I very much like the DFA ritual magic approach.  But I found it disconcerting that there was a potential for the character to assume conditions and costs without having actually completed the ritual.  That didn't feel, to me, like it was in keeping with how the books presented ritual magic.

So, I propose a couple of tweaks:

First, Separate the potential costs/complications into three categories: 

Pre-Requisites		Activity Costs		Outcomes
components assistance special circumstances		time character Resources special circumstances		altered effects drawbacks attention

The original step-by-step looked like this:
1) Name the ritual
2) Describe the effect
3) Roll for the spell
4) Pay the costs

This could potentially result in requiring a special component (ie symbolic link) or assistance from a higher power/faction after the ritual had been performed.  That seems kind of weird to me.

I propose changing the step-by-step to look like this:
1) Name the ritual
2) Describe the effect
3) Assess the spell costs (roll and negotiate, as usual)
4) Pay the preparation costs (ie, find the symbolic link, petition the higher power, etc.)
5) Perform the ritual (narrative device to indicate that the character assumes the active & outcome costs)

This process would allow for a character to figure out what would be necessary to do a ritual, then balk at the cost and decide not to complete it.     

Is this unbalancing?  I don't think so, but I'm told I get tunnel-vision sometimes.



Your thoughts?



 

So, I've got a player who's statting up a sponsored magic user...  I want to confirm my understanding...

The character does NOT have any unsponsored magics.  It's all from the source.   

Evocation
The character decides how much power to call.  Does he still take one mental stress for calling the power? 

Does conviction still act as a limiter to the amount of power that can be called (before taking mental stress?)  I'm assuming no, since he's not taking mental stress for calling the power from another power-source.

If these gloves are off, could a guy potentially choose to call 10-shifts of power, so long as the sponsor okays it? 

I presume that Discipline is still needed to control the power, though. Right?

Thaumaturgy
Given that this is at evocation-speeds, the sponsored caster doesn't have to waste any time. 

Does his Lore rank make any difference to the actual casting? 

Does Conviction matter in sponsored thaumaturgy?

I"m super-tired and not focusing, so I might just be missing all sorts of stuff.  I'd hate to tell this guy how to do things then recant later.

Okay, probably a newb question...

I've got a character doing a ritual that looks basically like this:
+05 Ward Strength
+06 Duration (Time: til sunrise --> A month)
+02 Ignored figures (family)
+02 activated (turn it on/off)
=15

My character has Conviction 3, Discipline 3, Lore 3.  So she can typically expect to do this in about five exchanges.  To be safe and because she's in no hurry, she's opting to raise two-points of energy across seven exchanges and one point at the very end.

My question is this:  How long does it take to perform an exchange in an unhurried thaumaturgical ritual?

From other games, I generally accept that a combat-exchange will take about three to six seconds...  It feels wrong for a thaumaturgical exchange to take the same length of time as a combat-exchange.  I mean a 15-shift ritual shouldn't take only 45-seconds to a minute and a half, should it?

Or am I missing something?

So... I'm a new GM.   Wondering about something I read about rote spells...  

YS 257:
A rote spell... has the same power level, places the exact same aspect, etc. Any change in the parameters of the spell disqualifies it from being a rote.

This is cool.  I get this.  

A caster with Conviction 3, Discipline 2 casting a 3-shift attack spell will consistently pay 2-stress and suffer 1-shift of backlash or fallout.  

But then there's this:

YS 258:
Aspect invocations and other such trickery may be used after the fact, just as if you had rolled a zero and then wanted to invoke something.

So, I must have the same aspects or it isn't a rote spell, but I can add aspects after the fact?  What constitutes after the fact?  Can someone give me an example here?

Hey, I've been up for 30 hours or so...  Not everything is making perfect sense right now...  Any help would be appreciated.