Transportation magic?

[Belial666]

OK, here's a few spells and items I've been cooking up based on moving stuff:

Relocate
Air or Spirit 6 shifts
Calling up winds or unseen force, you move the target as if it were the wind. That might be moving yourself to the top of a nearby building to avoid your enemies. Or it might be pushing an enemy off a bridge or into a specially prepared trap. Very multipurpose spell.
Effect: 6 shifts of athletics "sprint" for 1 exchange, moving the target 6 zones over that time (based on the escape potion example). Opposed by target's might or conviction, whichever is higher.

Ironbolt
Earth, Metal or Spirit 6 shifts
Using controlled gravity, magnetism or direct force, you throw a foot-long metal spike at the target. Striking at the speed of sound and more, the spike is a deadly projectile.
Requirement: 1 metal spike
Effect: weapon 6 attack. Because the spike itself is nonmagical iron, it might have trouble affecting things only harmed by magic such as some spirits. On the other hand, it can't be blocked by defenses vs magic (it could be hurled through a circle for example) and it is deadly against faeries.
Special: the spell could use a silvered spike vs werewolves or a wooden spike vs vampires. Using the same base idea, one could even hurl other interesting projectiles; tranquilizer darts, darts loaded with poison or potions, pressure-sensitive explosives and the like.

Mass Escape
Air or Spirit 6 shifts, invoke an aspect.
Prior to a dangerous situation, a wizard uses a quick ritual to mark his allies with his special sigil. Then, if the danger threatens to overwhelm the group, the wizard casts this spell to shift the entire group the length of a city block. The wizard can call more power after the spell is cast to boost the duration considerably, if the group for some reason wants to move several city blocks.
Requirement: ritual to add the sticky aspect "Arcane Mark" on the group.
Effect: as per relocate, except that invoking the "Arcane Mark" you affect all the people with the mark in the same zone. Calling more power for duration in subsequent exchanges can increase the duration and range of the spell. A wizard could cast it at exchange 1 for 6 zones of movement then call 6 shifts of power in the following 3 exchanges, burning all his mental stress track. That would move the group for 19 exchanges for 6 zones per exchange, enough for a "teleportation" across a small town.

Ring of Evasion
Strength 5 defensive item.
This plain ring is made out of copper coated with teflon and a tiny amount of grease. It is very slippery and the wearer must be careful not to lose it if it slips off his finger when he isn't looking. The magic bound inside is very minor but very useful; when the wearer is threatened by a trap, collapsing walls, explosions and similar dangers that fall on an area, the ring makes the target slide away from that area as if slipping on a greased, slippery surface and shoved by an unseen force or a strong wind.
Requirement: effective Lore of 5 for crafting, 1 item slot.
Effect: five times a day, the wearer can be instantly moved by 1 zone (as if sprinting with athletics 1) if the area he stands in becomes dangerous. Explosions, traps, collapsing masonry (totally not the wearer's fault!) and similar dangers can be avoided. The wearer could attempt to use the ring against melee attacks or ranged attacks but a melee attacker could take a supplemental action to move 1 zone and keep up-a mortal taking a -1 to his attacks but anything with inhuman speed not even inconvenienced-and a ranged attack could be easily re-aimed. (though very short range effects like a flamethrower or breath weapon might not reach that far)

Gatewall
Spirit 6 shifts ritual.
By focusing his power, the wizard opens a gateway between himself and any danger. Though the gateway could be used for traveling, that isn't its purpose. It provides cover against attacks that might require line of sight, at least until the enemy maneuers to shoot around it, and if it is positioned to block a passage, it could stave off pursuit as a practically impassable barrier unless the enemy has some way of dispelling it.
Requirement: effective Lore and Conviction of 6 for transportation to both pull off a gateway without additional material and call the power of a complexity 6 ritual in a single exchange. (though you might take some backlash for it)
Effect: one gateway, creatively used. This should open a gateway even in places where the veil is of superb strength and barring dispels and several exchanges to degrade, attacks would not harm the barrier; they would simply be shunt off to the Nevernever.
Side Effects: while for the Gatewall you might not care where it leads in the Nevernever, shunting off attacks to another dimension might annoy its denizens. Especially if you "accidentally" shunt off a small enemy army into the Erlking's domain.

