Mind of stone
Muto Mentem(Terram)
effect level-25
target-Personal(+0)
duration-sun(+02)
total-35

the effect of this spell is to give the caster a Mind made of solid stone yet still able to Type!

tell me what you think of it & any modifiers I have to make!

Reading the affect, "mind made of stone" immediately conjured the image of a person slamming thier head into a table and I wondered, why is that such a vivid image in my head?

Then I remembered my former sister-in-law. TRUE STORY.
My brother and I used to work with a girl that would one day become his wife. We worked a retail job that had a customer counter about 4' off the ground. My brother was flirting with his would be wife when she sneezed. She sneezed so violently that she through her body forward and slammed her head straight into the counter.

She stood up and sort of lost her balance then looked at me.
I said, "I can't believe you just did that."

She said, "Why not?"

I said, "What do you mean why not? Is this something you do regularly? Do it again!"

She got mad and my brother went to her defense. Later they married, then they divorced, now they hate each other. I had forgetten this lovely memory, thanks for reminding me!

I'll try not to use the board for personal anectodes in the future, but I figured this post is as productive as anything AbRay has submitted.

Chuck

Actually , one can always work anecdotes into a saga.

Maybe a Rego Corpus spell could be used to create a similar effect.
Any underling who annoyed you would be made to sneeze violently and slam their head into the nearest solid object.

Having worked in Retail and having an ex sister-in-law who is as much beloved as yours , i can only wish she had been so entertaining.

I think i will invoke "Godwin's Law" here.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Godwin's_law

Still , we can mark your work "Much Improved" at least.

Well AbRay, my young padawan. I did tell you that if you followed the formula I would help you out. You made an effort and so should I.

Should I dive into the world of anecdote first?

I didn't answer you question earlier because I was involved in a car accident. On the back seat of my Explorer I had to milk crates filled with Ars Magica books, character sheets, and about 20 years of 'must save' notes and maps. After the smoke cleared and I decided I wasn't dead I realized there was Ars Magica stuff EVERYWHERE! Walking down the street I pretend to be a normal person and like to think of myself as a 'closet' gamer. So the thought of roleplaying stuff, and I mean nearly every Ars book ever published scattered about an accident sent me into a frenzy. I'm running around grabbing books, grabbing characters sheets, picking up maps and my concern wasn't "I'm going to lose this stuff", my concern was, "Don't let these normal people find out I'm a 34 year old gamer!"

Yes, I made sure everybody was fine before I went on my cleaning rampage, but as soon as I was sure my frenzy began. I can just imagine how normal I looked to gawkers passing by, "Is that Ars Magica 2, 3, 4, and 5 laying in the street?"

FYI: I keep 'the Grail' (Ars1) at home.

Ok, AbRay I'm going to break your spell into two messages. One will discuss unnatural affects, the other will discuss your numbers.

Ready?

Chuck

On Unnatural Affects.

Over the years Ars has gone through numerous version. Even in the earliest versions of the game formulaic spells existed and the rules for constructing spells were there. In the earliest versions of the game, these construction rules were vauge and open to interpretation. That fact meant that spell levels could vary from game to game. On a certain level this is fine, as long as internal consistency exists typically your fine. But the fact that one could build a spell in "my game" and it would be 20th lvl and the same spell in "your game" would be 10th lvl meant there was no common ground for us exchange spells.

This is why I keep hammering the importance of useing the spell construction method that I've advocated. The only way any of us can understand each other is if we have a common language or system by which to communicate our ideas.

Each edition of Ars has more narrowly defined spell construction and while Ars4 does a great job, Ars 5 is even better.

There is one point which I understand but I find problematic. Each version of the game has something vauge like "Special", "Complicated". or "Highly Unnatural".

The premise behind these is that certain affects simply don't fall under the normal rules of the game. They have an unusual target, duration, or range. They are an unusual mystic affect. These affects are coverned and explained by the above mentioned vauge parameters.

As I said, there is good reason to have these. They explain material outside the normal game. But they are also open to misinterpretation or misuse when making spells at home. It is the last point in the game that I feel can be misused in terms of spell construction. It is the point where you and I can make the same spell and end with a different spell level.

I'm not suggesting that these vauge parameters be removed from the game, I'm simply pointing out the potential problem that exists with such parameters.

One of my earlier lessons AbRay, was one should always be conservative in constructing a spell. If your not sure, add one or two magnitudes to the spell level. That way when you present material to your peers the worst case senario is that you spell will become cheaper and easier. Besides, you don't look like a munckin if you go out of your way to make spells harder.

