Thank you for the lengthy explanation crusher_bob, but I believe I'm at fault here for not making my post clearer. I'm sorry for that, I should've made it more obvious that I was speaking of the Crafting Specialization in Focuses, rather than just focuses/specializations in general. I thought that Crafting(Focus) decreased the Focus Item Slots taken by them, which I now realize made my post sound all kinds of confusing. Thanks for your help anyway. :-)

Llayne thanks for clarification that the focus specialization only decreases the size of the focus items. This is somewhat disappointing.

That was the attitude as I perceived it.

Just Say No. :-)

Cite a few examples. By the same token, someone with a Wizardly concept should be able to sling heart exploding curses, since if Victor Sells could do it, he, as a full-blown Wizard, most certainly can. Someone with a Marcone-esque concept clearly doesn't have to check his Resources to see if he can acquire Microsoft, it's obvious he's filthy rich - so he can, right? A RCI/WVC with a High Concept of "Friendly Neighborhood Vampire" clearly doesn't need to check if he can resist Hunger, of course he can! He's friendly!

No, you don't get to do that without the rules or a roll(unless it's uninteresting background that doesn't need to be rolled). This is precisely why rules for an RPG exist in the first place. So that you can have an objective standard of what each character is capable of and so that you can have meaningful interactions with the 'virtual environment' created by the GM. If this is gone, then games devolve into something similar to a child's game "I shot you!" "Nuh uh" "Yes I did, you're dead!" "No, you didn't!".

Or, in other words, there's a reason there's a "G" in "RPG". That's the Game part. Game means there are rules. Of course, there are situations in which you can't easily apply those rules, in which you have to apply GM Fiat(or make up a rule) to resolve a situation, but this is clearly not one of them.

I'd say no, movable Thumaturgy blocks are a bad idea. It's not just about this particular spell itself. Rather, it sets a bad precedent.

If he can use them for blocking sound, why not for blocking physical damage? It's not that difficult to get a huge amount of shifts on Thaumaturgy. This is fine for Wards - they're immobile. However, actual long-lasting physical wards could lead to incredibly overpowered results.

At my most generous, I'd say you might allow it, but use the Time Increments table and start from "instant"(so, if he wants an hour-long shield, that's 7 shifts right there) - the duration of an Evocation block. Even so, it's a bad idea. It allows for any competent spellcaster with a cult(or other manpower willing to contribute consequences to the spell) to have a nigh-impenetrable shield for a very long time(after all, Time Increments go into years and lifetimes).

So, really, this situation would be better handled by the Temporary Power rules. Let him use a Thaumaturgy spell to say he stored the energy of the spell. At the actual scene where he wants to use it, allow for him to pick up Refinement as a temporary power. That's 4 four Enchanted Item slots right there, this gives him plenty of uses of the "item".

So, anyhow, I'd play it like this: base complexity of the spell is equal to Lore(the enchanted item's Strength) +0-7(for a scene long duration, depends on what the "base" time is) +2(1 Refresh being roughly equal to 2 shifts). After the spell is cast, he can spend one Fate Point(Temporary Power rules) in order to gain access to an "Enchanted Item" worth 4 Enchanted Item Slots(ie. -1 Refresh worth of Refinement) for one scene. He can only do this once, afterwards the spell is "spent" and he'd need to cast it again to gain any benefits.

Anyhow, even this feels fairly generous but I guess it's in keeping with the theme that a prepared wizard can be an nightmare.