How to word that IoP

[CottbusFiles]

Hello Dresdenphiles

I had this idea for an item of power. It is a modern sports bow but "blessed" by the erlking. I have no idea how to word it...

It should have a few abilities.

Weapon 2, nothing fancy there
A power that allows you to take 1 mental stress to enchant your arrow. In game terms it allows you to manuveur with it in all kinds of ways. Think the trick arrows green arrow or hawkeye use but with magical nature. Pay 1 stress and shoot a newarrow or a flamming arrow that sets something on fire or that turns into a rope that puts a "rope over the chasm" aspect and so on. It could also be used to engulf the arrow in goblinfire to overcome some catches. - Not sure how to price or word this. I was thinking -2 maybe.
A ritual that you can use with this bow. If you have something from your pray (blood, hair, fingernail clipings etc.) you can set up a simple ritual to make this your pray. This would make the bow deal 4 damage against that target as long as you continue the hunt and let you track it in some way. - here to, not sure with the price and the words.

What do you think of this item? 

[Haru]

Well, the weapon part would come from "it is what it is", that won't cost extra.

The next power sounds pretty much like a differently worded channelling. Call it "Prowess of the huntsman" and you should be done. Maybe have it use survival and weapons instead of conviction and discipline, to make it fit the hunter motif.

The last one I can see multiple ways to go.
- First a simple stunt. Get symbolic link, perform ritual, get +2 to damage.
- Next, it won't get you exactly a +2 weapon damage, but you could model something similar to the Righteousness power. The "Potent Prayer" part is easy enough, simply name your target and invoke your high concept to let survival complement any action that have to do with pursuing the target. I don't have an idea for the "Desperate Hour" part, though, but there should be plenty of options. you could for example put a supernatural sense in there instead, that is in line with tracking your prey.
- And finally, you could simply take the ritual part to the "Prowess of the huntsman" power above. At that point, you can put it together as sponsored magic, which would fit perfectly into the Erlking story of the item. You would not exactly get a weapon 4 here either, but you should be able to do a whole lot with it. If you keep the actual magic narrow enough, it should not be a problem to use survival and weapon as I suggested above.

[computerking]

Hmm, "Prowess of the Huntsman" sounds similar to a concept I was fiddling with that I worded as: Channeling: Martial Combat, which I was giving to a Combat Demigod NPC who I envisioned being able to fight somewhere along the lines of "300", in which the word Epic doesn't cover the battle ability. I was keeping Discipline for the control aspect, but I was thinking of swapping in Weapons for Conviction, though A warrior's belief in his cause could be better represented by Conviction than just his knowledge of his tools, so I'll probably keep Conv.

Sample Effect: Strategic Retreat- The fighter places his shield toward the enemy and withdraws at speed, a Special Effect "spell" that puts up a Block against incoming attacks (Declared before rolling), and excess shifts represent Athletics Shifts for travel in the "Away" direction.

Does this type of thing sound too far-fetched?

[Haru]

I've done something similar for a monk martial arts type. I let him keep conviction as the "how much power can I use" part, but swapped fists for discipline. The catch is, that he has to actually touch someone or something (usually as part of a martial arts attack) for him to be able to use his magic, and even then it is relatively limited. In the case of your guy, I'd do the same with weapons.

The moving part in your example should probably be supplemental actions, if they are planned, or you use the overflow action rules to use them reactively. Keep in mind though, that you can put up a block with a shield with your weapons skill without resorting to magic.

[Becq]

For the 'enchanted arrow' idea, you might want to look at the "special-effect attacks" on YS326.  Basically, you could claim that the bow allows you to use those rules, sacrificing the weapon:2 for an aspect.  Alternatively, you could allow the placement of an aspect at the cost of a Fate point.  These are probably balance ways of handling the issue, as in each case you are trading one 2-shift effect for another.

Another option is to model your weapon power on an existing stunt (compare this to "Martial Artist" on YS152):

Enchanted Arrows: The bow comes with a assortment of enchanted arrows, causing various effects depending on the arrow used.  This enables you to make Declarations relating to these effects using your Bows skill (renamed Guns skill per YS132). Such rolls are made at +1.

[Sanctaphrax]

I'd use Becq's suggestion for Enchanted Arrows.

And I'd represent the tracking effect as a Supernatural Sense.

And the +2 stress can just be a stunt.