Here’s a little Dresden Files RPG lovin’ to round out your Valentine’s Day.
John Hawkins says:
Actually, I’m a liar, one question does present itself: I’ve seen Channeling mentioned in a couple of places now, but it’s not obvious to me how it differs from Evocation. At 2/3 the cost I assume it’s not super limited — can you talk a bit about how it works?
Rechan jumped all over this one on the comment thread, and I’ve really got nothing to add. Thanks, Rechan!
Mike Ryan says:
Your enthusiasm is giving me some high hopes for this game. I’m looking forward to the release.
I think your hopes will all be rewarded.
My questions:
1. SotC was full of examples, and it’s probably safe to assume DF will be as well. Are those examples drawn solely from the novels, or do the playtest groups get some love? I can see the value of using just the books, but the playtesters (your group and others) have put some really cool things out there and it might be interesting to see it referenced beyond just an acknowledgments page.
From my reading, the examples come either from the novels or from a fictitious (I’m assuming) game being run by Billy Borden. I think it’s probably more than enough material to wade through in the novels that combing playtest reports for the right kind of example is just a time sink without any return on it except for a playtest group here and there being able to go “Cool! That was us!” While this kind of cool is nice for the playtesters, I would rather they spent their time putting cool into the game system itself. And they really did.
But yeah, there are lots of examples, which is great, coupled with the marginal notes and conversations that really help illuminate the rules and discuss special cases.
2. You’ve mentioned things like the Feeding Dependancy. Does a character with a limitation like that have to map all of his powers to that dependency? What I mean is, if I’m a vampire, can I have some powers that I can use freely and save the Feeding Dependency for the big guns?
The templates for the two types of character that have Feeding Dependency (White Court Vampire and Red Court Infected) both have a set list of powers that are linked to the dependency. These are mainly physical augmentations – Strength, Recovery, etc. The actual abilities that make them vampires – Blood Drinker and Addictive Saliva for Red Court, and Incite Emotion and Emotional Vampire for White Court – are not governed by the dependency. The listings for the different vampires in Our World have some extra powers that are governed by the dependency, and some that aren’t. My call on this would be to assess the individual power and ask if it’s something that the vampire learned, or is it something that he/she can do because she’s a vampire. If it’s learned, then it wouldn’t be governed by the Feeding Dependency (though I’d ask the player to make sure that the High Concept or another Aspect supported learning this type of power – A High Concept of Vampire Savage would not, in my opinion, make it likely that the character sat down and learned a spell to turn to mist, for example). If the power is something that the character does because he/she is a vampire, then I’d tie it to the Feeding Dependency.
From a min/max point of view, tying a new power to the Feeding Dependency essentially means getting a discount on it, so that’s something for the player to consider, as well.
3. Various sources have mentioned different categories of powers (“you can select powers from the Creature Feature or Minor Talent categoryâ€). If it’s not too much of a pain, can you fill in some of the other power categories?
It is not too much of a pain, but Rechan already beat me to it. The guy’s been busy while my back’s been turned! 😉
Rel Fexive says:
You’re doing great work here!
Thanks! I’m glad so many people seem to be enjoying it.
I have a question: harking back to all the talk about Thaumaturgy and the Complexity of spells, can you give us an idea about the various levels of Complexity and what sort of things you can do at each?
Here’s a list of effects from the Thaumaturgy section, along with the Complexity of each:
- Dreamless Sleep (Easy Version): 4-6, depending on duration.
- Dreamless Sleep (Weapons-Grade Version): 6-12, depending on duration.
- Entropy Curse (Mild): 9, based on target’s Discipline.
- Entropy Curse (Weapon’s Grade): 26, based on target’s Discipline.
- Extended Divination: 8 or 9 at least, sometimes up to 16 or more.
- Faerie-Trapping Spell (Pixie Strength): 4. More powerful faeries are tougher.
- Harry Blinds the Loup-Garou: 9, based on conflict.
- Harry’s Tracking Spell: 2-8, based on difficulty of Investigate task.
- Illumina Magnus (Magically Dusting for Prints): 3-8
- Memorium, Memoratum, Memoritus: 5, based on the ghosts being present and tagging all in the zone with one Aspect.
- Mind-Fog: 12, based on conflict and covering 3 zones
- Nevernever Crossover Detection: 8
- Phobophage Redirection: 14, based on conflict.
- Reading the Dead Eyes: 4-10, based on the time since death.
