[ArM5] intro & a couple of questions

[Matthew L. Seidl]

On Fri, 7 Jan 2005 01:03:51 +0100, Goran Topic writes:
>1) The magic spoon thingy - there is a very loud voice of opposition
>against the magic resistance changes ArM went under in the fifth
>incarnation, and the very abusable loophole is keeping the argument
>going. *sigh* The prevailing mood in the rest of the troupe, the
>majority, is that any effect cast solely to take advantage of this
>mechanic is rules abuse, and will not be resisted by SG fiat - but
>that is not a very satisfying stand.

I've seen no good way for magic resistance to not be broken, without
allowing it to detect the intention of the incoming spell.  If someone
has one, I'd be happy to hear it.

>2) Advancement rules. Here we basically all agree - it is sooo slow.
>How does anybody ever learn anything? We've just been on our first
>version five adventure, and we'll probably receive only 5 xp for the
>whole season - which is 1 xp in Old Units. Which is around 3-5 times
>less than before. Player morale is suffering. :) Everybody is thinking
>that the best thing to do is to ignore everything that is happening in
>the world, take as few story hooks as possible, and never ever leave
>their libraries again. Why such a drastic change in the advancement
>speed?

Yes, things are slower, but I'm nto sure there as slow as you're
thinking.  A lot depends on how often the characters went on
adventures before.  If you ran 1 adventure a year, the grogs might
have been getting 2-3 exp a year in the old system.  Now they'd be
getting 2 seaons of exposure (2 eps a season) and 2 seasons of
practice/treaching/adventure.  Those two seasons could be from 8 eps
(practice) to 18 eps (teaching with +2 com, 4 teaching, lots of
students) to 20 eps (2 10 point adventures).  Totals to 12 eps min (or
2.4 eps old system) up to more like 24 (or almost 5 eps old system).

The mages, while they were getting some eps on adventure, weren't
really using those for their arts much.  2-3 just doesn't help that
much when you're arts are in the 10-15 range.  The amount they get
from a book has gone down, but to a more amnageable elvel (in my
opinion).  Taking concentration out of the total is a godo thing.

But yes, overall, levels are down.  And it was one of the berk-lists
issues that there were fewer reasons to get mages out of the lab.  But
thats what adventures are for. :) Give them things they want to go
after (or things they have to stop from happening).  Most people I
know don't go off on adventure to get better at their primary job,
they study and practice.  

>3) Faerie Magic was also drastically changed between WGRE and ArM5,
>and it did not sit well with our local Merinita, because the
>conversion of his character from ArM4 was anything but
>straightforward. For one thing, none of his spells fit the new
>guidelines any more. :)

Converting between editions is always really hard.  Lots of the old
faery magic guidelines were a bit broken though, so they've been
pulled back into line.  And until we see what greater mysteries the
Merinta have, its hard to say if any of those spells might come back
into the guidelines.  Recall that your Merinta might well be old
enough to have advanced beyond what we have readily available at the
moment.

>4) Some spells. We were discussing Hermes Portal, ReTe 75 Ritual...
>which costs a sh*tload of vis (make that two sh*tloads!) for one Year.
>Firstly, casting from text is gone, which means that, even with
>Wizard's Communion, someone (make that two someones!) still needs to
>have learned the spell. See #2 - Advancement. Who can learn a spell of
>75th level? Given that you need Int+MT+Te+Fo+3>75, a Int +5 genius
>should have MT of 15 and Art average of 26 to learn it. However,
>investing a ReCo 35 in a lesser device with unlimited uses is level
>45, for only half a rook. You need a good project leader of the
>Verditius persuasion, several strong lab rats, and you can have the
>same effect that costs less and lasts longer (and the only tradeoff is
>that you spend several magus-seasons at it, instead of four hours).

Level 35 ReCo - Transport to arcane connection.
+5 levels - Touch
+10 levels - Group (I want to take my +2 size Giant's Blood grog with me).
+10 levels - Animal req (I want my familiar)
+10 levels - Auram req (and someone else wants their bird)
+10 levels - terram req (and the pile of loot)
+10 levels - herbam req (and the card to bring it back on)
--
level 90, not including unlimited uses.  And probably too large an effect 
for an item. 

Now, this is pushing the usefullness, but hermes portal DOES give you
a lot of coolness.  I might also, as a GM, have issue with an
unthinking magic item using an arcane connection as a casting req.

Oh, and don't forget to fix those arcane connections.

>5) Spells, continued. My magus being a Rego specialist, I am very
>interested to find out what Base 4 for ReTe is. That is the base
>governing the Trackless Step and Wielding the Invisible Sling.

I'm thinking its level 3 + 1 for stone, but it is wierd for it not to
be listed.

>(And finally, to poll for some ideas: what'd make a good ReVi
>familiar? I find it a bit too abstract for any thoughts on the
>subject, but the good book says that every Magus can find a fitting
>familiar for his favourite form and fechnique...)

Hummingbird? (not native to europe AFAIK, but still a possibility).
A small sprite?
Dragonfly?

I do agree there are some hard combinations.  I was trying to think of
good InCo ones for a amge of mine, without taking a kid as my
familiar.  I'm thinking some of the small monkey's might do well.

-=- Matthew L. Seidl 		email: seidl at wraith.com                     =-=
=-= Research Scientist 			Project . . . What Project?	    -=-
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=-= My friends tell me I lead far too interesting a life.                   -=-