Eldritch Gunslinger

[Belial666]

I had this idea for a character combining magic and guns.

High Concept:
Eldritch Gunslinger. The character is a gunslinger with thaumaturgy. She has this old, huge, enchanted revolver made by Samuel Colt at the outbreak of the Civil War and she uses her crafting ability to make bullets that are also potion-like items with a variety of effects. She has 8 potion slots, each one with a frequency of 5 and her enchanted revolver (similar to the Zeliska .60 cal) takes 5 bullets too. Her base potion strength is 6 but she can always boost that to 10 by tagging a Lore aspect and a Guns or Crafting aspect during the crafting process. She has been a gun for hire, a weapons dealer (dealing in magical ammo) and an occasional assassin of the supernatural but I didn't give her Lawbreaker because what she does is not directly magically lethal.
Of course, she could still use normal potions and standard thaumaturgy but where's the fun in that?


POWERS AND SKILLS:

[-3] Thaumaturgy - crafting power specialization
[-3] Refinement x3 - +4 crafting frequency focus, 8 potion slots (includes item slots from thaumaturgy)
[-1] Peacemaker - item of power
     * Indestructible
     * One-time discount
     * It is a Zeliska .60 cal. exquisitely crafted revolver. Weapon Rating 3
     * True Shot: equivalent to true strike but for guns (-1 ref)
     * Piercing Shot: ignores the first 2 points of armor (-1 ref)
     * Magic Bullets: any shots fired from this gun do +2 stress. This extra stress is considered magical (-1 ref)
[-1] Gunslinger Stunt; +1 to gun rolls for nonautomatic revolvers.
[-1] Shot on the Run Stunt

+5 Guns, Lore
+4 Alertness, Craftmanship
+3 Conviction, Endurance, Discipline
+2 Athletics, Stealth, Presence
+1 Rapport, Fists, Weapons


Example magical ammo:

The assassin's friend; The potionlike effect that activates either when the bullet is fired or when the wielder speaks the trigger word as he draws the gun bestows a thaumaturgy veil on the gunslinger. Excellent for making those assassinations without being noticed - or escaping after firing.
Hexblast; The potionlike effect activates when the bullet hits, unleashing a hexing upon impact strong enough to destroy most technology. Excellent when you want to disarm a group of enemies from their modern firearms or disable or shoot down armored vehicles.
The sniper's friend; The potionlike effect activates when the trigger word is spoken while holding the gun (supplemental action). Immediately time slows to a cralw, enabling the shooter to aim perfectly. The potion effectively applies the "focused, braced, perfect angle" aspects on the shooter for his shot in that round.
Shadow Bullet; This effect transforms the bullet after being fired into a torrent of energy-draining magic. It uses the weapon rating of the potion effect rather than the weapon rating of the gun and it doesn't deal physical wounds; it physically exhausts the target. Effectively, a nonlethal but powerful potion aimed with the shooter's gun skill.
Spirit Bullet; As above, only the bullet transforms into psychic energy that stuns, even knocks out the target via a nonlethal mental assault.
Arcane Blast; Similar to the two above bullets, only the bullet bursts into a magical blast on impact. It does 2 less stress than the above effects but affects everyone in a zone.
Bulletstorm; This bullet is aimed and fires normally. However, the potionlike conjuration effect copies the bullet upon being fired, spreading identical projectiles upon a large area (up to potion strength /2 in consequetive zones). This bullet may or may not be a violation of the 1st Law if you use it.
Spellbreaker; The magical effect of this bullet is a powerful counterspell that works on impact. The bullet does standard damage and is aumed normally but magical defenses that would stop it might get dispelled instead of working.

[Becq]

Conceptually interesting.  Are you familiar with Warmachine (miniatures game/RPG setting)?  It has a concept similar to this (Arcane Tempest Gun Mages).

