An Option For Failed Counterspell Assessments

[dragoonbuster]

Sometimes you fail at the counterspell assessment, but you pretty much always know OOC how much Power is in the spell you're gonna counter. So then you're stuck with "well, he isn't sure, so he does something else." Which has never quite felt right to me. So, I came up with something on the fly during a scene tonight...use or don't as you like...

If your player wants to commit to the counterspell with a "guess" after the assessment failure, roll the dice. Add the result to the power of the spell in question, and that's how much Power they 'guess' and will put into the spell. So if the spell you're going to counter has 6 power remaining in it to negate it, and you roll -2 on the dice, you only guess 4 Power and your Counterspell fails--but you've committed; you HAVE to cast that spell at 4 power for your action. If you roll a +4, you'd put in a whopping 10 shifts of power...Whatever happens, you then cast the spell normally.

It's risky, but you do have a statistical advantage in getting a 0 or better means the spell vanishes...though you as a GM may have some excess Fallout to play with And compel opportunities, of course. Best roll you want is a 0, which you have ~1/4 chance of getting. Too little, and the counterspell fails (or possibly the spell gets supercharged). Too much and you might supercharge the spell or make it explode and send the excess energy outward.

You could invoke Aspects for boosts or rerolls on this "guess" roll as usual. The main disadvantage to this method is that after the assessment, there's another roll, for a total of 3 rolls to do one action. But, *shrug*, it's rare enough of a thing to not bother me there.

[Sanctaphrax]

It's not a bad idea, but I'm loath to make counterspells even more complicated.

[Taran]

I don't find counter spells too complicated.  They are the same as casting a spell after all. 

I like the idea.  I'd probably just wave all that if no one knew the power.  Like if a wizard puts up a block on attacks but you don't indicate how powerful it is.  Although, I know how that's frowned upon in this game.  Sometimes, I wish it wasn't.  It would make those kinds of lore assessments more useful.

[blackstaff67]

It hasn't happened in my campaign yet, mostly as no one (until now) wants to run a Warden...but I'm at a loss on how to use the counter-spell ability from a Warden's sword.  Does the Warden invoke the power and roll to hit, and if she does so, using what?  Weapons, Might, Discipline, what?

[Taran]

It's a counter spell wih a power equal to the spell stored in the sword.  It's like triggering a enchanted item.   I'm not sure there's a targeting roll. 

A normal counterspell has a control roll but no targeting roll or dodge.

If you are putting in a targeting roll, I'd use weapons

[Theogony_IX]

Let me understand this right.  You fail your assessment, but want to make a guess.  The spell is 6 shifts.  So you roll the dice to see how close to that target you get with your guess.  You roll a -2 on the dice.  So you decide to guess that the spell is 4 shifts.  You mark off the appropriate stress box and cast your counterspell  It fails.  Right?

Okay, so what about the +4 roll.  Now you have a guess of +10.  But you don't have the stress boxes available to cover that and don't want to take consequences.  Then what do you do?

[Taran]

Let me understand this right.  You fail your assessment, but want to make a guess.  The spell is 6 shifts.  So you roll the dice to see how close to that target you get with your guess.  You roll a -2 on the dice.  So you decide to guess that the spell is 4 shifts.  You mark off the appropriate stress box and cast your counterspell  It fails.  Right?

Okay, so what about the +4 roll.  Now you have a guess of +10.  But you don't have the stress boxes available to cover that and don't want to take consequences.  Then what do you do?

this is a good point.  When I play a wizard, I measure my risk and how much stress I want to take.  I think it might be fair to say "I don't want to take any more than X shifts before you roll the dice.

In which case, you could rule that the counterspell just fails.  Because, if they were to have succeeded the Lore roll and the power was 10, they might just decide it's too much power to invest and try a different action.

[dragoonbuster]

In which case, you could rule that the counterspell just fails.  Because, if they were to have succeeded the Lore roll and the power was 10, they might just decide it's too much power to invest and try a different action.

You could go that route. Part of the idea was the commitment; allowing FPs can let you reroll (at some risk still, and you don't always have FPs or want to spend them, granted).