On Evocations for defense:[]
There are four major ways an evocationist can defend themselves with magic:
1) Set up a block before the attack even happens (on their own turn), and treat it as a straight block, as armour, or even as a boost to the ability to dodge.[]
This spell will have a duration, and cannot be set up as a defensive action. This is a proactive defense ONLY
-Example a)[]
Carlos Ramirez's Entropy Shield Water / Entropy block (in this case used as a straight block) Power: 6 shifts into effect, 0 shifts into duration Duration: 1 Exchange (round) Control: Roll discipline with appropriate specialty and focus item bonuses. Effect: A weird looking hemisphere of entropy appears in front of the caster, in this case acting as a block against incoming attack (Caster's discipline result +6 in this example). If an attack overwhelms this shield, it will disappear.
IE: Carlos casts this shield, rolls Discipline 7. This creates a 13 shift defense, which automatically blocks any attacks aimed at him. If someone attacks it and deals 14 shifts of stress (in one hit) to the shield, it will collapse (even if it has duration left) and the remaining 1 shift will be dealt to Carlos.
-Example b)[]
Water / Entropy block (in this case used as a straight block) Power: 6 shifts into effect, 0 shifts into duration Duration: 1 Exchange (round) Control: Roll discipline with appropriate specialty and focus item bonuses (to control spell effect only). Effect: A weird looking hemisphere of entropy appears in front of the caster, in this case acting as armour. Creating armour in this way is less efficient (yielding 1 point of armour per 2 shifts of power in the spell) but has the added benefit of not disappearing when overwhelmed like the block shield does.
IE: Carlos casts this shield, rolls Discipline 7 (succeeding to control the 6 shifts of power in the spell). This calls into being a 3 shift armour around himself until the duration ends, no matter how many times he gets hit in that time period or how hard he gets hit in that time period.
-Example c)
[]
Hyperawareness as passive defense Spirit defensive block / maneuver Total cost: 5 shifts (3 shifts power, 2 shifts duration) Duration: 3 Exchanges (rounds) Control: Roll discipline with appropriate specialty and focus item bonuses (to control spell effect only). Effect: This block works by amping up the wizard's level of situational awareness. This gives them a passive (automatic) result of 3 on all defensive athletics rolls for the period of the duration.
-Example d)[]
Hyperawareness as athletic boost
Spirit defensive block / maneuver
Total cost: 6 shifts (4 shifts power, 2 shifts duration)
Duration: 3 Exchanges (rounds)
Control: Roll discipline with appropriate specialty and focus item bonuses (to control spell effect only).
Effect: This block works by amping up the wizard's level of situational awareness. This gives them a bonus of +2 on all defensive athletics rolls for the period of the duration.
2) Use magic to provide a one-time boost to their dodge skill using magic (this would be as a defensive action)[]
-Example a)
[]
Using magnetic dipoles to boost a dodge out of the way of an energy bolt
Earth defensive maneuver
Total cost: 4 shifts of effect
Duration: Instant (It's a defensive spell)
Control: Roll Discipline with appropriate specialty and focus item bonuses (to control spell effect only)
Notes: This spell uses the principles of magnetism to forcibly hurl the target out of the path of an incoming attack. This 4-shift evocation adds +4 to the athletics roll of the target.
IE: Jirou is targeted by an enemy casting a bolt of energy at him. In response, he uses this spell to help himself get out of the way. His player rolls Discipline of 5 total (sufficient to control the spell), and then rolls Athletics of 3. The Discipline roll was successful, so they add +4 to the Athletics roll, for a final result of Athletics 7, and avoiding the attack.
[]
3) Use magic to create a VERY temporary barrier to 'tank the hit.' This is a defensive action, and has no ongoing duration beyond that of the attack it defends against.[]
-Example a)
[]
Using a shield of hardened air to block an incoming attack.
Air defensive block
Total cost: 4 shifts of effect
Duration: Instant (It's a defensive spell)
Control: Roll Discipline with appropriate specialty and focus item bonuses (Adding result to final spell's power).
Notes: This spell causes a shield of hardened air to form between the caster and the source of attack aimed at them. The shield then formed takes the full brunt of the attack arrayed against them. Any shifts of stress beyond what the shield can take are dealt to the caster.
IE: Ariele is being attacked by an enemy with a gun. Rather than dodge, he decides to block using his shield of air. Ariele's player rolls Discipline 5 (sufficient to control the spell), and has put 4 shifts of power into the spell itself. This creates a 9 shift defense. Ariele's attacker rolls a Guns of 7, and is using a weapon 3 tommy gun. This totals out to a 10 shift attack. The shield blocks 9 shifts of the attack, depleting it with 1 shift left. That remaining 1 shift hits Ariele.
4) Abandon all pretense of defense, and counterattack.[]
This option is very high risk, but potentially high reward. It allows the wizard or sorcerer to effectively double their attacks per exchange (round). The unfortunate part of this is that they will take the total brunt of whatever attack the enemy musters simultaneous to their own...affirmative defense.
-Example a)[]
Edward is being attacked by a sword-wielding wild-fae. He decides that it's worth the risks to give up his defense in exchange for an extra attack, since he's sure the creature is nearly dead. He counterattacks with an ice-spear (5 shifts), and rolls a Discipline 6 (Sufficient to control the spell, and providing a targeting roll of 6). The wild-fae is attacking with Weapons 5, using a sword of weapon value 2. The wild-fae gets a chance to dodge the incoming attack, but at a -2 to his roll due to the unexpected nature of the wildly unlikely attack. The wild-fae rolls Athletics 4 (-2 becomes Athletics 2) to dodge, and takes 9 shifts of physical stress, killing the creature outright. At the same time, Edward takes 7 stress from the final sword attack of the doomed fae.
NB: This method is extremely dangerous.