Permeable Wards, Rubber bands and Cellphones - What?

[KOFFEYKID]

So, I was thinking of how a wizard might get a cellphone that works, my first idea was to build a magic cellphone, but that seems like it would be way to complex to pull off. My new idea is this:

A permeable ward set into the inside of a rubber band. Make it so magic can travel out of the ward, but not through it. Take a turned off cellphone, wrap it in the rubber band so that it is inside the ward. Then pull magic from within the ward out, to make sure there is no magic affecting the cell. Turn on the phone.

Would it work?

-edit-

This is sort of like when Harry tied Murphy's hair around her wrist to keep her from being affected by the mind fog in Summer Knight.

[SavageMage]

LOL. Great Idea.

I don't know if it works RAW, but dang... I'd allow it just for being creative.

You should post this elsewhere on the boards. Maybe Jim B. will see it and think, "oh snap!", a new fancy magic trick for Harry!

[crusher_bob]

I think you can do this with a basic magic circle, not even a full ward.  But there are a few problems.

1 wards and magical circles aren't mobile.
2 reaching across the circle (like to answer the phone) would break the circle and spoil the whole effect.

But there are still a couple of ways you can use this.

You could, for example, turn the phone on, set it to speaker mode, make the circle around it, and then try to have a conversation.  Since you don't have to reach across the circle to handle the phone, the circle should remain intact.

You can do the same thing with, say, an ipod and speakers.  Turn on the ipod, set it to shuffle.  Make a magic circle around it to protect it against stray magic, and then just don't reach across the circle.

[KOFFEYKID]

I've considered the magic circle thing, but it has to be a wireless device, as the cord would break the circle. Unless you put a generator in the circle too.

[Tharios]

McAnnaly's pub is actually a good example also.

Harry made a charm specifically to disperse his output so he could have that on-camera interview at the talk show.  That was back when such things were really somewhat beyond his skill and understanding.

A similar device with traits similar to those of Mac's pub, such as thirteen star-shaped studs with thirteen points, etc..might make it a viable flow disruptor and diverter.  Less like a ward and more like a veil...except instead of cloaking it from sight, you're sending magic AROUND it, instead of through it.

Also, wards can be set to allow the passage of certain objects or concepts.  Hence why Harry's friends have charms that will allow them past his wards without having to disarm them.  Someone without a charm tries to go through, even if they're just following Murph...kablooie.  It wouldn't be a far stretch I think to design a ward around something like a dvd-player that requires only limited interaction anyway.  Perhaps carve the charm into the bottom of the disc tray so that the user doesn't have to cross into it...therefore never breaking it.  Using a computer would be much more complicated, but still doable in a similar concept, I think.

Also, advanced electronics are only vulnerable while powered...as long as any battery is removed or they're completely unplugged, wizards can't hex them, even on purpose.  They have to be doing something, even if it's just passive current flow.

[crusher_bob]

I got the impression that the arrangement at Mac's was mostly to get rid of 'accidental' power summoning.  Remember that there have been plenty of times that Molly has gotten angry of something, and Harry has mentioned dispersing the power she'd called up.  So I'd assume that a lot of the non-wizards who drink at Mac's also do the same thing. 

[Wyrdrune]

As for the phone part:

Inspired by

(click to show/hide)

the talking stones of Harry and Ebenezar in Changes

, I designed a Thaumaturgic ritual that works as follows.

The wizards who later want to communicate over a distance find an object that could be broken down into smaller pieces - stone, a coin (that could be sawed in half), whatever. It is important that you have several parts that were one once. They are enchanted in a ritual, let's give it 3 to 5 shifts for the basic maneuver or so, add several shifts to make the magic able to cross wards and thresholds, and add shifts for the duration the enchantment should last. The wizards in my group took steps that their connection was possible for a few years, then they will have to find a new stone and enchant its pieces. Depending on who hard your GM wants to make it, you could add additional shifts for each piece or add more shifts for the basic maneuver.

When they later want to talk with each other they invoke a magic using aspect (I feel that it should cost the players something to use it, or else I could give them cellphones, which is not like it should be - they have to overcome the technological handicap of wizards in a wizardly way), and the pieces 'remember' they were once part of the same object, and thus allow you talking to each other.

[pfloyd]

Actually, I was working on a ritual that would attune a technological device to magical energies so it wouldn't get hexed by accident, and would have a resistance to having a hex forced upon it.
The complexity of the ritual would depend upon the sensitivity of the item (based upon the hexing table), and how long you wanted the attunement to last (most would go for a year, but the base is a month). You could also do several items at once, given the time and skill.
If the ritual failed, there's a chance that the item would definitely be fried.

