Magic Spells - Spell Improvements

The last Spirit of Greyhawk post covered both the Basic Properties of Spells and a look at the three categories of Spell powers. This post lists out the Spell Improvements that are currently available when designing spells. Most of these should look familiar as Improvements from Spirit of the Century.

Unless otherwise stated, each Spell Improvement increases the casting difficulty by +1.

NOTE: As this list shares much in common with creating magic items, my hope is that the list will effectively serve as Improvements for spell as well as for magic item creation.

Additional Compels

Caster can trigger free compels more than once. NOTE: This may need some review with respect to the treatment of "fragile" aspects.

Alternate Useage

Alternate Useage has the ability to allow skills to function more like you would expect in the High Fantasy genre.

Example: While the Power of a Healing spell might be to allow someone to use their Magic Skill instead of Physik skill, this Improvement would be needed to avoid any physical restrictions on time required for healing, maximums, or other non-magic things like requiring bandages and whatnot.

Armed

ERRATA: This entry was changed slightly--the original post had an important note left out.

This improvement allows the benefactor of the magical effect to be considered as having a weapon of some kind. It is important to note that this is different from being able to cause damage. If you are considered as being "Armed", you could also use the weapon to defend.

So damaging spells DO NOT allow that opportunity unless you have this advantage. So the benefactor gains the ability to attack, or to allow its possessor to attack, with Melee or Missile as if he/it possessed a weapon of some kind. Examples include a scarf that can be used as a whip, a potion that imbues the wearer's hands with supernatural hardness, or a spell that creates a sword of fire.

Armored

Target is granted armor-like protection. How that's expressed is up the spell (and potentially spell aspects).

+1 = Light Armor
+2 = Medium Armor
+3 = Heavy Armor

Aspect Addition

Add an Aspect to the target.

Normally, the aspect will be "fragile" (i.e., can only be tagged once) for a +1 on the difficulty. The aspect can be upgraded to "sticky" (can be tagged multiple times) for the duration of the spell for an additional +1 on the difficulty.

Normally Spell aspects last only as long as a spell's duration, in order to allow for negation-related effects. In other words, if you want to cast a permanent aspect addition, you would likely need a permanent duration spell. However this would be open to a certain amount of interpretation.

Here are some examples:

• "Aspect: Flying" on a spell of magical flight would last as long as the spell's duration (A sticky aspect).
• "Aspect: Prone" lasts until the target gets up (A fragile aspect)
• "Aspect: Target on Fire" granted via an instantaneous spell like Fireball might last longer than the spell itself, though actions could be taken to remove it. (A fragile aspect, that might last much longer than the Fireball's "instantaneous" duration.)
  

Conscious

The spell has some manner of sentience and is able to act independent of the caster in a very limited fashion. Often, this means that the spell gains a skill, the rating of which is equal to the total number of effects the spell possesses. This effect can be taken multiple times to either bump up a single skill or acquire new ones. How this all shakes out depends greatly on the item in question, but odds are only mental skills will be appropriate.

For example, a sword containing the bound spirit of a demon might have its own Alertness skill, or Lore, of which the wielder can make use. Athletics, however, would be a tough sell, because the sword simply lacks a means of locomotion. Despite the sentience, the item can't act independently of its owner; it requires a command or prompt of some kind to activate. More specifically, if the caster is rendered unconcious during the spell's duration, this improvement is of little value. Note that this basic concept can also be more or less created using "Upgrade", below, although it'll be quite different in practice.

Independent

Prerequisite: Conscious.

Like Conscious, but the spell is capable of basic reasoning, and can interpret simple commands. As the name implies, the spell can act independently, even if its owner is unconscious. Limited movement is possible, even without a means of locomotion, as is speech or some other form of communication with its bearer. Depending on the nature of the spell, it can even have physical skills such as Melee, although these will always be defaulted to Mediocre (in other words, having the skill at Mediocre lets the item use it at all).

Delay

Technically, this isn't an effect on the item, spell, or potion, but on one or more of its effects. For example, a Delayed shocking blast explodes a few minutes after the mage casts it instead of immediately. The mage decides the length of the Delay when he casts the spell. Currently there is no extra cost for delaying something a longer period of time.

