What I had more in mind was more like:

Roll Lore, or Scholarship, or Presence (to determine something's innate power, to determine something's worth, or to simply establish you're the top deity/caster in an area). Using the skill ladder as a frame, you can determine is something is great, legendary, epic, etc., which nets you that value on the ladder in fate points. Using the points drains the items' power (symbolic, emotional, magical, etc).

I liked the idea of using the aspects, but making the leap to how the aspects assist in the magic is the part that I can't make (though I'll be pitching it to my group this Sunday). The idea was more along the lines of, there's inherent power in the symbolism of relics, aside from whatever magical/divine power a relic might have in and of itself; also, that modern-day relics exist too (for example, again, the Wright Brothers' plane).

Thanks to everyone who replied to my simple question and made it a debate-worthy topic.

The problem, at least in my case, is that I know my players would survive any such attack made on them. We're not playing Dresden, but a setting where they're the scions of gods, and a couple of them have already achieved god status. The aggressor in my game is Hecate, a goddess of magic, and she's specifically targeting random NPCs/citizens in the same town as them (although I did give the town a threshold rating as well), in order to draw them out into a fight. I'm just wondering how/if the NPCs can defend against her one-shot death shot. But I've learned a lot just from these conversations.

What would you say would be an appropriate player concession, considering that these are killing spells?


Thanks everyone!

How about having tiers of channeling, like improved, supernatural and mythic strength, endurance and toughness do? Strength in the One Power is definitely measurable.


I think that ta'veren definitely ought to be a GM-approved aspect. You could milk that baby for invocations and compels like crazy.

Since you didn't finish your explanation, in case you don't know:

(click to show/hide)

Fidelacchius is actually Kusanagi.  http://dresdenfiles.wikia.com/wiki/Fidelacchius

... which could add interesting complications later, if this wasn't covered in your story.

Thanks for the link. There's a glaring error in that write-up, but I'll bother that site's moderator. I'm not sure if that's because that's canon in the Dresdenverse, but the mythical origin stated there is wrong.

Generally speaking, giant monsters don't avoid attacks, they ignore them.  At a certain size, they should have Physical Immunity, with the Catch including attacks against their limited number of vulnerable points and/or attacks of sufficient scale.  The other possibility is a custom stunt I've seen in a few forms, which uses Endurance either as a direct defense or, my preference, lets you add Endurance to Armor provided that you offer a Mediocre defense.

That's what I was doing. I gave the kaiju the catch of Weapon:4 or up, or the Kusanagi sword of Japanese myth. I gave it a slew of other powers, and thankfully the party didn't kill it, though we did end the game with them attaining the Kusanagi sword (long story).

I'd have rolled Athletics for defence normally. A behemoth's attempts to shake you off are probably just as good a defence as its attempts to dodge your attacks.

PS: The custom power list on the wiki is not great. One of these days I'll fix it. Meanwhile, I recommend this.
PPS: Thanks for making me look at the custom power list on the wiki, I just noticed a couple of Sponsored Magics that I missed when compiling my list of those.

Thanks for that link! I see the power in there, Unthinkable Size, would have been much better than what I was using. In the end, I cobbled together my monsters using a lot of other powers taken from another FATE game, Strands of the Great Kaiju War.

My party went up against a god last night. Susanoo, the japanese god of storms, to be specific.

During the fight, they went up against a huge godzilla monster that Susanoo had summoned. I used this particular power, from the wiki, to help create it:

Unthinkable Size [-4] As Hulking Size, but all effects, positive and negative, are doubled. This applies for creatures larger than whales (Fenrir, Godzilla, Typhon...)

Now, the question I have is, one of my players decided to jump on it and stab repeatedly. I ruled that it was impossible for the kaiju to dodge, although he was making every effort to shake the PC off each round. They didn't do much damage until they overcame its catch, but my question to you all is: what would you have differently? How would you have this behemoth monster defend itself against every attack? Of course I had the monster attempt to slap the offending PC and shake it off, but what would you do with this scenario as a GM?

