Regarding attacks of will, as detailed in Street Magic, have your groups gotten much use out of them? It seems to me with so few people taking Banishing (which is entirely justified), just rolling Willpower or Will-1 isn't going to stop a spirit at all.

The idea of "hitting it with the strength of your feelings" is pretty appealing to me (I'm admittedly a shoujo anime junkie), and when our nigh-unstoppable possession magician isn't there, we've had severe issues with spirit opponents, as the rest of the group's regulars are mundane. I'm wondering if there's a way to make attacks of will better while still allowing spirits to be pretty scary for mundanes.

Do you think it would be viable to roll Will+Edge, with the option as normal of spending an Edge point to roll Will+Edge*2? Seems like you're still rolling 8 or 12 dice then, which puts you on a par with a force 5 or 6 spirit's defenses.

Any thoughts?

Um, how about having the character actually roll WIL+EDG by spending the EDG point? I mean, when you get right down to it, that's a pretty cinematic thing the "mundane" is trying, right? Especially if you're going for the "Anime-esque" vision. *grin*

Personally, I'd just allow mundanes to take Banishing for use in attacks of will. I don't reckon that'll unbalance anything; it's pretty inefficient to take a skill that's so limited for mundanes. Besides, non-Awakened types can already do Arcana, so it's not unheard of for "magical" skills to have a mundane use. Just my opinion.

there are maneuvers in arsenal that could also help, iirc. one or two of the choices that help vs spirits are awakened only, but i could also see removing that (as well as allowing banishing for attack of will purposes only)

Right! Kiai lets you dump 15 bc into the Martial Arts quality and get +3 to attacks of will. Good times.

Oh. So the real answer is, I need to buy Arsenal.

Regarding letting them use Banishing as a mundane skill, it's an intriguing thought. But what appeals to me is the whole emotive aspect of the thing, and I think making it something you can be skilled or unskilled at kind of...undoes that. Doesn't it?

Keren, that's basically what I've been doing (and the fact that you're suggesting it probably means I didn't understand whatever the actual rules are). It seems to just not be enough; perhaps this means the spirits I'm having them fight are too strong? I figure a force 5 spirit gets ten dice or so between Dodge and Reaction for melee defense, right? Will+Edge should still only be a little shy of that.

I'll admit I'm a bit weak on the rules end of things. Is there something fundamental I'm not getting here?

Thanks, by the way, you guys.

Hmmm, I mean, there are professional soap opera actors and actresses, but... actually, even with them in mind, it doesn't make any sense to be "skilled" at emoting. I guess the angle I was going for was knowledge of the occult; my idea was that waving your pistol at a spirit and wanting it to go away rolls Will, whereas waving some kind of anethema (a lighter at a water spirit, for example), or making an appropriate hand symbol (think Naruto ninjas), or chanting the spirit's "true name" or some such would roll Banishing + Will. And the anti-spirit activity doesn't have to be magical; maybe it's a placebo effect. It makes sense that if I were chanting a mantra that I knew would banish a spirit, it might focus my raw, emotive willpower into a more effective banishing force. Regardless of whether the mantra's power was "real." Besides, just because it's all in my head, does that mean it's not real?

And thank YOU for the question. It's been fun food for thought.

Not to rain on someone's parade, but doesn't Banishing use Magic as its attribute? So you'd need to think about that too. Say, maybe letting the mundane use willpower instead, I suppose.

I think the important thing to consider though, is that a mundane, or even a group of mundanes should never be as effective against spirits as a magician, since that's kind of their niche in the group. So alternatively to Attacks of Will, let the Mage play around with Anchoring (Street Magic) for some one-time anti-Spirit guns or something. IMO at least, its your game, do what you will with it.