpses, human bones, thorns, vines, plant toxins, blades, molten metal, stalagmites/stalactites HoH:S p.29
Major Magical Focus in Spirits HoH:S p.95
Minor Magical Focus in either disease, wounds, or aging. HoH:S p.96
Minor Magical Focus (in Mentem for spirits/ghosts, or Corpus for animated dead) HoH:S p.115
Minor Magical Focus (Healing) HoH:S p.123
Minor Magical Focus with Exotic Magic. This focus applies whenever the magus uses Hermetic magic to investigate, change, control or destroy non-Hermetic magic. It only applies to magic, not to the innate supernatural powers of creatures with Might, and only applies to powers derived from the Magic realm. HoH:S p.125
Minor Magical Focus (jinn). This focus applies to only jinn, not to other spiritual creatures of the Magic, Faerie, and Infernal realms. HoH:S p.133
Minor Magical Focus (Mentem – an emotion) HoH:S p.137
Major Magical Focus (transforming humans into animals) MoH p.6
Minor Magical Focus (fertility) MoH p.13
Major Magical Focus (trees) MoH p.33
Minor Magical Focus (arms and armor) MoH p.48
Minor Magical Focus (clothing) MoH p.52
Major Magical Focus (organs) MoH p.79
Major Magical Focus (cloth) MoH p.96
Major Magical Focus (Unnatural Fires) MoH p.106
Major Magical Focus (Glamour) MoH p.118
Minor Magical Focus: darkness MoH p.127
Minor Magical Focus (music) MoH p.136
Major Magical Focus (Auras) LoH p.26
Minor Magical Focus Commanding spirits which covers those Rego (Form) spells and effects which command insubstantial spirits, ghosts, elementals and the like. Only spells which give commands or instructions are included in the Focus, and no Technique requisites are permitted, but spirits of any Form are included. LoH p.49
Major Magical Focus Spirit magic which covers all spells and effects which affect insubstantial spirits, ghosts, elementals and the like, using Rego (Form). Requisites are allowed, as are spells of other Techniques designed with a Rego requisite, so long as they affect insubstantial spirits of any Form. LoH p.49
Minor Magical Focus (vines) LoH p.80
Minor Magical Focus in Emotions GotF p.40
Minor Magical Focus (Dispelling) for all destructive spells used against supernatural beings GotF p.59
Minor Magical Focus (Deception) GotF p.73
Major Magical Focus (Bodies of water) GotF p.96
Major Magical Focus (controlling human beings) F&F p.70
Minor Magical Focus with Fear or Obedience F&F p.122
Major Magical Focus volcanoes HP p.24
Minor Magical Focus ash, fire elementals, lava, volcanic fumes, or volcanic rock HP p.24
Major Magical Focus with ships benefits the magus with any effects enchanted into his magical vessels HP p.55. See errata.
Major Magical Focus (Sign or Planet) TMRE p.37
Minor Magical Focus (House) TMRE p.37
Major Magical Focus: Gemstones TMRE p.132
Major Magical Focus (Books) TME p.34
Minor Magical Focus in Magical Transportation TME p.115
Minor Magical Focus (Turmoil) TL&TL p.45
Minor Magical Focus (infirmity) TL&TL p.84
Minor Magical Focus (Shape-shifting) TL&TL p.121

Ancient Magic p.17 "All shamans have a personal familiar spirit, usually an ancestor spirit associated with their homeland that follows them and aids them."

Hedge Magic p.39 "Help in the Kitchen A folk witch cannot normally be assisted in her work by other characters. There are two exceptions: a folk witch’s familiar can assist her, and folk witches may assist one another during a witch’s sabbat (see later in this chapter)."

RoP:TI p.53 "The famuli are amongst the least of the False Gods; they are the demonic familiars given to some diabolists in return for service"

TC&tC p.41 "To establish the khadim bond, the sahir generates a Realm Lore Lab Total no
less than the spirit’s Might Score, using the Realm Lore associated with the spirit and his highest Solomonic art. He mustalso spend a number of form-appropriate pawns of vis equal to the magnitude of the spirit’s Might Score. This gives the sahir the same number of Bond Points (equal to the magnitude of the spirit’s Might Score) to spend on the following benefits

The Celtic Druids have Tortoiseshell Lineage
This lineage of cats has been associated with Celtic spellcasters since before the formation of the Order.

