Magical Focus

The topic of Longevity Rituals got me thinking. A magical focus in Vis. Has this been banned? I get sweaty just thinking about it......

A magic focus in Vis won't help you with longevity rituals. Only with spells and enchantments intended to directly affect vis, such as InVi to identify and quantify vis, and ReVi to move and transfer it. It wouldn't increase the amount of vis you could use in other activities. As such, I would call it merely a Minor Focus.

and extracting more vis.

That too :smiley:
And destroying vis as well I suppose.

I wasn't worried about the amount of vis used, I was thinking of having my lowest art score doubled any time I made a magic item that required vis. And, if I understand it right, I would get to double my lowest art score when creating the Longevity Ritual, making it much easier for me to hit the MT*2 cap. Then there's ritual spells. I'm thinking a Major Magic Focus. Otherwise you could come out the gate with Mercurian Magic + Magic focus, vis, and just run amok as the most popular Verd. in town.

Get Hermetic Alchemy for that.

Nope. Neither of those activities are focused on vis. They may use vis, but the focus would not aply. Only spells and effects that directly involve vis as the subject of the effect.
And what's more, the amount of vis you can use in the lab is limited by Magic Theory, not an Art. So even if you were inventing a magic item that measures vis, the focus would not allow you to use more pawns because your lowest Art is added twice, not your magic theory score.

Magical focus has been seen as "more open" then that. I'm thinking of the forum thread where everyone seemed to agree that someone with a focus in silver would get it when enchanting a silver lamp. No mention was made that the lamp had any silver specific effects. As to the second part, I understand that. Twice the lower art is more important to Verd., who after all, have access to Elder Runes. I still think the first Verd. to incorporate Elder Runes into Longevity Rituals is going to be Rich Rich Rich.

How would the magus engrave potions with runes. Or smoke?

Sometimes. But your 'vis focus' surely isn't broaded.

Learn Touch of Midas to be rich.

Hi,

Of course, if a focus in vis applies to all enchanted items, it is safe to rule that it is beyond the scope of a major virtue, sort of like a focus in stuff or magic.

Anyway,

Ken

Ah, Birbin, the Second use of Elder Runes is a straight change in the amount of vis used making an magic item. The seasonal limit becomes Magic Theory * Philosophiae. Doesn't cover Families or Longevity Rituals, because they are not magic items. But it would seem to be a minor breakthrough to have Elder Runes (the MT*Philo part) work on Longevity Rituals. That's what I'm talking about. At to "touch of Midas", money isn't wealth in the Order....

Do it if your SG allows.

Which magus can say he is wealthy?

One who is aware enough that he already is.

Thats what (Minor) Magical Focus [Aging] is for.
Straight from the RAW examples.

It would however cover working with Vis, not using it.
So you would get the bonus when extracting Vis, but not while enchanting items, unless the item was one specifically meant to interact with Vis.

Exactly what I was trying to say, but you said it better :smiley:

I don't know. Focus with fire would cover using it. I would be much happier with a fiat ban, like with "lab work".

Try to understand why the rules say this or that and not only their letters.

Lol, thats got to be a first.

Not the same thing.
Or are you telling me the Focus would cover a magi trying to blow out a candle from 10 m away, with a megafon, no spells or magic involved?
Or if the magi sits by a fire to warm himself up, does a focus then also cover that?

If he makes an item creating fire to warm himself by, THEN it applies, if he enchants that megafon with a PeIg effect to blow out the candle THEN it applies.

Interacting with or using fire(or trying to) isnt the same as working with it.

This is a moot question: You can't have a focus in an art, nor in a laboratory activity.

Thus, you could have a focus in stone, which is part of Terram, but not in Terram. Same thing with Vis.

I remember it, too, save that, IIRC, it was far from being as clear cut, although this point of view was certainly expressed.

This is a difficult one. At the core, a focus in stone allows you to affect stone with your magic, nothing else, and certainly not to enchant CrIg spells in a stone.
This all went to hell with the introduction of a focus in Wands in HoH: MC. It threw a lot of confusion in people's heads, mine included, and provided a staging ground for what I consider to be all sorts of nonsense.

IIRC, in this topic, a kind of compromise was found, but I can't recall it.

yup!

Vis is not a Art or Lab activity. And, of course, Magical foci can overlap, so the fact that there is a Magical focus in Aging is not really relevant. I don't think a broad interpretation of Magical Foci is a big problem, I like the flavor they add. It's just, thinking about it, that Vis is a singular ubiquitous thing that touches on most everything. Thus my hope for a fiat veto or addition to errata. I can see it coming up in game, and I like to avoid arguments when I can (and have them on the forums where they belong).