My player would like me to point out that he does have evothaum, but I still don't think you can simply cast a spell to make Skill = X. This would seem to defeat the purpose for taking any skills other than Conviction, Discipline, and Lore. Anyone disagree?

I should have been more clear.

One of my players wants to cast a spell that would effectively make his Rapport 6, and then use the increased rapport skill for a social attack, not sure if I should allow it or not.

I would rule that as a grapple, the Mage has to focus on the action and couldn't take others.

I don't think you can grapple with magic.

My general rule of thumb is if it's affecting an enemy directly, it's offensive. If it's affecting an ally directly, it's defensive.

What about neutral actions? Like raising a zone border or covering the entire area in fog.

Hope you don't mind if I piggybag and ask my own question.

I feel very strongly that complexity and control bonuses meant for Ritual/Thaumaturgy spells should not be applied to evothaum spells. While the book's blurb on evothaum is far from comprehensive, this bit from YS 288 seems to heavily imply that evothaum is not meant to impart any meaningful mechanical benefits, rather it just allows the caster greater freedom in how he or she describes the spells they cast. Allowing complexity and control bonuses meant for Ritual/Thaumaturgy spells count for your typical Evocation spells essentially triples their worth.

Example: +1 complexity (Ritual), +1 Control (Ritual), +1 Offensive Power (Channeling), +1 Offensive Control (Channeling), +1 Defensive Power (Channeling), and +1 Defensive Control (Channeling) (a total of 3 refresh worth of refinements) can all be substituted for +1 complexity (Ritual) and +1 Control (Ritual) (one refresh worth of refinements).

This adds way to much power to Sponsored Magic, which already benefits from the "Extra Benefit" and ability to take on sponsor debt. Agree or disagree?

I agree. Maneuvers would be easier to justify than an attack or block, but if the players and GM think it is acceptable then I see no reason to but a blanket ban on it.

I would just like to add something. Even though being knocked unconscious for a couple of days seems like a perfectly reasonable result of being taken out, I feel very strongly that the player should not miss any game time as a result of being taken out. In other words, the story should pick up 2 days later when the player character wakes up, or at least there should not be a full scene where the player is unable to do anything. This may have been taken for granted, or someone may have already mentioned this, but I think it's important.

Also, I think it is important to stress to players (especially new ones) that loosing a combat (by concession or being taken-out) in a FATE game is not a bad thing, it just changes the direction of the story. I think we are all so trained from other games (board, video, card, etc.) that loosing is bad, that we sometimes forget that this is a game based around story, not around rolling a bigger number than the opponent. Speaking from personal experience, I used to hate taking consequences and would never concede, because I had it ingrained in my mind that loosing was an undesirable outcome. But heck, look at Luke at the end of Empire; the guy lost his hand, his lightsaber, found out his father was one of the the most evil people in the galaxy, and his best friend was frozen in carbonite, but the story goes on. So if you have a player who is squeamish about concession and consequences, I would point them to movies and/or books. Heroes loose conflicts all the time, bit its all part of a larger story.

It got a bit long-winded towards the end there but hopefully this was helpful in some way.

The game takes place in the old west, and currently our most "urban" environment is a boom town in decline and my character is a were-coyote tracker.

While I understand that I cannot track excursively by scent without the Beast Trapping can it be assumed that, because I now have the anatomy of a coyote, my sense of smell is at least slightly better, allowing me to use it in conjunction with traditional, human tracking methods? Basically, if it is plausible that I can track my target by human means, I can get the +1 if I can narrate some way that my good sense of smell would help me.

Does this help clarify what I'm asking or did it make it worse? I know that "Ask the GM" is the ultimate answer, but I wanted to get a general consensus from more experienced players before I brought it up to him/her.