How powerful is the Binding spell?

[gooderguy]

not sure if this is the right forum, but it's a practical question about interpereting the binding spell.

the spell text states that similar items can be bound together with power equal to the sorcerer's will exponent. in he instance it came up in our game, i interpereted this as a successful will powered Lock

thus, if a mage with 5 will binds an enemy's armor, they can bind legs and arms with a 4 point Lock, incapacitating the average soldier. that seems fairly powerful for such a cheap spell. i allowed a PC to Bind a pretty powerful NPC soldier with such a spell, with a very interesting aftermath
BUT
i'm just wondering if i'm interpereting the spell incorrectly or not

instead of a complete Lock (-4D), should it be a power contest every time the bound character wishes to act with the margin of failure an obstacle for the bound character? seems quite open to interperetation

[Thor]

Personally, I'd probably make it an Ob 5 Power test to break the binding. Once the binding is broken, it's broken.

[luke]

If there's a question of a versus test, Will should be tested as Power against the opponent's Power.

[gooderguy]

so, to clarify, if the mage binds an opponents weapons/armor, the opponent wants to do anything, they need to make a power test against the mage's current will before the bound person/s can do anything

still seems pretty powerful. perhaps instead of the will obstacle for a power test, it should count as an attempted lock? a vs. test seems more applicable for the measly 4 rsp cost of the spell

anyway, it does not count as negative dice as in a LOCK, but simply as an obstacle for a power test

the bound person can't position if their leg armor is bound to itself until they break free, nor can they block, strike, avoid or do any other martial action

my only remaining question
is it a free test tied to any attempt at an action or does it take a scripted action to attempt to break free?

[luke]

In Fight! the versus test to escape has to be scripted.

Also, note the description of the spell. It doesn't affect leather and it must bind similar items. In other words, two gauntlets or two boots, but not helmet to breastplate or arm to breastplate, gauntlet to boot or by locking up every joint in the armor.

[pants10]

How easy is it to get two objects to bind? Like, two boots can be bound together, but what has to be done to do it beyond the spell? By that I mean, does the spell's action include putting the two objects into contact with each other, or does the player have to form some creative method to figure that out. Also can things be bound to themselves (for example, I would want to bind pants legs together, but they are technically already bound)

And do things that are just similar work (Luke said not a helmut and brestplate, but what if they are both made from the same metal?)

[Invincible Overlord]

What about sword and scabbard?

[luke]

No and no. The spell is very specific!