Ah, then the interpretation was somewhat faulty.

Either way, what's actually wanted for the ability to fly is the Wings power, purchased as part of the Armor's Item of Power portion.

This is true. Seeing as how most combat would, in theory, be ground-bound, I figured the ability to use the "flying boots" as more of a "jump jet" to allow for ease of movement would work better. Less refresh cost that way.

However, if actual flight is wanted, you are indeed correct.

-EF

All that phrase means is that you can live on blood/emotion instead of food and water if you wish. A minor but potentially fun ability.

Just making sure I understood it right. Thanks!

-EF

You really think something that lets a character have an infinite use of evocations is a good idea?

Not really, no. However, the OP was looking for a way to do it. I tried to find it. Personally, I'd take claws and human form and call it a day, but that's just me.

-EF

I think we've been going about this all wrong. What we need isn't another way to use magic, or a contortion of the enchanted items rules. We need a stunt.

I'm basing this off of Tower of Faith, YS150.

Focused Ki: You gain armor:1 against mental stress that derives from your rotes.

This way, you can have a sub-par Conviction, and a decent Discipline and get away with your magic weapon hands.

For example, you have a Conviction of 2, and a Discipline of 4, with a Lore of 1+ so you can actually have a rote. Your rote is "Ki fists" that is a weapon:2 attack (for the Conviction of 2) that is targeted with discipline. With your focused ki stunt, you absorb (READ: negate) the 1-point stress you would normally take for casting that spell.

It may seem cheezy, but it fits the rules (you are spending 1 refresh to be able to pull it off), and it allows you to still do a hadouken that costs stress when the need arises.

Thoughts?

-EF

Maybe something to look at is the Iron Man thread.

You could do something similar, with prayer beads/gloves/etc. that give you a weapon:2 effect X times per session. After you use your allotment of uses, it costs mental stress. It seems to be exactly what you're looking for, no?

At a weapon:2, it's equal to claws, but the uses are only drained on a hit. Also, it avoids the dilemma of an aspect where it could mean the difference between a hit and a miss. Weapons add to the stress done, not to the attack roll.

-EF

i'll put it like this. my character in my new campaign with my group is trying to build something like the iron man.

I'll give ya a brief rundown of how I'd run Iron Man. For this exercise, I'll assume an Up to Your Waist-level character. Adjust to fit your game.

7 refresh, 25 skill points.

High Concept: Arcane inventor

Problem/Other aspects: I'll leave it to you. It's your character, after all!


Template: Focused practitioner, YS76-78. Ritual is a must, while channeling is optional. Channeling is still a possibility because Stark thinks ahead. The suit has gizmos that you wouldn't think to have, but he did. So channeling gives us that "I totally have that covered!" angle. I'm gonna leave channeling off for this build, since there is little refresh available.

Skills: I'll use the 3rd skill package for 25 points.

Great (2) - Lore, Endurance
Good (2) - Discipline, Guns (assuming Guns is the skill used for your blaster-hands)
Fair (3) - Conviction, Might, Presence
Average (5) - Resources, Fists, Alertness, Athletics, Contacts

Supernatural Powers:

[-2] Ritual (crafting); this also gives you 4 enchanted item slots.
[+2]Item of Power (magical armor) containing the following:
[-2] Inhuman Strength
[-2] Inhuman Toughness (Armor:1 and 2 extra physical stress boxes) with a +0 catch (IE, not really a catch to speak of)
------
-4 refresh. That leaves 3 refresh to play around with. Maybe take refinement for more enchanted items, or perhaps some stunts.

Enchanted items:
Blast gloves: Weapon:2; 3 uses/session
Flying Boots: 3-shift move as a supplemental action; 2 uses/session
HUD: 3-shift awareness result; 2 uses/session
The fourth slot is given over to making one of the other items more powerful. See YS280 for details on what you can do.

Other options include getting rid of inhuman toughness/strength and just taking refinement. More toys, and more uses per toy! Give the gloves some weapon:3 for melee attacks, and an "armour" item with armour:4, 3/session (that's assuming another slot is dedicated to additional uses).

Just my take.

wow thats an awesome idea deadman. Quick question on that though i thought only wizards could take refinement multiple times, or is this one of those house-ish rules to fit the character?

Per YS182, the ritual supernatural power allows you to "...gain more Item Slots as  one  of  the  options  on  the  Refinement ability  (page  182)—but you  may  only  buy Refinement  for  that  purpose."

-EF

If I may chime in, I have an idea.

Go with the focused practitioner with channeling based around your ki idea.

So for his spells that make his hands more powerful (read: makes them into a weapon), cast a spell. While most wizards put all their beef into making it a nasty-high weapon rating, you're doing the opposite.  Use one or two shifts of power to give yourself a weapon:1 or weapon:2.  Spend the rest of your shifts of power into duration.

That way, you get your spellcasting on, completely within the rules for evocation, and get the effect to last a few exchanges.

Use on of your focus items (you get 2 for taking channeling) to add to your conviction, to give yourself that extra duration...

dangit. I just reread the evocation rules, and it apparently doesn't allow for duration on attacks. Crap. I'd ask your table anyway if they'd allow it, since it is your character concept.

Otherwise, if you wanna go purely within the rules, take ritual instead.

As per the rules for thaumaturgy (that's one hard word to sound out :p), and use your focus items to add to your lore for maximum "now casting" power.

Then make a spell that is 2 shifts of power for a weapon:2, and about 3-4 shifts for duration (I'm assuming that the default duration would be "a few moments"). That way, you have a weapon:2 that lasts for ~15 minutes and, get this...COSTS NO STRESS! Per the sidebar on page 271, "...if you don’t go past your Conviction, you don’t take any stress."

So a 6 shift spell (that might take you two exchanges to fully cast) that garners no stress--unless you want to complete it sooner!--that allows you to make your hands into DEADLY weapons.

With a Lore of 4, and a +2 with your focused item, you can use the 6-shift spell no problem with no extra preparation. You're gonna want to have a good Conviction and Discipline, to cast the spell right the first time. Maybe burn another point or two of refresh for refinement to add to Conviction/Discipline...prayer beads, your karate/tai-kwan-do/ju jitsu/etc belt, maybe even your gi can be a focus item!

And, of course, FISTS.

For a Feet in the Water character, I'd go with the following:

Skills (using the third skill package for 20 skill points):
Great (4) - Lore, Fists
Good (3) - Conviction, Discipline
Fair (2) -
Average (1) -

Refresh:
[-2] Ritual
[-1] Refinement (2 specialization boni)
[-1] Hard-knock life (stunt, use Fists for physical stress track)

Specialization boni:
+2 Lore, +1 Conviction, +1 Discipline

This leaves you with 1 refresh, but the ability to cast a 6-shift ritual with no special preparations. If you try it in one exchange, it'll cost you a 2-stress mental hit (no too bad, considering your Conviction of gives you 4 stress boxes. Indeed, it's a stress-free casting if you take two exchanges to do it (3 each exchange is less than your stress-free max of 4). Great if you have time to "meditate" on the coming battle, or what have you.

Just my 2 cents...

-EF