Telegate
Spirit 6 shfts ritual x2, Spirit 9 shifts evocation x4, invoking an aspect.
One of the most powerful transportation magics a powerful wizard could perform, a Telegate could effectively teleport an entire group of people from Chicago to Endimburg or even further. This magic is actually a combination of spells that work as one to open a gateway to the Nevernever, rapidly transport a group through it and open a gateway to your destination. Still, it is extremely draining for the wizard and requires the group to be marked to facilitate the teleportation.
Requirements: effective Lore and Conviction of 6 for transportation, effective Spirit Evocation Conviction and Discipline 9 and you might still take some backlash.
Effect: You mark the targets with "Arcane Mark" in advance. Then, when the situation demands it, you open a quick gateway, cast a 9-shift version of mass escape, spend the rest of your mental stress track to call up three times 9-shift power for duration, the group uses the mass escape to move 252 zones through the Nevernever (a bit over half an hour of walking done in 2 minutes or so) to the desired destination and you then open another gateway to return to the physical world.
Note: this is a big honking amount of magic to teleport a group of people across the earth. Then again, sometimes you need to move that army right now.

[CMEast]

Relocate - I don't think the 'sprint' affect would work on an opponent though I'm not sure. I know it could be done as part of a grapple effect which would include a block for one exchange... maybe a GM might agree to use the grapple rules without the 3 shifts for the manoeuvre to actually block in which case it'd cost the same amount. I don't know if that's right or possible though, I can't find any examples. Nice spell though, very handy

Oh and also, you should note the kind of barriers it will allow you to bypass.

Ironbolt - This would allow you to overcome immunities to magic (Ogres etc) which makes sense but is against the spirit of the rules. After all you can easily narrate any spell effect as 'launches sections of the environment at target' or 'drops the ceiling on target' etc.
On a side note, I wonder how this would work with explosives? If you had a belt of grenades wrapped around you to launch at your enemies, would that be a weapon 6 attack, plus additional explosive/area damage? That sounds a little broken.

Ring of evasion = Awesome! Great idea!

On the rituals, on YS261 it states that even the fastest rituals take at least a minute to prep.

[Belial666]

@ironbolt;
Harry Dresden does something similar with a set of keys to overcome immunity to magic a certain opponent had-the same immunity to magic that the Blackstaff failed to penetrate, not once but three times. (of course, he only throws keys. He doesn't have a foot-long, two-pound iron spike handy.)

@rituals;
It also says that if your Lore is equal or greater than the ritual's complexity, you can perform a ritual with what you have at hand without needing preparation. Harry certainly seems capable of opening Gateways to the Nevernever with a word, even if it takes a great deal of energy and effort.

[DFJunkie]

Harry also uses his mother's silver pentacle to

(click to show/hide)

kill the Loup-Garou

using the fact that it is inherited silver to bypass the beast's physical immunity so I'd probably allow the use of the spike to take advantage of Faerie catches.  The point of the catch is to reward knowledge and preparation in combat. 

I think the spirit of the rules is very much preserved provided that the spell doesn't give the character an "avoid all catches free" card.  A stake substantial enough to actually transfer the energy of a six shift attack evocation would be fairly large, not the kind of thing you carry with you on a daily basis, so the character would either have to bring one in preparation for dealing with creatures of a certain type or pay a fate point to have one on hand at the right moment. 

As for throwing explosives, I see no real problem with a spellcaster being able to target thrown weapons by expending a point of stress and using Discipline to aim.  On the other hand, I wouldn't want to be throwing a ton of magic around something both explodey and designed and built after World War II.

[CMEast]

I've quoted from the book here, italics are in the original text, I've underlined the key parts.

YS261 - 'By contrast, thaumaturgy sets up the construct physically and allows the elements to act as a lens through which the wizard then focuses his power. Because the spellcaster doesn't have to concentrate to keep the construct in mind (it's right there in front of him), he creates a much stronger and more stable effect - meaning he can focus on achieving effects of much greater complexity and subtlety.'

YS262 - 'If the complexity of the spell is equal to or less than your Lore, assume you have everything you need to cast the spell and you require no additional effort for preparation.'

YS264 - If complexity is equal or less than your lore then 'This indicates the your wizard's personal collection of knowledge and accoutrements suffices for the spell.'

YS266 to 267 - '...or as hasty as a circle drawn in chalk on the sidewalk, but a functional casting space and some basic ritual procedure are absolute minimum requirements for any working of thaumaturgy.'