It's still a work in process.

[TheMouse]

I'm inclined to say that it doesn't work like that.

Circles seem to need to be pretty precise things. Alterations to a circle seem to shut it down. Changing diameter might be enough to break a circle defined by an elastic band.

If the band is itself magicked, then it's going to glitch the phone on its own.

An individual wizard could use a spell on himself to dampen down his magical field, as we've seen Harry do. Such things are fragile and don't seem to be terribly reliable, but it could certainly do in a pinch.

What you could do is put a cell phone into a circle, then close it. If the phone is set to speaker and voice activated, you could tell it whom to call, then chat away with the circle protecting the phone from your magic. Just hope no one is shouting random names in the background while you're trying to dial...

[Tharios]

A magic circle and a relevant charm could be keyed to one another to allow limited interaction through the boundary of the circle without breaking it...provided the line isn't physically broken by being wiped away or some such.

A different type of protective device wouldn't be a magic circle, but rather a charm not unlike the shield bracelet, but with some variations.  Actually, I mentioned before that it would probably end up something more like a very advanced veil/shield combination, to isolate the electronic device in a kind of "cloak against magic."  It would be weak...only enough to stop random energies from interfering, but that's all that would be needed.

Also...push comes to shove, Harry should be able to enter Murphy's house uninvited and have little to no fear of accidentally hexing something unless he gets stressed in the extreme.   I say this because the threshold of Murphy's house is seriously heavy-duty, and Harry's mentioned many times that it would take a huge effort to do anything magical, even hex, after crossing a threshold without permission.  It "should" be perfectly safe for him to use anything in the house at that point.  We don't know though because he never risked it.

[Victim]

In theory, a wizard's house could be rigged with tons of circles so that the new fangled electrikity could be installed.  All the wiring could be wrapped in a tube with circles inscribed periodically.  Then you create a circle around all the appliances too.  However, it would probably take either massive renovation or building a new place - and having yourself or another trusted practitioner around to install the circles as the other stuff is going in.  So a wizard would probably be paying through the nose for that kind of set up.

Some of them might go down every so often during cleaning, but it should still vastly increase the equipment's useful life.

[Tharios]

In theory, a wizard's house could be rigged with tons of circles so that the new fangled electrikity could be installed.  All the wiring could be wrapped in a tube with circles inscribed periodically.  Then you create a circle around all the appliances too.  However, it would probably take either massive renovation or building a new place - and having yourself or another trusted practitioner around to install the circles as the other stuff is going in.  So a wizard would probably be paying through the nose for that kind of set up.

Some of them might go down every so often during cleaning, but it should still vastly increase the equipment's useful life.

Not unreasonable.  The ideal architecture would be a geodesic dome with interior walls of a fully circular curvature.  The circles could then be placed directly under the floor moldings or drywall...perhaps even INCLUDING either, and therefore never be breached without physically punching through the wall.  They'd be relatively easy to reestablish as well.

It's quite correct though, that would be very expensive to set up.  It also does nothing to address the issue of using mobile devices in a mobile fashion.  Still though, not a bad idea at all.

[Bubba Amon Hotep]

Didn't Butters do something like this in Dead Beat?  He made the circle, and Harry still had to stand back a ways.  It wasn't mobile, and Harry's Aura even messed up signal reception when close.

So the phone might work in a summoning circle.  But the magic on the outside would prevent everything but a very strong signal from reaching it.  And the stronger you made the magics on the outside the more it would cut signal strength down.

my .2cents.

Wizards get magic, its cooler than gadgets.

Of Course I tend to be a harsh GM at times.  I paid a friendless wizard with a Debit Card as way to mess with him.

[Gandalf_the_Crazed]

Also, if you're talking about rigging an entire house for magic-proof appliances, you should remember that Harry sweeps off his summoning circle before he uses it each time, because even things like dust which collects on the floor can disrupt the circle, at least enough to weaken it if not destroy it.

[Tharios]

Butters' little circle was makeshift and mortal.  It would mostly protect him, but could probably be easily overpowered.

While something like Harry's super-circle is able to resist nearly anything, but is extremely touchy.

Something in-between would be marginally practical but quite viable to "magic-proof" certain systems and appliances.  Such a setup would only work for stationary items though.