Fate Core Evocation Thread 27 (My version for those that still look at these)

[InFerrumVeritas]

Evocation Fate Core Style:

For this FateCore version of DFRPG, I’m going to use the FateCore skill list with the addition of Discipline. 

Spellcasting:
A spellcaster must have a high concept related to spellcasting.  This may be compelled to accidentally hex technology.

Channeling (Spellcasting):
Costs: 2 refresh, high concept relating to the element you control (such as Pyromancer for fire)
-You have the ability to conjure and control a single element or energy type, such as fire.  This is the direct side of magic, quickly pushing energy around for a single overt effect.
-You may use Discipline to Attack, Defend, or Create Advantage so long as you can describe how your control of that element in a direct way could do so.
-You may increase the effect of an action by taking mental stress.  Each point of stress taken increases the effect of your action. 

Attacks:
-All attacks made with Channeling are made at Weapon:0. 
-You may increase this weapon rating by 1 for each point of stress taken.
-You may reduce the attack roll or weapon rating by two to attack an entire zone (including yourself if you were in that zone).  This may not reduce your attack roll or weapon rating below 0.
-You may split your total attack roll between multiple opponents, dividing the total shifts rolled between them.  You make take additional stress to increase the total number of shifts by 1 for each point of stress taken, but no attack on a target may exceed the number of shifts in the original attack roll.
Defenses:
-You may increase a defense roll by 1 for each point of stress taken.
Create Advantage:
-You may gain an extra invoke on a successful roll for each two points of stress taken.
-You may create a barrier between two zones.  The strength of this barrier is equal to the result of your defense roll to create it.  If a character attempts to cross this barrier, they must succeed on an overcome action with a difficulty equal to the barrier’s strength.  Characters on either side of a barrier may use the barrier’s value in place of their defense rolls verses create advantage attempts or attacks which cross the barrier.  Alternately, they may opt to use half the barrier’s value as Armor versus attacks across the barrier.  The barrier lasts until the end of your next turn.
-You may increase the strength of a barrier by 1 for each point of stress taken.
-You may increase the number of turns a barrier lasts for by 1 for each two points of stress taken.

Additional Elements
Costs: 1, requires Channeling
You may control two additional elements or energy types. 
Change your High Concept to suit this (Wizard, Sorcerer, or Evoker is appropriate).

Focus Item
Costs: 1 refresh
You have an item which increases your magical capabilities on a single type of action for a single element.  Choose a single bonus from the list below, and the element it applies to.  This bonus only applies when you are able to wield the focus item it is attached to.  You may choose to add additional bonuses to a single item instead of creating another focus item.  You may only take each bonus once per element.
Attack:
-Increase your attack rolls by 2.
-Increase your weapon rating by 2.  This stacks with weapon rating increases from taking stress while casting.
Defend:
-Increase your defense rolls by 2.
-You automatically have Armor 2 against any attack you used magic to defend against.
Create Advantage:
-Increase your create advantage rolls by 2.
-Free invokes from created aspects provide a +3 bonus instead of the usual +2.

Note: Running Out of Gas
A consequence a caster inflicted upon himself may be compelled to prevent the caster from casting spells which do not cause stress for the rest of the scene.  In essence, he has used up his reserves and every further spell he casts causes him harm. 

Note: Fallout
If a caster chooses, he may increase any spellcasting roll by 2.  This creates a scene aspect related to destructive, uncontrolled, magical energy released by the caster overexerting himself.  Their opponent gets a free invocation of this scene aspect (they do not).

Note: Backlash
A caster may inflict a consequence upon himself and use the free invocation to increase any spellcasting roll by 2.

The notes are optional and are intended to provide flavor such as loss of control or running out of magic as we see in the novels. 

Veils would be narrative description of a Defense, Advantage, or Barrier depending on context.

[Sanctaphrax]

Looks workable, but I'll try to poke holes in it anyway. It's what I want people to do when I post stuff, so...

Introducing Discipline to Fate Core seems a bit tricky. How are you going to do that?

Mental stress to defence rolls could be a problem. Means that if you're going to take an X-stress physical hit, you can always take an X-stress mental hit instead. Or a less-than-X-stress mental hit if there's a weapon rating...but weapon ratings are optional in Fate Core. I dunno whether that's really overpowered, but I'd keep an eye on that.

Focus items look pretty powerful. Probably manageable, though, if you can't assume you'll always have your item.

The effects that worry me are "free invokes from created aspects provide a +3 bonus instead of the usual +2", and "you may gain an extra invoke on a successful roll for each two points of stress taken". Especially when combined. Take one action and fill in your last mental stress box, provide 9 bonus shifts to your team with little chance of failure. That seems a bit much.

[InFerrumVeritas]

Introducing Discipline is essentially because I'd like there to be different skills for the "control" or rolls and the mental stress track.  In Fate Core, by default, these are both Will, meaning that wizards would only need one skill to be awesome evokers.  I could just as easily call it "Spellcraft" and have the same effect though.  I'm considering doing so, as this would be a skill only spellcasters are likely to take.

The +2 is basically because Core doesn't seem to do any +1's.  Also, with no specialization bonuses or stacking focus effects, you're still having casters top out Skill Cap+2 for attacks, which is where everyone else tops out.  They can be attacks which are bazooka strength in power, but not significantly more accurate.

