Show Posts

This section allows you to view all posts made by this member. Note that you can only see posts made in areas you currently have access to.


Messages - Lamech

Pages: 1 2 3 [4] 5
46
DFRPG / Re: Extremely High Complexity Rituals
« on: July 08, 2012, 11:54:19 PM »
Quote from: Richard_Chilton on July 08, 2012, 10:14:18 PM
When it comes to the Chicago PD "small arms fire" includes combat shotguns, semi auto AR15s, and submachine guns.  How many hundreds of bullets do you feel the average ward can handle in the run of a minute?
  By game rules? Forever. By the book, Harry's wards have enough juice for countless zombies or lethal entropy curses; in other words, long enough for the cops to stop shooting at it. A heavy duty ward is good.
Quote
"We have hundreds dead at the hands of an unknown terrorist cell that is using custom IEDs (easiest way to interpret the wards exploding) and we need backup.  They even seem to have some experimental ceramics that are transparent but can bounce rounds from a combat shotgun.  Hurry!"

- realistically, saying that would get a military response.  I'm basing that off of who shows up within an hour when car bomb gets spotted.
They probably haven't even gotten to the landmines. I would put those last in case of breach. Your going to call the military and tell them that a guy has an unbreakable house and you managed to hurt yourself on it. They might come help, but they really won't want to risk civilians over your stupidity.
Quote
No, it won't.  You're assuming that police are neutral when it comes to facts involving the deaths of brother officers.  When the cops that witnessed him being there report his involvement the wizard will be held in custody as the investigation unfolds.  Accused cop killer almost never make bail, no matter how much proof they offer that it wasn't them.

If they have video of Dave the Wizard being involved in a cop killing incident, he's not going to get out of jail until he explains his involvement to their satisfaction.  Sure, there's that bit about 'innocent until proven guilty", but wrongly accused people often spend a year or more in jail awaiting trial or any sort of hearing that can prove their innocence.
If the cops aren't neutral, Dave can be dirty too. Dave is fully capable of making look-a-like doppelgangers of himself and cops. Wander out of prison, replace a few cops (the cops get a free vacation to Nevernever land) and have them go on about the big conspiracy.  Also this isn't just proof. This is proof so absolute the cops need to claim Dave has a teleporter. Also making a really strong wall isn't a crime, even if someone shoots a gun and has it bounce back in their face.
Quote
You might want to watch a video like this one, which talks about the procedures used against the average suspect.  Accused cop killers, they often get special treatment.
The defense does the talking. The wizard just hexes everything in sight.


47
DFRPG / Re: Extremely High Complexity Rituals
« on: July 08, 2012, 06:36:05 PM »
Quote from: Richard_Chilton on July 07, 2012, 12:25:42 AM
They hide (one of the options listed) and the raid happened.  They were not directly involved in the conflict.
That's a bit like saying they can't fight a pointy stick because they didn't impale themselves in the eye with it. A well built wizard ward will do just fine against the small arms fire cops can put out.
Quote
In short:
Because they did not engage the raid in combat.
They can fire through the window if they want as well. Its like saying since


Quote
Yes, hiding is an option.  You want them to hide behind a ward.  Great.  Just like if they veiled (another option listed).
They can engage it in combat if they feel like. Just open the door and open fire. Their still behind a threshold, the ward is still up. The only reason they aren't engaging in combat is because it isn't a meaningful threat. 


Quote
So your wards can stop the National Guard's tanks? Stop the attack helicopters? And no one from the White Council will see the blood bath on the news and send a warden to take down those wards.  And none of the PCs' supernatural enemies will take advantage of a seize to attack the wards.
The helicopters, and tanks will require proactive hexing. But
Quote
That's a great bunch of warlocks you have there.  Killing hundreds with magic, mind raping dozens of cops.  Most people don't play PCs that are evil warlocks, but if that's your preferred style of play then that's your preferred style of play.
The mind raping is warlock territory. However letting cops impale themselves with their own force is not. Indeed in Blood Rites Dresden said that reflecting spells is one of White Councils favorite tricks. They get whatever they were trying to do to you, be it a killing spell or a wonderful blessing of goodness. And its fine to do so for lethal force; indeed Harry was trying too.
 