- Reiki Healing Spell: 8-10, based on the consequence healed.
- Victor Sells’s Heart-Exploding Spell: 32, based on conflict.
- Zombie Animation: 6-10 for summoning the spirit, based on conflict, and 10-14 for binding it, based on conflict and duration.
How’s that?
Cheers! Keep up the good work!
I’ll keep doing this as long as I get questions that I can answer. When things start getting too niggling or the answers start being entire sections of the book, then I’ll pull the plug.
Rechan says:
What I find slightly annoying is that Sorcerers are pretty much identical to Wizards, mechanically. The only difference is thus:
Wizards get Wizards Constitution and Soulgaze. They also MUST take The Sight. Sorcerers have the option (but it says that almost all of them DO, and they’d be “flying blind†without it).
So there’s not a lot of mechanical distinction between the two. Hell, you could take a Wizard and call him a sorcerer because he’s self-taught. The main distinction is fluff. So why make a distinction in mechanics I donno.
Also, I’ve not delved into the “making your own powers/spells†chapter, Rick. But I had an idea of a monster with a power that basically is an attack that does damage to the target, but “heals†the monster. Not quite the same as a Hunger Dependency (it doesn’t need to feed, but feeding makes it heal). The idea being a Mummy whose touch dessicates the target, while giving it back vitality. I’m not sure how to DO this (or even if it’s balanced; that’d make it REALLY LETHAL).
Fred jumped on both of these in the comment thread. Thanks, Fred!
I guess there ought to be a ‘Wizard Watchdogs +1′ flaw for Wizards, given how the council is fairly on-top of them.
You could do that, I guess, but given the few other +1 powers out there and how restrictive they are, I think this is too big a bonus. Especially during the War, when the Council is focused externally and pretty short of Wardens. I’d suggest instead taking an Aspect like The Council is Keeping an Eye on Me, which could be used for compels when the character is thinking of playing loose with the Laws of Magic, and also could be invoked for help if the character needs to get in touch with the Council.
Lanodantheon says:
Thanks for the answers.
The Ascension Rite does look like a Big Bad Plot Device. I personally was going to use it for an origin story.
Imagine an Aspect, “Failed Ascension Riteâ€
Nice!
Jon Hammersley says:
Will there be a “suggested reading†section with some places to start mining ideas for different magical cultures (i.e. Native American Spirit magic, Voodoo, Chinese Daoist magic, etc). Another thing I’d like to see would be more generic examples of beings not mentioned in the books (Babba Yaga, Rasputin, Jack-in-Irons, etc). I suppose these might be statted out already (Hag, Giant, Creepy Priest with Craaaaazy eyes, etc) but I’d like to know if they are actually called out by their more familiar names as examples.
Currently, there is not a suggested reading/viewing section. If people are interested, I could certainly compile a list of decent books for game-level research on different magical traditions and post it here.
As for the creatures not mentioned in the books, not a lot on them. Mainly just mentions like “this is one version, there are other variants.” Honestly, though, building and modifying creatures and other foes in this system is pretty easy – five minutes with the books and a pencil, and you’ve got a highly-customized version, especially if you work more with the Aspects than the powers.
Aspects, people. That’s where it’s at with FATE-based games!
Lanodantheon says:
I just thought of a good question.
Necromancy. I assume it is linked to spirit and zombie hordes require thaumaturgy.
You got it. There’s about a page of info on Necromancers in general, including a short bit on the Disciples of Kemmler, many of which get statted out (though not in the same section).
What do they have to say about Kemmler?
There’s about half a page on Kemmler himself, the most telling bit being Bob’s marginal note that if you have the slightest suspicion you might be encountering Heinrich Kemmler, RUN THE HELL AWAY! No stats, of course. He’s in that plot-device villain category. Several of his disciples – Grevane, Cowl, Corpsetaker, and Kumori – get their own entries. Corpsetaker (-17), Grevane (-19), and Kumori (-8) all get stat blocks, though with the usual this-is-a-starting-point caveat.
Ihadris says:
Again thanks for answering all these questions Rick! (Also to Rechan since youve started too)
You’re welcome!
Just a question about skills. Have they changed much since Spirit of the Century? Have any been removed or added in or perhaps changed what they do?
They’ve been tuned a little bit to better reflect the source material. This is mainly little things – Academics becomes Scholarship, for example – and tweaks to the applications to better reflect the modern era. Essentially, though, they’re pretty much the same as SotC.
