A sword for a WCV

[yrtalien]

I'm looking to create a weapon to be wielded by a WCV.  One of the players in my game is going to be named a Warden and recieve a warden's blade and I was wanting to offer something of about equal value to the WCV also playing who has been seeking an enchanted weapon since the first game.

So far I've had the idea of enabling the wielder to draw on a set of power similar to the tattoos of St Giles and spend a fate point to meet a catch ... ideally though it would have something new that my player hasn't seen or read before so I come to these boards with the hope of your help.

Thanks in advance!

[Becq]

Given that WCVs seem to rely heavily on speed in combat, perhaps the sword increases their Speed power by a notch?  (Ie, Inhuman becomes Supernatural, etc).  Up to you whether this extra speed is 'free' or causes additional hunger, or costs a Fate point for the scene, or...

[Haru]

The problem with a power similar to the tattoos is, that the WCV is already a full fledged vampire, while a RCI is trying to avoid falling to the darker desire.

But there might be a way to do this:
First thing I had to think of was the dagger from Romeo and Juliet. As an IoP it might even have a higher weapon rating than a simple dagger would.

As a symbol of love it would burn the WCV, but it is enchanted to keep the Demon inside at bay, not to hurt the wielder. When the WCV is in danger of losing control, he can use the dagger to help hold his demon back, which could simply be done by a +2 for the discipline roll for resisting hunger stress (or any roll that would let the demon take over).

This would possibly be the mental equivalent of a taser used against the demon everytime, so he might be extra violent, once he is able to break loose.

Or make it entirely like the tattoos, only instead of marks on the skin, the dagger has a crystal, that changes the color if the demon gets too strong.

[Obsid]

The problem with a power similar to the tattoos is, that the WCV is already a full fledged vampire, while a RCI is trying to avoid falling to the darker desire.

But there might be a way to do this:
First thing I had to think of was the dagger from Romeo and Juliet. As an IoP it might even have a higher weapon rating than a simple dagger would.

As a symbol of love it would burn the WCV, but it is enchanted to keep the Demon inside at bay, not to hurt the wielder. When the WCV is in danger of losing control, he can use the dagger to help hold his demon back, which could simply be done by a +2 for the discipline roll for resisting hunger stress (or any roll that would let the demon take over).

This would possibly be the mental equivalent of a taser used against the demon everytime, so he might be extra violent, once he is able to break loose.

Or make it entirely like the tattoos, only instead of marks on the skin, the dagger has a crystal, that changes the color if the demon gets too strong.

I like that idea a lot, but it needs something. Make Juliet in this version of the Dresdenverse into a previous White Court Virgin and Romeo into a White Court Vampire. Make Friar Lawrence a Knight of the Cross. When he saw the two were genuinely in love, he hoped to save them from their fate. Now the dagger takes an earlier appearance in the story, the Almighty has Lawrence give Romeo the dagger, so long as Romeo is faithful, the dagger will partially suppress his Hunger, enough at least so that Juliet's touch didn't hurt him.

When Juliet used the dagger to kill herself, it was changed. It can be changed into a Tattoes of St. Giles on a stick, or just about anything.

Here's what I like. The dagger is no longer a holy tool, instead it's a tool ideal for a renegade WCV. If the dagger is used to kill someone, it sucks up their life energy the same way Feeding does, and transfers it to the WCV. This works more efficiently on White Court Vampires and Virgins than on Humans, but more efficiently on humans than other creatures. If Feeding has an efficiency of 8, then killing a WC Vampire has an efficiency of 9, killing a WC Virgin has an efficiency of 7, killing a human has an efficiency of 6, and anything else is 5 or less.

This would be a very precious weapon, since it would allow its wielder to remove Hunger stress mid-combat (or clear the stress post-combat if you prefer). However it inclines its wielder to killing other White Court Vampires, combined with the White Court's tendency towards jealousy and against direct combat, this means the wielder won't likely be the WC's favorite child.

Incidentally, the term "dagger" doesn't reference the size of the blade so much as the stile. It can refer to a medium sized knife or even a small shortsword. Meaning a character that specializes in knives might do well with a small dagger, while a character that specializes in swords might do well with a large dagger, so don't worry about character incompatibility.

[BumblingBear]

The WCV in my game uses http://www.obsidianportal.com/campaigns/let-s-keep-austin-a-little-less-weird/items/cane-of-richard-francis-burton

[Becq]

I like the flavor, but given that a WCV can already use Incite in combat and can feed from victims thereof, is that really that big of an advantage?

Here's another idea to consider: How about a weapon that is itself an emotion vampire?  Give it one or both of the following properties:

1)  The weapon is a physical weapon, but it wounds its foe's soul.  Although the weapon attacks the physical stress track as normal, consequences inflicted are mental consequences relating to the emotion the dagger feeds from.  (Insert requisite joke regarding skewering foes with your lust dagger here.)

2)  The weapon feeds on its chosen emotion, inflicting more savage wounds.  Attacks made by the weapon can benefit from tags or invokes of aspects reflecting the weapon's chosen emotion.

