A random idea that just occurred to me - is it possible to combine Tethered Magic with Sensory Magic , and if so, what are the limitations and best ways to use it?
[Tethered Magic: HoH:TL pg 107 - pass a spell you've cast onto someone / something else). Sensory Magic: HoH:MC pg 27 - things that sense the target in the appropriate way are affected by a magical effect.]
My initial thoughts are "yes, but with significant limitations". The basic combination is legal - only Bjornaer are initiated into Sensory Magic, but anyone can have Tethered Magic even though it's associated primarily with the Mercere. The issues are:
Tethered Magic can be cast on people or objects, and the two work slightly differently. People get to control the spell, whilst objects "cast it upon a suitable target when it comes into range". Can you have a Sensory Magic spell tethered to an object and then act on those that sense the object, or does it have to do the extra intermediary step? It feels like acting directly would make more sense in this case
Sensory Magic has various limitations on what spells you can invent - they have to be not inappropriate to your Heartbeast, and the sense used has to be appropriate to the spell's Form. My feel is that these restrictions would probably double-up when Tethering - the spell has to be not inappropriate to both the caster and the thing they're tethering to.
Can you tether to someone who doesn't have a heartbeast / isn't an animal? If so, what are the limits? Can you tether to an inanimate object? An illusion? There's a bit of me that wants buildings which literally make people afraid when they see them...
Sensory Magic effects can't be enchanted into items. Does the underlying issue that causes this also prevent a lot of the potential Tethering options?
Ah, I've found that now in the earlier blurb on Tethering on page 97.
That certainly significantly limits you, but I don't think it quite kills it. The key is that Personal range isn't actually quite "only you" - in addition to your talisman (if you're touching it), Personal range covers things that the caster "is wearing or carrying".
So for example:
"Greatmane Bjornaer has many little statuettes of animals made out of horn braided into his hair / mane. He will cast a Sensory Magic spell and tether it to one of these statuettes, then use Muto Animal to transform it into the relevant animal before sending it out to do his bidding. His sensory magic can ensure that it gets the respect on sight befitting one of his messengers, or that his enemies tremble at the sound of its voice."
It's not easier to use the standard guidelines to create (and/or control) an animal and a second spell to read it's surface thoughts to get the same effect, or your way will result in spells with less magnitudes?
I think you're thinking of a different end result. Reading the surface thoughts of the animal isn't part of the goal here - instead it's setting the animal up so that anyone who hears / sees (or other sense depending on the exact spell) throughout the relevant duration is affected by the spell. This violates the limit of arcane connections, but Sensory Magic does that.
It may be easier to create an Animal from scratch (although not necessarily, and it depends as well as your Arts on what type of animal and on whether you consider "turn a bit of horn into an animal" to use the the base guideline level in line with "change something made of animal products in a major unnatural way" or "change an animal into a non-living item"), but that doesn't fulfil the "counts for Personal range" requirement ErikT flagged.
Personal: The spell only affects the caster, defined in the same way as an Individual Target.
Individual: The spell can affect a single discrete thing, such as one person or one object. A huge boulder is a discrete object, a mountain is not (because it is joined to the ground). Clothes on a person or moss on a boulder are part of the person or boulder for these purposes.
While a Personal spell can affect your clothes or stuff you are wearing, it can only do so in addition to affecting yourself.
But regardless, a Tethered spell is transfered to another person - either directly or via an object. That other person must be in range. They can't be in range for a Personal spell.
So even if you could attach the spell to some piece of clothing, or even a small statuette you are wearing, it could not then move to an appropriate target.
You just need to get a little creative here: cast the Tethered Sensory spell on yourself, then cast a Personal range Inmost Companion on yourself, transfer the Sensory spell to your mindbird self.
Hmm. I see the definition of Personal range has been errated. It used to say "The spell only affects the casting magus or things he is wearing or carrying", which is the definition I was working from. In addition to the sentence you quoted, it now ends with "Personal
Range spells can never have a container Target (such as Circle, Room, or Structure)", so there's no possibility of things gaining or losing a property depending on whether they're on your person or not.
So...does this mean that actually your clothes (say) retain their sensory magic properties without the use of Tethered Magic, in the same way as if you turn invisible your shoes stay invisible even if you take them off?
Edit: Thinking over it more, I think you do still need Tethered Magic, as Sensory Magic specifies that "the caster is always at the centre of his spell's effect", so you want a way of moving what is considered the caster for this purpose.
I don't think the indirect method requires that the end recipient be a person, only that it be a suitable target that is within range. For example, The Hunter's Lethal Arrow is a Perdo Animal spell which causes an animal a fatal wound when the object with the tether strikes it. In this case, a "suitable target" would be anything within Personal range of the caster that also meets the criteria of Sensory Magic, which would include the things they're wearing. If you want to explicitly the define the intermediate object, you can say it's their hair which can affect the things braided into their hair, or their clothes which can effect the things in their pockets, etc.
I'm also not entirely convinced that the fact that the direct approach talks about the spell being transferred to a person is an inherent limitation so much as the fact that transferring control to something that isn't sentient is usually pretty pointless, but that's more subjective.
For a Mentem spell with a Personal range it would naturally affect your mind, I'd think, so if your mind is flitting around as a bird it should bear the effect with it. For other Forms, your troupe is likely going to get derailed into a discussion of whether a Personal effect on a Part of you affects all of your Parts if they're separated. If you cast Revenge of the Bitten Toad would it normally affect someone who bites your mind but not any of your flesh?
If your troupe decides that all your Parts get the Personal effect you should of course immediately invent Eyes from the Wizard Torn (Magi of Hermes p84) and similar spells to have all your Parts flying around carrying your Sensory spells wherever.