So say a character has the Energy source and the control intention.

How would you use it to say open a electro magnetic lock or electronic lock. For example by disrupting the electricity to the magnet or sending power to the solenoid to open the lock?

Either way you want to do it!!

As the Control Energy description states (in the example for Minor Modifier), you can redirect energy from one place to another - without wires!  It would be a simple matter to open an electronic lock…not counting the duration, you’re looking at a basic DR of 6 for a simple electronic lock.  So, the question becomes, what is the duration?  when the duration is up, the door may relock.  that may or may not present a problem!

I am more looking for the thought process of doing the effect. I was sure it was an easy effect to do. I am just trying to wrap my head around the process.

OK, so game mechanics aside, my answer still stands - either way you want to do it.  For the most part, magnetic locks are fail safe. This means that they need a constant source of current to remained locked. If the power is removed, the lock will open.  Exceptions to this are buzz-in door locks, where someone normally has to push a button to unlock the door.  In this case, they can either be fail safe or fail secure—a fail secure system stays locked even without power.  Note that these concepts are true no matter how the door is actually locked—it could be locked by energizing a motor that slides a bolt into place (also similar to a car door lock) or a plate that turns into a magnet to “stick” to a matching plate in the jam (like the ones you see on glass office doors).  So, you would need to know what type of lock is being used when you encounter it.  If it is a fail safe lock, simply turn off the power to the lock and it will allow access—the bolt will slide back or the magplate will be demagnetized.  If it is a fail secure lock, you would need to manipulate the power to “activate” the lock into the “unlocked” mode.

No no no… I used to work for a security access control company. I know how the locks work . I am looking for the process for figuring out the mechanics. I would think you can use Energy and perhaps insight to figure out what kind of lock it is as well. You know figuring out the difficulty of the spell. IE the mechanics is what i am looking for.

I think this is one of those times you have to step back and look at the game as a whole and accept that there are skills for a reason. You shouldn’t be able to completely remove the need to have skills just because you can find a way to justify doing something with wielding.

What I would suggest is allowing the player to use Energy Control to make an appropriate skill check with a bonus equal to a minor mod. This allows you to do cool things like unlock a door from down the hall, without actually touching it with your hands, open multiple doors at once, etc.

So you do want the mechanics…I’m confused…

Control Energy is the effect you wish to use to open the door.

This requires:
Range to Target
Number of Targets
Duration
Minor Modification (based on amount/degree of energy to control, ie a lamp up to a whole building)

So if you are standing in front of a door and want to open the lock for one Combat Cycle so you can get through the door, that’s Range - Touch (+2), Number of Targets - <3 (+4), Duration (Combat - we’ll assume you’re under pressure, ie chased) - 1 Combat Cycle (+1), Minor Mod - based on the book, you aren’t changing much more than you would to turn off a lamp, so 1 (+2) >>>  +2 +4 +1 +2 = 9 DR, WT 2, EC 2

@zergling, while I wholeheartedly agree with your statement about skills, your example is not a good one, as that is handled strictly by the variables - unlocking a door from down the hall requires increasing the Range, multiple doors is increasing the Number of Targets, etc - you can’t (if you’re using the rules) just use Energy + Control as a skill test with a bonus equal to a Minor Mod.

If anything, what I might allow the character to do is use the Wielding in place of the Electronics Skill to aid the Defeat Security Skill Check (or vice versa) to defeat the lock (the book says you need Electronics if you are trying to override electronic security measures) or possibly allow the character to make a Defeat Security Skill Check (or Electronics) to identify the type of lock and use that knowledge to more effectively control the energy when wielding, making it less of a chance of a “fumble” should you be using Critical Failures, or possibly reducing the Wielding Time value, as you know exactly what you are trying to do.  In this latter case, this would allow someone on the run to defeat the lock with a single Segment without spending Endurance as you normally would to reduce the WT.  For a trivial lock, this might not be worth it, but for a security lock that the GM might impose a higher Minor Mod (maybe it’s shielded or something special to prevent tampering), it might make a difference.

Maybe I wasn’t entirely clear with what I was proposing. An example:

You are pulling a bank heist and want to open the two vaults
Range -  <10 (+8),
Number of Targets - <3 (+4),
Duration - 1 minute (+0), You don’t need more than a minute of control in order to do what you need to do.
Minor Mod - based on the book, you aren’t changing much more than you would to turn off a lamp, so 1 (+2)
Additional Minor Mod - I have 3 skill points in defeat security, but this may be a difficult lock to pick, so I want a little boost., say +2 to my roll (+4)
>>>  +8 +4 +0 +2 +8 = 18 DR, WT 3, EC 3

When the player makes that roll, they can then make an immediate roll to defeat security on the doors.
2d8 from physical acumen
+3 defeat security
+2 from the bonus I gave via wielding.

This has its problems as well
1) Its multiple rolls, so it takes longer.
2) It dips into the dice pool twice, which is draining on the player.

But personally I would rather have those problems than the problem of skills being useless because magic can just do everything.

Well my thinking is you use something like make a defeat security roll to know where and how to apply the wielding effect. If you fail the roll i would think you could use a Energy + insight to see how the lock works by seeing the internal electronics.

How do you know wether its a major mod or not?

The example of Control Energy states that it uses a Minor Mod, not Major.  As I mentioned previously, this mod is based on the scale you are trying to control, from a single device up to an entire building. 

Since this almost borders on the NoT variable, you might consider the Minor Mod variable as a scale for the wattage that you’re trying to control - that way, it would be more difficult to use Control Energy on an oven than a simple light switch.  Each is only 1 for NoT, but the Minor Mod would be different between the two, based on the amount of energy each uses.

So I was looking at the rules last night and you can’t combine energy with insight. So how would you observe the circuits inside the lock?

You can’t!

I agree with zergling on this aspect - this would be a prime case where the character should have either Electronics or Defeat Security and make a successful skill check in order to know ahead of time what the internals of the lock are like.  Otherwise, you will need to use mundane or wielding methods to remove the cover plate and examine the guts for yourself!

MSL-CD - 09 September 2010 11:02 AM

You can’t!

I agree with zergling on this aspect - this would be a prime case where the character should have either Electronics or Defeat Security and make a successful skill check in order to know ahead of time what the internals of the lock are like.  Otherwise, you will need to use mundane or wielding methods to remove the cover plate and examine the guts for yourself!

Which i know you can’t really do cause all the guts are on the inside. Wait I know how… insight + elemental to scry the lock? air as the scrying place?

I would vote NO on that.  Although it doesn’t specifically state it in the book, I interpret scrying from a focal point as if my own eyes were there.  So, for instance, if I’m using a campfire for my scrying, it’s as if I were sitting in the center of the fire looking out.  I would see what my normal vision would see.  This includes focal length.  Unless you are extremely near sighted, I don’t think there is enough air, or gap, in the lock to allow you to look at it.  It would be like taking the cover off, then holding the lock up to your face and touching your nose….
YMMV

MSL-CD - 09 September 2010 01:47 PM

I would vote NO on that.

Me too, but I’d still say it was up to the Moderator to create a fun game for the players and not get stuck on these details

One more question. Wielding time is measured in Segments. Do all segments in the combat cycle count towards this or just the ones in which the wielder is active?