Spellcasting questions (with specific examples)

[lbeaumanior]

Greetings,

I have a lot of questions about spellcasting and the Ask a simple question, Awakened edition thread is so crowded that my questions get hidden there.

• Shifting the Odds has primary factor Duration. It has an alternative function that you can use no more than Potency times. A Fate 3 mage casts the spell and uses one reach for Instant Casting and one for Advanced Duration, and gets 3 successes. As described:
  1. What potency value does the spell have?
  2. If instead of Advanced Duration, he reaches to switch primary factor to Potency, what is the duration of the spell?
  3. If he uses extra reach to switch primary factor to Potency, what happens to the duration of the spell?
  4. How many reach do I need both effects (find specific thing and access to temporary Merits) + instant casting + advanced duration?
• Serendipity has primary factor Potence, it has extra reach effects that refer to skill usage. The spell is not lasting, so those effects require recasting (or having active) the spell before using a skill, right?
• If the primary factor is of a spell is Potence, can you use advanced duration WITHOUT switching the primary factor to Duration? If so, how many reach do you need for it?

I might add further questions depending on the answers.

Thanks,

[Tessie]

You already got an answer for Shifting the Odds:

Unless I'm misunderstanding the spell factor system...

Potency is 1 by default, if no dice are sacrificed to increase it.

The duration of the spell would be one turn, if no dice are sacrificed to increase it.

The duration of the spell would be one hour/scene, if no dice are sacrificed to increase it.

Instant casting is 1, advanced duration is 1, for a total of 2 reach needed. As an ST, I would probably rule that RAW you'd need to combine two castings of the spell because the merit effect is an alternative to finding the specific thing.

For the basic question you mentioned in the same thread "What happens to the original primary spell factor values when switching Primary spell factors?" the answer is just to move your free steps from the old primary factor to the new primary factor. (Just don't forget that all factors start at one step, and the extra given steps are in addition to that first step.)

• Serendipity has primary factor Potence, it has extra reach effects that refer to skill usage. The spell is not lasting, so those effects require recasting (or having active) the spell before using a skill, right?

The spell needs to be active for the bonus to be applicable. You can either add a few steps on the duration factor, switch primary factor to duration, or switch to advanced duration to extend the duration (so that you can use the spell for anything other than reflexive rolls the very same turn).

• If the primary factor is of a spell is Potence, can you use advanced duration WITHOUT switching the primary factor to Duration? If so, how many reach do you need for it?

It's always just a single reach to switch to an advanced factor. When a spell factor is the primary factor, the only difference from other factors is that it receives some free steps depending on your Arcanum rating.

[Cauthon]

1. 1, by default. The Mage can raise this value by accepting -2 dice on the spellcasting pool per level of Potency beyond 1.

2. Potency will now be equal to [Fate], while Duration will be 1 Turn. As above, it can be made to last longer at the cost of -2 die per increase

3. Duration is 1 Scene/Hour, Potency is [Fate]

4. You wouldn't. At least, not as I read the spell. Since the texts specifies "alternatively", I read it as needing one casting to locate something specific, and a separate casting to locate something that will translate into a Merit. Either way, the cost will be three Reach - one for casting it instantly, one for it to last for a week, and one for the desired item/person/thing to cross your path in the next hour.

That is, if I want to locate the subject of a bounty, it will cost me two Reach (Instant Casting, Advanced Duration). I'm not gaining anything from this beyond an encounter, which I can capitalize on in ways that don't directly translate into merits.

The easiest example of the Merit would be gaining Resources or a Contact. A contact would be something like a person you struck up a conversation with at the bar or on the subway - magic keeps them amiable to you for [Potency] instances during the Duration, although you can spend the XP to intergrate them into your life. Resources in this case would be something like finding a cash-stuffed wallet - enough to qualify for a few purchases, but not enough to last you very long. Sinking XP into that dot of Resources would represent investing it, or some other long-term method of utilizing the windfall


For Serendipity - I though so too, but it was pointed out to me before that it's a Knowing spell. You effectively have a "charge" of foreknowledge that exists independently of the spell once cast. When you act upon that foreknowledge, the charge is expended.

