Wards and attacking across them

[Adumbratus]

The LE has spoken on BerkList...

David Chart
As the rules stand, neither Wards nor Aegis are given special exceptions
from the rules, so both have to penetrate Magic Resistance, just like
any other spell.

It is, to say the least, unclear that this is actually the best way to
handle them, particularly Aegis. I would House Rule that Aegis, at
least, does not have to penetrate (it's a Breakthrough, it's Special).

For other Wards, I'm much less sure about how they should work. It's
true that the current rules mean you need double the creature's Might in
casting total to ward against it, but that's entirely consistent with
the ArM5 boost to the value of Might. It has always previously been the
case that instant kill and ward have been the same level for magical
creatures, because Penetration always used to be at least equal to level
(or at least within ten of it).

I think it's clear that Wards should be resisted. Analogous PeCo
"Everyone who enters this circle dies" effects would have to penetrate,
after all. While you can't walk through a wall, even if it doesn't
penetrate, there is nothing there in the case of the Ward; you are being
stopped by a magical effect on you, not by a physical thing that
happened to be created magically.

The question then becomes whether something should be done to the
guidelines to make Wards more effective. Say, they Ward up to twice
their level, or Warding just takes a fixed level spell, and simply has
to penetrate. Or, of course, leave things as they are on the basis that
it fits with the rest of the system.

In the case of the Aegis, it might be better to say that it needs to
penetrate, but subtracts its full level from Casting Totals and wards up
to twice its level in Might, or something similar. (Of course, if Aegis
needs to penetrate, then Resistance Mastery in Aegis would be quite
useful for magi...)

This goes beyond errata, however. It didn't come up in the year of
playtest, which isn't that surprising as it's taken over a year to come
up after release.

David Chart
Ars Magica Line Editor

...and I do not agree.
E.G.: A demon wants to use one of his powers across a ward (against demons of course). Does the ward have to penetrate the MR of the demon? Is there now a difference between ranged attacks and personally entering a warded area? This ruling causes more problems and not less! This problem exists right now for the ward against mundanes, but I used this only for "thou shall not enter" spells.

Since a house rule for Aegis is already necessary, I will house rule all wards (first time for a subject covered by ArM5 rules).

Regard
adumbratus