The Egyptians have Black Lineage
The Black Lineage of cats is descended from the Founder Jerbiton’s familiar, a prince of the Egyptian cats, descended from the great queens of ancient Bubastis.

The Vitkir can for a bond with animals via E, Ehwaz Rune
The target receives a bonus or penalty equal to the magnitude of the effect to all rolls that involve trust and loyalty between two individuals, creating a bond similar to that of horse and rider. This is similar to the effects of the True Friend Virtue.

Half TaltĂłs bind their spiritual weapons - The half taltĂłs may affect spirits with his personal armaments. These are usually a sword or whip, with a smaller weapon for emergencies. These are physical weapons with a spiritual nature.

Nightwalkers & SleepWalkers can have a Hamr - The hamr may vanish as the character dies. Or the hamr may remain on the battlefield until the battle is over, fulfilling the ghost’s last wish. Most hamr are able to remain in the world only until the flesh of their decaying body falls from the bones. But occasionally the hamr remains on Earth indefinitely, single-mindedly seeking out those who killed the magician. Nightwalkers seems to represent a dozen hedge tradition that can take the Mamr virtue.

Gruagach have Fetches - The fetch is a magical spirit that is an aspect of the character’s personality and an extension of his soul.

Holy traditions have it easy as they do not need Vis - Level 4: Bind a supernatural creature to the terms of a contract. (Invocation) Create a temporary holy connection to a person or thing within range of this effect. (Purity)

Muses - A&A p.129 Muses are supernatural entities from the four realms that seek prominent artists to promote their fortune. Once a supernatural creature becomes a character’s muse, a supernatural bond is created between the two.

Gwiber - RoP:F p.70 A human who has shared milk with a gwiber does not normally acquire Faerie Blood from this contact, but does gain the ability to understand the language of animals (Animal Ken Virtue). Further, the bond between the gwiber and human manifests as the Faerie Friend Flaw, and the milk-brother is often the only human who can approach the gwiber safely.

Homunculi Wizards RoP:F p.118 The person to whom a homunculus is bound effectively has a faerie version of The Gift. He can learn Supernatural Abilities, and even become opened to the Hermetic Arts

Faerie Bonding RoP:F p.132 If the Bonding succeeds, the summoner forges a special connection between himself and the faerie, or between the faerie and something he is touching. This bond acts as an Arcane Connection between the faerie and the bearer for as long as it endures. Through this bond, the bearer gains access to one of the following effects, chosen by the summoner at the time the bond is formed

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It's a good list.

Some of your notes are odd. For example:

Look at GotF p.59-60. There is nothing to indicate it will work with Agony of the Beast against an animal with Might. Meanwhile, it does work with Wind of Mundane Silence.

The erratum for HP p.55 makes it vague if this applies to any effects in a ship or not.

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Thanks

Not my notes. All of it should be copy/paste from the book. Might not be contiguous text but it should be nearby.

Ya.... agreed. There was a discussion I believe that was resolved by Mr. Chart that leaned toward applying only for effects that Target the Ship such as making the ship bigger/smaller/invisible/etc. but not making it cast fireballs/allow it to make other things invisible/etc.

Basically the same as any other focus except when it applies to a familiar such as a familiar bond effect where it makes the magus invisible for a Wolf focus while the Familiar is a Wolf. Familiar bonds being already restricted to effects that only affect the Familiar/Magi, I assume for game balance, they allow all invested effects to benefit from the focus only for the bond effects.

I think, as per RAW, you could make a ship/Familiar bond to cast fireballs & benefit from the Magical focus by making it a "Gain an ability to" guideline which is a MuVi(TeFo) +1 Mag effect. Since it as addl requirements and is one magnitude higher than the direct TeFo effect and could require a duration to keep the ability going, having the focus apply is reasonable.

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Oh, yes!
Even someone like me, strongly against a focus in swords applying to enchanting a sword to cast fireballs, fully approves of it applying to an effect that transforms a sword into a fireball-casting-sword.

However ... where are you getting that giving a sword the ability to cast Pilum of Fire should be a MuVi(CrIg) 25 effect? First of all, the level feels lowish. Second, it seems to me Terram should be involved somewhere, while Vim probably should not.

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Pray tell, where does this guideline come from? Or are you talking about a guideline invented from original research?

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See below. Two ways to grant a magical ability.

