in discussion Hidden / Per page discussions » Arcanis Gift Clarification
Note you don't need BM to fight with it, BM gives you an advantage because you're trained how to fight with it…but you can fight without it. You're just not as fast or adept. (This was vital clarification made for mages that fought before the BM & BA were created)
Really? I didn't know that. I thought that you couldn't really use anything as a "direct" attack without at least ARC-BM (Battlemage, which existed from the beginning of the game, btw — I've had ARC-BA, Battlemaster, since the beginning myself). Battlemage gives no bonus, but Battlemaster does.
Arm's length: Would make that "an additional arm's length" to avoid confusion that the Term has to be able to be touched by the mage. (Meaning within range of being touched without moving, not HAS to be touched.) I am assuming the Terms can be affected outside of touching range, even if it's only an extra arm's length. (This actually flies in the face of past scenes, especially the Bug Invasion, where it seemed to be line-of-sight. I cannot confirm if this is in the rules as they currently stand, as I am typing this up from work.)
I wrote this up this way so that it gave a reason to hybridize ARC-SP (Space) with regular spells—that provides the rationale for attacks completely at range (if you can see the description, you'll know why).
I don't have a particular stance against ARC-EM, myself. But I think that without "metalanguage" to describe what the commands do, rather than have all these specific effects per-element, it really muddies the water as to what the hybrids can do.
The one write-up I do have a bit of a sentiment against is the scrying aspect of understand water. Our magic should have nothing to do with mirrors—it should solely be a water effect, but too much time has passed for that. I'd just like to turn the ship a bit back to a more watery basis.