Not to smash the whole gag a wizard thing but that doesn't work. In the books it is clearly explained that a wizard doesn't need to speak, wave hands, or anything to cast. These are just insulation against magic's effects on the caster. With words, gestures, and preperation the wizard only gets tired (ie. takes stress). In one of the books Harry is in a choke hold and blacking out, can't talk, move etc, and he casts a lightning bolt at the guy, it just affects him alot more making him see shades of the nevernever. Also, if I were a warlock and I was going to use a deathcurse I'm pretty sure it wouldn't matter to me if I had a headache at the end as I would be dead so gagging me would be silly.

Death curses require concentration and time to build. I've read all the books a few times and each time a deathcurse is used the caster has to draw in alot of power and it takes time. It was also clearly said that sometimes a death is so fast that a person can't cast the spell. Also you have to remember that even if a person could cast one, is the last thought through your mind going to be "hmm, I'll use that death curse now! BLAM!" or "Oh god oh god that guy just stabbed me/This can't be happening". Warlocks are mostly the untrained that stumble into their power and aren't taught how to use it. It probably never occurs to most warlocks that the possiblity to use that type of fuel even exists.

All this being said, NPC's do have death curses. It is up to your game master to regulate when one is appropriate, and what it does ultimately. A PC or NPC may even have access to one but may not be able to come up with the way to use it when the time comes. My game is bi-weekly and I can honestly say that it takes me the full two weeks to come up with one that will be truly terrifying to an enemy and that is tailored to that specific enemy! If you had as little time as 15-30 secs could you come up with a deathcurse or would you just try to blast the guy? Also, timing would have to come into it. What happens if your not as hurt as you think you are. PC's and NPC's dont' know jack about stress and consequences. The player might but your supposed to be pretending to be that guy, he doesn't have a sheet to say "Hrmm, I'm almost full on stress and consequences, this next hit will kill me, I'm gonna deathcurse!" If I were a wizard I would be very afraid to use that lest I not be as bad off as I thought. "Well, Bob had a papercut with lemon juice on it and would have made it but he fired off that deathcurse and died..." food for thought.

As far as executions go, the hood stops the curse. Deathcurses are most definitely evocation. That being said, you have to see the target to hit them with it. The stuff that you can do without L.O.S. is thaumaturgy and is far to time consuming for a deathcurse. First book Harry says that you have to be able to see someone to use the boom boom magic. Far as I'm concerned case closed. The only time a deathcurse should come in is during a fight.

I know I've gone on a bit here but in my game I am the warden. I've thought about this and other stuff like this alot.  

just moving the thread back to the main thread page for more insight from others. will post my answers soon...

lol! OMG I thought of that after I had posted it but was hoping noone would notice. I guess we can amend it to say " hurricane in Florida and tornado in Kansas"  Sorry, guess I'm no weatherman!... and before you find my other mistakes I corrected them lol! (except you guys copy and pasted them and I can't get to those *doh*)

Going off what a couple of you posted do you guys think that an old D & D spell "haste" would belong in the wind category? Speed someone up so that they could preform more actions in a given turn etc? Also, would just a straight speed upgrade go into this seciton as well?

Also I get that holds and blocks are kind of hard without just saying "I shoo it away with wind!" or "I pin him down with wind!" but that is the purpose of the threads. What about that poor wizard that only has air evocation? We're helping everyone out so just keep pluggin away with the ideas, so far they are great!

As a continuation of the previous threads I'm starting the third in a series of 6 brainstorming sessions! As on the previous threads please do not debate the legality of a spell, I'm only looking for thematic uses that I haven't come up with myself.  Please attempt to not repeat the same thing over and over again, yes a hurricane is great and powerful but I don't want the same thing for every entry.

Air magic is one of the more subtle but one of the strongest elements. Whether the air is wearing down a mountain one grain at a time or whether its a tornado destroying some poor trailer park in Kansas air magic is always a force to be respected. This also happens to be one of the elements that I have the most trouble with. Thanks for all the help you guys have already given myself and other wizards in coming up with neat, interesting ways to describe the use of our magic.

1. What is a non-combat interesting way to use air magic?

2. What is a single target interesting way to use air magic?

3. What is an area of effect interesting way to use air magic?

4. What is an interesting way to block using air magic?

5. What would be an interesting way to impede someones movement with air magic?

6.Can you think of anything else that would fit the Dresdenverse and be really neat in a game for air magic?

 
 
 

no matter what WCV family you decide to use, whether its Raith, Skavis, or some family you make up the one thing you have to remember is that WCV DO NOT engage directly if they aren't absolutely forced into it. Every time a WCV in the books goes physical its because it was the last resort and their pawns and cats paws had been found out/killed. I strongly suggest you use not only one lay but perhaps up to 6 layers between whoever attacks your pc's (whether physical or social or monetarily) and the puppet master. These guys are manipulaters first and combat junkies second. In fact, whatever WCV you use would lose A LOT of face by engaging directly.

I totally agree with you guys on the two sides of the same coin thing. I don't play a subtle character, I play a power slinging warden so I gravitate toward alot of the more Harry type of spirit. Others need to decide what they want their characters to do. Again though, this is just about spit balling ideas so a wizard can look at the list and say "this is neat, I hadn't thought of this, and it fits my toon" and then use it in game. I have trouble with on the fly stuff unless it lends itself to my play style, hence the list and trying to expand my options.

