Will Harry get back to basics?

[LordDresden2]

Ive always hated how much of a glass cannon Dresden is, if he goes about openly it would be very easy for him to die in a surprise attack from a few guys with scoped rifles.
to make him tougher id say he needs enchanted boots and shin protection, enchanted vest, hardened vampbraces (he always blocks blows with his forearms).some type of head protection for battles at least

The problem being that even 'normal' threats are a big danger to Dresden, even with his big "Power Boost" from being the Winter Knight.

Like how in CD he needed to be rescued from a couple of pixies.
Or how in SG he needed to be saved from Formor Red Shirts.

Harry just... isn't really all that. Don't let his in-universe rep fool you.

That comes with being a human being.  Humans beings are glass cannons.  A man with a machine gun could wipe out a herd of elephants or a horde of angry grizzly bears, but any one of those creatures can smash him or rip him to pieces if it gets within contact range.  It's just the way of things.

Harry is a glass cannon, because Harry is a human being.

[Rasins]

I did not read the entire thread, but ...

I think he'll get back to basics from the perspective of his Staff and Blasting rod.

Other than that ... no idea. 

Personally, I can't wait to see his new lab.

[Talby16]

I think a blasting rod is a given considering his demonstrated skill with wood. I cannot wait to see some more arctic fire balls. I think a shield bracelet would be a top priority for Dresden because I do not think his staff is a good focus for that. Plus freeing up his staff for other purposes makes sense. However, somewhere Harry mentioned that he needs access to metal working tools to make his bracelet (SG maybe?). I doubt that a bracelet will be ready to go. I full anticipate his Duster to be back up to snuff on all the protective enchantments. Finally, I would love to see Harry take a page out of the carpenter handbook and invest in a little armor for when he knows he is going to throw down (ex during the raid on Hades vault). As someone mentioned above, forearm guards would be an excellent idea considering all the hand to hand combat he engages in. I think this actually has a chance given Harry just had his forearm broken from a staff blow.

[khadgar4606]

I think a blasting rod is a given considering his demonstrated skill with wood. I cannot wait to see some more arctic fire balls. I think a shield bracelet would be a top priority for Dresden because I do not think his staff is a good focus for that. Plus freeing up his staff for other purposes makes sense. However, somewhere Harry mentioned that he needs access to metal working tools to make his bracelet (SG maybe?). I doubt that a bracelet will be ready to go. I full anticipate his Duster to be back up to snuff on all the protective enchantments. Finally, I would love to see Harry take a page out of the carpenter handbook and invest in a little armor for when he knows he is going to throw down (ex during the raid on Hades vault). As someone mentioned above, forearm guards would be an excellent idea considering all the hand to hand combat he engages in. I think this actually has a chance given Harry just had his forearm broken from a staff blow.

harry has access to metal working tools of highest quality due being mabs personal hitman so shield bracelet is  piece of cake for him as long as he has time to visit atctis tor for couple of days. And i bet that mab orders the smith helping him to use best quality ingredient and enchant the better then harry capable of. on rpg terms harry building shield bracelets with what resource 1 or 2 with mabs help he can make resource 4 or 5 gear with no more problem as one quick enchant from her god mother made that duster minigun prof for whole night.

[KurtinStGeorge]

What happened to Harry's shield bracelet and his force rings?  I don't remember the bracelet getting used up (burned up) in Changes.  I don't remember him losing his force rings either.  At the end of Changes Harry takes a shower, gets dressed and then has a conversation with Murphy.  He then goes back inside the boat, gets tired of waiting inside for Murphy, and goes back outside and gets shot.  We don't know if he put the rings or bracelet back on.  If Harry didn't put them back on then Murphy or perhaps Thomas has them.  Harry had his amulet returned to him in Cold Days, so Mab should have returned the other items too.  The only explanation for not returning them is if there is some iron in either the bracelet or rings.  Perhaps that might interfere with the Winter Knights mantel or Mab considered anything with iron in it too risky for the Winter Knight to ware.

Another alternative; though not very likely, is that Thomas has Harry's rings and bracelet and he didn't have time to retrieve them in Cold Days.  If these items are ever returned  perhaps Harry will find his old tools just aren't powerful enough to deal with the new threats he will face.  That would be a good reason for Harry to build another lab.  Plus, he has to find a way to use Bonnie's knowledge and teach her at the same time.  That should be interesting for us and frustrating for Harry.  I believe Jim has said that Bonnie has all of Harry and Lash's knowledge but no context to understand it.   

 

[Lost Merlin]

as one quick enchant from her god mother made that duster minigun prof for whole night.

I think Harry explained that it wasn't that easy and was impressed by how strong Lea's workings were.  Harry's spells were put on the coat to last for Months.  Lea's spell lasted a day.  I think there is a difference in what you can do in terms of power like that.  The stronger the spell the shorter the duration.

 Also, Harry doesn't have time or energy to waste during the books to put that kind of spell on his duster even though it maybe super useful. 