Trigger

Like Delay, Trigger postpones the effect(s) of a spell, item, or potion, but unlike Delay, the determinant isn't time, but a specific event or contigency. If you want to get pedantic, nearly every product of Alchemy has a trigger: drinking the potion, applying the oil, etc. But that sort of thing doesn't count as an effect; this is different.

For example, you can consume a feather-weight potion now, but it won't activate until you experience a sudden fall. That's the Trigger. Similarly, the shocking blast above could be cast with a Trigger of "when someone opens this door."

Miniaturization

This is the "It's much bigger on the inside!" effect — something that looks small, but which behaves as if it weren't. Examples include a pouch that holds as much as a warehouse (Bag of Holding), a dagger that does as much damage as a greatsword, or a hut that can sleep a small army.

Maximization

The inverse of Miniaturization: Sometimes you just need something to be big. This effect is used to alter an item for circumstances when size will truly matter, such as a weapon that can’t possibly damage its intended mega-monster target without being very large, or a house-sized carriage pulled by dozens of horses that’s able to transport a huge number of passengers.

Upgrade - General

The Improvement gives a +1 bonus to any effort using it (usually only to one skill, if the device or potion supports the use of multiple skills). This improvement may not be taken more than once per affected skill.

Examples include a magically sharp sword, an amulet that imparts arcane knowledge to its wearer, or a potion (or spell) of strength.

Upgrade - Specific

Similar to Upgrade - General, but instead of applying a +1 bonus to the entire scope of a skill, Upgrade grants +2 to a specific usage of it.

A troll-slaying sword, for example, might get an extra +2 when used against trolls. a ice spell might grant a +2 bonus against creatures who are fire-based (like a salamander, or a fire elemental).

Supers: Two Characters for OrcCon

I'm having a pretty good time here making pre-gens for this FATE supers game I'm running at OrcCon, so I figured I'd post a couple of them here to be scrutinized.

Here's the blurb for the game:

Final Exam Crisis!

Are you ready for some exciting but essentially non-lethal Silver Age-type action? When supervillainy threatens Pacific City, it's up to Seaside High School's motley assortment of teenage superheroes to put a stop to it. And during finals week, no less! Come playtest this new superheroic version of FATE, the ruleset that powers Spirit of the Century, Diaspora, and the upcoming Legends of Anglerre.

See how everyone got a plug there?

First up is one of the aforesaid motley assortment of teenage superheroes. When she isn't fighting crime, Gold Star is the future valedictorian of Seaside High, Class of 2011. She's the type who does crosswords to improve her SAT scores and who organizes everything in a ten-foot radius within an inch of its life. As Gold Star, her powers include telepathy, telekinesis, low-grade mind control, and that kinda thing. She's hunted by the Headmaster, a sort of evil-ish version of Professor X -- a powerful psychic who collects the smartest metahumans he can find and puts them to use for his own nefarious purposes. Gold Star would be a good get for him. (Her Catchphrase aspect is empty -- that's for the player to fill in.)

Gold Star (PC)

• Skills:
• +4: Academics
  
• +3: Telepathy (M), Investigation
  
• +2: Telekinesis (E), Science, Resolve
  
• +1: Alertness, Contacting, Athletics, Rapport, Computers
  
• Cost: 21
• Super-Skills:
• Telepathy (Mundane)
• Trappings: Persuasion (Mental, Range), Reading People (Mental, Range), Detect Lies (Mental), Attack (Mental, Range)
  
• Complication: Hunted by the Headmaster
  
• Cost: 27
• Telekinesis (Extraordinary)
• Trappings: Attack (Range), Move (Unusual, Spread), Parry (Range), Physical Force (Range, Spread)
  
• Major Complication: Honest to a Fault
  
• Cost: 22
• Stunts:
• Cost: 0
• Refresh: 2
• Cost: 10
• Aspects:
• Concept: Psychic Overachiever
  
• Catchphrase:
• Complication: Hunted by the Headmaster
  
• Major Complication: Honest to a Fault
  
• "Harvard's my safety school"
  
• Extra-Curricular Activities
  
• Mind Over Matter

I'm ashamed of and giggly about Electro-Cute's name in equal measure. Fortunately, by the time the game starts, she's left this nom de villainy behind. Still, come on -- she's an electricity controller who considers her physical attractiveness to be her most important asset. At the same time, she's bitter over not being the most popular girl in school (that honor belongs to Heather Donaway, aka Clique, one of the other PCs) and possessed of a near-pathological greed. Electro-Cute may be a ridiculous name, but it's exactly the sort of name she'd come up with. This version of her doesn't actually show up in the game; it's just for fun.

