Help Me Stat "Runic Bullets" Item of Power!

[jnborawski]

Good afternoon everyone!

Long story short I have an item of power that I need some help stating out.

It's an item of equipment I want to borrow from Reality Blur's "Agents of Oblivion" Savage Worlds setting and make use of for a Dresden Super Spy.

The item is called "Runic Bullets".

Effectively you put these bullets into a normal gun and fire them.

They do not increase the amount of damage of the gun or change its profile in anyway save for that they can hurt Anything.

That's right, Vampires, Werewolves, Angels, Old Ones, Tomato Monster Mk. IV's...

Basically they would allow your gun attacks to satisfy* the catch of all Toughness, Recovery and Immunity powers.

Is something like this feasible? I realized it would probably be easiest to make it an item of power but im not sure how much refresh something like that would be worth?

Does anyone have any thoughts about how to approach that concept?

[Ghsdkgb]

So like The Colt, from Supernatural.

Seems like it'd be pretty expensive, if nothing else. I'd limit its use, at least, by making it a muzzle-loading repeater or limit the ammo available or something like that. Maybe make an Aspect out of it, costing a Fate Point to use.

I just don't think statting it in terms of Refresh is the right way to go. Just my personal opinion, though.

[Mr. Death]

I think if you're talking the bullets themselves, it'd be feasible to tailor each to a given type of enemy, but nothing short of God is able to completely bypass all supernatural toughness (I mean it; it's one of the powers of the Sword of the Cross, and you need a fate point for it).

[jnborawski]

I can definitely see the need for limitations to this.

I believe that it would be one of those things an Agent might keep only one clip or magazine supplied by the Agency in very limited quantity due to rarity, and only for use in extreme situations...

I could definitely see the use of a fate point to make use of it.

Unfortunately I'm only so familiar with the mechanics of the game, so some of those specifics escape me.

If it wouldnt be bought via* refresh how would you buy it?

Can an Aspect cover a mechanic like that?

-------

I also tried to look at the Sword of the Cross for some ideas about how to stat an item of power but I wasent really sure how to value the individual effects?

[Sanctaphrax]

3 Refresh, 1 FP for each use.

That's my reading, anyway.

[Zorthrip]

My thoughts using the Sword of the Cross as a benchmark.

The sword costs -3 and bypasses pretty much everything for a scene for a fate point. The flip side is that the actions of the person wielding it are very limited by the belief set. My opinion is to reduce the cost by 1 and remove the actions restrictions. To offset this, limit what it can bypass. Remove the bypassing of mundane armor, and limit the Catch bypassing a bit.

Here would be my version:

Runic Bullets [-2]
When facing an opponent, the Agent may spend a fate point to treat the bullets as satisfying the Catch of the opponent for the rest of the scene. The limitation is that these bullets were crafted as broad spectrum deterrent. This causes the bullets to be unable to mimic the specialized nature of a very rare or personal Catch. Mechanically, if an opponent has a Catch that refunds zero refresh then the bullets are unable to fulfill that Catch.

[Silverblaze]

My thoughts using the Sword of the Cross as a benchmark.

The sword costs -3 and bypasses pretty much everything for a scene for a fate point. The flip side is that the actions of the person wielding it are very limited by the belief set. My opinion is to reduce the cost by 1 and remove the actions restrictions. To offset this, limit what it can bypass. Remove the bypassing of mundane armor, and limit the Catch bypassing a bit.

Here would be my version:

Runic Bullets [-2]
When facing an opponent, the Agent may spend a fate point to treat the bullets as satisfying the Catch of the opponent for the rest of the scene. The limitation is that these bullets were crafted as broad spectrum deterrent. This causes the bullets to be unable to mimic the specialized nature of a very rare or personal Catch. Mechanically, if an opponent has a Catch that refunds zero refresh then the bullets are unable to fulfill that Catch.

I kinda like that.

[Sanctaphrax]

Having to act perfect to make the Sword work is not a drawback. It's compel-fuel, and therefore useful to the character.

Your Runic Bullets power might still be okay, though.

