Is there a maneuver Stunt idea out there that might act like a lure or provoke effect?
Also any maneuver that makes sense could be invoked or tagged to force a course of action such as attacking a specific character.
Can you guys break down the rules justification for a +3 catch for things like people with free will and people with no supernatural powers. That seems pretty high to me seeing that a powerful NPC or supernatural being can't get a hold of these easily and it doesn't sound like common knowledge. I just want to check my catch adjudication skills.
those with <3 refresh get only su strength
For example, the sorcerer will pretty much always be outclassed by the wizard, because he chose to basically create the same character but with less power. If he went for something like "sponsored magic: demonology", he could go for a whole different angle with his magic and do some amazing stuff with evothaum. He could even go for a bond with a demonic entity that grants him some other powers altogether, like strength, speed, etc.
I'm looking into this, and because he's new to rpg's and this game as well, I want to be able to describe how this can be amazing. What can he do with evothaum that would be amazing?Well, evothaum is "thaumaturgy at the speed and methods of evocation". That means he can do a spell that would usually be too complicated to do with evocation. I especially like to use this for the "simple action" ("solve improbable or impossible problems" YS263) option of thaumaturgy, which basically lets you do a spell in place of using any other skill. Almost the entire chapter on Thaumaturgy can be applied to evothaum. The scope of what you can do is only limited by your imagination and what your table will accept. Well, and the number of shifts you can control in one roll.
i told him about it and I do believe he is on board. ;DExcellent! :)
A couple questions:"With Evocation's speed and methods" usually means that the spells cast with EvoThaum last as long as a regular evocation would. I would probably allow a ward to last for the scene (15 minutes on the time chart), which is my default duration for such things, In a conflict, I wouldn't use the time chart to keep track of time, but exchanges, as that's what a conflict is measured in. So a spell will either last the entire scene or X exchanges, with the usual rules for prolonging spells.
A good portion of power can be added to the spell by reducing the amount of time you want it to last on the Time Scale. So with a Conviction of 3, and reducing the duration of a Ward from a day to a few minutes, 6 steps, you could conceivable form a 9 shift ward for only a single stress as long as you can control it. Is that correct?
Summoning and Binding seems really complicated and requires a fairly high number of shifts. I read a while back about a simplified version of summoning that people seemed to get behind. How might something like Binder's Grey Men be done on the fly?Well, this is going to be something that you will get vastly different answers, depending on the peoples style of play.
Excellent! :)]
"With Evocation's speed and methods" usually means that the spells cast with EvoThaum last as long as a regular evocation would. I would probably allow a ward to last for the scene (15 minutes on the time chart), which is my default duration for such things, In a conflict, I wouldn't use the time chart to keep track of time, but exchanges, as that's what a conflict is measured in. So a spell will either last the entire scene or X exchanges, with the usual rules for prolonging spells.
Well, this is going to be something that you will get vastly different answers, depending on the peoples style of play.
I personally would not make the summoning an extra thing in a sense that I wouldn't do it like a spell. Instead, I would say that Bender can only do something with his magic, when he has his minions summoned. Look at how that is described in Skin Game, it doesn't really take him any effort.
So I would write him like this:
Human Form [+1]
affecting:
Sponsored Magic (grey suits) [-4]
The human form means that he can not use the power unless a condition is met. We can choose that condition as we like. For a werewolf, it would be the change from "beast change", but in Binder's case, it's simply that he needs to have some of his minions summoned. That isn't really an action. If he knows he has to fight, he can simply say that he summons them beforehand, and they are there. If he is already in a conflict, he'll need to take an action to summon them. No roll is needed for that, he just declares that's what he is doing, and that uses up his action.
When a circle shorts out his suits, he can't do anything anymore, which is very well represented by this, I think.
But like I said, your mileage my vary on this. If you'd rather have a mechanical way to summon the grey suits, we can certainly come up with something, though others might be more suited for that.
Hmm, that would definitely take out some of the power. I'm not sure if I'd wholly agree on that though from what I read in YS. I'll have to ponder whether I want to leave the duration of thaumatugy intact or convert it to evocation. If I do leave it intact a limit on how short to go is probably a good idea.Remember that he can still do regular wards with sponsored magic when things aren't as hectic. Sponsored magic gives you Evocation + Thaumaturgy for a theme, AND it allows you to do some parts of Thaumaturgy in the form of evocation, which is what we've come to call EvoThaum around here, because "Thaumaturgy at Evocations speed and method" is quite a mouth full. Though I won't stop you if you want to do it like full thaumaturgy in terms of duration. I think it's best if you try it like that, and if it feels too powerful, talk to the player and adjust accordingly.
That is a really cool way to build that.Thank you. :)
I read a while back about a simplified version of summoning that people seemed to get behind.
How might something like Binder's Grey Men be done on the fly?
Yep, that was the one. That looks fine for a summon, it just makes me wonder about the value of offensive summoning at evocation speed. 9 shifts to summon a relatively weak ally seems meh. 9 shifts of fire controlled gives 18 shifts of stress before defense. I doubt a monster like that would even deal 9 points of stress in a chest deep fight let alone 18.
Then again, I guess you could go with a "called shots" kind of method. Set up a bunch of maneuvers and then go for the big summon.
And then again, it may just become really annoying to have to make rolls for all those extra turns and drag combat out for days.
GMing is not an easy job. I gotta think smarter, not harder.The trick is to teach them to tie the noose around their necks themselves. Once you've got that figured out, it's a smooth ride. ;)
From what you say though, my Kemmlerite should have at least 2, if not more, contingency plans in place to ensure that even if he can't seduce the White Council PC into necromancy, that he can still complete his ritual, and if not that, have a couple plans for escape.
The trick is to teach them to tie the noose around their necks themselves. Once you've got that figured out, it's a smooth ride. ;)
Being that he isn't living righteously, I think his faith would do little to protect him.
So the other important question to ask yourself when making these intricate plots is: How do I see my PCs getting out of this one?