STARS

* Perfect Timing : Test:Scholarship or Perception. Always know time down to the second. Can also sense supernatural time-distortion in a given area.
* Sense Age : Test:Perception. Can sense age of persons or objects. More success shifts allow for deeper reading of an item's past.
* Aurora : Test:Presence. Costs 3 fate. The Scion shrouds himself in the blurry light of an aurora, and becomes hard to pin down. Gain +shifts success to defense for one scene.
* Still Object : Test:Awareness. Freeze an object in time and space for several minutes. Only supernatural forces may move the object while frozen.
* Twist Time : Test:Conviction. Costs 1 fate per time shift. Scion may change the way time affects individuals. Shift successes can determine how many targets are affected.
* Lucky Star : Test:Awareness. Costs 5 fate. The Scion studies the night sky for one night. Shift successes determine the fate as written in the stars, and enhances all rolls involving one skill (chosen when the Scion uses the ability). Lasts for 1 week.
* Starfire : Costs 5 fate. The Scion shrouds himself in the light of Venat (aka Regulus), one of the Royal Stars in persian myth, adding to damage and possibly blinding enemies.
* Freeze Moment : Costs 5 fate per subject. Test:Perception. The Scion steps outside of time, and pulls/pushes others outside of time. Can only act with things outside of time, everything else is immovable. Time-freeze lasts for success shifts-number of successes.
* Celestial Estate : The Scion is given a home in outer space, anywhere he wants it to be. Includes environmental damage to anyone not invited.
* Cloak of Stars : Test:Lore. Costs 10 fate. The Scion uses darkness as a cloak, dotted with tiny stars, may use it for shift-success number of rounds for extra defense against melee attacks.
*** The Crown : Costs 10 fate points to gain the aspect Avatar of the Stars for one scene. Travel freely within time-- past, present, future, sideways-- but not manipulate it. He can freeze anyone in time or hurl a titan into the sky, and wander the farthest reaches of the Universe.

SUN

* Penetrating Glare: see clearly through smoke, fog, murky water you're in, and other barriers to seeing clearly. Can see perfectly in dim light.
* Divine Radiance: Costs 1 fate. For one scene, emit sunlight (100 watts or lower) in a radius or a beam. Or, flash bright enough to give one target a -2 penalty until its next turn. Can focus this light tight enough to light flammables.
* Heavenly Flare: Test: Presence. The target tests Endurance. If fail, he gains “Blind” as aspect for one scene. If tie, receives -1 penalty/action.
* Missile : Costs 1 fate/missile. Ammunition forged from sunlight.
* Burn : Costs 1 fate per damage, 1 physical stress. Anyone touching you takes X fate lethal damage, that lasts for one scene.
* Solar Prominance : Test:Presence, costs 3 fate. Disrupt all electronic communication for (shift-success) number of rounds. Lasts for (shift successes) number of minutes, and moves with you.
* Sun Chariot : 1 fate per 200lbs. Creates a flying chariot capable of supporting the paid weightload. Requires a Drive test, or an Conviction test, to control the horses,
* Inexorable Gravity : Test:Presence or Might. Costs 5 fate or 10 fate. Those within (shift successes) yards who fail to resist cannot move away. If 10 fate is spent, only those the god wants to be trapped will be, no tests.
* Bleach : Test:Presence. Costs 5 fate. Those within (shift successes) yards take 4 physical stress. Can also activate Burn ability simultaneously for free, and thereafter, anyone touching you suffers 2 physical stress.
* Solar Crown : Costs 10 fate points. Pluck a crown from the sun, and later, create a miniature sun that protects against ranged attacks for 1 scene. Mundane projectiles are vaporized. Against supernatural ones, you gain +1 to dodging. Can stack with Finger Moon ability.
*** The Glory : Costs 10 fate points to gain the aspect Avatar of the Sun for one scene. The glory pushes back all darkness and can be seen from all points on the plane. It can soothe cold mortals, or blind them, and burn them to dust. It can make a Titan stare in awe, or steal its sight, and its heat dry a Titan's flesh into leather.

