Unleashing as a Wizard
So one of my players is a Wizard, and I suggested that they could Unleash with magic to chuck a fireball at someone (or a lightning bolt or whatever; fireball is just a specific example from the book that the Tainted does at one point). He answered that he didn’t think he could since there’s a specific Channeling option for that.
So I went back to the book for guidance, and I’m getting conflicting messages. On the one hand, there’s stuff like the above example of a Tainted conjuring fire without going full-on demon form. There’s also the Dark Arts corruption move which suggests that battle magic should be a thing. But in the playbook advice section, it says you have to Channel to cast a spell, and if you use Elementalism you then have to Unleash on top of that.
My interim judgment is that the Wizard can still Unleash with magic without that channeling option, but the Channeling option allows them finer control over the effects. I.e., with Elementalism they can always choose to deal 3-harm or 2-harm area; with general magical Unleashing the tags are in the MC’s hands. I just finished a long-running Masks campaign with him in it, so the comparison I’m drawing is that Channeling is like the Nova’s Flares: specific permissions with slightly altered mechanics, but not strictly speaking anything you couldn’t do with the basic moves alone.
How have y’all handled it? Does this scan, or do you tackle it another way?
Unleash needs a weapon. Channelling creates the weapon that you unleash with
I think we were thinking about “casting spells” as a different thing than “letting it out.”
I’ve always been of the mind that Let It Out should be all-purpose enough to allow fictionally positioned characters to do whatever they’d like to do. Wizards, as the heavy hitters of urban fantasy, can definitely use Let It Out to do big stuff in games I’m running.
But that stuff isn’t safe. It’s not a contained spell that goes off the way it’s supposed to go off. It might come with corruption… or even just have side effects, i.e. fireballs tend to light stuff on fire you didn’t intend to ignite.
Yeah like Mark Diaz Truman says, Let It Out is another beast, and I think where most of the off-the-cuff spells lie. But you’re limited by the choices there. You could probably Take Control Of Something and choose like “their consciousness” or “their life” if it fit the fiction.
I would agree with you that Unleash can be used with magic for attacks. Requiring someone to take two actions in order to make one attack is unbalanced. Channeling is, as you or others have said, for finer control stuff. Unleash is more directed raw power. It’s instinctual and reflexive, quick responses to threats. It’s not measured and calculated.
Edward Hickcox most people can’t Unleash without a weapon, though. Well they can, but it’s 0-harm I think?
I would rule against unleashing without elementalism, since it would defeat the purpose of that spell.
I’d allow an offensive magic attack improvised in a pinch as a “Let it out” move, but the wizard has plenty of options already without an innate weapon ability.
Aaron Griffin I assumed that unarmed was a 1-harm option, but I’ll have to look it up.
To my understanding by default Wizard can unleash with fist, knife or a gun. Unleashing with fireball or other magic after spending hold from Channeling.
Let it Out is awesome way for Wizards, but as other pointed out is it not precise, some enemies like other Wizards might not be vulnerable enough while mortals most likely will be vulnerable -> then you as MC can go for ‘trade harm’ move between PC Wizard and his opposition.
As people are noting, I think a lot depends on the fictional positioning here. If a Wizard wants to Let It Out, then the options really matter: is this about seizing control of something vulnerable or frightening someone?
Let’s say the Wizards is trapped in a room with a bunch of vampires. She might let it out to…
– take +1 forward against Unleashing on them by imbuing her sword with mystical energy
– open her third eye to learn their weaknesses and strengths
– summon fire to intimidate or frighten them
– take hold of herself by knocking them all down with a magic blast (which might create an opening for escape)
I think of all of this as “magic”… but it’s not a spell like Elementalism.