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Messages - Troy

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91
DFRPG / Re: Invoking aspects to boost the Power of spells
« on: May 16, 2013, 10:09:55 PM »
I really like those ideas.

So, my Compel based on drawing power from the storm might be something like: "Since drew down power from the thunderstorm last week to cast your binding spell against a powerful demon, the rage of the storm has left it's mark on you. Normally, what Jake said wouldn't have phased you in the slightest, but today, you lose your temper and lash out at him for his foolish attitude toward something so serious."

Yeah, I really like that.

Or maybe the next time there is a thunderstorm, the connection you had established works in reverse and the storm somehow draws power from you. A Compel that takes efficacy away from a spell or two during the session.

92
DFRPG / Re: Invitation to pass a threshold - explicit or implicit?
« on: May 16, 2013, 09:32:43 PM »
On Sci-Fi Channel's Being Human they use the uninvitation to great affect. :)

93
DFRPG / Re: Invoking aspects to boost the Power of spells
« on: May 16, 2013, 09:27:23 PM »
Ah, excellent. Thank you very much.

So, would it be a storm or a leyline having you repay your debt? Or would it be the GM offering a Compel in the theme of the storm or the leyline or whatever? I'm trying to think of how it would work if, as we are talking about in this example, the "Sponsor" was non-sentient with no Agenda of its own. If the "sponsor" was due to the power of time and/or place...

94
DFRPG / Re: Law Talk
« on: May 16, 2013, 09:21:05 PM »
Because you have your character heroically fighting against the crazy guy with the ax (or something like that) and then the GM says "Ok, now you're an evil murderer and you have to change your personality to reflect that", when you (and your character) are absolutely certain that you aren't in the wrong. Or even the GM actually taking your character away from you for trying to be a hero.

Hmm... maybe I could make this work by imagining that the Lawbreaker bonus in this specific case reflects less homicidal mania and more the sort of psychic conditioning that soldiers get to train them to fight and kill when necessary.

How many people are going to die by your magic because you're "doing the right thing?"

That's the question the White Council's asking when they find you and put you on trial to behead you. That's the question they wrestled with over the centuries. Imagine back in the day before there was a White Council. They probably let people off the hook, trusting that they were sincere when they said "I had not choice" or "It was the right thing to do" or "I didn't mean to." Hundreds of years of this... maybe thousands of years... of mortal practitioners using their power over others, warping their own souls, until Pure Mortals discovered them and the torches and pitch forks came out.

They've seen it before. They've heard it before.
They aren't interested making the mistake of leniency.
I'm not sure how this addresses the issue of the Lawbreaker power... only to say it's a slippery slope...

My main point of contention is that you can find another way to solve the problem rather than breaking one of the Laws of Magic. In my estimate that means that when you break one of the Laws your only complaint should be about your lack of restraint, creativity, or resourcefulness. A great and powerful wizard named Albus Dumbledore once said (I'm paraphrasing): "There will come a time when you will have to make a choice between what is easy and what is right. Choose wisely."

That's what Lawbreaker is about.

95
DFRPG / Re: Invoking aspects to boost the Power of spells
« on: May 16, 2013, 09:03:16 PM »
Would someone explain sponsored debt?

Meanwhile, I'm going to research it in the book.

96
DFRPG / Re: Invitation to pass a threshold - explicit or implicit?
« on: May 16, 2013, 07:50:17 PM »
As I mentioned, this is actually something that happens in the novels for the express purpose of NOT 'deactivating' the threshold for that individual.

Maybe that's what happens to Harry in Summer Knight, then... because Murphy is a bit frazzled from her encounter with Kravos and stuff in the previous story. Maybe he asks to come in and she just meekly nods and that's why he feels his power leave him at the door...

Awesome. Thanks for pointing that out. I must not have read too deeply into your original reply. Sorry about that.

