I am a relatively new member, though I have had my ArM5 book for a while. In ArM5 it doesn't depict anything relating to water or liquids of any sort in the Labratory section, so my question is this:
What would be the material bonus for water or liquid?
A simple question I am sure, but I was jsut curious. Thank you for any help you can provide.
I don't think it would have one. A Shape & Material bonus represents either an Affinity (X symbolises Y), a Similarity (X looks like Y), or an Occult Virtue (X is connected to Y through the stars' influence). Water doesn't resonate through any of these things, in my opinion. It is usually the thing that is resonated to. The terms of Affinity, etc. are defined in Art & Academe.
Mark
From the top of my head and without checking any rules, you could make water give a bonus to Muto since it is supple. it is cold and moist as well, so it can give some bonuses to cold and moist spells, whatever they are.
Cheers,
Xavi
Any material should give a bonus to affecting it's own kind - like wood gives a bonus on living & dead wood... So water should give a bonus to affecting water, and probably Aquam in general.
As I recall some mythological/folklore properties of water are Chaos, Healing, Plant and Animal Fertility and Divination.
Wow, I thought I'd get a unified answer, but you guys gave me a lot to work with, thanks you.
Well, I would certainly say any food/drink provides something like:
+5 Affect anyone who ingests it.
Ooo, I like that one.
given the balance of existing bonus scores between "commonly available" (low) vs "hard to find" (high) and of "widespread utility" (low) vs "narrow specialised use" (high),
I would say "+5 to all enchanted ingested substances" is too high...
On the other hand, that's a very specific condition which is only really useful for one-shot devices like potions. Whilst +5 might be a little on the high side, I don't see +4 being unreasonable for food/drink, since that effectively removes all other possible S&M bonuses unless you've an excellent chef who can cook a meal shaped like a crown. Food and drink also have shelf-lives which would further require a bit more inventiveness on the part of the magus and a little more flavour for the saga.