Somatic / verbal components?
Jeg spurte på ED-forumet om man trenger å si noe eller veive med armene for å kaste spells. Svar fra en av utviklerne:
Unless the spell specifically mentions gestures or verbal commands, the caster doesn't need to perform these. <-- Blåpost:)
Detect Magic
Fra han som har skrevet mye av magidelen i regelbøkene:
For those interested in this idea, take a look under the "Astral Sensing" section of the Workings of Magic chapter in the EPC -- specifically the section entitled "Patterns in Astral Space" starting on page 257.
Detecting magic in Earthdawn is relatively easy if you have astral sensing. Since most magic requires additional information to be come useful, knowing that the sword you found in that old kaer is magical doesn't help much -- you can't just pick it up and gain its magical power. Knowing something is magical is easy. Learning what kind of magic it is... that's a bit harder.
(At my table, astral sensing answers the "magic yes/no" question. Other talents, spells, and study are used to learn what type of magic it is.)
Threads and pattern items
Også fra han samme fyren. (Mataxes på forumet). Ang. heartblade så gir det jo +1 på 8 talents, så helt useless er det jo ikke:) Så jeg synes det høres rimelig fornuftig ut slik det er nå -- dvs. at man vever til patternitems for å enten gjøre seg selv sterkere i møte med den som eier itemet, eller man gjøre den som eier itemen sterkere på noe vis.
And this is where some people's interpretation of the pattern magic rules and theory differs from the 'official' ruling, established by LouP? in the early days, and continued under RedBrick?'s edition (though not under LRG's ED2?). Mainly, you cannot weave threads through your own pattern items and gain a benefit.
Here's an analogy to explain why. A True pattern is a source of magical energy, much like a battery is a source of electrical energy. When you weave a thread to a True pattern, you are opening a conduit for energy to flow from one True pattern to another, like a wire connects the battery to whatever it is powering. The pattern item is like the terminal on the battery. Magical energy 'flows' from one True pattern to the other, producing the desired result.
If you connect a battery to itself -- running a wire from the positive to the negative terminal, you don't get any benefit from it. In the same way, attaching a thread to your own True pattern doesn't net you anything -- you're taking energy out of one system only to put it right back in.
With a group True pattern, the ritual forms a True pattern separate from the members, and they can draw on that energy source to enhance their own abilities, so long as they work together, and keep that True patten whole. The pattern items formed during the ritual, while they represent the individual members, are pattern items for the group True pattern. (Which, in a sense, makes them even more dangerous, because if somebody were to get a hold of one, they could use thread magic against the entire group... Evil )
All that said, if you want to rule that (at your table) an adept can use pattern magic via his own thread items, feel free to do so.
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No. You cannot enhance your own abilities by weaving threads to your own pattern items. You can have a friend or ally enhance your abilities if they weave a thread to one of your pattern items. (Of course, this requires a certain amount of trust, since the ally must keep possession of your pattern item.)
Avoid Blow - Shield Mist - Spirit Dodge
Avoid Blow and Spirit Dodge can be combined. You may usually combine any two talents that do not specifically state otherwise. (Such as Riposte, that states it cannot be used with Avoid Blow.)
Shield Mist is another issue. Shield Mist cannot be combined with Avoid Blow because it replaces Avoid Blow (in other words, you replace your Avoid Blow step with the spell's effect step). Because Shield Mist now is Avoid Blow, it can be combined with Spirit Dodge.