So my group had some questions about what the various strength powers really help with. Each level of the power has these effects:

• A lifting/breaking bonus
• A bonus on grappling rolls and an increase in how much damage you can do in a grapple as a supplemental action
• A modification of how Might modifies other skill uses
• A flat damage bonus to attacks based on muscular force

So points #2 and #4 are super straightforward and there's no confusion there, but I had some questions about #1 and #3.

For the lifting/breaking bonus, can that be used in combat to set up a block or in a maneuver? It makes narrative sense that any might-based maneuver/block action is better if the actor can pick up cars, but maybe that's too good (the 4 point version of the power adds 6 to those rolls for example). On the other hand, wizards.

For #4, what circumstances warrant getting the bonus for modifying a skill with might? I imagine lifting a dude off the ground by his throat is good for a might-modified intimidate roll. Flipping a car over to use as cover might be a might-modified dodge (or is it a might-based maneuver or block? Could I get my lifting bonus? See? This is confusing!  ) Can you guys suggest some other circumstances where Might would or would not be allowed to modify a skill? More confusingly, under the Might skill section, there's this snippet:

In combat, Might can help you with particular applications of Fists and Weapons: if physical force is a very significant element at play, Might will modify (page 214) the primary skill.

Assuming I like being effective, I would probably always want to attack in a way where physical force was a significant element (because adding to attack rolls is really strong in this system). What are some examples of fists/weapon skill use where modifying with might is appropriate or inappropriate?

So my group gave Neutral Grounds a try and had a good time with Fate and DF. It looks like the GM wants to run an Up to Your Waist level game for our group. I've given YS a read, and here's my problem in a nutshell: wizards seem to be really good at stuff. This is probably to be expected in a game based on a series of books about a wizard, but the part of my personality that likes big numbers on my character sheet (I am a flawed man. I believe in this system that means I get more fate points, so that's nice), demands that I pick at some bits.

So remembering that our campaign's set at UtYW, this seems like the best mechanical character choice:

Template (Focused Practitioner)
Lore and Discipline at Great, Conviction at Good
Powers/Stunts: Channeling [-2] and Ritual [-2] (I'm less sure on the elements/theme for these, but that seems up to player preference)

Now if I've understood this so far, it looks like that means that I get 4 focus item slots. I think (I'm less sure here) that I could use all 4 slots to get a focus item that gave a +4 to offensive control of whatever element I chose for Channeling.

That seems crazy, crazy strong. Fate dice have excellent central tendency, so what your modified skill is is fairly likely to be what you actually get when you roll. With this character, that would mean a typical combat would be tossing out an attack with Weapon: 3,4,5 and 6 each at 8 to control. (Is that accurate? I believe you get up to your Conviction rating in power for 1 mental stress, with each point of overflow increasing the incoming mental stress by 1. Since once the 1 box is filled in on the character's stress track, a stress 1 hit is just as damaging as a stress 2 hit, and he's got control to spare, he might as well ramp up in power each round). Now I'm only going by the other Neutral Grounds sample characters, but even with a dodge roll of 4 (which many of them didn't have the capacity to do), that'd be 7,8,9, and 10 points physical stress. The biggest non-wizard combatant from that pack is probably the werewolf who gets to attack at 4 with a weapon: 4 attack and his adjusted refresh is 2 worse than this wizard. If he swung at the equivalent dodge score of 4, he'd only get 4 physical stress a round (so it takes about 9 rounds for him to lay equivalent hurt).

I both understand that the game is not based around PvP (so maybe comparing PC attack strength vs PC defenses isn't a good metric) and that there is a heck of a lot more to RPGing than combat encounters, but:

• This guy's still got more than half of his skill points to spend, so that second career as a whatever is still within reach.
• He's got as good of a Lore as he can get at this tier and thaumaturgy (well one aspect of it at least) to play around with.
• His adjusted refresh is a 3 for this power level, so there's still room to fiddle with for additional stunts/powers.
• I didn't do anything crazy with him other than realize that points of offensive control are strictly better than points of offensive power for evocation and then bought as many of them as I could. I'm sure someone with more experience can do something more excessive within the bounds of the rule set.

So what are viable options for people who aren't wizards in this game? I don't think anybody can get the +4 to attack rolls that this guy has (nor honestly should they). The guidelines for stunts says that a stunts shouldn't give a +2 to the majority of a skill's use and that stunts don't stack, so it looks like the best anyone who isn't a wizard can get for an attack bonus is +1 and it will cost them 1 refresh point to do so. Inhuman strength and a sword seems like a pretty good combo (you'd get Weapon:5 and you could take some sort of +1 to hitting people with a sword stunt), but with the to-hit bonus stunt and the strength itself, that's only 1 refresh cheaper than this guy's powers for not nearly the same output. If the inhumanly strong can claim the +1 bonus for Might modifying them stabbing other people, then they'd get a little closer, but still be 2 points below the wizard's attack rating (and lower than the wizard's weapon rating for two rounds, and they have to be in melee when the wizard doesn't, and the wizard has the option of blasting a whole zone, and thaumaturgy, and intentional hexing, and yadda yadda yadda).

Now the wizard does run out of juice 4 rounds into a combat. That's certainly a downside. He also throws hot enough that if the opposition was balanced around the rest of the party it's already dead and if the opposition was balanced around what the wizard can do, it's time to leave because everyone else probably can't get the job done without him. Since the wizard is virtually guaranteed to hit and has a big weapon rating, it probably also makes sense for the other players to aid him blowing stuff up by bringing beneficial aspects into being, but to borrow a sports comparison, that effectively makes the wizard Lebron James and the rest of the party The People On Lebron James's Team Who Lacked the Foresight to Be Lebron James, which I bet will get thin real quick.

The wizard also isn't supposed to kill people with magic. That's a downside. But that's also like the lowest of low bars (since everyone else probably also shouldn't murder people, it being y'know murder and all), and since he can dictate what happens to whoever he takes out, it seems like a hard problem to have in Fate (though I guess not impossible).

So I guess that turned out more like a manifesto than a question, but to sum up: Wizards seem to be real good at stuff, can I make other archetypes also be good at stuff or if I like being good at stuff should I just play a wizard and then maybe forget that I can do stupid things to my attack roll?