A few thoughts:

1) I just looked at a picture of that gun.  HOLY CRAP it's friggen HUGE!  Basically it's a stockless carbine that fires rounds intended to take down ducks that drive main battle tanks.  I was going to say it should be w:2, but I've reconsidered.  Based on a video I saw (enthusiast loads a round with a 'light load', braces himself, then proceed to facepalm ... but with the gun in place of his palm) though, backlash might be appropriate.  This would probably be done as a compel against the Aspect linked to the IoP.
2) Unless you specify a load order, you will have to spend a Fate point every time you want to switch ammo types.  That said, it would probably be allowable to write done the five bullets loaded (possibly by spending a Fate to do so on the fly), then 'spin the cylinder' to fire a bullet out of order as a supplemental action.
3) Enchanted items and potions that take the form of attacks, maneuvers, or skill uses take a basic (non-supplemental) action to activate.  If you're using the magic bullet's power in place of the normal bullet's power (as in Shadow/Spirit/Arcane bullet), then all is well. But you can't, for example, get the benefit of a gunshot PLUS a veil or counterspell as one action.  (And with a veil in particular, firing a gun -- especially one that size -- would be incompatible with a veil).
4) Note that when using a potion effect in place of the mundane damage, you would not get the Piercing Shot/Magic Bullets bonus.
5) If you want to get True Shot at the same price as a Sword of the Cross's True Aim, then you'll need to define a purpose for the gun that's at least as restrictive as that of the Sword.

[Belial666]

A crafter doesn't need to use a Fate point to have a potion at hand; she can also do it with a Lore roll. And given that she does have a high Lore, that would rarely be a problem.

Defensive items can be activated without need for an action. Triggers can also be put into thaumaturgy effects so they activate on a specific condition. Since any thaumaturgy effect can be built into a potion, the bullets are built as landmines and defensive items, each with its own trigger. The plus is that you can use them with the gun with no extra action. The minus is that you can't use them without their trigger at all.

As for the veiling, thaumaturgy veils don't automatically break if you attack; enemies simply get another chance to notice you. But with a veil that can be 10 shifts, nobody is going to notice you without The Sight or other magical senses.

[Becq]

A crafter doesn't need to use a Fate point to have a potion at hand; she can also do it with a Lore roll. And given that she does have a high Lore, that would rarely be a problem.

True.  Since it doesn't specify, I'd guess that the roll would be treated as a declaration, thus having a difficulty between 0 and 6.  Well, actually 0 to 4, since the answer to question three is going to be 'yes' for this situation.  You'd still have to come up with interesting/funny ways to use the bullets with interesting/funny consequences if you want to keep your failure chances low.  Might be fun coming up with such ideas...

Defensive items can be activated without need for an action.

True, which is why I directed my comment at stuff that "take the form of attacks, maneuvers, or skill uses".  Which, I think all of your effects do.  Including Veil, which is treated as a Stealth substitute, which is an action (as opposed to a defense roll or use of an existing block, which is not).

Triggers can also be put into thaumaturgy effects so they activate on a specific condition. Since any thaumaturgy effect can be built into a potion, the bullets are built as landmines and defensive items, each with its own trigger. The plus is that you can use them with the gun with no extra action. The minus is that you can't use them without their trigger at all.

Of course, landmine effects require two Thaumaturgical effects: the power you want to discharge, and the ward to hold it at bay.  Also, wards are stationary and require a fixed boundary to be set to.  So I can't see their use with bullets, and even if you could you'd need two effects per bullet.

As for the veiling, thaumaturgy veils don't automatically break if you attack; enemies simply get another chance to notice you. But with a veil that can be 10 shifts, nobody is going to notice you without The Sight or other magical senses.

Or the several declarations they make, like "Holy crap, I heard an immensely loud noise coming from right ... there", along with "And I'm almost positive I saw something flying back five feet or so!"  :p

As a suggestion for your veil effect, why not move away from bullets, and instead have an enchanted duster that grants several Veil uses per session?  Heck, you could get away with one use, then feed mental stress into it, since you aren't evoking...  In fact, you could probably do similar things with the other effects that are less "bullety".  Like, for example, enchanted cigars that are activated by your variation on the theme of "Do you feel lucky ... punk?!" which gives you that maneuver.  Still well within the western gunslinger motiff.