WAR

* Blessing of Bravery: test: Presence. During one combat per game session everyone of the Scion's side receive 1 Fate Point.
* Battle Cry: Test: Presence. Every enemy have -1 penalty per Shift/rounds.
* Warrior´s Ideal: test: Presence. Those who fight against the character receives Shift penalty per Shift turns. Only usable once per scene.
* Battle map : Test:Survival, costs 1 fate. Create a 4-yard 3D map of a battlefield you've scouted within 24 hours, lasts for the scene.
* Riastrad : Costs 1 fate. Transform into a hideous paragon of courage and battle.
* Morale Failure : Test:Presence. Costs 1 fate/5 troops. Troops affected will not attack the Scion's forces unless their commander wins an opposed test. Opposing Scions with Blessings of Bravery can cancel this if they get more shifts.
* Army of One : Test:Endurance or Presence. Costs 2 fate/duplicate. Create up to shift-successes duplicates of yourself. They have your stats, abilities, relics, etc. They may not use any boons or knacks while they exist, but any currently-active ones at the time of activation are shared to all the copies. You share one fate point pool with all of them. Last for 1 scene.
* Colossus Armor : Costs 10 fate. Wear a massive, heavy suit of armor, treated as Armor:5. For 2 more fate, an appropriately-sized weapon is included, that deals Weapon:5.
* Blessing of Ammunition : Costs 5 fate. Give a weapon infinite weapon for 1 scene, or forever, if the fate points spent are from the refresh pool instead.
* Follower Army : Costs 10 fate. Test:Presence. The difficulty is equal to the number of dots the target followers (the birthright) represent. Success shifts modifies the number for one scene.
* Surreal Draft : Costs 10 fate. Test:Presence. Create (shift success x 100) followers from a substance whose purview is assocated with you. They are treated as Seasoned Cops or Grunt Soldiers, and wear Riot Gear (armor:2), armed as you see fit.
*** The General : Costs 10 fate points to gain the aspect Avatar of War for one scene. The General is armed, armored, and commands an army with perfect loyalty and morale. Extras die in droves and lesser heroes fall easily. You may call out an opposing general for a duel that cannot be refused, even by a Titan. Even if you lose, the enemy is sorely wounded.

WATER

* Water Breathing: breathe under water.
* Water Control: test: Craftsmanship. Controls water. +2 physical defense.
* Changing States: Test:Craftsmanship. 1 Fate point. Change the  state of a body of water by touch. Affects 5 cubic yards per shift success, or per fate point. Can create weapons or use blasts of steam and ice projectiles.
* Create Water: Test:Craftsmanship. Costs 2 fate points. Creates shift-successes gallons of water. Takes one minute.
* Dessicate : Test:Might. Costs 1 fate. Touch deals (activation shift successes - soak ) lethal damage.
* Water Mastery : Costs 5 fate. Tests:Craftsmanship. As Water Control, but allows the Scion's use of Strength. Also stiffens water so that others may walk on it. Affects up to 50 cubic yards of water.
* Water Vortex:  Test:Discipline or Conviction. Costs 4 fate points. Keep a pet tornado at your call. Directing requires a roll every action. Same as Tornado Tamer (Sky purview), but requires vast amounts of water to form.
* Purify Water : Test:Endurance or Fortitude. Costs 5 fate points. Purify (success shifts x 100) cubic yards of water completely. Cannot be reversed for shift-success number of days.
* Liquid Form : Cost 1 fate point, 1 physical and mental stress when reverting either way. Submerge your body, and physically become water, and ignore crushing water depths. Lasts for as long as the Scion is submerged. Or, your body becomes water. You are undetected by mundane means while in water, and are immune to non-electrical or -heat attacks.
* Tsunami : Costs 10 fate points, test:Craftsmanship. Same as Water Control ability, except with far more amounts (shift-successes x 1000 cubic yards) of water. If another fate point is spent, the water will never evaporate, or leave the shape you give it.
*** The Flood : Costs 10 fate points to gain the aspect Avatar of Water for one scene. The Flood is vast, shapeless and strong. It can drown mortals and crush gods in its depths. It can freeze, scald or drown a titan.