After watching the movie Carrie tonight, I was toying with an idea for a new virtue... We already have virtues that conditionally boost magic by tapping into fatigue or health. But what about strong emotions? Let's say someone just hurt my true love, the love or the anger could boost my casting totals. All kinds of strong emotions might be appropriate: shame, joy, lust, envy, pride, fear, wrath, sadness/loss
I'm interested in any ideas on how the mechanics for that could work and be balanced as a minor/major hermetic virtue...
Myself, I guess I could see the virtue activated when a personality flaw is triggered... Perhaps reach some ease factor on a personality roll? Then add a flat amount to the casting total. Or, add some portion of the personality roll to the total. I'm not sure how to deal with non-personality flaw-related emotions though... even if they don't come often, they may be extremely strong at some point in a character's life.
Given the fickle nature of the human mind, I would not see this applying to lab totals, and probably not rituals/ceremonials. It would seem more appropriate for spontaneous magic, but depending on the magnitude of the bonus and frequency of triggering, formulaes could be included too.
If the magus gives in to raw emotion, additional botch dice might be appropriate as well...
ANy thoughts? Has that ever been explored?