Reflexive Shields

[bobjob]

So, I remember reading in the Dresden books where if Harry is attacked, he'll reflexively throw up a shield. Yeah, he will sometimes put one up before hand, but usually it's a thing he does to prevent an attack from landing instead of dodging. Unfortunately from what I remember of the RAW, the game mechanics don't really support it. Has anybody house ruled that into their games? If so, what problems (if any) have arisen from it?

To me, it seems like a way that a mage can use their magical abilities to get a dodge at the cost of evocation stress. It's still wearing them down but will generally let them use their apex skills + appropriate focus to deal with a situation while still tiring them out mentally.

[umdshaman]

I think a lot of it comes down to circumstance. The way the rules are built, I don't see any reason you shouldn't allow a player to throw up a shield where they would otherwise use a dodge - since this is essentially what a 1 exchange shield is.

[Tedronai]

I've seen several different ways to house-rule in this capability.
Some people seem to allow it with the caveat that such blocks only last for a single attack, regardless of result.
I've seen some people simply allow a stunt to add a defense trapping to Discipline or Conviction with appropriate strengths/limitations in line with that character's casting capabilities (a focused practitioner: kinetomancer being likely to have difficulty with pure energy attacks similar to Harry's shields pre-hand-burning, etc.)
I've seen some people allow 'take your turn early' stunts for reactive blocks with various caveats or none at all

I think a lot of it comes down to circumstance. The way the rules are built, I don't see any reason you shouldn't allow a player to throw up a shield where they would otherwise use a dodge - since this is essentially what a 1 exchange shield is.

A one-exchange shield in a conflict against 5 opponents could potentially be equivalent to 5 dodge attempts.

[bobjob]

While I've used a similar stunt for Conviction (I borrowed it from Sancta's Hellfire Aura on the DFRPG wiki) to represent an ever present shield, it just seems to me to be a disservice to the rules vs the universe. I know sometimes there is no reconciling that though.

If you buy a speed power, you get boosts for the Dodge trapping and can do it all day long. If you buy evocation, everything you do with it is at the cost of mental stress and possible consequences. While they may not necessarily balance out in terms of game power, I like to think there is a happy medium somewhere.

I think I might house rule that any reflexive shield lasts for that one attack (not the entire exchange) at the cost of one mental stress (same as using a rote shield if you have one). A pre-emptive shield would last for however many exchanges you dump power into it.

[Haru]

My favorite way to deal with this is to allow the reflexive use of enchanted items instead of a defense roll. Like Harry's duster, for example. The use of the enchanted item will only work for this one defense roll though, not for one exchange, even if the enchanted item is designed to create a block that lasts longer. The reason for this limitation is that putting up a proper block costs you an action. You have the risk of it going away unused, but at least you have some protection. If you use it reflectively, you get to use it only once, but it will go off exactly when you need it. Just using the normal rules reflectively would give you the best of both options, so it wouldn't really be a choice any more, and I like to force a choice when it comes to things like this.

If you want/need more protection, you could always design your defensive items as items of power with toughness attached to them. I think that's a more elegant way in the long run, anyway.

[Mr. Death]

Haru: I'm pretty certain the rules already say defensive enchanted items are a free action, including blocks, which are treated as normal (i.e., if it fails, you still get a defense roll).

Here we go:

Defensive items (ones that provide armor
or a block, for example) often consume a use at
the time of defense and don’t require a separate
action to activate.

[vultur]

Haru: I'm pretty certain the rules already say defensive enchanted items are a free action, including blocks, which are treated as normal (i.e., if it fails, you still get a defense roll).

Here we go:

Yep.

So I think the best way to do reflexive defensive evocations is to get that enchanted item, and say (flavor-wise) that it's a shield bracelet like Harry's. There's not really that much difference between how Harry describes using his force rings (an enchanted item) vs. his staff (a focus item) - he still uses his will to control the force, the difference is that the force rings draw on pre-stored energy.