Thoughts of FATE/Dresden Files RPG: Part 2
KABOOM NOT KABOOMY ENOUGH: One of the great things about the Dresden Files RPG game is that open-ended power channeling mechanic built into spell casting. The caster is in complete control (or not as the case may be) as to how much power they are willing to risk going awry when casting a spell. They also have the ability to determine that they are going to absorb backlash to control an otherwise uncontrollable amount of power, up to and including throwing their death curse.
While awesome, they way the system works is showing up a flaw. Assuming you "basic" White Council Wizard, has decided to put both his conviction and discipline at 4, and has decided to have focus items that give him a +1 power and +1 control to offense spells. Then assume his specialization is in his primary "element" and it's a control bump. This wizard can thus cast as a rote spell (i.e. no need to even roll dice) an attack spell at power 5, with his discipline counting as a 6 for his "attack" roll. That means he's generating a weapon:5 attack that does 5 stress plus 1 for each shift the target fails to dodge by.
This doesn't even begin to take into account invoking aspects, spending FATE, and the like. I wizards "boom" only get bigger from there.
However, the book tells us that a knife is a weapon:1. A handgun is a weapon:2, an assault rifle is weapon:3 and military grade explosives is a weapon:4.
And while characters might have only 4 stress boxes normally without supernatural stunts, a basic character has 12 points of consequences, 20 if you count the extreme level. So, getting shot, while nominally painful, is only half a "powerful" as a wizard casting there "basic rote" spell.
Potential solutions:
1) tone down damage output: I could bring casting damage down in line to "casting armor". For every two shifts of power, the spell creates a weapon:+1 (rounded down). this would have the effect of halving the effective damage output done by a caster, bringing his down to the level of non-magic slinging character.
2) up the damage output: I could double to damage characteristics of the weapons in the book. knives are now 2, handguns now 4, rifles now 6 and explosives now 8. This would have the effect of "escalating!" the arms race. Since quite a few people have critiqued at how long and cumbersome combat ends up being in Dresden, upping the damage output of everyone would effectively halve the number of rounds to generate enough stress to end the conflict.
While awesome, they way the system works is showing up a flaw. Assuming you "basic" White Council Wizard, has decided to put both his conviction and discipline at 4, and has decided to have focus items that give him a +1 power and +1 control to offense spells. Then assume his specialization is in his primary "element" and it's a control bump. This wizard can thus cast as a rote spell (i.e. no need to even roll dice) an attack spell at power 5, with his discipline counting as a 6 for his "attack" roll. That means he's generating a weapon:5 attack that does 5 stress plus 1 for each shift the target fails to dodge by.
This doesn't even begin to take into account invoking aspects, spending FATE, and the like. I wizards "boom" only get bigger from there.
However, the book tells us that a knife is a weapon:1. A handgun is a weapon:2, an assault rifle is weapon:3 and military grade explosives is a weapon:4.
And while characters might have only 4 stress boxes normally without supernatural stunts, a basic character has 12 points of consequences, 20 if you count the extreme level. So, getting shot, while nominally painful, is only half a "powerful" as a wizard casting there "basic rote" spell.
Potential solutions:
1) tone down damage output: I could bring casting damage down in line to "casting armor". For every two shifts of power, the spell creates a weapon:+1 (rounded down). this would have the effect of halving the effective damage output done by a caster, bringing his down to the level of non-magic slinging character.
2) up the damage output: I could double to damage characteristics of the weapons in the book. knives are now 2, handguns now 4, rifles now 6 and explosives now 8. This would have the effect of "escalating!" the arms race. Since quite a few people have critiqued at how long and cumbersome combat ends up being in Dresden, upping the damage output of everyone would effectively halve the number of rounds to generate enough stress to end the conflict.