Spell designing: Cartographers aid

Games Discussion Ars Magica
1

When planning a battle, maps are helpful things, but an illusion of the chosen battlefield would be even better.
If the battlefield has been inspected beforehand an easy lvl 5 Cr/Im spell (base 1, +2 voice, +1 concentration, +1 intricacy) should do the trick, and a Perception + Finesse roll would indicate how detailed and accurate the illusion of the battlefield is.

Now, if the battlefield is not inspected beforehand it's probably not a big problem if you're close to it. A low level In/Im could give the mage a birds eye view of the battlefield by using one sense (sight) at a distance, but if you're not able to get close to the battlefield things might be a little harder.

This is where I'm at a loss.
There are Cr/Im spells to create images, even an image of the magus hundreds of miles away from where he is (haunt of the living ghost) and there are In/Im to see what goes at far away places (summoning the distant image), but none for creating an image representing another place (think aerial photography). So what I'm trying to wrap my head around is a spell that creates a miniature illusion of an area without going from the memory of the caster. Haunt of the living ghost uses an Intellego requisite to enable the use of two senses in an otherwise normal Cr/Im spell.
Would a an Intellego requisite be enough?

Range would be where the Illusion appears, but should I increase target to include the whole area I want the illusion to depict?
Sense the feet that tread the earth uses +1 part and +3 size to collect information from a circular area with a diameter of 1 mile, would that do the trick for such a spell?

Any thoughts?

2

Though this spell may not be worthwhile it may satisfy the need until someone brilliant comes along and fixes it, heh heh.

What about:

The Farsighted Map of Agrippa

Re/Im Level 75 (Ritual)

This spell is used by a forward thinking general who collects a Arcane Connection to his battlefield and thus can capture the living image of the entire field on which to place his army. The spell was used by Roman Mercurian priest to the service of Rome's greatest generals. Yadda yadda

(base 15, R: Arc +4, D: Sun +2, T: Boundary +4, +2 complex moving images that change according to true image)

Yeah I know it is ridiculously huge and cumbersome but I like doing ridiculously big spells... but you could maybe do the same on a smaller scale?

The main example of the Illusion of the Misplaced Castle pg. 147 is still a Ritual but only Level 50. I think Rego would be the best bet.

I wonder would it be possible to cast the In/Im spell to "see" the battlefield for a Sun duration then simply cast the Cr/Im spell to show a "tapestry" of the field of battle?

So first Eyes of the Eagle pg 145 a level 25 In/Im

then The Accurate Tapestry of the Conflict

Cr/Im Level 10 (maybe at it's most complexity?)

Upon placing a hand, the spell creates on a table or any flat surface, a living and moving illusion of what the magus sees. This is limited to species of sight only but is only limited in detail by how keen the vision of the magus.

(base 1, R:Touch +1, D:Conc +1, T: Ind (or make it a round table and call it circle), +2 move at your command, (+1 optional to make it intricate, perhaps representing specific commanders or heroes or units that your mage sees and wishes to mark in some way))

I am in no way a great spell maker so there may be a plethora of mistakes here... sorry if all I did was muddy the waters. :smiley:

3

Illusion of the misplaced castle is a ritual because boundary is always ritual.

Your spell, IMO, would be more a in/Cr.
Rego is moving an image. Here, what you do, basically create an original area with no image - and the image, real size! - is reported to the place to which you have an arcane connection...

Putting the image of the plain in Transylvania where 2 armies are fighting in Paris is not something subtle; nor is it useful because the fighters in Transylvania will find themselves... blind. They don't have any more species to see! Talk about a killer spell.

Your spell should be a variation on the "haunt of the living ghost", but with the boundary target. Add a Muto requisite to reduce the species size, otherwise, you will still need a boundary to welcome the boundary species and, as a general, it is useful to have a "mini map" of what hapenn... which muto is perfectly able to do.

4

The easiest way to achieve the result is by the use of multiple spells.

