Thaumaturgical Blocks ... err, help?

[Todjaeger]

I'd say no, movable Thumaturgy blocks are a bad idea. It's not just about this particular spell itself. Rather, it sets a bad precedent.

If he can use them for blocking sound, why not for blocking physical damage? It's not that difficult to get a huge amount of shifts on Thaumaturgy. This is fine for Wards - they're immobile. However, actual long-lasting physical wards could lead to incredibly overpowered results.

At my most generous, I'd say you might allow it, but use the Time Increments table and start from "instant"(so, if he wants an hour-long shield, that's 7 shifts right there) - the duration of an Evocation block. Even so, it's a bad idea. It allows for any competent spellcaster with a cult(or other manpower willing to contribute consequences to the spell) to have a nigh-impenetrable shield for a very long time(after all, Time Increments go into years and lifetimes).

So, really, this situation would be better handled by the Temporary Power rules. Let him use a Thaumaturgy spell to say he stored the energy of the spell. At the actual scene where he wants to use it, allow for him to pick up Refinement as a temporary power. That's 4 four Enchanted Item slots right there, this gives him plenty of uses of the "item".

So, anyhow, I'd play it like this: base complexity of the spell is equal to Lore(the enchanted item's Strength) +0-7(for a scene long duration, depends on what the "base" time is) +2(1 Refresh being roughly equal to 2 shifts). After the spell is cast, he can spend one Fate Point(Temporary Power rules) in order to gain access to an "Enchanted Item" worth 4 Enchanted Item Slots(ie. -1 Refresh worth of Refinement) for one scene. He can only do this once, afterwards the spell is "spent" and he'd need to cast it again to gain any benefits.

Anyhow, even this feels fairly generous but I guess it's in keeping with the theme that a prepared wizard can be an nightmare.

Something I think people keep overlooking.  A Block is a Block is a Block... ut, there are different kinds of Blocks.

A Block which stops sound, is not going to have any sort of impact on stopping bullets, a fire blast, a car, etc.  In the case of something like ear muffs or headphones which have been used in a Ritual to provide protection vs. an enchanted flute, the Block could be that the ear muffs put out a field which cancels out the magic from the flute within a zone, or something else similar to that, not unlike how playing the exact same sound a half-step out of phase will completely cancel out the initial sound. 

-Cheers

[z2xm]

For the record this board is awesome!  Everyone has great opinions, founded in logic and backed by examples from the book (even though sometimes they seem to contradict, everybody has their own interpretation)  Keep it up!

I am going with treating these as a potion slot, since it mentions that they can be used for potions or other temporary magical items.  From now on they will be one use items that also open up an aspect that can be used for a fate point for the duration of the scene, or for longer if more shifts are paid.  It will function as a bonus to the skill required to defend against the effect.

[sinker]

I am going with treating these as a potion slot, since it mentions that they can be used for potions or other temporary magical items.  From now on they will be one use items that also open up an aspect that can be used for a fate point for the duration of the scene, or for longer if more shifts are paid.  It will function as a bonus to the skill required to defend against the effect.

That sounds like a great way to do it, and I'm glad you found something that works for you. However I'll point out that bonuses to skill rolls are pretty disputed on this board. There is no rules for how to make that work and there is one example that makes us think it's possible but we really have no idea how. When you look at the rules there are two ways to get a skill bonus. 1) Aspects. Pretty self explanatory. 2)The "Solve impossible or improbable tasks" bit of Thaumaturgy allows us to replace a skill roll with the shifts of a spell. Throw in 6 shifts, then you've got a roll of six. Throw in 30 and it's safe to say that you succeed. The thing that throws a wrench in the whole thing is that Rashid's ointment is stated as a bonus to alertness skill rolls. Nowhere in the rules does it tell us how to do that....

Don't take any of this to mean don't do it, it's great that you've found a way that you like. I just thought  I'd tell you that if a player asks you where that is in the rules, you might hit a snag.

[false_tautology]

Lets not forget that in "It's My Birthday, Too" it mentions Harry taking 20 seconds (which would be several exchanges) to cast an Earth spell to

(click to show/hide)

absolutely crush one of the fresh BCVs the main baddy had left in the parking lot of the mall

.

Actually an exchange is "usually not longer than a few minutes." So that could easily be Evocation.

YS314

But, I still agree with your premise! You can even blast people without line of sight with Thaumaturgy. You just need some link to the target. Killing people with magic is really easy.

[Michael Sandy]

With several exchanges, you can pump up an evocation pretty high.

For starters, assume that with the extra time to gather the power you are gathering the maximum you can without inflicting consequences.  So conviction +4, typically.  Add in some navel gazing maneuvers for the control roll, and the target is unawares, so gets a mediocre defense, you are talking 18 shifts easily.  If it is a mook, it doesn't automatically get to take beyond moderate consequences to avoid being taken out.

Hmmm.  Maybe have a rule that mooks don't generally take more than one consequence at a time.  So instead of it soaking mild, moderate, and severe all at once, the most it could take in one shot would be a severe.

[Becq]

Hmmm.  Maybe have a rule that mooks don't generally take more than one consequence at a time.  So instead of it soaking mild, moderate, and severe all at once, the most it could take in one shot would be a severe.

If you go with the advice in the book (YS327), then 'minor mooks' (nameless NPCs) have no consequences at all.  Important mooks (supporting NPCs) have only up to moderate.  Only the main NPCs have the full range of consequences that PCs have...

[JustinS]

The coolness of potions is that they are what you need them when you need them, if you are willing to spend and safe fate points.

I too would model this with the special supernatural skill "Ignore sound" and buying duration up from one scene. If I had the spare power, I'd go with a boom box and not headphones and buy a zone of effect too.

I'd rule Ignore Damage is too broad a skill. Ignore fire/suppress fire, avoid bullets, or a hyper-senses defense (effectively magical athletics), but there is a whole, and to have something that has more power then evocation shields and enough duration to help is a lot of prep work.