Dresden files movement rote

Question

Hi I'm looking to create a rote to do an effect similar to Harry's quick escape potion. I have a good discipline and conviction and air control specialisation.

Harry's potion is 5 shifts of power for 5 shifts of sprinting in an exchange and can bypass normally impassible barriers .

Is it fair to assume I can do the same but at 3 shifts of power for 3 shifts of sprinting in that exchange bypassing normally impassible barriers?

As a spell do you think the movement happens at the end of casting (which is what I want), or would I have to add a shift to use it the following round?

(I assume it counts as a maneuver though no tag is placed.)

Answer 1

I think there's a mix-up in what Harry's potion does, and what the shifts do.

On (YS303), there's this blurb:

Allows the consumer to easily and effortlessly move through almost any barrier

...

Only a magical barrier with more than five shifts of strength or a very well sealed mundane barrier can prevent movement.

There are variations that increase movement, but the base potion described does one thing, i.e. it allows movement through barriers.

So you have two effects in what you're describing- the ability to move faster, and the ability to move past barriers. You can do either as a potion's potency, or both, increasing the shifts of power that go into the potion. But you don't get passing barriers for free.

So if we wanted to recreate Harry's potion, and add the shifts of speed and do both at 3 shifts of power (i.e. increase sprinting by 3 shifts and pass 3 shifts of magical barrier and mundane barriers), you'd have to have 6 Lore, or devote enough slots to effectively have 6 lore in that one potion, per (YS280), i.e.

The effect strength of potions, like enchanted items, is equal to the Wizard's Lore. Multiple slots devoted to potions allow the wizard to either:

• Have multiple potions at one time; or,
• Add +1 to the strength of any potion.

Now, putting that into a rote would require the same things, i.e. you need 6 shifts of power in the rote for both effects.

These 6 shifts can come from items and/or your own Conviction and Discipline, i.e. if you have a Conviction of 3 and Discipline of 5, you'd need +3 items to get enough shifts in the power, and +1 in items to control the power reliably to make it a rote (YS257)

But you'd always need to have those three items to cast the rote, no matter how powerful you subsequently became.

Look at the example on (YS258) for a good example of how Fuego is a rote for Harry when he has his blasting rod.

Answer 2

After refreshing myself on the rule section for potions as well as reading over the example about the potion several times, it seems to me that the only reason it's a 5 shift to sprinting is because of the Fate Point. From what I gathered from the (albeit limited) RAW for this type of thing, Harry would have ended up having the bypassing the impassible regardless of potion strength (which personally I consider paid for by the cost of being consumable), which is determined by Lore rating.

tl;dr: With a Lore 3 and no compels or FP, It's a 3 shift potion with passing power

Additional: if you don't care so much about the more Parkour quality of the potion, you could always craft it to add an aspect such as "Run Like the Wind" but that sort of thing requires a mini conference with your GM.