I have long pondered the MuCo effect from Bear's Endurance, and wondered whether other effects might be possible. Using the same base levels as in MuCo guidelines for increasing Toughness. Perhaps a spell to increase a character's load, themed with the Ox or Elephant? Or an increase to one's ability to deal damage?
I loathe the idea of stat boost spells, for reasons I'd like to rant about, but won't.
I'm happiest with spells that enchant some sort of tool that give a bonus, but I think a direct bonus for a specific activity is generally fine.
I think it'd be fun, and thematically appropriate for ME, to put the animal-names to use: Add an An requisite, but make the bonuses greater because - to quote one of my son's favorite shows - every Creature has it's Power.
OTOH, dealing with An and animals is often a lot of trouble. Why not just find a renowned singer, murder them by forcing thistle seeds down their throat, condense their blood into a ruby-like gem that's installed in a gold broach shaped like a goldfinch and enchanted with MuCo to give a +1 to Performance: Singing rolls? Keep things simple.
I would not allow MuCo/Me to add to ability rolls. I don't think it's beyond the possible limits of magic, but it seems too big a deal. Given Soak can be increased, I would also allow increases to weapon damage, load, running or swimming speed, jumping. Maybe a specified kind of Perception roll, even though that involves an Ability value.
I would not allow Initiative increases, except maybe a very small amount for a big spell: it's just too important. Unlike most of the other bonuses, it's directly useful to a mage in a fight. (I realise Soak is useful too, but usually magi should be trying to solve problems before they need a Soak roll.)
The exact bonus for a given guideline might well vary depending on what is being increased. Soak and weapon damage both have quite big ranges naturally, suggesting that a bonus to other numbers might be smaller.
I think for one simple types of statistic rolls, such as soak, load, seeing things at a distance, it is reasonable. But... for enhancing combat skills, not so much. Swinging a sword isn't just strength, or dexterity, but how the skill interacts with the statistic. If you are suddenly stonger, you won't hit correctly. If you increase dexterity, it will throw off the power you put behind the blow. (this is the rationalization, to keep it from getting out of hand). So, I would probably allow it for areas where skill isn't a huge factor, and it is mostly straight stats, like a subdivision of stamina (soak), perception (seeing at a distance), or even combinations of two stats like load. But, once skill is involved, no.
I think "Spell that gives +1/+2/+3 to an ability or stat" is doable but also not super interesting without some sort of "And here's WHY it does that."
Eg, Bear's Fortitude isn't giving you a bonus abstractly, it's literally changing your flesh to be more like a bear (famously hard to hurt.) Eyes of the Cat lets you see in the dark because cats can do that, based on giving a Minor Ability. A spell to grant bonus damage is fine but I'd much rather
I Kill With My Bear Hands: This spell gives turns your arms and hands into the forepaws of a bear, so you hit way harder (+X damage to unarmed strikes), but also can't use tools for the duration
The Camel's Blessing: Your back swells and you gain the hunchback trait, but also as long as you have a drink once a day, you cannot be dehydrated (which grants +X to Survival on long journeys)
Cum Cervo Curro: Transforms the character's legs into that of a deer, in such a way that they have the land speed of a stag (+X to Athletics while Sprinting). A creature for whom this is a new experience must make Quickness + Concentration of X+6 to remain standing.
Hugin's Chatter: While trying to solve a problem, the character's internal monologue is joined by a second voice, a particularly canny raven, offering pointers and helping make connections. This grants (+X to some ability modified by INT) while trying to solve a puzzle or make sense of a conundrum. Eg, it might assist with an intrigue roll, or Magic Theory.
I think the Base Level could be somewhere in the 2-5 range depending on the thing you're doing, +1 Magnitude per +1 bonus. But I think it should require some sort of symbolic change (physical or not) in relation to the natural world/natural sciences, otherwise it's beyond the flavor of the Hermetic Framework.
I think that animal Qualities would be a good place to look for examples of what Muto Corpus could grant: Good Jumper, Skilled Climber, Survive Without Water, etc.. Not necessarily requiring an Animal requisite, either: Mimicry seems like it should be something humans would be able to do natively. They're mostly at the same effectiveness as Minor Virtues (some are Minor Virtues, like Keen Eyesight) and now even include Eyes of the Bat whose spell version is about the equivalent level you'd want.
Might need to restrict the Qualities that grant extra Fatigue levels, which could be unbalancing with magi.
I'd kind of hate it if all MuCo spells required an An requisite, but I may be being influenced by my mage having 15 more points of Co than An. I have been giving some thought to trying to invent a L10 version of Eyes of the Cat with no An requisite. That doesn't seem unreasonable.
But I do agree that spells should have some in-world explanation for what they are doing other than improving one of the numbers on your character sheet. Gift of the Bear's Fortitude (which has no requisite despite its name) does this, talking about how it thickens your skin, and adds flavour by giving you a minor penalty as a side effect. That kind of side effect is a good model for other similar spells, I think.
I've always thought Eyes of the Cat have the animal requisite because it is cool thematically. The Muto Corpus guidelines say "Level 2 - Change someone to give them a minor ability". Nightvision is a minor ability.
Yep. If there wasn't already an Eyes of the Cat spell, I would think MuCo 5 (no requisite) would let you see in the dark. But my headcanon is that someone early on showed that putting in an An requisite made it a bit easier (and everyone thought that was cool), hence the L10 version without. But it could perfectly well be "no-one has ever bothered with the L5 no requisite version, because there are texts for Eyes of the Cat all over the place". If most people have enough Animal, who cares about optimising out the requisite?
Thanks all. Some excellent grist for the mill. When the mill is again able to deal with grist, not simply posing gristy questions, I'll make use of this.
Apologies for going a bit off topic. Animal ideas.
Wings of an Eagle
Level 35 MuCo
R: Per D:Sun T:Ind
Req: Animal
Giant Wings grow from the caster's back, feathers cover the caster's body, and the caster becomes lighter. The caster maintains human form. Due to the lightness of this new form, the caster is considered 2 size categories smaller for damage purposes.
Base:20, +1 complexity, sun +2.
Gills of the fish MuCo
L5
R:Self, Duration: Sun T:ind
The target can breathe water, but not air. This ability can be suppressed by concentrating, and the spell can be cancelled by the caster at will.
(Base 2, +2 sun, +1 complexity (ability to turn the spell off)
The Shepherd's Sheep
L 20 MuMe
Range: Voice Dur: ring Tar: Group
R: voice
The group becomes willing to accept reasonable requests by the caster, just like a sheep follows a shepherd commands. This is represented by a +6 to all social rolls which are reasonable.
(base 3, +2 voice, +2 group, +1 ring)