Biff's Many Questions

[Biff Dyskolos]

I want to be clear on a few points:

1) The Crafting(Frequency) specialization/bonus is dead. Crafting(Strength) is king. Long live the king.

2) Just like an evocation, a item with Block:4 can be used as Armour:2. Unlike the evocation, both Block and Armour both burn a use.

3) About stacking. I could enchant a Block:6 effect on a Armour:2 Kevlar jacket and if threated with a Weapon:2 attack I could choose to not invoke a use and let the jacket take the hit. If threatened by a stronger attack I could then invoke a use for the Block:6 or Armour:3 effect. When all uses have been burned it fails to jut Armour:2 until recharged.

[Biff Dyskolos]

Let's set items aside a moment and consider evocations. My safest option is to cast a Rote because I never risk taking more than 1 mental stress. If I use a non rote evocation I take additional stress for calling extra power and risk backlash/fallout if I botch the roll. So the best case scenario is I can launch a MAXIMUM of 4 Rotes (assuming Good or better Discipline and 4 mental stress boxes)  without taking mental consequences.

If I cast a fifth rote I have to take a mild consequence to mitigate the stress. It might be better at this point to cast a 2 stress evocation (risking backlash/fallout). Assuming no extra mild mental consequences, my next evocation causes a moderate consequence.... all the up to my ninth evocation which will take me out.

That is a maximum of nine evocation per scene. I can't imagine expecting any soldier to fight a war with only nine bullets in his gun!

If you want to have a campaign that focuses on the war with the Red Court, wizards are seriously handicapped. I hoped that enchanted items would level the field and at the same time realized that always-on is bad for weapons but I'm not sure this new system has struck the right balance.

[iago]

Let's set items aside a moment and consider evocations. My safest option is to cast a Rote because I never risk taking more than 1 mental stress.

You can base a rote off of a higher amount of power than you can normally summon based on your Conviction, thereby creating a rote that means you take more than 1 mental stress. FYI.

[iago]

That is a maximum of nine evocation per scene. I can't imagine expecting any soldier to fight a war with only nine bullets in his gun!

It's not a war, it's a battle; it's not a bullet or a gun, it's a howitzer (Harry fried a room full of Red Courters with one spell); and if you end up tapping into Sponsored Magic, as Harry does down the line, then you're looking at a case where sponsors can pay for some of the costs in exchange for debt.

[LCDarkwood]

1) The Crafting(Frequency) specialization/bonus is dead. Crafting(Strength) is king. Long live the king.

Incorrect. Frequency spec affects the default for your items, so it applies its benefit for free across all of them, like the strength spec does. So if you have three one-use items, now you have three two-use items for one spec point.

That doesn't suck. Yeah, it's not as effective if you only plan to have one item, but if that's the case, you're clearly going to take strength anyway.

2) Just like an evocation, a item with Block:4 can be used as Armour:2. Unlike the evocation, both Block and Armour both burn a use.

Yeah, but in the case where the wizard changes his mind on a use because of how the dice roll out, I figure only a real jerk would charge him for two uses.

3) About stacking. I could enchant a Block:6 effect on a Armour:2 Kevlar jacket and if threated with a Weapon:2 attack I could choose to not invoke a use and let the jacket take the hit. If threatened by a stronger attack I could then invoke a use for the Block:6 or Armour:3 effect. When all uses have been burned it fails to jut Armour:2 until recharged.

That sounds right, yeah.

[Biff Dyskolos]

Incorrect. Frequency spec affects the default for your items, so it applies its benefit for free across all of them, like the strength spec does. So if you have three one-use items, now you have three two-use items for one spec point.

If each slot has a base 1+ (Frequency +1) = 2 uses then what happens when you combine slots. Back at the top of the thread spending another slot got you 2 extra uses assuming a base 1 use slot. So does using a 2 use slot get you 4 extra uses? That's a grand total of 2 uses for the first slot + 4 for the second = 6 uses + a bonus for trading Strength for uses at 1:1.

That also begs the question can trade Frequency bonus for Strength the same way you can trade Strength for Frequency?

I figure only a real jerk would charge him for two uses.

I did not mean to suggest charging two uses. For an evocation, if shifts get past a Block then the spell collapses - that is like burning a use on an item. But if you choose to use that same evocation as Armour then shifts that get past do not collapse the spell.

What I meant was, regardless of whether you choose to use an item as a Block or as Armour you will burn ONE of your uses?

[Biff Dyskolos]

You can base a rote off of a higher amount of power than you can normally summon based on your Conviction, thereby creating a rote that means you take more than 1 mental stress. FYI.

Yes you can have a rote that cost more than 1 stress . But you still have a max of 4 mental stress boxes. A 2 stress rote means you can only cast 2 rotes before you get into consequences.

[Biff Dyskolos]

Harry fried a room full of Red Courters with one spell

This reminds me of another mystery! Memorium, Memoratum, Memoritus places a single Revenge Is Ours aspect on a scene. I terms of game mechanics, how does this manage to take out a single vamp, let-alone a room full?

I seem to remember a thread on the Yahoo group where someone expected that placing an ON FIRE aspect on a target should cause on going damage. But someone (was it you?) said that unless you pressed the advantage by tagging the aspect in a subsequent attack, you can assume that the target take action to remove the aspect.

[luminos]

you take out a room full of vampires by pulling in way more energy than you can control, and then letting the backlash hit everything in range.

[iago]

This reminds me of another mystery! Memorium, Memoratum, Memoritus places a single Revenge Is Ours aspect on a scene. I terms of game mechanics, how does this manage to take out a single vamp, let-alone a room full?

It's not an attack. It's quick and dirty summoning ritual that reincorporates previous elements of the story to deliver poetic justice. The GM thought that was awesome and ran with it.

[iago]

you take out a room full of vampires by pulling in way more energy than you can control, and then letting the backlash hit everything in range.

You got your terminology in a cramp there, I'm afraid. That which hits the environment is fallout, and it's just as likely to go after allies as not.  People who try to "game" the system by trying to attack via backlash should perhaps not be surprised when it brings the roof down on their own head.

EDITED to, y'know, not repeat the terminology I was saying was in error.

[Biff Dyskolos]

That which hits the environment is backlash

Isn't Backlash the the energy that the caster takes on himself? Fallout hits the environment.