I think the wording is a bit confusing with both "size are a part of the Target parameter" and "changing the size does not change the Target parameter", but I think I understand what is meant and that looks fine.
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How about simplly:
Is there a reason, other than carving out space for altering the size of AotH, for āchanging the size does not alter the target parameterā? Seems to me the hard-to-find rule that AotH can only be altered with original research a) needs to be mentioned with the spell and b) can have that carve out there without confusing things with a general statement about how āchanging the size does not alter the target parameter.ā
One reason is similar spells.
Intuitively, Conjuring the BIGGER Mystic Tower should be similar to Conjuring the Mystic Tower. Because it clearly has a different, albeit closely related effect, if you assume that +2 size alters the Target parameter, it's no longer similar.
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Yes, it would be because it would be the same effect at different Target. I agree with explicitly saying size is part of target I just donāt think the general rule around size not altering target is useful since it really is only an issue with AotH.
A lot of people, myself included, do not consider conjuring a bigger albeit similar building "the same effect". So it might work for you, but not for many of us.
That is my understanding of why they are explicitly placing it within the target parameter. So that doing the same thing, just affecting a larger amount of it, is similar under the āsame effect at different RDTs.ā Or do you think it can be both a change to the effect of the spell and a change to the RDT parameters?
By the book, creating a sheep is closely related to creating a cow. There's no way to say that they are the same effect, differing only in size. However, while you can create a sheep as a base Ind of Animal, you can't create a cow as a base Ind of Animal. So to move from sheep to cow you need not only to change the effect, but also to throw in +1 magnitude for size. If you do not disqualify that +1 from changing the Target parameter, the two spells cannot be similar; while for many of us they should intuitively be similar. Does that make sense?
Yes, but the larger tower made out of a single stone is not like going from sheep to cow, it is more like making a sheep but a larger one which I would see as a similar spell.
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Then maybe that was a poor example. But I hope the sheep-and-cow one has convinced you about the rationale behind the provision "changing the size does not alter the target parameterā.
I donāt see making two different animals as the same effect. To take a more stark example, would making a wolf be the same effect, or even a closely related one, as making a sheep? IIRC they are both size -1.
In fact, they are not the same effect.
But they can be closely related effects (e.g. if both are land animals, by ArM5 p.101).
So two spells creating different land animals can be similar if and only if they have the same RDT.
This is possible, for land animals of sufficiently different size, only if you rule that the size difference does not qualify as a change of T.
Otherwise, a spell creating a sheep could be similar to one creating a wolf, but not to one creating a cow.
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I concede my point but there needs to be much better wording or an example because that wording is confusing to me and seems irrelevant without specific examples of why it is necessary and I am a native English speaker.
EDIT: That said, while the cow and sheep might be similar I donāt think the wolf or another predator would be similar to a sheep.
I think a better example would be having a spell that makes 1 Wolf versus a spell that makes 1 bigger Wolf versus a spell that makes 10 wolves.
These are similar effects to me, with size being the main modifier.
Basically a spell that creates a Cabin and a spell that creates 10 cabins and a spell to create 100 cabins connected by a thin strip of stone are similar to each other despite the size differences.
That said, I could see some crossover in a spell that creates a Wolf and a spell that creates a Sheep because to me underlying Hermetic magic is the creo element of life creation. So maybe the boost in the roll for the spell study isn't as great as it might be for other effects, it still might be higher than zero.
Especially as one could create a spell that creates 'a mixed animal population' just like one could create 'a mixed tree population'.
How about this?
Each Target level includes all of the possible sizes of that target, even though the spell level changes. The size of the target can be manipulated in the same way as the Target parameter, whether through Virtues, MuVi, or other techniques, but these are all changes within the same type of Target.
(And please try not to discuss the similar spells problem in this thread ā we have another thread for that.)
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There were no objections to this wording, so I have incorporated it.
Thanks for all the discussion.
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This is the way groups I have been part of have played it, so I am happy with the change since it does not cause any effective changes from my experience and clarifies things for everyone.
I think that it works, but I would add a one line example for the sake of clarity.
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