Help Me Understand Victor Sells’ Heart Exploding Spell

[GM_Withdrawal]

So after reading the section on thamaturgy I understand Sells basically used every step possible to gain power for this ritual, including taking an extreme, a severe, and a moderate consequence. However, this would seem to only work the first time he cast the spell. Without significant time to clear these consequences off his sheet, he would be unable to cast the spell again. How is fueling the spell for further castings? In subsequent castings is he invoking his consequences for the extra shifts or have I missed something?

[Nomad]

Sponsored Magic,
Thamaturgic Ritual (He used it to shift the consequences to other people)
Ritual Sacrifices.

[Archmage_Cowl]

So after reading the section on thamaturgy I understand Sells basically used every step possible to gain power for this ritual, including taking an extreme, a severe, and a moderate consequence. However, this would seem to only work the first time he cast the spell. Without significant time to clear these consequences off his sheet, he would be unable to cast the spell again. How is fueling the spell for further castings? In subsequent castings is he invoking his consequences for the extra shifts or have I missed something?

not entirely sure. I rule that when you take consequences to cast a specific spell you can get a tag on those consequences whenever you use that spell again (provided those consequences still exist) to get a bonus. also it's worth noting that the way victor made that spell he didnt use his lore or specializations at all the first time, or at least i think he didnt i might have read it wrong

[crusher_bob]

Normal, non crazy people, normally get their added complexity for thaumaturgy from making skill declarations. 

here's some house rules I've written to clarify making declarations; normally you can make as many skill declarations as the GM and other players will let you get away with.

[CableRouter]

Normal, non crazy people, normally get their added complexity for thaumaturgy from making skill declarations. 

here's some house rules I've written to clarify making declarations; normally you can make as many skill declarations as the GM and other players will let you get away with.

There is some neat stuff in there for thaumaturgy and the time it could take.

For my own game I've had to cap tags in general.  You can have an accountant with no powers and no combat skills at all end up one shotting a Dragon through skill declarations in an ambush, ending up with 16+ shifts on their stealth check to make them undetectable and generate another 30+ shifts of effect to decapitate Ferrovax with a briefcase.

I made it really simple for my players, you can tag a number of aspects for a single action equal to your Skill + 1; anything more than that and you'll have to spend fate points to invoke.  So a guy with no hand to hand training can only take advantage of one tag at a time in a fistfight unless fate steps in.

[Nomad]

Also remember that the guy is a Lawbreaker. He probably has +2 or maybe even +3 from there too

[crusher_bob]

So here's a breakdown of how it might look, under my house rules:

He has a base complexity of 3.
He has 4? cult members willing to take some amount of consequences

He inflicts minor consequences on each of them, and takes a minor consequence himself.
(+10 complexity)

He spends hours in preparation, which allow him to make up to
1 athletics
2 conviction
1 deceit
1 endurance
1 intimidation
1 lore
1 presence

declarations.

Assuming he makes 5 of his 8 declaration rolls, that gives him another +10 complexity

That gets him 23 complexity, which is probably enough to kill a nameless extra.

IIRC, he kills two people at once at the beginning of Storm Front, if he inflicts a moderate consequence on everyone of the cult members, and takes one himself, that's another 20 complexity.  A few fate points or some luck with the declarations gets him the extra complexity he needs to kill both people.

And him and his cult members have minor + moderate consequences, something like tired and exhausted.  The tired will go away overnight, and the exhausted in a few days to a week.

Assuming his 1st lawbreaker stunt ups his effective control, and he has a appropriate thaumaturgy control specialization, that gives him the base control of 5 he needs to do big thaumaturgy without risking blowing everything up.

