Ars Magica Staying awake by transferring fatique?
From: Freakwave Posted on: 7/2/2003 11:44 am
To: ALL
Message: 250.1
There is a ReCo20 spell in mainbook that allows caster to swap fatique levels with another. Duration is momentary, range is touch. No vis is required.

Could a wizard keep grog in his sanctum, and everytime the grog wakes up, feed him and then cast the spell on the grog(transferring all his fatique go the grog, and becoming fully refreshed himself), thereby keeping himself awake 24/7 and icrease his studying potential?

Ofcourse the wizard would need to make a suitable deal with the grog, maybe allowing the grog to live very luxurious life for 10 days in season, getting (almost) everything the grog wants?

From: marklawford Posted on: 7/3/2003 7:24 am
To: Freakwave
Message: 250.2
in reply to: 250.1
I am guessing that technically the magus is at liberty to find ways of turning himself into a study engine including staying awake by sucking the energy out of others. The question is would he want to? Okay, for a short burst of effort (perhaps to make up lost time on a critical experiment) this may be viable.

I mean, I could work seven days a week to increase my earning potential, but I don't fancy it as I'm very fond of my bed on a sunday morning. Beyond that, I don't NEED to go and see a film on a saturday night, or wash the car, or potter aimlessy around the garden enjoying the sights and sounds of Southern England's urban flora and fauna. Okay, I don't do the last one, but you get the point.

If a player approached me with such an idea, I'd have to ask him to justify what in the magus' personality makes him so driven and whether there are other things he might do before resorting to such extreme measures.

I have to say that my take on study is that it is not an 8am-8pm every day for three months affair. Magi must take time to indulge their humanity which may include corresponding with friends and colleagues, travelling to market on the lookout for bargains and/or strange artifacts fresh from the east or pottering aimlessy around the covenant gardens enjoying the sights and sounds of the Roman Tribunal's rural flora and fauna. Okay, perhaps not the last one, but you get the point.

If the magus needed extra time, he might become very reclusive, working furiously to complete whatever volatile potion or device he is working on. I think these things are more a matter of game flavour than game mechanics though and a season gives a season's worth of study no matter how you describe the magus' actions.

On the other hand, a magus with a mortal dread of falling asleep sounds like a good character. What would be the long term effects on his "donors"? Could this be a source of vampiric stories? Is this the first step down that dark road?

Mark

From: ErikTDahl Posted on: 7/3/2003 12:08 pm
To: Freakwave
Message: 250.3
in reply to: 250.1
The spell you're thinking of is limited in that you can only give your own Fatigue to someone else; you can't take it from another. I agree that it's weird that the magic only works in that direction, but it is clearly stated that it's the closest magi have come to restoring Fatigue. Because of that limitation, I probably wouldn't allow it in my saga without some kind of Hermetic breakthrough.

If, instead of a grog, you had a magus who could cast this spell and who was willing to act as you outline above, your plan might work. However, I usually play it that after staying awake all night, characters get long-term Fatigue (Fatigue that can only be recovered by eating and sleeping). I don't think that this spell would replace long-term Fatigue, so your character could probably only get about three extra days out of it before I would say he'd have to stop.

From: marklawford Posted on: 7/3/2003 1:28 pm
To: ErikTDahl
Message: 250.4
in reply to: 250.3
Or how about a demon that poses as a magus in order to strike a bargain. He is willing to give his energy in return for... whatever it is the demon wants.

Of course, along the way, the recipient is subject to all kinds of increasingly paranoic episodes until his sodales have to come and rescue him...

Mark

From: Berengar Posted on: 7/4/2003 11:22 am
To: Freakwave
Message: 250.5
in reply to: 250.1
The first decision a storyguide has to make here: Is the effect of lack of sleep really fatigue, and *just* fatigue?
No ArM4 rule that I am aware of implies this. Fatigue in ArM is a measure of the results of exertion on an individual in terms of decreased capabilities. Continuous lack of sleep has quite different effects than exertion.

*If* a storyguide for some reason - which is not quite fathomable to me - decides that removing fatigue removes all ill effects of lack of sleep, then the 'Amulet and Token of Vigor' which Galadin invented in Post Coch (see http://www.atlas-games.com/covenant150.zip) become indeed a rather legit means to study 24 hours each day.

Yours,

Berengar

From: StevePettit Posted on: 7/23/2003 6:01 pm
To: Berengar
Message: 250.6
in reply to: 250.5
Actually, lurking around in the Mysteries is a spell that keeps a subject from dreaming, and it is -nasty-, as it slowly kills the target of the spell within a season (or less), despite getting a full night's sleep. So, the effects of staying awake 24 hours a day are more than just fatigue, as your body and mind slowly fall apart. One could say if you never fall asleep, you can't dream, and if you can't dream...

I like the idea of long term fatigues piling up from staying awake overly long (even a character in our saga who has the "Needs no Sleep" virtue from 3rd Ed. still meditates every evening), and after the 5th day, your body starts to eat itself to sustain the effort (run out of long term fatigue, begin eating body levels). That puts, at most, a 12 day limit (for a Size +1 or Size +2 Magus) on long they could stay up.

Steve