Note that Electro-Cute has a Complication: Secret ID aspect, whereas Gold Star doesn't. That's because, for this game, "Secret ID" is a campaign aspect.


Electro-Cute (NPC)

• Skills:
• +4: Rapport
• +3: Electric Blast (E), Deceit
• +2: Art, Athletics, Alertness
• +1: Stealth, Empathy, Contacting, Electricity Control (E)
• Cost: 20
• Super-Skills:
• Electric Blast (Extraordinary)
• Trappings: Attack (Range)
• Complication: Secret ID
• Cost: 10
• Electricity Control (Extraordinary)
• Trappings: Security, Invulnerability (Electricity)
• Major Complication: Greedy (-1 point)
• Cost: 10
• Stunts:
• +2 Empathy with assessments
• Use Deceit instead of Empathy to detect lies
• +1 Athletics to dodge
• Cost: 15
•  Refresh: 5
• Cost: 25
• Aspects:
• Concept: Electricity Controller
• Catchphrase: "Shocking, isn't it?"
• Complication: Secret ID
• Major Complication: Greedy
• Catfight!
• Determined to Take Down Heather Donaway
• Style Over Substance

As you can see (or could guess), characters have seven aspects: a Concept, a Catchphrase, and five "free" aspects. Complications, Weaknesses, and Items (but not Snags) take up these "free" aspect slots. The upshot is that having super-skills means limiting either the scope of your powers (with Snags) or the nature of your aspects (by devoting some of those aspect slots to Complications, Weaknesses, or Items).

The game's set for Saturday the 13th at 8:00 pm, so if you're going to OrcCon, come on by and check it out!

Supers: Heroic Consequences

Let's leave aside for a moment all this stuff about how to handle powers and instead talk about this other thing, which I'm calling, at least temporarily, Heroic consequences.

Heroic consequences are a third "pool" of consequences (in addition to the usual Physical and Mental), but one shared by the PCs instead of belonging to any of them individually. They represent, and give more significance to, their failures -- stuff like property damage, civilian casualties, falling reputations, and the like. Think of them like campaign aspects, but... y'know, consequences instead.

When a PC fails to defend against an attack, the player can choose to reduce the incoming stress (because we're using that, at least for the time being) with either one of his own consequences, or a Heroic consequence. The latter means that the PC gets the reduce the stress without suffering himself, but something bad happens to the environment around him. An innocent bystander could get knocked out, a car could be crushed, an office building could burst into flames, the public could turn against the PCs -- whatever.

For example, Roborilla, the supervillainous robotic gorilla, throws a compact car at the Blue Knight, who throws up one of his trademark blue force fields to stop it. But he's too late -- his defense roll fails by 4. The Blue Knight has three choices:

1. He can take 4 Health stress, a result of dodging out of the way in the nick of time. 
2. He can take a Physical consequence, like "Knocked Off Balance" or "Cracked Ribs." The car's hit him, and he's worse off for it.
   
3. He can reduce that 4 Health stress with a Heroic consequence, like "Smashed Storefront" or "Civilian Trapped Under Car." The car's missed him, but it's caused some trouble elsewhere in the scene.
   

So in one sense, it makes the PCs a little hardier in the face of head-exploding super-strength punches and brain-melting psychic blasts. More importantly, though, Heroic consequences obey the usual rules (well, my usual rules, anyway) of consequences.

To recap: Minor consequences go away at the end of a scene, Moderate consequences can only be removed with a Great skill check, and Severe consequences only go away at the end of the story -- but they change an aspect when they do.

So going back to the example of Roborilla and the Blue Knight, "Smashed Storefront" is a Minor consequence. It's not really something the PCs are going to be expected to set right. We can assume that it's mundane enough that someone else will take care of it later. However, it still represents collateral damage, and the PCs are still indirectly responsible (Roborilla was throwing that car at the Blue Knight, after all), so it's fair game for a Heroic consequence.

