Tedronai is correct.  See YS276 right column second paragraph and YS277 left column fourth paragraph.  It's simply a "landmine" set up as a movement block instead of an attack.

AND

Not sure I'm understanding but, it was the landmine which paid for multiple zones, not the ward itself.  (If I have misunderstood your point please correct me.)

Okay, somehow I misunderstood that the persistent block vs. movement was the result of a 'landmine' so it makes a bit more sense now.  Not sure that I'd require a trigger though, since forcing oneself into/through the Ward does seem to me to be an automatic implied trigger anyway.    Having a special condition and some sort of symbolic link for the caster so that they aren't effected by the zone-wide blocks against movement would seem sensible though.

Looks decent.  I won't use an 8 shift basic ward against the PCs - find it kinda cheesy.  (It's why I limit NPCs to Lore for any given effect.) But there's nothing preventing it in the book.

Actually, that Ward is a defense around one of the character's homes, and the Ward itself has already been damaged once.

Yep!  Temporarily at least...and with the attack reduced by the power of the ward.  Taking the ward down permanently means beating the entire ward by 4+.

AND

Per YS276, shifts are reduced by the block and you can either use excess shifts against a target inside or against the ward itself.  The ward, not the block.  So it will take a bit more than two attacks to take the entire ward down.

I agree, but here is my take on it.  From my reading of YS276-277, the 'strength' of the Ward is determined by the strength of the Block, landmines, selective conditions and extended duration all add to the overall Complexity when casting the Ward, but don't make it stronger. 

So, lets go through an example here of a Rote evocation attack from a caster with Great (+4) Conviction and Discipline where the attack doesn't make use of any specializations or focus items.

Again, the Ward has a Block strength of Great (+4), which gets treated and potentially bypassed just like a normal block per YS276.  Assuming the attacking caster rolls a +0, their net attack works out to Great (+4) due to their Discipline, which is a match for the strength of the Block: Great (+4), but ties go to the attacker so that counts as a 'hit' but with +0 shifts of success, and per YS210 the weapon strength, or in this cast the power of the evocation gets added to the total shifts of success for a net of +4 shifts of success.  If the attacker chooses to apply all 4 shifts of success to attacking the strength of the Ward, that Ward quickly goes from Great to Mediocre and the Block strength is effected as well.  At Mediocre the Ward is still there, but no longer presents much of a barrier, though any special conditions and/or landmines would remain in effect.  A second evocation attack from the same caster and of the same strength would automatically bring the Ward down, since they would need to meet or beat a Mediocre targeting roll, and then do a minimum of 4 shifts of damage to the Ward itself.

I agree with almost everything you said Vargo.  However, I generally put thaumaturgy exchanges at minutes or even hours per exchange.  Unless we're talking thaumaturgy at evocation speeds at least. 

So it's significant if thinking in combat terms.

I myself generally set non-combat Thaumaturgy exchanges to 15 minutes per change, about the length of a non-combat scene usually.

-Cheers

While you can use your favored elements for flavor, your Thaumaturgy specialties will affect the ward far more than Evocation.  Skipping shifts and setup, here's an example I used for an NPC Necromancer, the ward totaled 28 shifts.  Breakdown follows:

• Duration of a mortal lifetime, 12 shifts
• Basic barrier / suppression effect rating / power 4, 4 shifts

• Enervating Drain (persistent block against movement), 12 shifts consisting of:
  • Trigger (entering uninvited), 2 shifts
  • Three zones (hall & entry, living room, stairs), 6 shifts
  • Persistent movement block rating 2, 4 shifts

While it's not in the book, I did limit any single power rated result of the ward (barrier & drain) to a number of shifts equal to the necromancer's Lore - four in this case.

Note the bolded section.  I haven't come across anywhere within the RAW or the novels to support something which would cause difficulty moving once someone was within a Ward, which is how I'm interpreting the Persistent movement block is meant to function.  A Ward as I understand it is supposed to be a barrier, once the barrier is breached or penetrated...  Similarly, while the idea of additional shifts due to a Warded area having multiple zones is interesting, I haven't come across anything about that in the RAW, in fact YS277 specifically mentions that

Wards don’t have a “scale” concern, the way that veils do, and they cannot move.

therefore I would treat adding shifts of Complexity to a Ward because the Warded area has multiple zone a "house rule".  Also keep in mind that Harry's basement apartment had 3-4 zones in it.  There was the kitchenette/living room area with fireplace, the bedroom, the bathroom & shower (which might have been part of the bedroom), and lastly Harry's lab in the sub-basement.  Given that a Ward is intended to protect a practioner's home, I would expect that all such Wards would provide a barrier to multiple zones, since anything except a studio apartment is going to have at least three different rooms, and even a studio apartment will have two.

