A few other threads have hit upon a stumbling block in the rules when it comes to using magic to boost skills. I was thinking that it might be solved with an adaptation of the enchanted item rules, especially with the new patch that was recently posted.
http://www.jimbutcheronline.com/bb/index.php/topic,17041.0.html There might also be some room for the potion rules to help this idea.
Hope this helps some folks solve some problems. Let me know if you see anything bent or broken about the suggestions below.
First, lets allow a character with the right High Concept to use his/her own body as the focus for the enchanted item. I have an idea for a mystical martial artist who pushes his chi around to give himself a power boost. Lets say he took Channeling (chi/spirit) and Ritual (chi/spirit). Can't do everything that spirit can (no veils), but it gives some access to biomancy sorts of abilities.
He has some focus item slots, which he uses for enchanted items. Maybe he buys refinement to add more slots.
Skin-Like-Iron. This one's easy, it's just like Harry's leather duster. Good lore gives a +3, add a slot to make it a +4, that's a +4 block or Armor:2. Use more slots for more uses per session. My impression is that activation is part of you defensive roll, which is a free action. It's a block that you don't have to spend an standard action to create, or an immediate bit of armor if the block wouldn't stop the attack anyway.
Fists-Of-Steel. Similar to Harry's kinetic energy ring. Good lore for a Weapon:3, so our monk's fists are now magically powered weapons. My monk has fists equal to or higher than Discipline, so lets use Fists to target the attack. Boom, one big fat weapon:3 mystical strike, backed up by a high fists score. Lets add two more item slots, so we could increase the power to a weapon:5, but instead, we'll say that those shifts go into duration, so the effect lasts 3 exchanges total. In fact, this "item" is a little less useful than Harry's ring, since you can't attack from range, so maybe that plus two shifts for duration makes it a weapon:3 that lasts for a full scene? Use more item slots to increase uses per session. I assume that Harry activates his force ring and targets it in the same action, so I guess you should be able to roll a Fists attack as part of the same standard action that activates Fists-Of-Steel.
Wire-fu. My monk should also be able to do some of that wire-fu/Jedi-force-jump stuff. Inhuman speed would be one way to accomplish that, but I like the idea that it's something he can do when he summons his will and focus, which he may run out of at an inopportune moment. This "enchanted item" will give him a boost to athletics. Again, a good lore starts us off with a +3 item. I think I only need +2 to my athletics, so lets spend this point on frequency, giving us 3 uses per session. My athletics is already pretty impressive, so I think I'll only need this one exchange at a time. But another character might want the defensive boost that comes with better athletics to last a whole combat, so more item slots can be spent on duration. Again, we're activating the power as part of the athletics roll that triggers it.
Possibly a character that makes extensive use of this sort of "crafting" could buy a power that allows him/her to swap additional uses per session between the powers, drawing them all from one common "pool"?
Wait a second, uses per session, scene duration effects, carefully predefined effects, did I just turn the DFRPG into D&D 4e?
