Critique this unusual Enchanted Item idea--Consequence in a box

[GruffAndTumble]

What do you guys think of an Enchanted Item that "stores" a consequence for you? That is to say, you can take a consequence on the item instead of your own body. Once it is "wounded," that use of the effect cannot be invoked until the item is "treated" for the consequence and "recovers."

An example and how it would work (with flavor text):

With a Lore of Fair (+2), a wizard makes a bottle storing some of breath, allowing it to take the Minor Consequence "BRUISED AND WINDED" instead of him, once per session. He gets into a fight, and focuses his will to redirect the harm from a grazing bullet into the flask. His graze clears, but the bottle's vapors turn a dull red. He is busy for the rest of the session, and so the bottle remains unusable the next session--it is still in use until it is "healed" by his careful tinkering in the lab, using Lore instead of Scholarship to start the recovery process.

I'm not entirely sure it's balanced, but I tend to think it probably is. I'm also concerned some Warden is going to think the bottle is Black Magic, even though there is no Law it actually breaks, just because bottled life force is kinda creepy. I'd like opinions on that, too.

[CMEast]

Well I guess it's a form of necromancy as it's smaller version of a liches phylactery. However the real question is; could manipulating your own life force like that change who you are? Could soul surgery, to yourself or to another, damage or darken your soul? It might count as 'transforming' but as long as it's your self then it shouldn't break the law. It could be 'reaching beyond the borders of life' but I think you could get around that with narration.

Hmm... I think the cost is fair, but I think you might be risking getting your head chopped off.

[Myrddhin]

While I find the idea of shifting a consequence off onto an enchanted item, potentially allowing that character to gain many more consequence boxes than normally possible via boosting frequency of uses, to be rather hinky... it is functionally similar to a character walking around with an item of equal strength storing a biomancy ritual to set a Mild consequence towards recovery, in which case it's cleared by the next scene, the only difference being that they (the biomancer) don't potentially have 8 extra Mild consequence boxes in a single conflict by taking a Refinement.

As far as the Warden angle goes, the only possible lawbreaks would be First and Fifth. The former if you killed a sentient being to make/repair the item, and the latter if they viewed the item as significantly disrupting the flow of life and death. That said, Wardens do seem to err on the side trial/decapitation. But that's just my take on it.

[GruffAndTumble]

I was thinking if it broke a Law, it would probably be the Fifth. However, there are no Liches in Dresdenverse canon. Furthermore, I tend to doubt most Wardens treat the Monster Manual as a legal textbook. So, if it breaks the fifth, it would be through unnaturally extended vitality--and that is, at most, a grey area, if not completely allowed.

Edit: @Myrddhin: Yes, there is tremendous potential for abuse if you take a ton of these. Assuming you trust your players not to abuse the privilege of allowing these items, would you consider this balanced?

Edit 2: Actually, a D&D style Lich phylactery would be a great extension of this for a BBEG's Item of Power. Give him a bunch of extra Consequences stored inside and Mythic Recovery with the Catch that it can only heal the life force he hid away. That could require some seriously interesting player strategies.

[Ophidimancer]

While it is an interesting concept, I think I would mechanically do it a bit differently.  I'd probably make it a Potion that automatically throws up a block against an attack and is used up.

[GruffAndTumble]

I could see this as flavor text for a Block--good call. I'm not convinced it's not a valid idea in its own right, but that would be pretty cool.

As an aside, I'm fairly sure Potions require more than a simple defense reaction to use, making them invalid as Block providers. Enchanted Items work excellently for that purpose, however.

[CMEast]

Nice idea Ophidimancer, Armour 2 is basically a mild consequence that heals instantly anyway.

Hmm, out of curiousity, how about a retroactive block? Rather than blocking the stress when it happened, it removes some stress that has already occurred. Would that be balanced or is that dangerous? I can't see any rules against it in the books, but then something like that could be easily missed.

Stress doesn't normally last very long anyway and it's easy to imagine how stress could be healed. Potions of invigoration, periapts of mind soothing, cans of red bull , I can easily imagine your stress being reduced, even mid conflict. Assuming the first dot of stress costs one shift, the second costs 2 shifts and so on, it'd cost 10 shifts to clear four dots of stress which is a LOT of shifts for an evocation or item. With a 6 shift item (more feasible) you could clear the first 3 which could be very useful.

Is this within the rules? If it is, would it be broken or am I missing something? I'm not worried about physical or social stress, but mental stress would allow you to cast more spells. What do you think?