I think the mental stress to defense roll balances the fact that your defense rolls can be considerably higher than anyone's attack will be.  Basically, I see it as "You can succeed in that you don't take physical stress, but you're still taking stress and thus counting down until you're losing effectiveness."  Sort of like how Sacred Guardian works right now if you use it to boost a defense roll.

I hadn't noticed that synergy between the Create Advantage bonuses.  You can't get a 9 shift bonus on a single roll this way though.  FC68 states:

You can invoke multiple aspects on a single roll, but you cannot invoke the same aspect multiple times on a single roll.

  Emphasis theirs.

Still, though, I'll have to playtest a bit more to see how broken that ends up being.  3-4 invokes from a single aspect, all with a +3, seems to be a lot.  Perhaps changing it to:

You may gain an extra invoke on when you successfully create an advantage by taking a two stress hit at the time of casting. [\quote]

[Sanctaphrax]

I could just as easily call it "Spellcraft" and have the same effect though.  I'm considering doing so, as this would be a skill only spellcasters are likely to take.

I like that idea.

I think the mental stress to defense roll balances the fact that your defense rolls can be considerably higher than anyone's attack will be.  Basically, I see it as "You can succeed in that you don't take physical stress, but you're still taking stress and thus counting down until you're losing effectiveness."  Sort of like how Sacred Guardian works right now if you use it to boost a defense roll.

So you have to take the stress before rolling to defend? If so, you should make that clear. If you have to take it before seeing the attacker's roll, you should make that clear too.

And Sacred Guardian is not the best balance point.

You can't get a 9 shift bonus on a single roll this way though.

Still, though, I'll have to playtest a bit more to see how broken that ends up being.  3-4 invokes from a single aspect, all with a +3, seems to be a lot.  Perhaps changing it to:

You may gain an extra invoke on when you successfully create an advantage by taking a two stress hit at the time of casting.

Why not just let people add 1 to their roll for each point of stress they take? Then you could let the rules for Succeeding With Style cover everything.

(I'm not great with Fate Core, so I don't know whether there's a reason that you approached things this way.)

[GryMor]

Drop the base cost of channeling down to 1, refactor the rules to a more succinct format, perhaps phrased purely as a mater of spending mental stress to gain a bonus to 'spell' based actions taken with Discipline. Extra elements should provide a cumulative +1 bonus.

[InFerrumVeritas]

Drop the base cost of channeling down to 1, refactor the rules to a more succinct format, perhaps phrased purely as a mater of spending mental stress to gain a bonus to 'spell' based actions taken with Discipline. Extra elements should provide a cumulative +1 bonus.

The problem I have with that is I don't want mental stress to boost Attacks (which would be imbalanced when compared to what other characters are capable of, especially if I lower the cost to 1 refresh), or Create Advantage (I want characters to have a chance at defending against this).  It's why I have create advantage have a bonus invocation.  A more powerful spell doesn't make it more likely to succeed, but is more advantageous when it does succeed.

Cumulative +1 bonus means that we're looking at characters with capabilities of +4-7 over skillcap if you have it stack with focus items, or useless focus items.  That's a very strong and broad bonus, not on par with any of the other bonuses in Fate Core.  It would be incredibly unbalanced.

Quite simply, GryMor, I think your proposal would make spellcasting too powerful and thus ubiquitous because there'd be no reason not to take it for only 1 refresh.

[GryMor]

As you present it, it seems very very weak given the normal refresh for fate Core and the general game changing power level of 1 refresh extras. Especially as compared to DFRPG scaling. (2 refresh on the DFRPG side gets you 'burn mental stress for effect' and foci). Not to mention the cumulative +1 capping out at +2 on account of running out of elements.
edit: Ahh, thats what is missing, allowing spells that don't burn mental stress tweaks the balance a bit much.

[FaerieGodfather]

Spellcasting:
A spellcaster must have a high concept related to spellcasting.  This may be compelled to accidentally hex technology.

In the Fate Core rules I've been putzing around with, I've been doing the same thing with Skill Modes. Of course, I am thoroughly misapplying the Skill Mode rules, because I've got eight or nine Modes for mundane skillsets and then seven for wizards and, like, six for non-human species.

-All attacks made with Channeling are made at Weapon:0. 
-You may increase this weapon rating by 1 for each point of stress taken.

I assume this caps at Will, or your equivalent "magic power" skill?

-You may reduce the attack roll or weapon rating by two to attack an entire zone (including yourself if you were in that zone).  This may not reduce your attack roll or weapon rating below 0.
-You may split your total attack roll between multiple opponents, dividing the total shifts rolled between them.  You make take additional stress to increase the total number of shifts by 1 for each point of stress taken, but no attack on a target may exceed the number of shifts in the original attack roll.

I like this. I like this a lot.

Note: Running Out of Gas
A consequence a caster inflicted upon himself may be compelled to prevent the caster from casting spells which do not cause stress for the rest of the scene.  In essence, he has used up his reserves and every further spell he casts causes him harm. 

Note: Fallout
If a caster chooses, he may increase any spellcasting roll by 2.  This creates a scene aspect related to destructive, uncontrolled, magical energy released by the caster overexerting himself.  Their opponent gets a free invocation of this scene aspect (they do not).

Note: Backlash
A caster may inflict a consequence upon himself and use the free invocation to increase any spellcasting roll by 2.

I also really like all of this. Very elegant.