[Orladdin]

Might be relevant to your interests:

http://www.jimbutcheronline.com/bb/index.php/topic,30955.msg1311224.html#msg1311224

[Zorthrip]

Having to act perfect to make the Sword work is not a drawback. It's compel-fuel, and therefore useful to the character.

Your Runic Bullets power might still be okay, though.

Agreed. My wording was imperfect. It isn't a drawback and is useful for compels. I meant that it is a restriction in that through the behavior and the compels (as well as the fate point cost requirement), it keeps them from overusing and abusing the power by running around and unloading on everything and therefore cheapening the value of Toughness and Recovery powers in that game.

[tetrasodium]

Good afternoon everyone!

Long story short I have an item of power that I need some help stating out.

It's an item of equipment I want to borrow from Reality Blur's "Agents of Oblivion" Savage Worlds setting and make use of for a Dresden Super Spy.

The item is called "Runic Bullets".

Effectively you put these bullets into a normal gun and fire them.

They do not increase the amount of damage of the gun or change its profile in anyway save for that they can hurt Anything.

That's right, Vampires, Werewolves, Angels, Old Ones, Tomato Monster Mk. IV's...

Basically they would allow your gun attacks to satisfy* the catch of all Toughness, Recovery and Immunity powers.

Is something like this feasible? I realized it would probably be easiest to make it an item of power but im not sure how much refresh something like that would be worth?

Does anyone have any thoughts about how to approach that concept?

I have a shadowy government organization with some tech based toys & a dragon politician in charge who has the motivation of keeping the mortals in the dark chasing their tails covering up for things like WACO, the original War of the worlds broadcast, etc.   among other nifty things (http://www.obsidianportal.com/campaigns/south-florida/characters/quadcopters), they have batons & bullets made from a mixture of steel, silver, depleted uranium, along with "traces of other elements" ... which gets better real quick when you think about the kinds of threats this military special forces group encounters when you combine  "the toys that the labcoats gave us" with "this is my rifle this is my gun" well meaning mushrooms* developing faith in these toys as they start seeing them cause burns & flames in creatures regular rounds barely (if at all) touch. 

Effectively they are like teflon rounds & sick sticks for most supernaturals with resistances with a side benefit of starting to lose  some of their strength if my players manage to snatch a few .  Depending on your purpose, you might be over thinking it though.

*Mushrooms are kept in the dark & fed lots of manure!

[Mr. Death]

Personally, I think it fits thematically with a secret agent type thing better to just carry various types of ammo that'll work on the various types of creatures rather than having a one-size-fits-all bullet.

[Bubba Amon Hotep]

Would this need to be classified as a magic item?

I mean other than Size, I don't see a difference between "Runic Bullets" and real world "Custom Shotgun Ammo".  Look up Dragon Fire Rounds, Bolo Rounds, or ball and shot.  A weapon smith can customize shotgun ammo fairly easily.

Imagine a player, who before treading into a dangerous situation, makes a lore roll to discover the weakness or "Catch" of the target.  Then while locking and loading, makes a resources roll, to place an aspect of "Customized Ammo" on their character.

Would this not do the same thing?  Or, by introducing "Runic Bullets" are you simply giving the players a shortcut, by which they do not need to know the weakness of the creature, they just shoot it with the provided ammo till it goes down?

[tetrasodium]

I agree with the last couple posts, a satisfies all catches ammunition all the time would severely devalue toughness & recovery powers unless it also comes with strings like the sword of the cross costing fate points and warping an aspect, the alloy rounds with jarhead faith charge/power are effective against lots of stuff, not hot knife through butter effective, but enough to give pause to supernatural types.  I'd really think that doing a little research to find out some details before going in sounds more fitting of a secret agent though.  There are enough types of specialty ammunition that you could meet the catch for most things with a little refresh & simple resource rolls.

[Zorthrip]

Running it like potion slots could very well work. Each slot is a clip satisfying a different Catch. They would have the benefit over the version I posted previously since they could affect those with a +0 Catch, but would require the player to determine the Catch first. Although, with this version I wouldn't make it cost a Fate point to use.