"Civilian Trapped Under Car," though, is best as a Moderate consequence. It's a clear and present dilemma for the PCs to solve, either during the scene or right after (after that, for a consequence like that, it's too late -- the story's moved on to the next scene). If they don't solve it, the consequence sticks around -- and the next time they might want to take a Moderate Heroic consequence, maybe they'll have to take a Severe consequence instead, maybe something to do with the fact that they just left some dude to be slowly crushed under a car. "Public Turns on the Hero League," say. At the end of the story, one of the campaign aspects changes to reflect the public's similarly changing attitudes towards the PCs.  For example, "Hero League to the Rescue!" could become "Misunderstood Heroes."

How late is too late to deal with a Moderate consequence? Right now it's a matter of common sense, I think. If a guy's trapped under a car, he'll need immediate assistance. I'd say that if you don't take care of it before the next scene, you missed your chance to clear that consequence slot. If your reputation takes damage, though, that's more of a long-term issue, and something you should be able to try to remedy almost anytime. Of course, it's also more involved than a single civilian under a car -- you need to call a press conference, get yourself on TV, or something along those lines. It's all very Marvel.

Here's another one: Ultra-Violence drops a hostage from the top of a 10-story building. If the PC fails to save the hostage (by flying up and catching him, using TK to get him safely to the ground, cushioning his fall with an awning or something, etc.), he can take a personal consequence, indicating that the hostage actually was saved, but the rescue took a toll on the PC. It can be something as minor as being winded or as significant as almost killing himself in the process of saving an innocent life. Alternately, if the PC goes for a Heroic consequence instead, that indicates that the guy actually was hurt, if not killed, in the fall. He can walk away from a Minor Heroic consequence, a Moderate Heroic consequence will probably require medical attention (or, if the consequence involves the PCs' reputation instead, a Great Art or Rapport effort later on), and a Severe consequence will likely mean the hostage fell to his death.

The upshot is that these Heroic consequences can help drive the narrative. "Building On Fire"? Someone should probably take the time to put that fire out, possibly in the midst of combat if they want to free up that consequence slot for use later in the scene. Press conference? Failing to get the press on your side may be a Moderate Mental consequence ("Frustrated!") or a Moderate Heroic consequence ("Front-Page Hatchet Job") -- and if the latter, you probably want to get that cleared up, before your poor public image bites you in the ass later (i.e., you only get one Moderate Heroic consequence, so if you don't clear it, you may find yourself stuck with a Severe Heroic consequence later on).

Lastly, Heroic consequences can be tagged or compelled like any other consequence, as long as it makes sense. "Smashed Storefront" might not make for an easy compel, but "Civilian Trapped Under Car" sure does. A supervillain attempting to cow an auditorium full of would-be victims is going to be able to tag your "Distrusted by the Public" Heroic consequence as part of his Art roll, because these poor people just don't have any confidence that their "heroes" are going to save them.

Outdated DFRPG Sneak Peek: This Used to Be News!

Let me admit something to you: While I'm looking forward to the Dresden Files RPG, I haven't been following its development and know virtually nothing about it. I also haven't read the books or watched the short-lived TV series. Nonetheless, I'm eager to get my mitts on a new iteration of FATE from Evil Hat.

Consequently, I'm psyched to see this thing that Ryan Macklin posted today. Personally, I'm picking it apart and muttering things like "Hmm, how are these skills not redundant?" and "Ah, so that's how they did it," but I'm not going to post any of my ruminations because I know I'm way, way behind the curve on this. I'm sure that there's nothing especially surprising for anyone who's in the loop.

Still, it's cool to see it, right?

Magic Spells - Properties of Spells

In retrospect, I should have realized that it was a bad idea to start talking about Spell casting on the fly (Sorcery) without first talking about Spells first. Namely...

• Spell Properties (the basic properties of any spell)
• Spell Improvements (benefits that make a spell more difficult to cast)
• Spell Modifiers (restrictions that make a spell easier to cast)

...Once those are laid out, the process of creating a spell on the fly should become pretty self-explanatory.

