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I will regularly post different things about the Fate Core RPG system by Evil Hat Productions. Look at the side bar for Links to other helpful web pages.

Friday, July 3, 2015

Stunt & Extra Based Magic

Wizards, Sorcerers and Warlocks.
Each is the most known for it's type of magic. Wizards are known for their "science" look in learning certain spells. Sorcerers for learning by more of a feeling or more from an "arts" view point and force of will. The Warlock for being roughly the same as the sorcerer, but with fewer tricks but can outlast the arcane endurance. In Fate there is plenty of ways to perform magic in your world, depending how "crunchy" you want to be. For this specifically I will go with a stunt/extra based view.
First wizards. Out of the archetypes they are known to be the most potent and versatile, but with a severe lack of number of spells able to be cast with the time granted. Wizards and other "prepared" casters can have spells that have the extreme limits like "Once per..." or "Pay a Fate point..". Out of the ways you can give something a cost these types are the most limiting. Larry "the Evoker" could have a spell that says "Lighting Storm: Once session everyone in this zone, except you, takes a severe consequence showing electrocution." A severe consequence is a huge bit of damage, but 2 limits are placed on this. First being the obvious, he can only do this once per session, meaning he can only do once for each time the group has a game night. The second being it doesn't distinguish between friend or foe. If your party members are in the zone then they get fried too.

Sorcerers have a higher rate of use of magic. Most of their spells could us the "Invoke aspect to.... (this replaces the +2)." kind of extra. This limits them by how often they could perform the spell. They would have to power up by using Create an Advantage action to put invocations on their sorcerer related aspect, then cast. If Larry was a sorcerer then his lighting storm could be like "Invoke Badass Sorcerer to cause 2 shifts of electrical damage to target opponent, they may try to dodge using Athletics against opposition of Good. (this replaces the +2)."

Warlocks and other innate casters have a different style of powers. Usually it's a power that they could use in a unlimited fashion, or maybe tire them out if used at higher power levels. This can be done simply by just using the kind of stunts that add an ability to a skill. So let's make Larry a warlock. His power will read "Bolt Shot: Lightning comes shooting out of your hands to hit a target. You may use the skill Shoot to Attack and the attack is electrical."

Of course these are not the only ways to use magic. I will go over other ways in future posts.

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