If you care to retain an Aristotlean viewpoint, and I accept that not everyone does, then there is some information here: [url]Card & Board Games ARCHIVE & LINKS].
A blinding light is not lumen, but lux. That would not blind anyone beyond the limits of the circle, and would need to penetrate the MR of anyone within the circle.
I don't believe -- but am away from sources just now -- that heat is a form of species. Heat is a quality derived from an item's substance; basically the presence of corpuscles of elemental fire. As a fire burns, fire corpuscles escape into the air, imparting it in turn with the quality of heat. Those fire corpuscles are magical in the situation under discussion, and would remain in the ring. Anyone inside the ring with MR would not be warmed.
I reserve the right to change my opinion on this after consulting my Aristotle and Avicenna!
Edit: so now I've done a bit of digging, and my statement about heat above was not quite right, but correct in its conclusions. A body is affected by both the form (i.e. species) and matter of a sensible object, but the sense faculty is affected only by the species. In practical terms, if you touch a hot object you get burned by the matter and you feel the pain from the species. So heat is perceived by the tactile sense as species. The ring would not limit the radiation of species, so the magus would still feel the warmth, however he would not actually get warm, because the matter (fire corpuscles) are limited to the ring. The same would be true if he were inside the circle and the magic had insufficient Penetration for his Magic Resistance.
So when you are hit by a Pilum of Fire and your parma successfully resists its effect, you will still feel the heat of the flames (i.e. the species) even though they can't damage you.
Is it so hard to expect that magi who live in this world would know that they can resist the Pilum of Fire but still feel the heat? Could they not be prepared for this phenomenon during apprenticeship? Just because we the players are sometimes surprised by the ways Mythic Europe works doesn't mean that the characters would be surprised or unprepared.
Well, I know that a scarlet flash from a light bulb in the side of my vision will not harm me. However, I might still be quite annoyed and fail to concentrate in its presence. This would be a good way of why combat magi might build up concentration, though. This is what "preparedness" sounds like IMS
It is simpler to hand wave that. You are aware of the sensation of (false) heat, but if it does not penetrate, then it is neither damaging nor painfully distracting. You just get a sensation of magnitude and intensity. The as for a campfire, one generated and sustained with magic (and no penetration) will not warm a magus with parma, but a fire made of mundane tinder that is kindled with magic burns naturally and thus is warming.
I suppose Magica Heating would only work in an enclosed space then. The magic heat warms the walls and furnishings, and once so imbued they radiate their own natural heat.
And the rule is simple and direct. Use non-ruitual spells to gain a lab bonus increases warping &/or reduces safety. circle spell, even if only cast once, is a pulsating wild source of magical energy in flux. A ritual or enchanted item is "magically grounded", if you need an explanation (as if the very concept of magic doesn't require a healthy amount of suspension of disbelief in the first place).
A ring duration spell may not be cast regularly, but it's hard to say that the effect isn't regularly used, or the use of the effect isn't employed daily in the function of the lab.
The rule, is that there are disadvantages to non-Ritual spells. The rest of the section goes on to discuss those restrictions. There is no need to explicitly mention ring based spells that aren't rituals, period, full stop. Sure, a ring spell may not need to be cast repeatedly. Ring duration spells may (depending on interpretation) have a constant effect, but it isn't a ritual, and so therefore it should have some disadvantage.
I have to admit that I only scanned the thread after the first three pages, so someone may have discussed these points with more skill than I will.
But when I read the definition of ring duration, I see the following
If you are using Creo magic to create light, the thing created is the target. So, if light leaves the circle, the light doesn't just cease to exist, it ends the spell
Given that, how are you going to keep the light from leaving the circle and thus ending the spell? Put up walls to keep the light in? But are the walls inside the circle or outside the circle? Does the light fill the whole circle or just the very center? How are you going to get into the lab without opening the door?
There are ways around it, but they seem like they would be more trouble than they are worth if the rules are rigorously applied.
If it is not a major advantage or disadvantage either way, they why prohibit the use in the story. We are here to tell stories.
This is not even close to a game breaking concept. I respect the debate, but there is a point where YSMV becomes the valid outcome.
Something for nothing is the game breaking concept. Ring spells are not ritual spells, they should increase the warping score of the lab. Is it really tiring for a magus to cast Gleam of the Freshly Polished Glass three times in a season? It's a spell with moon duration, and provides a bonus to the lab, at the cost of warping.
"Something for nothing" is a cornerstone of this game.
Magi can get huge amounts of something for basically nothing, all through the existing rules (lumps of gold, crafting magic, mind control...). By all means go for it, but you're applying a "this should be harder" measure against one aspect of the game and ignoring a lot of others.
I completely disagree. Lumps of gold are acquired in exchange for vis. Craft magic has generally high finesse EF requirements to get into any sort of valuable work, not only that you have the underlying logistics relating to acquiring the raw materials, or vis rituals to make them. Mind control. Sure, I'll give you that. Except the levels for effective mind control are high, and a magus can't always stick around to make sure the stuff sticks, because, well, he does like to learn Arts and other stuff.
So no, I disagree with your assertion that I'm making one thing harder while ignoring a lot of other things that are, as you claim, easy. I disagree that they are easy. Certainly mind control is something well within the SG's realm to create mitigating factors outside the PCs control. The gold you made might violate a Peripheral Code ruling, and so on.
I do not understand how applying a rather straightforward rule as written is in any way making anything harder. It is a simple IF/THEN Logic statement. IF the spell is Non-Ritual, THEN increase the Warping score OR reduce the Safety score by one point.
Nothing complicated about it. Ring spells are nifty, but unless they re also Rituals,they create a Warping or Safety hazard. But you can make it complicated, if you choose. Contemplate the fictional metaphysics if you want, examine each and every sting of the marionette very closely until you are assured that you can believe it is real. Or you can apply straightforward If/Then logic and simplify the whole thing.
I am generally in favor of judging rules in favor of the player characters, and am even guilty of bending a few rules to create a favorable environment. But I do no feel in any way that there is anything stringent or a means of making some aspect "harder" if I choose to stick to the simple cut and dry rule from the book.
