Taken Out by The Sight

[Wordmaker]

So the wizard PC in my group used his Sight to determine the nature of a girl the Red Court seems eager to have in their possession. She's the scion of a dragon, and the intensity of what he saw left him Taken Out after one round of looking.

I'm wondering what happens, Sight-wise, next? Does the Sight close when the PC is taken out? Are there any consequences?

Strictly speaking, the rules say that the Sight only closes when a character passes the check to do so.

I'm thinking that the Sight should close, and that the wizard should receive a temporary Aspect based on what he saw.

[Esoteric]

So when you say "Taken out", do you mean that all of the player's mental stress boxes were used up and that he also used all of his mental stress consequence "options" as well?

[Falar]

Well, remember what happened in ... uh ... I think it was Grave Peril when Harry Dresden passed out after both casting spells and using the Sight - when he came to, he had to make a big effort to close off his Sight.

I can't recall at the moment what happened in Turn Coat when he Saw Shagnastie, but at this moment I'm leaning towards it staying open until you close it.

[Deadmanwalking]

I'd say that the GM himself took them out, and decides what happens. Though the Sight shutting down seems like a good start.

And in Turn Coat he shut down the Sight immediately...the memory was just perfect and perfectly clear, and traumatized him.

[ryanroyce]

seems to me that Seeing Shagnasty inflicted the Severe mental consequence "Vision of Horrifying Clarity" or similar, then his player Jim opted to be taken out and ran to the Bordens' place to begin recovering from it.

[Wordmaker]

The player had his Mild Consequence slot filled and chose not to use up any of the higher slots. He hadn't taken any Mental Stress, but rolled so poorly on the first roll to defend against the Sight that he would've needed a Severe Consequence to avoid being Taken Out.

[exploding_brain]

Since the defeat was the result of a Concession, rather than a Take Out, I'd say that the status of the wizard's third eye upon waking is one of those things that would be up for negotiation among the players and the GM.  Having an immediate follow-up scene in which the character has to try to close his sight sounds like it matches "The outcome creates significant difficulty for the character in the future."  But if the player takes a Moderate Consequence, the concession could be narrated as "The wizard spends the rest of the scene struggling to close his third eye.  He succeeds, but only after being afflicted by 'visions of terrible power'."

[Wordmaker]

But it's not a concession. The character has 4 Mental Stress, had their Mild Consequence slot filled, and took a 9-Stress hit. That's a Taken Out result unless he takes a Severe Consequence. Unless I've misread the rules, opting not to take a Consequence and Conceding are seperate things, and you can't Concede a Conflict if the Stress taken either exceeds your total Stress track, or would push a filled Stress box beyond your maximum Stress.

[exploding_brain]

You know, now I'm not sure either.  The first time I read the rules for concessions (ys206) I thought you couldn't use a concession to avoid taking consequences.  Then I read it again last night before composing my response, and I thought it was saying that, as long as the target could keep going by taking consequence, then you can offer a concession instead.  Avoiding the consequence by conceding the fight.  It was only if the target had no way of continuing the combat, even with consequences, that a concession was unavailable.  Just read it again, and I can't tell.  I suspect that you're correct, the attack would have taken out the character, so the character's choices are to take the severe consequence, or be taken out on the opponent's terms.

If I were running that game, I'd tell my player what conditions I'm going to place on the Taken Out, and then let him decide whether to take that Sever Consequence and keep going, or accept the Taken Out as I described it.  So whether or not the wizard's Third Eye is still open in the next scene would still be negotiable, just with the GM in a stronger negotiating position.  I think coming to a consensus at the table with the players about where the narrative is going next, what makes the most sense, what's going to be the most fun, is probably your best course of action, 9 times out of 10.  Anyway, that's what works with my group.

[JustinS]

So the wizard PC in my group used his Sight to determine the nature of a girl the Red Court seems eager to have in their possession. She's the scion of a dragon, and the intensity of what he saw left him Taken Out after one round of looking.

I'm wondering what happens, Sight-wise, next? Does the Sight close when the PC is taken out? Are there any consequences?

Strictly speaking, the rules say that the Sight only closes when a character passes the check to do so.

I'm thinking that the Sight should close, and that the wizard should receive a temporary Aspect based on what he saw.

Technically, taken out means you get to decide what happens. Possibly from the perspective of the energy/icon the PC saw looking at if you so choose.

His head could explode. His sight could burn out. You can swap one of his aspects out for "afraid of what I'll see" or "fascinated by dragons". (See page 224 for taken out by the sight "may mean total collapse, insanity, heart attack... take your pick as appropriate to the vision")

Being taken out means being at the mercy of what took you out.

That said, if he got hit by 9 stress from one turn of sight, even if he rolled really badly with a -4, which means you had him looking at something at his disciple+5.

If the character's disciple is mediocre or average, he should know that using the sight is like sticking a knife in his head (and don't do it if he is not willing to risk consequence or spend fate points like crazy). If he has the skills to be competent, what are you doing throwing a Epic (+7) or better vision at him?

That said, that would have been a good time to have spend a Fate point and tagged a relevant aspect like "Wizard" for a reroll...

[Wordmaker]

He's playing a wizard who, until recently, has focused more on Lore and other areas of academia, rather than honing his magical talents. I hit him with a Fantastic (+6) intensity, and his Discipline is Good (+3), but he got a Mediocre (+0) roll. I was wrong before, he only took a 6-Stress hit, but didn't want to take a moderate consequence.

In all fairness, he used his Sight due to a compel I threw, but he had the Fate Points to resist, and to get a reroll on the failed resistance. He just liked the idea of the image wiping him out.