You total ward power is going to be equal to your Lore plus two per aspect you can use.  Declarations are the default method of creating tag-able aspects.  If you can talk your group into assisting, you may also be able to use maneuvers.  You can, of course, also spend fate or take consequences.

Is there an area of Thaumaturgy which you're basing this off of, if so, where?  The only relationship I'm aware of between Lore and the casting of a Ward is in determining how many shifts of Complexity the caster can manage 'off the cuff' without needing to spend time in preparation.  Similarly, the only relevance I'm aware of with Aspects is that a caster can use their appropriate Aspects by spending Fate points to reduce the prep time for the spell.  An example of this would be to cast a Ward with Complexity 16 (like the one I list below...) by a Hedge Wizard with Lore: Fair (+2) would leave 14 shifts of Complexity that the Hedge Wizard needs to make up, before casting can even begin.  Now if the Hedge Wizard had seven relevant Aspects and enough Fate points to spend on activating all of them, he'd have reached the required 16 to match the Complexity of the spell and could start in casting immediately.

So after re-reading the section on wards, it makes it sound like they repel the magical energies back at the caster, what about physical energies.  If a guy runs full tilt into the ward would he take damage from the kinetic force? and what about gunfire?  Would the bullets be repelled back at the shooters?  If so is that a 1st law violation?  Or do wards just work against magics?

While the RAW might suggest that Wards provide a physical as well as magical barrier, the novels and short stories suggest otherwise.

In the short story Day Off, something was thrown through one of Harry's windows.  In Ghost Story, bullets were fired into/through the windows and walls of someone's house that had a Ward.

The spell below if from the campaign I'm running set in New Haven, CT.

Eric Holt's Cabin Ward*
This is the Ward around caretaker Eric Holt's cabin at BSA Camp Mattabessitt in Bethany, CT.
Type:
Thaumaturgy, Wards
Complexity:
16
Duration:
One month (+4 Complexity)
Effect:
An 8-shift Block on entry into the cabin (+8 Complexity)
Notes:
Wardflames provide warning to those within the cabin if supernatural entities or beings approach within 100 yards of the cabin. (+2 Complexity)
Additionally, the key to the lock in the cabin door is a symbolic link, alerting Eric if something comes into contact with the Ward while he's away from his cabin. (+2 Complexity)

This was something put together by a Hedge Wizard who at the time had Conviction: Good (+3), Discipline: Good (+3) and Lore: Fair (+2).  The time estimate was that casting the spell itself took about 4 hours with a similar amount of time spent in preparation for casting.  Given the duration, the spell needs to be renewed monthly.

A few things to consider with Wards.  You want the basic Block to be fairly high.  If it's not then it would be relatively easy for a magical opponent to breach or collapse the Ward.  If a Ward only has a Great (+4) strength basic Block, then any Discipline roll of Great (+4) or higher will get through and either allow the Ward or the people inside to be targeted.  YS276 even mentions...

The base complexity of a ward is directly related to its desired strength, so you should aim for this to be pretty high: 8 shifts (Legendary) is a pretty good target to shoot for if you’re moderately good. This represents the ward’s capacity for reflecting attacks.

On average, two Evocation attacks from a caster with Conviction and Discipline of Great (+4) would collapse a Ward with a basic Block strength of only Great (+4).  The first attack, rolling a net of +0 added to Discipline would match the strength of the Block, leaving the 4 shifts of power from Conviction to reduce the strength of Block down to Mediocre (+0), which leaves the Ward so weak that the second attack can't miss even if the roll was a net -4, and there would still be 4 shifts of power to bring the Ward to -4 at which point it dissipates.

-Cheers

This is a list of some of the spells designed for the Butchered New Haven campaign.

Old Burial Ground Binding Circle*
This Binding Circle was cast by Eric Holt to contain a powerful spirit entity or perhaps ghost within the Old Burial Ground on BSA Camp Mattabessitt.
Type: Thaumaturgy, Binding
Complexity: 12
Duration: One month
Effect: An 8-shift Block containing the Bound entity within it's grave site

Lock*
The spell is intended to create a temporary barrier to passage through a doorway.
Type: Thaumaturgy, Wards
Complexity: 3
Duration: Sunrise
Effect: A Block of Good (+3) strength versus entry.
Variations: Spell Complexity can be increased to raise the strength of the Block and/or Duration. Additionally Symbolic Links can be created at +2 complexity each, to alert when the Block is attacked or breached.
Notes: Requires an actual doorway/threshold with door for the spell to be cast upon.