Chad Underkoffler says:
Rick, here’s a challenge: estimate the refresh level of BTiLC’s Lo Pan.
A challenge! The gauntlet has been hurled! You’re on, sir! And I will show my work for extra credit. 😀
- Obviously, he’s got both Thaumaturgy and Evocation: -6
- It’s Sponsored Magic, tied into the demons he’s made his bargains with, giving him more power, but a couple of curses: -2 (based on Unseelie Magic)
- Let’s throw in a couple more levels of Refinement, just to round him out: -2
- Now, his funky two-forms. He’s got his Human Form at +2, because he can’t control the change himself. His powerful form has Hulking Size (-2) and Spirit Form (-3). In both forms, he’s got Wizard’s Constitution (-0).
- What else? Let’s see. Demesne (-1), of course. The Sight (-1). No evidence of an explicit Soulgaze, but Jack is temporarily blinded by meeting his eyes when they go all glowy, so let’s give him that, too, at no extra cost, because he already has the Sight.
- Oooh! Domination (-2)! Yeah, it could have been a Thaumaturgic ritual, but it works pretty quick, so let’s give him the power.
- He’s broken at least the First, Third, Fourth, and Fifth Laws of Magic, so that’s 4 x Lawbreaker (-4)
- Marked By Power (-1)
- Swift Transition (-2) to explain his vanishing acts and ability to show up almost anywhere.
So, that’s a total of -22. I could see giving him a couple more levels of Refinement, and maybe a few Mortal Stunts to round him out, but that’s my baseline.
How’s that?
Iorwerth says:
How do soulgaze, sight, and Wizards Constitution operate?
Well, I’m not going to lay out all the mechanics, but here’s how it works in a nutshell.
Soulgaze: This is a mutual mental attack, which can allow the participants to assess Aspects of the other participant if they do well. There is a real possibility of taking mental stress, though.
The Sight: This allows you to make an Assessment of the surrounding area using magical vision, so you can pick up the mystical Aspects of things you examine. It also can cause mental stress.
Wizard’s Constitution: The long life part of Wizard’s Constitution doesn’t really affect game play, but the other part of this is that you can eventually heal from pretty much anything that doesn’t kill you. It just takes time – sometimes a really long time, because it doesn’t actually speed the healing. It just makes it happen.
@Chad – That would be awesome indeed! Hmm… would that make Egg Shen a local Wizard? What stats would you give the Six Demon Bag as a focus?
Yeah, I’d rule Egg Chen would be a Wizard. His Six-Demon Bag I’d stat as a focus item (probably Power rather than control) for each of the six Chinese elements – metal, water, wood, earth, fire, spirit – one demon for each element. That strikes me as a cool little item. In fact, it strikes me as so cool, I’d probably give old Egg the Aspect Six-Demon Bag, so he could tap it to help his spellcasting.
That’s it for today. I’ll be back tomorrow if anyone posts any more questions.
Now, I know the book talks about advancing the opposition. But here’s my inquiry:
Does it talk about NUMBERS of opposition? To put it in D&D terms, you can gauge the level of the challenge based on the COMBINATION of the monsters in the encounter. Is there advice or a way to handle that here?
I mean, if you have 4 characters who are in the Submerged category, is a single opponent at -10 or so worth fighting, or do you need to drop several -10 enemies in there to make it a good threat?
This might constitute “niggling”. There’s a stunt called “Subtle Menace”, which says ‘when the context of power is absent, or when the victim is in a superior position’. What does this mean? Are there rules for ‘superior positions’, and what do they constitute? As well as just the terminology of ‘context of power is absent’ is confusing to me.
How does “The Catch” and Vulnerabilities work? For instance, I see Faeries have “The Catch: Cold Iron, magic of the other court, etc”. But, reading the Catch, it has nothing to do with making these things happen. It doesn’t deal with damage. So if a faerie gets hit with cold iron… what happens?
What establishes Initiative? In the Notes section, it’ll say a creature has great initiative, but I just don’t see how they’re getting to that point.
Thanks to Rick, Rechan and everyone else who drops in an gives their 2-cents(and helps advertise for free). Now for a butt-load of Qs.
