1. How are the stress boxes gained from Toughness powers affected by the Catch? If a goblin has a physical stress track of OOO(OO) due to Inhuman Toughness and suffers 4 points of Physical Stress from an iron weapon do I mark off the 4th stress track box or is he Taken Out?He's Taken Out. The Catch makes it as if the toughness power does not exist.
2. Can a block be used as an attack? For example, if X says she will cover Evil Dude with her pistol and shoot him of he seems to be attacking would that be a block that inflicts Physical Stress?No, you can't do stress with a block. A better option for this might be to hold action, then interrupt if Evil Dude goes to attack.
3. If a ferromancer (Mage who works with metal) uses evocation to wrap a chainlink fence around an enemy (and uses extra shifts to purchase pronounced duration) is this counted as a general block that prevents most actions or a grapple that let's the Mage still take other actions? Or is it a maneuver that adds an Aspect?It could be any of them, depending on what the player's goal with the action is. Simply preventing him from taking action for a while? A block. Want to keep him from taking action while also doing some damage and/or maneuvering? Grapple. Want to give a temporary advantage (like, say, binding him long enough for someone else to deck him)? Maneuver.
4. Evocation focus items need to be declared as offensive or defensive. What if they are used for maneuvers or blocks? If a block is cover fire would that be considered offensive or defensive? Is a maneuver to put an Increased Personal Gravity Aspect on a target considered offensive or defensive?My general rule of thumb is if it's affecting an enemy directly, it's offensive. If it's affecting an ally directly, it's defensive.
Thank you very much for humoring a GM who is new to this system.Hey, we've all been there, don't sweat it.
I would rule that as a grapple, the Mage has to focus on the action and couldn't take others.I don't think you can grapple with magic.
My general rule of thumb is if it's affecting an enemy directly, it's offensive. If it's affecting an ally directly, it's defensive.What about neutral actions? Like raising a zone border or covering the entire area in fog.
I don't think you can grapple with magic.Orbius.
What about neutral actions? Like raising a zone border or covering the entire area in fog.I'd rule them defensive.
Orbius.
*raises a shield against Sanctaphrax's rage*
1. How are the stress boxes gained from Toughness powers affected by the Catch? If a goblin has a physical stress track of OOO(OO) due to Inhuman Toughness and suffers 4 points of Physical Stress from an iron weapon do I mark off the 4th stress track box or is he Taken Out?If a catch is satisfied, the character that's been hit is treated as not having any toughness or recovery powers at all. So if your goblin is hit with a cold iron weapon, his stress track is actually OOO. That's why the usual notation has the additional boxes in brackets. He would indeed be taken out (or had to take consequences).
2. Can a block be used as an attack? For example, if X says she will cover Evil Dude with her pistol and shoot him of he seems to be attacking would that be a block that inflicts Physical Stress?No. There are rules to allow to reuse magical blocks, but I wouldn't recommend it for regular blocks. The idea is that you do something that discourages someone else from doing something. Maybe you give off a shot when he moves, or the gun simply discourages him to do anything if he can't break the block. If he can break the block, maybe you were distracted for a second, or you don't hit him when he is doing something.
3. If a ferromancer (Mage who works with metal) uses evocation to wrap a chainlink fence around an enemy (and uses extra shifts to purchase pronounced duration) is this counted as a general block that prevents most actions or a grapple that let's the Mage still take other actions? Or is it a maneuver that adds an Aspect?Well, it really depends on what the player wants. If his main goal is to pretend the other guy from doing anything, it's a block against anything (and can be broken by anything). If he wants to prevent movement, it's a block against movement only. If he wants it to help him in his action, it's a maneuver.
4. Evocation focus items need to be declared as offensive or defensive. What if they are used for maneuvers or blocks? If a block is cover fire would that be considered offensive or defensive? Is a maneuver to put an Increased Personal Gravity Aspect on a target considered offensive or defensive?As a general rule of thumb:
Which brings me to my next question. I'm trying to decide what effect a threshold would have on each of my player's characters. The focused practitioner will obviously leave some of her power at the door but what about:
1. The zombie monk fused to a spirit of Justice?
2. The lawyer given a magic pistol that marks her as an agent of the Furies?
3. The reporter with the pendant from the cat sith that turns her into a house kitty?
4. And the descendant of the goddess Epona?
Any thoughts there?
Orbius.
*raises a shield against Sanctaphrax's rage*
This never seems to be specified in the books. What's the consensus - is an invite past a threshold permanent? Once invited, always invited? Or does it only last until the invitee leaves?I think it's for one stay only, though it's rather vague. The laws of hospitality work both ways though, so I would argue that once someone officially leaves in the spirit of hospitality, the invitation is void. By spirit of hospitality, I mean that the visit is over, they didn't just leave the house. So just stepping out once wouldn't end the invitation, but saying goodbye and leaving would.
In the books you occasionally see non-sponsored magic in the hands of laypeople who likely don't have spellcasting powers. Thomas uses multiple tracking spells, for example, in one short story. I also believe Harry teaches a couple of people how to make a magic warding circle. What's the consensus on how that is being done?I could see this as being a 1 trick pony sort of thing. You could reduce ritual to a 1 refresh power, only allowing you to do 1 specific spell. It would be a character with very weak magical talent. I don't really know about Thomas though, haven't read that for a while. Didn't he work with Bob there? That could definitely be sponsored magic to a degree. Or maybe Thomas simply has some weak magical talent, due to his mother.
