My character is in the first reading of Flame Breath (OB 3, 3 Actions); When the character gets to the practicals, if nothing changes my character will be facing an Ob 9 test with B5 Sorcery and an Astrology FoRK. Clearly it’s going to be a bumpy ride, even if she advances; This has me looking for any advantages I can for testing.
If we engage in Range and Cover, the rules say that a spell taking 20 or less actions can be cast. Could I cast the spell slowly (i.e. x5 Actions) to get the +5D during that R&C volley? My inclination is that this is circumventing the intent of the rules. However, 6 Failures is very likely, and an Ob 9 Forte test is likely to result in the character sustaining a Mortal Wound.
Actually, in BWG the numbers are a little different (Carefully, p. 512): you can get +3D for x6 actions (18, for Flame Breath) and still fall within the 20-action limit. If this isn’t enough, I don’t see any problem with extending it and only taking an action every other volley.
I’m not at my books to look at the moment, but isn’t there a way to help your test vs tax if you take extra time (casting carefully and patiently or something)?
BWG pg514 implies that a spell can be any length, and take as many volleys as he likes, as long as the sorcerer doesn’t perform any OTHER actions during casting. How many advantage dice do you want to cast carefully for?
On a related note, does failure when casting carefully incur a serious complication, like other tests?