RoP:I - maleficia : "victim" parameter

Games Discussion Ars Magica
1

Hello,
Page 105-106 in RoP tI, there is a maleficium "these shall give their power and strength unto the beast".
It gives +1 (max 0) to strength of the target and -1 (max -1) to a victim.

Base is 5 , touch is +1.
But there is a "+2 victim" parameter which i don't understand: the box about debauchery/consumption say :
+1 if victim is animal
+2 if plant.

So, if the title of the maleficium mean the victim could be an animal, the parameter would be +1 and not +2. Besides, the description of the maleficium implies the victim is human (=> 0 paramater).

The maleficium would be 10 (if following the description) or 15 (if following his name), but why 20?

I can't find another maleficium with "victim" paramater, so i can't corrobore the calculation i do, but it seems logical.

Can someone explain this? is it a mistake?

2

Without looking, is it just that it has target Individual and that's been given some flavor by calling it "victim"?

3

Wouldn't Target: Individual be worth +0 though? (Individual being the "default" target setting),

4

The best explanation I can find is that it can affect a human, a beast or a plant, thus warranting the extra magnitudes. Not very conclusive, but here it is.

5

The explanation as to what victim is as a parameter is in the text box on page 105, although it why is two magnitudes is not detailed.

6

It means that particular maleficium can be cast with a person, animal, or living plant as the victim. It's like a Terram spell having additional magnitudes to affect metal.

7

I understand this. But if so, why the description box and the title of the spell don't speak about it? It's really more interesting to affect plants than other humans...

If you cast a maleficium to heal an human, killing another in the same event or if you cast a maleficium to heal an human and killing some plants, it's not really the same consequences :smiley:

8

I'm honestly not sure. It might have been changed during edits, maybe. The way the description is written it only talks about involving another person, so maybe we decided later that we needed a Level 20 effect and wanted to make that one more impressive. Or we needed to do that with at least one of them, maybe. All of the sample maleficia are pretty terse, but I suspect we were over our word counts. Sorry about that. :slight_smile:

9

Without having read the Malefica in detail, perhaps the "victim" type has to match the "target" type - so killing a plant is enough to heal a different plant, but healing a human requires the death of another human?

That's a fair bit of extra flexibility (a spell that can heal plants, animals and humans), so I could understand the magnitude gain,

Of course, healing a human by destroying every bit of plant life within 2000 paces might disadvantage you at times too...

10

Then, because the main implicite question was: "do the guidelines with "victim and beneficiary" needs a +2 for "group" equivalent (because 2 "targets") called "victime"", the answer seems to be "No".

I like the maleficia more than before :smiley:

Edit: Gareth, it seems the extra magnitude is for human => human (0), human => animal (+1), human => plant (+2).

i think the main target remains human because maleficium are inherently linked to the humanity (soul) and ability to sin.

As I see them, the maleficia are a way for a demonist to say: "I can heal you, my fellow king, but you understand, those powers need sacrifice, and i'll need your son ability to see the light... So I really can't help you, and i'll pray for your soul, because no father would sacrifice his son for his own sake...

Oh are you really sure of your point?

You are?

So be it, my king. you are the ruler, who am I to contradict your potent words? I'll do what you ask"

'grin'