Third ArM5 Errata Thread

[ErikT]

@ezzelino

Leadworkers (HoH:TL p. 143)
"may also make kolossoi [figurines] that contain fixed arcane connections, taken from the bodies of their victims, without spending vis or study time."
To me, that sentence means that a leadworker can make a kolossos, and incorporate into it any already fixed arcane connection, as long as it comes from someone's body (thus not a connection to a place or a spirit's true name).

However this contradicts what we read in AtD, p.30, where we read that Monica Irene of Tremere's Leadworker Virtue "described in HoH:TL ... also allows her to fix arcane connections without spending vis or taking time from other studies. She has hundreds of these [kolossoi]."
This is very different, and significantly more powerful, since it implies that a Leadworker can effectively fix arcane connections in 0 time (maybe even during a tense scene of combat?) and for 0 cost - this is an important activity that other magi spend 1 pawn and, crucially, 1 full season, to perform.

I think one of the two should be clarified and/or corrected, because as they stand they appear contradictory to me. I'd be tempted to say that the AtD text misinterpreted the original HoH:TL text (i.e. to keep the "weaker" version), because otherwise the Virtue appears unbalancing by the "must have" test: my players try to always make sure some PC has it.

A bit of logic helps here.
Being able to create a kolossos (a figurine) that contains an already fixed Arcane Connection - that is not something you need a virtue for. Anyone able to create a figurine in the first place (which does not require any magical skills) can include an existing AC in it. They also don't need to spend any vis or significant time to do so.

So since anyone could do that anyway in the first place, why include it in the Leadworker virtue?

The logical answer is of course that what the virtue allows you to do isn't to include an already fixed AC in the kolossus, but to fix the AC by including it in the AC. Looking at the Penetration bonus table we see that such a kolossus is slightly weaker than an ordinary fixed AC (+3 bonus vs +4 bonus)

Unless I am mistaken, the author of the Leadworker virtue also indicated in a post here on the forum (Leadworker Virtue - #21 by Timothy_Ferguson) that this was the intention - that you can fix an AC by including it in the kolossus.