The Eyes of the Eagle as suggested would not be helpful unless one is standing on a hill or some other point overlooking the battlefield as it allows the magus to see something at a distance as if he were standing close to it. In other words it works as a very good spyglass (not invented before 1608). To get the birds eye view a In/Im to use a sense from a distance does the trick and then something like Relay the vision of the magus from the net wizard's grimoire to create the illusionary representation of the battlefield.

For planning a battle it would certainly be more than sufficient as it would not need to be updated continuously, but if one wants a living map as ExarKun suggests it would tie up one magus who could probably use his powers to influence the battle more directly than just by providing the general with a nice little illusion of the battlefield (with tiny soldiers running around).

One could perhaps instill both spells in an item, say a helmet, and slap the helmet on a grog who then reports what he sees from his birds eye view by way of an illusion. Or just cast both spells on the grog with duration sun and hope that the battle is over before sunset. For added safety one could add a spell that lets the grog see thru illusions as well.

Haunt of the living ghost provides two way communication and that is a bit more than would be needed for the spell I'm trying to put together. I'd like to avoid the boundary target as making it a ritual makes the spell less useful in other situations. If you and your grogs are holed up in a inn it might be useful to be able to create an illusion of the inn and it's nearby streets to get an advance warning if some unfriendly people are closing in on your position. Making it a ritual means you'd be less inclined to use the spell since it would consume vis.

5

Can I ask, is this spell fixable or doable? I would say the spell creates a image of what the caster sees and the image continues to change as the species arrive to the caster's eyes.

I imagined the wizard putting his hand on a table top, while a Sun duration In/Im spell to look at the battle field had been cast before hand. The In/IM spell could be any of the ones created to look at basically anything. Small, larger, distant, arcane connection, dreams even... limitless actually. Then they cast the Accurate Tapestry Spell, it could be Ind or circle, however you would like to imagine it. Where they place their hand, then the image affecting only visual species is created and is constantly moving and is intricate. You would not actually be Regoing the image from the place, rather creating a duplicate yet smaller version.

I am just curious if this spell is actually valid?

[quote="Portianitor"]
The Accurate Tapestry of the Mind

Cr/Im Level 10 (maybe at it's most complexity?)

Upon placing a hand, the spell creates on a table or any flat surface, a living and moving illusion of what the magus sees. This is limited to species of sight only but is only limited in detail by how keen the vision of the magus.

(base 1, R:Touch +1, D:Conc +1, T: Ind (or make it a round table and call it circle), +2 move at your command, (+1 optional to make it intricate, perhaps representing specific commanders or heroes or units that your mage sees and wishes to mark in some way))

6

If you think about this from a species point of view, there should be a way to 'detect' all the species that pass through a point in space (within range of the caster / item wielder). A second spell should be able to 'render' the detected species in some way. Seems like an ideal item for a bird familiar.

7

Why not use a ReAu/Co spell to hover/fly over the battlefield, then Eyes of the Eagle to zoom in on specific areas. Hover high enough, out of archery range, and you can stay there through the whole battle. Turn invisible if not. Use The Silent Conversation Cr(In)Me30 to send commands to anyone on the field, including enemy troops. :>

8

I think it might be simpler and safer to use an In/Im spell to perceive the battlefield magically instead of hovering over the battlefield.

There are always more than one way to solve a problem, but using a multitude of different spells is not as satisfying as using just one spell.

9

A single spell is admittedly way cooler and probably more effective assuming you have time to invent it. I love the idea of a tabletop version of the battlefield. Almost like the characters are playing Warhammer. Very meta. My (limited) experience so far has been that I never quite have the tools for the situations I find myself in and have to improvise, so I've concentrated on learning flexible spells then combining them, but if you're expecting lots of battles this seems like the way to go.

10

Just remember that a single spell can only do one "thing" - however that is defined.

11

Just curious - where are you getting that?

It's not a bad rule of thumb, but I don't think it's found anywhere in the rules, is it? (At least, not in so many words...)
:?