Stunning Bullet

[shinjox]

Hello there, first time on forums and posting, and I need help with something.

I am looking to play a a cop that has, in the course of play, discovered her ability to use magic. Magic makes and being a cop somewhat easier, as long as you can do it just right, but there is something I was looking to do.  The First Law says Never Take A Life. Now it continues on to say not with magic, but one can never know when your use of magic might lead you somewhere, and you shoot the perp, and while there was no direct magic use in shooting the guy, magic lead you to him, and so when you shot him, it was inadvertently magic that killed him...never know when the council might think along those lines, you know.  So I was looking for a spell or something to make one's bullets non-lethal in the sense that the person you shoot might still bleed and hurt, but the wounds you deal with your shots will not kill. 

Thanks in advance for any advice!

[dragoonbuster]

Well, despite the disparity in opinions over the role of causality in Lawbreaking, I think it's safe to say no one would think killing someone with a mundane gun after finding them with magic would constitute Lawbreaking.

As far as a nonlethal bullet....I dunno, personally, I have trouble reconciling that. I think enchanted bullets would probably be throwing off enough flux to hex any semi-automatic service pistol a cop would carry, but that's probably more the province of a compel.

I would Thaumaturgically enchant a group of bullets at once with the aspect [Non-Lethal Force], explaining it as a minor entropic curse on the bullets to make them fly slow enough to wound but not kill. Of course...that kind of enchantment means if something goes wrong and the person does die, then you are on the hook for Lawbreaking, where you wouldn't have been w/ normal bullets.

Really, though, if you take someone out, you get to decide the narration behind that. I know some GMs rule that magic over Weapon: 4 automatically kills the target, but you're talking about a gun. So you should have full narrative power over "two to the chest, one to the head" style takeout or "Shoot him in the knee" takeout.

Of course...a police officer isn't supposed to draw his weapon except for one reason: to kill. If drawing a firearm, they're supposed to shoot to cause massive traumatic blood loss. But that's up to your RP on how realistic you want to get.

[Taran]

Welcome to the boards.

There's a few ways:

First:  If you take someone out, you can dictate how they are taken out.  So you could just say they got knocked unconscious.

A NPC/GM can decide concessions, so a GM might decide that an NPC dies from the bullet as part of his concession - but concessions are negotiated.  Something like this should be done so that it's fun and adds some kind of complication to your characters' life.  It should probably involve a compel.

Second: You could cast a spell or ritual to make your bullets non-lethal.  Maybe your gun only shoots air or something strange.  I might do this as a maneuver that you can tag for effect, if you need it.  You could use it to pay off compels, for example.

Third:  Other ways to do it is to have  your gun as an enchanted item.  3 times/ day, it does weapon 4 (targeted by guns) non-lethal damage.  Or maybe it's even an Item of Power that has some special properties.

Overall, mechanics don't need to dictate the narrative of an attack.  Your weapon: 3 revolver - even though it's an attack aimed at an opponent could be narrated any way you want. 

Example:
Perp has taken some damage from multiple attacks.  He's getting worn down and tired and is unlikely able to dodge the next shot  (mechanic: he's taken a few hits and only has one consequence left to soak up damage).

Mechanic: You shoot at him with your weapon 3 gun, and he fails to dodge.  He's taken out.  Dictate take out.

Narration:
I fire a shot, off to one side hitting the cement wall, creating a sparks and pieces of cement to fly off into his eyes, blinding him.  Grabbing his face in pain, he stumbles forward blindly, loses his balance, and falls down the stairs.  The fall renders him unconscious.


As you can see, it doesn't really matter what shot him:  the gun or magic.

[Taran]

Double post:

There's something somewhere in YS that mentions tazers.  Which, they say, let you replace the weapon value with a maneuver of the same rating.  You could use magic to turn your gun into a tazer.

Once again, via thaumaturgy, enchanted items or an IoP.  It fires out a small, slow-moving projectile (bullet) that electrocutes your opponent.

Power 'X' maneuver: 'stunned'. (probably air magic)

It probably won't create a Take Out situation unless the guy is a mook since maneuvers aren't really designed as one-shot take outs.  But if a maneuver rating is high enough that a similar powered weapon attack would have taken him out, some GM's might decide to rule it as a take out.  Also, A compel could mean you kill him anyways because tazers have been known to kill people, on occasion.

[Haru]

Welcome aboard.

There's a sticky about law talk, which might provide you with some ideas about how to incorporate the laws in your situation: http://www.jimbutcheronline.com/bb/index.php/topic,36777.0.html

Then I'd say there are all kinds of things you could do to make a cops life easier with magic, without making it lethal. Enchanted bullets that spread their impact force over a larger surface area would hit someone like a sledgehammer, but they wouldn't penetrate the skin and therefor not risk injuries that are too bad. A simply inscription on the bullets, imbue some magic and presto, done. I wouldn't even make that an enchanted item or anything, that's just how the character does things. It doesn't really give a mechanical benefit, it just allows you to treat taken out results with a gun as non lethal. It's basically another way to do rubber bullets or something along those lines, and I wouldn't charge refresh for those either.

Your enchanted items could go towards other utility. Homing Handcuffs, for example, that you throw at someone and they try to lock him up by themselves. An enchanted badge that increases your perceived authority. Things like that.

Another thing to think about is that magic doesn't necessarily have to be done with the spellcasting powers. Especially someone who is starting out with his magic can easily model that better with some kind of minor power rather than going with spellcasting. You could especially look into "Incite Effect" from the custom power list for that, though virtually any of the existing powers could be tweaked to work as innate magic.