philosopher's perch - can it be cast on an unwilling target?

philosopher’s perch - can it be cast on an unwilling target?

That is not the intent of the spell, but it certainly could be read that way.

The entry on page 217 of BWG lists Origin as Presence and Area of Effect as Caster or Single Target. I see nothing in the write ups of either of those facets that indicate that the target must be willing. It should also be noted that other Presence, Single Target spells include Spark Shower, Sach’s Glare, Force Of Will, and Emporer’s Hand, all of which are implicitly never used on willing targets.

So, if the wizard in my group tries to send an enemy floating, should the OB be the target’s Will or Forte (whichever is lower)?

I about to run my first game and I’m trying to figure out these weird possibilities before they come up. I can see some really deadly uses for this spell if an enemy can be held in the air while archers fill him with holes.

-cc

Whatever the Ob is against Willing targets.

As for figuring out the weird possibilities, don’t worry about it too much. Partially because these things don’t come up that often but also because you’ll never be able to cover all the angles. The easier route is to forbid magic for your first game and save both you and them having to learn the sorcery system at the same time as you learn everything else. If they are hell-bent on playing a wizard, have them write beliefs towards that and make it a focus of play.

Of course, once you guys are all comfortable with the system enough to run sorcery (along with Duel of Wits, Fight, and Range and Cover), you’ll be experienced to not worry before the fact about the edge cases that magic can cause. This is definitely one of those places where the game rewards system mastery and comfort.

Cheers!