Two questions

[BumblingBear]

Ok... so I've been educating myself about the system and I just picked up the first two books.

I have two questions.

1. First, would it be possibly for a focused practitioner to be an evocator and just keep improving that one specialized evocation at each milestone?  This idea appeals to me.  The tradeoff for all the myriad other things wizards can do would be a /nasty/ evocation attack even without a foci.

2.  Only mortal magic is beholden to the laws of magic, right?  So theoretically, an Emissary of Power could use magic gained from .... The Flying Spaghetti Monster to kill mortals and he/she would not be violating any supernatural laws, right?


Thanks! 

[HobbitGuy1420]

Both the answers depend, at least partially, on the GM and your gaming group.

Per the Rules As Written, you can only take Refinement once as a Focused Practitioner.  On the other hand, some might rule that that only applies to starting refresh, and that after the game starts you might be able to continue to Refine your abilities. 

Regarding the Laws, I'd rule that it's not the style of magic that matters, but the entity performing it.  An inhuman being performing magic won't need to worry about Lawbreaking, just as it won't need to worry about hexing technology.  As a human, however, you have a soul that can be corrupted by what you perform with the magic. 

Or, to go at it from another direction, sponsored magic isn't a different kind of magic altogether.  it's just a different power source that you then use to power your mortal magic.

[MyNinjaH8sU]

Both the answers depend, at least partially, on the GM and your gaming group.

Per the Rules As Written, you can only take Refinement once as a Focused Practitioner.  On the other hand, some might rule that that only applies to starting refresh, and that after the game starts you might be able to continue to Refine your abilities. 

Regarding the Laws, I'd rule that it's not the style of magic that matters, but the entity performing it.  An inhuman being performing magic won't need to worry about Lawbreaking, just as it won't need to worry about hexing technology.  As a human, however, you have a soul that can be corrupted by what you perform with the magic. 

Or, to go at it from another direction, sponsored magic isn't a different kind of magic altogether.  it's just a different power source that you then use to power your mortal magic.

Just gonna point out that inhuman stuff can hex technology just fine if they are using true magic, per the books. It's other sources of power that don't seem to do it.

[HobbitGuy1420]

Actually, per the section on Hexing on page 228, it's the type of person, not the type of magic, that indicates whether there's hexing going on..

[MyNinjaH8sU]

Actually, per the section on Hexing on page 228, it's the type of person, not the type of magic, that indicates whether there's hexing going on..

That's totally possible, but didn't

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The Skinwalker

hex everything and it's grandmother everywhere it went? Granted, it showed a ton of control, but it certainly did it. That seems like an inconsistency between the series and the RPG.

[easl]

Ok... so I've been educating myself about the system and I just picked up the first two books.
2.  Only mortal magic is beholden to the laws of magic, right?  So theoretically, an Emissary of Power could use magic gained from .... The Flying Spaghetti Monster to kill mortals and he/she would not be violating any supernatural laws, right?

As HobbitGuy says, that depends on your group.

But one thing that seems to be common in the dresdenverse is that the other powers who have signed the unseelie accords are pretty lax about enforcing the penalties the White Council enforces on humans.  So one advantage a vampire or sidhe spellcaster should probably have (if you're staying close to the books) is that their bosses are far less likely to care if they kill someone with magic. For example

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the red court seems to actively break the outsider law as a matter of war strategy.

[Peteman]

The RPG says that supernaturals don't accidentally Hex technology, but can if they do so desire.

My interpretation is that sponsored do get Lawbreaker stunts for the various Laws they break. However, the White Council cannot simply execute them because although they claim responsibility for all Mortal mages, a mage that is sponsored is usually under the jurisdiction of their sponsor.

That being said, I think the White Council is probably a bit trigger happy to declare war against factional Lawbreakers of the fifth, sixth, and seventh Laws.

[devonapple]

That's totally possible, but didn't

(click to show/hide)

The Skinwalker

hex everything and it's grandmother everywhere it went? Granted, it showed a ton of control, but it certainly did it. That seems like an inconsistency between the series and the RPG.

I got the distinct impression that that was intentional.

[BumblingBear]

Ok so what about hexing?

In the books, not all magical practitioners fry electronics.  Heck, not even all wizards do.

It also makes no sense that a revolver would be more reliable (or at least Harry believes it is) than a Glock when a Glock has less moving parts.

I'm playing around with the idea of building an x military turned magical character, but I doubt that my character would completely forsake technology or most of his training to go the supernatural route.

