Technomancer

[mstorer3772]

Meh.  Put the power plug (& cable jack) on the floor instead of the wall.  Put a Circle around the plug.  Put your TV in the circle, along with a little spirit to play remote control.

Heck, make it two circles, air-lock style.  Really weak ones designed to be raised and lowered FROM THE INSIDE by the spirit in question.  Then your TV need never be exposed to your wizardly "background radiation".

[devonapple]

Meh.  Put the power plug (& cable jack) on the floor instead of the wall.  Put a Circle around the plug.  Put your TV in the circle, along with a little spirit to play remote control.

I believe we are supposed to assume that the circle has a "floor" barrier as well, or else spirits could just go under the Circle and come up to get the occupants. A ceiling is a touchier subject: I don't think anyone really expects it to radiate out to infinity, or a passing bird or bit of space debris would wreck it.

In which case, the prongs of the power cable, as well as the ethernet/cable jack, are still breaking the floor of the circle.

[Roxy Rocket]

No, that's agreed. It's not very dresden-y... but I would be amused to see a young mage who just... couldn't give tech up and kept trying to find a way (and of course, failing)- That is dresden-ee.

This is exactly what Butters is about when he tries to science things together. Murphy does it too, (by holding her nose and saying 'I am the law.') Sanya clings to his cobbled together philosophy. They're kinda stuck on things.

It's important to remember circles and true love don't correspond with geometry and chemicals. While solving these sorts of problems can provide interesting material it may also be bad for the story, trivializing a problem or filling it with exceptions to the Maxims.

[Masurao]

The Butters-GPS example is a common component of these discussions, so it should be taken as understood that wireless signals aren't Circle-breaking. Nor should light be - electronic or otherwise. Power cables, however, are, and that's the most obvious barrier. Without reliable access to power, peripherals are limited: you can't really hook up a large-screen monitor or a printer.

Just let the power-cables enter the circle through the ceiling or floor et voilà! No physical crossing of the actual circle

[devonapple]

Just let the power-cables enter the circle through the ceiling or floor et voilà! No physical crossing of the actual circle

Again, I believe we are supposed to assume that the circle has a "floor" barrier as well, or else spirits could just go under the Circle and come up to get the occupants. A ceiling is a touchier subject: I don't think anyone really expects it to radiate out to infinity, or a passing bird or bit of space debris would wreck it. So there must be a ceiling as well.

[Masurao]

Again, I believe we are supposed to assume that the circle has a "floor" barrier as well, or else spirits could just go under the Circle and come up to get the occupants. A ceiling is a touchier subject: I don't think anyone really expects it to radiate out to infinity, or a passing bird or bit of space debris would wreck it. So there must be a ceiling as well.

Darn you and your stupid reality-check fantasy-realm-reality-check! I can never resist that maneuver...

[mstorer3772]

It's also possible to broadcast power without wires.  You can make an AM radio that runs entirely on the radio signal it receives.

It's much more efficient at shorter ranges.  You can have an induction system with a little gap where the Circle will be.

PS: If the circle interrupts radio signals and EM flux (yes, that is redundant), well, that has Useful Applications as well.  Physical Body detectors.  Raise a Circle which blocks an induction power supply.  When any physical object crosses the circle & breaks it, The Power Flows.  Whatever is inside the circle can now broadcast normally, which is detected elsewhere and Alarm Bells Ring (or claymores detonate, or whatever).

In "Even Hand", Marcone is able to activate a circle that Gerd set up by pressing a button attached "to the magical equivalent of a 9v battery" (IIRC).  This may have required a conscious act on Marcone's part, or it could be the simple mechanical act of pressing the button that activated the circle.

If it's the later, you can remotely enable and disable circles, with modern motors doing to work and and computers making the decisions.

And that could be HUGE.

From Even Hand again, imagine that Fomor sorcerer guy trying to cast spells across any distance when there is ALWAYS a circle between him and his targets.  They needn't all be the same size, so long as two active circles don't cross one another.  Every time he walks through one, two more spring up. 

Hail Hyrda!

Suddenly Gerd and Hendricks get to walk right up to him and start hacking away.  And that fight could be wrapped in a larger circle, preventing Fomor Boy from doing aught but bleeding as he's chopped into gumbo.

Where's your ego now, bitch?

[Irenbayne]

(click to show/hide)

In Skin Game Dresden sees Molly use a cell phone. This means that Molly, who has mortal magic and unless she's somehow gone instantly fae as a result of her Winter Lady-ness is still mortal and a wizard, can use tech. BTW, unless something funkier than usual, even for winter, is going on, she's still human. Lily said she hadn't chosen and was still human (or un-chosen changeling I guess) AFTER she got the Mantle of the Summer Lady with all the "no lying' baggage that goes with.

As the spoiler explains, the books have now made it fully clear that having access to non-mortal magic can allow a mortal wizard to use technology as delicate as a cellphone. This means there's no reason a mortal magic user couldn't get a gift/deal/blessing/birthright/whatever which would allow them to use tech.

[polkaneverdies]

iirc Woj said lily was mistaken about that.

[Belial666]

1) A magic circle needs an act of will to "activate", even if such an act is miniscule. You can't have one activating on its own.

2) Magic circles do not interrupt signals. Butters was able to use a GPS inside one with Harry standing outside.

3) Magic circles can be made in a way that they aren't interrupted by their material. A circle made of cables will not be interrupted by cables crossing it.

4) Magic circles aren't absolute. A sufficiently powerful magic can go through one, as can sympathetic links.

5) Magic circles don't protect from magic with physical effects. An Earth or Spirit spell that hurls a boulder at you will break the circle without stopping, then smash you flat. An ice spell hurling hypervelocity ice shards will rip you apart, magic circle or no magic circle (or even magical immunity, for that matter). An Air spell hurling air a you hard enough to pick you up and smash you against a wall will similarly ignore circles.

