The Crystal Dart and Flexible Formulaic Magic

Hi,

So my magus die... Sometimes s@!# happens.
I decided to make a membre of the House Tremere and while I was picking my spell, I suddenly think about The Crystal Dart.

If I change the target of The Crystal Dart to group with the Flexible Formulaic Spell, does it means that X Crystal Dart will rise from the ground and hit each membre of the group making +10 damage to them?

You now run into the classical mistake with FFM: You can change one parameter by one step. Crystal Dart is T:Ind. However there are two steps up to T.Group - people tend to forget that T:Part is in between.

So no, as per RAW you can't.

If you did make it T:Group you would form a group of darts, a Group is usually equivalent to 10 Individuals, calculated for their mass so it may be more. E.g. a CrAn spell to create a bug is T:Ind regardless of how small the thing is and that an Individual could have created an animal as bit as a pony. But a T:Group spell created the mass equivalent of 10 ponies...this is a lotta bugs. But still only 10 ponies for this version of the spell.

T:Ind for Terram is for stone 1 cubic pace IIRC, but the dart sounds much smaller. So T: Group should form a number of darts equal to the mass of 10 cubic paces of stone. For ease if calcualtions I assume a pace is 1 meter, and a cubic pace (cubic meter) of stone weighs somewhere around 2200-2500 kg. If a single dart weighs 1 kg T:Group could create 2200...Tell me if this seems excessive to you?
Is crystal a 'higher grade' of Terram so the base amount is less than stone? Thos would help keep this balanced.

IMHO the T:Group version should not create more than 10 darts, because otherwise it's no fun anymore. I for one don't like to break the system.

You can come up wit UP TO 10 cubic paces of stone in T:group. You do not need to, though.It can be significantly smaller. The basic crystal dart certainly is NOT a cubic pace of stone :slight_smile: 10-12 darts affecting 10 individual targets grouped together sounds fine. Or you can also work up an arc of stony death (fiery ribbons) fairly easily

But yes, you will need to have it as a Re(Mu)Te15 spell (with T: part) in order for you to be able to affect both an individual (downgrading it) or a group. It has the benefit of you being able to make precission shots with your Crystal dart (using T: part) and aiming for concrete parts (like an exposed leg, or a hand) instead of the general body of the target, so it might not be bad to go for it. A weapon able to do that and to go for Ind or Group targets as well certainly is a flexible one!

Cheers,
Xavi

I would just abstract away the number of darts, and just call it a swarm of darts that did 10 more damage than a single dart (consistent with the general rule of thumb +1 magnitude = +5 damage).

That seems more balanced.

Also, why isn't Crystal Dart as it is T:Part to begin with? I mean, you take a part of the ground, turn it to crystal, and hurl it? Pit of the Gaping Earth is T:Part, unless I'm much mistaken

Lol, Target vs target... :mrgreen:

You can aim for specifc body parts with the usual spell just as well, because the Target of the spell is the Terram part, not Corpus.

Anyway, aside from that i completely agree with having a version of the spell as T: Part. With FFM, this allows you to shift it around pretty much any way you want it and makes it very flexible. And both with Group and Part it can be used for noncombat purposes with a bit of imagination. (you are moving around quite a lot of stone)

I solve this with another way.
I get rid of Flexible formulaic magic and take Flawless magic. I read the errata and see that study total is not doubled for mastering spell but experience point. So, is the point from mastered spell too?

That would seem to be a valid point of the errata to mention. Maybe you should send this David Chart's way to see if the errata needs revising

Actually, the errata for Mastered spells mentions this: "You may take this Virtue if you also have Flawless Magic, to give you more experience points to spend on mastering your spells."

So it seems these points also count double

This, IMO, makes Flawless Magic the strongest Hermetic Virtue in the system. Spell Mastery opens up a lot of options, and this just makes those options that more accessible.

Going off original topic here, so be warned
It sure does. I like this Virtue, and I like Spell Mastery a lot - it was the first thing I noticed when transitioning from 4th to 5th ed.

I tried using it in a saga that turned out to be very short, and I only felt I touched the tip pf the iceberg.
In the current saga I reused this concept. A lot of spells are really, really useful to have some or other Mastery Ability in. Although some spells I have difficulties finding a useful choice, but when you get Mastery 1 for free you feel you have to tale something.

It is a Maga Trianoma with a focus on weather magic and a beginning interest in Vim. She is skilled broadly in the Arts and while a lot of spells are Auram weather effects there is also a bunch of ReCo spells to assist in various things, pacify a hedge wizard etc.
With Deft Auram there is no need to Quiet or Subtle magic here. Spells usable for quick offense or defense, or getting away I chose Fast Casting for - Wings of Soaring Wind, Charge of the Angry Winds, Circling Winds of Protection.
Spells of D:Concentration are (slightly) more efficient with Imperturbable Casting
Offensive spells which you could be the target of yourself are nice with Resistance - Pilum of Fire, Call to Slumber.
And Spasms of the Uncontrolled Hand is mastered for Multi-Casting. Because a swordsman might be pacified by hampering one hand. But a magus og hedgie is better pacified by hampering both hands spasming! Also, combined with Curse of the Unruly Tongue fast Cast it has a chance of stopping an antagonistic caster.

Going off original topic here, so be warned
It sure does. I like this Virtue, and I like Spell Mastery a lot - it was the first thing I noticed when transitioning from 4th to 5th ed.

I tried using it in a saga that turned out to be very short, and I only felt I touched the tip pf the iceberg.
In the current saga I reused this concept. A lot of spells are really, really useful to have some or other Mastery Ability in. Although some spells I have difficulties finding a useful choice, but when you get Mastery 1 for free you feel you have to tale something.

It is a Maga Trianoma with a focus on weather magic and a beginning interest in Vim. She is skilled broadly in the Arts and while a lot of spells are Auram weather effects there is also a bunch of ReCo spells to assist in various things, pacify a hedge wizard etc.
With Deft Auram there is no need to Quiet or Subtle magic here. Spells usable for quick offense or defense, or getting away I chose Fast Casting for - Wings of Soaring Wind, Charge of the Angry Winds, Circling Winds of Protection.
Spells of D:Concentration are (slightly) more efficient with Imperturbable Casting
Offensive spells which you could be the target of yourself are nice with Resistance - Pilum of Fire, Call to Slumber.
And Spasms of the Uncontrolled Hand is mastered for Multi-Casting. Because a swordsman might be pacified by hampering one hand. But a magus og hedgie is better pacified by hampering both hands spasming! Also, combined with Curse of the Unruly Tongue fast Cast it has a chance of stopping an antagonistic caster.