The rules do not suggest it can be done, but has anyone experimented with allowing someone with evocation/channeling to use magic in defense rolls? Rereading the books, it doesn't seem like Harry is using his "action" to activate his shield bracelets. Or is that a function of the focus item itself?"I readied my shield bracelet" can easily be translated as "I create a block using magic" in game terms. Mechanically, the shield would come into existence right there, but in the story, it only appears one it is used to deflect an attack.
In the vein of house rules, what's the thought on allowing focused practitioners to buy refinement in order to add bonuses to their specialties?Well, specializations don't help them too much. Once they've got their +1/+2 filled, they can't get any higher, because the rules force them to keep at least a column build, much like skills.
I think it's for one stay only, though it's rather vague. The laws of hospitality work both ways though, so I would argue that once someone officially leaves in the spirit of hospitality, the invitation is void. By spirit of hospitality, I mean that the visit is over, they didn't just leave the house. So just stepping out once wouldn't end the invitation, but saying goodbye and leaving would.
I'm trying really hard to remember if in White Night he got invited in to the same Ordo Lebes member's residence multiple times. Like... if they specified him looking for an invitation more than once. I really wanna say the answer is yes.
I'm also thinking about the number of times that Harry has been inside the Raith Household. I'd have to go through and reread the books to be certain, but I feel very strongly that in Turn Coat he made certain to receive an invitation even though he'd been previously invited. Which would mean that we have a definitive answer on that one.
2. The lawyer given a magic pistol that marks her as an agent of the Furies?
In the books you occasionally see non-sponsored magic in the hands of laypeople who likely don't have spellcasting powers. Thomas uses multiple tracking spells, for example, in one short story. I also believe Harry teaches a couple of people how to make a magic warding circle. What's the consensus on how that is being done?
In the vein of house rules, what's the thought on allowing focused practitioners to buy refinement in order to add bonuses to their specialties?
1. When casting an offensive spell, how do shifts beyond the spell's original power level count? I.e. if I cast a 4 shift fireball spell and get a result of 7 on my roll+skill+foci bonus, does the fireball count as a Weapon:4 or a Weapon:7? Does the target roll to defend against a difficulty of 4 or a difficulty of 7? Do I add the difference between my roll and the target's roll to the stress caused by the attack?
2. As I understand it, you can't create a Focus Item with more + bonuses than your Lore rating. You also can't create an Enchanted Item with a greater effect than your Lore rating. Is this a blanket rule? Or can you use extra item slots to increase a bonus rating on Focus Items beyond Lore and an effect on Enchanted Items greater than Lore?
3. And one last question on thresholds. Would you consider the abandoned ghost house in the Night Fears case file from Evil Hat to have one? Or has it been abandoned so long that the threshold has died away?
Thanks again!
1. When casting an offensive spell, how do shifts beyond the spell's original power level count? I.e. if I cast a 4 shift fireball spell and get a result of 7 on my roll+skill+foci bonus, does the fireball count as a Weapon:4 or a Weapon:7? Does the target roll to defend against a difficulty of 4 or a difficulty of 7? Do I add the difference between my roll and the target's roll to the stress caused by the attack?When casting an attack spell, the roll actually does 2 things: It serves as an attack roll and it serves to determine how much power you can control.
2. As I understand it, you can't create a Focus Item with more + bonuses than your Lore rating. You also can't create an Enchanted Item with a greater effect than your Lore rating. Is this a blanket rule? Or can you use extra item slots to increase a bonus rating on Focus Items beyond Lore and an effect on Enchanted Items greater than Lore?The base effect of an enchanted item is equal to your lore. You can add enchanted item slots to increase that number by 1 per item slot, but you may not exceed double your lore. You may also add an enchanted item slot to an item to increase the number of uses by 2. You may not have more enchanted item slots on an item than your lore skill. All this can be found in Your Story page 280.
3. And one last question on thresholds. Would you consider the abandoned ghost house in the Night Fears case file from Evil Hat to have one? Or has it been abandoned so long that the threshold has died away?If nobody lives there, there's nobody to keep up the threshold. Or rather if nobody makes it a home, there is no threshold. People crashing in a ruin or occupying a place might not be enough to actually make it a home with a threshold.
Modular Abilities takes a full action, though.Along with the in-book Variable Abilities. I feel they need some kind of way to become supplemental aswell though (at least in combination with True Shapeshifting) after reading Turn Coat and Skin Game. Not sure how to balance it though, as it seems pretty darn powerful.
Maybe a quick expansion: Shapechanging itself doesn't cost anything, no time, no supplemental surcharge. What does cost you is the skill shuffle from the beast change power and "form follows function" from Modular Abilities.True, good thing to point out! Simply changing shape is actually really no cost, it's just when it's an advantage (skill shuffling or something else) that is actually costs anything.
And I think what you call Variable Abilities is the same thing as Modular Abilities. But in the book, it's called Modular Abilities.Haha, also true of course! I could have sworn that "Modular Abilities" was the wiki-power with a variable surcharge and you predefine what you can switch among, and "Variable Abilites" was the book version, but of course I had those two swapped :p