While you can use your favored elements for flavor, your Thaumaturgy specialties will affect the ward far more than Evocation. Skipping shifts and setup, here's an example I used for an NPC Necromancer, the ward totaled 28 shifts. Breakdown follows:- Duration of a mortal lifetime, 12 shifts
- Basic barrier / suppression effect rating / power 4, 4 shifts
- Enervating Drain (persistent block against movement), 12 shifts consisting of:
- Trigger (entering uninvited), 2 shifts
- Three zones (hall & entry, living room, stairs), 6 shifts
- Persistent movement block rating 2, 4 shifts
While it's not in the book, I did limit any single power rated result of the ward (barrier & drain) to a number of shifts equal to the necromancer's Lore - four in this case.
Note the
bolded section. I haven't come across anywhere within the RAW or the novels to support something which would cause difficulty moving once someone was within a Ward, which is how I'm interpreting the Persistent movement block is meant to function. A Ward as I understand it is supposed to be a barrier, once the barrier is breached or penetrated... Similarly, while the idea of additional shifts due to a Warded area having multiple zones is interesting, I haven't come across anything about that in the RAW, in fact YS277 specifically mentions that
Wards don’t have a “scale” concern, the way that veils do, and they cannot move.
therefore I would treat adding shifts of Complexity to a Ward because the Warded area has multiple zone a "house rule". Also keep in mind that Harry's basement apartment had 3-4 zones in it. There was the kitchenette/living room area with fireplace, the bedroom, the bathroom & shower (which might have been part of the bedroom), and lastly Harry's lab in the sub-basement. Given that a Ward is intended to protect a practioner's home, I would expect that all such Wards would provide a barrier to multiple zones, since anything except a studio apartment is going to have at least three different rooms, and even a studio apartment will have two.
You total ward power is going to be equal to your Lore plus two per aspect you can use. Declarations are the default method of creating tag-able aspects. If you can talk your group into assisting, you may also be able to use maneuvers. You can, of course, also spend fate or take consequences.
Is there an area of Thaumaturgy which you're basing this off of, if so, where? The only relationship I'm aware of between Lore and the casting of a Ward is in determining how many shifts of Complexity the caster can manage 'off the cuff' without needing to spend time in preparation. Similarly, the only relevance I'm aware of with Aspects is that a caster can use their appropriate Aspects by spending Fate points to reduce the prep time for the spell. An example of this would be to cast a Ward with Complexity 16 (like the one I list below...) by a Hedge Wizard with Lore: Fair (+2) would leave 14 shifts of Complexity that the Hedge Wizard needs to make up, before casting can even begin. Now if the Hedge Wizard had seven relevant Aspects and enough Fate points to spend on activating all of them, he'd have reached the required 16 to match the Complexity of the spell and could start in casting immediately.
So after re-reading the section on wards, it makes it sound like they repel the magical energies back at the caster, what about physical energies. If a guy runs full tilt into the ward would he take damage from the kinetic force? and what about gunfire? Would the bullets be repelled back at the shooters? If so is that a 1st law violation? Or do wards just work against magics?
While the RAW might suggest that Wards provide a physical as well as magical barrier, the novels and short stories suggest otherwise.
In the short story Day Off, something was thrown through one of Harry's windows. In Ghost Story, bullets were fired into/through the windows and walls of someone's house that had a Ward.
The spell below if from the campaign I'm running set in New Haven, CT.
Eric Holt's Cabin Ward*
This is the Ward around caretaker Eric Holt's cabin at BSA Camp Mattabessitt in Bethany, CT.
Type:Thaumaturgy, Wards
Complexity:16
Duration: One month (+4 Complexity)
Effect:An 8-shift Block on entry into the cabin (+8 Complexity)
Notes:Wardflames provide warning to those within the cabin if supernatural entities or beings approach within 100 yards of the cabin. (+2 Complexity)
Additionally, the key to the lock in the cabin door is a symbolic link, alerting Eric if something comes into contact with the Ward while he's away from his cabin. (+2 Complexity)
This was something put together by a Hedge Wizard who at the time had Conviction: Good (+3), Discipline: Good (+3) and Lore: Fair (+2). The time estimate was that casting the spell itself took about 4 hours with a similar amount of time spent in preparation for casting. Given the duration, the spell needs to be renewed monthly.
A few things to consider with Wards. You want the basic Block to be fairly high. If it's not then it would be relatively easy for a magical opponent to breach or collapse the Ward. If a Ward only has a Great (+4) strength basic Block, then any Discipline roll of Great (+4) or higher will get through and either allow the Ward or the people inside to be targeted. YS276 even mentions...
The base complexity of a ward is directly related to its desired strength, so you should aim for this to be pretty high: 8 shifts (Legendary) is a pretty good target to shoot for if you’re moderately good. This represents the ward’s capacity for reflecting attacks.
On average, two Evocation attacks from a caster with Conviction and Discipline of Great (+4) would collapse a Ward with a basic Block strength of only Great (+4). The first attack, rolling a net of +0 added to Discipline would match the strength of the Block, leaving the 4 shifts of power from Conviction to reduce the strength of Block down to Mediocre (+0), which leaves the Ward so weak that the second attack can't miss even if the roll was a net -4, and there would still be 4 shifts of power to bring the Ward to -4 at which point it dissipates.
-Cheers