Quote
Me, I think that when the police see that your windows won't break that they'll call for help.  Gunships shooting thousands of rounds per second - those should wear down your ward.  Add in a few missiles and you'll encounter one of the major themes of the Dresden Files.  The reason why supernaturals don't try to rule openly.
Military: Okay let me get this straight, he has magical windows that attacking causes the shots to be reflected upon the attacker? And you want us to open fire in the middle of a city when shots bounce back? I'm going out on a limb here that you guys had a bad batch of doughnuts. Regardless we aren't opening fire into a city.  Even if they do opeen fire, instead of offering you a job at Area 51, the wizard should be long gone by then.
Quote
And before you say "But that will take time" I'll point out that yes, it would take time in our world, but in the DV there are people like SI.  People in authority who know about supernatural things.  The reaction time to "supernaturals gone wild" would be faster than our world "he's a terrorist".  Not that they're slow to send the hellfire drones after terrorists...
And when SI, asks for hellfire missiles in the middle of a city? Yeah, right.
Quote



But you want to know the real reason why cops can't take a wizard? The wizard can open the door, wave a gun around, watch cops shoot themselves close the door, portal out to the Nevernever, walk into a police station half way across the country and ask why they are shooting at his house. Then the extremely easy to win court case will go a bit like this:

State: We have proof he killed cops.
Defense: It was their own bullets.
State: He had this reflector field thingy.
Defense: Of course he did.
State: We have it on tape!
Defense: So you put special effects on a tape. I would be impressed if I never watched T.V.
State: He's a witch!
Defense: ... So we'll settle for you giving us a million bucks.
State: Fine.

48
DFRPG / Re: Practical Application of (a specific) Death Curse
« on: July 02, 2012, 09:57:45 PM »
Quote from: Mr. Death on July 02, 2012, 08:08:13 PM
As we mentioned before, the +20 is from inflicting all the consequences. If they're already inflicted, their shifts can't be counted toward the spell.
You're killing a mortal to power the spell. Instant +20 complexity. That's in addition to the +20 you can sneetch for consequences. If you decide to death curse when your still healthy for whatever reason, its 20(life)+20(consequences)+8(tags)+4 to 8(fate points)+lore+extra stuff. 52 minimum. Who ever gets hit by that better have plot device written all over them. Or a bucket load of fate points.

49
DFRPG / Re: Practical Application of (a specific) Death Curse
« on: July 02, 2012, 08:03:40 PM »
Quote from: Orladdin on July 02, 2012, 07:52:42 PM
Right-- but it's one where you decide the outcome.  If you get taken out without a concession, you don't get a say in how it happens; your attacker does.  I.e: No death curse.
Nope. Reread pg 203. You'll still get a death curse.

Oh and the power of a death curse is: Lore+8(tags on consequences)+20(sacrificing a life)+unused consequences+fate points to invoke (don't forget the cash out bonus!)+2 per extra consequence. Pro-tip: Avoid these at all cost. Even if you kill a focused practitioner on her last legs you're probably eating 30 shifts of power. If the victim started healthy or has spare fate points more. God help you if you hit them hard enough to kill them when they had consequences left.

50
DFRPG / Re: Limiting Angel summoning
« on: June 22, 2012, 01:22:06 AM »
Quote from: Becq on June 22, 2012, 12:54:18 AM
Also to be considered is the knowledge that once you were discovered to have broken out of jail by some unknown means, the authorities might well try to put you back in, possibly with a measure of extreme prejudice.  So if you were in jail for a short time, it might be worth the wait to avoid a more significant risk.
Judge: So do have anything to say for yourself?
PC: I didn't escape, they said I could go.
Police: No.
PC: Umm... yes you did, just check any tape ever.
Police: Yeah, see your teleporting out a magic portal right here.
PC: ... You faked a video tape. ... You guys are morons.
Judge: Okay, PC you're free to go. Police I'm going to have to send you guys to prison.

