Something that came up in a game session

[ways and means]

I personally don't like the weapons rating basis as stress in DFRP is meant to be abstract merely a measure of success in a type of encounter rather than a HP track.

[Mr. Death]

So, if a fire wizard accepts a Compel on his Fiery Temper aspect, do you feel he could opt to simply stop using magic at all in that encounter, for fear of losing control, just as easily as he could play out giving in to a rage-filled fit of pyromania?

Yeah. The compel could easily be the Wizard realizing that if he starts hurling fire, he's not gonna be able to hold back. Or he could just not use attack spells. Those are definitely reasonable terms for the compel.

I personally don't like the weapons rating basis as stress in DFRP is meant to be abstract merely a measure of success in a type of encounter rather than a HP track.

Yeah, but it makes it a pretty clean-cut, mechanical divider of what kinds of spells the character can get away with.

[HumAnnoyd]

Yeah, but it makes it a pretty clean-cut, mechanical divider of what kinds of spells the character can get away with.

I can't say that I was at all thrilled when the GM first proposed this but it worked out pretty well in context of that game.  So despite my misgivings it actually worked and like I said it led to some pretty fun and creative game play.  It helped that the GM brought it up the week before he started his run on the game so we all had time to think about it and debate it a bit before hand.

All that said I have to say that compells do seem like a better solution in many ways.

[JediDresden]

Thanks again for all the input, I really appreciate the Forums when players come up against questions in play.  Thanks everyone!

[noclue]

Remember, there's fiction here too, not just mechanics. Fiction forward. If a player narrates unloading with a blast of fire, the GM should ask if they're trying to kill the dude. Cuz that's what fiery blasts of fire do. If they're trying not to kill anyone, they need to narrate accordingly and describe what they're doing so the human isn't torched. In the books, Harry is constantly hitting people with his force ring to knock them back without killing them when a blast from his rod would be more effective, if deadly.