1. I don’t fully understand Wizard’s Constitution and Soulgaze. They don’t cost anything, but you have to be a Wizard to get them. How do you get these powers? Are they just free after taking Evocation and Thaumaturgy x number of times? I could imagine Harry chiming in on this saying, “It’s not like you get this from the White Council membership card and decoder ring, these abilities are marks of a certain level of power. ”
2. What’s the Marked by Power ability do?
3. How do the rules handle opening portals to the Nevernever? Is it possible for a non-Wizard to open a portal via some power or item of power? (I have a character in mind, Chauncy’s B$*%#, whose Aspect, “I’m 20 minutes away, I’ll be there in 10…” would be made really cool by Nevernever travel.)
4. Would enchanted items cover non-potion one-use magical objects like say a can of Dr. Pepper turned into a magical grenade?
5. What are some examples of Minor Talents? I love using Lucky FIrth, but I’d like a larger spread of examples.
6. I’ve been watching too much Fullmetal Alchemist lately. That said, how you simulate a Transmutation, a spell or power that changes something into something else of equal size? If used on a life form it is Transmorgification and break the laws of magic. But I was thinking of a spell that allowed a Magical Entrepreneur (An Aspect) to make stupid amounts of money by turning lead into gold or coal into diamonds.
7. I assume rituals would be perfect for creating a Golem or a Homonculus(an Artificial Human)?
8. Let’s talk vehicles, how do they work? What if they have weapons like a Tank or a fighter jet? I ask because my game will be taking place within spitting distance of Fairchild Airforce Base and I could imagine one of my more ambitious/suicidal players taking advantage of that. Plus, I don’t think most demons would have ever anticipated the feeling of getting shot by a tank.
9. As a point of comparison for this gritty system, how difficult would it be for a Pure Mortal to fire two guns whilst jumping through the air?
10. For laughs, how difficult would it be for a Wizard to fire a gun with one hand and evocate with the other whilst jumping through the air?
11. Again for laughs, how would you stat up the Evocation Avada Kedavra?
12. Thinking about your statting up of Egg Shen and Lo Pan, I’m now interested in if it’s possible to do The Last Airbender or if I’m feeling really silly, Yomiko Readman aka The Paper from Read or Die (Paperkinesis).
Thanks for the answers! And love Lo Pan 🙂
I don’t fully understand Wizard’s Constitution and Soulgaze. They don’t cost anything, but you have to be a Wizard to get them. How do you get these powers? Are they just free after taking Evocation and Thaumaturgy x number of times?
As far as I can tell, Wizard’s constitution is just something you HAVE to take if you’re going to play a wizard (just like you HAVE to take Evocation and Thaumatergy). This is also the case of the Sight and Soulgaze. It’s a MUST if you’re going to play that package. Consider it like the ability for wizards to cast magic; they don’t get magic when they get their White Council Membership Card, they inherit the power in their bloodline. Thus, equally so, they would inherit the constitution and other mystical mojo (the Sight and Soulgaze).
Now. Wizard’s Constitution isn’t RESTRICTED to Wizards Only. Nothing says that, at least, in the writeup. It spells out ‘If you get Human Recovery or Toughness, it supercedes Wizard’s Constitution’ because the Wizard’s constitution benefits are so minor it’s ‘really cosmetic; hence the zero cost’. BUT, Wizard’s Constitution basically means you’re REALLY long lived and can eventually overcome anything. So if your character has the blood of Hercules in his veins, or he was cursed/blessed with outliving everyone they ever knew (Hey, maybe you want to play a Highlander, or some sort of Biblican figure like Noah or Jobe), Wizard’s Constitution probably would suit.
It also specifies that anyone who has The Sight can take Soulgaze for free.
Additional note about the above: Not everyone who takes Thaumaturgy/Evocation has to take The Sight. Sorcerers actually don’t have to. Focused Practitioners also don’t have to. It just “comes with” the metaphysical heredity of wizards.
5. What are some examples of Minor Talents? I love using Lucky FIrth, but I’d like a larger spread of examples.
There’s not a lot.
Cloak of Shadows (Helps with seeing in darkness, as well as stealth)
Ghost Speaker (Interact with Ghosts basically)
Mana Static (You blow up tech)
Marked By Power (Gives a bonus to interactign with the Supernaturals. This typically means you’ve got a Sponsor, or something like that)
Wizard’s Constitution
That really doesn’t help if you’re trying to think of a “Minor Practitioner”. But some other areas of interest are for Minor guys. Really, being a Minor means you can pick up a single -1 Refresh supernatural power, or (if your DM says it’s OK, -2). So Psychic abilities like Psychometry (seeing images of the past based on touching an object) or The Sight. I haven’t found anything that reflects “Sensitives” (People who have massive empathy/rapport with things like animals/plants/whatnot), but you could easily smash some stunts together and say “Hey I’m a dog whisperer”.
