[2E Hack] Shutters

[Moinen]

It's more of tweak that aims for consistency and fair use of rules than a major change. It's an alpha version of 'rules' that I hope to discuss an have some feedback
Shutter is tool to narrow the scope of the spell at the cost of a Reach. In existing spells its either built in or treated as a Reach option.
Spells that use it directly(there is more of them, like Shapechanging, Supernal Veil or Lodestone, but in their case its more of a logical conclusion than a clear statement):

Spirit Summons (Spirit •••), Ghost Summons (Death •••), Goetic Summons (Mind •••)
The mage sends out a call to the nearest Goetia within her sensory range. Conversely she can summon Goetia she knows personally. She may send a general call and the nearest Goetia will answer, or she can specify the type of entity by its Resonance.

Above is an excellent example of why you would want to narrow the scope of the spell.

Lure and Repel (Life ••)
The mage can create a magical lure or repellant for specific types of organisms. While the mage could in theory specify any type of organism, she is likely to be quickly overwhelmed by num*bers. When casting this spell as a lure, a smart mage will specify only certain types of organisms (not microscopic ones, if she’s smarter still) to draw to her.

Web of Life (Life •)
Because the unfiltered sensing of all life might provide a sensory overload, most mages specify certain types of life to detect, such as “humans, insects, and birds” or “only dogs.”

Detect Substance (Matter •)
The mage chooses a number of substances or objects that fall under Matter’s purview equal to the spell’s Potency. As long as this spell is active, the subject is automatically aware of the presence and location of the chosen substance within the area of effect. The chosen substance can be as broad or as specific as the mage likes (“ferrous metal,” “stainless steel,” “a knife,” and “my hunting knife” are all valid options).

Detect Substance is different but still operates on a fact that you can define what you affect. Just like Locate Object (Space •).

Word of Unmaking (Prime •••••)
The Aetheric storms scour and destroy as much as they revitalize. With this spell, the mage calls down the destructive power of the Supernal to destroy a magical item.

Whole spell is build with this sole purpose to limit the scope. This could easily be a 'destroy supernal' just like 'destroy energy' spell but is limited to certain group of supernal examples.

Pariah (Fate •••••)
+1 Reach: The mage can adjust the sensitivity of the curse. She could bless only attempts to injure the subject but not to murder him, for example.

And Fate of course has the most direct representation of what Shutter is/can be. Obviously it is the broadest and most prominent Arcanum in regard to possible shutters but as presented by above spells, not the only one. Other Arcana can do it too but are limited to their respective Purviews.

Shutters give an opportunity to aid a given spell at the cost of Reach. They are most useful for aoe spell but other can benefit from them too.

Spirit Manse (Spirit •••••)
+1 Reach: The mage may create an Iris between her Manse and the material world, allowing anyone to enter the Shadow directly into her Manse. She may craft a Key to this door if she wishes. The spell becomes Withstood by the Gauntlet Strength.

No need for a Space Arcanum? Impossible.

Examples of possible applications:

Invisibility(Forces••)
Good:
+ 1 Reach: Veil applies only to electronical devices. Everything else can still perceive you.
+ 1 Reach: Electronical devices are exempted from this spell and they can still record you.
+ 1 Reach: Works only after dark.
Not good:
+ 1 Reach: Only mothers can't see you.
+ 1 Reach: Hides only mice in the area.
+ 1 Reach: Those of a righteous heart can perceive target.

Bruise Flesh(Life•••)
+ 1 Reach: Affect only mice.
+ 1 Reach: Exempt children.
+ 1 Reach: Affect only those who are asleep.

Shadow Gate(Death•••)
+ 1 Reach: Don't let ghost go through.
+ 1 Reach: Let only ghosts go through.
+ 1 Reach: Forbid entry to damaged items or beings(physically)

[totalgit]

All this text just to avoid adding fate to spells. Wow. + for effort. - for implementation. If you want to limit your spell to x things you pick the targets when you cast the spell, if your doing it with a area spell your out of luck they specifically hit everything in the area for a reason and if you want to avoid things you need warding gesture..

[Moinen]

Thank you for your input.

Astute players will likely figure out a multitude of
ways to accomplish similar effects with different
Arcana, sometimes at different dot levels. This is
okay. Just because a Fate ••• spell can do a
thing doesn’t mean a Forces • spell that does a
similar thing is “broken” or should be disallowed.

[Moinen]

Added few 'not good' usages and another example from the book.

Followup
What else you can do with it is to mix it up in conjunctionals. If you want to have a Ghost Gate (Death 3) that lets only redheads through, you can cast it with Fate(obviously), Space, or Life(which is imo the hardest to trick since it detects natural color).