Using the MuMe guideline can simplify to :

  1. Take the Original spell Te/Fo: CrIg fireball
  2. Add Muto Rq (free) : In order to Grant Ability
  3. Add Form Rq of the thing you want to grant the ability to (+1 Mag): say Mentem for typical Magi or Terram for a Sword (Need to add another +2 as the sword is Metal)
  4. Add Duration as you probably want to grant the ability for longer than momentary

Using the MuAn guideline is simply a Base 25 +1 mag per form requisite

CoreBook MuMe Guidelines:

  • Muto Mentem Guidelines (p. 150): Replace the final introductory paragraph with: "Granting a magical sense to multiple people has a base level one magnitude higher than granting it to one person using Intellego, and has requisites of Intellego and the appropriate Form. The necessary increases to Range and Target increase the level further."
  • Muto Animal Level 25: Radically change an animal in an unnatural way (for example, give a
    horse wings). Give an animal a “magical” ability, such as the ability to breathe fire (requires a requisite for the ability). properties it could not naturally acquire...

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Hmm well.

The MuMe stuff is just about how one should change the parameters of an Intellego T:Vision/Smell/Taste... spell that grants a magical sense to an Individual, so as to make it grant the same magical sense to a Group. I do not think this really applies here.

The MuAn stuff is more pertinent, and I would allow a MuTe effect to apply to a metal sword. But the level calculation is off. The Base Level is 25, and this assumes the effect granted is sufficiently low level; I'd say being able to cast one Pilum of Fire (CrIg Level 20) is ok. But then, to make an enchanted sword capable of transforming itself into a Pilum-casting sword, you'd need a MuTe(CrIg) effect of Base Level 25 (R:Per, D:Mom add no magnitudes, nor do the CrIg requisites because they are necessary). So, if your magical focus is in swords, now it can apply. However, compared to enchanting a Pilum of Fire into your sword, you are now
a) paying an extra magnitude
b) dealing with two extra Arts as requisites
c) I'd say spending an extra round to incinerate enemies: the first round you Momentarily turn the sword into a Pilum-casting sword, the second round the sword can toss the actual Pilum.

You could instead grant the ability to cast Pilum of Fire of several rounds ... but not only that would require at least an extra magnitude for Duration, I'd also boost the Base Level because being able to cast more than one Pilum is obviously something "bigger" (I'd slap the equivalent modifier as a T:Group). For example, enchanting into a sword an effect that transforms it into a Pilum-casting sword for D:Diam (with Pilum of Fire being cast up to 10 times during that Duration), would be a Level 40 effect.

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Neither of those guidelines let you take a sword and transform it to into a fireball throwing sword. Typical swords neither have a mind nor cunning nor an animal body to start with on applying a guideline, regardless of whether you throw in requisites.

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Guidelines are just that .. guidelines. We can create new guidelines and use existing one's to inspire new ones. Hermetic limites are what dictates what is in or out of the Hermetic tool box.

Does giving an object the ability to cast fireballs require it to have some sort of mind or cunning? Maybe but even that would just require another awakening effect or an extra "awakening" magnitude.

It is true that the Sword would be gaining the ability to cast fireballs so it might need some help to "want" to cast the effect. Maybe a ReVi effect or a ReTe to trigger the fireball effect. Might also just be defined in the MuTe(CrIg) effect. Could be defined as the Sword gains not only the ability to cast fireballs but also a will to burn and obey its master (caster).

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Yes, you're free to make up your own house rule at the table, but you also said:

And it definitely isn't RAW, nor is it even a reasonable interpretation of RAW. Guidelines aren't things you can fudge as you want. They're the building blocks of hermetic spells. Some arts talk to each other - Mentem to Animal and Animal to Corpus are good examples of arts where guidelines can serve as inspiration when the applicable art doesn't have an equivalent that you can use. However, you can't simply port over a guideline from Animal to Terram and Vim and call it RAW.

Typically, I consider identifying the proper guideline for what you want to do to be step 1 of spell design. If you can't find an applicable guideline in the art you would like to use, chances are you either got the arts wrong, or you need at least some original research time to figure out the parameters for your intended effect. There isn't a gain an ability guideline in Muto Vim, and it's incredibly far from how hermetic theory works right now. Could you use Muto Vim to make an item spit a fireball? Well, I guess you could do something very weird, like use the "Totally change a spell" guideline to mess up an existing item enchantment in such a way that the enchantment now throws fireball instead of doing what it was intended to do... but it would be such an incredibly complex effect that one wonders why anyone would invent such an option, unless they've got a very niche combination of restrictive flaws and magical focus all leaning towards this "well, there's no way I can do a Pilum of fire effect under Creo Ignem" approach.

