Help me design some rotes!

[Rungok]

My focused practitioner had some post-first game adjustments to help him play better. Unfortunately I was just looking him over and I realized that the changes had made my rotes utterly useless!

I have a lore +4, meaning 4 rotes. I have a +1 defensive power item, a +2 offensive power item, Conviction 4 and discipline 5.

My character's magic is spirit (Force) and (darkness).

The only of the four rotes I think I can keep is a shift 5 block spell using his defensive focus, creating a whirlpool of kinetic energy that misdirects attacks around him safely.

That means I need to figure out three more in eight hours from this post. Could anyone give me a hand with some suggestions of things I should need?

I'll need an offensive rote, but I don't know what else I could do. The character prefers melee over ranged.

I'd appreciate some help in this.

[ARedthorn]

Typically, given 4 rotes, I use/recommend 1 defensive rote (veil, block or armor, depending on character preference)... 1 offensive maneuver (typically, I recommend something that can immobilize- you can tag it for extra damage, or to prevent an enemy fleeing... very handy to have)... and 2 attacks (one at your basic value w/ items to be your go-to attack, and one nuke- ie, supercharged to the maximum mental stress you can take w/o a consequence, in case you ever need a solid knock-out punch on hand).

My 5th suggestion is usually either another defensive rote (a veil if they don't already have one, a block/armor if they chose veil for the first one) or a zone attack. If you really don't like the idea of having a nuke, grab the zone attack instead. If you really don't like the idea of having a maneuver, pick a second defensive option.

Beyond that... flavor's about the character- not sure how good of advice I can give on that... except that your maneuver might have something to do with blinding them (by stopping all the light from reaching their eyes- encasing their head in a bubble of dark- or something similar. The aspect <Blind> can be very useful in a lot of different ways).

A veil, if you want one, would obviously be darkness based- blending with the shadows and what-not... if it's day-time, let the GM decide if it works or not- if it doesn't, you might be in for a FP.

A good nuke might be something bone-crushing... and a good zone-attack might be a sort of group uppercut (wave of kinetic energy up from the ground).

[gojj]

Well there are are four things that you can do with Rotes: attack, block, maneuver, and counterspell. Now I have never used a rote counterspell so I don't know how useful they are, but in my opinion they are not as useful as the other three. Now I would take an attack, two blocks, and a maneuver. Because you have spirit you can use on of your "blocks" as a veil, which are always useful and you already stated that you wished to keep a shield rote. Now the maneuver is entirely up to you, I would make it something that would be difficult to do with a melee weapon (since you mentioned that your character prefers melee), I would suggest an area maneuver, maybe you use your spirit power to make the air around character in the zone to almost vibrate, the raw kinetic energy pulsating to distract people, or using darkness to plunge the zone into a weird twilight. Area maneuvers are automatic with a rote (assuming your discipline is at least three which yours is) because you only need to make a three to cast it, also area maneuvers are harder to pull off with a melee weapon (maybe run around with your sword outstretched spinning in circles like a maniac?) in my opinion. Or you can sacrifice the maneuver for another block, this time make it a zone border, useful for dividing the opponents to take them down separately or buying some time to run away.

Basically design your rotes around your character. If you play him as a sneaky, attack from the shadows kind of guy then you'll probably want a veil, a shield, a zone border, and a maneuver. If you are more of the full on attack kind of guy, you may want two attacks (one can be a spray or a zone attack), a shield, and a maneuver.

[Edit: Just out of curiosity, how do you play your character? Is he the sneaky assassin, burly tank, heavy hitting warrior, resourceful diplomat, etc. Just curious]

[Richard_Chilton]

There's a thread in the resource collection that lists all sorts of spells people have made - and most of them would work great as rotes.

You can find it at:
http://www.jimbutcheronline.com/bb/index.php/topic,22421.0.html - it might spark your imagination.

Richard

[Rungok]

Can someone help me understand what and how Zone borders and area effects are and are done?

His offensive focus is a baseball bat, but it's also built like Harry's Blasting rod. It's good for clobbering a target, but also can be used to fling power around.

[Rungok]

[Edit: Just out of curiosity, how do you play your character? Is he the sneaky assassin, burly tank, heavy hitting warrior, resourceful diplomat, etc. Just curious]

Well, he's a young kid. Kinda rash and impetuous, but he has a good heart. He is dismayed by how good of a thug his natural power (Half shadow demon) and his kinetic magic makes him.

