Sanctaphrax asked me to make a thread for the discussion of Ancient BCV templates

So, what did you have in mind?

As far as the custom abilities go, let's go over them:

The shapeshifter vampire's Flowing Form is based on a stunt I've seen once, where someone proposed free-action shapeshifting. So I decided to make it a -2 Refresh ability, just to be on the safe side. Semi-Intellectus is based on the idea that with a couple of hours and Thaumaturgy, you can basically make any skill roll you like. Based on the Time Increments table, I judged it to be worth about 8 shifts to have such ability "in an instant", therefore the -4 Refresh cost.

The Spellcaster is... well, I don't think he deserves much discussion, as that's basically a Senior Council template tacked onto a BCV template. I thought about making it more generic ie. listing specializations as (Element Power +3 Control +3, Element 2 Power +2 Control +2....) rather than specifying in advance, but decided against it.

Mind-bender's Incite Emotion upgrade is perfectly canon(it's what Vitto Malvora used). Psychic Assault is based on a similar Incite Emotion upgrade, I doubled the cost to -2 just to be safe on the Refresh side. Quick Domination is hard to estimate. I judged that a elder BCV vampire who was trying would have most anyone helpless within minutes, so this is also sort of based on Time Increments. Quick Renfeield is also based on the ~10 shifts that are required to go from a day to an instant.

The Quintessential Vampire's Demon Self is very hard to estimate, since it's so omni-applicable. The restriction that it's only available to negative Refresh characters helps, but I still have no clue what's the proper pricing on that ability. Entropic Claws I'm not sure about, I just liked the idea of the claws of an ancient vampire being equal to battlefield weaponry. Curse Transmittance is Venomous + once again, roughly 10 shifts in Time Increments(as I estimated that normally, one would become a BCV in a day's time). Weather Control is, at its heart, just another way to make maneuvers, like Incite Emotion. I decided that affecting Conviction zones would be worth an additional -2 Refresh. Weather Control is also an ability that makes me wish we had "Area Increments", but lacking those I decided to provide a rough guideline. Greater Cloak of Shadows is there to support them being ridiculously hard to find, which seems appropriate given their 'Must hide' position in the Dresdenverse.

So, do you have any other questions Sanctaphrax?

So, I need for someone to answer two questions for me.

1. How do focus specializations work?

The way I understand this, let's say I take a +5 Spirit Offensive Control Item. This normally takes 5 Focus Item Slots and is as big as a basketball or a staff. Now, with a Focus Specialization of +1, the same item takes 4 Focus Item slots and is thus fist/rod sized, correct?

Similarly, let's say I have a Focus Specialization of +3. I have two items for +4 Spirit Offensive Control and +5 Spirit Defensive Control. Thus, the first item takes 1 Focus Item Slot while the second item takes 2 Focus Item Slots, is that correct?

But, let's just say I want the biggest stick of them all. I craft a +3 Offensive and Defensive, Power and Control to Spirit(let's say I'm a demigod of vast power and I have a shockingly overpowered Lore to pull this off). This normally takes 12 Focus Item Slots(one element times 12). Now, with a Focus Specialization of +2, does this item take 10 Focus Item Slots(reducing the total) or 4 Focus Item Slots(reducing by each category)? I'm almost confident of the former, but I'd rather confirm this.

And last but not least, applying the above reasoning to elements. Let's say +2 Offensive Power to Earth and Spirit. That's 4 Focus Item Slots. With a +1 Focus Specialization, do I get 3 Focus Item Slots or 2? Likewise, I'm leaning towards the former.

2. I've heard a few people say something about a "700-shift Wizard" and I must admit I'm morbidly curious as to how it works. Could someone explain that to me?