Eric Holt's Cabin Ward*
This is the Ward around caretaker Eric Holt's cabin at BSA Camp Mattabessitt in Bethany, CT.
Type: Thaumaturgy, Wards
Complexity: 16
Duration: One month
Effect: An 8-shift Block on entry into the cabin
Notes: Wardflames provide warning to those within the cabin if supernatural entities or beings approach within 100 yards of the cabin. Additionally, the key to the lock in the cabin door is a symbolic link, alerting Eric if something comes into contact with the Ward while he's away from his cabin.

Unlock*
This spell provides a ritual method to open mundane locks.
Type: Thaumaturgy, Transformation
Complexity: 3
Duration: none (immediate)
Effect: Spell immediately unlocks a Good (+3) quality lock. Examples of Good (+3) quality locks include Masterlock padlocks and most house deadbolt locks.
Variations: The Complexity can be increased so that the spell take effect on better locks, and/or in more difficult circumstances (i.e. multiple locks, a Threshold, etc.)
Notes: Locks on exterior doors of something with a Threshold (home, Church, etc) are protected by the Threshold as normal. Also any locks on a cemetery gate are also protected by a Threshold, if the caster is within the cemetery when casting the Unlock spell.

Old Burial Ground Aura of Misdirection*
The Aura of Misdirection is intended to steer the casual hiker and/or exploring Boy Scout away from the Old Burial Ground on Camp Mattabessitt and hopefully avoid having someone accidentally release the entity Bound within the circle.
Type: Thaumaturgy, Psychomancy
Complexity: 14
Duration: One month
Effect: A 5-shift Block opposed by Lore, Scholarship or Survival, depending on whether which skill is highest, to proceed to the Old Burial Ground. Those who fail to overcome the Block get re-directed around or away from the actual location of the Old Burial Ground.

-Cheers

After reading through everything and getting a better concept of the character, I'm leaning towards Sponsored Magic. Soulfire feels too... epic to just have. I feel like if the character is going to have it, he should get it somehow through the course of his story.

Need to talk with the GM and hash out exactly what the Sponsored magic will be able to do and whatnot. Maybe something like paying a fate point, or gaining a point of debt, to make an evocation have the Holy aspect, able to satisfy the catch for some toughness powers. Throw in a few Thaumaturgy at the speed of Evocation blessings using the maneuver rules in the Thaumaturgy section. Plus all the standard sponsored magic benefits and rules. Seems like there could be some fun times with that.

I'm really digging on this

(click to show/hide)

Ordo Malleus

thing. I need to bust out Side Jobs and read that story about Forthill. My GM and I touched on something like this when the character concept was brought up, but never went too deep into it. Looks like I'll be flushing this out a lot more. Gonna dig around and see what's out there about the order in the Dresdenverse, then fill in details as needed.

The character is a Priest first and a Wizard second. He wouldn't ever think of himself as a wizard. He views his talents as gifts from God, to be used in His service. He'd be much more antagonistic toward demonic or "evil" creatures, going after them before they have a chance to do more harm. One of his aspects is "Walk in the Light, or I will drag you into It"  He'd probably have no idea what or who the White Council is. Unless they've contacted him (not sure how good they are at picking up on magic talents, though I'm betting they've gotten pretty awesome at it), he'd have nothing to do with them. Should they contact him sometime later on during a sessions, well, that bridge will be crossed when it's come upon.

Just a suggestion, you might want to go back and edit in spoiler tags (the symbol which looks like a radiation warning sign) around some of the stuff I mentioned.  So far the only reference I've come across has been in the short story The Warrior.  As for how good the White Council is at picking up on magical talent...  I've gotten the impression from reading Changes that the White Council doesn't do a great job.  Apparently given the rapid population growth on the planet, more and more talented people are being born and coming into their powers.  It's not so much that the White Council isn't gaining new members, it's just that people with the power and potential to qualify as a member of the White Council can get missed unless they go Warlock, in which case the Wardens show up (eventually) to give a 'haircut'.

Hope this helps.

