Are maneuver the right tool to create "effect" spells?

[Madmacabre]

Hi all,

So let's say you need a quick water breathing spell. So using EVOCATION, can you simply use a spell to place an aspect on yourself (or an ally) to allow the target to breath under water?

And if you put the aspect on the target, do you need to spend a FATE point every turn to benefit from the effect?

I guess I am still struggling with the whole aspect concept. I get it when the aspect represents a temporary effect such as "stunned", "off-balance", "embarassed", etc.

But how does it work when the aspect, the way it is described, should have an effect by itself? For example, you put the aspect "On Fire!" on a target. Does he suffer stress every turn? Is the aspect only effective when someone tags it?

Thanks a lot guys!

[iago]

I'd probably allow a simple maneuver effect for water-breathing. Or treat it as a simple action: difficulty similar to the cost of a Resources roll to buy you some really good scuba gear.  This feels more like a thaumaturgic effect to me, but I could see it with Evocation. Maybe you concept it as a block (against drowning). There are lots of ways to do it but I imagine it'd just boil down to the player saying "what should the spell target difficulty be, GM?" and with something as simple as breathe water, I'd say, oh, Fair (+2), +1 for each additional adjacent person you wanted to give the ability to. It'd last one scene at the longest, as an evocation.

"On Fire" when done *as an aspect* is more about creating a circumstance for compels (target must take actions to deal with being on fire rather than something else it wants to do) than it is about ongoing damage. If you want ongoing damage, look at attacks, or consider modeling things after the grapple action.