Power of the Ocean + Sympathetic Energies
Cast Power of the Ocean (page 248) and then the last moment use Sympathetic Energies (page 246)to move it to another. The duration ends and the new target suffers all the penalties instead of the original caster? Discuss.

Cast Power of the Ocean (page 248) and then the last moment use Sympathetic Energies (page 246)to move it to another. The duration ends and the new target suffers all the penalties instead of the original caster? Yeah, this one is pretty good. When I was playing a Kitsu Shugenja Rank 5 last summer, I actually did that combination a fair amount. It it was very efficient way to get around the penalties because my shugenja would put the penalty on some of her servants. This way she could continue her unrelenting service as an Emerald Magistrate. Water shugenja rock!

Well my question is, is that how Sympathetic Energies work? It moves the spell and acts as if the new target had cast it. Does this change the duration or is the duration fixed when cast the first time. You can just cast Power of the Ocean, let it float for a while, then use Sympathetic Energies to move it and if the new target is not a shugenja, they have shugenja school rank and the duration becomes 0 days and ends. I am very tempted to rule that when you move a continuous spell with sympathetic energies, that spell end for you as if it’s duration had expired and begins on the new target as if the new target just cast it. Thus a shuegnja who moved it on the last day would be affected by the penalty and the new target would start the duration based on their own shugenja rank as mentioned in Sympathic Energies and thus the spell would end. If moved to a shugenja, that shugenja would start the spell and give it a duration of his shugenja rank.

By the RAW, Sympathetic Energies is cast and transfers the spell to another target. But the spell specifically states that "it is as if the target had cast the spell in question." Because there is the word "had" in there it could likely mean that the spell "remembers" when it was cast and checks to see whether a character could have potentially cast the spell in question. This is interesting because it certainly lends to another interpretation that if the target could not have cast the spell, the spell effects are canceled. The ramifications means that a character could not transfer the spell effects to another character unless they were a shugenja or else the spell effects would be negated. THis is because non-shugenja do not have spell slots and could never "had cast the spell in question." Of course, that is just one interpretation of the spell because the description is somewhat vague.

Remember, 'had cast' can also be an indicator that something has already, sucessfully, occured. Innability to do so becomes irrelevant (the text is not 'had attempted to cast'). It has been established (I think) that "School Rank" when used in a spell description refers to the combined Shugenja School Rank of the caster - so that would be set to 0 (which might cause instant termination, depending on why School Rank was necessary). As I understand it everything changes to match the traits of the new recipient, but things like duration are still counted from when the spell was first cast (because the new recipient 'had cast' the spell at that time).

The person to suffer the adverse effects of Power of the Ocean is the target, not the caster. If you cast this spell on yourself then shunted it onto a non-shugenja would (I think) eliminate the cost, rather than redirect it. When you move the spell from yourself to a new target, that person becomes the caster. The new target 'had cast' the spell 5+ weeks ago - but its duration had been 0 weeks, so he faces no consequences. (You, on the other hand, have just gone 5 weeks without sleep - and retroactively no longer had a spell to keep you going... welcome to fatigue induced insanity).

The problem is that the duration of this spell is determined by the School level of the caster. If a non-shugenja cast it, the duration would be (or rather, would have been) 0.

The sentance says, "For the remainder of the spell's duration, it is as if the target had cast the spell in question." It does not say that the spell is transfered and then re-cast by the target. The second part of that sentence refers to any conditions upon the spell that may refer to the caster. For instance, Tetsubo of Earth allows you to use your School Rank plus one in place of your Heavy Weapon skill. If I cast sympathetic Energies to transfer someone's Tetsubo of Earth to myself, then I now act like the caster and get to use my School Rank plus one to wield it.

If a durration is controled by the caster (which it is, in this case) then (and this is going to be reflexive, because it is) the duration is one of the things controlled by the effective caster; the person recieving the spell. "For the remainder of the spell's duration, it is as if the target had cast the spell." I do not have a Master's Degree in English, but here goes. Sympathetic Energies is transfering a discrete instance of a spell with its own duration, that is ticking away. Assuming that the targeted spell meets the three conditions stated in Sympathetic Energies, the first part of the sentence above speaks to the targeted spell's duration. It sets up the condition in which our targeted spell relates to our targeted person. That condition is as if the targeted person had cast the targeted spell for the remainder of the targeted spell's duration.

I don't think that this is the case at all. The spell states you, "transfer an existing spell effect from you to another individual within range, or from another individual to you." The only "checking" that is done by Sympathetic Energies is when it is transfered to you. "To transfer a spell to yourself, you must have seen the spell being cast and have a sufficient School Rank to potentially cast the spell. Otherwise, this spell automatically fails." The only time that this spell would be canceled by its own text is when you are transfering a spell to yourself and you are not sufficient School Rank. The hard part is judging what the following clause means: "it is as if the target had cast the spell in question." How can a non-Shugenja have cast the spell if he/she did not have spell slots? I realize one can interpret this different, but what I am trying to illustrate here is that the spell is vague enough for different interpretations to be valid. Tsukaede can rule whatever he wants and that is fine by me, but what we have here is something that can work for different interpretations. Let's take a look at the spell in more detail: 1.) I transfer a spell from someone else to me a.) I petition the kami to transfer an existing spell from another individual to me. b.) To transfer the spell to me, I must have seen the spell being cast and possess a sufficient school rank to have potentially cast the spell. c.) The spell transfers and, for the remainder of the spell's duration, is treated as if I had cast the spell in question. 2.) I transfer a spell from me to someone else a.) I petition the kami to transfer an existing spell from me to another individual. b.) The spell transfers and, for the remainder of the spell's duration, it is treated as if I had cast the spell in question. Well, as can be seen there is some potential for confusion. -The first part is the "remainder of the spell's duration" clause. This could mean either the original spell's duration on the original target or a new duration. -The second part of confusion is "treated as if I had cast the spell in question." This clause could mean that the character is checked to have cast the spell, which means the character's rings, insight rank, school rank, and spell slots are checked and the spell is changed appropriately. It is possible that a spell slot would need to be removed to simulate that the character had cast the spell. Nonetheless, one could argue the "if" clause makes it unnecessary. Everything else about the spell including duration and effect is based off the other character's stats. Another possibility is that one could argue that the text here is just superfluous and is just stating the character enjoys the benefits/penalties of the originally cast spell. They are just treated to have cast the spell as it currently was when it was transfered with the spell.