Mundane items and warping

So - do mundane items 'warp'?

Many things seem to become magical over time. Labs form covenants take on magical effects and personality traits. Stuff in magical auras is more attractive, grass more lush etc... so here is an example.

Magi cast a spell on some piece of gear EVERY DAY. Such as making their doublet stouter or sword sharper. It wouldnt be long if they were a person before they would become tainted by that magic.

Any reason that should not happen to a mundane item?

I realise for those of you living in +8 auras that could be a mechanical nightmare as everything you have starts to warp but for those of us who dont want covenfolk with d4 heads each and live somehwere less wierd this is less of a problem

What do people think?

A maga og mine who uses telekinesis instead of hands for everything has got a lab in which the items have started to float around and show some weird intelligence.

In general I concur that warping in mundane items is often overlooked for convenience's sake. But starting this will lead to a whole chain of problems:

A covenant that eats wheat that was magically protected against pests, magically stored and so on (to take just one food example), does it warp the people who eat it?

I guess that depends if the magic kills pests or makes the wheat resilient but you know, the dangers of GM food - I wouldnt be fddling my my foodstuffs on a routine basis if I could help it.

There's a fine line between making magic seem uncanny and making it seem analogous to radiation.

Unless there's a good thematic reason to play up the weirdness -- blood sacrifice to make the wheat grow, say -- I'd probably ignore the warping.

If you look at the covenant minor hook "Warping to a Pattern" (Covenants, p 11), it says that structures can become warped, and gives a example (presented as hearsay). Personally, I would say there is warping. On the other hand, I don't see it as that much of a problem. It takes 5 warping points to get a minor flaw, 25 more to get a second, and with 45 more you actually get a minor virtue; and those minor flaws don't really have any reason to be detrimental to the item's function. For normal objects, that just mean you might have to replace them a little more often, no biggie. For structures and objects that can't be replaced, you will have to live with a minor flaw that might be a problem.

Unless you are actually casting "powerful mystical effects" on your items on a regular basis, the warping (if any) would be slow in any case. In your examples, making a doublet stouter is probably not a powerful mystical effect, and if you cast every day you are probably looking at a Sun duration and probably not casting it every night as well. And if you don't wear the same doublet every day - even if you just miss one day - then technically the doublet isn't even under a constant mystical effect half the time and doesn't get warped. Or, for that matter, if you oversleep one day and are late casting the effect :smiley:. That goes for swords and laboratory equipment as well : it is hard work to put enough magic on them for enough time to warp them ! :slight_smile:

That leaves leaving the object in a powerful (6+) aura more than half the time. Frankly, if you choose to put your lab in such an aura, you should expect some consequences ! It should be noted that in this case all the objects will tend to pick up the same flaw(s) (Rulebook, p168, Effects of Warping), so that would add character to your lab :slight_smile:

I think that's exactly how it worked in previous editions, specifically.

5th ed doesn't prohibit it, the core rules just don't suggest it, commenting only on "characters" and "creatures" and "inhabitants", etc. But in a magical world, the distinction between people and animals, and then animals and plants, and then plants and objects, and back around again, often becomes blurry.

And "warping" doesn't mean something gets twisted - a powerful magical aura if full of things that are magically optimal - so things could simply become "better" forms of themselves. (This may not mean "better" for the job they were intended, but they'll look good!)

The drawbacks are, as you mention, that if everything warped at the same rate as characters things would soon get out of hand - but nothing says that objects have to warp as fast, nor as obviously. But sure - if it speaks to you and your Troupe, go for it!

Pretty much along the lines of what I was thinking. I was planning to give some key equipment that has been used for a very long time which is routinely the recipient of spells strat to take on a personality. More for flavour than anything else. Just to add more character to the game rather than 'special benefits'.

What dangers? GM food is harmless, that's what testing is for ;D

So far as I know, warped food does not cause warping, but warped food MIGHT cause other problems. If they're producing unfamiliar toxins, or playing host to spirits, or whatever.

Hi all, one of my first posts, but I can say that in my troupe that we do this very thing. I have a Flambeau that is paranoid as all get out and thinks that magi that he has slighted in the past will be striding to him to attack all the time. Thus every morning and night that he is not in his covenant (which is actually quite a bit for a magus since he is not a lab rat) he casts the spell "Doublet of Impenetrable Silk" we decided that it was about quarter time and after about three years (between his three favorite robes) started to taken on properties that were quite strange. First when ever you would attempt to fold them so as to put them into a traveling container, they would strangely pop out straight again. Also when ever you tried to wash them water would strangely bead and the fabric would not hold the water. Needless to say the robes were a pain to travel with and after about three months held such stains and stench that they made this particular magi impossible to be around! (He insisted on still waring them as they were his favorite you know!) The covenants resident Jerbiton finally had to pay the grog that did the laundry to "lose" them to get rid of the stench of the garments!

Thus with things like this you add a great RP element and you follow the rules on warping. I personally suggest that you do things like this as it does highlight the non-natural aspect of magic. Of course your mileage may very, and it really depends on how your troupe views these matters. Of course if you are living in a aura that is 6+ (either your lucky beyond belief, or your cursed beyond belief I can't quite decide on the matter) then all your items should have to be replaced pretty frequently! As well as having the grogs and companions living outside the aura!

In our sagas items do not warp, only living creatures - other than in exceptional circumstances. Multiple botches, miracles (not "plain" divine methods and powers), very rare and special auras (the ones that produce warping to a theme). That's the sort of stuff that can produce item warping. That's it.

We think we are following the RAW. A more fundamental rationale for doing things this way is that otherwise things might get easily out of hand in terms of weirdness - making the game too complex and too full of "wondrous items" to allow any such item to feel special. Of course, we never tried walking the other path, so we might well be wrong.

I will believe GM food is harmless when 10 generations have been eating it without side effects. Radiation was harmless once too - until we realised its effects take a long time to be noticed in small doses.

That sounds like a story seed. A magus, known for his absurd and crazy ideas, claims that eating warped food is a health hazard. The local quaesitor is from the covenant of MountSanto that is famous for trading its food creation spells/items to the other covenants (including the players' covenant). He is reluctant to start an investigation, and when he does, the crazy magus claims that the investigation is not impartial. He is now supported by some high-ranking magi from the tribunal.
While accusations are flying, documents appear in which a magus from MountSanto (now in Twilight) voices concerns. There are claims that Mountsanto do not use their own food production spells. Then an apprentice dies from food poinsoning.
Is it all an attempt to frame Mountsanto, or is it a sinister conspiracy by the ruthless covenant - who is trying to poison the other magi?

nice idea. I might just ues that one day.

"WARPO" - the little pill that you take with a meal of warped food, prevents those socially embarrassing after-effects (you know what we mean!)