[Belial666]

He has magic. He doesn't need to make skill declarations:

Energy Tap
Spirit/Disruption 8 shifts. (can be done as either evocation or as ritual)
As you cast the spell, everyone in the area feels a powerful link to a nearby source of power such as an ongoing natural disaster, a ley-line or some powerful and willing entity. The power is great... but failry uncontrolled; it can only be used for destructive purposes.
Effect: 6 shift maneuer vs discipline (usually unopposed on allies) to apply an aspect that can be tagged to offer a +2 bonus to an action... as long as that action involves destruction of some sort such as casting a stronger-than-normal evocation blast, knocking down a door with your newly-enhanced strength, following the guidance of the dark powers to shoot someone right between the eyes or gathering power for a ritual curse that would tear someone's heart off their chest. In short, the effect must cause stress or consequences in some way.
Special: the caster should describe the aspects applied and they should always be something slightly destructive and unnatural. I.e. applying Disquieting Power or Rage-fueled Casting could benefit spells, Dark Whispers Guide Me and Momento Mori could help in dealing a particularly lethal blow while Ruinous Rage and Overwhelming Strength could be tagged for breaking something with sheer strenght or lifting a truck and hurling it at someone.

So, as ritual preparation, he casts the above four times as either evocation or ritual, taking the appropriate stress/consequences/backlash if it is evocation. He applies thus 4 sticky aspects to himself and to four other people.
Then, he and all the others tag all those aspects for the ritual, a total of 16 aspects for +32 shifts in the ritual. He has an effective Lore of 4 so he generates a total of 36 shifts.
And because it is a spell with a set magical effect, it is not nearly as questionable as using declarations to do the same; he is, after all, directly draining power from some outside source to fuel his power.


That's how I'd do his very rapid summoning of the demon too, as well as gathering lots of power quickly for rituals despite his total lack of training. That is why he really needed the storm, not for the feeble bonus of just tagging the storm aspect.

[smoore]

How does Energy Tap work? I think its 6 shifts to apply 2 Aspects (one to the caster one to the other participant) but shouldn't they only last 1 exchange then defeating the purpose of casting it multiple times? Or is it 6 shifts to apply 1 aspect for an additional 3 exchanges?

Why exactly is it an 8 shift spell? To overcome the targets Discipline plus a +4 roll? but you seem to suggest that allies can choose to not oppose the spell. If thats the case couldnt it be lower?

And how is the caster supposed to cast multiple 8 shift spells without taking all kinds of stress? 1 for each casting, and a minimum of 3 more each time if he has a 5 Conviction casting it as an evocation.

I'm really dissapointed with the spell casting descriptions in the book there is a serious lack of examples on how to actually do this kind of stuff.

[Belial666]

When doing preparation for a ritual, you don't have to do it all at once. So cast Energy Tap, tag aspects to add to the ritual, cast Energy Tap again, tag aspects again and so on.

Now, how you build the spell:

1) Add an aspect, unopposed. Base power is 3. +1 for making it sticky.
2) Add a second aspect. +3 power, another +1 for sticky.
3) Apply the effect to everyone in a zone. +2 power.
4) Spell has a specific requirement such as a specific time of day, an ongoing natural disaster or leyline to draw energy from or an entity helping. The book has one such factor priced at giving 2 shifts of power so -2 on the spell's cost.

Total cost is 10 for full effect unaided, 8 for 2 sticky aspects on a person or 2 fragile aspects on a zone unaided, 6 for 2 fragile aspects on a person unaided. If you do have a power source, reduce cost by 2 for every power source. So if you did the spell on a leyline, at midnight, and with one sponsor, it costs a mere 4 power for maximum effect.


The version I posted assumes one source of power and max effect. And yes, 8 shifts of power require he takes additional mental stress and consequences for casting it as well as backlash. But the point is, would you pay 2 mild consequences for +4 to your ritual if you did it directly or 2 mild consequences for +16 power by using the Energy Tap? Basically, you feed the big ritual by invoking small amounts of energy with magic instead of just your will. With you and 3 helpers you tag 8 aspects total per casting of the spell... or +16 power to your ritual. If you somehow get the full 12 helpers for a maximum circle of 13, you get to tag 26 aspects... or +52 power.

If you have a circle of 13 which are all wizards and all cast an energy tap three times for the same ritual you get to tag 338 x 3 aspects for a whopping total of +2028 power, enough to explosively rennovate a square mile of real estate. And that's why preparatory magic is terrifying.