[RobReece]

What happened to Harry's shield bracelet and his force rings?  I don't remember the bracelet getting used up (burned up) in Changes.  I don't remember him losing his force rings either.  At the end of Changes Harry takes a shower, gets dressed and then has a conversation with Murphy.  He then goes back inside the boat, gets tired of waiting inside for Murphy, and goes back outside and gets shot.  We don't know if he put the rings or bracelet back on.  If Harry didn't put them back on then Murphy or perhaps Thomas has them.  Harry had his amulet returned to him in Cold Days, so Mab should have returned the other items too.  The only explanation for not returning them is if there is some iron in either the bracelet or rings.  Perhaps that might interfere with the Winter Knights mantel or Mab considered anything with iron in it too risky for the Winter Knight to ware.

Another alternative; though not very likely, is that Thomas has Harry's rings and bracelet and he didn't have time to retrieve them in Cold Days.  If these items are ever returned  perhaps Harry will find his old tools just aren't powerful enough to deal with the new threats he will face.  That would be a good reason for Harry to build another lab.  Plus, he has to find a way to use Bonnie's knowledge and teach her at the same time.  That should be interesting for us and frustrating for Harry.  I believe Jim has said that Bonnie has all of Harry and Lash's knowledge but no context to understand it.

The most likely scenario I remember is that the bracelet could have been lost to lake Michigan, but even if someone held them for safe keeping, Harry's toys like the bracelet and rings need periodic maintenance which didn't take place while he was doing his time in the trench and rehabbing.  Most opinions I've heard were that even if he'd had the physical pieces again, he may have had to start from scratch anyway.  Which he hasn't had the tools/material to do.  The current question is whether or not he will have had time to replace them in the roughly 6 weeks that take place between SG & PT.

[Quantus]

I think Harry explained that it wasn't that easy and was impressed by how strong Lea's workings were.  Harry's spells were put on the coat to last for Months.  Lea's spell lasted a day.  I think there is a difference in what you can do in terms of power like that.  The stronger the spell the shorter the duration.

 Also, Harry doesn't have time or energy to waste during the books to put that kind of spell on his duster even though it maybe super useful.

Yup. Also worth noting that for all the instant Awesome of Lea's enchantment it would still be no match for a cheap Walmart box-cutter.

[Lost Merlin]

I wonder to what extent? Since she took the duster and transmographied  (sp?) it in to the battle armor when the duster already had some inlayed protection against blades. 

[Quantus]

I wonder to what extent? Since she took the duster and transmographied  (sp?) it in to the battle armor when the duster already had some inlayed protection against blades.

Interesting idea.  It likely wouldnt be able to /increase/ it's capabilities, but I am curious if her changes would preserve the underlying enchantments or just over-right them. Susan's would be pure Fae magic so she'd be screwed.

[Rasins]

Didn't Harry mention that he thought he'd figured out how to make the enchantments on his duster last a year?

[Lost Merlin]

I think I remember a year as well.  But I think that was just the etching or tattooing or what ever it was that laid the initial working.  I still think that he had to do upkeep on them as well. 

[Rasins]

I think I remember a year as well.  But I think that was just the etching or tattooing or what ever it was that laid the initial working.  I still think that he had to do upkeep on them as well.

The way he said it, I don't have the quote, it seemed like it was that the enchantment would last the whole year, not needing upkeep for a year.  But you might be right.

[Quantus]

The way he said it, I don't have the quote, it seemed like it was that the enchantment would last the whole year, not needing upkeep for a year.  But you might be right.

He said he had to do regular upkeep (by reapplying the enchantments with a tattoo needle), but he is continuously improving that process such that each time he does it the enchantment lasts longer before needing reapplication.  As of Changes he said the next time might last a little over a year.  Not sure if that still holds after he lost his lab and tools though. 

I shook my head, stunned. It had tak­en me years to de­sign, cre­ate, and im­prove my leather duster’s de­fen­sive spells, and even then, the pro­tec­tion ex­tend­ed on­ly as far as the ac­tu­al leather. Lea had whipped up a whole-​body pro­tec­tive en­chant­ment in min­utes.

I sud­den­ly felt a bit more hum­ble. It was prob­ably good for me.

But then I tilt­ed my head, frown­ing. The pow­er in­volved in my god­moth­er’s gifts was in­cred­ible—but the uni­verse just doesn’t seem to be will­ing to give you some­thing for noth­ing. That was as true in mag­ic as it was in physics. I could, with years of ef­fort, prob­ably du­pli­cate what Lea’s gifts could do. The Sid­he worked with the same mag­ic I did, though ad­mit­ted­ly they seemed to have a very dif­fer­ent sort of re­la­tion­ship. Still, that much pow­er all in one spot meant that the en­er­gy cost for it was be­ing paid else­where.

Like maybe in longevi­ty.

“God­moth­er,” I asked, “how long will these gifts en­dure?”

Her smile turned a lit­tle sad. “Ah, child. I am a faerie god­moth­er, am I not? Such things are not meant to last.”

“Don’t tell me mid­night,” I said.

“Of course not. I am not part of Sum­mer.” She sniffed, rather scorn­ful­ly. “Noon.”

And that made more sense. My duster’s spells last­ed for months, and I thought I’d worked out how to make them run for more than a year the next time I laid them down. Lea’s gifts in­volved the same kind of pow­er out­put, cre­at­ed seem­ing­ly with­out toil—but they wouldn’t last like the things I cre­at­ed would. My self-​im­age re­cov­ered a lit­tle.

[Lost Merlin]

I don't know that its the tools that make the enchantments better.  I think its the actual magical formula that he is able to improve. Better tools may just mean faster results.