Hi,
Well, it could be part of a solution, but imparting a thought to the raven is Cr, not Re. So, the AC could then let the raven know it's that location. But if the magus has some other way to communicate the location to the raven, perhaps by visualizing it and using Cr for that, perhaps by talking to the raven in its own language, or some other means, the AC isn't needed.
So on its own, the AC isn't sufficient, and in some cases, it isn't necessary.
Anyway,
Ken
Hi,
Deft Form is often awesome for a Form specialist. Mentem is the most obvious form for this, but Animal works too, here helping out when you're in raven shape (only for Animal spells, alas), or when you have a raven in one hand and food for it in another, etc.
Yes. So specifying the place with Animal Ken is reasonable within that area, and the raven's understanding is reasonable within that area, etc., though not to great precision if it doesn't have an Int score (in which case this spell won't work anyway.) For example, a raven would reasonably know where the butcher's shop is, or the granary, but Bob's house is harder and "wait on the writing desk in Bob's house" rather unlikely, I think, without being supplemented by some other form of communication.
I had thought it interesting that animals do not get Area Lore for their area. Fine for a different system, but AM likes to spell ( :> ) things out.
If the AQ of Mimicry is not present, the raven should not be able to do this naturally. I don't think animal training can do this. CrAn can. (ReAn "accelerate a natural process" should not, unless we want to end up with ReMe and ReMe(Co) "give someone one season's worth of training or teaching.")
Ditto.
Training or a spell can do this. Training especially if the raven has only one possibly receiver. You already can tell the raven, but training it to remember is trickier.
Seems from below that we pretty much agree:
For #7, if the location isn't difficult this should be very easy: Many animals ought to know where 'home' is unless they get very lost, and Animal Ken is sufficient on its own to describe many locations within the raven's range, because otherwise the virtue isn't doing what it says on the tin.
For example, "go to the highest window sill of the castle and wait there" seems utterly reasonable to me, if there is one castle in the area. And if the raven knows who the princess is and where her window is, "go to the princess' window and wait for her" is also totally reasonable.
With some effort, yeah.
Or one Cr(Re)An spell to impart the entire trick and strong motivation to accomplish it. Though with Animal Ken, imparting the trick is probably sufficient.
The concentration duration on the spell seems a bit odd: I'd think that Sun or even Moon might be more useful.
Yes, though 'adapted' is sometimes 'limited,' and sometimes the limitation isn't about intelligence but knowledge.
If a raven is trained, Animal Ken is utterly sufficient for an often reliable messenger. If a high AK reflects social ability with animals too, that reliability increases since they want to please you. Spells can do that too, of course.
Anyway,
Ken
Ok, so a third version of Corvus is developed, taking into account much of the good suggestions posted. He now has Deft Animal, and also a less specialized epertoire of spells for using ravens as messengers and spies. These have been edited based on input, and will implemented in Corvus' later career.
He now has some more basic spells, one for defense and one for offense.
For the sake of new readers I'll edit the first posted character sheet, and write that many of the spells discussed will follow in the next period.
Spell write up will follow
I'm fiddling with an offensive spell, but run into some challenges:
Design note: Spell design is based on Dagger of Ice, but with the higher base for animal product compared to ice makes it underpowered. And in comparison Crystal Dart seems overpowered, although there is Muto component, there seems to lack magnitudes to change common dirt into something actually dangerous. But that one is a legacy spell. If the design instead took a bone of a raven, changed it to be unnaturally sharp, and hurled it at a target, it may be more efficient. But even a minor, unnatural change is MuAn base 4, and with +2 for voice and 1 Rego req takes it above Crystal Dart’s level 10. But based on this design the damage could conceivably be +10. So
Corvus' other custom spells:
Hi,
Not commenting on either the canonical or proposed spells; it wouldn't be beak-oming. 
ducks (um, evades)
But unlike something like Champions/Hero, M&M and so on, AM is not an effects-based system. It's closer to (classic, non-Powers) GURPS in that, for example, fire is or should be fire, not a special effect, though neither system completely succeeds in that. So it's completely reasonable for some Forms to be more effective at damage than others, and unfairness across Forms is ok, even good.
Again, not commenting on the particular spells at this time: I'm feeling ravenous, the sky is getting grey, so I'm going to duck out for lunch while the feather is still good.
Anyway,
Ken
Goose grief that's a, lot of puns. But I'm just winging it here.
Anyway, I agree that it fits ME that fire is the most efficient damaging magic. Usually damage spells form other Forms are one magnitude higher for the same damage. But this animal spell just seems so underpowered.
I'm likely to go with the Mu(Re)An analogue to Crystal Dart. It requires the magus to carry around an animal bone, but that's ok because Corvus just needs the spell for emergencies, he's not going to fight a prolonged battle. I might look at the damage on the damage range from piercing shaft of wood because those vary a little depending on size.
The Crystal Dart is just too efficient to be true. But being canon, my take is that the inventor got quite lucky on a side effect roll, and that effect had been implemented into the spell so anyone can replicate it. The only drawback that I think it could have and sometimes is ignored is that probably it won't work over stone floors, unless you add one magnitude so the Muto base can affect it.
Back to animal attack spells, the world 'hurling' made me think about thar Rego requisite you add. I think it's either not neccesary, or enough on its own.
Just hurling would make an equivalent version to Vilano's Sling, but for Animal instead of terram. Just carry a few crow (or any othe animal... the spell shouldn't be of a high level to really need the crow Focus) bone daggers around and that could do it.
And skipping the hurling is also an option. A few arts have straightforward attack spells just using Cr + Form, so why not Animal? I would start considering something like...
...which is as damaging per magnitude as Torrent of Water.