In summary, sending people with supernatural powers to prison ends really poorly. The police can't exactly say the guy teleported out, or hexed all their stuff.

51
DFRPG / Re: Ways to achieve a 100 shift rituals
« on: June 14, 2012, 05:22:29 AM »
Quote from: Tedronai on June 14, 2012, 02:57:09 AM
The zone-wide option is explicitly included in evocation attacks and, to a limited degree, evocation blocks.  That it must be explicitly included indicates that in the absence of its explicit inclusion we are to assume that it is excluded
To my knowledge, such an option is not explicitly included, nor even implicitly referenced, with regards to maneuvers.  Maneuvers do have the option to be placed on the scene, but then your enemy can invoke them, too (though they won't get the free tag).
The mind fog spell. Its on page 299. It even mentions you could vary it by changing the aspect.

52
DFRPG / Re: Garabonciás - Hungarian Wizard
« on: June 14, 2012, 01:49:25 AM »
Quote from: Kasharin Manichea on June 13, 2012, 08:18:39 PM
Flight
Invisibility
Can see buried treasure
make people fall ill or heal heal them
Able to cause plant life to grow or wither
Curses or blessings of luck
Shapeshifting
Ability to summon and control storms
Okay, these are all fairly simple.
Flight: Wings (-1)
Invisibility: this is either an evocation veil or about half of glamors. So either part of evocation or a -1 power.
See Buiried Treasure: Supernatural sense (-1)
Making people ill can fall under evocation or thaumaturgy depending on details. Healing falls under thaumaturgy.
Plants withering can be under evocation, growing is probably best under thaumaturgy.
Luck fits under thaumaturgy and evocations.
Shapeshifting is just the shapeshifting powers.
Controlling storms is big time thaumaturgy. You could model it as a scene aspect, although it seems a little cheap for that to cover a whole area. You'll probably just need to eyeball the cost.
Taming dragons: Well its a dragon. You ride on it. Probably using the drive skill. The actual taming, can be modeled at thaumaturgy. Another option would be to model it as incite emotion (tamed). Or possibly combine the two.

So how I would go about this is
Item of Power
Wings (-1)
Invisibility (-1) (Roll deceit or discipline to be invisible, opposed by alertness or investigation.)
Supernatural Sense (-1)
Evocation/Thaumaturgy (-6)
Shape-shifting (-X)
Incite Emotion (tamed) (-X)
Requires appropriate Aspect: Note this will be compelled a lot to restrict what they can pull off with this build. I.E. "No you may not tame a bear, No you may not try and tame the Merlin. No you don't have the ability to make wards."

53
DFRPG / Re: Ways to achieve a 100 shift rituals
« on: June 13, 2012, 06:55:07 PM »
Quote from: wyvern on June 13, 2012, 05:30:19 PM
Link?  Why would he need a link to them, when he can just cast a ritual to put a whole pile of aspects on himself? 
One of the benefits of the "pile of aspects" is it only costs 2 extra points to make it a zone wide thing. Which has the benefit of hitting the party. Now its still powerful, but if for some reason all the opposition is a bit stronger.. well the party is boosted to a higher weight class, but at least he won't overshadow the other PC's.

54
DFRPG / Re: Reworking the True Faith Powers
« on: June 12, 2012, 05:42:45 AM »
Quote from: UmbraLux on June 12, 2012, 03:12:44 AM
I try not to change the base mechanics much...so I'd probably write it something like this:

Righteous Condemnation [-1]
Description:  You channel a greater power which allows you to stop supernatural opposition. 
Skills Affected: Conviction
Effects: You may use Conviction to set a block against a specified action with a supernatural component. 

It probably needs some more editing after taking a break.  But to me, being able to block just about anything with a single skill is powerful.  It may even be worth two refresh - I'm undecided on that.  I don't think it needs open durations or different block mechanics.
Umm... compare to devout words, or incite emotion.

Hey on the topic of bless this house: How about just changing it to the blessed words stunt? (Maybe with a bit more explicitly supernatural flavor) It becomes more generally useful, and if you want to boost a threshold, just place an aspect on it, and invoke for effect. (It can count as one of the attributes strengthening the threshold.)