[WillH]

5) If you want to get True Shot at the same price as a Sword of the Cross's True Aim, then you'll need to define a purpose for the gun that's at least as restrictive as that of the Sword.

No, -1 refresh is an appropriate cost for +1 to attack.

[Belial666]

We have already seen both wards and landmines seen in a potion-like item in the books; Harry's shield crystal. And since potions can carry any thaumaturgy effect, I don't see why anything else would be needed; landmines don't require a ward of specific strength to "hold them back" either.


As for someone declaring something against your veil, sure they can declare they heard something from "over there". So? A character is not prevented from moving around in the same zone while taking an action. Even if they hear the shot via declaration, they still won't know where exactly in the zone the character is. Which is exactly how veils in combat funtion as seen in the book anyway. Sure, they could throw a grenade or other zone-wide attack but they could not hit with targeted attacks.

[Morfedel]

While a cool.concept, it.looks potentially abusive, and maybe bending if not breaking the rules. That said, I can't.say for sure as I'm new.to the game and don't know the rules instinctively yet.

Can potions be used as hand grenades? I was under the impression that they were self-effecting only. If so,.I'd think bullets.would have to be one-use enchanted items instead.

[MijRai]

You've got a Weapon 5 that hits at a +7 that ignores most armor. While it is quite awesome, I suggest you lower the power of the weapon a bit. Weapon 3 is an assault rifle/high caliber pistol round. Weapon 4 is a hand-grenade. Weapon 5 is... Too much. Maybe turn your +2 Stress into a Stunt/Power like Killer Blow. Spend a Fate Point, add 3 or 4 stress to that attack. It is more fair, to everyone.

Even if you had it, that stress is magical. You kill a human, you are getting Lawbreaker. Same goes for the magic bullets. Killing them is going to mess you up if you do it. So take away the magical extra two stress with every shot, watch where you point that thing, and it'll be fine.

[Belial666]

The +2 to damage could be easily given in another way. I.e. it could be a pair of enchanted weapons with;
[-1] Guiding Spirit: when wielding both enchanted revolvers at once, the wielder benefits as if from off-hand weapon training stunt.
Or it could be any type of other power, really. +2 shifts of damage is quite normal for a 1 refresh ability.

That said, I wanted the gun to be magical (as in, lawbreaking) if used for killing directly.. If she doesn't want to lawbreak with it, she could take an "aim" maneuer to specifically hit nonlethal areas and disable, not kill. Or use one of the disabling bullets. Or use a normal gun. As for the coolness factor as opposed to realism, remember that this is a .60 cal revolver three to four times as powerful as the Desert Eagle and more powerful than most high-caliber rifles IRL - which is also weapon 3 in the game.

Can potions be used as hand grenades?

Yes. And you don't even have to use a physical skill to aim - you could aim with discipline or lore in some cases. For example, Harry stores a burst of sunlight in a folded hankie. As a response to an attack, he unfolds it and the potionlike effect triggers and blasts the vampire. (this was obviously a potion specifically prepared for a quick defensive trigger in this case)

[Arcteryx]

'Even Hand' is a short story set in the Dresdenverse (starring John Marcone, Gard, Justine & some spoilerific baddies) that could give some ideas about how powerful magical bullets are. Cool idea though. So can an ancient wizard jolt the gun with mana static and set off the fireworks show of the century?

[Morfedel]

Arc, Belial, you are both right; I forgot about the sunlight in a hankie, and I read that short story just two days ago, and somehow I still forgot it, hehe!

Ah well. Good catch, sorry!

[Ryan_Singer]

I've been thinking a lot recently about the possibilities for a potion-focused character. This is a great one.

[Belial666]

Where can I find Even Hand? What book/collection is it in?

[Ryan_Singer]

Also: Regarding Landmines:

From my reading of the rules, You anchor a landmine effect to a 1 shift ward, and that gives you a landmine that lasts until sunrise. More shifts can go towards duration. Wards need to be anchored to either a threshold, a doorway or other passage, or a magic circle. You can make the landmine conditional using the rules from Wards.

[Arcteryx]

Its in an anthology called Dark & Stormy - was actually expecting it to show up in Side Jobs as well, but its not in there.