So, that’s a total of -22. I could see giving him a couple more levels of Refinement, and maybe a few Mortal Stunts to round him out, but that’s my baseline.
How’s that?
You are the [EXPLETIVE DELETED] wind beneath my wings.
Now: Gozer the Gozerian? 😉
(I think that BTiLC and GB are the two films we referenced most in the marginalia, which is why I ask. Oh, and possibly also THE PRINCESS BRIDE and STAR WARS.)
Yeah, I’d rule Egg Chen would be a Wizard.
Hmmm. Now I’m pondering the “My Mind and Spirit Are One” potion.
In your opinion, for such a thing, would allowing temporary “access” to extra stress boxes/consequences across the Physical/Mental/Social border be permitted?
That is, say I have extra stress boxes for Mental damage. The MM&SAO potion would allow me to take PHYSICAL damage onto that MENTAL or SOCIAL track. And vice-versa, in all cases.
I can see why that would make someone feel “kinda invincible.”
(Hey, Lenny, if you are reading this, chime in.)
Chad, I think there’s some Spinal Tap in there, too.
Now: Gozer the Gozerian? 😉
He’s easy. He’s very clearly in the plot device category. No stats needed. 😉
Hmmm. Now I’m pondering the “My Mind and Spirit Are One†potion.
In your opinion, for such a thing, would allowing temporary “access†to extra stress boxes/consequences across the Physical/Mental/Social border be permitted?
That is, say I have extra stress boxes for Mental damage. The MM&SAO potion would allow me to take PHYSICAL damage onto that MENTAL or SOCIAL track. And vice-versa, in all cases.
I can see why that would make someone feel “kinda invincible.â€
Pesonally, I think adding stress boxes is a little too complicated for the effect. I could see it tagging you with a sticky Aspect, either My Mind And Spirit Are One, or Kind Of Invincible. Maybe both, if it’s potent enough. As a GM, I’d lean towards Kind Of Invincible, because then I could compel it by playing to the overconfidence of the character, giving them more Fate Points, which would let them tag the Aspect more often themselves, and push the scene up into wahoo cinematic magical kung-fu carnage.
And if you’re using stuff from BTiLC, that’s kinda the point, no?
But that’s just my opinion.
And as far as references go, you pick good source material. The one I like best, though, is the uber-geek shout-out to TSR’s old Marvel Superheroes game, with absolutely no explanation about it. 😀
@Rechan, regarding your question about Subtle Menace: Assuming it works more or less the same as in SotC, this stunt circumvents the constraint that you have to actually be a threat to threaten someone. So if I’m locked naked in a prison cell, and I start telling you I’m going to kick your ass if you don’t let me out, you get a bonus to defend. But if I have Subtle Menace, I’m JustThatScary(tm), and your bonus is 2 less than it would normally be. This would apply both to social-stress attacks and aspect-application maneuvers that try to put an aspect like “Shaking in his Boots” on the target.
Now, a question of my own:
Do Minor Talents get 10 refresh base? 12? giving up the two freebies just for one tiny power sounds harsh, but I could imagine going to 11 (hah) to be a fair trade. What’s the scoop, there?
Loving this, thanks guys.
@John Hawkins, I pesonally think of all the templates/character types/magical cookie cutters of the Dresdenverse in RPG, Minor Talents are by far the worst off.
They give up those 2 extra refresh for 1 supernatural talent. Of course, that is assuming you don’t buy more than one talent or supernatural ability.
I don’t have the books in front of me, but I gather from previous Q&A, analysis of preview content and extrapolation based on similiar games with copious lists of abilities that a template is just that, a template.
If you stay “At template” as it’s been referred to at say a Base refresh of 10, a Pure Mortal will have 12 minus however many mortal stunts they take(I know and game with a few players who are going play Pure Mortals with adjusted Refreshes of 1). Meanwhile, the Minor Talent will ended up with an adjusted of 9 or 8 base on what talent they take and how many other stunts they take.
But a Template is just a template and you can take powers outside of what qualifies for it as long as it relates to the High-Concept and your GM isn’t an idiot.
