So I have a player in my saga who is making my head hurt and I need to figure out if he’s doing something correctly. His concept is that he is a MuVi specialist and can cast a spell and with MuVi change it into anything. I’m going to sit down and ask him to explain it to me again and go over guidelines but I wanted to ask a couple of basic questions here first.
Question 1: Can he MuVi onto a spontaneously casted spell? The guidelines in the basic book say no but the book is 20+ years old so who knows where things have been changed.
Question 2: Can he spontaneously cast the MuVi spell onto a formulaically cast spell?
Question 3: Can he change the form/technique with MuVi. Can he cast a PeAu spell and change it into a CrIg spell?
Question 4: Does he need a separate spell for each form/technique combo? Does he need a MuVi spell designed for CrIg spells and a different one for PeAu?
If he can literally change any spell into any other spell with one casting of a MuVi spell, why isn’t every magus in the order doing this? Why would I bother becoming a CrIg specialist when I can be an EVERYTHING specialist with MuVi?
No. Full stop. It is explicit in the rule and no errata changed it.
Yes. Just don’t forget the Int + Conc vs 9 required for affecting their own spell.
Yes. But:
he cannot change the parameter of the spell (Range/Duration/Target), it is done by specific spells (Wizard’s Boost, Wizard’s Reach), which are both FORM specific;
he can change target but not TARGET (ie: a spell is targeting a given person, the spell can be targeting another human, but cannot target a group or part of a person);
a spell does one thing, and one thing only: the magi uses the guideline to significantly change a spell, it will be one single change: ie, the same spell cannot change the target AND increase the magnitude. More over, if it is a formulaic MuVi, the spell must described the change, the magi cannot have a generic “MuVi 30 to make significant change to a spell”, it will be “Change the target of a spell” or “Boost the magnitude by one”;
calculating the final level of the MuVi is tricky: the base level must match the guideline criteria, then you need to had range modifier (+1 Touch for the magi’s spell, +2 Voice to affect other’s spell). For example to totally change a spell (like turning a PeAq level 20 into a CrIg 20), the base level needs to be 35. Since 35 +1 magnitude = 40, half of it is 20, required to totally change a spell. Then you need to add +2 to affect somebody else spell, so the final MuVi become 45 to change a PeAq into a CrIg (assuming that all the other parameters are compatible with the effect).
Unclear, however it can be argued because increasing range and duration are form specific, other spell should be form specific.
Side comment striclty forbid Metamagic as a major/minor focus if you don’t want it to become too much out of hand. When you need a specific spell level 45 to affect somebody else spell of level 20, it is manageable, but combined with a focus, that’s a lot less fun.
You can also require the magi to penetrate to affect somebody else spell. Also, once a spell is in effect, the spell ceases to exist and cannot be affected anymore by MuVi spell, so the timing of the magi needs to be perfect.
PS: I too hate metamagic, mostly because it turns story to a crawl as it takes forever calculation and arguing to decide what can be done. If unfun, then heavily restricted.
Question 1: No. In the Muto Vim Guidelines box (ArM p.159), the second paragraph clearly list as a restriction that they cannot be cast on spontaneous spells. (It is a HARD limit for game balance)
Question 2: Yes, but they must be cast at the same time and require a concentration roll. Highly difficult to get sufficient levels for major changes though.
Question 3: Yes, however it is not as lose or easy as you imply. These use the ‘Totally Change’ Guideline, which only affect spells of Half their Level +1 Mag (modified by RDT). Those are high enough that for anything beyond simple spells it is unlikely he will be able to Spont. And for Formulaic spells the actual effect has to be described as how it changes the target spell. That would be something like “make it the opposite”, not “change any spell into any other spell” or even “change any spell into CrIg”. To get a specific effect, an appropriate target spell and a MuVi spell that manipulates it in a clearly defined way are required. Even with Spont, he must describe how his Spont manipulated the base spell to get the effect he wanted. And don’t let him try to slight of hand or bullshit, force him to clearly explain how.
Question 4: You need specific spells for each Form unless the spell is target Form agnostic. Check the published spells in the Core book if you need help figuring out the difference.