I was thinking in a Major Magical Focus in Sight Range Spells for an archery related magus. Is that too powerful?
It is extremely broad. In any conceivable situation where you want to cast a spell at something that the character can see, they could apply their focus. I also think that you can use magic to see anything.
Sarcastic understatement follows, I preemptively apologize for its unkindnes: I think that the word focus implies a somewhat narrower scope than "every conceievable thing".
For an archery related magus, you're probably better off with a Beneficial Circumstances (while holding a bow) for a +3 to casting in what for you is a very common circumstance but for magi in general is uncommon
Beneficial Circumstances is a great idea!
I was already thinking in beneficial circumstances "while holding a bow". Thanks for the suggestion.
I see how sight ranged spells is too wide. And what about "spells that affect (empower?) vision"?
There is a minor magical focus on self transformation (subtype of spells of corpus, mentem and perhaps animal, if you are a shapechanger). This will be broader in terms of the arts that includes, and it should be a major magical focus for that, but also limits the type of enhancement (only vision related ones).
I see spells like these in this focus:
CLEAR SIGHT OF THE NAIAD InAq5
R: Per, D: Mom, T: Vision
You can see as clearly through water as through air, for a single moment.
(Base 1, +4 Vision)
TRUE SIGHT OF THE AIR InAu15
R: Per, D: Sun, T: Vision
Lets you see clearly through all manner of obfuscation in the air nearby, including smoke, fog, and dust, even if the obfuscation is magical.
(Base 1, +2 Sun, +4 Vision)
SIGHT OF THE TRUE FORM InCo Gen
R: Per, D: Mom, T: Vision
You see the true, original form of any person whose form has been changed or masked. This spell can see through mundane masks and disguises at level 10, and can see through the effects of other spells that are equal to or lower than the level of this spell.
(Variable base)
THE EYE OF THE SAGE InCo 30
R: Arc, D: Conc, T: Ind
Req: Imaginem
Lets you see a specific person and what is within one pace of that person. The image is clear enough to allow reading.
(Base 4, +4 Arc, +1 Conc, +1 requisite)
EYES OF THE CAT InCo5
R: Touch, D: Sun, T: Ind
Req: Animal
The target gains the eyes of a cat, which allow him or her to see in near darkness (but not in absolute darkness, such as a lightless sub- terranean cavern).
(Base 2, +1 Touch, +2 Sun, requisite free)
VISION OF HEAT’S LIGHT InIg20
R: Per, D: Sun, T: Vision
Allows you to see the heat of objects that are of human body temperature or hotter. Excellent for use in the dark, but it doesn’t give true vision. You can see well enough to use a weapon, even a missile weapon, without penalty, but recognizing people is very difficult.
(Base 2, +2 Sun, +4 Vision)
DISCERN THE IMAGES OF TRUTH AND FALSEHOOD InIm Gen
R: Per, D: Conc, T: Vision
You can tell whether an image has been created or altered through a spell, seeing both the original and false images in the case of alterations. Illusions caused by a spell with a level higher than five lower than the level of this spell are not discerned. If you botch the roll, you mistake illusions for the real thing and reality for illusion. Your discernment is not lim- ited to visual illusions, although you can only tell that a sound is illusory if you are looking at the apparent source.
(Base effect, +1 Conc)
PRYING EYES InIm 5
R: Touch, D: Conc, T: Room
You can see inside a room, as long as you can touch one of its walls. If the room is unlit or poorly lit, you can only see as much as you could if you were inside, but magical enhancements of your senses do apply. You may change your viewpoint within the room throughout the duration of the spell.
(Base 1, +1 Touch, +1 Conc, +2 Room)
DISCERN OWN ILLUSIONS InIm15
R: Per, D: Sun, T: Vision
This spell makes your own illusions largely transparent, but still discernible. (Base 1, +2 Sun, +4 Vision)
EYES OF THE EAGLE InIm25
R: Per, D: Sun, T: Vision
You see distant things clearly. No matter how far away something is, you can make out details as if it were only a foot or so from you. Things do not all appear to be a foot away; you can simply make out details as well as if they were. You can still judge distance accurately; in fact, more accurately than normal, to within an inch or so at a distance of several miles, since you can see as clearly as if you were judging distance a foot away.
