The Dresden Files > DFRPG

Backlash

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KlausGerken:
So the player of the wizard read the rules... :)

Example:
EDIT Correction edited in, because math was wrong - thanks to Mr. Death

A spell with 10-shifts of power is being cast.
Her conviction is 6, she gets +1 bonus on power. So she crosses out the 4shift stress box
She rolls a +1 on a discipine of 5, get +2 bonus from focus items. Thats just 8, so she takes the 2 shifts as backlash, crossing the 2shift stress box (but not on the mental stress track.... she is a powergamer after all!)

The way I read the rules, she would have to absorb 6 points of stress in one go.

Who is right?

Ghostfreak:
She has to take one mental stress for summoning up the power then additional stress for going over her effective conviction score. Marking her 4th mental. Factoring focus items and whatnot. Now she has to control the power. Which she did correctly by taking a 2 stress hit to her body, as her mental is her gas for her powers.  She did her math correctly.


An you don't do it all in one go because that's how the system has it planned out to streamline spellcasting. Because the chance of failure is always there and messing up any of the steps or not being able to control the power leads to the following. Backlash to the body or your mind is there as a means to drain said caster of their resource so they have to be selective of when they bring the power of the universe to bear. Its like dealing with a man with a gun, he is scary if you get hit. But not so much to people who can avoid being in the way.  An if the backlash to the body or mental fails, then there is fallout... people try to avoid this best as they can.

KlausGerken:
That makes it a lot cheaper to cast spells you can't really control. I don't like it...

Ghostfreak:
Not really because at the end of the day she is giving up something to control all of that power and its free by any means, again, a wizards gas is her mental stress track. Not factoring if she took mental toughness and focus items to help reduce the strain of controlling some much power. Not to mention she has to waste 3 skill slots (conviction, discipline and lore) in order to be useful. If the player is built towards this route then it means that they did their due diligence; as they are supposed. Against a horde of mooks or constant battle after battles; they will run out of gas eventually; forcing them to find a different route to be useful. I hate seeing new players decide to play the wizard template and proceeds to fail at it in spectacular fashion, its irritating to deal with and a huge consumption of time that I would personally like to avoid. But then again wizards are one of the strongest things to be in the book; so yea.

KlausGerken:
That is a campaign running for 5 years now. They have masive amouts of refresh and a high skillcap... it makes GMing then quite hard. And after a while the wizards (just like in D&D) just outpace the other characters. The WCV for example has no more options left for her and took shapeshifting just to have something to do...

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