I've been encountering some issues finding rules on how magical effects and wards interact specifically.
First, the inconsistencies within the guidelines confuse me - Ill describe them here for easy reference for the discussion.
Ward Guidelines:
All forms except Imaginem have a general guideline for circle wards against creatures associated with the form for a given realm.
ReAn 2 - Protect the target from mundane animal attacks
ReAq 5 - Ward against mundane water
ReAu 3 - Ward against minor weather
ReAu 5 - Ward against severe weather
ReAu 10 - Ward against very severe weather
ReCo 15 - Ward against human being. To ward off a magus, must penetrate his MR.
ReHe 15 - Ward against mundane plant products
ReIg - Technically does not have a specific guideline for wards, but the spell "Ward Against Heat and Flames" ReIg 25 provides +15 soak against all fire related damage
ReMe - Nothing
ReTe 5 - Ward a target against dirt
ReTe 10 - Ward a target against stone or glass
ReTe 15 - Ward a target against metal or gemstones
ReVi - No relevant ward for this discussion
Inconsistencies
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Animal, Aquam, Herbam all specify they are warding off mundane versions, while Aurum, Corpus, Ignem, and Terram do not. Is this intentional to allow some to ward mundane version and some not?
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Ignem is the only form that has wards that grant specific damage resistance and explicitly protects against magical effects. This type of thresholding would have been useful on other wards for clarity, but as it is remains an outlier.
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What counts as a mundane item to ward against? For example, I have the ReHe Ward Against Wood. What happens in the following cases?
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A mundane arrow is shot at me.
Assumption: It is deflected harmlessly by the ward -
A shaft of wood is created by Creo Magic and thrown manually at me.
Assumption: It is not 'mundane' wood and is ignored by my ward (this feels bad), but must penetrate my Parma. -
A mundane log is thrown at me using Rego Magic (not Vilano style, but taken all the way to the target)
Assumption: It is mundane wood being controlled by magic and is thus blocked by the ward, regardless of the penetration of the casted Rego spell. -
A magus swings his enchanted wooden staff at me to bonk me on the head.
Assumption: It is not mundane wood due to its enchantment and thus ignores the ward but must penetrate the Parma to hit.
- In the case of Terram, which does not specify protection only from mundane products, even more questions arise on how to resolve interactions. For example, I have an active ReTe 25, a personal sun duration Ward Against Metal.
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A mundane sword is swung at me.
Assumption: It is harmlessly deflected -
A mighty enchanted sword with +80 penetration is swung at me.
Assumption: It is harmlessly deflected. This feels wrong, but seems RAW. -
A magical spear is created via Cr(Re)Te and thrown at me via Hermetic Magic
Assumption: It cannot miss, but cannot reach me regardless of its penetration. This feels wrong, but seems RAW. -
A magical sword is swung at me that happens to be the talisman of a particular magus and thus protected by their Parma.
Assumption: Man I dunno, maybe something like:
If (Ward Pen > Sword Parma),
--Then Sword stopped by Ward
If (Ward Pen < Sword Parma)
-- Compare (Sword Pen to Target Parma)
-- If (Sword Pen > Target Parma), sword-wielder rolls to attack
-- If (Sword Pen < Target Parma), sword stopped by parma
These inconsistencies leave me craving resolution. For my own troupe, I will likely propose the following house rules.
- All wards can protect from both mundane and magical versions of items.
- When a purely magical effect meets a ward, they compare penetrations and the victor prevails. Note that they still need to penetrate Parma if they penetrate the ward.
- Enchanted items are stopped directly as they have a mundane component