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Although the whole suggestion is bonkers, for this we actually do have an example of a totally changed spell in the RAW: Experimentation, Modified Effect on an 11+
"The actual effect of your experiment is changed completely, save that the relevant Technique and Form remain unchanged, and the level remains similiar."

I think this dog won't fly no matter how much you Warp it.

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I disagree. In fact, a lot of post-core books introduced new guidelines that require no specific Virtues, research etc. to acquire. These should not be considered as "errata" of the corebook; they are just additional guidance about how to adjudicate those effects.

As WilliamEx states, the (Hermetic) Limits of Magic tell you what's possible and what's not. Original research might be needed for really weird stuff beyond what was conceived in the corebook (e.g. entering the Magic Realm), or if the SG or the books say there's a particular "hole" in Hermetic Magic Theory (e.g. Muto Imaginem by itlself apparently can't make species "solid", see HoH:S).

But by default, if it does not break the Limits of Magic, Hermetic Magic can do it, particularly if neatly fits within the Hermetic Arts framework (turn a sword into a pulsating sword that vomits forth a fireball every round = MuTe(CrIg)). It just might be difficult to eyeball the "right" Level. But the final Level of any effect, even one obtained by the application of a published guideline, should always be checked to see if it "feels right" and adjusted accordingly if not, anyway. This is RAW!

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I'm not talking about experimenting, but the Muto Vim guideline. if it helps you to read it in full:

"Totally change a spell of less than or equal to half the (level + 1 magnitude) of the Vim spell. This may change the Technique, Form, or both of the target spell, and needs no requisites for those Arts. The Vim spell affects the structure of the spell, not the things that the spell targets. A change in power of up to two magnitudes is a total change. Any greater change requires either Creo or Perdo to create more magical energy or destroy some."

Introducing new rules is normal in a RPG game. I don't see it as an errata, just what it is: a supplement.

Agree to disagree. I mean, sure, there are instances where you need to adjudicate a level, melting silver, for example. But that doesn't mean hermetic magic can neatly do everything that isn't covered by an hermetic limit either. And while turning metal into fire sounds fine, using Muto(Creo) to grant an item the ability to spit fire without affecting its own composition (which is what muto is about) doesn't sounds fine to me. YSMV.

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You want to be careful here. The Familiar bond is not an exception. If you have to say "except," then you know something is off. However, the erratum made it so there isn't one clear-cut answer for the ship. You just need an answer that either allows or disallows it for a ship while being consistent with the Familiar bond. RAW allows for either, so long as the Familiar bond isn't an exception.

You know the core book showed this to be incorrect, right? Since the core book we have had effects without listed guidelines, and the core book says we can modify those spells (e.g. change R/D/T), which means we can use their guidelines even though we can't find their guidelines listed anywhere.

Well, not quite. As you pointed out, there are "holes." The clearest cases are things that require Mysteries even though they don't really break any of the limits, where Hermetic Magic can't do it but a modification to Hermetic magic can.

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Did you compare it to this listing? Just posting in case anyone wants to dig deeper.

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Which ones are you thinking of?

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One that comes to mind is Ward the Cruel Touch of Pestilence (HoH:S, p.100). It's an obviously reasonable thing for CrCo to do, though you could argue about the exact numbers.

More common is a supplement with a new spell and a new guideline in a box alongside it. See, for example, Gentle Caress of Asclepius (HoH:S, p.100), since you're already on that page.

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Well, Disenchant later got a guideline to demonstrate the point quite perfectly. Originally there was none, but you could change Range or Target if you wanted just fine. In other words, there was no guideline listed, but there was one you could use, and later they wrote out exactly that guideline explicitly for everyone to see it more clearly.

One that springs to mind immediately and still has no formally listed base is Wielding the Invisible Sling.

There are others.

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Hmm. Looking at the list ... I find it strange that Disguise and Illusions should each be a Major Focus, while Deception (arguably broader than both) should be a Minor one.

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No doubt. It would be very useful if someone dug deeper and compiled a list with commentaries, and maybe some hierarchical sorting.