My Current Process of Testing the Spell Framework

Everything I have in here represents a work in progress. I have cobbled it together from a bunch of sources (SotC, Mike's previous work, my own musings and probably some things I've seen on the Yahoo group) and have been testing these assumptions during the pre-fab spell translation process (recreating the M-U / Cleric spells circa AD&D), as well as during the gameplay sessions I've had to date. So far, they're holding up. But they're certainly not carved in stone. As I run into problems during my spell translation process, I consider modifications to the the framework.

Spell Properties

Almost every spell can be defined with the following properties.

Power

The effect of the spell — what it does. Pick a skill, such as Intimidation, Missile, Rapport, or whatever is most appropriate to the effect you want to achieve.

Example: If the desired magical effect is charm, pick Rapport skill.

Currently every power within a spell increases the difficulty by 1.

NOTE: A further elaboration of spell powers is required. See below for "Spell Powers" and countering them.

Duration

How long the effect lasts. Damaging effects default to instant; other effects default to a few minutes (position 2 on the Time Chart). Each shift spent on Duration increases the length of the effect by one step on the Time Chart.

Targets

How many targets are affected. By default, this is one. You can spend shifts to affect additional targets (1:1), or spend three shifts to affect everyone (or everything) in a zone.

OPEN ISSUE: What would be the cost to affect a SELECTED group of targets within a zone? In other words, doing a "blast" where only your enemies within the blast are affected. This should be more complicated than a single “blast”. Consider an additional +1 modifier to spell difficulty.

Casting Time

Determine the net result of the spell's difficulty and consider that as the position on the Time Chart (below). From there, every decrease in time increases the spell's difficulty by 1. Conversely every increase in time decreases the spell's difficulty by 1.

There is no "0" position on the time chart. No spell is a Free Action.

Range

Depends upon the Power being used in the spell. Whatever the range of the skill is, this is the range of the spell. Normally this is within touching range, or within the same zone, unless a Missile power is included.

If the Power is Missile, then the default Range becomes 1 Zone away. Additional Zones can be purchased on a 1:1 basis, up to 4 zones (+3 difficulty). This takes it out to similar ranges as a rifle.

OPEN ISSUE: How to handle “Line of Sight” ranges and longer range scrying type spells? Possibly layer in a difficulty (given a GM's call) on the Range relative to the Ladder per shift? In other words, if a GM determines the range to be "Legendary" then it counts for +8 on the difficulty.

Aspects

All spells have by default the "Bespelled" aspect placed upon the target of the spell in the situation of a successful casting. There is no cost for this aspect.

Additional Aspects can purchased at 1 per shift (See upcoming post on "Spell Improvements". There is one free compel per aspect, as per normal rules detailing the placing of aspects on target via manuevers. Spell aspects are considered "sticky" unless otherwise stated.

Spell Powers - More Information

When considering spell powers, there are three basic categories of powers. Each one has it's own general treatment, in addition to how to counter them (known as "Saving Throws" in the source material).

• Spell Powers that Harm
• Spell Powers that Help
• Spell Powers that Hinder

Spell Powers That Harm Something

If the effect is meant to be harmful — that is, if it uses Melee, Missile, Intimidation, or some other direct-damage skill — apply the spell's Power against the target's appropriate defense — usually Endurance or Resolve, depending on the flavor of the spell. The typical SotC defenses would count here.

When considering if Armor or Shields help, the answer is somewhat dependent upon the nature of the spell and the nature of the defense. However in keeping with the source material, the default answer is NO, they do not help (unless the armor specifically provides some sort of magical defense).

Example: If the magical effect is represented with the Missile skill, and it harms the target with flame, likely the proper defense would be Endurance.

Example: However if the point of the spell was to baffle the target's mind with illusions, the target might have to defend with Resolve or Alertness.

Regardless, take the difference between the spell's Power and the target's base skill with a dice roll (let's call it the Saving Throw in deference to the source material) and deal any stress or consequences of the corresponding type and severity.

A consequence is determined by the caster but should relate directly to the magical effect of the spell.

Example: A bard’s magical song of friendship is successful (where the Power was based upon Rapport and tested against a target’s Resolve) and thereby deals a consequence: a good one might be "Thinks the Bard Is His Best Friend."

Spell Powers that Help (Or Buff) Something

If the effect is beneficial to yourself or an ally (i.e., a “buff”), apply the spell's Power as a bonus to the target's use of the buffed skill for the Duration of the spell.