[Scapey]

As far as relieving mental stress goes, there can (in terms of canon) be serious consequences. Remember what happened in Fool Moon after he used the kicked up coffee potion. God for a moment, followed by.burnt out wizard.            Posted via nook, so i apologise for any typos.

[Doc Nova]

Interesting.  In the game I'll be running, a potential item that high ranking Librarians can acquire is an "Athenaean owl", a Little Owl that, among other things can sacrifice itself for its master, taking a consequence that might have otherwise killed the master.  It is certainly powerful, however, the consequence, while "absorbed" by the "item" is still listed on the character sheet and can be tagged as usual, so its presence is a double-edged sword.  Sure, it makes the character more robust and harder to kill, but its also a "wound" that sticks around for a long while that can be hammered at by the baddies

[GruffAndTumble]

@CMEast: While these rules could certainly be applied to Mental consequences, it wasn't my intention. I also suspect such an item would brush up against some serious Warden suspicion without some amazingly innovative flavor text. Storing extra life force is somewhat sketchy, but fragmenting your consciousness so you can shunt fits of insanity into a box is Sketchville Central.

@Doc Nova: The consequence can still be tagged, but it would require some really crazy justification to use it to hurt the caster. Remember, the item is the one "wounded" by the consequence--the Aspect involved is therefore applied to the item, not the bearer. Now, I can see a trick shot tagging it to explode the item and unleash its energies, or someone stealing it and tagging it as a symbolic link in a ritual. But this item is not supposed to be an "Amulet of Health +X." The intent is not to increase the consequences available to the character. The intent is to make a container for some kind of life energy, and shunt the damage to your own into the container.

...Actually, put like that, this sounds like a First Law grey area/violaton. Hm.

[Myrddhin]

Edit: @Myrddhin: Yes, there is tremendous potential for abuse if you take a ton of these. Assuming you trust your players not to abuse the privilege of allowing these items, would you consider this balanced?

Provided a mutual agreement/trust not to abuse them, then yes, they seem fairly balanced.

And, at the worst end, a magically inclined opponent who knows about it might be tempted to switch it out on the character for some kind of biofeedback item (to deal stress instead of it's intended effect) or otherwise try to tamper with the magic involved. Though in the former case they'd obviously have a chance to realize such a thing before using it.

[Doc Nova]

I don't necessarily see this as a violation of the first Law, but definitely it'd fall into that gray area that makes Wardens so very uncomfortable.  You are tampering with life energy, afterall, even if it is your own.  A lich's phylactery, or even the horcruxes from Potter, would be a moderate comparison I think? 

Either way, I like the idea, myself (hence my earlier comparison to something somewhat similar in my own campaign).  Absolutely, it's open to abuse, but the Dresden RPG isn't about a catalogue of perfectly balanced abilities (as we've seen on other threads) it is far more about the give and take and compromise that player and GM reach with mutual understanding and respect.

[CMEast]

@CMEast: While these rules could certainly be applied to Mental consequences, it wasn't my intention. I also suspect such an item would brush up against some serious Warden suspicion without some amazingly innovative flavor text. Storing extra life force is somewhat sketchy, but fragmenting your consciousness so you can shunt fits of insanity into a box is Sketchville Central.

Actually I was referring to the ability to heal stress, separate to your own idea of having an extra consequence. Healing stress like this is the equivalent to a mid-combat massage or a moment of clarity and as such wouldn't break the laws of magic. They might just break the rules of the game though, however I can't find anything in the books against it.

In theory, a player with sponsored magic could cast a biomantic spell at evocation speed for 6 power, healing the first three boxes of mental stress including, possibly, the mental stress it caused to cast the spell in the first place. As a GM I'd probably declare a character had a 'vicious migraine', either as an aspect or as a moderate consequence, if this spell was abused; however it might be a useful trick if used sparingly. This could also be done for physical or social stress and cast on other characters too and I don't think it'd be too broken. As it's only stress, it wouldn't necessarily require in-depth knowledge of the body, simply a burst of energy to leave them feeling recharged and raring to go.

More commonly, it could be a potion or enchanted item, similar to your own idea, but without the risk of lawbreaking. Lembas bread or similar

[Barodahn]

Other than the healing issue isn't this pretty much just the Stimulant potion? Not sure i see how it is really different....Why have the necromatic effect at all since you just just go with the stimulant method? Stimulant in a box perhaps, and that potion even makes it untagable (though obviously if you made it an item you can use it more than just once...)