So I need some spell crafting advice.

I am wanting my mage to cast a spell that simply shoves people away from him. I don't necessarily want it to attack anyone, just move them a range band away. I know I can add Manipulative to an attack spell for +1 Difficulty and I have the talent, Favor of the Fae so I can add it for free to my attack. But my mage was surrounded by two minion groups the other day and even rolling 3 yellow arcana checks I still wasn't rolling very well. My thought is a simple (as in "not complex", not "dice pool simple") spell (at least as simple as I can get it) that would allow me to shove multiple targets away and not jack up the difficulty to much. Just something to help me get out of a bind.

Since I don't want it to necessarily cause damage, I don't know if I should consider it an Attack spell. Maybe Barrier? Is it ok to add Favor of the Fae to a Barrier spell, even though it says in the description "when added to an attack spell" or would that be crossing too many lines?

I'm thinking 1D for the base spell of shoving 1 target away then a +1D for adding Additional Target. So 2D total?

Any sage spell crafters out there want to give advice, that would be greatly welcomed!

If it's not doing damage, but is hampering them, it can fall under Curse. I'd say 2D to move them one range band, +1D for each additional target, +2D if you want to knock them prone or otherwise force them to lose a maneuver after the movement.

Have you thought of getting the Signature Spell Talent? Make it Attack + Manipulate + Range x 3

You need a Yew Implement, starting with a Staff but ultimately a Magic Tome.

with all of that and the talent you are reducing the difficulty by 5 and adding an automatic advantage.

The Spell has a range of Long, and Manipulate with a Difficulty of Medium with the Staff and Signature Spell

With the Tome and Improved Signature Spell the Difficulty becomes Simple!

Potentially you could add the Lightning effect to all of it too to be able to move more than one target, perhaps change it to only two range upgrades then.

If the aim is not to do damage, then it's not an attack. Sounds like an engaged-range Utility spell. Average ( ) check (same difficulty as a melee attack) and a success pushes them to short range. + for extra range push, and + for Additional Targets.

Feels like a barrier spell to me

It could even be Conjure, as you Conjure a gust of wind or energy to move your target

1 hour ago, HorusArisen said:

Feels like a barrier spell to me

Barrier provides pseudo-soak, though, and that's not the goal of the OP. It's a simple "push them back" ability

1 hour ago, Richardbuxton said:

It could even be Conjure, as you Conjure a gust of wind or energy to move your target

I didn't even think of that. It would be a great base for a continuous "pulse" of magic that keeps pushing enemies back. In that case, I'd have the enemies roll a contested Resilience vs. Spellcasting check to avoid being knocked back to short range.

Lots of ways to skin this:

• an attack spell with one less difficulty to cover the "no actual damage"
• a conjur spell summoning a blast of air... use the target's silhouette as the summoning size
• curse to make them more unconsciously jump back

2 hours ago, c__beck said:

If the aim is not to do damage, then it's not an attack. Sounds like an engaged-range Utility spell. Average ( ) check (same difficulty as a melee attack) and a success pushes them to short range. + for extra range push, and + for Additional Targets.

I like this solution, but with one change. I don't have my book in front of me but i believe the magic section details that any check that can be used by a normal skill is more difficult when using magic to do it. Where i could see doing DD for say... a brawl check to push someone; i would DDD when using a magic skill.

4 minutes ago, Noahjam325 said:

I like this solution, but with one change. I don't have my book in front of me but i believe the magic section details that any check that can be used by a normal skill is more difficult when using magic to do it. Where i could see doing DD for say... a brawl check to push someone; i would DDD when using a magic skill.

Right, but remember that a melee attack also does damage. With the lack of damage I think an Average ( ) check is fair. Also, I like to err on the side of the players, and a single-target magic effect with knockback shouldn't be too hard. Besides, if they want it to be an AoE, that is indeed a Hard ( ) check (+ for additional targets).

That sounds like a good difficulty to me. YMMV, YTYR, IMO, etc :p

1 hour ago, c__beck said:

Barrier provides pseudo-soak, though, and that's not the goal of the OP. It's a simple "push them back" ability

I didn't even think of that. It would be a great base for a continuous "pulse" of magic that keeps pushing enemies back. In that case, I'd have the enemies roll a contested Resilience vs. Spellcasting check to avoid being knocked back to short range.

True but still feels like one

Quote

You need a Yew Implement, starting with a Staff but ultimately a Magic Tome.

with all of that and the talent you are reducing the difficulty by 5 and adding an automatic advantage.

The Spell has a range of Long, and Manipulate with a Difficulty of Medium with the Staff and Signature Spell

With the Tome and Improved Signature Spell the Difficulty becomes Simple! 

Unless I have read things wrong, you can't stack implements for casting a spell. You would choose Staff -OR- Tome, not both.

3 hours ago, Wulfborn said:

Unless I have read things wrong, you can't stack implements for casting a spell. You would choose Staff -OR- Tome, not both.

He's not stacking. He's suggesting getting a Staff first, then upgrading to a Yew Tome.

I mean, you're starting with a difficulty of Formidable ( ) (Base of Easy ( ) + Manipulative ( + ) + (Range x 3 ( + ), decreasing it twice with the Signature Spell (Improved) talent (so your difficulty is Hard ( ) ), If your GM then provided you a Tome that could remove the difficulty of the first Range upgrade and the Manipulative upgrade, that leaves you with a difficulty of Easy ( ) but that sounds like seriously gaming the system all for the ability to move things or creatures.

3 hours ago, Simon Retold said:

He's not stacking. He's suggesting getting a Staff first, then upgrading to a Yew Tome.

I mean, you're starting with a difficulty of Formidable ( ) (Base of Easy ( ) + Manipulative ( + ) + (Range x 3 ( + ), decreasing it twice with the Signature Spell (Improved) talent (so your difficulty is Hard ( ) ), If your GM then provided you a Tome that could remove the difficulty of the first Range upgrade and the Manipulative upgrade, that leaves you with a difficulty of Easy ( ) but that sounds like seriously gaming the system all for the ability to move things or creatures.

It may be gaming the system, but you had to blow experience and get a specific implement just to be able to push someone a single maneuver worth of movement.