From how far away can you hit someone with an evocation?

[exploding_brain]

So maybe it wouldn't be too much to allow a physical skill, say fists or athletics, to complement the aiming roll for a rote like that?

That would definitely be a benefit to the character for whom I'm designing this power, since his athletics is higher than his discipline.

[exploding_brain]

The justification for the athletics being that he's got an advantage in moving around in that one zone to get close enough to deliver the attack.

[Biff Dyskolos]

So maybe it wouldn't be too much to allow a physical skill, say fists or athletics, to complement the aiming roll for a rote like that?

That would definitely be a benefit to the character for whom I'm designing this power, since his athletics is higher than his discipline.

A Rote is just a evocation and evocations are always targeted by Discipline. The force ring is an enchanted item which allows you to pick the targeting skill. I only mentioned the force ring as an example of how range does not factor into equation.

[Moriden]

+1 shift for limiting the rote wouldn't be uncalled for, much like including a focus item gives. in this case your just including a +0 focus item of "fist"

[KOFFEYKID]

+1 shift for limiting the rote wouldn't be uncalled for, much like including a focus item gives. in this case your just including a +0 focus item of "fist"

This is a good idea.

Also, I think you should name the magic fist rote "FALCON PUNCH!"

[exploding_brain]

Actually, it's name is going to be "Claws" in Greek.  The character is a great big comic book nerd, so a lot of his powers are inspired by the cool bits of the comics he reads. I thought the brass knuckles example would be more generically useful, but this guy is definitely imitating a certain Canadian Redneck we all know and love.

[neko128]

This doesn't work in the Dresden Files for the good and simple reason that magic fucks technology the hell up. So, he'd need to do it with magic...which is easier said than done.

Personally, I wouldn't allow it if the image comes from anything more complex than a non-electric microscope, for that very reason.

What piece of the technology do you think it would be messing up?  The only part that could fizzle or screw up would be the switches, which could be moved manually anyway, unless one of the cables actually broke.

[Moriden]

What piece of the technology do you think it would be messing up?  The only part that could fizzle or screw up would be the switches, which could be moved manually anyway, unless one of the cables actually broke.

you realize that at a high enough concentration of magic, Steem stops working?

[Rel Fexive]

Well, steam engines at any rate.  I doubt anyone can hex the basic laws of physics enough to stop water turning to a gas.  Spells, sure; hexing, no.

[neko128]

Steam engines are relatively complex combinations of gears, levels, and pistons.  There are axles, transmissions, welds, joins, seams, pipes, and all sorts of things that can stick, creak, shift, etcetera.  Plus, Steam applies a large amount of pressure, usually imperfectly spread out over the interior surface area of the engine.

Think of a steam engine as a controlled pipe bomb.  Stick up one release valve, and you're looking at a catastrophe, not a simple mechanical failure.  :-P

[exploding_brain]

Harry has been known to avoid the more complex mechanisms of magazine loaded handguns in favor of revolvers, for fear of hexing them.  So the line between technology that gets along well with Wizards and technology that doesn't is somewhere between a colt .45 and a glock, for that particular wizard anyway.  Might be that some wizard can accidentally hex the setup described above.

[neko128]

Again, moving parts. 

[KOFFEYKID]

The most you can do is bend the laws of physics, or cause malfunctions in machinery or electronics. In Changes

(click to show/hide)

Harry talks about how difficult it would be to make the chain link fence around a complex nonconductive.

[Deadmanwalking]

What piece of the technology do you think it would be messing up?  The only part that could fizzle or screw up would be the switches, which could be moved manually anyway, unless one of the cables actually broke.

The fibre-optic cables and fish-eye lenses. Instantly. Anything electronic goes boom/fizzle almost immediately, and more importantly it's how new and advanced the technology is that makes it screw up. The newer, the easier and quicker it gets screwed up. Or are you going to tell me fibre optics aren't advanced technology?

Post-World War 2 Tech doesn't work for Wizards. Fibre optics were come up with in 1965.

[exploding_brain]

Again, moving parts. 

Right, moving parts, just like the switches and cables that are connecting the lenses and the fiber optic cables.  More complex than a revolver, more complex than a glock?  Sounds like a judgment call for your campaign, but it's a discussion that might come up.