He prefers to avoid a fight if he can, and if he's going to fight it would be via ambush tactics. He has some serious staying power in a fight, but would rather avoid it. So his tactic involves bursting from the shadows, clocking a target with his bat, and disappearing into the dark again.

But he's not afraid of a stand up fight. He'll slug it out with the best of them, though he's not as tough as some of the baddies out there. He's a natural user of his magic, so without any formal training his power is unrefined, and usually comes in the form of unfocused blasts of force, when with the right training. he could be slinging superthin blades of force or paper thin walls that stop howitzers.

[gojj]

Zone borders essentially subtract from athletics when crossing them. If you rolled a Great Athletics you could normally go four zones. But hang on, there is a fence (lets say border 2) right in front of you, now you can only go two zones after climbing the fence.

An area maneuver affects everyone in the area, so it is unopposed (no one can roll against it), so you only need to roll a Good to do it. Say you have Earth and you want to make the ground shake to throw everyone off balance. Your discipline is a 4 and you want to throw three power into it, you roll a -1 so you are able to control it. Now the zone you cast your spell at has the aspect (with one free tag) Shaking Ground, which you, your allies, AND your enemies can tag, so it is not always a good thing. Remember that this is only when you are not casting a maneuver directly at someone. If you make the ground shake, that's the environment, if you want to make the ground shake only under the enemies, that would be opposed by they're athletics and it is no longer an environment maneuver. I hope this makes sense. Maneuver against the environment = unopposed, maneuver against a person = opposed.

An area blast works similarly, except everyone in the zone rolls against the blast to dodge it, friend and foe. It also soaks up 2 shifts of power to blast an area. Another example: Jim the earth mage sees a pack of wolves running right at him, but luckily they are still one zone away. He decided to try to take them all out at once because if they reach him, he'll be in trouble. He has a Conviction and Discipline at Superb, so he decides to put in power equal to conviction. Normally this would be a Weapon five blast, but because he's blasting an area it gets downgraded to weapon three. Jim rolls and just controls the spell (rolls straight up), then all the wolves roll a Fair dodge. They all get hit with six shifts of damage (the difference between the caster's Superb Discipline  and their Fair dodge plus the weapon three).

Hopefully this answers your question, if not then their are others that are more experienced that I and can either explain it better, or link you to a topic where this was discussed (I did a quick search but didn't find anything).

Well, he's a young kid. Kinda rash and impetuous, but he has a good heart. He is dismayed by how good of a thug his natural power (Half shadow demon) and his kinetic magic makes him.

He prefers to avoid a fight if he can, and if he's going to fight it would be via ambush tactics. He has some serious staying power in a fight, but would rather avoid it. So his tactic involves bursting from the shadows, clocking a target with his bat, and disappearing into the dark again.

But he's not afraid of a stand up fight. He'll slug it out with the best of them, though he's not as tough as some of the baddies out there. He's a natural user of his magic, so without any formal training his power is unrefined, and usually comes in the form of unfocused blasts of force, when with the right training. he could be slinging superthin blades of force or paper thin walls that stop howitzers.

Than I would suggest a veil, a shield, a block (zone border), and either an attack or maneuver depending on how good he is with his bat. You can also leave your rotes blank for one session and keep mental notes of how many times a particular rote would have been useful, or if you have a nice GM he/she will let you change your rotes one or two times so you can "test drive" them.

[Magickal_Grenadier]

Looking for some help with my Rotes as well. My Wizard has a Lore or Great (+3), meaning 3 rotes, an Evocation bonus of Power +1 to Fire and Earth (currently using Fire, Air, Spirit and Earth) with a Wand that grants a +1 Offensive Control to those four elements. I would like some idea for a couple offensive rotes. I'm making one a 5 Shift Spirit Shield Spell (Force).

[Haru]

I think with a lore 3 you can only put 3 focus item slots on a focus item, so you should take one element off it.
What are your conviction and discipline at? A rote spell treats the discipline roll as +-0, so to get of a 5 shift spirit shield, you'd need discipline 5. Additionally, rote spells still follow the casting stress rules, so every skill point below 5 on conviction would give you an additional shift of casting stress to the one you already take.

That said, the good old fashioned fireball is always a good thing, and you are using fire anyway.
An offensive earth block to limit movement is an easy way to control your opponents in a fight.
A temporary speed buff with an air evocation could be a good thing as well.