Similarly, you could consider this effect very similar to drinking a potion. In other words, if someone drank a Good (+3) Strength potion, you would add +3 to your Might Skill for the potion's duration. The difference between a potion and a spell might be that the spell's caster can roll dice and get positive shifts.

SIDE NOTE TO SoG RULESET: When considering a buff to a skill not possessed by a target, the SotC default rule is to consider the target to have the skill at Mediocre (+0). In the genre of Spirit of the Century where a certain education and general competence is assumed, that makes perfect sense. However, currently in SoG, the level of a non-listed skill is assumed to be Poor (-1).

In case it needs to be said, normally there is not a Saving Throw associated with Spell Powers that Help a target.

Spells that Hinder Something

The opposite of Help powers — in this situation the caster is trying to reduce the target's capability with a skill, not increase it. Compare the spell's Power against the target's Endurance or Resolve with roll, as appropriate. Any shifts obtained over that defense are applied as a penalty to the Power's selected skill for the duration of the effect.

Examples: A spell of confusion could apply a penalty to the target's Melee, a spell of blindness could penalize Alertness, or a spell of lethargy or "Slow" might work against the target's Athletics.

Penalizing multiple skills requires multiple Powers, or all skills of a particular category (physical, mental, or social) can be penalized at double the cost (2 shifts / -1, rounding up).

In essence, this is the same mechanic as Help; Help just assumes that the target is willing, and consequently offers a defense of Mediocre (+0).

Also in case it needs said, a Power can result in a targeted skill being hindered to the point of going negative.


Side Bar: The Time Chart Used by Spirit of Greyhawk

The time chart currently in use in SoG was shared with me from Mike. It's the SotC basic chart with the following differences:

• This actually represents two charts: one for if you're in a conflict, one for being out of a conflict.
• If a slot has two entries, then the first entry represents the time within a conflict.
• The second entry represents the time required inside of a conflict and conforms to SotC.

While I've considered fiddling with it further to deal with other game-time periods (end of combat, end of scene, end of adventure) for purposes of spell duration, this works fine for me for the time being.

Time Increments Table

1. An action / Instant
2. A full action / A few moments
3. Two rounds / Half a minute
4. Three rounds / A minute
5. Full conflict / A few minutes
6. A scene / 15 minutes
7. Half an hour
8. An hour
9. A few hours
10. An afternoon
11. A day
12. A few days
13. A week
14. A few weeks
15. A month
16. A few months
17. A season
18. Half a year
19. A year
20. A few years
21. A decade
22. A lifetime

Casting Spells - Spells on the Fly

I'd like to start this post by saying that this "tag-team" approach of posting has been working out pretty well IMO, if for no other reason than to keep conversations really fresh and active. Which really means, thanks to everyone who has taken time to respond! For those of you who've been waiting for this next post, I apologize for the holdup--some rather ugly dental surgery prevented coherent thought the last week or so.

So when last we tuned in on the Spirit of Greyhawk, we had talked through the mechanics of Spell Casting "by the book". This entry we delve into casting "on the fly" -- Sorcery.

At the risk of repeating myself, SoG diverges a bit from Greyhawk's canon in that magical effects can also be cast by users without the mechanics of "locking in" a pre-made spell.

Whereas casting a pre-made spell by the book gives the caster the ability to use 2DF+2, spell casting on the fly is rather a normal skill-related difficulty roll of 4DF. In other words, it's possible that a spell fails when the caster is making something up.

NOTE: For those of you long-time readers, you're going to note a lot of similarities to Mike's original Fantasy-related spell castings.

The Basic Process of Spell Casting "On the Fly"

For most normal castings, the process works out like this:

Before the roll of the Dice:
The player and GM determine the difficulty to generate the magical effect. This is done by the following:

• Figure out what magical effect you want to achieve. This is also known as the spell's Power.
• The caster determines what pre-existing Skill (owned by the caster) the Magic Stunt is tied to, for purposes of setting a baseline skill ability.
• Determine any other desired spell Improvements, which make the casting MORE difficult.
  
• Determine any other desired spell Modifiers, which make the casting LESS difficult.

Roll the Dice:

Roll 4DF and net the result to the Caster's skill. Compare it against the difficulty of the spell to determine casting success or failure. Note that this is considered an uncontesed skill.