97
DFRPG / Re: Invoking aspects to boost the Power of spells
« on: May 16, 2013, 07:44:24 PM »
Along those lines...

In addition to storms and leylines* how does emotion or pain fit into boosting the power (or control) of a spell? There are many times in the novels (I just finished reading Summer Knight) where Harry says that he draws on his pain and anger to fuel his magic, especially when needs to blast something when he's feeling righteous. I started thinking... How do you do that?

Would you Invoke your own Consequences? So a Mild Consequences give +2 to Power, a Moderate one gives +4, a Severe gives +6?



*In one of the scenarios put out by Evil Hat, the baddie uses leylines in his spell casting... they absorb Consequences from the stress of casting... So, you cast a spell at take 4 Mental Stress, you take that as a Consequences and defer it to the leyline. Storms or celestial alignments might do something similar.

98
DFRPG / Re: Invitation to pass a threshold - explicit or implicit?
« on: May 16, 2013, 07:36:38 PM »
In Summer Knight, Harry doesn't enter Murphy's house until he is explicitly invited and even then he feels the tug as he enters, leaving some of his power at the door. It makes him uncomfortable.

In all the iterations of this concept it seems like the person has to express an actual invite, even if it's just causal conversation. It's like the vampire shows up at your door and you don't know he's a vampire. You chit-chat in the doorway for a bit before realizing your manners have slipped and blurt out, "Come on in. I'll make some coffee." Stuff like that.

I get suspicious of people who say things like: "Aren't you going to invite me in?" or "If we can go inside, I can tell/show you more..." Things like that. It's like what are you getting at? Why do you want to come inside?

In mundane areas... it's like police can't enter your home without warrant, but if you invite them in, it's the same as if they had warrant, you know?

Also, the permission to enter can be implied if the supernatural beastie says, "Can I come in?" And you simply nod or step aside to grant them entry. That's like an implied explicitness (an oxymoron, I know!), but you know what I mean? Had the supernatural not asked, then the context would be different and it would not be an invitation. Like, I stand aside and the beastie just stands there staring at me until I say, "Well? Aren't you going to come in?" And then, you see, it becomes and invite.

99
DFRPG / Re: Law Talk
« on: May 14, 2013, 12:28:07 PM »
This is part of the point I'm trying to get at. I keep seeing people say that breaking the First Law corrupts because it means you believe that you have the right to decide who lives and dies, but if on a fundamental level, what you believe is "Protect these innocents" or "punish this murderer", shouldn't that be what is enforced?

Surely, as a wizard, you can protect people without killing anyone. And isn't saying "punish this murderer" nearly the same as "this person needs to die" if punishment means killing him?

100
DFRPG / Re: "Official" Perspective on Lawbreaking
« on: May 14, 2013, 10:06:16 AM »
Maybe I'm an optimist at heart, but: You're a wizard. Surely you can think of some way to solve your problem without resorting to killing?


101
DFRPG / Re: Purview of Evocation
« on: May 13, 2013, 11:30:11 PM »
Yeah, I was thinking the same thing. I'm also in agreement with Wordmaker. When I'm reading over those dubious examples of spells in the book, I'm thinking: Well, wait a second. Entanglement looks like a grapple/block and Orbius looks like an attack.

I think its the case of the manifestation of a spell (Special FX) vs the mechanical function (game terms) of a spell.

It's one of the reasons I tend to prefer the updated Fate Core interpretation of game actions because it seems a little less confusing and it flows a bit smoother. Create Advantage covers Maneuvers and Blocks in that some Maneuvers are Blocks and must be Overcome. Is that a better way to interpret how things should work or is it better to stick with the Attack/Block/Maneuver/Defend (Counterspell) type thing that Dresden Files uses?

102
DFRPG / Re: Game-Breaking Powers To Worry About?
« on: May 13, 2013, 09:31:12 PM »
The spell should have to be negotiated over multiple turns... The casting places the Aspect SUFFOCATING on the target, which is then freely invoked the next turn to damage the target. And the person who is suffocating isn't really grappled, right? They're just worried about breathing so they don't get taken out? Let them take Actions normally, but they continue to suffocate unless they try to stop the cow patty or whatever...

