Quote from: blackstaff67 on May 07, 2017, 07:42:42 PM

"Rather depends on how many players he has, but I feel that Intellectus of War is a no-go for me; given the high Refresh level of the OP's campaign, not only will that PC have five (!) skills at a +7 or +8, that PC will be able to automatically place Aspects on things without so much as  die-roll.  If the group has only two or three other players, it might work, but in a larger group, I have found the character tends to steal the spotlight from other players. 

IoW was made before many other powers and stunts came about--before the Wikia Resource page, if memory serves--and it was made as an alternative to Sponsored Magic.
OTOH, it's a splendid power for an NPC Plot Device to have. "

Your mileage may vary with multiple sponsored magics. Judge your table and what they enjoy. It boils down to what is fun for the table and the GM together.

 The game Blackstaff referenced is still going strong and has grown into a 9 person game that breaks up into smaller groups for small missions and then meets as a large group as all the missions tie together. In fact it is now a multi-state Dresden group. As Blackstaff mentioned he stays with low level. The large sized party wanted a high refresh game.  As one of the four GMs that traded off running that group it no longer fit Blackstaff's vision. The group wanted an epic adventure.  The group did not want a dynamic where the GM is antagonistic to the players.

Three of the GMs wanted to take the Dresden stories and grow past them. Sometimes the players make low refresh characters for one off stories where their main PCs are distant NPCs. The story has been going strong for over four years now. So one answer is know your group and what they like. GMs at times need to flex to what the group wants. The resource page has been a gold mine of creative ideas.

As a GM its not all that hard to balance out a party that is high refresh. As the group scales high the conflict scales high. From experience with this group what challenges them the most is the relationships between party members and how their strongly held aspects run into plot. Within their area of expertise they reign supreme. They win, lose, and draw like rock, paper, and scissor. Concessions happen frequently as a scene may call upon something the character wont do. For instance an 18 refresh wizard has a couple of sponsored magics. One of his sponsored magics came from the resource page about the horseman of war. His character died (later was brought back a bit broken) not by violence but by sacrifice for another character in jeopardy to bring peace while a horseman of war. The whole game was built on the premise of greek tragedies and the hero having a tragic flaw that brings them down.

"But that's me and my table and my sad experience.  Maybe if the group is only 2-3 players and everyone's running on demigod status (the 20+ Refresh level of the OP), then it might work. 

Full disclosure: I prefer to run lower Refresh games and my attempt at a higher one ended in disaster; I hereby confess to a 'once bitten, twice shy' approach to some powers and that one in particular."

What this poster does not mention that it did not end in disaster for the group. Game still meets on a bi-weekly basis. The resources page as well as this forum serve as a gold mine of great ideas for the group. The group has now grown to six GMs taking turns. Its about making great collectively created stories as a group.

Your thinly veiled antagonism is duly noted.  For the information of others, 'mako and I were once in the same campaign.  There once a difference of opinion regarding his PC; there were irreconcilable differences and while there was no screaming and yelling, the parting (I chose to leave) was not amicable.  The wall o'text is thus explained. 
I still stand by the word 'disaster.'
For the record, I do not nor ever pursue this hostility though I question where it comes from, given that I try to act with courtesy and politeness.


But thank you for bringing up a very painful memory from my past.

According to Lea, pulling his demon out would kill him. They're inextricably linked. I would say IF the cause is right for the Sword he could pick it up and use it, but going off what Lea says and what happens in Changes, I'd say I'm with Tedronai, no.

Of course, change what you want to suit your game, I guess.

Reading that story I had assumed it was due to the nature of the Warden Swords that can cut (and so presumably block) magic directly.  But in terms of the RAW, it should be allowed in general, as Taran said, but as GM Id want some IC explanation for it.  A vanilla mortal should not be able to deflect immaterial magic with a random trashcan lid; but by contrast any physical object should able to block physical evocation as the normal energy and material dictate (ie any metal object might block/ground a lightning attack; anything can block fire unless the fire overpowe4rs and burns/melts it).