The scariest two words, what every Warden most fears getting involved with:

[Rechan]

When Harry soulgazes Molly, he sees one potential for her as a warden. Molly has very little combat potential - that's made clear in all the books. Yet she has Finesse out the yingyang.

Being able to throw veils around, being able to make items/weapons, being able to prepare and use strategy. Enemy detection, obfuscation. Defense creation (I.e. wards). These are useful to the Wardens.

Wardens may be soldiers, but soldiers are more than just a hammer. You need recon and communications going with soldiers. Soldiers can occupy a location/civilian population. In peace time, or rather, when not firing weapons, the military has tasks to accomplish - peace keeping and public relations for instance.

Insuring Security can involve a lot of subtle things as well. You could have Wardens who function like the CIA: intel and counter-intel. Keeping tabs on the enemy from eavesdropping to breaking in and looking at their secrets. Sabotaging their operations. Removing the enemy's assets (either destroying their equipment, or removing pressure/neutralizing the people who help your enemy carry out missions). Feeding the enemy false information. As well as covering your own ass - plugging the leaks in your organization, monitoring your members to ensure loyalty, and protecting your assets.

For a spy, resorting to bullets often means you've messed up.

In these cases, you want those with fat Thaumaturgy, veils, wits, social skills, and just enough Evocation to get themselves out of danger.

[citadel97501]

I have a player in the game, I am running who even with his conviction of 3 still can out damage nearly anyone in the party due to his Lesser Glamours.  Like Molly, I would expect him to be more of a sniper when things need to die, and an investigator when normal play is going on. 

Control: 8, Power: 3
-11 Shift hit when he snipes someone, without building up aspects.

[Rechan]

Wait. How do glamours help with damage?

[Michael Sandy]

Dodge is mediocre versus attackers you can't see.

Especially if the glamours make it Appear that the attack is coming from a different direction.

There are some awesome examples in the webcomic erfworld of combat uses of illusions.

[BumblingBear]

Glamours is one of the most OP RAW powers there are.

Even if someone rolls high enough alertness to know where you are, they still cannot really see you.

[citadel97501]

Wait. How do glamours help with damage?

Basically it lets you have a surprise attack, unless they beat your deceit/discipline roll.  This sets their defense to a base of 0, which in turn changes all of your accuracy into shifts of damage. 

[BumblingBear]

Basically it lets you have a surprise attack, unless they beat your deceit/discipline roll.  This sets their defense to a base of 0, which in turn changes all of your accuracy into shifts of damage. 

They can still roll defense, just at a +0.

This can be good for them (natural plus 4!) or this can be bad for them (natural minus 4).

Getting hit with a sneak attack, with stacked aspects in an ambush after rolling a -4 to defense HURTS.

[Richard_Chilton]

Back to the original topic - I can see Wardens having to investigate situations like that.  While the current crop of newbies are basically soldiers with badges there would have been a group of them before the Red Court War who were investigation specialists.  If you view the Wardens as an army (I don't see them functioning that way except during war time) then they would have a criminal investigation division or something along those lines.

And I can see minor practitioners trying to use them for revenge.  Accusing rivals or former lovers of breaking the law to get the Wardens to handle their foe.  When a cult breaks up there could easily be bitter rivals who were once friends (or lovers) and everyone trying to get the warden on their side so the unbeliever will stomped.

Better yet - X has died... Okay, I can't work this will X so I'll call him Malcolm.  Malcolm, a local practitioner who never had the juice to get on the White Council, has died in a very bizarre way.  It's not quite the "turkey from 20 000 feet" but it's something along those lines - to those in the know it screams death curse.  It makes the news so a warden goes to investigate and discovers that Malcolm recently left his wife of 20some years for a young hottie who has a daddy complex.  His wife (a practitioner in her own right) now hates him as do his teenage children (who may or may not be able to work magic) - especially his daughter who was a high school freshman when daddy's new friend was a senior.  The hottie he moved in with is a practitioner who he was teaching and may have been using lust spells on him.  Suddenly Mister Judge, Jury, and Executioner (aka a Warden) is in town and everyone is pointing fingers about who the warlock is while doing everything that they can to prove their innocence - or protect their love ones.

That could make a good plot - and if the Warden is a combat specialist he'll need a lot of help to sort things out.  Maybe tapping a group like the PCs for aid.

Richard

[Sanctaphrax]

That sounds pretty awesome.

If I was the one running it, I'd probably make the players be among the finger-pointers and suspects. It'd make a good one-shot game, especially if the players are alright with sending Swordman McWarden after one another.

[Richard_Chilton]

It would make a good one shot.

Richard

[Michael Sandy]

What might make it even more crazy is if the party has a White Court Vampire of some sort as their "face", and you have a bunch of wizards relying on an emotion feeding vampire to sort out who hates who and why.

Add in more fun like some of the suspects are related or otherwise connected to various powerful White Council wizards and/or factions...

Or maybe there are some real sleazy gossipers who know a lot of the background, but they have agendas of their own, and won't help unless they get some assistance, or they get juicy gossip in turn.

For ex, they might say, "I will help, but only if you swear on your powers to tell me everything that YOU know about..."

If the party succeeds, then they should get the taggable social maneuver "handled a delicate matter with discretion and wisdom" or something like it for future social interactions.  If everything blows up in their face, they could have long term social consequences.

[Rechan]

If the party succeeds, then they should get the taggable social maneuver "handled a delicate matter with discretion and wisdom" or something like it for future social interactions.  If everything blows up in their face, they could have long term social consequences.

Ooh. I like the idea of a "free defined maneuver" as a reward for large successes.

[Michael Sandy]

By the book, you can't have more than 7 aspects, so the reward can't be an extra aspect.  So I think such a bonus maneuver would have to be something invoked by a social skill, just as navel gazing maneuvers are.

So to place the temporary aspect, "In deep concentration" on yourself, you need to get a 3 discipline roll, to apply the aspect "I have handled a delicate matter with discretion before" or similar aspect, you would need to roll 3 for Rapport, Presence or Contacts.

Or the aspect, "I handled a delicate matter with high explosives and big boom, but I got the job done" applied with intimidation.

[evileeyore]

By the book, you can't have more than 7 aspects, so the reward can't be an extra aspect.

Then what do you call Temporary Aspects?  All characters start with seven Aspects*, if they can never have any more, then there is no place for Temporary Aspects.





* Are you forgetting that the High Concept and Trouble are both Aspects?  Also every consequence taken is an Aspect...  etc...

[Rechan]

Here I was thinking of the "free maneuver" as able to apply the next time you encounter the people involved. You only get to use it on the person you dealt with last time.