When I read that spell, I thought it should probably be more like a Thaumaturgy spell not unlike Victor Sells Exploding Heart trick.

103
DFRPG / Re: Purview of Evocation
« on: May 13, 2013, 09:16:02 PM »
Well, I feel like I've seen this spell in use in a novel, or at least a version of it.

(click to show/hide)

I admit it gets a little confusing because there are some Aspects you can create using any method (not just spells), and those Aspects aren't just doing to go away. In reading how everything's supposed to work, I'm thinking that the writers intended using magic to Maneuver the same as using a Skill to place an Aspect on a scene or target with a Maneuver. You place an Aspect on a person, object or scene. If you get more shifts than necessary, the Aspect becomes "sticky" meaning it lasts the whole scene or until it's removed. It's just with magic, you have a variety of means at your disposal to justify placing those Aspects.

BOUND IN PLACE is an Aspect that could be placed using a spell or using some rope and a sturdy chair. These Aspects are "sticky" meaning they remain until they are removed by another character. Does that mean that the Aspect is true and in effect whether it is Invoked or not? So a person BOUND IN PLACE can't move. If I want to punch that person, I can punch them (maybe they defend with Endurance rather than Athletics or Fists, since they just have to grin and bear the punch). If I want to Invoke the sticky Aspect on them, I can punch them at +2. If the bound person wants to move, he has to overcome the Aspect (perhaps using Might or Athletics), and if I want to make it harder for them, I can Invoke the Aspect to give them -2.

I'm trying to figure out how the Maneuvers work out, but it's hard because I'm dealing with certain things that don't have real world analogs. If you set something on fire, well, of course it's ON FIRE! until the fire gets put out or the fire consumes all the fuel. If you use an Earth evocation to punch your way out of a jail cell, the Aspect MAN-SIZED HOLE IN THE WALL is going to stay there until someone fixes the wall, right? What's the difference between that and BOUND IN PLACE using a spell?

104
DFRPG / Re: Game-Breaking Powers To Worry About?
« on: May 12, 2013, 01:33:16 AM »
OW at least backs this up.

EDIT: Cesarina Malvora's entry:
"an alpha strike (rolling her Superb Intimidation) that could drive an opponent to his knees in quivery fear (Weapon:4
attack doing mental stress) up to a zone away."

EDIT: Oh, and as Magicpockets said, the Nixie too: "can use its Good Deceit (vs. Discipline) to lay a Weapon:2 mental stress psychic whammy"

So I think that is the intent, though the power description doesn't really make it clear.

Would you apply the +2 to blocks, or just maneuvers?

To blocks, too.
If you treat Incite Emotion similarly to Evocation as for What You Can Do With It, then it makes more sense. At least, it makes sense to me when I read it in that context. Incite Emotion describes it's effects and the Emotion-Touch effect can be a maneuver or a block and you get a +2 to that action. This is explicit in the description. Lasting Emotion is an attack, this is explicit in the description, meaning that the +2 for maneuvers and blocks would not apply.

105
DFRPG Resource Collection / Re: Item math it hurts my head
« on: May 11, 2013, 06:24:39 PM »
As Items of Power are different from Enchanted Items that wizards and other spellcasters make, why is there no Master List of Enchanted Items?

I feel like something like that would help alleviate this confusion about item math. You'd have the item, what it does, how it works and then explain the game-math used to make it.

I know it doesn't seem hard when you say Lore + Specializations + Foci ... but the book doesn't say that. It has four pages talking about how to do this.

EDIT: Outside of this Resource board, I found this thread -- Compilation of Focus/Enhanced Items. This is pretty much what I was talking about. So, please disregard the bulk of my post. :)

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