55
DFRPG / Re: Ways to achieve a 100 shift rituals
« on: June 10, 2012, 08:40:42 PM »
Quote from: crusher_bob on June 10, 2012, 01:49:23 PM
I'll put these up again, since I see some new names that might not have seen them before.
Yeah, something like that deals with the declaration issue, and it also makes control bonuses really helpful, since you need 6 for perfect control. It doesn't address the mass sacrifice issue. Either real lives, or a bunch of consequences from the party.

56
DFRPG / Re: How Does a Limiting High Concept "Help" with Power Refresh Costs
« on: June 08, 2012, 11:41:14 PM »
Quote from: furashgf on June 08, 2012, 10:27:50 PM
So, the benefit would be that I could more easily get additional fate points then “the other guy,” but I don’t get it. Other guy picks up and throws a table - no problem, he can do it. I can’t. Do I get a fate point every time I could use supernatural strength but can’t because of my high concept? Do I declare at the start of every physical combat that I’m going to strike a crushing blow with my hand, and then get a fate point because I can’t do that?
Basically. Yes, you will get an awful lot of fate points. Probably one every combat scene. Its totally worth the two refresh, just for that.

57
DFRPG / Re: Healing in DFRPG
« on: June 08, 2012, 01:48:16 AM »
If I didn't have the Reiki example, and I was trying to design a spell that removes a consequence I would build it like this:
2/4/6 shifts: provide justification for healing
2/4/6 shifts: Suppress the consequence so tagging is not possible
4/8/12 shifts: Provide the aspect NO [consequence] 1/2/3 times
2/8/10 shifts: provide extra duration
The character has healing begin. In addition the character's consequence is now suppressed until healed, and has enough aspects to reduce stress by the same amount as the original consequence. Instant full heal. Also no wiping consequences is used in thaumaturgy.

Now since I do have the Reiki example I would allow that for minor and moderate consequences, and the above ritual or temporary power rules for serious consequences.

58
DFRPG / Re: Ways to achieve a 100 shift rituals
« on: June 08, 2012, 12:13:12 AM »
Which is why you try very hard for the social conflict to be something nice and safe like making friends at a convention. Not convincing the vampire's your fully capable of taking them in a fight. Oh and do note that unless your spell was a pile of aspects type spell, things will go down hill really quickly in any ambush after/fight the spell. If it was a pile of aspects thing you'll be fine though. (7 free tags really help)

59
DFRPG / Re: Ways to achieve a 100 shift rituals
« on: June 07, 2012, 11:32:58 PM »
Quote from: UmbraLux on June 07, 2012, 11:10:53 PM
This isn't nearly as easy as you'd like it to be though.  ;)
I suppose if you didn't allow that damn spell (or not allow it for sacrifice inflicted injuries) they wouldn't be able to pull it off.  But other than that its fairly easy to accomplish. Worst case scenario you get a +4 complexity biomancy item, and do everyone one at a time.

60
DFRPG / Re: Reworking the True Faith Powers
« on: June 07, 2012, 11:24:33 PM »
I personally would make a true faith power that's something like

Holy Symbol: A symbol of your faith is a powerful weapon against the forces of darkness. When presented against such a creature you can roll your conviction vs discipline as a block against such creatures. This prevents them from coming near to you or attacking you or anyone near you. In addition as a conviction maneuver at plus 2 you can pray, and create a scene aspect representing the power of your faith against such creates, such as GLOWING PENTACLE.
Potent Faith: The light of your faith burns even stronger allowing you to make a mental attack at conviction against all creatures of darkness in your zone. They may again defend with discipline.
Searing Faith: Your potent faith now has weapon 2 when attacking. 

This is based off incite emotion (thank Save vs GM for that idea). Although to fit the flavor of Dresden holding up the glowing pentacle 1) no ranged version 2) Its not directed at specific creatures. Instead of a holy laser, its more of a holy grenade.

Pages: 1 2 3 [4] 5