After the Dice Roll:
From there, the player

• If desired (or available!), Fate points can be used as per normal to make any necessary modifications to Roll.

• Determine what property of the spell will benefit from any MoS (margin of success). Barring some other spell "widget", the basic choices for what to do with MoS are right out of SotC:
  

• Reduce Time Required: 1 shift reduces spellcasting time by one step on the Time Chart (the version of the Time Chart used by SoG is coming up shortly).
• Increase Quality of Outcome: This is where some other property of the spell (Targets, Duration, Power, Range) are increased on a 1 shift for a +1.
  
• Increase Subtlety: This one's a bit of a clunker, I think. But at the moment I'm thinking 1 shift makes the spell harder to counter by +2. I modified SotC's definition of what "subtlety" refers to with respect to a spell. Once I think through "counter-spells" or something whereby a spell could be undone (or even resisted), this may end up being a modifier to the spell's Power with respect to countering or resisting.
  OPEN ISSUE: I'm not sure what the 2:1 ratio does to game balance yet. But if it was left at a 1:1 ratio to counter-spell or resist, why would a caster bother with increased subtlety? Increased Power would get you the same effect for countering and make the spell more... well, powerful. So by doing this, it provides the opportunity where a spell might not be terribly powerful, but rather is very SUBTLE. Anyway, not sure yet.

• Consider the net results of any modifications and go from there.
  

NOTE: Aspects in play would be tagged or compelled normally and have the normal effects, so I didn't include them here. But understand that a shrewd caster can generate a significant amount of shifts via free Aspect tags without having to dip into his Fate Points!

Analysis

At first read, that might sound relatively crunchy. While it's true that if a player was to go nuts with this--it could be. However all my play test sessions to date have borne out that this works out pretty well and actually combat still moves right along. And one of the PC's in the game actually has Magic as an apex skill, with the Magic Stunt allowing for him to create spells on the fly. Given that, and the player's tendency to be a "Power Player" (meaning: looking for every +1 he can get), Sorcery hasn't slowed down play at all.

Editorial Analysis: Upon further consideration and looking at how we worked out the spell below, I am now thinking in hindsight the spell might have been interpreted in a crunchier fashion. However, as long as player and GM are satisfied with the interpretation then gameplay is served. So, the crunch factor has something of a "water seeks its own level" effect, based upon who's playing and reffing.

Powers, Improvements and Modifiers

This is where a lot of the fun comes in and we'll spend some time going into each one--as each category probably deserves a separate post. So for some of the examples I'm going to list, I'm gonna ask that you "trust me". :)

Here's the fun part: all the examples I'll use actually happened in SoG gameplay!

Example: Made-up Spell "Spear of Freedom"
Situation: Caellod, "Paladin" of Trithereon (CG deity) is on a ridgeline looking down at some manner of nefarious ritual being led by four Clerics of Iuz on the plain below. Surrounded as they were by hundreds of followers in a writhing mass, he knows he has no ability to get close to the clerics to interrupt them. He determines he wants to create a spell to temporarily enchant his spear with the power of his god to strike one of the clerics within the center of the ritual--almost half a mile away!

So the difficulty for this spell was quickly determined to be the following:

• Power: Launch a spear to fly further than it could normally (+1 difficulty, Substitute Magic Skill for Missile Skill)
  
• Improvement: Range: Legendary (+8 difficulty!) (Ref determined lobbing a spear half a mile from high ground would be on a caliber with Greek legend)
  
• Modifier: Material Component: Blessed Spear of Trithereon (Uncommon, -2 difficulty)
  
• Casting Time: Base Casting time is determined by the net result (1 + 8 - 2 = 6, which equates to 15 minutes to cast)
  

...The player decided to not increase the difficulty on the casting by shortening the spell (gambling that the observed ritual was going to go that long), so the difficulty was set at 1 + 8 - 2 = 6, or Fantastic difficulty to cast the spell. The player tied the Magic Stunt to his Magic Skill (+5, his apex skill), rolled the dice and got +3 for a result of +8. So this meant Success, with an MoS of +2. The MoS was then determined to be used to make the "Missile" attack more effective. The player decided to not use any Fate points to increase the MoS further.

