Telepathy magic

Games Discussion Ars Magica
1

I'm having issues about this one.

Affecting sences is Imaginem. Telepathy is way to use our sences to perveive communications.

CrMe guidelines indicate we can put words into a mind.
InMe guidelines indicate we can hear the taughts or another mind.

InMe base level 15 (Speak with any one Human) is unclear.

Does it mean that you would understand any language spoken by a human or that you have the tongues like the god given power or that you actually speak to the mind of that human, transanding the language barrier.

I could also see it as a MuMe effect to give the magical ability of telepathy to a target. My guess would bring it to a base effect of about 20.

Ideas on how to construct the better version of telepathy?

2

I don't think you can automatically understand words you read in a person's mind. From the game's perspective at least, they do correspond to a language. Of course, usually the native language of whoever is thinking - or perhaps (at least partially) of whatever language he is currently using.

Similarly, if you put words into another's mind, they may be gibberish to him should he not speak the language you are using.

So for two way communication, CrMe and InMe are required.

And how is that "speak with one human" guideline unclear? I always read it to mean simply that you can communicate (or depending on the other specifications, at least understand, see Thoughts within Babble) with another human regardless of the language barrier. It shouldn't mean that they can suddenly speak to each other's mind - simply that they understand each other, regardless of the language they are using.

I would be reluctant to allow any kind of telepathy using MuMe.

3

Imaginem does not affect the Senses (those are in the Me and Co GL)

Imaginem affects "Sensations" - the abstracted things which pass from pobject to perceiver, known in ME as "Species". Images, Scent (as opposed to the vapour which emits Scent species), Sounds, Texture, are all emitted by objects and picked up by those with senses.

Minds have ideas, and the understanding of words in ME is about Ideas. Hence translation is Mentem, and Books cannot be translated, nor codes deciphered, by Hermetic Magic. (The best you can do is read the mind of one who can read a text!)

"Telepathy" per se is not a Medieval idea, but starts sometime around C19 with the interest in Mediums and Mentalists.
ArM does not simulate well the C19 period, indeed turns its back on ideas prevalent then and later, and introduces various wacky ideas from ME, like Species).

Best to drop the word "Telepath" and try to rephrase the ideas in a way more in keeping with the time period, and get the players into the role...

As for the InMe 15 GL - it means "the one person designated as the target of the spell"
I would interpret it as "transcending the language barrier", just like InTe or InAq directly inform you of the answers to questions.

You could have a Sense Target, such as Hearing, to give the caster or a single person an Inme understanding of speech. Since Sense spells constantly shift what they sense, I guess that would be more like Tongues - understand the words of the person you are focussing on.
(But that would not grant the ones you Sens with the power to understand you, even if you understand them! That's back to CrMe)
You can grant a sense to one other with InXx, but for a group to get senses, you need MuMe(InXx)

4

Tele Pathos is Greek and the origin of the word, so I think Telepathy as a spell name is just fine.

If you wanted to create a spell to allow telepathic communication (not the reading of minds), It would be a Base 15 InMe with a +1 Cr requisite I believe. Add in +3 for Sight and Telepathic Communication would be a Magnitude 7 (35 pts) spell.

The reason is the need to read surface thoughts. A person wanting to communicate with you in return will be 'thinking' what he wants you to hear. As a GM, I'd lower the Base to 10 since you only want to read the surface thoughts directed at you, however, I think most GMs would say the opposite, increasing the magnitude for getting specific, so reading all surface thoughts and replying to them just seems best.

The level 15 InMe, by my own interpretation, is to understand people speaking in a foreign language, and grasping how to reply in return in that language.

I don't think you need Muto to target someone else with a Telepathy spell. More likely Vim (Rego Vim as a seperate spell even?) or perhaps a Ritual.

Sphynx

5

Okay. Hmmm. I would see it as a

InMe(Cr) 30 (base 15, +1 eye, +1 conc, +0 Ind, +1 Cr rq)

But the warping will limit it's use.

I think that this form would be more widely spread:

MuMe(In,Cr) 40 (Base 20, +1 Eye, +2 Sun, +0 Ind, +1 Cr rq).
Grant the sense of telepathy to a target.

It will warp the target once per day instead of every time you want to communicate with him.

By definition the base level for Mu Me magic is one mag above the one used in intellego magic to gain the same effect. Hence, base 20.

Seems okay to me. Thanks for your help.