After solving the issue of giving claws of steel to my wolf (project on hold for lack of sufficient penetration), I would like to make my familiar able to fly, aka "Run in the Air".
If I go only the Rego Animal way (using Rego Corpus guideline Base 15: move quickly the target), my understanding is that it is still me in control of my wolf movements. So he might pretend running but it has not bearing on where he is going, I am still in control and I am in charge of concentration and finesse when necessary.
So to grant him full control of his flying ability, I have to use Muto guideline:
MuAn25: Give an animal a "magical" ability, such as the ability to breathe fire (requires a requisite for the ability) (p118 core rule).
Following this guideline, I came to this spell:
Mu(Re)An 40: Sky runner; Touch; Conc.
Give the target the ability to fly at the speed of a running horse.
Base: 25, +1 touch, +1Conc, +1 Rego requisit.
I am not sure about the Rego requisit adding 5 level since it is a requirement to make the spell work and not an additional feature.
Which skill would use the animal ? Regular Athletic ? Finesse (he can learn it since he is an intelligent wolf) ?
Obviously, my idea is to enchant the bond and add the +5 effect modifier to maintain the concentration.
Take a look at The Unimpeded Traveler on p.60 of RoP:M. You'll have to adjust to put it in the familiar bond and bump it up a magnitude for the speed you want, but that should do.
In this case, it is a "innate ability" or a spell that is cast by the horse, so the horse control the effect. Since I am looking at giving this ability to my wolf, I am looking at a Mu(Re)An 35 (Base 25 - (taking the highest value between the MuAn and ReAn effect) - +1 for touch, +1 Con).
The crux of my problem is: "If it affects only the familiar, it is under the control of the maga". It means two things:
unless I made it a permanent effect, my mage has to activate this ability for my wolf to be under its effect,
the mage remains in control of the spell, so if it is purely a ReAn, he will be directing where the wolf goes, whereas if it is a Mu(Re)An, the mage triggers it, but the wolf control afterwards his movement.
At least, this is how I understand the rule of invested powers in the bond.
Your interpretation is correct. But check one of the example powers -- it's permanent, but D:Conc, 2x/day. There is a sentence along the lines of "the Magi needs to concentrate to maintain the effect on Sunrise/Sunset, but can reactivate it once per day if she "forgets"". EDIT: just checked, it's with the example power "Speech".
Perhaps making a "permanent" effect for your wolf is cheaper, and then you'll just need to activate it with your Parma, so to speak.
My real problem with the original is the +1 Rego requisite. This Rego effect is exactly the ability being given. The Rego bit isn't some extra thing added to the ability granted by the effect. The example I presented shows that the basic ability is just a Rego effect. So, since the Rego requisite doesn't add anything to the effect, just makes it function properly, it should not add a magnitude. An example of this is MuCo(An) to turn into an animal: you don't add a magnitude for the requisite because it's what the MuCo effect is doing, not something extra.
Yes, Passing the Reins is a move I like with stuff. Both effects will be lower level, most importantly the Rego effect. I like keeping levels down to help avoid Warping. Of course, avoiding Warping is unlikely to matter with a Familiar, but it might.
If you design the effect for your familiar (which you will), there should be no warping at all, given that permanent effects do not incur warping in the bond.
Ah, that brings up an issue I'd missed. Are you able to do "Passing the Reins of (Form)" within the Familiar bond at all? Maybe if you do it differently? "Passing the Reins of (Form)" itself would be illegal since it targets the other spell instead of the familiar, but perhaps you could roll it into a ReAn effect as Re(Mu)An(Vi), probably adding one magnitude as a result.
Good point. This means the level won't matter, since you'd certainly do so. Only long-term use might matter.
I'd say the MuVi passing the reins in a familiar bond should have the same limitations as when it might be used in an enchanted device - the MuVi power can only target another power in the Bond.
I'd assumed the reason it wouldn't work was a limitation of investing effects in the Familiar bond to balance the bonuses. The reason I'd assumed that is
Since the other spell is neither the maga(us) nor the familiar, it doesn't seem to be a valid target.
Also, consider this: You allow such a MuVi effect in the bond. Another player then says they want to use a MuVi effect on an effect in the bond to redirect the effect to someone else, neither the maga(us) nor the familiar.
Fair points, I think you might be right.
a PeVi effect could certainly bring down an effect which is active and was activated from the bond though, I don't think is too much of a stretch to allow MuVi effects in the bond. I take your point and can understand that ruling.
I'd not allow the MuVi effect to switch to a target outside the bond as it's not the Magus or familiar. I do love a good ArM Slippery slope.
Considering the area of expertise of my beast mage, the solution I will take and is canon:
-Mu(Re)An 40 Sky runner (Base 25, +1 touch, +2 Sun, +1 extra speed), +3 env. triggers, +2 (6 uses/d) =45
Grants the ability to an animal to fly at the speed of a running horse.
The environmental trigger make sure that the effect is constant, the extra uses allow the magus to recast it a few times in case it is cancelled - falling from high altitude is bad.
It will take a couple season for my magus to enchant it and his wolf will be very happy.
That way, I avoided the complication of Passing the Reign, discussion if it can be enchanted in the bond (which I believe is not possible since it triggers an effect and not either the Wolf or the magus).
Definitely run this by your SG because it's only questionably canon. That effect certainly only targets the Familiar and at R: Touch. However, it seems to fail here:
Additionally, vis-a-vis this rule, you can look at effects such as Speech which confirm the control:
If an invested effect affects both of them, there is no rule about control, and so having the environment trigger it does not violate any rules. Otherwise Speech could just be set the same way to avoid the need for maintaining the ability and issues of forgetting.