Magical shutdown?

[Tush Hog]

How to handle it? Like when Ebenezer shuts down Mavra.
 

[WillH]

A persistent block.

[Tush Hog]

Sorry

I was posting another question and I inadvertently modified this instead. Back to original now!

[Crion]

I'm curious about this as well, as I'm always curious about the limits of Thaumaturgy.

First options that came to mind:

--Sticky Aspect to block magic use (although I can't see that lasting long; see "Harry Binds the Loup-Garou" on YS298)
--Enough shifts for the equivalent of being "Taken Out" (but won't this cause them to be taken out?)
--Create a "Thaumaturgy Block" with enough shifts to make it nigh-impossible to cast (See Weapons Grade Entropy Curse on YS296: specifically the idea of "a challenge equal in shifts to the power of the spell")


Again, just kicking around an idea. I'm sure someone might have a better idea. . .

[Deadmanwalking]

No, it's clearly a Block. One powerful enough to keep their magic from working.

[DFJunkie]

Yeah, just allocate shifts to power and duration, brew 'em up, and you're ready to roll.  I'd think it would work just like a normal block: every shift of power increases it by one point, every shift of persistence adds another exchange, so it would cost you 10 shifts to set up a Fantastic (+6) block lasting four exchanges. 

Of course, to target a specific caster you'd need your symbolic link.  IIRC, Harry had something belonging to Kravos when he shut his magic down.  I think the reason Eb could do without when locking down Mavra is that undead magic is substantially different than mortal magic, and he was able to shut down Blampire spellcasting without affecting Harry, though that's just my theory.

[JosephKell]

Yeah, just allocate shifts to power and duration, brew 'em up, and you're ready to roll.  I'd think it would work just like a normal block: every shift of power increases it by one point, every shift of persistence adds another exchange, so it would cost you 10 shifts to set up a Fantastic (+6) block lasting four exchanges. 

Of course, to target a specific caster you'd need your symbolic link.  IIRC, Harry had something belonging to Kravos when he shut his magic down.  I think the reason Eb could do without when locking down Mavra is that undead magic is substantially different than mortal magic, and he was able to shut down Blampire spellcasting without affecting Harry, though that's just my theory.

That is if you do it as an evocation.

I assume McCoy was doing it as thaumaturgy, which makes it last a lot longer (I think the default duration for thaumaturgy is until next dawn).  But the reason he had to "continue to maintain it" was because he didn't have anything to tie it to her (still seems like a cop out).  The whole thing seemed sort of faked to be honest.  Just a way to get McCoy and Kincaid to freak out on each other.  And to reveal the Blackstaff.

DFJ's theory is better than any I came up with.

[JustinS]

Possibly a thaumaturgy effect to let him persevere and  affect magic that he can then counter with countermagic. Possibly with some extra maneuvers stacked up to tag.

[Krico]

Joseph, you've also got to consider that Mavra would have been resisting it. If it's just a straight block and go, she was probably powerful enough to undo it unless he was continually channeling power into it. I would think you could potentially attempt to counter-spell the effect.

[Belial666]

It's just a Ward against black magic. Since it's on the building and it affects everyone inside, no need for a symbolic link to a person. And since Mavra's whole magic is black while most of Dresden's magic is not, it works nicely.