Alrighty-o. Thanks for that, I wasn't entirely sure of it and let myself get sort of beaten down in terms of this. I'll be sure to bring it up and act it out next session, especially what with how my character is developing. You know, Knight of the Cross, there to preserve free will, routinely getting her own free will trampled on and travelling with someone who is doing the same under a convenient excuse...yeah.

Actually, while I'm at it, I must ask about something else.

One of the characters is a magic user that specializes in reading and manipulating emotions. She can sense what others feel and plant or strip emotions from others. In the last session though, she stripped a man of all the joy he's ever felt in his life, which made him kill himself. And then she planted feelings of confusion and doubt into someone, who then opened fire upon his allies as a result of it. The player is defending it as in, his character never actually directly killed or made them do anything, just nudged them in that direction.

But I must ask, isn't this actually some pretty hardcore laws of magic violations?

(click to show/hide)

Sword of the Cross [–3]

Description: You possess one of the three
Swords of the Cross, their hilts reportedly
forged from the nails that fixed Christ to the
Cross. Those bearing the Swords are called the
Knights of the Cross.

Musts: You must have a destiny or calling to
inherit the Sword, represented as a high concept
or template.

Skills Affected: Weapons, others.

Effects:
All Creatures Are Equal Before God. This is the
truest purpose of the Swords of the Cross,
the ability that makes even ancient dragons
take pause when facing a Knight. When
facing an opponent, the Knight may spend a
fate point to ignore that opponent’s defensive
abilities (Toughness based ones, primarily),
as well as any mundane armor the foe has, for
the duration of the scene. In essence, a Sword
of the Cross may take the place of whatever it
is that a creature has a weakness to (whatever
“the Catch” is on their Toughness powers, see
page 185), on demand, so long as the Knight
can spend that fate point—particularly
handy when facing ultra-tough Denarians or
true dragons. Whatever abilities a creature
may have, the job of a Sword of the Cross
is creating a mostly even playing field—
or something very much like it—between
mortal and monster.

Divine Purpose. A Sword of the Cross may
only be swung with true selfless purpose in
mind and heart; if this is not the case, the
bond between the Knight and the Sword is
broken and may only be restored by undergoing
some sort of trial of faith. When swung
without such purpose in mind and heart, the
blow does not land (any attack roll automatically
fails), the bond is immediately broken,
and the sword falls from the wielder’s hand.
Basically, the GM and player should look
at the description above as a guideline for
how to compel the high concept attached to
the sword—your character might be tempted
to use the sword for selfish reasons, and could
either receive a fate point to stay his hand
or succumb to the temptation and lose the
sword temporarily. If another takes up the
sword and swings it selfishly, your Knight is
still responsible for how the sword is used,
with similar repercussions.

Holy.
This weapon is a powerful holy symbol in
its own right. Its very touch is like holy water
or that of a cross or other symbol of faith
backed by the belief of the possessor.

It’s a Sword.
A Sword of the Cross always takes
the form of a sword, though the precise
type of sword may change through the ages.
There are only three in existence (OW72). As
a sword, it possesses the damage and other
attributes of any sword (page 202).

True Aim. When swung in keeping with its
purpose, a Sword of the Cross grants a +1 to
the wielder’s Weapons skill.

Unbreakable. As an Item of Power, it cannot be
broken, save through dedicated magical ritual
predicated upon perverting its purpose.
Discount Already Applied. As an Item of Power,
the sword already includes the one-time
discount (page 167). This means that if the
character possesses more than one Item of
Power, the one-time discount will not apply
on that second item. If the Sword of the
Cross is the second or subsequent artifact the
character gains, the refresh cost is –5.

Generally, they believe in free will.  They can't kill anyone who is trying to redeem themselves and they actively seek out and try to get in the way of Denarians' plans.

Using the sword against its purpose might be things like striking out in anger or vengeance, killing innocent people, attacking someone who has surrendered.

Nothing in particular.  They die.  Since the sword can act as a catch for almost any creature, those creatures killed by a sword usually stay dead.

Thanks.

I was just thinking, because my character is very pro-life. Whenever she's forced into a combat situation she always, ALWAYS uses non-lethal means. She's so very much against the killing of humans that after our group took on a group of fanatical cultists, our psychomancer had to seal her memories to stop her from turning against the others for killing some of them. And in the campaign there are quite a few people who have sold their souls to demons in a sense, and I was wondering if well, the souls of those killed by a holy sword received any special sort of treatment. Perhaps it purifies them? Sends them to be directly judged by god, instead of letting a demon lay hands on it? Because that way she would develop quite interestingly, and essentially be euthanizing those doomed to an eternity in hell.

