I think the tone of your game and the genre make a huge difference (as with all thing Fate) -- it's the context of the game, the PCs, situations, and their aspects.

The PC Bruce Wayne can make a lot of out-of-left-field Declarations with his Resources that the PC Harry Dresden might not even consider.

I was writing a custom power involving technology for a character in the RAGNAROK:NYC game (see the link in my signature). This power didn't involve magic per se... or spell casting... this particular character was an Emissary of Power. She would have been the Emissary of the Singularity, and the Singularity projected subroutines of its consciousness back in time to the era that would have been the dawn of the singularity. It was curious about it's origins and wanted to understand humanity better, so it merged it's consciousness with a willing mortal in 2014. As a result, this mortal gain powers.

This is a rough draft and the very first thing I wrote once I learned the Fate/DFRPG system.

TECHNOPATH [-1]
Description: You have an uncanny aptitude with machines and electronics, one which spellcasters envy. Techpathic ability could have been latent in certain human beings since the dawn of time, but unnoticed because the ability is harder to use the more primitive the technology. In the 21st Century however, not only is technopathic ability extremely useful, but seems to be manifesting more frequently in the population.

Musts: You must have an aspect associated with your nature as a technopath. You must not be a spellcaster in any way, shape, or form. If you ever gain a spellcasting ability (YS179) this power and any associated powers are lost.

Note: This ability is distracting and requires concentration. Any use of this power reduces Alertness rolls to Medicore +0.

Skills Affected: Scholarship, Alertness, Craftsmanship

Effects:
Peer-to-Peer. You interface with technology as if you and it were one in the same. You can operate any technological device or machine simply by touching it. You can start and drive a car by merely sitting in it, pwn noobs in video games just by holding the controller, hack ATM machines with a simple caress. Technology obeys your commands with a Fair Scholarship roll as long as you remain in physical contact with it.

Tech Support. Technology likes you so much that it refuses to malfunction in your presence and is completely unaffected by the hexing of spellcasters within X zones of you. You may also diagnose a malfunction in any machine by simply touching it. You get +2 on rolls to repair or debug machines and software.

Wireless. There are invisible signals all around us: television signals, radio waves, cell phones, wi-fi transmission. Invisible to everyone but you. You can see the myriad streams of information racing through the airwaves and interact with them. You don't need a handheld device as your middleman. Whenever you tune-in to wireless signals, you can understand them as if you were using a cell phone, computer, etc. Isolating a specific signal requires a Good Scholarship roll. This enables you to eavesdrop on telephone conversations, listen to radio stations in your head, surf the web in your dreams or even watch TV with your eyes closed!



I had intended for there to be upgrades to the power at a cost of -1 Refresh each. There would be things like the ability to inhabit machines the same way BCV can take possession of people and stuff like that. There would have been the ability to construct or jury rig machines that could do just about anything ... ala ... "any sufficiently advanced technology, etc..."  Stuff like that.

This isn't really technomancy, but it's what I've got.

Thanks for your time!

I don't understand.

Even modestly enforced people are Lawbreakers? How so?

I think most people follow the example of the novels and anything Harry gets by with, the PCs can get by with.

To be honest I was thinking of a "focused practitioner" with just Evocation or just Thaumaturgy. But you're right, those aren't technically Focused Practitioners.

That being said, I think someone with Ritual (Crafting) and a bunch of Refinements might be able to out-do someone with Evocation and Thaumaturgy. They'll still lose out to someone with Thaumaturgy and a bunch of Crafting-focused Refinements, though. Crafting is really strong, and if you're really good at it Evocation starts looking like a bad investment.

If you have the Ritual power... the number of Refinements you can buy is limited... unless that is a holdover rule that is in my very old PDF version of the book. But that's why I say someone with Ritual or Channeling can't match a Wizard over the long haul. Full Thaumaturgy lets you buy an unlimited number of Refinements, though.

I think it would be awesome to be able to buy Ritual (Crafting) and have as many Refinements as you'd like. That surely would make a Refresh 10 Arcane Artificer better at Crafting than a Refresh 10 Wizard who specializes in Crafting, too.

EDIT: Re-reading your reply, I think we are saying the same thing and are on the same page. As always, thanks for your time!

I wouldn't worry about being too strong. I'd worry about being too weak. Your character sounds...not useless, but distinctly underpowered. And both "earth evoker" and "item making ritualist" are Focused Practitioner concepts with the potential to outcompete full Wizards.

I don't think any Focused Practitioner could potentially outcompete full Wizards. Ever.

Unless you lift the arbitrary restrictions on the Channeling and Ritual powers. I say arbitrary because those restrictions seems to have no other purpose than to specifically prevent Focused Practitioners from competing with Wizard's in the long haul. In another thread, at another time, you agreed with that assessment.

I wouldn't give a bonus to a +0 power.

The sponsored debt works because you can take a point of debt for each point you want to push into a spell.  It's +0 because you get an equal amount of compels.

If you want a bonus, I think it should cost refresh...which is why I wouldn't get rid of Lawbreaker completely.

Lawbreaker's different though because it comes with definite drawbacks, right?

Ah, yeah... right... Good point.

So, yeah, if you have Ritual (Ectomancy), then you can craft items specific to that sort magic... anything under the sun that deals with spirits and/or ghosts.

And if you have Ritual (Crafting), then your specialty is making items that can do any and every other kind of magic a person might need done.

Yeah, I might argue that the only thing better would be full-on Thaumaturgy if you can swing the Refresh cost for it because then you eliminate the need for prepared-in-advance items in a lot of circumstances.