Advanced Duration - yes. Only one. Any Spell Factor can be made Advanced without it being Primary, otherwise Scale, Range, and Casting Time would never be Advanced.

[lbeaumanior]

1. 1, by default. The Mage can raise this value by accepting -2 dice on the spellcasting pool per level of Potency beyond 1.

2. Potency will now be equal to [Fate], while Duration will be 1 Turn. As above, it can be made to last longer at the cost of -2 die per increase

3. Duration is 1 Scene/Hour, Potency is [Fate]

4. You wouldn't. At least, not as I read the spell. Since the texts specifies "alternatively", I read it as needing one casting to locate something specific, and a separate casting to locate something that will translate into a Merit. Either way, the cost will be three Reach - one for casting it instantly, one for it to last for a week, and one for the desired item/person/thing to cross your path in the next hour.

That is, if I want to locate the subject of a bounty, it will cost me two Reach (Instant Casting, Advanced Duration). I'm not gaining anything from this beyond an encounter, which I can capitalize on in ways that don't directly translate into merits.

The easiest example of the Merit would be gaining Resources or a Contact. A contact would be something like a person you struck up a conversation with at the bar or on the subway - magic keeps them amiable to you for [Potency] instances during the Duration, although you can spend the XP to intergrate them into your life. Resources in this case would be something like finding a cash-stuffed wallet - enough to qualify for a few purchases, but not enough to last you very long. Sinking XP into that dot of Resources would represent investing it, or some other long-term method of utilizing the windfall


For Serendipity - I though so too, but it was pointed out to me before that it's a Knowing spell. You effectively have a "charge" of foreknowledge that exists independently of the spell once cast. When you act upon that foreknowledge, the charge is expended.

Advanced Duration - yes. Only one. Any Spell Factor can be made Advanced without it being Primary, otherwise Scale, Range, and Casting Time would never be Advanced.

Thanks for the answer, but you answer 4 and the Serendipity answer now confuse me on the case of Shifting the Odds.

So, IF I am getting you right and I cast Shifting the Odds with Instant Casting and finding the person in 1 hour Reach... But the spell expires what happens? I think that you need to keep casting until you find the person.

Also, If I cast Shifting the Odds with Instant Casting, I want to use the alternative function (merit usage) and the duration expires before using it (but after finding the Merit equivalent), what happens?

[Cauthon]

Thanks for the answer, but you answer 4 and the Serendipity answer now confuse me on the case of Shifting the Odds.

So, IF I am getting you right and I cast Shifting the Odds with Instant Casting and finding the person in 1 hour Reach... But the spell expires what happens? I think that you need to keep casting until you find the person.

Also, If I cast Shifting the Odds with Instant Casting, I want to use the alternative function (merit usage) and the duration expires before using it (but after finding the Merit equivalent), what happens?

Shifting the Odds is a complelling spell - you're using magic to force an event to happen. At Advanced Duration, if you switched it to Potency-Primary, the spell will last for aproximately an hour. More, if you take the progressive dice penalty to increase the Duration to one day/week/month/year. If you used the spell-specific Reach effect and you're just trying to locate something that doesn't translate into a merit such as the target of a bounty, then it doesn't need to last longer than an hour. Once you've found the desired thing, the spell has run its course and any further interactions are dictated entirely by you. If you wanted a merit, and it took you the full hour to encounter it, then you'll need to either A) cast the spell with a longer duration in the first place (which I'd honestly recommend), B) recast it and hope the ST allows you to continue with that instance (which they reasonably should), or C) immediately sink XP into it once you find it.

If you haven't used the merit "charge" by the time the spell expires, it's lost. Serendipity is a Knowing spell giving you knowledge that remains in your brain - the information I need is in "the lore-house of the azure sun, and the gatekeeper can be circumvented by a riddle of the streets" would be an example of the symbolism you suddenly know, translating into "If I go to the Blue Sun City Library I'll find the information I need. I can use the Streetwise skill to convince the Librarian to let me into the restricted section". That knowledge is only going to be useful for that one interaction, and you still need to roll to make it happen. Shifting the Odds forces an event to happen, requiring no roll to occur, but immediately stops benefiting you once the spell ends.