I like the concept of my character becoming a knight of the cross. Especially because of her rocky relationship with the swords previous owner. The player in question was a bit of a douche, and it reflected upon his character. In fact, my character on several occasions actually stopped him from abusing his sword, until our GM booted the guy. His character was made off to have been corrupted and killed by our enemies (who we still don't know) and she picked up the broken shards of the sword and mourned his loss...then BAM! Uriel shows up and suggests she take up the sword. There were a lot of compels this played into, and it just works so well I'm giddy.

That Refinement tweak might manage it, though. I could build a seriously scary Crafter under those rules.

Personally I'd allow foci but not enchanted items. Opinions vary somewhat, but I think it's pretty broadly agreed that evokers should get to do something with their focus slots.

Crafter?

But the earth element is too powerful? Your GM is weird.

Well, you should be able to adjust the math accordingly, I think.
Well, first and foremost, it's a regular item that your character has enchanted. Does it make sense for your character to have a climbing axe? I mean there are not that many mountains in Venice, but maybe she goes hiking every other week or so, so it would make sense.
http://www.jimbutcheronline.com/bb/index.php/topic,42974.msg2084383.html#msg2084383
Looks good. There should be a lot you can do with that. And if you notice that an aspect doesn't work, just change it around, you are not locked into them forever.
Yeah, that's really weird. Veils are very much doable with spirit evocations, there's a whole section about them in the book, page 276. It literally starts with "Veils are spirit evocations...".

EDIT: One tweak I made to veils is that a veil is dropped if you attack from under it. So you can't attack AND stay invisible. That way, a veil is more like an ambush, which works pretty well.
Depends on what you mean by magical items. It's not like in dnd, where you find a magical sword in a dungeon. That's kind of what the holy sword is, in the game that's called an "Item of Power". (There can be IoPs you create yourself, as well, just to be accurate.)

It's more like specialized tools you create yourself. Some wizards create them from scratch, others take something that's already made and imbue it with their magic. That's what focus item slots and enchanted item slots are for. You don't get them for free, you have to pay for them with your refresh.

Everyone has their little thing I guess, I suppose I can appreciate him not wanting one character to hog all the spotlight. 

Well, I'm worried he might say that because I don't have thaumaturgy, I couldn't have enchanted an item. When I asked about having a blasting rod he did say 'if I let you', the same thing he'd said about Earth element before imposing restrictions upon it.

My logic for the climbing pick would be the fact that she's spent a good deal of time clambering around Venice; the climbing pick would have helped her scale the smoother and harder to climb walls and improve her grip on ledges and such.

I did tell him that I wanted it to be a chameleon or unnoticeability spell, where she could hear footsteps coming towards her and then curl up in a corner and cast the spell before the pursuer approached her, so they'd run right past her as she looks like the background/escapes notice. Or if she's in a tight spot she could put her high athletics to use, run away, go around a corner, curl up, veil. He didn't really seem keen 

Not at all. This game has a pretty steep learning curve, especially if you have a dnd or similar background. It took me a year to get to the point where I thought I got it, and it still throws me curveballs to this day. But I had fun all the while through, so it's not too bad.
Plus, actually playing the game like you are is going to get you there a whole lot faster. You're doing well.

For compels on "The apple didn't fall far from the tree", you can simply look at the father's flaws and apply them to your character. If the father is hotheaded, she is hotheaded. Very easy to compel on that.
Absolutely. First, we need to take inventory.
Evocation gives you 1 specialization and 2 focus item slots.
Refinement gives you 2 specializations or 2 focus item slots.

Which means we can either work with 1 point of specialization and 4 focus item slots, 2/3 or 3/2. Since you want to split things for spirit and fire anyway, and you can't lose specializations, not can they be taken away, I would suggest the 3/2 build.

Since you'll have 5 points total, you can see where you might want to go higher. The specializations/focus items you need are going to be:

(offensive) fire control
(offensive) fire power
(defensive) spirit control
(defensive) spirit power

Of course, if you take a specialization in spirit control, it will count for both offensive and defensive, so the brackets are only for considering focus items. Since you want to have these types of spells to be what you are good at, I would recommend putting one point into each. That leaves us with one point that you can use to increase one of those even further. Like this:

Specializations:
+1 fire control, fire power, spirit power

Focus items:
Steel Climbing Axe (+1 offensive fire control, +1 defensive spirit control)

Which would give you +2 fire control total, the rest would be at +1. Or you could use the 5th point for something else:

Specializations:
+1 fire control, fire power, spirit power

Focus items:
Steel Climbing Axe (+1 offensive spirit control, +1 defensive spirit control)

Which would give you +1 for every spirit spell, when using the axe, no matter if it's offensive or defensive. You could also switch around control and power of course.

