Arms & Equipment - Enchanting Sorcery Spells

[PhilHibbs]

Just after clarifications on a couple of points.

Enchanting Ritual (Sorcery Spell) - does the parenthesis mean that there is a different variant of this ritual for each spell? e.g., Enchanting Ritual (Mystic Vision)?

Magic Points that are invested in a summoning do not reduce the sorcerer’s POW, but those Magic Points are put beyond use and are not regained in the usual manner... If the enchanted item is broken or destroyed by someone else, they are gone forever.

How does this work? If a POW 15 sorceror makes a spell enchantment, he still has a POW of 15, but only 9 MP. If the enchantment is lost or broken, is he permanently crippled for the rest of his life? Does it then cost him 15 Improvement Rolls in order to have POW 16 and 10 MP? If so this is hideous and no-one will ever do it. Especially if a fumble permanently costs 1MP.

On the other hand, this could serve as an alternative to the exponential duration suggestion that I made in another post, I'm thinking of making the Enchant (spell) available for every autonomous spell in a grimoire, or just making it a single spell that is quite common, like the old Spell Matrix Enchantment. I think I would reduce the 6 MP cost as a house rule, maybe 1 MP per 5 Manipulations.

 

[Deleriad]

Had never occurred to me that knowledge of a spell might also include knowledge of how to enchant it but I reckon that's a good idea. It does specifically say in the section that enchanting sorcery spells isn't usually very useful for the sorcerer but as a way of creating effectively "always on" spells, I reckon it could work quite well. I notice that there's no trigger condition in A&E but I suspect there really ought to be; it's a classic of the genre after all.

It is possible to use non-personal MPs to create enchantments. Tapping and power cystals are specifically mentioned. It does also say that sorcerers can access the MPs of bound creatures so it might be feasible to bind a plant spirit say and use it to power further enchantments. With the exception of power crystals, most of these options are amoral at best. The good thing about the 6 MP cost is that it forces sorcerers to be creative.

 

[PhilHibbs]

It is possible to use non-personal MPs to create enchantments. Tapping and power cystals are specifically mentioned. It does also say that sorcerers can access the MPs of bound creatures so it might be feasible to bind a plant spirit say and use it to power further enchantments. With the exception of power crystals, most of these options are amoral at best. The good thing about the 6 MP cost is that it forces sorcerers to be creative.

Ah, I hadn't thought of that - if a sorceror uses a crystal to create an enchantment, do you think he could "undo" the enchantment and return the MPs to the crystal? I think I'd allow it. *Update*: I read the errata now, and it says he can't. Fair enough.

 

[PhilHibbs]

I think I've found a mistake in this secton, p.101, middle-left:

The maximum number of Manipulations is dependent on the
sorcerer’s Manipulation skill in the same way the skill is used to
infl uence the normal casting of sorcery spells and each Manipulation
forms a Condition. Thus, a sorcerer with Manipulation 70% can
work seven Manipulations into a spell within an enchantment; a
Magnitude 7 spell, or a Magnitude 3 spell with a Range of 50m
x the sorcerer’s POW, or a spell with a Duration of 4 x POW
in minutes that affects up to 5 Targets. But each Manipulation
reduces the capacity for other Conditions.

According to the Sorcery table, 7 manipulations gives you a Magnitude 8 spell, or Magnitude 3 (2 manipulations) with a range of 100m x POW (5 manipulations), in other words the examples are all one point below what the sorceror can do. Unless I've misunderstood the manipulations limits, but the table clearly says "Points of Manupulation 7, Magnitude 8"

 

[PhilHibbs]

It is possible to use non-personal MPs to create enchantments. Tapping and power cystals are specifically mentioned.

Er, no they aren't. Not in my copy, anyway. Are you referring to First Edition? I've found "Sorcerers prize Magic Point Store crystals for the enormous advantage they afford in working enchantments" on page 104, but the Tap spell is not mentioned anywhere in the PDF.

On a related point, does the enchantment stop working if either the sorceror dies or the crystal that powered the enchantment is destroyed?

 

[SSWarlock]

Are you referring to First Edition?

Eh? There's been a second printing? (The use of Tapped MPs and Power Crystals is mentioned in the A&E errata available on Mongoose's website.)

Does the 2nd printing include the published errata? And how can someone tell the difference between the two printings?

 

[Deleriad]

Are you referring to First Edition?

Eh? There's been a second printing? (The use of Tapped MPs and Power Crystals is mentioned in the A&E errata available on Mongoose's website.)

Does the 2nd printing include the published errata? And how can someone tell the difference between the two printings?

Sorry, I was unclear. Tapping and Power Crystals are mentioned in the errata for A&E as means of expanding the sources of MPs used for creating enchantments. I don't believe there has been a "second printing." I also believe that from comments elsewhere, that no second printing that incorporates the errata is likely for a long, long time, if at all.

 

[PhilHibbs]

Are you referring to First Edition?

Eh? There's been a second printing?

No, I meant, "is it in this", as opposed to this, but at a glance it looks like First Edition doesn't contain enchanting rules at all.

 

[PhilHibbs]

Any opinions on whether the manipulation examples on p101 are all out by one point?

 

[PhilHibbs]

Tapping ... mentioned in the errata for A&E as means of expanding the sources of MPs used for creating enchantments.

So you'd need to start the 36-hour enchanting ritual, then cast Tap at the end to get the Magic Points, and cast the spell into the enchantment before the Tap spell wears off. I guess that makes sense. You could even Tap your own characteristic and then cast Restoration to get it back afterwards.

 

[Titus]

On a related point, does the enchantment stop working if either the sorceror dies or the crystal that powered the enchantment is destroyed?

I don't think that the enchantment stops working if the sorcerer dies. His spirit/soul would still have POW that doesn't generate magic points.

I believe from what has been written about crystals providing the MPs, that the crystal is already reduced or depleted and it never gets back its MPs. So again, I think the enchantment keeps going.

Now if the sorcerer's spirit/soul, is destroyed that might be another matter. My opinion is that the enchantment should stop working at that point because it no longer has the POW backing its magic points. But that is not necessarily supported by the RAW/RAC/RAE. If any MPs the sorcerer can get her hands on can be used to make an enchantment, then it shouldn't matter that the POW is no longer there because it is the MPs that mattered.

Mind you, I don't like the feel of the A&E sorcery enchantment rules. I think POW should be required for these enchantments.