You would need to do it with Sponsored Magic to enthrall them at the speed of Evocation. You are correct, Taking them Out or giving them a good consequence would be all you really need to do.
NOW our Warlock sets about a psychomancy ritual to turn these stunned bystanders into his ensorceled servants (say, changing their High Concept?).That might actually be overkill. I mean, sure, if he wants the entire bar to be his servants indefinitely he could go that route, but if all he wants is a group of rough thralls for the short term he'd just need to place an aspect on them. There's a lot of room for negotiation and interpretation in Thaumaturgy, but IMO changing a high concept would only be necessary if you want to change the very core of a person long term.
Do I need to Take them Out a second time, thus requiring some shenanigans on the level of a Weapons-Grade Entropy Curse or the Heart-Exploding Spell? Or is the complexity far, far lower since the victims aren't resisting?The latter. Taking them out with Evocation obviates the necessity for all of those shifts, he can move directly to the effects.
That might actually be overkill. I mean, sure, if he wants the entire bar to be his servants indefinitely he could go that route, but if all he wants is a group of rough thralls for the short term he'd just need to place an aspect on them. There's a lot of room for negotiation and interpretation in Thaumaturgy, but IMO changing a high concept would only be necessary if you want to change the very core of a person long term.
The latter. Taking them out with Evocation obviates the necessity for all of those shifts, he can move directly to the effects.
One last thought. I would not permit a ritual, no matter how complicated, to twist more than one person's high concept at a time. Each change would have to be personalized, as it is effecting the very core of what that person is from, for instance "Outlaw Biker" to "Loyal Muscle of [NPC]."
This seems to me to be what kemmlerian necromancy is made for first you area of effect psycomantically wipe all of the bars occupants of thier personality (area of effect attack with the taken out concequence of becoming brainless puppets) then you direct your puppet with a kill command (area of effect manouvre). Then you hope that the PC kill your puppets (perhaps you attache a bomb to one of them just to be sure) so you can bring them back as zombies to attack the PCs again.
I think it's because Corpse-Taker was a Kemmlerite, so you figure maybe her mind attacks are part of that forbidden lore.Second. The fact that Kemmler himself was killed a few times would suggest that he had mastered the body switching trick that Corpsetaker used, probably to a greater extent even. However, I don't think that Corpsetaker's mental attack on Harry was necessarily derived from Kemmlerian Necromancy. It was a direct mental attack, albeit a particularly powerful and adroit one. Yes, there's a bit about how Corpsetaker drew in power in a way Harry was unfamiliar with, but I'm pretty sure all of its magic was dark and spooky at that point.
Kemmlerian Necromancy specifically includes doing psychomancy at the speed of Evocation. So those mindswitch spells that were far too complex/powerful magic for Evocation and too fast for Thaumaturgy? Kemmlerian Necromancy.
The word "definitely" has no place in that sentence.Meh? Since when is that even a question? It might be unbalanced but it definitely seems doable. Of course it seems like a pretty obvious 3rd law violation, so if it's targeting a human here comes some Lawbreaker, and if a Warden sees you do it they'll probably execute you on suspicion.
The issue of whether or not evocation can be used to inflict mental stress is often argued around here. The primary concerns are balance and thematics.
I think you meant 'even', not 'at least', w&m.