Would help to know your other stats, as well as a little bit about the character himself, how you see him go about a conflict for example.

[The Mighty Buzzard]

I think with a lore 3 you can only put 3 focus item slots on a focus item, so you should take one element off it.

That or swap Lore with one of his +4 skills either with GM approval or at a Minor Milestone, yep.  It's even specifically spelled out with Lore +3 as an example at the end of YW278.

[Magickal_Grenadier]

Ah I must have verlooked that part.

Stats:

Name: Vincent Lione VI

Aspects:
    High Concept: Newly Appointed Warden
    Trouble: Endebted to Winter
    Other Aspects: Old World Upbringing
                          Street Smart
                          Dresden Taught Me What I Know (cliche, I know, but I went with it since our game is in Indianapolis)
                          My Employee is Insane
                          Nobody I know is Normal

Skills:
    Superb (+5) Conviction
    Great (+4) Investigation, Dicipline
    Good (+3) Alertness, Lore
    Fair (+2) Endurence, Athletics, Stealth
    Average (+1) Contacts, Presence, Rapport, Schlorship

Stunts and Powers:
    -3 Evocation
    -3 Thaumaturgy
    -2 Refinement
    -1 The Sight
    +0 Soulgaze
    +0 Wizard's Constitution
    Specializations
       Evocation (Fire, Air, Spirit, Earth)
          Power (Fire +1, Earth +1)
       Thaumaturgy
          Control (Divination +1)
    Focus Items
       Wand
          Offensive Control (Fire +1, Air +1, Spirit +1)
    Other Items
       Warden Cloak (Intimidation +1, Presence +1)

Stress:
    Physical OOO
    Mental OOOO +1 extra mild consequence
    Social OOO

Total Refresh Adjustment: -9
Base Refresh Level : 10
Adjusted Refresh: 1
Fate Points from Last Session: 9 (Crap ton of Compels)

We just cleared our first story arc (Darkhallow) and our GM gavce us a Major Milestone. She allowed us to choose one of our skills at Great and move a Skill from Great to Surperb, as well as moving others to make sure thigs were still legal. Warden Cloak bonuses were given to me by the GM. Took Refinement to add Earth to my Evocation Familiarity.

[The Mighty Buzzard]

Good Lore, so three rotes.  An attack, a maneuver, and a block||armor.  With the aspect Dresden Taught Me What I Know, I'd say a flame blast and a spirit shield.  You could just as well do an attack with multiple bullet shaped force projectiles, an earth shield that pulls in nearby surrounding wood, metal, or stone for protection, and a fire maneuver that gives the baddie(s) a hot-foot by lighting their footware though.

Edit: Grammar

[Magickal_Grenadier]

You could just as well do an attack with multiple bullet shaped force projectiles, an earth shield that pulls in nearby surrounding wood, metal, or stone for protection, and a fire maneuver that gives the baddie(s) a hot-foot by lighting their footware though.

I like these ideas. How would you stat those up?

[ARedthorn]

...an attack with multiple bullet shaped force projectiles...

Your normal attack, either split up among multiple targets (simply roll to hit vs the hardest one to hit, and then split the damage and bonus accuracy damage up), or a zone attack (costs 2 shifts, with the rest going to damage).

...an earth shield that pulls in nearby surrounding wood, metal, or stone for protection...

You could work it as a block against attacks, or armor... it's just fluff that it works that way instead of as a dome of force.

...and a fire maneuver that gives the baddie(s) a hot-foot by lighting their footware though.

Maneuver at your power level that causes a <Hot-Foot> aspect, resisted by your choice of defensive skills (as appropriate)... the more they fail by, the longer it lasts... but only the first tag is free. Against a single target, your number of shifts determines how long it lasts and how easy it is to resist all in one. Against a zone- 2 shifts for zone, 3 for it to work, and however many you have left to make it last longer.

Most spells will start to look like eachother mechanically (if you take the fluff and aspect names completely out)... but in dresden, the fluff matters, so pick a visual you like, and attach it to an effect you're trying to cause, and you're done.

[Magickal_Grenadier]

Just to clarify, after reading the section on Rotes, I'm assuming that with the +1 offensive control bonus granted by my wand, I can easily cast a 5 shift spell with either Fire, Air or Spirit?