(Base 3, +2 Sun, +4 Vision)
EYES OF THE TREACHEROUS TERRAIN InTe15
R: Per, D: Conc, T: Vision
You can tell intuitively if any natural terrain you see is treacherous, such as if a rock field is prone to sliding.
(Base 2, +1 Conc, +4 Vision)
THE MINER’S KEEN EYE InTe20
R: Per, D: Conc, T: Vision
You can see any one type of mineral (gold, diamond, sand), specified at the time of casting, through up to 3 paces of intervening material. You have a good idea of how much is there and how pure it is, if appropriate.
(Base 2, +1 Conc, +4 Vision, +1 see through intervening material)
TRACKS OF THE FAERIE GLOW InTe25
R: Per, D: Conc, T: Vision
Causes even faintly perceptible tracks of a specific being to glow with a faint magic light, making them stand out when you are within 30 paces of them. The glow provides a bonus to Tracking rolls, which depends on the relationship between the target being tracked and the terrain. If the target is magically related to the terrain, +2; native to the terrain, +4; neutral to the terrain, +6; inimical to the terrain, +8. Tracking at night without a light source doubles the bonus. The more faint the tracks are, the more dimly they glow, so the storyguide may also modify the bonus based on the length of time since the target passed.
(Base 4, +1 Conc, +4 Vision)
PIERCING THE FAERIE VEIL InVi20
R: Per, D: Conc, T: Vision.
This spell allows the caster to see through the boundaries of regiones, and therefore divine the path to the next level (more details about regiones are given on page 189). There are separate but related spells for Divine, Magical and Infernal regiones.
(Base 3, +1 Conc, +4 Vision)
SIGHT OF THE ACTIVE MAGICS InVi40
R: Per, D: Conc, T: Vision
You can see spells as “auras” around things
and people. The color of the aura indicates the Form of the spell working on a subject, the color matching the appropriate one described in Sense the Nature of Vis. The Technique of a spell working on the subject is recognized by the aura’s shape, not color. Creo and Rego are both very orderly auras. Muto is constantly shifting, and Intellego usually is as well, but more slowly. A Perdo aura is usually in fragments. Thus, a magus with both Endurance of the Berserkers and The Invisible Eye Revealed upon him has a very controlled, orderly aura of deep red around his or her entire body, and the magus’s eyes are surrounded with slowly shifting auras of a silvery hue. You should be warned: Imaginem or Vim spells may be used to disguise auras. Also note that this spell will detect the residues of some spells.
(Base 5, +1 Conc, +4 Vision, +2 Techniques and Forms)
spells that affect vision would include all intelligo spells with vision target, in addition to a number of other possible spells (those creating darkness or obscurement if the broadest definition is used, some muto corpus otherwise). I think you are getting there but need a more focused description of what you want to have this bonus for.
I agree with Erik above that Sight Ranged would be too broad. The Virtue states "This area should be smaller than a single Art, but may be spread over several Arts..." Sight is one of the five default ranges, so therefore Sight Range is arguably 20% of all possible spells.
On the other hand, "spells that affect vision" sounds OK to me.
All Intellego Vision spells would count as would a few other things like Eyes of the Cat.
It would not include things like manipulating light levels or placing barriers to hide objects from view.
I might reduce it to spells that affect the magus' vision - restricting spells to modify the vison of others.
Did you forget range eye? I find it to be the easiest to overlook.
Yes!!
Yes, I wondered about that too. Certainly a possibility.
On the other hand, there doesn't seem to be any particular in-character reason why a focus couldn't work on both the caster and others. Nor does there really seem to be any nebulous "game balance" issues that arise.
So, I would be happy with it unrestricted. But restricted to "caster only" is reasonable too.
Thanks for all the replies. You certainly have helped me to improve and narrow it down.