While I don't have much experience in  this, I imagine the simplest thing to do would be to give him Fate points equal to the refresh he is dropping.

I was going to create a character that revolved around a Stealth power. Basically it allows the user to become a pool of shadow, allowing him or her to pass through, over, under, or around any physical object without any difficulty. It gains all the perks of Cloak of Shadows as well. I looked through the Custom Powers List and didn't see anything like this, but if it's already been discussed I couldn't find it. My rough draft looks something like this:

Shadow Form -2
See in the Dark Perception rolls are not penalized by darkness.
Melt into the Shadows When in a reasonably sized shadow you gain a +2 to Hiding.
Shadow Form You become a shadow, granting you a +2 to Skulking when in a reasonably sized shadow. Any difficulties due to passing through physical barriers (door, window, fence) are reduced to 0. Others can opt to use Lore instead of Alertness or Investigation when attempting to locate you. You cannot manipulate physical objects in anyway while in Shadow Form
Quite as a Shadow You cannot be heard and cannot make any noise.

I was thinking about adding some kind of armor against physical attacks (guns, knives, and fists), but I am stuck between what makes sense and what is balanced. I also decided against altering your senses while in Shadow Form for better of for worse, just to keep it simple. Others can certainly modify this or add optional powerups but I'm trying to keep this a two refresh power so that Minor Talents can take this if they want.

The mechanics of actually changing into Shadow Form would be identical to changing into a Wereform.

Thank you.

Alright, lemme take a look.

You have:

4 elements (1/2 a refinement)
2 evocation specializations (1/2 a refinement)
1 thaumaturgy specialization (free)
3 slots worth of foci (1 focus slot left)
1 houseruled item (uncertain cost)

So you have one focus slot and one refinement left. Subtract the cost of the Warden Cloak and see what you have left.

Ah yes, I missed the free specialization from taking a new element, you are correct.

Evocation compared to channeling:

1) One free specialization - which essentially is half a refinement.
2) Channeling can never take specialization through refinement.
3) Evocation further reduces the cost of all types of sponsored magic by 1.
4) Chanelling is only meant for those with unrefined or limited magical gifts - minor talents. If you are something more, you should have Evocation.


#1 means that the actual cost increase is negligible between Evocation and Channeling. #2 and #3 are significant bonuses. #4 means that the mechanical comparison makes no sense. If you are a powerful spellcaster, you should have Evocation. Only minor talents have channelling, thus making the difference mostly a moot point.

Good points, I just wanted to add something to #2. Point for point specialization bonuses are worth a bit more than focus item slots because with focus items you need to specify not only the element and either power or control, but also whether it is for offensive or defensive magic. So to mimic the effect of a +1 fire power specialization, you would need to purchase two focus items, +1 fire offensive power and +1 fire defensive power. However this advantage slowly dwindles as you add more and more refinements because specializations need to follow a ladder while focus items do not.

1. Usually a stunt can move 1 trapping from 1 skill to another skill.

However the book states that an entirely new trapping can be added (YS 147), and I am wondering that if a new trapping is added how much can it impede on existing trappings? The example from the book suggests adding an Herbalist trapping to Survival, allowing the character to make declarations concerning plants and use them for minor first aid. The latter part slightly encroaches on Scholarship's Medical Attention trapping.

2. If you think a stunt should give a bonus in one situation while giving a penalty in another, You are probably looking for an aspect, not a stunt. You will get a lot of compels on a "blind" aspect, and you can spent them on the same aspect in different situations with the argument that your other senses are heightened.

How about this:
Blind master: You gain +3 instead of +2 for invoking aspects in physical combat that are related to your senses other than sight.

My apologies for giving a bad example as your solution is an easy fix but does not answer my question. If you do add a penalty to a stunt, can it give more than two shifts of effect? I know that the more specific the application the more shifts a stunt grants, but I'm talking about fairly broad circumstances where a stunt would normally give a +2. Again, I'm looking at the Listening stunt (YS 153) as reference.

But the stunt I recommend does not actually give permanent access to anything. It just lets you borrow from NPCs on a case-by-case basis.

PS: I actually agree with you about that. What I disagree with you about is whether a mortal stunt can boost things that have to do with supernatural powers. Stuff like +2 Craftsmanship while The Sight is open.

So you are not suggesting a stunt that lets the player (assuming they made whatever difficulty role the GM sets) have an enchanted item that recharges with each new session like a normal enchanted item, but instead allows the character to borrow the item for a set amount of time, most likely included in the difficulty role, and once that time has expired, or the enchanted item is used up, the player must then make a new role for a new item. And they can carry as many items at once as the stunt allows. Is that all correct?