Has anyone used the Spell power option from Paranet Papers?

[thorr-kan]

It looks like an elegant solution to allowing spell casters to mimic other powers.  The kinetic martial artist from Ghost Story?  Inhuman Speed Spell.  Skilled at illusion?  Glamour Spell (Hi, Molly!).  *Really* skilled at illusion, bordering on forcing your will on reality?  Greater Glamour Spell.  A healing factor to rival Wolverine?  Inhuman Toughness Spell.

Need to specialize the sorcerer and used your Refinement limits?  Spell.

Need to specialize that focused practitioner and don't want items?  Spell.

It reads nice, but I'm interested in people's play experience.  I can't report mine, because I don't have DFRPG group.  I live vicariously through these forums.

[Taran]

I haven't read paranet papers but I've seen of wizard pcs that take powers to represent spells.   The biggest example is taking human form and shape shifting powers to represent biomancy spells.

[blackstaff67]

Haven't seen it yet (but the game's still young).  Closest I've seen is someone that used Biomancy to disguise herself a an NPC WCV to discredit her, picking up the Drop Dead Sexy Stunt as well by spending a Fate Point.

[Shaft]

I'm running a game with  8 Refresh characters in which two of them are wizards in training.  One of those characters has the Glamours Power with the Spell modification (very similar to Molly).  We have found that it works very well for that particular power.  Her Discipline is Great, so it's like getting a +4 on the Evocation roll which is automatically applied to the duration of the Spell.

[dragoonbuster]

I'm running a game with  8 Refresh characters in which two of them are wizards in training.  One of those characters has the Glamours Power with the Spell modification (very similar to Molly).  We have found that it works very well for that particular power.  Her Discipline is Great, so it's like getting a +4 on the Evocation roll which is automatically applied to the duration of the Spell.

So how do you go about making this happen in practice? Call up Power and take stress or just roll Discipline? Do you get the benefits of the spell on the first turn, and if so does that mean you make two rolls, one for the Glamour and one for the duration part?

[Shaft]

So how do you go about making this happen in practice? Call up Power and take stress or just roll Discipline? Do you get the benefits of the spell on the first turn, and if so does that mean you make two rolls, one for the Glamour and one for the duration part?

The character has a Discipline at Good (3), Ritual (Veiling), Evocation (specializing in Spirit) and the Glamours power with the spell casting limitation. 

Thanks to the power, I allow the character to double the effective rating of her Discipline and Conviction for veiling, so the character's Discipline skill for veils is effectively doubled from Great (4) to Legendary (, and her Conviction of Good (3) is doubled to Fantastic (6). 

The character typically casts a force 4 veil, that can last 4 extra turns/actions.  Using Evocation still costs her mental stress.  This would cost her 1 Mental Stress.  The character could cast a Legendary Veil for 1 round as well, but this would cost her 3 stress (since her Conviction is effectively Fantastic for veils).

If she is casting the spell in a ritual, I let her double her Lore and Discipline skills to determine Control and Complexity. 

[dragoonbuster]

The character has a Discipline at Good (3), Ritual (Veiling), Evocation (specializing in Spirit) and the Glamours power with the spell casting limitation. 

Thanks to the power, I allow the character to double the effective rating of her Discipline and Conviction for veiling, so the character's Discipline skill for veils is effectively doubled from Great (4) to Legendary (, and her Conviction of Good (3) is doubled to Fantastic (6). 

The character typically casts a force 4 veil, that can last 4 extra turns/actions.  Using Evocation still costs her mental stress.  This would cost her 1 Mental Stress.  The character could cast a Legendary Veil for 1 round as well, but this would cost her 3 stress (since her Conviction is effectively Fantastic for veils).

If she is casting the spell in a ritual, I let her double her Lore and Discipline skills to determine Control and Complexity.

Um...what. None of this makes sense to me based on any of the wordings in any of the mentioned powers. Where in the world does doubling anything coming into play? You must have a different version of PP than I do, because mine doesn't say anything near to this complex silliness. How in the world would you adapt the Spell: Power idea to anything other than Glamours, then? Say, Toughness, or Claws, or whatever.

[blackstaff67]

The character has a Discipline at Good (3), Ritual (Veiling), Evocation (specializing in Spirit) and the Glamours power with the spell casting limitation. 

Thanks to the power, I allow the character to double the effective rating of her Discipline and Conviction for veiling, so the character's Discipline skill for veils is effectively doubled from Great (4) to Legendary (, and her Conviction of Good (3) is doubled to Fantastic (6). 

The character typically casts a force 4 veil, that can last 4 extra turns/actions.  Using Evocation still costs her mental stress.  This would cost her 1 Mental Stress.  The character could cast a Legendary Veil for 1 round as well, but this would cost her 3 stress (since her Conviction is effectively Fantastic for veils).

If she is casting the spell in a ritual, I let her double her Lore and Discipline skills to determine Control and Complexity.

A Four-shift Veil lasting Four Extra turns will run you a total of 8 (eight!) shifts of power!  Even assuming your Conviction doubles (?), that will still cost you three Mental stress, barring Foci and the like.  I'm afraid I don't see how Disc. and Conv. double.

As listed,Molly is able to do these Veils due to her Superb (+5) Discipline (and it's her specialty). It still costs her fatigue and quite honestly, I suspect that her Ritual (Spirit) that she starts out with allows/allowed her to put up some really impressive Veils.  That said, I've been wrong before (as others have noted).

[Shaft]

You must have a different version of PP than I do, because mine doesn't say anything near to this complex silliness. How in the world would you adapt the Spell: Power idea to anything other than Glamours, then? Say, Toughness, or Claws, or whatever.

Thanks for the insolent response.

This is a house rule in my game for a specific case. The thread asked for how people used powers, and I shared. 

[dragoonbuster]

Thanks for the insolent response.

This is a house rule in my game for a specific case. The thread asked for how people used powers, and I shared.

I mean, the thread asked for how people use the Spell: Power option from Paranet papers, you followed up with:

... One of those characters has the Glamours Power with the Spell modification (very similar to Molly). ...

...so forgive me for assuming you were referencing the book version and not your wildly different house-rule by the same name and example as the Paranet Papers version.

And I'm genuinely curious, how would you then apply this house rule to anything besides Glamours? Or is it an implementation-specific house rule? Given OP is mentioning a bunch of non-Glamours examples, it might be helpful for OP to have a better idea of how to use this house rule if they're interested.

[iago]

Folks, a few things:

1) In your individual replies, make sure to provide enough context for anything you're saying so someone coming into the thread right at your post doesn't have to guess whether or not you've stayed on-topic to the subject line you're posting under / the original post that started the thread. i.e., if you don't explicitly say you're talking about the system from the book itself, you're safely assumed to be talking about the system from the book itself even if there's an earlier reply from you where you started talking about stuff that's not in the book itself. Every reply has to stand on its own.

2) Avoid using language of judgment when discussing others' ideas. I get why something might seem like "complex silliness", but labeling someone's idea as silly is a commitment to getting off on the wrong foot with them.

3) There is no number three.

4) It's the internet. Text has no tone. Read charitably at all times; if something's gotten up your nose, there's a solid chance it wasn't aimed there, so back off and cool down and try to see if your own side of the interaction is what positioned your nostril in the line of fire.

Carry on.

[dragoonbuster]

Noted. Sorry you had to come out here iago.

While you're here, any chance you can expand on how the Paranet Papers version of the power is supposed to work in practice? I found it on the vague side and hard to figure out how to implement for pretty much anything other than maybe Glamours, which even then feels awkward.