Makes sense.  I'm definitely keeping "Desert Storm Veteran" and my trouble (I know the GM is starting the campaign by attacking my restaurant).  I'll probably change Fact not Fate and add another aspect as the game goes on.  Our group has decided to eschew the "background" part of character creation and roleplay that stuff instead. 

Thanks.

1) You'd get your normal action.
2) Since enchanted items are supposed to have somewhat narrow effects, I'd say no.  You can grapple, but you don't have the control of ju-jitsu.
3) Very powerful. 

EDIT: Okay, I reread it and realized that I was wrong.  You can allocate shifts to duration.  My bad. 

From the way I interpreted the text, Blocks and Defense rolls do not stack.  Both can be rolled, but only the higher result counts.  If you are hit with an attack of 6, and are protected by a block of 4 and a defense of 5, then you would take 1 point of stress, assuming armor and weapon values of 0.  This could, of course, be totally wrong.

Yes, I agree with this.  But it means that you effectively get to roll twice (that is, if they beat your block you still get to roll a defense against the attack).  Otherwise, there would be no tactical reason to waste the action on the block.  You don't get to add the number together (or rather, I wasn't saying that you did).

As I said in another topic, I'm new to the forums and the game.  I've been lurking and reading, and I was wondering if you guys could rate the character I made for my groups campaign.  I've played other RPGs before, but not FATE based systems. 

Hektor Petrokles
High Concept: Olympian Emissary
Trouble: Family Business
Aspects: Desert Storm Veteran, Fact not Faith, [TBD]

Powers: Sword of Mars (Item of Power+2, War Touches All-1, Guided by Fate-2)-1, Olympian Magic-4, Marked by Power-1, Heroic Constitution-0

 Skills:
2 Great: Weapons, Lore
2 Good: Conviction, Endurance
4 Fair: Discipline, Guns, Resources, Athletics
4 Average: Presence, Rapport, Fists, Alertness

 Items (:
Shield Bracer (+6 Block or Armor 3 3/session)
Thunderbolt Ring (+6 Ranged Lightening Attack uses Weapons 3/session)

Stress Boxes:
Physical: 0000
Mental: 0000
Social: 000

Rote Spells:
Unlucky (2 Shift Maneuver to place "Unlucky" aspect on target)
Strike True (2 Shift Maneuver to place "Strike True" aspect on ally to grant bonus on attacks)
Inaccurate (2 Shift Maneuver to place "Inaccurate" aspect on target)
Glory (2 Shift Maneuver to place "Stature of a Greek God" aspect on spellcaster in social encounters)

Ability Descriptions:
War Touches All: -1
The wielder may gain a boost to its attack or defense roll by inflicting a mental stress hit upon itself, gaining a +1 for each point of stress in the hit. The bonus cannot be greater than the maximum length of the wielder's mental stress track. Alternatively, on a single attack the wielder may take a 2-stress hit to temporarily satisfy the “Catch” on the toughness abilities of a supernatural creature.  Additionally if the wielder has Olympian Magic, he may incur this stress as debt to his sponsor. [This power is functionally a re-flavoring of the Sacred Guarding power found under the Temple Dog description and thus has the same Refresh cost]

Guided by Fate: -2
The wielder gains +1 to all Weapons rolls when using the sword in accordance with Mars' goals (this includes tue wielder defending himself).  In addition, on a successful defense with Weapons, you may sacrifice your next action to turn that defense into an immediate and automatically successful attack. [This power functionally includes the Riposte Mortal Stunt and thus has a refresh cost of -2 rather than -1]

Heroic Constitution: -0
Functionally identical to Wizard Constitution but granted to the Emissaries of the Olympian Pantheon.

Olympian Casting: -4
You are able to cast spells of a deep and true nature, drawing upon the magics of the Olympian Gods. Due to the nature of this power source, it is less flexible in some areas than mortal spellcasting and is therefore subject to limitations.  Channeling can only be used for curses and fating (maneuvers or blocks that place aspects encouraging a specific outcome such as "Inaccuracy," "Unlucky," "Doomed to die in Fire," or "Cursed by Traffic") and disguise and glory veils (which can hide identity or enhance appearance, mainly through veils or maneuvers as well).  Ritual is similarly restricted and can be used for more powerful curses or fating, transformations (humans into animals with the gods taking care of that pesky biology), divination (primarily prophecy), and crafting (but no potions).  Summoning and Binding can only be used on ghosts.  The Olympians use items in order to throw around raw elements (Bag of Winds, Thunderbolt Javelins, etc). Like all Sponsored Casting, this grants four focus item slots for the above purpose.


I realize that the rote spells are rather useless, but didn't think that I could have rote spells that automatically put me in debt (which I would need to really have control over the three shift powers).

Okay, I'm new to the game.  I've lurked and searched, but I can't quite find an answer.  This is how I'm reading blocks (specifically evocation blocks, not blocks that block an action other than "attack") and defenses work (let's assume physical conflicts for simplicity):

First off, the most basic is a defense roll.  It does not take an action and is done by the target in response to the attack roll.  It uses a skill (Athletics, Weapons, or Fists, as appropriate, with Athletics being able to be used against all physical attacks). 

The Full Defense action gives +2 to defense rolls.

Second would be a Block.  This is an action set up by the character, an thus requires an action to be used.  A Block is used to prevent an action.  Thus, in this case, it would be preventing the attacker from attacking.  However, when a character uses a block, they can't do anything else that turn (other than take supplemental actions, of course).  A Block lasts until it is beaten, or until the beginning of the blocker's next turn.  The advantage of a block is that it is in addition to the defense roll.  Thus, the attack must beat the block and the defense roll.

An Evocation Block works similarly to a block in all ways except that its duration can be extended by allocating shifts to duration.  Also, an evocation Block can be used to grant armor (half the shifts allocated for power).  Armor doesn't go away if the character is hit (but does when the duration expires).

Finally, an Enchanted Item can have defensive effect in it.  The character may expend the item's charge and use the item instead of a defense roll (or as armor, but not both unless two charges are expended).

Is this correct?