New GM advice on custom powers

[Xine]

I'm a brand new GM to any type of table top game.  I picked this up because my wife said she would play it because she's a huge Dresden fan.  I got a couple of other people involved and we just did our initial city/character creation.

During character creation my wife said that she wanted to throw lightning around.  I explained that she could use the focused practitioner, but she couldn't take refinements to be better at lightning.  So she would probably want to take evocation so she can refine it.  She asked why she couldn't refine just her lightning/air powers and why she had to take evocation and the extra elements.  She wants to roleplay someone who is just REALLY good at one element.

So, I wanted to ask you more experienced GMs if making a custom power or bending the rules on this kind of thing causes serious issues.  If my math is correct then about the highest obtainable point for a single element of focus is about 9. 5 from convocation being rank 5, and 4 from double refinements with 4 lore.  (Of course focus items could push that higher, but those are both obtainable for each).

So I thought of giving her a 1 refresh power she can take that gives 2 shifts on lightning spells.  With a cap of twice.  And a matching power that gives her 2 shifts on discipline rolls.  So she'll have to spend 4 refresh to hit 8 conviction/discipline on lightning rolls.  Which is about what the evocation would cost (3 refinements +1 for evocation).

Does that sound reasonable?  Or am I opening up a can of worms?  Is there a better way to handle this focused practitioner cap?

[UmbraLux]

Welcome! 

A one refresh power for a straight +2 is significantly more powerful than the book standard.  While you do get two specialization point for a single refresh, they are subject to the ladder requirements.  They also need to be split between power (increasing spell shifts) and control (adding to your Discipline roll).

It is worth noting you can gain item slots with Channeling and increase your casting through foci.

The only real balancing factor to Refinements is the requirement to follow a ladder / pyramid specialty build.  To keep that I'd suggest taking evocation with electricity themed elements.  Something like Magnetism; Voltage; and Current.  Or others more based on physics if you enjoy it.  For that matter you could simply use a single element and black hole the extra specialization points by charging "existing level +1" to increase.  Instead of spending as separately assigned +1, +2, and +3 you'd simply pay for each.

[wyvern]

On the one hand, there is certainly some can-of-worms potential, as pointed out by UmbraLux.

On the other hand, for what you're doing, that probably doesn't matter.  See, the only time you'll run into problems is if someone starts trying to hunt high numbers to the exclusion of all else - and that's really a meta-game problem.  I'd suggest allowing such a thing, with the caveat that you may want to change it later, after seeing how it works in play.  (And, given the high power of spellcasters in general, you may very well want to change it later, even if it's "balanced" against someone with evocation.)

That said, there are a number of ways to boost lightning magic without actually buying up specializations.

I'd start by looking at Kemmlerian Necromancy; a Lightning Mastery "sponsored magic" based on that would give her the go-ahead to do all sorts of fancy things with lightning evocations (turning on lights, ball lightning, etc), above and beyond the normal evocation attack / block / maneuver options.

I'd also look into Breath Weapon (though with the note that it's probably overpriced - at a minimum, I'd switch it to running off of discipline or conviction rather than weapons), to give the character some ability to throw lightning around without mental stress.

And, third, I'd look at Evocation again.  Ok, your powers are all lightning / electric based.  That could give you some access to Air, Earth, and Spirit - lightning itself, plus some ability to manipulate weather / wind, plus magnetic effects (telekinesis vs. metals), plus some mirages & illusions (deflecting light by heating the air, creating light), etc.  And if you run into a situation where your particular focus limits you more than evocation would?  Well, that's a perfect time to suggest a self-compel to the GM...

[Xine]

A one refresh power for a straight +2 is significantly more powerful than the book standard.

Any Mortal stunt that is a straight modifier is a +2 modifier on a single trapping.  That's what I was going on, but after your statement I rethought it and I agree.  Applying +2 to every spell she casts is much more powerful than a single trapping.  Maybe a 1 refresh for +1 power to all rote spells would work?  It has the +1 discipline baked in because it only applies to rote spells, but is limited to the 3-4 spells she has as rote spells.

I think she might also go for this:

"For that matter you could simply use a single element and black hole the extra specialization points by charging "existing level +1" to increase.  Instead of spending as separately assigned +1, +2, and +3 you'd simply pay for each."

She's pretty set on being a 'Lightning "focused' practitioner".  I even suggested she could go "air" or "earth" as per the books suggestions, but her response was, "Whatever, I'm only going to cast lightning spells, so it doesn't matter."  So while ball lightning sounds awesome, I don't think she'll go for having a sponsor.

BUT I will mention the "choose" to focus aspect for free compel points to her. That's another good idea she might go for. 