So why am I talking about this Padwan?

Well it should be obvious, the affect you want it is to have a body of stone that can still move. Turning someone to stone is completely reasonable. But stone that's still flexible, stone that can move like a human body, this by any definition is an unnatural affect. So when you construct your spell you must account for this highly unnatural state.

Next: Spell Construction

Chuck

On: Body of Stone that Still Moves

Padawan because you used the spell construction rules we can easily look at every point of your spell and see what you did correctly and what you did wrong. This will make the process much easier than past attempts to aid you. I thank you for useing 'the method', but strongly encourage you to READ MORE. You will quickly see that if you had READ THE BOOK you would know that your spell is wrong.

AbRay writes:
body of stone (that moves)
requisites-mutocorpus(terum)
effect level-15

Spell aside, you chose the correct Tech and Form and Requisite (Terram)

Spell Effect:

AbRay, per Ars4 one can easily READ on page 124 that Muto Corpus 15 allows "Change the face of a person".

Your spell effect is way off.

One can easily read that Muto Corpus 40 allows "Turn a human into a solid inanimate object (Terram requisite).

To clarify, to turn a person to stone the spell effect is Muto Corpus 40 with a Terram Requisite

So by spending about 1 second reading I was able to determine that your spell is off by at LEAST 25 levels. You get that right? If you read the book you'll see your mistake? Right? Read the book. Pick it up now, go to page 124-125 and read your error.

Spell Effect Turn Person to Stone (that moves)
Base Level Muto Corups R:Terram 40

In my last mail AbRay I discussed unnatural effects and I said they were vauge and open to interpretation. I could be wrong on this, but I don't believe Ars4 has "highly unnatural", I believe this is an Ars5 addition.

So in Ars4 you essentially decided that stone that moves is 'harder' than stone. Then you pick how much harder. This is the point I was trying to complain about. It was the vauge element that prevented spell construction from being universally consistent.

I'm going to break my own rule, which is that I teach you based soley on Ars4. I will look to Ars5 which says a highly unnatural affect adds +2 magnitudes to a spell effect. Again, in Ars4 you guessed. One? Two? More? Well I'm saying it's two based on Ars5.

So your effect, body of stone that moves is
Muto Corpus R:Terram
40+10= 50

In Ars4 the standard parameters for Muto Corpus are:
R: Touch
D: Sun
T: Individual

AbRay wrote:
target-self(+5)
duration-sun(-5)
range-touch(+5)

While you filled in the blanks satisfying my requisites for helping you, did you even open the book? Clearly written on page 124, before the spell effects it lists the standard parameters of Muto Corpus spells. If you READ, you would see that do not need to make any modifications for the parameters you listed save one "Self" should read "Individual".

This means:
Target: Individual (+0)
Duration: Sun (+0)
Range: Touch (+0)

I have to ask again, did you read? Can you read? Will you ever read?

Having established this we now see by Ar4 your spell looks like this:

Body of Stone that moves
Muto Corpus Requiste Terram
Base Level 40
T: I
D: S
R: T
(Highly Unnatural +2)
Spell Level 50

Rather than make this even longer I will discuss the benefits and hinderances of stone skill in yet another post.

Chuck

Ok Padawan, we've established that per Ars4 your spell reads as follows:

Body of Stone that moves
Muto Corpus Requiste Terram
Base Level 40
T: I
D: S
R: T
(Highly Unnatural +2)
Spell Level 50

But we have yet to detaile what this means. By that, I mean how having a body of stone alters your game stats. This is why you want a body of stone, right?

So per Ars it would influence your Soak, which is likely what your mainly interested. It's also sensible that it influence Encumbrance. One could argue that it changes your Quick or Dexderity, but I think altering encumbrance is an easier way to achieve the same goal. One alters encumbrance by changing a players Load, so we will need to alter Load.

Let us begin.

What should the soak bonus be for having stone skin?
The first thing you should do is to look to other spells for guidance. Do not simply make it up. You'll always be wrong. Look at other spells, look at weapons, always base your stats on preexisting stats.

What is simular to stone skin? Well first it's easy to say that if we look to armor is should be considered "Full" protection. Remember to be *conservative*. If we look to armor then let us compare it to the *lowest* metal armor. That is Steel Scale.
Full Steel Scale has stats of: Protection 10 Load: -5

We will keep this a reference point.

Under Creo Terram we can look to Wall of Stone which vaugely says that miner's tools can break through it. Beyond this no real stats are given for the wall. The Miner's Pick is an interesting point and we should keep this in mind. Perhaps a bonus to attack for people using pointed weapons/miner's tools?

