I believe Evocation is line of sight, and thus as many zones range as that allows for.
Do telescopes and lenses extend your line of sight? ;D
Sounds like a cheat. So I'd rule that you can't target a spell through lenses even if it is still line of sight. But then what about the poor Wizard who wears glasses?
I can see a Wizard with a telescope as a Focus item and a specialty in sniping Red Court...
Also, magical energy can only travel a certain distance before you need a more permanent construct to direct it accurately, and that’s the kind of thing you need thaumaturgy for.
The real bitch of this is that it directly leads to the idea of a security setup where a mage sits in a room somewhere in the building, with an optical (not digital) switch that links a pair of goggles or magnifying screen to fibre-optic cables running to fisheye lenses in the ceiling of every room in the building. So when a security guard watching his motion detectors or video banks notices movement, he tells the wizard what room it's in, and the wizard switches the goggles to that lense, and *poof* they're targetable. Cunning PCs will abuse this heartily.
Cunning PCs will abuse this heartily.
The real bitch of this is that it directly leads to the idea of a security setup where a mage sits in a room somewhere in the building, with an optical (not digital) switch that links a pair of goggles or magnifying screen to fibre-optic cables running to fisheye lenses in the ceiling of every room in the building. So when a security guard watching his motion detectors or video banks notices movement, he tells the wizard what room it's in, and the wizard switches the goggles to that lense, and *poof* they're targetable. Cunning PCs will abuse this heartily.
Would it be reasonable to add some small bonus to our magical brass knuckles rote in exchange for reducing it's range?
So maybe it wouldn't be too much to allow a physical skill, say fists or athletics, to complement the aiming roll for a rote like that?
That would definitely be a benefit to the character for whom I'm designing this power, since his athletics is higher than his discipline.
+1 shift for limiting the rote wouldn't be uncalled for, much like including a focus item gives. in this case your just including a +0 focus item of "fist"
This doesn't work in the Dresden Files for the good and simple reason that magic fucks technology the hell up. So, he'd need to do it with magic...which is easier said than done.
Personally, I wouldn't allow it if the image comes from anything more complex than a non-electric microscope, for that very reason.
What piece of the technology do you think it would be messing up? The only part that could fizzle or screw up would be the switches, which could be moved manually anyway, unless one of the cables actually broke.
What piece of the technology do you think it would be messing up? The only part that could fizzle or screw up would be the switches, which could be moved manually anyway, unless one of the cables actually broke.
Again, moving parts. :)
But lenses are centuries old, and in this example, if I'm understanding it right, the fiber optic cable is basically working like a lens. It basically glass bending the path of light, I believe, so it might be resistant to hexing the same way lenses are. Anyway, I think the idea is that there's no electronics involved, which is the most vulnerable sort of technology. Everything is either mechanical, or light being bent by interaction with physical materials.
But lenses are centuries old, and in this example, if I'm understanding it right, the fiber optic cable is basically working like a lens. It basically glass bending the path of light, I believe, so it might be resistant to hexing the same way lenses are. Anyway, I think the idea is that there's no electronics involved, which is the most vulnerable sort of technology. Everything is either mechanical, or light being bent by interaction with physical materials.
It's not about how it's being used, it's about it being new. Clearly, the magic making things not work doesn't give a damn about logic or guns would be immune. They aren't. It's a conceptual, not logical process. Is it new? Yes. Well then it fails.
It's not about how it's being used, it's about it being new. Clearly, the magic making things not work doesn't give a damn about logic or guns would be immune. They aren't. It's a conceptual, not logical process. Is it new? Yes. Well then it fails.
Hmmm. Old things are now made of new material. Earlier, you mentioned a evocation sniper with a telescope. If the lenses of the telescope are glass then it's okay? If they are made of Lexan then it's not?
If that's what's fun for your group, sure, that works.
Fiber optics have more to go wrong, if only by virtue of being a long and relatively fragile cable.
Inherent Limitations(YS:250) that requires a "more permanent construct" (thaumaturgy) for spells beyond a "certain distance."
The fibre-optic cables and fish-eye lenses. Instantly. Anything electronic goes boom/fizzle almost immediately, and more importantly it's how new and advanced the technology is that makes it screw up. The newer, the easier and quicker it gets screwed up. Or are you going to tell me fibre optics aren't advanced technology?
It's not about how it's being used, it's about it being new. Clearly, the magic making things not work doesn't give a damn about logic or guns would be immune. They aren't. It's a conceptual, not logical process. Is it new? Yes. Well then it fails.
I am, actually. The mistake you're making is the "electronic" bit - I specifically excluded electronic elements. Fibre optics are nothing more than pieces of transparent or translucent material that transmit light - like windows. The reason most people consider them high-tech is because the almost exclusive use in the current day and age is digital data transmission - which is done by firing lasers or LED flashes down fibre optic channels, and interpreting the digital data at the far end... But that's the actions of a computer. Fibre optics do nothing but carry light.
Similarly, a lense is nothing more than lump of glass or plastic that reflects light. Again, like a thick or curved window.
To screw up the fibre optics and fisheye lenses, you would have to change the behavior of light, and I have seen no precedent to believe that magic can do that (at least when it isn't intentional).
You say "through" a mirror. Do you mean you wouldn't let someone cast at someone behind the mirror, or someone who's reflected in it? I wouldn't let someone cast through fibre optics either (for different reasons), but I *would* let someone cast at a reflection.
...you just need to point/gesture behind you and you'll (probably) be able to hit them - they could always use a, ah, MIRROR SHOT aspect for a bonus to their defence...
No, I see what you mean. Most attack evocations do seem to "originate" with the caster - you see people throw fire or lightning or whatever all the time - but there are and will be instances of localised earthquakes, lightning from the sky, a wall of flame or powerful gusts of wind that don't start with the caster and end with the target. It's just down to how you visualise it.
and generally close by...