Hi,

one of my players chose to use Mental Toughness at -4. (Its defined in Paranet Papers). He plays a stuffy old mage, german nobility as a background.

He had to define a catch for that, and chose "Vanity".

That did not work well when I raised that in game as the GM. We discussed it and figured that "Vanity" is always true, and as such not a good way to be his catch.

Now we are looking for a way to make this a fair part of the game. Any ideas, or any experience with this power? It seem very, very powerful for a mage.

How about the Demon asking for knowledge. Easy stuff at first, common knowledge about some restrictions in say shields cast with fire magic. Those questions are pretty tame. But later, if the wizard depends on him to gain infos, he asks for for more personal stuff in return. Personal information not of the wizard himself, but of an important person, either to your campaign, or a member of the Senior Council.

That could be a birthday, the middle name, stuff like that. In the end it becomes obvious that this demon is trying to compile data on that important person.

So, I'm again at the point that I might have misunderstood a rule for a long long time. This time: Blocks in Fate 3

Situation: Alex the mage is being attacked and - as a defensive action - calls up her rotespell sprit shield. It has a power of 6 shifts as she is a very experienced wizard.

I was thinking that a block works like this: If the attacker rolls 5 or less, the shield blocks all damage. If the attacker rolls 6 or better, the shield fails to block all damage - its as if it wasn't there.

Alex player thinks that a block works different: Roll of 5 or less: All damage is blocked. 6 or higher: The shield reduces the damage by the block strength, 6 in this case.

Arguments (for my interpretation):
YS210: "If he meets or exeeds the block strength, the action resolves normally". The example later is weird as Harry seems to roll a shield without any shifts put into the effort.
YS293: Carlos Shield can be either a 6 shift block or a Armor:3 - that only makes sense if the shield doesn't work if overmatched - otherwise the block would always reduce the damage by six, the armor only by 3.

Same goes for
Y303: Harry's Duster has also both block and armor values. But the duster might be different from the shield as it can be useful to have armor there: You can also roll a normal defense and then apply the armor. (But that is also true for the shield if you prepared it in advance and give it duration) 

Also, if you use a ritual to summon somebody (like Harry does with the Erlkönig), the circle is a block (stated somewhere in the Paranet Papers). The summoned entity overcomes the block to break free (my interpretation).

Arguments for her interpretation:
YS210: The example implies that the damage passing the block by Harry is reduced by the blocks strength.

Summoning: The block might reduce the Erlkönigs power by its strength to allow Harry to mentally duel the Erlkönig.

So, how do you guys use blocks?

EDIT: Removed some spelling mistakes.

I have a player who wants to become an alchemist.

What do we know about her character?

She's running a rather successful blog on supernatural occurrences. She is a minor talent (psychometric and cassandras tears). She is of gypsy blood. Gypsies seem to have something to do with BCVs - either minons, or in case of her grandmother, mortal enemies. She inherited a piece of jewelery that protects her from their domination.

As a player she's the kind of person who will press on the red button that is labeled "no not touch" just to see what happens. She is NOT good at creating aspects (but her character would be - she has all the awareness and knowledge skills).

She told me as the GM that she would like to learn some alchemy in the near future. I know its part of thaumaturgy, but seems overkill for what she wants to do.

Any ideas on how to give her some kind of alchemy that is both rules light (she's very much a casual gamer) and does not require her to come up with aspects?

Actually, they are (without mental fortitude, but one of them is has taken it last session) easily putting out 15shifts of energy...

Exploiting the customs of the city sounds like a taggable Declaration to me. Invoke TICKET TO RIDE, get +2 to complexity/a casting roll. Thaumaturgy territory, for the most part, since most customs are too complicated for Evocation.

Those elements sound a bit narrow and esoteric for Evocation. I'm not sure how I'd zap a monster with a blast of Anonymity.

Electricity seems like a good element, though. I'd be inclined to include light and sound in its bailiwick, maybe even rename it to Energy. Asphalt/Building and Life are basically just Earth and Wood, so those work. But I'm not sure what you'd do with the other two. Maybe Spirit could stick around?

Accidental hexing being compel-based, it's not really a weakness for a player. It's like having no legs; sucks for the character, but the player's getting paid. Wouldn't break anything to just ditch it.

Still, thematically it's better to have a weakness. How about pollution? Cities put out a lot of smog and a lot of garbage. Maybe urban mages are just preternaturally filthy, like living smokestacks.

Anonymity is mostly veils, but also hacking, thinking about the rest. I want this guy to be a lot different from a normal wizard, not necessarily more powerful.

And the smokestack... AWESOME idea!

That makes it a lot cheaper to cast spells you can't really control. I don't like it...