Enchanting Weapons

[yrtalien]

OK, gonna give DFRPG a shot in my big Sat game, so far wev'e only tried it in a 2 person game and it went nicely.  The thing is one of my players has a question I don't know the answer to:  What if his wizard with a Lore 4 wants to enchant a weapon permanently so that when it swings it hits harder?  I know that a permanent enchantment uses 1/2 his Lore skill as its shifts of power should I just add the 2 shifts to the weapons (sword) damage of 2 so that it becomes a Weapon:4 item?  It makes sense to me but I don't want to just make changes that are stupid (so I come to you lot). 

Second he's thinking of giving weapons to other people in the group... we've got someone who is pure mortal and he wants to help her out.  Should I just allow her to take refinement and callit weapon rack or armory of magic?  Does it need tweaking am I missing a huge problem if I allow this?

Thank you,
Oscar

[devonapple]

I know that a permanent enchantment uses 1/2 his Lore skill as its shifts of power should I just add the 2 shifts to the weapons (sword) damage of 2 so that it becomes a Weapon:4 item?

Are you working from an early (probably outdated and incorrect) PDF of the rules? I ask because this will save some misunderstandings down the line if this gets answered sooner rather than later.

[devonapple]

Second he's thinking of giving weapons to other people in the group... we've got someone who is pure mortal and he wants to help her out.  Should I just allow her to take refinement and callit weapon rack or armory of magic?  Does it need tweaking am I missing a huge problem if I allow this?

Letting teammates spend Refresh on Refinement slots *has* been suggested as a way to facilitate the loaning of enchanted items. It can subvert the perceived limits of what a Pure Mortal is, though, and many agree that once a Pure Mortal spends one point of Refresh on a supernatural ability or item, they are no longer a Pure Mortal and should not get the Refresh bonus due a Pure Mortal.

The pure RAW way to do this is for the enchanter to make the enchanted items loanable - the current rules mention that by docking shifts (1 or 2 shifts, I forget) from the item strength, you can make an item usable by others: they have an example using Harry's duster. As long as the enchanter is paying all of the costs for his teammates to have enchanted items, I think the community has settled on this being more or less fair use. The enchanter is limited his own abilities by doing so, but that is a price he is allowed to pay.

[sinker]

The pure RAW way to do this is for the enchanter to make the enchanted items loanable - the current rules mention that by docking shifts (1 or 2 shifts, I forget) from the item strength, you can make an item usable by others: they have an example using Harry's duster.

It's one shift. Potions are another option if you want to hand a fellow player an enchanted item.

As far as making a magic weapon, the RAW way of doing it is to give a weapon an aspect. The wielder may then tag or invoke the aspect for a bonus to damage. Otherwise making weapons that permanently have an attack spell attached to them is a little...unbalanced. Wizards are heavy hitters. Even if we're talking about enchanted items it's not tough to get 6-8 shifts or more. They're limited though. Four spells before they have to start using resources (like consequences or items). If we remove those limits then they start being a little ridiculous.

[yrtalien]

Are you working from an early (probably outdated and incorrect) PDF of the rules? I ask because this will save some misunderstandings down the line if this gets answered sooner rather than later.

I have no idea.  I thought my writeup was good... but I bought it when the books first came out, is it outdated now?  Did things change?

[devonapple]

I have no idea.  I thought my writeup was good... but I bought it when the books first came out, is it outdated now?  Did things change?

There were some changes to the Enchanting rules and some other items between an early release PDF and the final published book. If you have the final published book, you have the right rules. If you only bought the PDF, I'm not sure how to tell if you have the right version. Anyone else?

When you said that a permanent enchantment uses half the enchanter's Lore skill, what page are you getting that from?

[sinker]

I have no idea.  I thought my writeup was good... but I bought it when the books first came out, is it outdated now?  Did things change?

Do you have a physical copy, or just the PDF?

[yrtalien]

There were some changes to the Enchanting rules and some other items between an early release PDF and the final published book. If you have the final published book, you have the right rules. If you only bought the PDF, I'm not sure how to tell if you have the right version. Anyone else?

When you said that a permanent enchantment uses half the enchanter's Lore skill, what page are you getting that from?

Page 279 second column halfway down.

[yrtalien]

Do you have a physical copy, or just the PDF?

I have both but mostly I read my PDF... and I don't have my hard copy with me I left it with one of my players so he could read it.

Damn!

[devonapple]

Page 279 second column halfway down.

Yeah, if yours says half the Lore skill, then it is the outdated version. You should acquire the updated version ASAP. Fred Hicks should be able to help you with that, assuming you can prove you purchased the book!

[sinker]

Yeah, generally if you send him a pic of you with the books he'll send you the updated PDFs. A lot of people wind up using the early-bird copy that they gave out with the pre-order and never realize that it's different.