Custom Powers Master List (Work In Progress)

[Mr. Death]

When I said "probably" I was basing it off what we've seen in the books. It's not concrete yet in here, so I don't want to say "That's definitely how it works" at this point because we're still working it out. Like I said, first (well, second now) draft.

But yes, what you wrote is pretty much what I had in mind.

-Rune Magic allows its user to sacrifice an enchanted item slot when completing a ritual in order to store the ritual for later release.

The one thing about this, though, is that there's considerable potential for abuse with this phrasing (like, say, making a 20+ shift ritual killshot, carrying it around, then instakilling just about anything with a flick of the wrist), which is why I thought to just work the portable runes like enchanted items.

[Sanctaphrax]

If stored rituals work the same way that enchanted items do, then they aren't worth mentioning. They should be something more interesting than that.

Maybe the cost in Enchanted Item slots could scale based on the ritual's complexity. So that 20 shift killshot would take like 8 slots. Maybe each Focus Slot could be able to store (Lore) complexity.

[Mr. Death]

That could work. Maybe that would be part of the ritual process, each turn being represented by filling a given slot in whole or in part?

How about this for an idea...each 'turn' in doing the ritual for a portable rune is equivalent to one Enchanted Item slot. You decide how much power you're trying to put into each slot, and incur stress/backlash that way.

So you could either make that 20-shift killshot into something easy and manageable (8 slots at 2-ish shifts a turn), or if you're in a hurry or out of slots, something more risky (4 slots, 5 shifts a turn), or if you're really desperate and willing to take the punishment you can pop it into 2 slots, 10 shifts?

[Sanctaphrax]

Very interesting indeed.

It seems balanced-ish at first glance, too. Might be horribly broken in practice though.

[Mr. Death]

I figure the main balancing factor will be that the average runecrafter will probably have most of his or her slots taken up by default with various utility runes, and thus would only have a couple, if any, free to make anything much larger in scale to carry around. That would be a reason crafting that bullet in Even Hand KOed Gard for a couple weeks, she had to cram a lot of power into only a couple slots, and had to take backlash and then let herself be Taken Out to get it done.

So, sure, you could carry around a huge kill-everything beam, but it'd mean either having that as practically your only spell, or taking consequences up the yin-yang to make it happen.

[Sanctaphrax]

Okay, let me try my hand at writing this up.

RUNE MAGIC [-4]
Description: A long time ago, Odin stabbed himself with a spear and hanged himself from The World Tree as a sacrifice to himself. By doing so, he acquired the power of Rune Magic. Now Odin gives some of that runic power to his Valkyries, making them able to serve him better.
Sponsor: Rune Magic comes from Odin, greatest of the Aesir and master of runes.
Agenda: The agenda of Odin is not entirely clear, but it definitely includes making preparations for Ragnarok. Users of Rune Magic might be called upon to find new Einherjar for Odin's armies or to gather weapons for the final battle.
Evocation: Rune Magic does not provide any form of Evocation.
Thaumaturgy: Rune Magic rituals are mainly useful for divination, warding, and crafting. Some other effects might also be possible, but no Rune Magic effect may extend beyond the immediate proximity of the runes used to cast it.
Evothaum: ?
Extra Benefits: A user of Rune Magic may create special Rune Items. Creating a Rune Item requires a ritual much like an ordinary thaumaturgical ritual, except that the caster spends an Enchanted Item slot for each exchange he spends casting the spell. If the ritual succeeds, the resulting Rune Item functions identically to a single-use potion containing the ritual's effect.
Note: The cost of Rune Magic is not reduced if the character taking it has Evocation.

I left evothaum blank because I'm still ever-so-slightly fuzzy on how you intended it to work.

I left out the other extra benefits because a) Sponsored Magic might not hex anyway and b) I don't really think the power needs a random +1 complexity.

[Mr. Death]

The Evothaum I intended to work basically like evocation, only the initial cost (calling up the power) is free as you're drawing it from the rune directly instead of from yourself, and you must already have Evocation as a power to use it. On the flip side, you don't need to be a runecrafter to use the power of a rune in this manner.

So, say you have a 6-shift Fireball rune, and Harry Dresden wants to turn it into a spell. He takes the rune, and draws the power from it--no effort on his part to generate the power, so he's got a 6-shift spell called up, no mental stress. But, he still has to roll to target and control it. So going from his base 3 Discipline, he has to either make the roll, take backlash, or let some go as fallout. Harry can shape the spell energy however he wants, but, it has to A. remain an attack, and B. remain a Fire-based spell.

[Tedronai]

A. remain an attack, and B. remain a Fire-based spell.

Given the latitude the mechanics are given to represent the narrative in DFrpg, I find the requirement for the spell to remain an attack overly restrictive.
More specifically, I fail to see the reason why a fireball attack could not be converted into a maneuver to set the building on fire, or a block to induce the targets to 'keep their heads down', etc.

[Mr. Death]

That's a good point. But there should be some way to make it so that the resultant spell keeps more or less in line with what the original rune was for. A veil rune shouldn't be able to fuel a force attack, for instance, even though they'd both be Spirit in element.

[Sanctaphrax]

I don't think that this sounds like a good idea. Too vague and too questionably balanced. And not usable by the primary users of Rune Magic, which is just weird.

Would it be a problem if we were to drop the evothaum completely?

[Tedronai]

The unavailability of the evothaum to the primary user of Rune Magic does make it...unpalatable to me.  If dropping it was accompanied by dropping the price of the power, I wouldn't see any problem with the change.

[Mr. Death]

I don't think that this sounds like a good idea. Too vague and too questionably balanced. And not usable by the primary users of Rune Magic, which is just weird.

Would it be a problem if we were to drop the evothaum completely?

The main problem with dropping it is it's something shown clearly as an ability of the magic in the story that centers around Gard and her abilities, with the veil rune Harry turns into a disguise. Maybe make it so that only the disposable runes allow for it? That way it's balanced by it being available maybe once or twice, and even if they use a high-powered rune, they have to make the control roll?

I'd really rather find a palatable way to include it than cutting it out completely, given that it's explicitly shown as an ability of the power in the text.

[Sanctaphrax]

I don't remember that scene...but I suppose that any writeup of Rune Magic ought to make it possible.

...remember how I said that this promised to be a headache?

How about we say something like this:

"A character with Evocation, Thaumaturgy, or Rune Magic can expend a use from an item created with Rune Magic to cast a single Evocation or Thaumaturgy spell with Evocation's speed and methods. Any spell cast this way must be similar in some way to the effect of the item used to cast it."

[Tedronai]

I think the thematic restriction needs to be more strongly worded.  'Similar in some way' could mean as little as 'both spells have the narrative potential to inflict harm', while one is thematically an entropy curse and the other is a variant on Harry's wall-of-magma.

That wording also substantially changes the benefit provided, unless it was just an oversight, changing it from a mental stress rebate to an expansion of available effects.

[Sanctaphrax]

You're right, the restriction is too loose.

And the change in functionality was intended. I felt like the bonus was big enough as it is.