Quite.
As long as the target resists, I would allow the former only, if the caster has the Virtue Performance Magic for Brawl (see TMRE p.29), and succeeds to use it in combat (see p.29 upper box) while casting.
But even R: Touch requires the caster to touch her target for the time she casts the spell. The target can resist that, too, which leads to assassination spells like ArM5 p.133 The Kiss of Death.
Cheers
Seems to be the canonical answer. None of us seem to be aware of counterexamples, at any rate.
I think I'm going to continue to go with instinct and just add a magnitude for a second Range. I don't see any way this breaks the game or causes problems of logical consistency within the Hermetic paradigm.
No doubt about that. There's a lot of logic to what One Shot is arguing, within the context of the AC rules in the core, but the last thing this game needs is easier penetration of magic resistance.
My issue isn't with the ability to penetrate. Getting satisfactory penetration rules is not about ACs but has been an issue with AM from the beginning.
My issue is that the current AC rules really require magi to be paranoid. Do you have dandruff? Did you forget to cast Perdo Poo? Did you write someone a letter? Vulnerable. I'd rather forgo all that.
Anyway,
Ken
That too. Getting an arcane connection ought to be a Big Deal storywise, not a matter of picking up the crumbs from someone's lunch.
Though honestly most of those arcane connections should last hours or days. Dandruff would be skin shed by a human being, which is specifically listed as hours duration, while a letter lasts for weeks (another reason Hermetic wars take so long- you write the decoration of mage war, wait for the arcane connection to fade, then send it via redcap network...). Of course verditious need to be careful who they sell to (or largely sell items they made years ago...)
Things might work better if the spell guideline that extends the duration of arcane connections were eliminated. Use it or lose it, or at least run to your lab and spend a season fixing it.
One issue I have with the AM5 line is the tendency for supplements to introduce ways to avoid so many of the corebook limitations such as AC decay.
Hi,
On a redesign, I would get rid of vis and change ACs.
For ACs: You want to get an AC to someone? If the person is important enough, you'll need a story for that. The quality of the AC depends as much on what you put into getting it as on what the thing is. If I spend two years working my way up the ranks to become the pope's chambermaid, so I can get his poo, that's going to be a very good AC, but only I can use it.
For vis: Want to perform a ritual that would ordinarily require vis? Instead, the components of the ritual need to be found for that ritual, and again, it's about the story, not about having stocked up a mountain of vis. Need to perform a ritual without the right stuff? You can... but dealing with the consequences of your improperly controlled magic will cause a lot more problems than if you had the right stuff already, and you will probably not get to be proactive about it. Sometimes you'll be lucky, and have the right thing for what you need, or will have contacts that make obtaining the right thing easier. The currency of the game thus changes from vis to interaction with the outside world. I'm waving my hands here until I or someone else writes concrete rules.
Anyway,
Ken