YS268 - 'That's why, under most circumstances, a wizard can just go straight to casting if the complexity falls within the wizard's Lore.'

I thought I'd break out the quotes just because I've seen a few people suggest that rituals can be cast 'with a word', that is what sponsored magic is for though. I can see Harry creating a quick chalk circle at a murder scene, having all the required items for a divination spell and the knowledge to cast it straight away but I don't think he could do it mid-fight... at least without being in serious danger and under a lot of distraction. The ritual wording assumes it's being prepared and cast in non-combat environments. It does give rules for casting during combat but not for creating the casting space and preparing the ritual itself.

I'm happy, if it's an easy spell, with an aspect on the scene to create the ritual (so just an extra turn). Alternatively, if the spell is being cast in your own sanctum or in an area you are defending, you could tag an existing aspect or make a declaration to state the preparation has already been done. For your rituals involving sigils, I'd argue it either requires an additional aspect to place on those you wish to transport, or to add +2 complexity to the ritual to affect the whole zone.

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Oh and just so you know, on page YS282 there is a section on transport spells and, on the next page, it states that the 'escape potion' is slightly random unless the destination is included in the spell and that it left him a bit nauseated afterwards. It also states that with teleportation, border value generally does count and that you won't be able to pass any threshold with a strength of good or more. Also, I think the sea would count as a pretty high border value

Sorry, I do like the spell ideas though

[Belial666]

@YS261; as far as we've seen, opening a gateway has no physical construct at all in the books. Harry literally does it with one word. And the Veil between the worlds typically has a strength of Superb; making an opening requires 6 shifts of power - which isn't an effect "much stronger" than what wizards typically do.

@YS262; I'd emphasise "preparation" not additional. The second paragraph says:
"If the complexity of the spell is greater than your Lore, your wizard must enter a preparation stage"
So if it is not, you don't enter a preparation stage at all.

@YS266 to 267;  Waldo Butters makes a magic circle while zombies are attacking in the open. Victor Sells summons a demon while battling Harry in his own house. Harry makes a small Ward around him and Suzan while a demon is rampaging through his house.

[crusher_bob]

You can open ways between the nevernever with both evocation and thaumaturgy.  But the speed effects tend to be very short lived.  For example, if I want to jump out of the nevernever, steal something and then go back through the same way, I probably need to use thaumaturgy to get enough shifts to keep the way open for that amount of time.  If I don't mind the way closing right after I pass through, then using evocation works just fine.

Next, I don't think Sells 'summons' the demon while under attack by Harry, just calls it back.  'Summoning and binding' is more akin to calling the demon up in where-ever it is, booking it tickets, getting it a hotel room and so on.  That sort of stuff takes a while to do.  But once you have the demon bound it can be 'called' much quicker an easier.

Lastly, at least some thaumaturgy is possible without any physical preparation at all.  Harry says this is possible several times, and actually does no physical prep thaumaturgy in both White Night and Changes

[Wyrdrune]

You can open ways between the nevernever with both evocation and thaumaturgy.

are you sure? i don't have the pdfs with me at the moment, nor can i remember to have read something like that. i always thought, the opening of ways is only via thaumaturgy and anyone who wants to do it quick (by the rules of the rpg (the novels may bend the rules a bit)) has to find a sponsor related to travelling or the nevernever.

or high lore and/or a spezialisation (when you allow thaumaturgy without prep (i think that's depending on player group style and would not argue over that))

[crusher_bob]

It describes opening a way as a "simple act of will" which I interpret as being evocaiton, but then goes on to say that keeping a way open is much more complex, which I interpreted as (usually) thaumaturgy.

[ryanroyce]

are you sure? i don't have the pdfs with me at the moment, nor can i remember to have read something like that. i always thought, the opening of ways is only via thaumaturgy and anyone who wants to do it quick (by the rules of the rpg (the novels may bend the rules a bit)) has to find a sponsor related to travelling or the nevernever.

 Nah, the novels have far too many examples of holes being opened to the Nevernever instantly for them to be restricted to Thaumaturgy.  Sure, a thaumaturgic portal would be better than an evocation portal, but that's just par for the course.

[Wyrdrune]

hmmm... seems your're right... both of you.

thank you for enlightening me.