Guys, while I see how this relates to the topic it isn't on topic. If you want to discuss the ins and outs of whether magic is gray, black, or polka dotted please do so in another thread. I made these threads, and I hope this thread was made in the same thought, to help flesh out magic ideas not whether it broke the laws. There are a ton of threads on that, I wanted and I think the thread creator here wants, ideas for how to use the magic thematically. Sorry if I'm coming off as rude, but this isn't what I was looking for. That being said....

Patience grasshopper! lol. I was planning on making a new thread for spirit magic (I call this force because I think spirit sounds wierd) tonight but you beat me to it bestial warlust! I was having trouble choosing between spirit and air and you helped lol! Anyway, I absolutely LOVE force magic. I think it is the most versatile and handy of all the elements for one simple fact, you can do anything that another element can do....AND ITS INVISIBLE!

Here are a few things I've done that I think are pretty nifty with force magic....

1. What is a non-combat interesting way to use spirit magic?

Well, the obvious ones are the light/darkness effects and viels that everyone else mentions. Force magic also has some really neat applications when you think about it because ALL the symbiotic ties that link stuff together in dresdenverse are made of spirit/force magic. So, you coule take a tie that someone left behind like say a napkin with lipstick on it from their mouth, strengthen that tie to the point where you could cast at them through the link.

Another use for force magic is stated in the series as "holomancy" or illusions. Now, for those of you who are scifi fans you will know what a hard light hologram is. Its a hologram that can interact with its environment. I have made these before to even the numbers in a fight, to make someone lose me when being followed, and to make targeting me almost impossible in a fight. Also remember that you don't have to make them of people. How bad would it be if the get away driver accidently drove over a "bridge" and ended up in his van down by the river!

2. What is a single target interesting way to use spirit magic?

If you want to target a single person in combat the most direct method I can come up with is either the old force punch/grip (think Darth Vader) or my personal favorite the expanding force bubble in their head.

3. What is an area of effect interesting way to use spirit magic?

When you absolutely, positively, have to kill every person in the area nothing is more devestating than spirit/force magic. Fire magic and the rest are great for hurting people, spirit kills them. Think soulfire guys, if you get rid of their spirit they die, just like if you use to much of it with soulfire. The most ridiculously horrible attack would be like that guy in the books that waves his hand and people just fall over. Great kill ration, no collateral damage.

Another thing would be to do a layover of what a wizard sees with the sight. Think about 50 mooks chasing down your wizard who ends up in a dead end (no pun intended), the mage reaches out and creates an illusion of exactly what you would see with the sight and lays it over the immediate area. If it doesn't drive the guys bonkers it at least stuns them long enough to get away.

4. What is an interesting way to block using spirit magic?

My favorite block in the game is from force. You let the person attack you and then create a force funnel that redirects and amplifies the attack by giving it kinetic energy. It only works once but it surprises the hell out of him when his own fireball hits him in the face.

Another great idea for blocking with force magic is duh....FORCEFIELDS!

5. What would be an interesting way to impede someones movement with sprit magic?

Force wall maze....whats worse than a maze? AN INVISIBLE MAZE! BWHAHAHA

Force Cages       

One thing I have been wanting to use but haven't had a chance to use yet is something that amplifies a certain emotion. before you start shouting about breaking the laws, I am thinking about it being set to an area, not a person, so that it would be more like Harry and the others making someplace dreary or frightening.

One way to single target impede movements is with judicious applications of force ribbons that wrap around the person. I've also done this in an iron maiden design that worked well.

6.Can you think of anything else that would fit the Dresdenverse and be really neat in a game for spirit magic?

Most of the really neat stuff Harry does is with spirit magic I would say. Almost all tracking spells, summonings, necromancy (which as long as it doesn't raise people is legal), illusions, light/darkness effects, force fields, kinetic energy, lasers, and concussion explosions come out of spirit. Like I said, its my favorite!

Hey guys,before you go and try to answer my questions in this post please don't go into the other elements. I intend to do a new thread for each but I have the most trouble with this element so its where I wanted to start. Everyone has their favorite spell flavor and hopefully this will help anyone out who casts spells.

I don't know how many of you have the same troubles I do but when I use magic I don't want to use it the same way over and over again. I have rotes for getting reliable results and not being inventive. I keep thinking about parts of the books where Harry obviously hasn't got the spell he is doing as a rote and he still gets some kind of amazing, flashy result. In an effort to help myself and all my other spell slinger buddies I want to spitball ideas for ways to use each of the elements in evocation.

EARTH MAGIC is where I want to start. It is the magic that taps into the ground beneath your feet, the subtle, slow course the continents follow, and gravity itself.  If you are going to respond please fill out each of the questions below and try not to repeat yourself (while throwing a rock with a density of a billion is nice, using it for every entry defeats the purpose of the excercise).

1. What is a non-combat interesting way to use earth magic?

2. What is a single target interesting way to use earth magic?

3. What is an area of effect interesting way to use earth magic?

4. What is an interesting way to block using earth magic?

5. What would be an interesting way to impede someones movement with earth magic?

6.Can you think of anything else that would fit the Dresdenverse and be really neat in a game for earth magic?

By any means if you come up with a field I missed or you just have a great idea on some way to improve the game please post it. I'll respond to this so you guys see what I mean.