It seems to me that there are a couple of reasonable solutions/interpretations to this issue:
1) Possibly RAW is sufficient and it's just standard operating procedure for wizards to fight in shifts (I would guess three) so as to trigger the rest between scenes rules to clear the stress track. Thus, whenever we see a group of wardens engaged in pitched battle in the book,they were ultimately screwed since they would quickly burn through their magic (i.e. mental stress),(click to show/hide)(click to show/hide)
2) Another possibility is that we should add a couple of stunts that full battle mages would take. I'm seeing one stunt (battle mage or whatever) that allows you to cast magic with no stress if your discipline roll is double the shifts of power you decide to use. You could probably add another optional stunt chained off of the first stunt (call it battle master [originality for the win!]) where simply achieving spin on your discipline roll to control your shifts of power (i.e. power+3) obviates the need to take stress.
3) We could allow for a new mechanic where a pertinent loose (non sticky at least, I can't remember the terminology off the top of my head) aspect on a character can be tagged by that character to cast a spell and the use of that tag would be to cast the spell for 0 base stress. An example of this would be that a character could do a navel gazing conviction maneuver to place the aspect gathered power on him/herself. Then, next turn, could use the free tag of that spell to cast without taking mental stress.
4) Finally, it could be argued that Sponsored magic is much more common than I would have thought and that most mages expecting to enter battle would find one or more sponsors that they could incur debt with in exchange for powering their magic.
Considering FP at submerged who invest all his refresh in refinement can have a base power of 9 that would be utterly de-balancing.
tl;dr Long post is long, what do y'all think about taking mental stress for casting pretty much every spell?From a meta-game point of view, it's necessary for balance. From a story point of view, it may work better than you think. Remember, stress is per scene. That day long battle you mentioned? How often did they get several minutes to catch their breath? Each of those mini-breaks signifies a new scene. Stress will be cleared though consequences remain. In any case, he's caught his breath and can cast a few more spells...
The easy way to build a battle mage is to take the 'fire breathing' power, using Discipline as the skill, for free power 2, range +1 Zone 'magic' attacks till you get board. You could also use Toughness powers, or a bonus to defense stunt for low powered shield effects.
How do you justify taking supernatural abilities as a mortal caster? Im curious because I can't think of a way to do otherwise my FP would be taking regeneration.Change the trappings. It's not a supernatural breath weapon, is a supremely practiced spell.
How do you justify taking supernatural abilities as a mortal caster? Im curious because I can't think of a way to do otherwise my FP would be taking regeneration.
For my character it's because he's an emissary of power.(click to show/hide)
Right now my character is fairly low refresh so his only physical ability is tied up in his sponsored magic and his IOP. I plan in the future to give any additional powers directly to him. The rational is that channeling all of that power and being around the things he is constantly around has been changing him, making him more supernatural.
For another character, a few ideas on how to get physical abilities:
* A ritual went right
* A ritual went wrong
* The character is actually a changeling
* The character is bitten or scratched by something that infects him
* The character gets a favor from a powerful entity (not all favors have to be sponsored magic)
* The character can have an IOP that gives them abilities
* A certain food, fruit, or serum can give them a power - and a dependency. This could be an awesome way to get compels and to get a power at a lower cost (due to the dependency).
* The PC (if a wizard) could have made an enchanted item to give a supernatural strength or something. I'm assuming most GMs would allow this if the PC also took the refresh hit that the power would normally require.
etc.
I hope that helps.
As I see it, Wardens have swords for that very reason. Using magic all the time simply isn't feasible.
Some people will let you take a stunt that adds a mental stress box. Whether this is balanced is an open question.
It's probably sensible to say that self-inflicted harm from spellcasting automatically satisfies catches. Which makes wizards with Recovery a lot more reasonable.
I always thought that battle mages relied on enchanted objects for extra spells. Which is why Harry made all those extra force rings after he beacame a warden, he had three on each finger so that is a total of 24 extra atack spells with zero stress. I am sure that most of the wardens have their favorite battle spells enchanted into magical objects to give them more combat power.
Im pretty certain your worng about Harry his stick was more power than subtly
There really isn't any precedent for a stunt to increase someones stress, and it strains the confines of what a stunt normally does...
