Magic Motorcycle

[Polarbearguy90]

Okay, I am about to GM a DFRPG game for the first time. One of my players is a wizard biker, he want to eventually make a motorcycle that can run on its own(no gas) and may have a few magical functions such as leaving a trail of fire or being able to drive up walls, or shoot blasts from the headlight exct.. I thought it might be a cool idea to make the bike almost like Bob. The Old Harley would be a container for a spirit of fire and courage. How exactly could this be done?

[Tedronai]

I'd suggest building it as an Item of Power granting the wielder some measure of Speed (probably Supernatural, but possibly Mythic), along with Spider Climb, Breath Weapon, etc.

[Polarbearguy90]

Thats one area I have gotten a good grasp of yet, How exactly do items of power work?

[Ulfgeir]

Another idea would be to take a look at an epsiode of the Manga "Ah! My Goddess" Where they had a car-race. The kikcer was that the ngine was powered by 5 very small trolls that pushed/pulled the valves around. And they really didn't like it when the opposition tried putting something in the gastank.

/Ulfgeir

[Tedronai]

Thats one area I have gotten a good grasp of yet, How exactly do items of power work?

In terms of game mechanics, Items of Power are very simple.  They provide a predetermined package of supernatural powers to whoever possesses, controls and/or utilizes the item, so long as that individual meets certain criteria, while providing a small rebate on the Refresh cost of those powers to compensate for the limitations that come with those powers being external to the character, and thus more readily neutralised by the character's enemies, or even simply by circumstance.

[Sanctaphrax]

You also get whatever effects the mundane object has for free. So any effect you could get from a normal motorcycle with a gun strapped to it, you can have without spending Refresh.

Speaking for myself, I'd also let you have minor stuff like infinite gas for free. Just take an Aspect.

Are you interested in custom rules? If so, I have some for you.

[polkaneverdies]

The "best" way to model this would definitely be to make it an IOP.

The big problem with this is that  he still has to pay refresh for the powers. (+2 is max rebate). Unless he is different than almost every wizard I have ever seen he is probably short on refresh.
 
That being said I would just make it:
IOP- Firey Old Hog (-1)
  +2 pretty damn hard to hide
   spider climb -1
   breath weapon -2

Those two powers would cover what he wants that a bike couldn't do. reflavored speed powers would be cool, but very pricey. I agree with Sancta about not paying for free gas. Trails of fire could also be free or could be another use of the breath weapon.

Personally if I was the wizard in question I wouldn't take this approach (unless he spends most of the game on this bike). I would just keep a few enchanted item/potion slots open and feel you out to see if you would be open to using them to supplement the bike without it automatically Hexing the bike. iirc to actually mimic a power like spider climb you would still have to spend a fate point in addition to the spell. The headlight attack could just be a standard attack potion or e.i. 

[polkaneverdies]

the more I think about it the more I think breath weapon would be a really poor choice for the wizard. I would just give him a weapon 2 attack for free like Sancta seemed to imply with his comment about "it is what it is" being able to do every thing a motorcycle with a shotgun could do. Instead I would have it give him inhuman toughness while he was riding it. He will need it when someone collapses the wall he is driving up.

If you don't want to give him a fairly useless power for free then just allow him to use some potion slots for the occasional attack. Same mechanics as normal potions they are just "flavored" as shot from the motorcycle.

My comments are based on this thing not being used very often in battle. If it will see a lot of action then B.W. would have a correspondingly higher value.

[InFerrumVeritas]

I would really just have the bike use enchanted item slots, not be an IoP.

[Quantus]

What if you made it some shard of the Wild Hunt Magic, so that it gains certain powers and a Totemic theme, like what happened to

(click to show/hide)

Murphy's bike in CD, when it went all Jungle Cat. 

[HumAnnoyd]

I would really just have the bike use enchanted item slots, not be an IoP.

How would you implement it?

We have a character in our campaign who is the son of Odin. He has a motorcycle that is effectively Slepnir in bike form.  Through group consensus we decided to use enchanted item slots but I am not sure it really works.  I would love to hear what you would suggest.

[polkaneverdies]

Can you please give us details on what the bike/horse is supposed to be able to do?

[Quantus]

What are the rules for summoned creatures?  Its not something Ive looked into before, but it might fit what you are after.

[Tedronai]

Other than a very basic system by which to acquire the services of a creature by summoning it and then binding it, there are essentially no rules, there.

A few house-ruled systems have been proposed on these boards, that I'm aware of, though I'm not sufficiently familiar with their details that I'm comfortable explaining them.  If you're interested, I'm sure someone else would provide a link and some helpful explanation where necessary.

[Sanctaphrax]

Yo.

If you look elsewhere in that thread, you'll also find some vehicle rules.

Which reminds me...the mechanics you give to a magical motorcycle will really depend on the mechanics you give to a mundane motorcycle. So you might want to try modelling an ordinary bike in the game rules before you design your fire/courage/Sleipnir bike.