Now because of the way the spell was set up, it was interpreted the Range difficulty did not make the attack more powerful, just able to overcome the range. So the difficulty of the spell (6) was netted out from the skill result (8) and thus the target was dealing with aFair attack (+2).

The cleric missed an Alertness roll so this attack was essentially considered an Ambush and the defense roll was considered Mediocre (+0). So the number 2 physical stress box was checked and the spell was done. Story-wise, the cleric was effectively interrupted from whatever he was working on within the ritual.

And, oh yeah--the PC had effectively lost his Blessed Spear! (nyah-ha-ha!)

So if you're thinking about interpretation, that's actually pretty nice--what equates to a 6th level cleric spell to inflict a fairly modest amount of damage to a remote target, at the cost to the player of 15 minutes of casting time, and one of the cleric's holy symbols.

Not bad for spells on the fly.

I'll probably throw a few more examples in the next posting.

[Hey -- this is Spirit of the Blank's 100th post! --Mike]

Supers: The Defense Dilemma

As pleased as I am with the progress that's being made on this (on a daily basis, no less!), I'm not so taken with it that I don't recognize its flaws. And even if I were, I have commenter Robert Stehwien, aka The Guy Who Keeps Me Honest, to point them out, which is awesome. No, really -- it is. I mean, I know it's hard to read tone of voice over the Internet, so you may want to take that "awesome" as sarcastic, but seriously, it's sincere.

Specifically, the issue that keeps coming up is the Defense Dilemma: If you haven't bought up your mental and physical defenses to Extraordinary or above, you're boned the first time you run into Jean Grey or Superman. This potential pitfall exists in other games, too -- most notably Hero and M&M -- but that doesn't change the fact that it's a pitfall. On one hand, I'm heartless and inflexible. Of course someone without appropriate defenses is going to be screwed, and rightly so. But my frosted side knows it isn't fun to get one-shotted by a psychic from a mile away.

So, in the spirit of that, here are a couple clarifications currently present in the rules as they stand.

First, a mental attack is defined as the Attack trapping plus the Unusual topping, to account for its telepathic aspect. Those two plus Range makes your standard Ego Whip at least one trapping more expensive than a run-of-the-mill attack power like force beams or fireballs.

Second, as free hatani has pointed out:

Correct me if I am wrong, but couldn't Superman, under you hack, just pay a Fate point to gain "Mental Defense" trapping on his Super-skill for the scene?

 This is absolutely correct, as I acknowledged in the comments yesterday, with two caveats:

1. Superman's Concept aspect must be something that could reasonably be invoked for effect to improve his Mental Resistance. It doesn't have to be dead-on perfect or anything -- "Last Son of Krypton" would be fine, if the player could make a case for it. It references the fact that he's an alien, so maybe his alien mind is harder for a psionicist to navigate. "It's A Bird! It's A Plane! It's Superman!" would be less fine, because it doesn't reference anything except the fact that he's neither a bird nor a plane.
   
2. Superman must have a super-skill onto which Mental Resistance could reasonably be tacked. As with the Concept aspect, as long as it's close enough, it's fine. Not to repeat myself from yesterday, but a super-skill called Alien Physiology would work, Man of Steel might, with a lenient GM, and Kryptonian Vision just would not do, ever.

So those are the checks in place right now against the Defense Dilemma. Clearly, there are some conditions that need to be met for the invoke-for-effect to actually work -- if your Concept aspect is "Sci-Fi Cowboy" and your super-skills are things like Six-Guns and Space-Bronco-Buster, odds are you're still screwed. And charging an additional trapping makes a mental attack power more expensive, true, but that's hardly a roadblock to abuse.

Keeping that in mind, here are some other things I'm considering:

• Make Psychic a topping of its own worth two trappings. You'd apply it to any trapping that doesn't already fall into that category, like Attack or Perceive.
• Invoke an aspect for effect to increase the tier of a defensive skill for one exchange. That's not exactly elegant, but nor is it unthinkable.
• Reduce starting points to 80 instead of 100. Combined with the Psychic topping, this would make mental attacks a more serious investment. Hell, I might do this anyway, psychic attacks or no. It isn't a nice round number like 100, but there's more to this than nice round numbers.
• Something involving consequences that I'm not ready to discuss yet. 

Thanks again, guys, for keeping the discussion going! It's helping!