Whatever the player and narrator agree. There is no reason its use should not be an edge one day and an augment on the following day. Whatever suits your story.
> Another example of this (brought up before, I know) is stuff
> like Shield Destroyer, Break Weapon, etc. I think I see a way
> to work it though - instead of attacking the person holding the
> weapon, you attack the weapon itself. Something like a simple
> contest of Magic vrs. Item.
The way I deal with this is that your APs are a measure of your relative position in a contest compared to all other contestants. If you successfully use Shield Destroyer (only allowed against a user of a shield), they your APs change relative to the opposition (i.e. they lose or even transfer APs too you). But the point should not be operating the rules, it should be that there is a story to tell and the rules are the agreed way to keep score.
Many people are unhappy with my interpretation because, they argue, this means that no magic does "anything" - it is just used to increase your own APs and decrease the APs of the opposition. To me, that is the benefit as it means that Ican tell more of a stoy without being bound by the standard spell description. In particular, I can improvise an entirely new (and hopefully) imaginative use for the name "Shield Destroyer".
regards,
Charles
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