Spells for moderation

Games Discussion Ars Magica
1

The Gold Dragon CrIg 30
R: Touch D: Mom T: Ind Req: Rego, Vim

Generally introduced as a clear, golden colored potion, the spell of the Gold Dragon brings doom to its drinker. Only victims with the finest senses of smelling and taste can detect its weak sulfurous odor, so it can be easily mixed with any type of food or drink. When enters the body, the Gold Dragon lies dormant until its “vessel” comes close to a fire source as big as a torch. Then the Dragon awakens, howls and explodes within, doing +30 damage to internal organs, inflicting untold pain if not a horrifying death. Armor cannot help to soak the damage.

The creator of this spell is Drako of Flambeau of the Tribunal of Thebes, an alchemist known for his extraordinary research practices and his unfailing interest in the arcane, rather than the methods of direct destruction. He explains the harmful effects of the Gold Dragon as a process linked to the escape of the angelic essence of fire trapped within the potion to reach to the stars.

[B: 25, R: Touch +1, D: Momentary, T: Individual]

Unbearable Silence of the Inner Choir PeMe 25
R: Touch D: Diameter T: Ind Req: Muto

When a person comes under the effects of this spell, radiant vis begins to eat through her mind and she loses her ability to perceive the world at all. She falls in a complete and inpenetrable emptiness. In all possibility she would panic, move awkwardly and utter confused words as she tries to grasp the reality. As she does not have any connection with the outside world, her thoughts and emotions race through her mind without the guidence of her senses. Power of the spell further augments her thoughts and feelings to almost unbearable levels. If it is not for the relative shortness of its duration, Unbearable Silence of the Inner Choir would drive its target surely insane. Otherwise, target suffers huge penalties to her every action and even automatically fails in many situations.

First designed as a tool for perfect meditation by Argyros of Verditius, the spell’s fearful effects on unwilling targets made it even more popular in his covenant. Thus almost every custodes carries enchanted weapons and arrows studded with small silver crescents, the alarming sigil of Argyros. Even the smallest of cuts by one of these weapons would curse its target with Unbearable Silence. Indeed when the warriors of the Covenant of Amarante begin to wade through their enemies, it is unsettling to watch their victims’ unsteady, broken moves and their confused cries declaring they are blind, deaf or dying.

[B: 10 (Destroy the target’s ability to perceive anything), R: Touch +1, D: Diameter +1, T: Individual, Muto Req +1]

2

This spell looks like a combination of a creo ignem effect and a rego vim effect (the rego ignem effect being something like watching ward/waiting spell). My first preference would be to actually use two different spells for these two effects rather than combining them into a single spell.

My second preference is to use the faerie magic duration of bargain for it with the bargain "target agrees not to go near a flame".

baring use of faerie magic, you'd still want to use the bargain duration (or something like it) but as a non-standard duration (which would mean an additional magnitude hit for its non-standardness).

3

Well, I believe this is a really cool idea. Yet I don't think it would be a good thing to divide the spell to two different spells. While it would be a more proper thing ruleswise, I aim to design spells with complex patterns and effects. IMHO one of the things most needed by ArM is spells with descriptions (and functions) better than "You hurl flames to it and it takes +X damage". It must be my deep obsession with "stylish gaming". :slight_smile:

4

An other spell to comment....

The Momentary Hercules
MuTe4
R: Touch D: Conc T: Ind
Removes the weight of a stone or an other inanimate (individual size) object. Great spell for showing up, like in throwing competitions and to actually throw large boulders, furniture and tree trunks at approaching enemies
B:1, Touch +1, Conc +1, stone +1

Xavi

5

The Momentary duration isn't correct: The Waiting Spell works out because it is a ritual.

That being said, I agree with you, stylish spells sure are better than D&D-ish ones. :slight_smile:

6

Umm you're right. I will revise it. Now it will be even a higher level spell because of you :wink:

7

Which will make it greater than 6th magnitude, which will make it a ritual, which cannot be placed into items. :cry: You're going to have to reduce the damage to compensate. :confused:

8

If the effect is a Ritual simply because its level is 50+, it can still be put into an item, at least according to page 98.

That said, this might need to be a Ritual for other reasons. It might be considered a "major effect" by some storyguides.

As a spell, for it to have any effect other than immediately after it is cast, it would probably either need to have a longer duration than Momentary, or would need to be a Ritual. As an item effect, this wouldn't be as much of an issue, since it would likely be used as a charged item effect (like a potion).

9

this is an effect that can be accomplished by perdo.

Muto on the other hand (from page 78 ) " ...cannnot affect the properties that something has natually although it can add other properties to them to mask their effects." So the spell is debatable. I'd allow it with the description of giving the object the weight of an apple rather than a description of changing its natural weight.

10

Touché. Didn't remember that provision in the Muto guidelines.

Even if you were giving it the wreight of an apple, wouldn't that have a perdo requisite? Granted, it is level 4 and so it is easy to perform even with 13 requisites, but IIRC if you take too much from something you require a perdo requisite. I do not have the books here so i can't check. :confused:

Xavi