Then you can get some improvements to increase damage. I would see it ok to just add extra magnitudes for +5 damage each (spent in one of many ways: just stating that they are used to get extra damage, or adding size modifiers, or taking R: Part to make sure the point is sharp, because it's a broken bone, adding 2 magnitudes and make T: Group to create a lot of bones doing +15 damage for level 25...).
Hmm. I'd have said that those forms where the Rego requisite isn't needed are those where the conjured thing can damage you just by their touch (e.g. fire, acid) rather than requiring force behind them...but that doesn't work with Mighty Torrent of Water.
I would generally agree. Moving at very high speed so that it hurts when it hits you doesn't at all sound like a "mere cosmetic effect" in the slightest.
The Crystal Dart has a Rego requisite, which makes sense and seems to match this design. Mighty Torrent of Water is not an exception because it uses the guideline "Create a geyser with a very high rate of flow." You don't need to throw in Rego to add a very high flow rate to what is already a very high flow rate. Similarly, you can do a CrTe spell to make a boulder 10 paces over someone's head that just falls from there without a Rego requisite, but you lose automatically hitting as well as not being able to use it indoors well.
Hi,
Agreed that the beaky dart spell needs Rego. And also:
If you want the flurry/cloud, you need something else, such as Voice (eg Arc of Fiery Ribbons) or Rego (to put the feathers where you want them) or +1 complexity. Otherwise, you don't get a cloud starting at the magus' hands, but feathers at the magus' hands slathering the magus at touch range, or a big pile of feathers, etc. Also, are ~3 seconds of confusion/obfuscation going to do much? By the time another character's turn comes around, the feathers are gone.
Anyway,
Ken
Did I miss something in the description? Why ~3 seconds? Why not ~6 seconds? I didn't think the spell specified only ~3 seconds, and Momentary can go 6 seconds.
Hi,
Ok, 6 seconds.
Anyway,
Ken
Solves the problem, right? Even 3 s was probably OK, though, since it was designed to be Fast Cast and so in response to an attack being made or about to be made.
I actually don’t need the full amount of feathers which T: Group gives, just enough to confuse and obscure. Spell is meant to be used as fast-cast Defense to avoid an attacker for a round. A pile of feathers the size of a man, created at the casters’ outstretched hand, at head height. After which the feathers fall slowly towards the ground as they naturally would, for the duration of the spell. That IMHO is fine with Touch, I see no need for Voice. There is no rule for creations at Touch prohibiting the creation appearing away from the caster rather than cenetred on him.
As D:Mom it should last long enough. But I see no reason it should only last 3 seconds.
To be honest I haven’t read all the other magi in detail.
Are there too many Gently Gifted magi? Corvus really doesn’t need to be bearable to all mundanes, just animals. This has been discussed before. Inoffensive to Animals could do it.
It would be nice if he could deal directly with his mundane agents as well. He could recruit only magically aligned spies and be inoffensive to Magic Beings...but you can’t choose two of these virtues - then you need Gentle Gift
I guess it depends on the concept you want. As we are doing this for the creation of NPcs and devices and magic it shouldn’t matter that another Magus is Gentle Gifted. Living in close proximity to Templar’s and dangerous foes might suit Gentle gifted Magi more too.
I was contemplating dropping GG from my Bjornaer depending on how abstract his interaction with mundanes was planned to be. I starting thinking that acting through proxies is thematic and would then not require gentle gift. I/we could assume the magi have access to companion class characters and grogs to enact some of the mundane legwork. That means the Magi’s dependence on those proxies is a little more controllable in terms of mitigating the impacts of the gift.
So - if you’re keen to have it, then go for it. If an argument breaks out about too many Gentle gifted magi then I’ll drop GG and rework.
Hi,
I'd need to break out a book to read the rules for Momentary duration. Basically, the thing happens and quickly passes. How quickly? Quick enough for me to agree this works? Need to reread. But I do have a prejudice: Momentary is sufficient for the spell effect to occur, and that's it.
I'm surely wrong about 3 seconds, which upon reflection I realize I pulled from a different (not quite AM) context.
And I never meant to suggest that a Touch effect is centered on the magus, certainly not on his center of gravity or anything like that. Create a tiger, and it appears at arm's length if that's where you want it. Create a bunch of feathers, same thing. But a mass of feathers will not form a gently falling cloud unless they are loosely packed just so, and will not obscure the magus unless the mass of feathers is appropriately sized, and will then only obscure the magus if the feathers are between the magus and those he wants to confuse. And that, only if there isn't a stiff wind. And the feathers last long enough to disperse.
Of course, your spell creates the feathers in a cloud, which is not at all a normal shape for 500 pounds of feathers. Want a feather aerosol properly dispersed all around you? Ok, but maybe that takes something extra.
Anyway,
Ken
Now I'm feeling guilty: I mentioned the high Gentle Gift rate in Caepernum somewhere.
But that wasn't a critizism, just a statistical curiosity. I agree that the covenant theme justifies many of its members having it. If you are going to be surrounded by armed templars and infiltrate sahirs, then it's a logical choice. Though to be honest I had always liked to see magi overcoming or working around their Gift effects through story means, instead of whipping it away from start with that virtue, but I understand that's just how I feel about that virtue: I consider it a safe playing virtue: you give up all the power any other major hermetic virtue would bring by asking to the world to be nice to you because you don't have that magical stench around. I just like the other way, embracing that power, and then having to work around the burden it takes.
Honestly, I cannot see how can be too many gentle gifted magi in a covenant that has an army of templars in their doorstep. I think those gentle gifted mago are the only reason that we are allowed to cooperate with the templars. A sort of prerequisite to be part of the endeavor, the same way that you need gentle gift to be admired in oculus septentrionalis in the Rhine Tribunal.
I something, I am a little worried of not having designed a Magus with gentle gift, and I am grateful that you have that covered.