User:Andy Raff
Magic Theory
Hi both,
Back once again for more feedback, as requested; this time on the Ritual Theory page.
Pretty good stuff overall, tbh. A lot of what I have to say is querying exact meanings or asking for clarifications rather than anything particularly erroneous.
Overview
'Imperial Magicians who have studied the lore of the Realms can use mana crystals to manipulate a realm to create magic effects' - This is an interesting line in that, while stating the obvious and already-known, it makes me query something. Is there any info on *why* you need mana crystals rather than personal mana, especially given the viability of using the Realm Lore potion sets that let you use your personal mana? Anything here that should go into general magical theory knowledge?
Worth mentioning the necessity of Arcane Projections for spontaneous magic in this overview section, I think, just to make it clear how things have changed and to avoid confusing anyone.
Laws
In general, this section is great for laying these concepts out nicely.
Ok, so this may be something *I* am misunderstanding about how research works now, but there's something that comes up almost immediately in this section that I think needs clarification. So, if I understand it correctly, to put a ritual into research via the Lyceum or Halls of Knowledge requires an Arcane Projection of that ritual. However, as per the Law of Intent, 'an arcane projection to divine the properties of a magical item would be useful only for that magical item.' Does this mean that you can never create a ritual along the lines of Bright Lantern of Ophis in the future? To create a Bright Lantern type ritual that can scan/read/scry/recharge/whatever more than one specified singular target, you'd need an arcane projection so it can go into research, but you can never get such an arcane projection because they always have to be specified?
'The Law of Scale makes it practically impossible to create a ritual that affects an Imperial Army that is lower than magnitude 70.' - This makes me curious, I know of at least one Summer ritual at Magnitude 50 that crept in via a ritual text and which enchants an army. I am therefore wondering whether such things are going to be grandfathered in, whether this was something that was specifically noted at the time they were created, if they will be modified in line with it, etc?
'A ritual that grants someone two ranks of endurance is always more than twice the magnitude of a ritual that grants a single rank.' - Another moment of Sum of the Parts breaking all the rules, given it's +3 hits for 12 Mag - ie exactly three times the cost of the +1 hits ritual at Mag 4.
'One of the few exceptions to this are the rituals developed by Marcher Landskeepers to improve the productivity of farms. A year is the natural cycle of any farm, which is what allows the rituals to span this duration without becoming infeasible.' I think this might need to be rewritten slightly - the farm enchantment rituals that run with the seasons all last less than a full year, I believe.
'It is not possible to use the Law of Synergy with spontaneous magic. Only a formulaic ritual is sufficiently complete to allow the flexibility to affect a variable number of targets.' - Just to make sure I've got this clear: presumably, the Law of Bonds means you can still create a spell that by default affects a set number of targets - say, one that gives five people Cleave 1/day - but the Law of Synergy simply means you can't have the 'and add 3 targets for each additional 4 Magnitude' bit of it or whatnot.
The Role of Eternals
Some much-needed clarification here, this is really very useful stuff.
'Eternals may insist that certain conditions be met to secure their co-operation. For example, it is widely believed that the magicians who secured the co-operation of Ephisis in the creation of Ephisis' Scales agreed that the Empire would always support free commerce. If the Empire were to abandon this principle, Ephisis would be free to renounce the contract and this ritual would cease to function.' - Is there going to be any information on the general conditions attached to other such Eternal-dependent rituals in Imperial Lore? If conditions are no longer met and a contract is renounced, it presumably causes the ritual to completely fail to function? Would a ritualist become aware of this failure the moment they begin attempting to cast, or will there be a 'trap' outcome where ritualists try to cast a revoked ritual and have it explode or whatever?
'Alternatively, if a magician is able to convince an eternal to come to an appropriate regio at an agreed time then they can use the operate portal cantrip to allow the eternal to meet with them there.' - I assume more detail will be given on this on an updated Operate Portal page? What exactly does it mean - an actual Eternal appears in Anvil in the Regio?
'Most eternals that have business with the Empire will make themselves available to the archmage - if they are friendly. Some archmages take it upon themselves to facilitate communication between eternals and Imperial magicians, others prefer to control contact to ensure that these powerful agents are treated appropriately by having them deal only with their equals.' - As a side-note I hope the buggers actually start doing this rather than what they've done previously, which is largely 'fuck off and cause mayhem without bothering to notify the Archmage' :D
Limits
It may be worth referencing the Last Breath Echoes ritual under Restore Life, as something that affects Terminal characters and gives them a short bit of 'extra time' prior to permanent, do not pass Go, do not pass $200, death wherein one dies so hard no-one knows what happens next.
Mind Control - I'll ask the obvious question now, since you'll just get asked it later anyway. You can't compel someone to speak the truth but presumably you can slap a roleplaying effect on someone that reads something like 'You feel a strong urge to tell the truth', ie non-compelling but definitely influencing. Will this be seen as a legit effect for a ritual?
'It is possible to create rituals that request or invite inhabitants of a realm to enter the mortal world, but it is not possible to summon them.' - Ok, so does this mean that, even if magical communication is out unless codified, someone could Arcane Project a ritual that said 'Request/invite a herald of Stepladderos to come and see the caster?' That's pretty much what came to mind the moment I saw that line, so presume people will try doing this.
With Bourse Resources, 'Even attempts to scry for new deposits have proved unsuccessful.' - Wording might want some clearing up here. My understanding is that it is viable to scry for existing deposits that are being worked - ie you can scan a territory and see the orcs of the Fuckyou Tribe are mining raw nocturnal derpwood from the vasty deeps, but you couldn't scan for entirely untapped reserves of derpwood? I know that the line actually says 'new deposits' right there but it may be misparsed for meaning 'any deposits we don't know about' rather than 'unworked deposits that no-one has dug/harvested/eaten'.
I'm a bit suspicious of the Supernatural Effects section just because there are a load of rituals that do fairly supernatural things already (animating trees!) so some of the restrictions placed down here look a bit shaky.
'Arcane projections for spontaneous divination effects must specify very precisely the information that is wanted and the subject of the divination. Such projections cannot be used to glean other information or even be cast on a different subject. Only formulaic magic possesses this degree of flexibility. For example, it is easy to make an arcane projection that determines information about the history of a specific item; it is not possible to create an arcane projection that lets the ritualist perform that spontaneous effect on any item.' - As noted above for the Law of Intent, while 'only formulaic magic possesses this degree of flexibility' you will never be able to formulate new rituals possessing that flexibility, as they have to be arcane projections first - and arcane projections can only 'specify very precisely the information that is wanted and the subject of the divination'.
I hope that's useful!