Hi All, sorry if this has been asked before.

How quickly does an Anchoring Foci set up to cast a spell based on another detection spell set in the foci cast the non dection spell?

For example (I don't think I've explained this well) I'll use a sample focus given in MITS, one that has both Detect Bullets and Armour: Bullets (Sorry if the spell names are incorrect).

The focus (ignoring any drain for the castings..) should, upon detection of any bullets entering the range of the detection spell, cast Armour: Bullets and then drop the Armour spell. First, when is the armour spell dropped? When bullets move out of range of detection? That's a lot of bookeeping. "The bullet didn't stop on your armour, it riccocheted off and travelled another 50 meters... Your armour goes down." "Your armour spell stays up. you took a box of damage from the bullet, and it's lodged in your thigh..."

Another question is how quickly the Armour spell takes to cast. I assume it's instantaneous, it'll have to be quick to form the armour before the bullet strikes if the detection range is small. In this case, I assume it also takes no time to drop as well.

What happens when exposed to multiple shots? 3 round bursts or auto fire for example? The armour spell activates once for each bullet it senses? (That's going to be a lot of drain...) It would make sense to activate only once, the spell senses the first bullet, then doesn't drop until the last passes out of range. But how about a second 3 round burst from an attackers second simple action? Or multiple attackers firing on different initiative scores?

This just seems like a good way to blow yourself (or the Anchoring mage if not yourself..) up from drain in a speedy manner!

Sorry if I've misinterpreted the rules for Anchoring, to be honest, I've only read them once...

Thanks!

No, once triggered the focus sustains the armor spell, it stays up. An anchor likat only triggers once before it must be re-linked.

such a wonderful thing also.

BitBasher, I'm not sure. Quickly copied from MITS;

"..Can always trigger or turn off an anchored spell as a simple action... <snip> ...If the onwer wants a more specific trigger, or one that will work at a distance, a detection spell can be linked to the anchor along with another spell... <snip>... A Force 4 barrier spell to it, along with a force 2 Detect Bullet spell. The barrier spell is set to activate whenever the detection spell senses an incoming shot, then deactivate when the danger is no longer present."

No longer present.

But also;

"The spell, once cast, is sustained by the anchor until it is turned off."

Although the owner can overide triggers, I think if a detection spell is used as a trigger, once it no longer 'detects' it's target, it automatically 'offs' the anchoring spell.

You just gave a good example of why a magician would not have a trigger to deactivate the spell. By default the spell is sustained until it is deactivated by the owner.

The spell is about instantaneous, what needs to be watched is the spell radius to make sure the detect spell is outside the barrier, unless you want whatever trapped inside.

Nobody would ever use an anchoring focus that way if it dropped the armour spell immediately.

Eg. The protected individual is targeted by a shooter with a assault rifle at 60m, protected range is 50m, he opens up in full auto, he mises but it is close. Given the rate of fire and the velocity of the bullets the first round will have cleared the protected aria before the second is fired. Thus the mage bonded to the focus will be resisting the drain on a force 4 armour spell 10 times within a second. Sounds like an assassination strategy to me.

I would say that the focus will deactivate when the danger is passed as jugged by the caster or the protected individual.

Alternatively we can recall tat the protected individual is carrying a weapon to dissuade attackers more aggressively so the armour spell I always active in response to the 15 rounds on his person.

Edward

Ohhh.... Very nice point.

You bond the example detect bullets/barrier: bullets focus. Make sure you don't carry a gun yourself, go to meet your fellow runners, and BAM! Barrier up....