Yeah, it was a typo -- he actually had a base Power of 8, and a base Control of 7, so I mixed those two up. Thanks.
Still not enough for a mild consequence to do it (14 shifts - 8 power = 7 stress of overcharge - 2 mild = 5 = taken out).
As for me and mine... the thing I'm worried about is that the way I've been playing it... there's really no perk to having a higher power rating (higher conviction means more stress available, but higher power... useless).
ie- if I have a Power 8 Control 8 wizard built... and cast the same damage spell 2ce, with the same roll...
first time with 8 power against a target dummy with no defense or armor, roll +0 on control... I barely control the spell, so no extra shifts.
....I deal 8 damage from power, with no extra from shifts of success, AND I risked backlash or fallout if I rolled poorly.
second time with 1 power against a target dummy with no defense or armor, roll +0 on control... I gain 7 shifts of damage from the control roll (higher of defense or spell dc was 1, the spell power)...
....I deal 8 damage again- 1 from power, 7 from accuracy. All I risked from a poor roll here is less damage.
now- non-target dummy (target has 4 defense/no armor this time)... same spell 3 times.
first with 8 power and +0 control: barely control the spell, but hit just fine. 8 weapon + 0 shifts from control.
....deals 8 damage.
second time with 4 power and +0 control: control the spell well (8 vs 4), and hit well (8 vs 4), either way, that's 4 shifts. 4 Weapon + 4 accuracy.
....deals 8 damage.
third time with 1 power and +0 control: Control the spell VERY well (8 vs 1), and hit well (8 vs 4)... that's 4 shifts from accuracy.
....deals 5 damage.
In any of the above, rolling a -1 on control would've reduced damage by 1 (fallout in case 1, reduced bonus to accuracy in 2 & 3), and rolling a +1 would've increased damage by 1. The only factor that changes here is power.
Meaning that in order to get the maximum damage out of a spell, you only need to put as many shifts into power as your target's defense. This puts some more responsibility for the success of the spell on the player's guesswork rather than the character's build, but... it also means that a munchkin can afford to treat power as a dump stat after they get conviction to +5 (since defense won't often be higher than this, and in OW, the monsters are often statted up
much lower than this).
I'm not sure I like that. At least in the RAW, both power and control have value, even if that results in the potential for game-breaking displays of power.
You really have to pick which way you want to break the game, I guess.