-Cheers

Depends on what the shield will do. For a flat Armor rating, the GM and player can discuss how powerful it will be, agree to a Resources difficulty, and the shield adds that defense rating as Armor. I would allow it to stack, but I wouldn't let it provide more than 1 point. I'm not a weaponsmith, nor an expert on how modern firearms interact with medieval defenses, but in my game, I'm not placing good odds on the shield being effective for long against anything but buckshot.

It depends on the type of shield.  There is a type of shield called an entry shield which is typically used by law enforcement and/or counter terrorism tactical teams during forced entries.  Typically the first one or two members of the entering tactical team have them, and the are used to provide protection for the rest of the entering team.  Some of the those I have come across are rated to NIJ Level IIIA ballistic protection which equivalent to a high velocity or large caliber handgun round like a .44 Magnum round.

However, most of these shields are heavy (16+ lbs.) and large, with some being 4 ft x 2 ft.  This is why one tactical team member has the shield, and their role is to keep the shield between their team members and any shooting hostiles.

-Cheers

On second read, the Coat of Toughness needs to have a Fate Point cost if it's going to actually be granting a Power rather than simply providing armour.  See the Temporary Power rules.
Also, RAW states that any Toughness power MUST have an attached Catch, even if it's just 'unkown, +0' and even if various entries in OW forget this or leave it out.  House rules may differ, but if it's intended for common board use, it should diverge as little as possible.

Okay, here is the revised Coat of Toughness spell.  Group input is indeed desired.

Eric Holt's Coat of Toughness*
This spell is intended to transform a coat of jacket into a protective garment which makes the wearer tougher than they would ordinarily be. At least for a little while...
Type: Thaumaturgy, Transformation
Complexity: 9
Duration: A scene (about 15 minutes)
Effect: Temporarily provides the wearer the benefits of the Supernatural power Inhuman Toughness (Armor: 1, 2 bonus boxes in the Physical Stress track)
Notes: This spell has a casting cost of One (1) Fate Point and the granted Inhuman Toughness power has a Catch: Water.  The casting cost could be increased to Two (2) Fate Points to have a Catch: Unknown.  The effects of this spell stack with Supernatural Recovery powers, but not with Supernatural Toughness powers. It also follows the normal Armor stacking rules. If the garment with the spell cast on it is within a Circle when the Circle is closed, the spell ends immediately. Similarly, if the garment crosses a Threshold without the bearer being invited in, the power of the spell is immediately reduced by the value of the Threshold. If the remaining power is insufficient to sustain the spell, it ends immediately. At the end of the spell (whether duration is reached or something ends the spell prematurely) the garment which was the target of the spell begins to break down and disintegrate.
Lastly, the duration clock starts immediately after the spell is finished, not when the garment is first donned for wear/use.

Also, if the other spells look good (even if possibly underpowered) from a RAW perspective, let me know and I will add them to the DFRPG Resources wiki and the Resources thread.  More to follow.

-Cheers

Honestly I would likely break Central Park up into a couple of different locations.

Central Park, being 843 acres is ~1.3 sq. miles or 5.8% of the land area of Manhattan.
More importantly, there are a number of interesting and potentially significant features within Central Park.

The Metropolitan Museum of Air opens onto Central Park, and behind it within the park proper, is Cleopatra's Needle, an obelisk from Pharaohic Eygptian.  There is also Belvedere Castle and in the north end of the park the Blockhouse.

In the northern end of the island in the Fort Tryon Park neighborhood, there is the Cloisters which is an art museum and was built from pieces of several different medieval European abbeys.

Plus there is the entire subway and tunnel system beneath Manhattan to consider itself as well.

Hope this helps.

-Cheers

15 shifts seems like a lot for an ordinary aspect. And shouldn't it affect the target, not just the caster?

I modeled the Entropy Blessing on the mild Entropy Curse, the major differences between the two is that the Entropy Blessing is supposed to give the caster 'Good' luck at the expense of another (the target) and the spell duration which is an entire day.  The idea being that Slim Jim casts the spell upon himself before heading up to the casinos for a day of gambling, but with the odds stacked in his favor and not the house's favour.

The mild Entropy Curse has a Complexity of 9, against a target (Harry I believe) with Good (+3) Discipline and the Aspect of Bad Luck was Sticky, but only lasted for a scene.  Given that this Entropy Blessing is intended to work against casino security and dealers, I figure they would have Great (+4) to resist the spell's effects and/or realize that something odd was going on, which would require a base Complexity of 10 for a Sticky Aspect.  The real kicker is that the spell duration is an entire day, which automatically adds 5 to the Complexity for the total of 15.

-Cheers