Evocation veil that targets social stress

[Bruce Coulson]

"The police never think it's as funny as you do."

Still, this is the sort of creative thinking that we are supposed to encourage.  Treating it as a Maneuver in a Social Attack might be the way to go.  The consequences could be severe, but I'd allow it to work...

[bobjob]

Invisible Clothing
Type: Spirit Evocation, Maneuver
Power: Three shifts to place a maneuver, one shift for persistence.
Control: Roll Discipline plus appropriate specializations and focus items
Duration: One exchange
Target: One creature
Opposed by: Target's Athletics
Effect: Places the sticky aspect "Birthday Suit" on the target by rendering the target's clothing invisible, which can be tagged in Social combat.

[devonapple]

Effect: Places the sticky aspect "Birthday Suit" on the target by rendering the target's clothing invisible, which can be tagged in Social combat.

I appreciated the initial goal of seeking a way to target Social Stress with Evocation, but I feel that this is the safest and least problematic way to model the effect you want. Well done!

[bobjob]

As a maneuver, my real quick now is: Would you tag this for effect or would you tag this for a +2 to a social roll. My thinking is that if the maneuver hits, the effect is already there.

[bobjob]

As a maneuver, my real quick now is

Question, not quick.

I've also been thinking of some photomancy evocations that would create quick holograms to confuse people. The illusions themselves wouldn't be created in the mind of anybody, thus hopefully breaking no laws, but instead would just be a quick way to throw up a veil that works like Faery Glamours.

Any thoughts on that?

[devonapple]

As a maneuver, my real quick now is: Would you tag this for effect or would you tag this for a +2 to a social roll. My thinking is that if the maneuver hits, the effect is already there.

I still think it will depend on the Conflict.

For low-level conflicts, an Invoke for Effect should trigger a Compel or even a Concession and take the target out of the Conflict.

For more serious conflicts, the GM is going to buy off an Invoke for Effect that attempts to Compel anything close to a Concession, so the best that first free Invoke is going to get is either the +2, the reroll, or a Compel that the target defend as Mediocre that exchange, or until they can remove the "Birthday Suit" Aspect with a suitable defense roll.

I've also been thinking of some photomancy evocations that would create quick holograms to confuse people. The illusions themselves wouldn't be created in the mind of anybody, thus hopefully breaking no laws, but instead would just be a quick way to throw up a veil that works like Faery Glamours.

Maybe have an Evocation Maneuver to place a Scene Aspect, plus 2 shifts for a Zone-wide effect.

[Richard_Chilton]

I think it would really depend on the target.  Someone who has adopted the naturalist lifestyle would react very differently than a person who believes that naked flesh is sinful.  Further more, anyone with body issues would be effected much more than someone who likes the shape he/she is in (round is a shape, right?).

Where to make the judgment call? That would be up to the group to decide.

But now I'm thinking about something else.  This isn't "Bang - you're nude" it's "Bang, no one can see your clothing".  You could be wearing a foundation garment or otherwise having your figure shaped by clothing and it wouldn't show.

I can see an out of shape wizard doing this spell before heading to a beach - especially if he is old enough to remember the days when men wore corsets.  One spell and he's got something shaping his gut and looks to be in better shape than he is (without shapeshifting).  All he would have to do is exclude his swimsuit (or head to a nude beach) and he would have it made.  As for the ladies, I can see someone wanting to use something like this to defy gravity by wearing a bra while "topless".

Richard

[devonapple]

I think it would really depend on the target.  Someone who has adopted the naturalist lifestyle would react very differently than a person who believes that naked flesh is sinful.  Further more, anyone with body issues would be effected much more than someone who likes the shape he/she is in (round is a shape, right?).

Well, yes, and if the target has an Aspect about their naturalism, they can buy out of the tag with a Fate Point. Or they can make their Presence check to remove the Aspect. There are a variety of ways to handle it!

I can see an out of shape wizard doing this spell before heading to a beach - especially if he is old enough to remember the days when men wore corsets.  One spell and he's got something shaping his gut and looks to be in better shape than he is (without shapeshifting).  All he would have to do is exclude his swimsuit (or head to a nude beach) and he would have it made.  As for the ladies, I can see someone wanting to use something like this to defy gravity by wearing a bra while "topless".

Well, that's just a Maneuver to place the Aspect "I Look Good." Definitely getting into Glamour territory.

[Richard_Chilton]

Well, yes, and if the target has an Aspect about their naturalism, they can buy out of the tag with a Fate Point. Or they can make their Presence check to remove the Aspect. There are a variety of ways to handle it!

I'm not sure it would have to be Aspect.  There are things in people's backgrounds that never make it as one of the big seven, but someone who is used to walking around nude (naturalist, nude model, stripper, etc) would be less bothered by invisible clothing than someone who isn't used to it than someone who finds the concept sinful.

It's the "OMG I'm naked I'm going to die of embarrassment!" reaction as opposed to "Shrug - okay, where did my clothes go?" one.  It's the "I change behind a towel" mentality verses the "I can have a conversation while in the changing room and not care that both of us are nude" attitude.  I agree that Presence can be used to hide the fact that you are embarrassed but total nudity doesn't freak you in any way then why would you need to roll?

Richard

[Bruce Coulson]

I would say that anyone who is completely comfortable with suddenly being naked around total strangers (especially in a setting where clothing is the norm) should have an Aspect that would reflect that.

[devonapple]

It's the "OMG I'm naked I'm going to die of embarrassment!" reaction as opposed to "Shrug - okay, where did my clothes go?" one.  It's the "I change behind a towel" mentality verses the "I can have a conversation while in the changing room and not care that both of us are nude" attitude.  I agree that Presence can be used to hide the fact that you are embarrassed but total nudity doesn't freak you in any way then why would you need to roll?

I think we can agree that, all things being equal, this maneuver will discomfit and inconvenience a given mortal target. Regardless of religious affiliation or whether they think nudity is sinful. Nudity is, if nothing else, vulnerability and exposure.

We can list exceptions for days. If a given player's group and GM are perfectly aware why such a maneuver wouldn't impact the character that much, it makes sense, and heck, the GM would probably be tagging it for a +2, or just not doing it.

What we don't want to encourage is a lot of backstory backfill in which people retroactively give themselves hippie nudist Maasai South-of-France backgrounds to protect against this one thing. And someone who wouldn't be put out in any way by their clothes suddenly disappearing is *going* to have *some* Aspect about how unflappable, world-savvy, and incredibly cool they are.

[toturi]

Aspect - Exceptional specimen of man/woman-hood 

"Birthday suit" Aspect backfires, -2 to any social attack on chararacter. 

[Richard_Chilton]

Retroactively writing a background to avoid a conflict isn't cool.  Doing it to help tie yourself to plot is one thing, but to avoid an attack...

No, not cool.

Since society is so diverse, social stress is hard to inflict.  Some people could shrug off losing their clothes while it could be argued that losing a burqa might be grounds for an extreme social consequence - it's kind of subjected for a 'one spell fits all' type attack.

I mean, here we are discussing how wearing the Emperor's New Clothes makes someone feel...

There are a few things that would be universal attacks - making someone stutter, giving them word apnea, giving them tourette syndrome - but I can't help feeling that social attacks have to be modeled for the victim.

Richard