Suggested Custom Ruling on Wards

[narphoenix]

So, I have a suggestion for dealing with Wards. The current problem with them is the fact that the game does not address the fact that wards often already exist on magic users' homes, so without casting, they don't exist mechanically.

So, I have a suggestion. There should be a default ward strength on a single place the caster calls "home", equal in strength to the base complexity of their ward casting, plus two for every skill equal to or over +4. This presents an advantage in game in that the caster can retreat behind their nuke-mines if attacked (a situation frequently described in the books) while simultaneously not breaking anything in the game (I think).

[Quantus]

Remind me, what are the mechanics for Thresholds?

[PirateJack]

I think it mentions for NPC Wizards that if you need to make up a ward for them on a spur of the moment that you should use that character's Conviction as the base strength. That seems a little weak to me though, so I've went with just doubling it. Yours seems like a good idea though; I could see it working pretty well in a game.

[Haru]

I think I would just allow the players a safe haven and treat the PC wizard's home ward as a plot device. He's usually had a lot of time to invest in it, so it will be virtually unbreakable. But if it is interesting to the story, I'll go for a compel. Similar to what happened in Death Masks.

[Quantus]

What about for situations like in DB when somebody is trying to brute force through them, with for example an army of zombies?

[Haru]

Eh, I meant Dead Beat, not Death Masks. As a GM, I can always get more zombies to get the job done. 10 is not enough? The guy has 20. 20 is not enough? The guy has 50. If I want to, I will huff and I'll puff, and I'll break down your puny ward, regardless of what you do. Fate solves this nicely with compels.
In the case of DB, it feels like a compel as well.

"Sure, you thought you'd be safe inside your wards, but have you planned on them holding against a horde of zombies that just fling themselves into it and discharge it a little bit every time?" *holds up a Fate point*
-"Huh, I guess I haven't. We better see that we get out of here, the wards won't hold against that for too long." *takes Fate point*

[Sanctaphrax]

Whatever you do to handle mortals with large amounts of money should work for wizards too. Personally, I'd handle it through Declarations. A decent roll or a Fate Point can get you a retroactively-present security system.

[Wordmaker]

I agree with Sanctaphrax. I'd happily allow a declaration to be used to have a ward in place, assuming the player(s) hadn't said during the game "I'm gonna go set up my wards".

[Starjammer]

As a quick and dirty measure of how Thresholds affect ward strength, I generally allow the caster to take the Threshold's rating as an automatic Declaration.  A ward doesn't need a Threshold but it does benefit from one.

I generally consider the default ward complexity on a practitioner's home to be Conviction + Discipline + Lore + Threshold, on the assumption that they would use a full ritual casting for best effect without extra bells and whistles.  If they do want extra bells and whistles, they need to roll it out.  OTOH, if the practitioner is notoriously lazy or sloppy in their work (per their Aspects), they would have less.  I'd leave it up to the player how often their character would be likely to renew the ward and how much duration they'd put on it.  This is probably going to give most casters a ward effect in the 10-15 range, which I can live with.