Terram items and spells

Games Discussion Ars Magica
1

Greetings Sodales,

I have thinked about many spells or items that I would like to create or desing. My magi is a terram specialist, with mayor magical focus on metals. I am a Verditius that would like to be a warrior also some day, for now my levels in Rego and Terram are 9, 15, but with some time they will be 20, 17 or so easily, there are many good quality rego books and tractactus in the library and i have affinity Terram and some Vis pawns plus adventure exp.

I was thinking on many spells or items to help me in the warfare. The first of all I was thinking was a defensive one, I though about repeling the metal, but as I am going to wear metal armour, I thought that it could be imposible to handle, as not only I would wear an enchanted metal armour, but also as a metal specialist I am wearing many metal items. So I thought about enchanting some metal spheres to be tougher than most metals, and use them as a passive defence. I am not very proficient in one handed yet, and I am extra careful with my life, I do like to be alive. I thought about using the same level of spell that is used to repel metal, to attract metal to those spheres. Also I thought about those spheres being atracted to the metals, so they stop incoming attacks. I see problems with both of the ways. If i am part of a group it could be dangerous to redirect the attacks near me, but If there are too many attacks maybe the spheres being attracted to metal do solve nothing. I also thought that having those spheres "dancing" or surrounding me would be cool I would not mind to spend some time for a cool effect.

I thought about giving the efect a sun/duration and depending on the level a inidividual/group target to animate the spheres. I also thought I could create them and enchant them for the toughness and then use spells for the defensive powers. I though about the base level could be 3+2(metal) 3 for control or move dirt in very unnatural fashion +2 because instead of dirt the material is metal. I do think that to be able to move all incoming metal in this fashion I would need to do it as magic enchantment with constant efect, or would be any way of creating it. I suppose I could also create the same spell that there is in herbam to be advised when wood is coming, but with metal items, but i suppose it could be a nightmare to use it in a big battle where everyone has a metal weapon and armor.

Another spell or enchantment I did think of would be teleporting metal items to me or to a item that i would have enchanted with this power. Same that any teleport spell in corpus, but with range voice, or sight and target group, or target touch and objective room or even structure. We do house rule that if a item is mostly made by one material you do not need requisites, in any case I think I would be able to manage a smaller version with requisites, as I would double the spell if the item is mostly made by metal, as my intention is to teleport metalic items (due to my focus) do you agree? Could you take out donned armor from people by this way? I suppose this is something discussed in the teleport topic, in wich many of you talked about teleporting being an actual teleport or a really fast move.

Lastly I was thinking about teleporting too but to move goods from very large distances, I thought about creating a metalic coffin, enchant it, so it does transform any item saved on it into a metal ball of the same mass, and after every item is included then making it smaller using the same spell that is used to enlarge a item (MuTe 15) but in reverse. Or maybe using both spells when any item is saved in the coffin. Then making some metalic base that may work as arcane conections for me to being able to teleport the coffin in between, But i suppose i would not need to work on those base items, as any AC would suffise.

What do you think of those spells and items, Do you think i am overcomplicating this things or not? do you think there are other ways to do it easier? Coolness for my character is important too.

Many thanks

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2

Would you think the metal spheres are posible to be crafted?

About the spell to change any item that you try to put into the coffin into a small metal rock, would you think that you would need a spell for each form, or not? Terram is the art used for nonliving stuff. You can sometimes use terram for something that is not terram and add the requisite when you are using the spell, while other times you can't.

About the teleport spell I saw a teleport spell in MoH i think but i am not sure of. I will try to find it, and ask for any guidance on that too.

Many thanks

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3

Sure. Use MuTe to turn the metal into clay. Shape the clay into a (rough?) sphere.
Wait for the MuTe effect to lapse. Viola, (rough?) metal spheres.
Maybe not the mirror-polished ball bearings of today, but spheres, sure.

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I was meaning the enchancement so that the spheres stopped attacks autonomously.

5

It sounds like you want your spheres to give you a similar effect to Circling Winds of Protection (Cr(Re)Au 20), so you could use that as a guideline. Maybe add 5 levels for a less appropriate form, and replace the "blown back" effect by a damage effect?

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I was thinking only as an attack barrier, but i cant see it working that way anyways. I could give it a try like you said, yet I was not thinking in that many spheres. I would have to increase the amount of them.

I read in somewhere something similar to what I was thinking but with shields surrounding you. Once an attack is stopped by any of them that shield would fall. I do not know if ut was a sourcebook or a forum spell.

How much damage would you think would be apropiate, for metal spheres hitting people? I think also that the more the people are hitted, the lleaser samage they should do for a while, as their speed is decreased. Yet AM5 spells do not change damage I suppose I could lower the max damage and increase. Abit the minimum damage to get a medium damage. Many thanks for your answer, you helped me a lot.

7

You wouldn't necessarily need a huge number of spheres/shields, as long as they were able to actively intercept attacks. For a Concentration spell, that's just part of the spell effect. As an enchantment, you might need to buiild in an InTe requisite to detect incoming attackers. (On the other hand, you don't need a Creo requisite.)

Or you could have a huge number so there's no possible opening. That might make the spell higher level, though.

As for damage: if you make them sharp, then I think +10 damage, as for The Crystal Dart, is reasonable. I don't think this would reduce damage on a second hit: ReTe doesn't really care about loss of momentum. I think play balance and feel should drive the level and damage as much as anything - it feels like a YGMV case to me.

8

Many thanks for your answer, I will ask the troupe about it. I think What I was missing was the InTe spell to accurately know where the attacks come from. Many many thanks.