This:

See, the only time you'll run into problems is if someone starts trying to hunt high numbers to the exclusion of all else - and that's really a meta-game problem

is what I'm trying to avoid.  Other than that I'm trying to let her do what she wants, and let her put refresh in other areas.

[Mr. Death]

One way to do it would be to go with Evocation, but without the traditional elements--make each element some subset or variety of lightning that you can come up with.

[wyvern]

Any Mortal stunt that is a straight modifier is a +2 modifier on a single trapping.

Except for attacks - which is one of the things evocation can do.  (Plus not being quite a single trapping per se, as you mention.)

She's pretty set on being a 'Lightning "focused' practitioner".  I even suggested she could go "air" or "earth" as per the books suggestions, but her response was, "Whatever, I'm only going to cast lightning spells, so it doesn't matter."  So while ball lightning sounds awesome, I don't think she'll go for having a sponsor.

Well, the thing is, Kemmlerian Necromancy, despite being listed as a sponsored magic in terms of game mechanics, isn't really attached to a sponsor; it's more of a "I can do nifty things with death magic because I'm really good at it" power - which is why I suggested it as a basis.  It's not even clear if you can take sponsor debt with it - and totally up to the GM what form a compel on a point of sponsor debt would take...

This is what I'm trying to avoid.  Other than that I'm trying to let her do what she wants, and let her put refresh in other areas.

Fair enough.  In that case, I'd suggest sticking to "these are the rules", and simply state that you're not comfortable with homebrew powers to start with.  Suggest that maybe such things could be considered later - especially if her character manages to find an in-game source of knowledge or power.  Heck, a quest for power can be a potentially pretty strong motivator for a character; that could be a great aspect to drive plot.  "Oh, someone stole something from the exhibit on ancient greek artifacts?  Yeah, we'd better look into that.  Uh, and, yes, return it to the museum, of course.  Once we're done with whatever it is.  Sure."

[sinker]

Expounding on something wyvern said, you could encourage her to take evocation with air earth and spirit, and then take an aspect related to her almost exclusive use of lightning (much like Dresden has the aspect "Not so subtle, still quick to anger" representing his brute force method). That way, she's still following the rules, but when she limits herself to lightning it's a compel of the aspect, and she'll also be able to invoke the aspect for more powerful lightning spells.

[Becq]

Given that she only wants lightning attacks and nothing else that Evocation offers, perhaps Evocation isn't the best option.  Have you looked at customizing Breath Weapon, instead?  While not generally considered as good as Evocation (due in no small part to Evocation's flexibility, which your wife isn't interested in), it does have the benefit of requiring no stress to use (so she could throw bolts all day long).  Let her increase the power's weapon rating by another +2 for -1 refresh (modeled after Incite Emotion's Potent Emotion), and the result is a decent weapon.  Sanctaphrax probably has some variations on this idea in his custom power list.

[UmbraLux]

@ Xine - Another option if you want - create that stunt and limit it to attacks.  It won't apply to maneuvers, blocks, or counter-spelling.  That gets you your limited trappings for the stunt.  Additional stunts could be created for the other actions.

[Tedronai]

Maybe a 1 refresh for +1 power to all rote spells would work?  It has the +1 discipline baked in because it only applies to rote spells, but is limited to the 3-4 spells she has as rote spells.

A minor correction:
+1 bonus to the power of rote spells would not 'have the +1 discipline baked in'.
The discipline roll to control a rote spell is not automatically successful, but rather treated as if the dice had summed to 0.  A rote is quite capable of being created with power in excess of that, and would then require either backlash/fallout or aspect tags to make up the difference.

[Sanctaphrax]

Most of the solutions have already been mentioned, but here's my list anyway.

1. Take Channelling, buy Refinement for massive foci. (This works, but it leaves you very focus-dependent. And it's weaker than pure Evocation.)

2. Take Evocation, buy three lightning-based elements. (This is simple and effective.)

3. Take Breath Weapon, reflavour to taste. (This is simple, but it's not actually spellcasting and Breath Weapon sucks.)

4. Take a variety of Sponsored Magic that doesn't actually have a sponsor. (This works well, but it's got a fair bit of baggage and it requires you to do some writing. Note: this option includes thaumaturgy.)

5. Take a custom power that's like Channeling, but with pyramidless specializations instead of foci. (This is effective, but its balance is somewhat questionable.)

6. Take Natural Weaponry custom power. (Like Breath Weapon, but doesn't suck as much.)

PS: Welcome to the boards.

[Xine]

Wow, that was a lot more replies than I was expecting.  Thanks everyone for your feedback.  There are a lot of suggestions here that could work.  I'll be running a decent bit of these by her to see which one sticks the most. 

I'm definitely glad I posted as I probably would have let her get away with being too powerful based on the math I was using.

I also learned a few things about the rules, so thanks everyone.