I'm trying to find some way to incorporate both sets of skills.  The book does mention that more control = less hexing.  This was part of my idea to have one channeling ability with a buttload of refinement for a high refresh game.

What do you all think?

[sinker]

The other option for a magic character who uses tech, would be to carry a ton of fate points about. Accidental hexing is technically a GM compel, so if you really want your tech to work then you could always just spend most of your fate points buying out of the compels.

[Sanctaphrax]

I like the character concept, and I encourage you to go for it. A homebrew [-0] power that prevents you from hexing (intentionally or otherwise) would probably be reasonable. But you should bear in mind that a refined Evoker is always more powerful than a refined Channeler. Mechanically, there's no contest.

[BumblingBear]

I like the character concept, and I encourage you to go for it. A homebrew [-0] power that prevents you from hexing (intentionally or otherwise) would probably be reasonable. But you should bear in mind that a refined Evoker is always more powerful than a refined Channeler. Mechanically, there's no contest.

I may end up going this route.

I think that I may come up with a homebrewed rule or something, because in the game book, it is even mentioned that a character like Mort can do things that Harry probably could not.

It makes sense that if someone has a true talent and pours all of it into one specific skill that it would eventually be unrivaled.

[admiralducksauce]

Ok so what about hexing?

In the books, not all magical practitioners fry electronics.  Heck, not even all wizards do.

It also makes no sense that a revolver would be more reliable (or at least Harry believes it is) than a Glock when a Glock has less moving parts.

I'm playing around with the idea of building an x military turned magical character, but I doubt that my character would completely forsake technology or most of his training to go the supernatural route.

Ramirez and a lot of other Wardens carry Glocks.  In fact, Jim seems to have toned down the hexing effect on guns a lot from Storm Front, where even the semiautomatics get shaky.  I mean, in White Night

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Marcone and his mercs are spraying thousands of rounds everywhere.  And Murphy's P90 is certainly a modern weapon and she's seen carrying it lots around Harry.

  I wouldn't rely on nightvision goggles or your fancy optics but guns seem to be pretty immune from the accidental hexing effect later on.  Besides, the best thing to do if the GM compels your gun to jam is to pull out another gun, Il Duce style! 

[BumblingBear]

Ramirez and a lot of other Wardens carry Glocks.  In fact, Jim seems to have toned down the hexing effect on guns a lot from Storm Front, where even the semiautomatics get shaky.  I mean, in White Night

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Marcone and his mercs are spraying thousands of rounds everywhere.  And Murphy's P90 is certainly a modern weapon and she's seen carrying it lots around Harry.

  I wouldn't rely on nightvision goggles or your fancy optics but guns seem to be pretty immune from the accidental hexing effect later on.  Besides, the best thing to do if the GM compels your gun to jam is to pull out another gun, Il Duce style! 

Those are very good points.  I just try to approach things as if the GM and other players may not have always read the books like me.  The RPG is kind of nebulous on certain things which I am assuming is specifically so the GM has more power.

That said, Harry is not good at finesse or control and he was even able to be on a talk show in the past.  I personally believe that part of why Harry fries everything is his stubborn nature and his inability/unwillingness to fit in.

Luccio is into computers.  Not all wizards totally forsake technology or pop culture like Harry does.

I like the idea of a soldier ETSing and then learning about the occult and developing seriously strong evocation.  Depending on the evocation, he/she might already have an affinity for it after being a soldier.

My backstory was going to be that my character was in a courthouse to get divorced and while there, he witnessed law enforcement get attacked by a ghoul.  This was when he got "clued in" and also where he realized just how totally helpless he was without weapons.

Eventually, after getting clued in, obsessively studying the mystical and developing a powerful talent of his own, my character will start trying to help people, but eventually realize how badly outclassed he/she is still.

At this point, I will introduce the character accepting a deal and becoming a representative of power.

I'm thinking about asking the GM to give me some extra skill points in return for one less fate point or something.

It would make sense to me that people who have been trained in the military should receive a few bonus skill points in whatever it was they did.

For instance, an x special forces soldier would have a lot more skills in life than a person of similar age who works at Wal*Mart.

[sjksprocket]

I'm thinking about asking the GM to give me some extra skill points in return for one less fate point or something.

It would make sense to me that people who have been trained in the military should receive a few bonus skill points in whatever it was they did.

For instance, an x special forces soldier would have a lot more skills in life than a person of similar age who works at Wal*Mart.

I think in the rpg that something like is dealt with mortal stunts. take one or two of those. They cost refresh and give your character bonuses to skills or allows you to use a skill in a way you normally couldn't.