Actually, he can get 11 shifts on potions with a fate point.
That's what I get for hoping you'd miss that. Point to you, though the Evoker could save the Fate for later, which is significant.
1. One round maneuver thaumaturgy. There is no way this is more than 5 shifts.
Thaumaturgy takes a minimum of minutes to cast, per the rules. Time is sort of relative in DFRPG, but while it's possible for 10 seconds to be 1 exchange or 1 minute (or even a bit more) to be 1 exchange, it is not possible for 10 seconds to last several minutes. :p
The rest (except for #4) I'll grant you; the point was that with four potion slots, there's no way to create six unique effects -- which you could do with Evocation. Now on the other hand, the Artificer could do his more limited repetoir a number of times that would long since see the evoker pass out. And yes, the Evoker takes stress, whereas the Artificer doesn't. Did you miss the part where I mentioned I wasn't trying to prove that the Artificer was weaker? A Fae spellslinger could easily be much, much more powerful, too ... but even so, Mab is
also not a Wizard.
1. One round maneuver thaumaturgy. There is no way this is more than 5 shifts.
I agree with you that it's debatable whether or not the white council would let this character in, but if the tests you pose are the entry quals, he passes easier than Dresden does.[/quote]
I disagree, based on my discussion of time required for rituals above. That said, my post was not "the Wizard test", to my knowledge we don't know what that test is. But I'm betting that the first part of it requires that you leave behind all of your 'stuff', even your clothes (I imagine they'd provide a simple robe). This would be to specifically remove powers based on things like IoPs ... and would cause the Artificer a bit of a problem.
Belial's and Ryan's subsequent exchanges highlight, I think, very well the strengths and weaknesses of both Wizards and Artificers, and in particular Ryan's post has some good ideas as to how the two could complement each other.
A few bits to add:
Regarding the 'to hit' deficit, I beleive the Artificer could probably come up with ways to improve his odds of landing attacks. One option might be to creat a Focus to boost his Control rolls. This would either weaken his items, reduce his item count, or require additional Refresh. Another might be to have an enchanted item that grants him an aspect useful to his control rolls. This would allow him to get one free tag, then provide a channel for Fate (though that would be expensive -- he could also rely on applying a new aspect each shot, which would cost exchanges and eventually mental stress to re-use the item once expended).
Regarding the AoE counterspell to completely disarm the Artificer ... well, "wow". I'm going to have to remember that one!
Regarding the duration of Thaumaturgy spells: there is no "basic duration of Thaumaturgy" of "until dawn". The example, in the section on Thaum durations of YS266, gives the example of a Thaum spell that grants an aspect, and states that the base duration for such spells is one scene, or fifteen mintutes (in the example, it mentions that +5 shifts would let it last for the day). Generally, stuff that causes stress or generates aspects (maneuvers) has a base time of a scene, stuff that grants a skill use lasts about the length of time that skill roll would cover, damage (consequences) last until the consequence would wear off, etc. 'Until daybreak' is the catch-all for stuff that is otherwise not obvious, and for location-based Thaum spells.
Regarding the need for 'daily maintenance', I don't think this is necessarily true. For potions, it likely is. But for wards, not so. In fact, I could swear I recall a discussion somewhere in which Harry discusses that he found a formula that let the enchantments on certain of his items (like his coat) last months at a time. I couldn't tell you where, though. In particular, I don't recall Harry ever taking time to renew his enchantments (except to rebuild an enchantment that had been broken), and it is often true that the novels leave very little un-plotted time in which such things could occur. Perhaps a better explanation would be to claim that items require a contant subconcious mantainence, and that 'item slots' represent the ability to manage a certain amount of this constant drain without ill effects. Under this theory (and its just a theory), perhaps a house rule might allow a Thaumaturgist to create additional items on a short term basis, but at the cost of a consequence ("My mana cannae take much more o' this, Cap'n!") that cannot be recovered from until the character lets the enchantment drop (or, to put it another way, the recovery period starts when the mana strain stops).