I have a spell idea for Guiverna, but it can't possibly be this low a level, can it?
Deliver the Viper's Bite (MuCo(An) 4)
This spell changes the caster's teeth into viper's fangs, capable of delivering a venom which inflicts an Incapacitating wound unless the target makes a Sta save vs an Ease Factor of 9. The caster must still hit (using her Brawl skill) and inflict at least 0 points of damage for the fangs to penetrate and deliver the poison.
Base 2, +1 Diameter, +1 for added effect (doing poison damage).
Also, as I understand it, this would not only fall under her Magical Focus: Poisons, but also under her Potent Magic: Snakes, correct? And, if so, could she use an amethyst ring as her Casting Item (granting her a +3 for Poisons, from Mystery Cults, p. 137)?
I'm no rules expert - far from it! - but I agree it seems too low. I think the reason it doesn't work for me is that, in addition to changing your teeth to viper fangs (which is a low-level MuCo(An)), you also have to get the poison from somewhere. That's either CrAq base 20, or MuAq base 5 (if you're mutating your saliva) for an Incapacitating poison.
I'm sorry, I hadn't realized Lucas did his own LR instead of paying for it with q.v.p
So yeah, shave some points elsewhere, sure!
Hum... I fear so.
Mu(Co)An base 2 gives you the fangs, but does not create any poison per se. Also, looking at the Creo Aquam guidelines, you're being very generous with her poison: Base 5 causes a light wound with EF 3
EDIT: Asilano beat me to it
=> For a single magnitude, you're essentially replicating a lvl 35 (base 20 for Incapaciting, +1 touch, +10 for EF 9) Creo Aquam spell.
How about this? Base 2, +1 Diameter, +1 Requisite, bade damage is Light Wound EF 3, each additional magnitude can be spent to increase wound level or EF.
So at level 4 the bite inflicts Light Wound venom with a strength of 3, Level 10 is a Medium Wound ef6, etcetera.
Just a suggestion
I was thinking about this at work today, and wondered: what if this was designed as a Perdo Corpus effect, Base 20 for an Incapacitating Wound, R: Touch +1, D: Momentary, T: Individual, for a Spell Level of 25? (She could start with a Medium Wound-inflicting spell for a base 10/Spell Level 15.) She would still have to successfully hit the target (with Brawl if in combat) and do at least 0 points of damage, and the momentary fangs would be a rather cinematic special effect.
Also...I know somewhere (or at least I've seen it repeated often enough by enough people that it's probably true) that +1 magnitude = +3 to Ease Factor and that +1 magnitude = +5 to Damage, but I can never remember where it's actually written. Does anybody remember where that is?
You beat me to it, although I was ready to suggest you do it under CrAq.
Advantage: It works against everything, whereas PeCo won't work on, say, animals.
Disadvantage: It has an Ease Factor to resist it.
But yeah, the "fangs" bit is totally cosmetic, we don't have to focus on it.
+1 mag = +3 to EF is written right in the Creo and Muto Aquam guidelines for Poison. For what it's worth, Amazons EF work like this too.
+1 mag = +5 damage mostly come from Creo Ignem and Rego Terram, as well as from "scalable" general damage guidelines such as Acid in Creo/Muto Aquam or gases in Muto Auram. It is often assumed (by me included) that this also applies to other kind of attacks (say, Lightning), although this needn't be the case, as this is a best-case scenario. If, say, you wanted to use ReMe to force someone to twist his limbs and damage himself, maybe it would only do +5 per 2 magnitudes.
My thought would be to make it MuCo with an aq requisite then base the spell on the guidelines for creating poison: the MuCo would be base 10 with target part 9because only part of the body is being transformed- teeth to fangs and saliva to poison), changing a liquid into a poison doing a heavy wound is base 4, so raising the base to 15 should suffice on the aq requisite... causing a fatal wound is base 10 and should probably require an extra magnitude.
Oh, yes, changing the saliva to poison is a great idea too!
I agree that an argument might very well be made that a corpus requisite is needed, but I don't think it is, as the saliva is no longer in the body. This'd make it a straight MuAq spell.
So, it could be MuAq(Co), Base 4 to "change a liquid into poison causing a Heavy Wound", R: Touch +1, D: Momentary, T: Part +1, EF 9 +2, for a final level of 20. Which is still not doable for her (unless this is something that she would have access to a Laboratory Text for, it being all snakey and poisony and so fitting for her Tradition).
And I think the Corpus requisite is appropriate for the fluff text to change her teeth into fangs just long enough to deliver the bite, mainly because it's more visually awesome. I can see her casting her spell (speaking Parseltongue and doing the sinuous gestures), then grabbing her victim as her canines elongate into fangs and biting.
So, there are two ways, it seems, to do this poison bit thingie of Guiverna's.
The MuAq above, and the PeCo in her Development thread. This could very well be a "more than one way to skin a cat" scenario, but I can where both ways are effective.
So: straw poll time. Which one do you think is better under the circumstances. Not really "which one is more cost-effective", but more "which one comes closer to doing what it's intended to do?
I just had an idea. Maybe the fangs should be a different spell. Granting In+0, Atk +3, Def +1, Dmg +1. Or if you are gonna add the requisite, take +1 fang damage fr the effort.
As for your struggles to hit the right lab totals, I say make the character five years older. Or put together a five year plan. Or customize your lab for spells.
I personally like MuCo(Aq) better- for one thing depending on duration it can affect multiple victims, which seems more in line with the intent- to make bodily weapons more than just to kill/incapacitate a person.
Here's her sigil: When casting her spells, either Guiverna or her target briefly takes serpentine features (fangs, forked tongue, eyes, make snake sounds).
Now, for each and every one of your spells, describe how this manifests^^
So, for exemple, if doing a "Kiss of Death" variant, instead of "Kiss", write "bite".
Oh, yes, this is very cool, and she could totally do that. Such a low-level spell would also have a good penetration.
That was me
PeCo, if it penetrates, causes a wound. No soak or else, bim!
Poison, if it penetrates and isn't resisted, also causes a wound which is not soaked... But works on anything, from humans to giants.
I realize, I hate it when I say "you can't do this" to someone, but I also don't like when I'm saying "I'm telling you, you can do this! Promise!"
I've been statting Bernat's armaments. Part of his concept is that he carries a set of throwing knives - that is, not just ordinary kitchen knives, but proper weapons balanced for throwing. They can be up to Standard cost from his background, and it seems likely they might be, as he would presumably have been armed by the Bishop of Urgell while he was employed there.
However, the RAW only gives stats for "Knife: Any sharp knife of 6 inches or lesser length... they are everyday tools", which isn't really the same thing. Would a set designed specifically to be missile weapons (and potentially of Standard expense) be allowed better stats? If so, what? I had thought of maybe modelling them on the Throwing Axe / Hatchet, but that has Load 1, and it's pretty critical that Bernat could carry a small set - six, say - without it hindering his stealth.
