Had a slight issue last night in game, it turned out not to be a major issue, but it's worth discussing and getting a ruling on. The Magus of the group was confronting a ghost and tried using a spontaneous 'Lay to Rest the Haunting Spirit'. With Confidence, Fatigue, and the fact that he had a decent Penetration skill with a specialty in Mentem, he was able to dispatch it with two castings, the first spell being weaker (in overall level) than the second.

The issue I have is the basics of the spell, its Range for example. He was right next to it, so I ruled that he touched it, there was no need for him to spend extra levels for range. He cast a low version of it, only level 3, so he could more easily get through its Might. It worked, and that allowed him to cast a stronger version (level 5) the next round, and even though he rolled a 0 (no botch) the spell went off and the ghost dispelled. The standard spell though has a duration of Voice, but no levels are added. It just says Base Effect, which is the level of this General spell. Demon's Eternal Oblivion though, which does basically the same thing and has the same parameters for Range (Voice), has +2 levels to the base effect to account for the Range. That's the discrepancy. So my question is, in spells like this, do you lose effective levels of the spell to account for the Range? For example, Let's say you cast a level 20 Demon's Oblivion, if it works, does the demon lose 10 Might (the spell's base effect) or 20 Might (the spell's base effect +2 levels for the Range)? The same question would also apply to Lay to Rest the Haunting Spirit.

Oh, I also noticed a computational error (I think) for the spell Poisoning the Will (pg 151) it's level 60, but should be level 65. Base 4 + 1 Touch + 3 Moon + 4 Bound + 5 Size.

I would not be surprised if there were a few mistakes in the Spells chapter, given that there are ~150 spells in all.

I don't have my book handy but it sounds like "Lay to Rest the Haunting Spirit" may be one of them. I think there really should be a +2 magnitude adjustment for Voice range. Remember, the base Range of all spells in ArM5 is Personal.

David Chart hinted on the ArM5 mailing list that errata will be coming out in mid-to-late January, so we'll see if any mention is made of these.

Page 118
Shiver of the Lycanthrope InAn 10
Per, Conc, Touch

Touch target???

I'm not sure I agree with turning a range into a target only about six spells into the listings.

Would something like Touch, Conc, Ind be more like it?

Notes of Delightful sounds
range touch, duration sun, target: room, level 10

As I was making a list of my spontanious spells I took many spells with touch range and made them personal, thus decreasing level by 5.

But I am not sure what this spell does when target is personal?

Does that make caster's voice delightful so his singing sounds better, but he cannot do that to his banjo?

Or if the target is the room... it has to have that range touch!

What if you have range touch and target individual and cast it on your banjo, does banjo's sound sound better only within that banjo, but outside it sounds normal, or do you get a very low level spell that makes your musical skills sound great?

Notes of Delightful sound does make every sound to sound good, those inside that room speak with beautyful sounds. If you limit the spell, then only magus or his banjo sounds good, a thing that can be a good thing but still that makes a simpler spell.

Any comments or answers??

//But I am not sure what this spell does when target is personal?

Does that make caster's voice delightful so his singing sounds better, but he cannot do that to his banjo?

Or if the target is the room... it has to have that range touch!//

With regards to spellcasting, I believe the only targets that can be used with Personal range are Individual and Part. I believe you could enchant an item, however, such as a room, to have Personal range and Room or Structure target.

The effect you are describing, however, sounds accurate. I am assuming we are discussing Muto Imaginem. At Personal range and Individual target, the magus's voice would sound better. As the sound is non-magical when it reaches the ears of listeners, it could still be subjective as to what "better" means.

The Touch : Individual varient could cause the banjo to sound better as well. I would say that, similar to Aura of Enobled Presence, these spells would add bonuses to the magus's musical skill, rather than *make* people appreciate his playing; after all, even a perfectly tuned instrument is useless if the musician is inept.

There are probably other options that can be considered that would give a more absolute effect; such as CrIm to literally create a beautiful song/tune, regardless of what the magus sings/plays, or ReMe to magically affect the listeners (with different Ranges and Targets necessary).

in 5e you can indeed only affect "yourself" with Personal Range.
That means spells with Individual or Part Target, affecting the caster, or part of hte caster.

In a device, it affects the device alone. In the case of a Room, you can have a Personal Indivual Target (the room itself), but not a Room Target (everything within the Room), even if the Room itself is the enchanted device.

To affect anything "else" you need at least Touch range.