[Locnil]

Well, since this has come up, I should mention that Jim got and answered a question about circles in his latest AMA.

[CrimsonJoker]

If I recall hexing had yo do with age as well. Harry has to use a part world war II Beetle and McCoy's stuck with a 1930's truck, so maybe a teenager like Molly could manage to use older computers and phones.

In my group two PCs had a brief conversation with their cellphones, with the Wizard convincing me that some could manage to use them. I let it slide and handed him a penny so the phone would cut out at the first inconvenient moment. I'm future sessions I'm probably going to compel him hard and often if he relies to much on it, but it was never stated how advanced it was anyway.

That said, Technomancy would be a hard skill to pull off. You would need to either have weak and limited magic or be better at controlled magic than damaging/powerful magic (Molly, Elaine). Sponsored magic helps too.

[Troy]

I was writing a custom power involving technology for a character in the RAGNAROK:NYC game (see the link in my signature). This power didn't involve magic per se... or spell casting... this particular character was an Emissary of Power. She would have been the Emissary of the Singularity, and the Singularity projected subroutines of its consciousness back in time to the era that would have been the dawn of the singularity. It was curious about it's origins and wanted to understand humanity better, so it merged it's consciousness with a willing mortal in 2014. As a result, this mortal gain powers.

This is a rough draft and the very first thing I wrote once I learned the Fate/DFRPG system.

TECHNOPATH [-1]
Description: You have an uncanny aptitude with machines and electronics, one which spellcasters envy. Techpathic ability could have been latent in certain human beings since the dawn of time, but unnoticed because the ability is harder to use the more primitive the technology. In the 21st Century however, not only is technopathic ability extremely useful, but seems to be manifesting more frequently in the population.

Musts: You must have an aspect associated with your nature as a technopath. You must not be a spellcaster in any way, shape, or form. If you ever gain a spellcasting ability (YS179) this power and any associated powers are lost.

Note: This ability is distracting and requires concentration. Any use of this power reduces Alertness rolls to Medicore +0.

Skills Affected: Scholarship, Alertness, Craftsmanship

Effects:
Peer-to-Peer. You interface with technology as if you and it were one in the same. You can operate any technological device or machine simply by touching it. You can start and drive a car by merely sitting in it, pwn noobs in video games just by holding the controller, hack ATM machines with a simple caress. Technology obeys your commands with a Fair Scholarship roll as long as you remain in physical contact with it.

Tech Support. Technology likes you so much that it refuses to malfunction in your presence and is completely unaffected by the hexing of spellcasters within X zones of you. You may also diagnose a malfunction in any machine by simply touching it. You get +2 on rolls to repair or debug machines and software.

Wireless. There are invisible signals all around us: television signals, radio waves, cell phones, wi-fi transmission. Invisible to everyone but you. You can see the myriad streams of information racing through the airwaves and interact with them. You don't need a handheld device as your middleman. Whenever you tune-in to wireless signals, you can understand them as if you were using a cell phone, computer, etc. Isolating a specific signal requires a Good Scholarship roll. This enables you to eavesdrop on telephone conversations, listen to radio stations in your head, surf the web in your dreams or even watch TV with your eyes closed!



I had intended for there to be upgrades to the power at a cost of -1 Refresh each. There would be things like the ability to inhabit machines the same way BCV can take possession of people and stuff like that. There would have been the ability to construct or jury rig machines that could do just about anything ... ala ... "any sufficiently advanced technology, etc..."  Stuff like that.

This isn't really technomancy, but it's what I've got.

Thanks for your time!

[solbergb]

You all have the right idea but are doing it backward for the simplest solution of the wizard who wants to use the Internet.

The wizard with the wireless keyboard is INSIDE the circle
All the other tech is outside.

Solves most of the power issues.  The wireless keyboard is a bit more of a problem but that's cheaper than a computer system and you don't have as many ergonomic issues (you can position the monitor etc at the right height, wizard in chair in circle etc).

Of course the easier system is to put the wizard inside the circle and have a minion.  Teach a faerie that you summon how to work the computer, for example.  Or put yourself in a circle, then have your mortal buddy power up their smartphone.  The only reason Butters had to use the GPS in the circle was that all of Chicago was under a hex at the time.  Hell, given how Bob the Skull's been used in the past few books, Harry could have had Bob doing his internet searches for a decade, if he knew what the internet was.

A real technomancer is a bigger problem, but just because Harry's anti-hex ward was pathetic in the TV studio doesn't mean a competent wizard who lacks aspects such as "Not so Subtle but Still quick to anger" and instead has things like scholarship 5 and a "Bleeding Edge Technophile" aspects couldn't do better.  If hexing is tied at all to how familiar the tech is, you should be able to invoke appropriate aspects to prevent inadvertent hexing of your own tech, as long as you keep a fate point or two handy.   And your Block against Hexing via Thaumaturgy could be much, much higher than your actual ability to hex even deliberately.

If I did a technomancer, step 1 would be conviction = Average.  Base the character on thaumaturgy, maybe have some magic item slots used for combat boom (or power foci for evocation or hell, just take mental stress if you really need to bust out some boom).  Most of the time you're a low risk to hex anything anyway.  Add that to routine thaumaturgy to screen what you carry and what's near you and a good discipline score and you're good to go.

[Blk4ce]

Why no one thinks of the obvious solutions? Magic evolved again and changed its quirk. It doesn't hex anymore. You are the first wizard of this generation. Your magic has a different side effect ( maybe it gives you warts, changes the weather, produces static, anything).