Ave Sodales,
I'm a bit confused with the minor magical focus thing.
Let's say Siusan of Jerrbiton has the "Minor Magical Focus : Snakes" Virtue.
Could you indicate if the following spells qualify, and if no, why ?
Ave Sodales,
I'm a bit confused with the minor magical focus thing.
Let's say Siusan of Jerrbiton has the "Minor Magical Focus : Snakes" Virtue.
Could you indicate if the following spells qualify, and if no, why ?
First, good formatting!
Mask of the Serpentkin: I would definitely call this within the focus.
Venom of the Cobra: A bit borderline, actually. It feels like you added the Animal requisite explicitly to have a snake appear and bite someone. While that isn't enough in my mind to have the mMF valid, if you explicitly summon snake-venom, I would allow the mMF to apply. As a secondary note, your spell is just creating the poison, injecting it into someone is more difficult.
Fear of the Crawling Phantasm: It's a paralysis spell. ReCo. The Animal requisite doesn't actually do anything. if you're paralyzing them with their fear, that would be ReMe, not ReCo - and again, Animal isn't a requisite.
Soft Whispers of the Scaled Mistress: This spell has a whole lot of possible things I'd complain about, but to answer the primary question - Giving someone the mind of a snake definitely would count for the focus. I think this is a ReMe(An) rather than ReCo(An).
Hi,
You can take Snakes as a Minor Focus, but you can also take it as a Major Focus.
If you take it as a Major Focus, everything you have works.
But if you take it as a Minor Focus, then it might be a good idea to be far more restrictive, and only the first spell qualifies, and only maybe. There is no snake involved, after all.
Consider orange. The color. Minor focus, right?
So orange is my sigil (but even if it's not), which means that my orange BoAF gets the focus, and the orange tower I create also does, and the orange familiar I bind too, and the orange clouds, and my transformation into an orange dragon, and my version of Frosty Breath of the Spoken Lie that creates an orange frosty breath....
Anyway,
Ken
Venom of the Cobra: A bit borderline, actually. It feels like you added the Animal requisite explicitly to have a snake appear and bite someone. While that isn't enough in my mind to have the mMF valid, if you explicitly summon snake-venom, I would allow the mMF to apply. As a secondary note, your spell is just creating the poison, injecting it into someone is more difficult.
I'm using the Aquam baseline "General : +(Level) damages" with the idea it is a snakes' corrosive saliva, but it seems a bit odd indeed...
If you take it as a Major Focus, everything you have works.
But if you take it as a Minor Focus, then it might be a good idea to be far more restrictive [...].
Now you make me sad ! I wanna have a charismatic Maga with snake-related spells, but she cannot have both Gentle Gift and Major Magical Focus (as both are Hermetic Major virtues).
Well, back to the books, then...
What I deduce for such a minor focus (Snakes):
-Any CrAn, ReAn, PeAn, InAn or MuAn may qualify, as long as it conceirns snakes and snakes only ;
-Any Muto spell which changes anything/anyone into a snake or grant a snake shape may qualify ;
-Any other spell doesn't qualify ; even if the Form:Animal is a prerequisite.
only the first spell qualifies, and only maybe. There is no snake involved, after all
If the head of the target became that of a snake, would it be enough for the Minor Magical Focus to apply ? Would it require an extra magnitude then ?
Hi,
Now you make me sad !
Oh, no! Don't want to do that.
I wanna have a charismatic Maga with snake-related spells, but she cannot have both Gentle Gift and Major Magical Focus (as both are Hermetic Major virtues).
Well, back to the books, then...
Yeah, RAW, you cannot. Depending on the saga, if no one else wanted to the GG niche, I'd consider allowing it.
What I deduce for such a minor focus (Snakes):
-Any CrAn, ReAn, PeAn, InAn or MuAn may qualify, as long as it conceirns snakes and snakes only ;
-Any Muto spell which changes anything/anyone into a snake or grant a snake shape may qualify ;
-Any other spell doesn't qualify ; even if the Form:Animal is a prerequisite.
That's about how I see it.
So you can talk with snakes, control snakes, kill snakes, create snakes, detect snakes, turn someone into a snake, turn someone's hair or arms into snakes, even do something like:
InMe(Mu,Re,An) Slithery Serpents of Spoken Lies
Every lie spoken by the target turns into a snake that attacks the speaker.
You can probably turn your head into a snake's head too, sure. Or a snake's head into a human head.
At least, that's how I see it.
If the head of the target became that of a snake, would it be enough for the Minor Magical Focus to apply ? Would it require an extra magnitude then ?
I'd allow it. Maybe, although the extra magnitude should not depend on whether the focus applies, but on guidelines and complexity.
In a more general vein, when trying to decide whether an intention is too large for either a Major or Minor Focus, I find it useful to consider what isn't covered. By deciding what my focus doesn't cover even though it might seem to, I outline some boundaries that I can get agreement about beforehand, and I better understand the limits of the character, which tends to improve characters. (Of course, as a player I also want to avoid these boundaries, because MOAR IS BETTER... /2)
Anyway,
Ken