Always cast spells carefully and patiently

The book lists the instinct “Always cast spells carefully and patiently,” and for certain types of characters, this is something they would always want to do. I don’t really understand what the mechanical effect of the instinct is, however.

As the text says, “When surprised, I draw my sword,” has the effect that, at the start of combat, you sword is drawn without spending actions, so I understand its mechanical effect. But for “Always cast spells, carefully and patiently,” I’m not sure what happens. Can I cast a spell without actually taking extra time in some analog to the draw sword instinct?

For example, part way through a combat, I want to cast Falcon Skin and escape. Falcon Skin is 12 actions. Normally casting with +4D carefully dice, it would take 96 actions. Does having the “Always cast carefully and patiently” instinct let me cast it in 12? Or does it have some other mechanical effect? Or is it intended as more of a statement about the character which has no mechanical effect?

Thanks,
– Chris

If my character (to which I will refer from now on as “I”) has the “Always cast spells, carefully and patiently” Instinct, I don’t have to explein to the group that I taking my time to cast my spells with caution, because that’s the way I am. (I always do.) But try to imagine a situation where I need to perform a spell immediately, without delay. Can I go against myself and do it? Or am I going to ruin everything because I’m too careful? I can use my Instinct to get myself in a lot of trouble, and be rewarded for that. (Artha.)

Some instincts accomplish something. “I always draw my sword in trouble” means you’ll always have that drawn sword. That’s an advantage! Some instincts are artha mines. “I always draw my sword” can be that too, as I believe the book suggests: drawing steel during tense negotiations is a great way to cause trouble and get artha.

Always cast patiently and carefully is also both, but more of the latter. You don’t have to always remember to specify for the GM that you get your extra die, because it’s on your sheet. But you can’t cast those slow spells faster in combat! What you can do is ignore your instinct, although if you do that too much you need to change it. But it’s still a good source of artha to take so long getting your spells just right that you’ve made yourself ineffective. Perfect is the enemy of good and all that.

In general, though, I wouldn’t recommend instincts that do something that you can do without them. “Always take the time to do things thoroughly and do them right” has much the same effect, but it’s broader and therefore will come up in play more often and be more interesting. And yes, you’ll till be casting spells carefully and patiently, but you’ll also be digging perfect ditches at a slug’s pace and driving your party of the wall whenever you’re on a deadline.

Given that if you don’t remember to roll the dice you can’t really benefit from them, I guess I still don’t really see the mechanical benefit from this (though I understand the Artha benefit from going with it when it’s troublesome).

In general, though, I wouldn’t recommend instincts that do something that you can do without them. “Always take the time to do things thoroughly and do them right” has much the same effect, but it’s broader and therefore will come up in play more often and be more interesting. And yes, you’ll till be casting spells carefully and patiently, but you’ll also be digging perfect ditches at a slug’s pace and driving your party of the wall whenever you’re on a deadline.

This is tempting me. The character was (as back story) kicked out from her position as apprentice-court-sorceress/court-sorceress-heir-apparent because of a garbled transmission while trying to defend the Baron’s wife and daughter. That totally justifies the careful sorcery. But it’s reasonable that she be careful in all aspects of life, too. But, boy, can I see the complications coming if I do this. As I’m still pretty new to BW, I think the idea of taking an instinct with such clear downsides is conflicting with my player instincts. :slight_smile: This, even though I know that such things are encouraged in BW. (And, hey, Artha!)

Thanks for the advice. I’ll have to try out the broader instinct and see how it goes when we play this afternoon.

You must to remember, because your Instincts are an important part of your character. You write Instincts to reflect the way you want to play your character. If you are not including your Instincts in your narration of the actions of your character, maybe it is because you don’t have good enough Instincts.

All and all, not every Inctint need to have a mechanical benefit.

The benefit isn’t “do you remember to roll the die” the benefit is you don’t have to constantly tell the GM you’re taking the extra time - provided it was at all possible, you can point to your instinct and the GM goes, “Oh, yeah, ok, there you go.”

Chris

This specific instinct came directly from campaigning. Our PC wizard had two instinct: Cast Edlritch Shield and Turn Aside the Blade every morning; and Always Cast Patiently and Carefully.

Since we didn’t waste time at the table with rolls that might not come into play that session, the wizard didn’t roll those two spells until they came into play. We were basically ret-conning them and they’d always be cast P&C. So that’s one way it was used.

The second way was to get into trouble when the spell had to be cast quickly, but the instinct demanded the opposite. Artha farm, right there!