That being said about the metal coffin to teleport items around the globe. I thought about creating bags that could transform items that were placed into them into metal beads. The first one I thought about is Animal matter. I am not sure if it would be a MuAn 4 or 5 the base level of the spell.

I thought of those levels as I was not thinking on introducing alive beings. I asume would be the same level for corpus and herbam, but for aquam? And for ignem or auram? What do you think? I pretend to get 1 bag for each form

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9

There is a comparable Rego Herbam guideline "Level 4: deflect a single attack by a wooden weapon" that might make a good starting point.

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In regards to that, with wood you add a magnitude, for metal you add two. So this spell for metal weapons would be level 5, don't you think so?

Moreover, do you think that adding magnitudes would make it able to stop more than 1 attack? I am in doubt with that.

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Level 5 has the right "finger in the air" feel, but I'd want to play with it a bit to see. The Herbam guideline is used for Repel The Wooden Shafts (ReHe 10), which looks a bit weird having Momentary duration and requiring you to toss aside your own staff if you have one, which is something you didn't want to deal with.

I too doubt that adding magnitudes would make it stop more than one attack. The only obvious thing I can think of is to make an item of it with careful trigger conditions and a lot of charges.

12

Sorry I meant base level 5. Not total level 5

Editted
I supposed it is because when you cast the spell you repel all wood. That being said, if it is the metalic sphere that repels the metal I suppose there is no need of throwing any item. The only issue would be that instead of personal should be touch range. I suppose you could use the herbam spell with touch in the wooden shaft and it would mot be pushed out from yourself.

13

If the metal sphere is doing the work then the Herbam guideline you need to compare to is the Base 10 "Make a plant or thing made of plant products move with purpose and intelligence, without requiring your constant control." Probably with some magnitudes for dealing with metal in Terram.

This is going to require some group discussion on how capable an item "with purpose and intelligence" becomes -- will it automatically deflect attacks? is there some sort of Attack roll required? if so, what is the enspelled item's score? That guideline seems intended more for the Sorcerer's Apprentice enchanted broom getting water from the well type of magic.

14

An effect to shrink at item can be done. "Object of Increased Size" uses a base 4 MuTe guideline to make an object 2x bigger in each direction, and there's a published spell "Miniaturist of Venice" that uses the opposite guideline, and also seems to increase the base level by 1 for each further halving of size. You'll need requisites of An, He or maybe even Co: these can be casting requisites for a spell, but I believe they need to be built into an enchanted item.

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You may find this thread interesting:

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Hi there I was talking about the spell to transform animal matter into metal first of all, the other is quite straight and I had already created and agreed with the troupe about the size reducing spell. My problem is if it would be base 4 or base 5 to transform animal items or animal processed items into metal as base level. Also if by making it metal items I should add +2 magnitudes, what I think I should. Lastly I think I would need to enchant those two spells in the bag.

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Herbam to Terram is base 4, and I think it's reasonable to assume Animal to Terram is also base 4. (I can't point to a ruling allowing this, but equivalent guidelines usually seem to be transferrable between forms. E.g. CrCo and CrAn healing effects.) Yes, I believe changing animal or plant matter to metal instead of (say) clay is 2 levels higher, but since you have a magical focus in metals, that may still be a better plan for you. And I suppose if your size-changing spell only works on metals, that comes under your focus as well.

On the enchantment: there's no need for the bag to do both operations. If you have a wand of turning things to metals, and a wand of making metal things smaller, they can both be lesser enchantments. An item that does both has to be an invested item, and that's more work and cost. So that would be my suggestion, without having looked at your numbers. Pop things into your magic bag is cooler, I agree.

(I'm also inclined to shrink things and then put them in a non-magical bag, rather than having the bag doing the shrinking. But that's because I have trouble imagining how you could get things in the back before they were shrunk by being in the bag. That's probably worrying more than necessary.)

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I do agree with you. I did not knew about the guideline you were talking about. I suppose you give it Intel to do What you want to do, or at least is what i do understand. That being said defence from attacks is no easy matter, and I do think you would need at least a InTe spell to sense the attacks coming and another one to make the spheres block the spells or you could increase the magnitude of the base 10 as it is something that needs a high skill to perform. By the guidelines it seems you give the item the purpose, so it could try to do it. I would need to discuss how good is at his job.

19

You are totally right, even if it looks a lot cooler to get the bag to do both things, not only it is much more expensive in time and resources, but also is hard to think of a way that you can fit the bag with a large metal item that gets shrinked after.

Edditted: Although I am a Verdigius magi with crafting skill 4. I may spend some more resources, but do actually benefit from an enchanted item, yes I may have to pay some Vis Vim but i get to add my crafting skill 4 and my philisophae 3 to the lab total, also spend 4 less Vis Vim pawns.

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I have found this Mu/He level 15 spell in the Core Rulebook of AM 5

LEVEL 15
ROPE OF BRONZE
R: Touch, D: Sun, T: Ind
Req: Terram

It acts exactlly as I would like for the spell but it seemed to me that turning anything into metal should add levels. It seems it is only needed fot a transformation of anything made of Terram to any other thing made of Terram that asks for an increased magnitude, such as sand to stone, stone to metal or 2 magnitude increase when going from sand to metal.

Where you playing this way, am I missing sokething?

Also I was wondering could i create a spell to only work on metallic items so that my magical focus cba be applied always even if I can't target the full form, Terram in my case.
The issue is I would like to be able to teleport a chest around the globe, could I create the spell to only teleport metalic chest so that I could apply my magical focus to invent the spell and to cast it anytime I wanted? Could I create a spell to destroy/change/shape metalic items such as or any metalic item that is appropiate without adding any size magnitude?