Actually, speaking of the stimulant potion, can someone help me understand exactly how it's crafted and why something like that is allowed? It's indeed a very nice potion, but what stops someone from creating an enchanted item that does exactly the same thing but is reusable? :P
As for allowing supernatural powers as a mortal caster, that's entirely up to GM discretion. YS54 gives an example of creating a werewolf who can do earth evocations. Basically, each of those powers can be mixed and mashed. As long your GM approves it, you're fine. Personally, as a GM, I wouldn't simply because I hate twinks with an overwhelming fury, and I like having a balanced set of characters that have different strengths and weaknesses. The idea of having a focused fire channeler with inhuman strength, speed, and toughness gives me rash :P
I personally loathe GMs who make the game about them and not the players. As a player if I have too many rules laid on me before I'm even able to start playing, that pretty much tells me how the game would be too.
*Grin* You're assuming much. I see it simply from a balance perspective. Even in the novels, all the major protagonists fit into the templates and only the BBEGs end up being huge twinks a la Mavra. I personally feel that the powers are fairly balanced, but can become substantially imbalanced when mix and mashed with min-maxing in mind. Having one character who is super strong, super fast, super enduring AND can throw roaring fireballs of death just makes it less fun for other players who might feel more limited (especially if they're playing a Pure Mortal) and forces me the GM to adjust the challenge of the encounter accordingly. In the end, one character tends to shine, the other characters are forced to play very defensively to deal with the much increased lethality of their opposition, and the non-twink players just end up feeling left out and jaded.
By keeping to the templates and their logical advancements, every player gets a chance to shine in different encounters. Wizards are best when involved in short chaotic battles and with Thaumaturgical effects, White Court Vampires and Were-Creatures are ideal for those long multi-exchange rooftop chases, Pure Mortals tend to be best out of combat and in social challenges or anything involving technology after the 60s (not to mention being the party's wildcard with his huge pool of Fate points), etc ...
It has nothing to do with the wants and desires of the GM unless you're referring to a desire to keep things fun for everyone equally.
*Grin* You're assuming much. I see it simply from a balance perspective. Even in the novels, all the major protagonists fit into the templates and only the BBEGs end up being huge twinks a la Mavra. I personally feel that the powers are fairly balanced, but can become substantially imbalanced when mix and mashed with min-maxing in mind. Having one character who is super strong, super fast, super enduring AND can throw roaring fireballs of death just makes it less fun for other players who might feel more limited (especially if they're playing a Pure Mortal) and forces me the GM to adjust the challenge of the encounter accordingly. In the end, one character tends to shine, the other characters are forced to play very defensively to deal with the much increased lethality of their opposition, and the non-twink players just end up feeling left out and jaded.
@ infusco Personally i couldn't care less about weather the characters are balanced, if we want the game to be true to the novels in fact they shouldn't be, harry tends to do all the heavy lifting and theres a reason for that. certainly if you have players who feel left out or aren't having fun then theres a problem.
However whenever possible i prefer to pick players who are playing a game because they want to take part in the same kind of story as portrayed by the setting we are in, so yes some of them should expect and in fact enjoy that they aren't as scary in combat as other characters.
I mean, plenty of people liked RIFTS (which DFRPG is vastly superior to in every conceivable way - but that is neither here nor there) and part of the cool factor was that two PCs in the same campaign could have such vastly different power levels.
Anyways, in the end, as a GM, my job is to cater to the wishes of the players and to make sure everyone is happy. I've seen many times in the past how a few players with noticeably lower power, or worse skills in min-maxing, have ended up frustrated and bored.Some games reward players who spend time and effort to make use of the system, other games try to minimise the effect of superior system knowledge and reward in-game creativity.
Some games reward players who spend time and effort to make use of the system, other games try to minimise the effect of superior system knowledge and reward in-game creativity.There's another classification in there, where neither the ability to game the system or creativity are rewarded, but this isn't the board to discuss D&D 4th Ed... ::) :P
Personally I rather have a game where the ability to game the system as well as in-game creativity are rewarded.
Well, the sponsored rules are a bit unclear here. The only official debt all sponsors grant is for invoking aspects. There's a sidebar on downbelow helping to power spells, but nothing that says this is generally allowed...oddly enough.
I would like to point out that at no point in that side bar is downbelow ever mentioned. It is entitled "the dark powers are always willing to help" but really dark powers could describe a lot of different things (the fey seem pretty dark to me). For that matter in the sidebar it simply refers to the practitioner's sponsor. However it doesn't say that it can allow one to cast without stress, merely that a single point of debt can add two shifts to a spell. I suppose one might extrapolate that one could cast a two shift spell for only a single debt, or a four shift spell for two, etc.
Question to anyone: how do you do the 'paying' of the aquired debt? Ideas, suggestions??
Pretty please?
Dian