NWO query

[kingandy]

On a note entirely unrelated to my previous post, I have been wondering this about NWO: Was there at any point in the system a single offensive^[1] Imaginem spell? It's just that I went through two events as hammad with an Iron Parma vs Imaginem and couldn't for the life of me think of a good reason.

[1] 'Offensive' is a word that is here used to mean cast on another with undesirable results, ie, which one would choose to resist with one's Parma Magica.

Comments

[kneeshooter]

Did you hear the "Why parma is pointless" Pennington speech?

[kingandy]

No, I didn't. Why is Parma pointless? I mean, apart from the fact that people very rarely cast spells at all, and you only aim it at another mage if you're damned sure they're not going to be able to resist what you're throwing at them.

[kneeshooter]

That was pretty much it - there are so many "god-mages" in the game with superhuman stats that any offensive spell you're going to be hit by is such a silly power-level that a mortal stands no chance.

[kingandy]

Yeah, in the normal course of things it probably doesn't make much odds.

But if my Iron Parma had been in my strongest art - Mentem - I would totally have been able to resist Xavier's forgetfulness attack...

[jfs.livejournal.com]

From a mechanics point of view, Iron Parma is largely seen as something that you 'have', rather than you 'learned', if that makes sense? Your parens teaches you Parma and finds out that it's particularly good against one thing, rather than teaching you to be good against one thing.

It exposes part of the character, to those who know how to look.

Jarane had Iron Parma: Corpus (which would have been useful in game, if anyone had cast an offensive Corpus spell against him in 5 events, which they didn't.)

But it was more important thematically :-)

[jfs.livejournal.com]

The reason Parma was important was actually more to do with Andy's second point - that it put in a level of uncertainty to the game. If you'd known that there was no way for someone to resist your spell, then more spells would have gone off. Knowing that your target did have a parma, and not knowing what the level was, you had to either be confident of being one of the 'god-mages' or you had to plan things properly.

Without parma, there would have been a lot more certainty.

[kneeshooter]

Yes. I didn't agree with Matt.

[invisible-al.livejournal.com]

Same here Iron Parma Imaginem, there were no common offensive Imaginemen spells that I had access to either.

[kingandy]

I think it sort of makes sense from the point of view of "you are not easily fooled by illusions" except that illusions aren't targetted at you and so aren't resisted that way...

[kingandy]

I mean, makes sense for the characters (shrewd and incisive), rather than making sense per se.

[ed-fortune.livejournal.com]

That was my take on it. Grounded in reality sort of thing. I mean honestly, did you cast many spells?

[kingandy]

Three. All of them from my character sheet. Oh, technically I suppose I kept a Wizard's Sidestep up, standard practice, and I did consider a Strength Of The Bear or whatever it was at one point (when the pope was invading), but they never got invoked so they don't really count I don't think. I almost cast some healing but other people were faster and better.

I'm still curious. I rather get the feeling they wanted to hand out some technically impressive advantages without actually giving much of an in-game benefit...

[ed-fortune.livejournal.com]

Yes, it's not as if they were all equal. If a skill helped underline and helps the player 'set' the role better, why not?

[jfs.livejournal.com]

Not all spells / abilities were going to be used in game - they were there to define characters.

However, spells and parma had nothing to do with impact upon the game.

The second weakest magus by stats was a little blue man.

[kingandy]

That's about what I suspected, hence the phrasing of the question. A curiosity rather than any sort of complaint...

[jfs.livejournal.com]

Understood.

Mondragone's Arch Mage spell allowed him to create a chess opponant of equal skill to himself so that he'd never be without a challenging partner when he wanted a game. :-)

[kingandy]

Heh, cool.

Something else I've been meaning to ask. Whenever you put Jarane's robe on, you stood about a foot taller. How did you manage that?

[delvy.livejournal.com]

Cadamon's Archmage spell allowed him to analyze items in quicker time and in greater detail - but only in his laboratory. So much of the stating was about the story, not about the mechanics.

[jfs.livejournal.com]

The big red one?

It was so heavy, I couldn't slouch in it at all - if I did so, it would turn me into a hunchback. So I had to stand up straight.

[renniek.livejournal.com]

;-)
Ditto with me and the plate armour. Forces correct posture -> suddenly I appear (and feel) at least several inches taller

[kneeshooter]

Mondragone was never particularly focussed on his magic though - more his politics.

What-would-have-been-Divis' was much more fun.

[jfs.livejournal.com]

Yes.

It would almost certainly have given the game an 18 certificate though.

[kingandy]

... I dread to think.

[wulfboy.livejournal.com]

The real twist on that spell though was that it always played to the best of its ability - without regard for the situation, or for anything else that might be on your mind. Thus, it was *really* designed as a teaching aid - focus on what is in front of you.

[kingandy]

I am, tangentially, reminded of THE RAY comic book, in which Ray used his programming skills and light-manipulation abilities to create a holographic training program. Following an encounter with a godlike being, the program (which Ray, being a nerd, named DEATH MASQUE) took on a life of its own, conquered a small nation, endangered the lives of millions ... all in order to teach Ray to be a better hero. Because that's what it had been programmed to do...