And any other kind of permutation of the above would be totally valid. You could also use your 3 points of specialization to build something like this:

Specialization:
+2 fire control
+1 fire power

I personally prefer to keep things even, with uneven numbers favoring control. Especially on offensive stuff, since it also increases your attack roll. With your skills at +5, this gives you at least a +6 for your main spells, which is pretty solid.

My GM has a very generous view of refinement, he believes it grants you 1 element, 2 refinement and 2 specialization. I don't mind at all

Do you think its valid and okay for my character to get the magic climbing axe? My GM hasn't responded to my onslaught of messages yet. We do have a faith-based character with a holy sword, so there's that.

I'm thinking for my rote spells basically a whirling fire tornado blast for offence, force shield and then either another offensive spell, sort of like a kinetic punch/blast or the spirit equivalent of Ventas Servitas, something that can move others and objects and so forth. Also control is like, actually casting the spell, right? Sort of like the attack modifier, against their defence? And then power is like weapon damage?

I managed to put together some aspects, whatcha think?

No Such Thing As "In Over My Head"
'Never give up, never give in, never let anything drop, keep going no matter what, stubborn'

Invoke to achieve or endure physical or spiritual feats through sheer determination and grit, resist any attempt to change your course of action once your mind is set. keep going no matter what. convince others to go along with you with your intensity
Compel to offend someone with your stubbornness, show contempt for 'quitters', take things too far and get into trouble, make enemies by escalating things too much, get forced into a situation beyond your capabilities

Don't Judge Me by My Size
You're small, but surprisingly resourceful.
Invoke: To seem unimportant or unthreatening to an enemy, catching them by surprise, ability to slip into small and narrow spaces, harder to hit
Compel: Get targeted as weak or helpless, get bullied and pushed around, have difficulty reaching things on high shelves, easily lifted up and overpowered

Jumps The Gun:
'You have lightning fast reactions and excellent instincts...or so you'd like to believe. Others would say you act first and think later (if at all)'
Invoke to Succeed in impulsive and reckless actions, act first and fastest, handle a risky situation with much more finesse than anyone has a right to have
Compel to act quickly and realise too late what you've just done, be too busy acting first that you miss something important.

Curiosity Killed The Cat
Invoke to discover hard to find things, covertly pick up rumours, eavesdropping, noticing things out of the ordinary
Compel to make you spend time and effort exploring and examining things, lure you somewhere with the promise of interesting discoveries, be drawn into checking out something dangerous, irritate someone important with your nosiness, make dangerous discoveries, appear to know too much and become a target

I Laughed When His Guts Flew Out In That Movie
invoke to know or think of gory facts, keep your cool when dealing with morbid subjects, make particularly tasteless and unnerving threats
compel to distract you when you should be focusing on other things; make you say inappropriate jokes or comments

The Apple Didn't Fall Far From The Tree
Invoke: Whenever she decides to be a goody-two shoes, even when it's a bad idea to do so, enforcing wizarding laws, using spirit based evocation, rescue friends and allies, get everyone out safely
Compel: stop you from doing something Alberich wouldn't approve of, have alberich ask you to do something inconvenient, act in a predictable manner, preferring to work alone, keeping information from your allies to protect them, make you go back for everyone you can, make you save an enemy from death

I'm Too Cute To Be Mad At...And I Know It
Invoke: Try to charm and joke your way back into someone's good graces, puppy eyes and displays of vulnerability to alleviate the amount of trouble you're in
Compel: annoy someone by overdoing it, embarrassing yourself by failing miserably, pouting too much, getting cocky and pushing people too far

Too much? Too little? Anything else go in there to further balance things out?

I think your GM is a bit off-base.

When it comes to evocation, spell effects are mostly the same no matter what element you're using. A weapon 5 attack is a weapon 5 attack, whether it's crushing gravity or a bullet of compressed air. An 8-shift block is an 8-shift block, whether it's a water wall or a spacial manipulation field.

Elements can satisfy different Catches and create different Aspects, but Aspects and Catches are mostly under the GM's control anyway.

So I don't see why he's worrying about earth or water being overpowered.

Now, if he was worried about spirit being overpowered I could see where he's coming from. It actually has special effects that other elements simply don't have.

PS: There isn't really such a thing as a movement spell with evocation. You can maneuver to create an appropriate Aspect, but if you want to replace your Athletics for movement you should use a ritual or an enchanted item.

http://toonstore.net/Periwinkles/Lucy/

What I've managed so far, had to switch to an italian name and picture for the setting.

I'm really smitten with the idea of using a wood-handled, steel climbing axe as a blasting rod, climbing implement and skull-hole-puncher all rolled into one. What sort of extra effects does spirit have? Though he doesn't want me using any of spirits illusiory or mind-messing abilities if that's what you mean. It's just pure force in his book, probably because we have an illusionist in the party.