New item for moderation

Games Discussion Ars Magica
1

For my archer magus i've come up with this. Pants against anything with magic resistance but a few of them should give most armies a headache.

Many Arrows
CrHe(Te, An)15
These arrows look like two strands of wood woven around each other in a spiral. Upon firing they burst into a cloud of 1000 arrows with feathers for fletching and sharp flint arrow heads. These arrows fly in roughly the same direction as the initial arrow but tend to spread out (as a group) making them most effective against large groups.
(base 3, +1 diam, +1 group, +2 size)

I figured they'd do a point or two less damage than a conventional arrow since they have flint heads (i was trying to keep the level low, metal arrowheads would knock it up to lvl 25). But still, against lightly armoured troops (i.e. most of them) it'd be lethal.

2

Nitpick: You'll need to up base to 5, for the CrAn fletching.

3

How you handling the attack roll? I'm assuming you're not rolling 1000 times :slight_smile:

4

Consider this...

Massed fire will always hit something.

I'd give them (targets within the area of effect, either single or as a group) a brawl defense roll, modified by range - the farther out you are, the less arrows are going to hit. The difference between attackers roll and defense is how many arrows hit. However, the modifier starts out in the negatives, and goes up three (-21,-18,-15, -12, -9, etc) each range increment. Yes, I know the attacker's roll is decreased by three every range increment as well.

The downside is ... You will, in all likelyhood, get hit. The upside is - you may be able to survive, since you'd get to soak each shot. This includes the guy unfortunate enough to stand at 3 paces, and say "Do your worst!" (He'll have enough shots to soak he'll regret it, though...)

Steve

5

I would not allow that in my sagas as it is now for couple of things... First, the created arrows would not fly by themselves, at least not without a Rego requisite. And second, I think you need Range better than Personal to create the arrows. Touch would suffice for creating them, but then combined with the flight, you would need Range to the target.

Now, you Might be able to circumvent the Rego requisite by actually firing the initial arrow somewhere above the actual target, and then just letting the newly created arrows to drop on from above...

Of course, Duration Momentary would be enough for those created arrows of yours to hit their target, do damage and then disappear. And Group actually adds +2 magnitudes, not +1.

6

Oh well, at least i can have metal arrowheads then.

And of course i'll need a rego Req.

Good point, i'd overlooked that. Touch it is.

I might make this into another kind of arrow, A kind of arrow storm. But with even more arrows.

Good point on the group target. I wondered about the duration and used diameter as it would certainly account for the flight time of the arrow, but given spells that chuck things, like the crystal dart I think you've probably got it right there.

Ok, new version of the spell

Many Arrows
CrHe(Te, An, Re) 30
These arrows look like two strands of wood woven around each other in a spiral. Upon firing they burst into a cloud of 1000 arrows with feathers for fletching and sharp flint arrow heads. These arrows fly in roughly the same direction as the initial arrow but tend to spread out (as a group) making them most effective against large groups.
(base 5 +1 touch, +2 group, +2 size)

So, double the level, but legal :slight_smile:

I think this is still in the area where my Verditius can make them as charged items. I envisage him having a large quiver full of enchanted arrows, one for every occasion.

7

Given that the guidelines for CrHe spell out quite specifically that finished and treated plant products can be achieved with a base 3 start, I would probably design the spell thusly:

Many Arrows
CrHe(An, Te, Re)
These arrows look like two strands of wood woven around each other in a spiral. Upon firing they burst into a cloud of 1000 arrows with feathers for fletching and sharp flint arrow heads. These arrows fly in roughly the same direction as the initial arrow but tend to spread out (as a group) making them most effective against large groups.

base 5 (already includes the An & Te requisites in the base) i.e base 3 +1 An, +1 Te (yes this would allow proper iron tips),
+2 Voice (perhaps even +3 sight, but Voice range minimum),
+2 group, +1 Rego effect, +2 size)

I would increase the range to Voice to account for range to target since the effect is not activated by touch nor can it achieve group damage once it reaches touch range to target.

The effect must be triggered whilst in flight and I would argue that the activation would needs be a shouted vocal command of some sort. Sight might be best to allow for maximum non-magical range to target but you are seeking economy so Voice is most reasonable compromise.

What you have then is at minimum a level 40 effect. Given that base individual for Herbam is a plant roughly one pace in each direction (and by example of other CrHe plant spells, roughly equivalent to 10 paces of plant matter) then I would calculate that each arrow could give rise to roughly 20 duplicates (i adhere to the true meaning of pace @1.46m) before the size modifier is brought in.

(a medieval arrow was roughly half the height of the arher or ~75 cm. 14.6m/.75 yields close enough to 20 arrow lengths of material)

+2 size modifier would be a factor 100 increase from that and thus approximately 2000 arrows from a single arrow. In which case you may not need the whole entwined dual arrow format at all (which wouldn't fly very well to be honest).

At level 40 with a single enchanted arrow you could have enough coverage to possibly route an entire mundane battalion. get off a few and you've likely routed if not slaughtered an entire brigade! lol.

Thats my mythic pound's worth anyway! :wink:

8

An idea: The activation triger could be when the arrow is fired from a bow and reach it's apex.

I don't see the An and Te requise costing one magnitude each. Both are necessary for the spell effect: most people understand an arrow to be made from wood, having a metal tip and an animal pen for fletching. Each don't really enhance the effect, they are just part of a normal arrow. (not for the animal requisite at the least !)

Idea: As to how the spell work, I would simply ask for a archery roll to strike the area (a bit like a targetting roll , but with the bow ability) and have the spell do damage on a area. This is resisted, of course.
Ex. effect: (bow ability + 5) damage on an area of a circle roughtly 30 paces in diameter.

The range could be "Special": how far your arrow can reach: +3 mag.

This bypass the fact that you need to see your target, but you actually need to use a bow and be proficient with it.

The same magic item without the need to use a bow could do less damage (only+5) and would require to see the target.

Hope this helped you :slight_smile:

9

Since the effect is applied to the enchanted item itself, you don't really need more than R:personal.
Further, I'm not sure that you'd really need the rego requisite, just have the created arrows come loose from the sides of the original arrow - that way they keep the same motion as the original arrow.

10

Not technically true...

For Creo effects, the range is the distance to where the item will be created. If it's personal, it won't do anything. You can't create a new arrow on top of the charged-item arrow.

11

Actually you would since the effect concerns more than simply creating a cluster of arrows, but rather a multiplicity that "fans out" (i.e. horizontally/above/below) whilst in flight. It is for that aspect you would neeg a Rego requisite to ensure wide area coverage for maximum group damage.

Without it you would achieve a rather massive but tightly massed cluster that might make pincushions of a handful of enemy targets but would leave the bulk of the opposing force unscathed.