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Messages - DFJunkie

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346
DFRPG / Re: Laws of Magic
« on: June 11, 2010, 01:48:35 AM »
Yeah, that wasn't a discussion about breaking the Laws of Magic, that was a discussion about why the council doesn't take sides in political debates.  A silly, illogical discussion of course (why does stopping the Nazis require the destruction of Germany?  You tell me.)

347
DFRPG / Re: Parsing the Laws of Magic (specifically the fourth)
« on: June 11, 2010, 01:46:16 AM »
Oops, I did mean the third law, my bad.  The fourth one is enthralling, which, yes, is entirely bad.

The mechanical effects of her psychomancy would be the mental equivalent of the Reikki spell, no question.  Additionally, I'd say that sustained treatment would provide justification for changing a psychological aspect around a milestone.  The question was more along the lines of "does this PC get an additional Lawbreaker stunt every third appointment?" and the answer seems to be "no."

The unfortunate part of being that particular player is that she'll only rarely get to use her abilities in actual conflicts, though I look forward to her "kid at Christmas" expression when she runs into a Black Court vamp who thinks he's good at mind magic.

One nagging question I have though: if it's okay to enter another's mind with their consent, you'd think that Wizards would be better prepared to resist mental assaults.  After all, you can consent to the potential consequences (a peek inside) of a mental sparring match.  Or maybe the WC just doesn't encourage that sort of thing because they are professionally hidebound.

348
DFRPG / Parsing the Laws of Magic (specifically the fourth)
« on: June 10, 2010, 04:55:26 PM »
The fourth law states "[t]hou shalt not invade the mind of another," which seems pretty straight forward, but really isn't as far as my group and I are concerned.  Our hangup is on the word "invade," which seems to imply a lack of consent on the part of the subject.  We're attempting to resolve the question "is it permissible to enter the mind of another with their informed consent?  For instance, “why, I think someone has laid a compulsion on me, feel free to take a rummage in there and let me know what you find.” After all, a person on my property can either be an invader or a guest, their state depends on my consent.

Now, there are no explicit examples of something like this happening in the books, but there could be an implicit example.  In
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.

One of my players wants to play what amounts to a Neuromancer Psychiatrist.  Her concept is that the character bills herself as both a doctor and a Wiccan, who uses her magick (the character’s spelling) to help her patients truly understand their own cognitive processes by enabling them experience their own mind as a third party (the player’s heavy into cognitive behavior therapy), for which we’re working on a spell.  (Naturally she’ll be tempted to make a few changes herself, but that’s a compel for another time.) 

Personally, I don’t think she’s a lawbreaker, but I’d like some other thoughts on the matter.  Also, has this been addressed in the RPG?  I’ve looked, but it doesn’t discuss allowable mental magic (which is a point against my interpretation I suppose). 

349
DFRPG / Re: Seattle Dresden
« on: June 07, 2010, 03:40:26 PM »
I'm thinking of running a Seattle game myself (I'm an old Shadowrun dork from years back, so the city is close to my heart), this is great information, thanks!

I know I'm going to be incorporating a version of the underground, expanded by some variety of subterranean baddie (possibly Ghouls, unless I can think of something cooler) and may work up to a Jade Court incursion, but only once I come up with a workable idea for the Jade Court.

350
DFRPG / Re: Focus items and elements
« on: May 26, 2010, 09:07:32 PM »
I've been wondering about this: why would you ever purchase additional focus item slots with a refinement, unless you want the enchanted item slots or just want some nifty magical gadgets?  I mean, a refinement buys you either two specializations or two focus item slots.  Each specialization grants a +1 bonus to either control or power with a given element.  Each focus item slot grants a +1 bonus to either power or control with a given element.  Focus items can be taken away by circumstances, specializations cannot.

True, your specializations have to be set up in skill columns, but that's hardly a limitation, and are capped at your lore, but then so are the bonuses provided by a focus item.  Is the option to purchase focus item slots just there for when you've already met your lore maximum and want that extra bit of power before you can boost lore?

351
DFRPG / Re: Chucking Things About
« on: May 26, 2010, 03:34:26 PM »
Yeah, the car is just tagging an aspect, I agree.

The reason I don't like the grappling option is because 1) it's a multi-round affair, and 2) the range is really limited.

When Harry
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it happened instantly, at least in terms of exchanges, he obviously wasn't "setting up" a magical grapple on one round, maintaining it through his opponent's action, and then activating the push the next round.

In both examples above, the subject moved through at least one zone if not more.  The first moved through a wall, onto a street, through another wall, and into the building across the street.  Assuming the walls are only a one point barrier and the street is a single zone across, that's 4 zones.  the second example is a little less clear, but it seems to take his target at least a few exchanges to make it back, so I'd say it's clearly more than 1 zone.

Moving things is more about mass than might.  Sure, a black court vampire might have inhuman or even supernatural might, but they're dessicated corpses, in all likelyhood they'll fly farther than a human despite the fact that they could rip that human limb from limb with little effort.  

I will probably use Control (Spirit or Air) vs. Athletics to dodge.  The number of zones travelled will depend on the shifts spent on power: 1 zone for 1 shift, 2 zones for 3 shifts, 3 zones for 6 shifts, and 4 zones at 10(!) shifts(someone better at math than me can put the progression into mathematical terms).  Damage would be incedental, if the victim passes through a zone barrier it suffers stress equal to the value of the barrier, and I would never have someone suffer falling damage, even if I need to "cheat" to make sure they land somewhere soft.

352
I would think the Quickening could simply be represented by invoking your character's "Immortal Swordsman" high concept any time the accumulated knowledge and skills would be relevant, which would effectively mean "at will, unless it's absurd."

Obviously, you'd get a fate point for beheading another immortal since you've just lived up to your high concept aspect in the truest way possible.

353
DFRPG / Chucking Things About
« on: May 26, 2010, 02:55:19 AM »
I've been looking through the books, and I don't think there are any rules for simply throwing/blasting/blowing/otherwise moving enemies from one zone to another.  It seems like a relatively obvious use of magic, and one that Harry has employed several times,.  Are there rules for this sort of evocation that I'm missing?  I know SotC has rules governing throwing people around with Might, and you can move a grappled opponent up to one zone (more with Inhuman+ Strength) but I don't see any discussion for, say, blowing an opponent who outweighs the Blue Beetle through a wall, across a city street, and through another wall.

In a somewhat related question, would dropping a car on your opponent's head simply be a sufficiently powerful (probably Weapon:5 or more, like being hit by a car) application of a pure force attack like Forzare?  I'm leaning yes on this one.

354
DFRPG / Re: Any other settings you're planning to use this system for?
« on: April 26, 2010, 02:53:42 AM »
Right now I'm trying to adapt the game to an intruigy game based around conspiracies and psychic powers.  Evocations work pretty well without much in the way of adaptation.  Right now my only issues are figuring out an appropriate refresh cost for the various psychic disciplines, which I stole from GURPS.  I'm also dithering about whether to incorporate elements of thaumurturgy.

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