Another situation ripped from the last session:

The characters are in an infiltration/Stealth sort of mission, under a nice veil and sneaking up on the bad guys. They've got inhuman strength and magic weapons. The bad guys are tough supernatural types, but nothing uber special. Stealth rolls are successfully made, baddy alertness rolls are failed....

It was still practically impossible to take them out in one shot. Between stress tracks and all the consequences available, it just wasn't likely, even with a couple maneuvers to put "Blind to the danger" and "Easy target" on them.

In the end, because it felt right and I didn't like the idea of wasting such a sweet assassination scene, I let the characters take them down with one solid hit, No alarm raised, etc. etc.

I suppose you could just call it a concession, but what enemy in his right mind would concede to being assassinated, and why would the characters want anything less? Trust me, in this particular scenario they wouldn't.

How would others have handled it?

I've been thinking of instituting something like this for characters like Liches from D&D or the Ten Who Were Taken from the Black Company novels: characters who may or may not be hard to hurt but are almost impossible to actually kill.

Cost would be 8.  It would have a stacked catch, just like physical immunity, but the catch would also consider the means by which the character "recovers" from being Taken Out.  I am thinking that, should the character recover automatically that will be +0 (eg. a Lich or one of the Immortals from Highlander), a creature who requires outside effort to recover would get a +2 price break.

So, for those who are familiar with the Black Company, the Dominator (an immortal magical tyrant, not a sports drink) would pay 6 points because it protects him from everything (+0), theoretically invocation of his name would bypass his protection, and since anyone could invoke it that's worth +2, but since no one in the world knows his name and it may have been completely wiped out of existence he gets +0, also he recovers on his own.

Conversely, Ducan MacLeod would pay either 4 or 5, because anyone can get a hold of a chopping implement (+2) plenty of people seem aware of Immortals ability to recover from any wound save decapitation, so that's either +1 or +2, and he gets better without any outside intervention, so +0 there.

Thoughts?

I have a question-how would you stat out a lightsaber with the equiptment rules?

Not quite.

In DFRPG Extra shifts are those above the defense roll, and you add those onto the Weapon rating.

In Bulldogs, Extra shifts only count once you exceed your weapon rating.

An attack with Accuracy:8, Weapon:3 against a defense of 5 does not produce extra shifts.
An Attack with Accuracy:8, Weapon:1 against a defense of 5 produces 2 extra shifts.
An Attack with Accuracy:8, Weapon:0 against a defense of 5 produces 3 extra shifts.

The stress inflicted is the same in all three cases.

But you are right, weapon ratings tend to be higher in Bulldogs, because of how combat works :-)

But now i'm starting to debate Bulldogs rules in the DFRPG... probably not very useful *g*

Are you serious? That sounds awesome!
I will definitely order the RPG now

While it's true that Fate isn't a map tactical game generally there are still some significant situations where the way this mechanic works as you describe takes the players completely out of the narrative.  Say for example that the characters have found themselves in what seems to be an old west town (via time travel, fey trickery or what have you) and in the middle of a classic shoot out.  Several characters (and some of the opposition) do what people are want to do in these stories and take cover behind barrels, fallen horses, and wagons.  No no-one is running back and forth getting behind cover, it's not likely that any amount of shooting will negate the usefulness of a wagon or horse as cover, and yet with that limited view of the mechanic after the first round everyone may as well just stand in the middle of the street and unload.  Also note that this scenario doesn't require some convoluted old west shoot out, I just like the imagery.