From a balance perspective, the dagger in and of itself is little more powerful than a normal weapon due to the above powers.  A consequence is a consequence, so the fact that a consequence is mental vs physical makes almost no difference.  It is a bit stronger against foes with extra physical consequences, and a bit weaker against foes with mental consequences.  Consequences are still just as taggable by the wielder as they would be for a normal weapon, since the weapon can benefit from the tags it inflicts.  They are potentially less taggable by others, however.

The big payoff for this weapon comes from the interaction between this weapon and Incite.  The vampire can now use Incite to inflict aspects via maneuver or consequences, then tag them for a benefit with the weapon.

As a third power (in place of increasing the weapon rating), it might be interesting to allow the wielder's Incite upgrades to affect the weapon, as well.  So if the wielder has Ranged Incite, then the weapon can attack a zone away.  If the wielder has lasting emotion, the weapon gains +2 to damage.

[devonapple]

I'm looking to create a weapon to be wielded by a WCV.  One of the players in my game is going to be named a Warden and recieve a warden's blade and I was wanting to offer something of about equal value to the WCV

Are we to assume that the WCV has the Refresh to pay for this IoP?

[Obsid]

Normally you need to physically touch the victim to feed off of them. I suppose if you're an unarmed fighter that's fine, but if you prefer weapons, the dagger I presented extends that. It also bypasses your normal nature, you don't need to inspire an emotion for the dagger to feed, it takes it out of the damage it causes. This means that a member of house Raith doesn't need to worry about what it would normally consider food, it can expand its menu to include children and elderly if it wants, or even the same gender if that would normally hinder it. But you're right, it is essentially flavor.

I like the idea of a 2&3 dagger that you can use. But what benefit does the dagger get for feeding? WCV's get their powers, would the dagger become better somehow if its well fed? Anything that eats needs to have a place to store the energy it gains (like my giant belly for example) and it needs to have something to spend that energy on. If it eats in excess, it needs to expand its storage or spend in excess, if it eats insufficiently, its normal expenditure of energy needs to be penalized. Letting it have static abilities and saying that it gets them because it eats is boring.

As for that cane... I'm getting the idea that Items of Power are more common in DFRPGs than they are in the Dresdenverse... not that its a bad cane.

[Becq]

The feeding is meant to be flavor text, really.  The benefit is being able to tag emotions for benefits to a combat role.  And by they way, I don't see the stats given as hugely powerful so much as flavorful (except for the last one, which *is* fairly powerful

And I'm not sure what unarmed vs weapons has to do with Incite; it uses Intimidation/Deceit.  Or are you basically saying that the weapon allows you to use Weapons instead?  If so, then I think we're saying almost the same thing.  In fact, you could simplify my suggestion to "The wielder of the IoP can use his Weapons (or other skill applicable to the weapon) in place of Intimidation or Deceit when using Incite Emotion, and if he does so can add its weapon rating to any stress dealt."  Other than moving the stress to the mental track (consequences were already mental), I think this results in what I had above.

Hm.  Now I'm wondering if that's OP...

[Haru]

Hm.  Now I'm wondering if that's OP...

Not if the weapon does only mental damage (or rather: the physical injuries dealt by it are negligible). If someone is immune to it, the weapon is fairly useless in a fight. I don't think, for example, that it would work on an ogre or something similar, and there is not much difference, if a WCV overpowers a human with his supercharged physical abilities or his supercharged mental abilities. In fact, a WCV with a weapon like this might have a real problem in a real fight, if he can't use it, because he is so used to it solving all his problems, that he doesn't really know how to fight any other way.

[Becq]

It's not entirely clear to me whether or not Physical Immunity works against non-physical stress and consequences.  It stresses 'physical' many times over (not the least of which being the name), then tosses out the term 'other harms' as almost an afterthought.  If Physical Immunity is, in fact, what it's name and description indicate, then there isn't anything in OW that has any significant defenses to non-physical damage.  On the other hand the Loup-Garou specifically indicates that its immunity extends to "assaults on its body or mind" which opens it back up.

That aside, nearly every creature (with a few exceptions) that has an immunity has one against a limited mode of attack, and in most cases it's an immunity to magic.  Incite Emotions is not magic, so the list of creatures with any meaningful resistance to Incite is very short.  Ogres are not on the list.

In fact most creatures that are otherwise very tough are weak to mental damage, due to short mental stress tracks, no bonus stress boxes from Toughness, no quick recovery from mental consequences, etc.

Thus my concern regarding OP issues on my suggestion.  On the other hand, it's also true that to make use of the weapon's properties requires a character that can inflict that sort of damage on their own, anyway...

[Haru]

What I meant to say was, that beings like ogres would probably react completely different to an emotional attack, than any human would. He wouldn't start questioning his actions, just because he is filled with lust or despair, he would probably just smash a little more and that is that. I didn't mean immune by a power, I meant immune by concept, and that (to me) includes most non-humans that simply work under a different set of rules. This would probably best be reflected as a compel on the IoP-aspect.

For example:
When Madeline Raith used her Incite Emotion on Harry, he was unable to do anything, because he was overwhelmed by the feelings. If she had used it on an ogre instead, he would have simply grabbed her and raped her to satisfy his needs, they are not that complex in that area.

[Becq]

Valid point.