Can you use magic to remove an aspect from a scene?

[citadel97501]

Hello all,

I was just wondering if someone could use magic to remove an aspect from a scene?  One of my players is going to be playing a Fire Fighting Fire Channeler, and I wanted to make sure using magic this way is legal?

Example:
One of the parties enemies has set a fire bomb on the roof of their building, there is a small family renting the upstairs apartment, so one of the players wants to use his Fire Channeling to put out the fire thus negating the aspect, of "The house is on Fire!". 

Can he do this?

And if so, does he need an extra 2 shifts for every zone the fire is effecting?

[Nomad]

IMO he can drain the fire but you should force him to "spend" it for something else, like throwing the fireball to the sky or eating it as backlash or empower his "force ring(s)"

[Papa Gruff]

It depends. In your example I'd say he should be able to. He could do it in a couple of different ways to. Generally if the player describes what he likes to happen appropriately you should allow it, as long as it is in line with reason.

He also has to spend 2 shifts for every zone he wants remove the fire aspect from. This can be a very daunting task if there is, for example a hole floor on fire. Don't forget that magical maneuvers are at least of Good +3 difficulty, depending on the strength of the fire it can quickly  get more difficult.

[CMEast]

Hmm... rather than put it out, could it be redirected? So you can gather the fire in one place so it is easy to put out, or so that you can attack a person with it?

[Deadmanwalking]

Yeah, all that should work. I mean, you can certainly remove a "Pitch Dark" scene Aspect with Fire or Spirit, this is just more of the same.

[wyvern]

You might also consider modifying an aspect - for example, replacing "on fire" with "burnt out ashes" - which could then be tagged for things ranging from smoke and debris to having the floor collapse from damage.  Similarly, unless you put a solid chunk of mojo into it, I wouldn't just remove a "pitch dark" aspect - I'd replace it with "flickering shadows" or something like that.

[DFJunkie]

(YS 252) "...this places a temporary aspect on a target or the scene, or removes a temporary aspect from a target of from the scene."

Same page says that "by default, pulling off most maneuvers requires 3 shifts of power" and goes on to discuss how it is frequently harder to affect characters.  Since those same 3 shifts would be enough to light someone up with a Weapon:3 attack, I'd say a caster is already pumping a substantial amount of mojo into it.  That's the same amount of energy as a Desert Eagle or other absurdly large hand gun, more than enough to light up a scene.

As for putting out a fire, I'd personally require the caster to use shifts equal to the fire's intensity.  If the fire is simply an aspect then it's a three shift maneuver.  If it's counting as a hazard and doing damage, then I'd make them pay 1 shift for each 1 point of damage the fire does, plus 2 per zone affected.