As a GM, I am not going to screw over a player who decides to take, “The Sight” to simulate his previous exposure to 3-Eye or the ability to talk to spirits.
Of all the components of the Dresden RPG, Minor Talents seems to be one of its 2 problemed character types. The cost isn’t worth the reward in my opinion because you are spending 3 or 4 refresh so your character can have a single 1 or 2 refresh ability. But, the 2 refresh Pure Mortal reward has to be there so Murphy and Harry and Marcone can be created equal and not suffer from the Star Wars RPG eternal problem of Force Users always having more….advantages then non-Force Users. The only way a Minor Talent can be worth it is if you take more Stunts and powers beyond that one trick otherwise, you don’t have as many abilities as other character tyoes have or as much refresh as a Pure Mortal.
The other problemed character type IMHO is the Lycanthrope. Their problems were discussed on the DFRPG’s comment thread. If I were running a game with a Lycan I would rule that they don’t need a Full moon restriction(if they still have one) so the player doesn’t feel useless ~28 days of the month.
But I don’t have the books in front of me(they aren’t out yet) so this might have been addressed already. I could see the sidebar:
Harry: Doesn’t it seem like Minor Talents get Jacked in this system of yours Billy?
Bob: That’s the lot of the small fish in the Supernatural pond…
Great stuff Rick. 😀
How do the mechanics support the use magical powers to augment the physical or mental abilities of more or less normal mortals?
For instance, how would the bear shaped belt buckle that Harry uses to boost his strength in one of the earlier(?) books work?
It would be cool to play something along the lines of an eastern monk, hardening his skin to block blows, channeling the power of his chi through his punches, making Jedi style leaps, using mental discipline to resist psychic attacks. Would that work better if you start with the knights of the cross template, or could you do it by messing around with a sorcerer/wizard/focused practitioner template, or some other approach?
Or on a less grandiose scale, a gunslinger using a minor ability or two to augment his eyesight, speed, and/or coordination?
Oooh, new idea, any support for an enchanted sniper rifle?
do the books have much detail on the undercity
What kinds of evocations are there? The four elements and spirit have been mentioned, but are there other types too?
What do refinements do? They’ve been mentioned in many places, but I haven’t a clue how they can affect a wizard’s powers.
@Atlatl Jones: Just the Four Elements + Spirit.
Refinement is basically “gimmie more” for spellcrafting. Each time you take it, you have several options:
To explain this, lemme explain the facets of Evocation:
When you grab Evocation, you are Familiar with 3 elements. You also get to SPECIALIZE in one. Specialization means that you get a +1 to either CONTROL or POWER (so either a +1 to Discipline or Conviction). You also get 2 Focus Item slots. You can trade a Focus Item for 2 Enchanted Item slots.
Thaumaturgy is similar, but it has its own areas of familiarity.
Refinement offers a few choices to play with this. Choose one of the following:
1) Pick a new Element to be familiar with, and gain a new specialization in it.
2) Two bonuses for Specialization. This coudl be either increasing your Control or Power in one element, or getting one or the other in others. You can’t just pump up one thing (it explains the mechanics of that). Also, your bonuses can’t exceed your Lore skill.
3) Gain 2 additional Focus Item slots or 4 Additional Enchanted Item slots.
What is the difference between a focus item and an enchanted Item? Are they anything to do with rotes? if not, how do rotes operate?
I feel a bit guilty continually firing questions and really appreciate you taking the time to answer them!!
Rechan can probably answer this minor clarification:
What is included in each element?
Water = Water, Ice (Rearranging the molecules) and Entropy?
Fire = Fire, Heat and Combustion?
Air = Air and Lightning?
Earth = Earth(as in soil), Gravity and Magnetism?
Spirit = Raw Kinetic Force (like Forzare), Veils/Glamours and….Spirit Energy?
@Iowerth FOCUS items are things like the Blasting Rod and Wizard’s Staff. They boost your Control or Power in 1 Element.
Enchanted items are things like the Shield Bracelet or a Warden’s Sword. I believe they allow you to add your Lore skill to another skill a few times per…Session or 1/2 of your Lore skill to the Skill all the time.
I know nothing about the rotes thing. I hope that helps.
No, I’m wrong, the Shield Bracelet is a focus item. Sorry.
Focus items are either offensive or defensive foci.
Enchanted items are everything else and Potions and stuff…