First time burning up a standard-Sorcery sorcerer, and I just want to make sure I’m understanding the basic mechanics correctly.
For the sake of this example, let’s say I have Forte B5 and I’m casting Falcon Skin (Ob 4).
If I succeed on my Sorcery and Tax tests, I will need to retest for tax ever hour (Forte 5 - Ob 4 = 1).
If I fail my initial Tax test by 1, my Forte drops to B4 until I rest. According to the rules, that means I can’t sustain it at all, right? Will the spell just end instantly when I cast it, like a transformation aaaaalmost into a bird and then, boom, I’m wrenched back because I can’t hold the shape?
What happens if I cast the spell carefully and split off some Sorcery dice to buff up my Tax test? Do those dice stick around for “power still flows” retests or do I make those without the extras?
(Bonus question: Do I count all my Forte retests separately for advancement? Or only keep the most difficult one and discard the rest?)
I would count each test, as they happen at seperate stages of your journey (assuming you are taking a cross country flight that requires several hours in falcon skin) any failure could be bad as your wizard regains his (naked) human form in strange surroundings.
The rules as written say: “If this results in a zero or a negative number [of hours], the spell may not be sustained.”
I’d say, if you want to needlessly tinker with it (and break it for fun): you do transform, and can sustain it up to an hour, loosing automatically one Forte die every fifteen minutes (kind of a house rule). If an hour pass, you’d become incapacitated, period, until you can rest. Another way to handle it: you should retest Tax immediatly until one of two things happen: you decide to un-sustain it, or your Forte becomes 0 or less (and, thus, you become incapacitated). In the fiction, it would be that you casted the spell, but you know it is flowing a LOT of energy through your flesh, so you know you have to quit it or dismay immediatly (do not use this at all, please, xD).
What happens if I cast the spell carefully and split off some Sorcery dice to buff up my Tax test? Do those dice stick around for “power still flows” retests or do I make those without the extras?
Yes, I’d say so.
(Bonus question: Do I count all my Forte retests separately for advancement? Or only keep the most difficult one and discard the rest?)
Exactly. You can’t sustain it at all. The “almost” description is merely color, though pretty great.
What happens if I cast the spell carefully and split off some Sorcery dice to buff up my Tax test? Do those dice stick around for “power still flows” retests or do I make those without the extras?
I’d say even with the Advantage dice, it’s still impossible to hold even for a moment. That’s because the advantage dice aren’t boosting your actual Forte exponent above 4.
(Bonus question: Do I count all my Forte retests separately for advancement? Or only keep the most difficult one and discard the rest?)
Tests to sustain spells count individually, yes. I don’t think it follows the Series of Tests limitations, such as tests in a Fight!.