We tried to find some examples of props for ceremonial casting, but ended up writing our owns. Please rate them! Any suggestion for lesser or stronger ones, for more story potential is highly welcomed.
Our understanding is that you should use 2 props simultaneously as the proper Te+Fo combination of the spell you cast by ceremony.
All of them in this list are medium sized props.
|Creo|3. Belt woven from the umbilical cord of 7 pair of twins.|
|Muto|3. Vial full of mercury - made from fine venetian glass in electrum frame.|
|Intellego|3. Opal magnifying glass in silver frame.|
|Perdo|3. Skull of a basilisk - eyes carved from basalt, 2 canines made/covered by red gold.|
|Rego|3. Master blueprint of a cathedral/royal palace.|
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|Animal|3. Whip with magnetite grip braided from the leather ribbons of a Bull of Virtue defeated by the user of prop.|
|Aquam|3. Arm sized statue of Poseidon carved from a kraken's tooth and gilded with mercury.|
|Auram|3. Spring fog from the highest mountaintop kept in a bottle with platinum frame.|
|Corpus|3. An old skull burried without Curch ceremony, prepared with eyes from garnet, teeth from amber, muffled in cloths used to clean a baby born en caul.|
|Herbam|3. Head sized metal (alloy of gold, silver and copper 1/3) pot filled with mixed soil from Magic, Faerie and Divine forests.|
|Ignem|3. Hurricane lamp carved from basalt from an active vulcano.|
|Imaginem|3. Wand made from the crown of a defeated faerie king.|
|Mentem|3. Helmet made from human skull and a walnut from Faerie forest used together.|
|Terram|3. Mason chisel made by a magical smith from silver bartered from faeries.|
|Vim|3. Arm-sized rowen wand with carved symbols of the 12 Houses painted with Ink of Hermes.|
I dig these. There are a couple of books you could check out, which I've picked up for research purposes:
Sorcerer's Screed is some crazy stuff, so is The Sorcerer's Handbook-- they're good for inspirational materials. The Shape and Material list isn't a bad starting point either. IMO, you're looking symbolic objects which match the intent.
What about something like mercury encased in a tear shaped receptacle (Hermes' Tear?), using "+3 arts and sciences" from the mercury for the Item of Quality bonus (maybe increased up to +5 if the A&A rules for improving the S/M bonus are used) as a potential item for both ceremonial casting kits, as well as something that can provide a bonus to ligatures if included in it?
I generally got the impression that the props weren't so much highly specialized items, so much as things that were arranged in ways suitable to the spell being cast.
For example, salt or sand used to trace shapes on the ground (pentacle, circle, square, triangle) to contain or focus magical energies. Large candles, maybe of unusual color, materials or purity. Crystals, containers, incense, herbs, scented oils. Charcoal or chalk to make markings. Carved staves driven into the ground to form boundaries.
The exact set up matters just as much as the props themselves, which is why it takes 15 minutes per magnitude.
As you can read in HoH:S p. 58-59. props with casting bonus are objects of mystical significance and they are permanent objects for ceremonial casting (besides of crystals, herbs, etc ), not only "ingredients".
All of these examples seem way over the top for props to me- the book gives examples such as a ruby necklace and a coral broach, though it also includes a wand made from the crown of a fairy king and a cat familiar. To me Muto could simply be a silver pin in the shape of a butterfly, for example, instead of some ostentatious design of mercury and glass that would absolutely stand out anywhere you took it.
Hm, yes, I also have a doubt about these props being a little bit of overkill.
Your Muto example of a silver pin in a shape of butterfly is a nice one for a +1 small size prop. IIRC the wand in the HoH:S is a medium size prop with a bonus of +3. Also the cat is medium size.
Based on the text in HoH:S my understanding is that you need the proper Te+Fo prop combination - a ruby necklace and a coral broach is a combination for CrIg. So you need props combined - one is not enough.
And yes, the size and conspicuousness is a problem if you want to use bigger props than the ones with +1 bonus.
one prop is one art, you don't need one for each but it is more efficient.
"Medium sized props are the ones magi can create or acquire most easily" suggests that medium props should be easier than small props to acquire, not incredibly complicated.
No. The listed bonuses are for using props. Plural. You likely need a prop for each Art you are using, but you get the bonus for using props, not per prop.
Am I going blind, or are there a few important pieces of information missing from the section in HoH:S on using props with ceremonial casting?
We are told using props slow down ceremonial casting - but nowhere does it say by how much?
Props give a bonus - but a bonus to what? Casting Score? Casting Total?
Am I going blind, or are there a few important pieces of information missing from the section in HoH:S on using props with ceremonial casting?
We are told using props slow down ceremonial casting - but nowhere does it say by how much?
Props give a bonus - but a bonus to what? Casting Score? Casting Total?
If anything as stated using props has zero effect on speed (other than that one vague sentence) and combined with a prepared space accelerates casting via utilizing the space and props. So ... that seems to be a fragment perhaps of a different version of how those mechanics were intended to function that was left in over multiple edits, but that is absolutely speculation.
I would agree with this. You have to have sufficient props in order to utilize props with the ceremony in question. Once this is achieved you get a bonus based on the extent of your props, but not for each prop itself etc.