Muto Terram provides no spells with stats that can aid us.

Rules of breaking through objects provide no assistance in determining stats.

It would seem that Armor stats are likely our best source of guidance.

Again Full Steel Scale has stats of Protection: 10 Load: -5

Typically armor is well crafted metal built for an individual. Stone skin is 'tighter' than the best built armor. Load is more than just weight, it is also impedance caused by the armor being bulky.

Remember to be conservative, so I will lower the load by ONE. However, stone skin probably weighs a lot more than steel, that will raise it by one. So let's call it even, Load: -5

Stone is rather generic, but it conjures enough of description to clarify one point. "Stone", whatever it might be, is not as strong as tempered Steel. I'm going to be crazy here and be 'generous'. I will *only* lower the protection by ONE.

That means Stone Skin, is a Protection: 9 a Load: -5

Essentially it is sort of between Full Leather and Full Steel Scale

We discussed a possible bonus for pointed weapons/miners tools. I've decided there is enough difference between weapons and miners tools to say "pointed weapons" does not count. If one wants to include this then one must also include additional botch die to account for the fact that the weapons are being misused and could break. For simplicity, I will say no to "pointed weapons" bonus.
However "Miner's Tools" recieve a +2 to damage.

Why +2?
Ars4 allows for some vaugeness. +2 is neither a significant or insignificant bonus. Furthermore, who's going to bring miner's equiptment to a fight?

So lets finalize this spell:

Body of Stone that moves
Muto Corpus Requiste Terram
Base Level 40
T: I
D: S
R: T
(Highly Unnatural +2)
Spell Level 50

Protection: 9
Load -5
Miner's Tools get +2 Damage

This seems like a reasonable spell. I'd welcome corrections if people see them.

For what it's worth AbRay, there are better ways to protect oneself in Ars Magica. The game allows for all sorts of spell effects, some are better than others. For instance, a simple Rego Terram spell would keep swords away for about half the price.

Chuck

And under ArM 04 combat rules , a "Naked Guy with a Stick" will beat up a "Body of Stone (that walks)" every time :-)

Mate , really hope you are ok after your car accident.
Did you lose much of your Ars Magica stuff?
Stupid Question , but will your Insurance cover replacement costs (even if you could get the books replaced)?

Graham.

It's funny. I've got at least two real life friends that read this board and I sent them out a private mail detailing my accident. When we are done gaming everyone is suppose to neatly put all their stuff (character sheets, ect) back into folders and neatly put these in the milk crates. I told them the mess part of the accident occured because they are bunch of proper bastards who never put their stuff away. In response to this, I hear nothing. I post it here to the public, and my friends start mailing, "is my character sheet ok? are you ok?"

Everything is *fine*. My car is totaled, but all my Ars Books are coated in contact paper. They are Tonka tuff and can take quite a beating. I'm fine, the 80 lady that drove infront of me is fine. Everybody is fine.

Side story, over the last two sessions there has been two characters that we haven't been able to find no matter how hard we looked through the milk crates. When the smoke cleared, these missing PC's were on the dash and in my lap. It was sort of like magic (pun intended).

Insurance doesn't need to cover my books because they are all fine. Thanks for asking.

And on the subject of naked man beats man with body of stone. Well I was hoping to let AbRay discover that pleasure all on his own. With a -5 Load I can visualize a lumbering padawan learner named AbRay saying in slow motion and a deep voice, "What's going on? Why is this happening? Hey, wait a second!"

One healthy owner of nearly every Ars Book,

Chuck

Do not "estamate". READ THE BOOKS! All the answers are in the books. YOU MUST READ! DO NOT ESTIMATE!

Your Padawan teacher grows angry. Don't make cut your arms off.

Chuck

I'm editing my post because I just realized I'm not angry enough.

I spent an entire post detailing that spell construction exists so we can all build spells any where on the planet and they should all add up the same. With this premise, how can you say estimate? Did you read my post? Do you get it? Can you comprehend that the common language of spell construction demands that if you do things by the book all our answers should be the same. No dart boards are required. No tea leaves, no 'estamates'.

Help me, help you padawan learner. Make an effort. Study the alphabet. Read a little. Do it a sentence at a time. Take the meaning in. Comprehend it. Then move on.

Estimates are for lessers games. Leave your estimates at the door. Ars demands your A game, not your "ay" game.

Chuck

And don't say I don't know how to add. I told you if you can add, delete the PDF and go back to basic D@D.