Use touch spells in Combat

Games Discussion Ars Magica
1

Hello All

I've got an armoured warrior type mage in an upcoming game. She uses a mace (which will become a talisman) and has short-ranged magic (touch only) as a flaw.

Now combat with a mace is easy, it just follows the combat rules. How about using that mace (when it is a talisman) to channel touch range combat spells or using touch to deliver those spells, while in the midst of combat. It seems to me that a combatant who knows what is going on should have some ability to avoid being touched by the casting mage. Of course, touching someone is MUCH easier than getting a good hit on them, so touching an enemy in combat shouldn't be too hard, but there should be some choice of avoiding it.

Do the rules cover this or has anyone come up with good rules to cover it that they'd like to share?

2

If we are talking about an armored knight, hitting him with a mace might be easier than touching him (although touching his armor is not difficult).

3

Using touch spells in combat is bound to fail.

If you are casting a spell in melee range, then your opponent will hit you --spells go last in the combat round, remember? Better have an insane amount of xp in the concetration-skill. Even if you can maintain concentration, you will suffer the penalty for not being able to use the proper gestures.
If you defend yourself, you cannot cast.
Fast-cast attacks really aren't an option.
And even if all goes well: you still need to hit with the mace.

If you do not have half an hour to cast buff spells, your magus will be virtually useless in a combat scene.
Unless you are a giant-nasty-beast-Bjoernaer or a skilled Verditius: forget about touch-ranged melee-magi.

4

No problem. Anything your Talisman is touching, you are touching. See the 5th paragraph, under Talisman Attunement on page 98.

Yep, it's your Brawl Defense Total. Lords of Men goes into a bit more detail, where it goes under the name Evasion.

No; non-fast-cast spells go on your place in the initiative order.

5

  • No problem with hitting. Touch with your talisman is you touching the target

  • I would take the no gestures needed virtue if I was doing this. We had a NPC magus as a rival that had this same set of abilities. He yelled a lot in combat but used normal combat. He enchanted his axe to deliver a sleep spell with each hit (unlimited uses. It was quite a sight to behold since to the untrained eye it seemed he killed a rival with each blow. Sun duration.

  • Brawl defence to avoid being touched (dodge)

  • Yep, high concentration is quite a must since being in the middle of a brawl calls for constant concentration rolls.or the use of magic items.

  • Spells go last is a 3rd/4th edition thing.In 5th edition they go in initiative order. IMS they still go last, but that is a house rule.

Cheers,
Xavi