Hey There Guys,
A player in my upcoming game sent me his Family Sword (an Item of Power) to review and make sure it was OK. I've played about 2 hours of the game, completely out of the books and a pregenerated adventure, so I'm a little out of my depth here. Having had bad experiences with magic items in other games, I figured I would come to the experts. The character is the last son of a family that has a destiny to destroy a specific outsider. I would really appreciate everyone's thoughts on this blade.
Yeah, Items of Power can get a bit tricky at times. Here are my thoughts on it:
Akai Family Spirit Blade [-3]
Description: An unassuming Japanese Katana that has gained significant magical powers over the past several centuries.
Musts: You must be a descendant of the Akai family, and Have a High Concept related to the family Destiny.
Skills Affected: Weapons
Effects:
[-1]Memories of the Ancestors. The wielder of this sword gains +1 Weapons while wielding it in combat.
So far so good, but here is the first time it gets weird. A weapon like that has a purpose, and a purpose no less, that is mentioned already. I would therefore only grant the +1 when the wielder is fighting outsiders, not as a blanket bonus. This is basically a stunt that is attached to the weapon.
[+1]One Time Discount. You're not Duncan Macleod. You can't hide a Katana on your Person.
That's true. And as a sword, it should get a +2 bonus. A sword is definitely big enough to grant that.
[-1]Outsider Bane. This sword serves as the catch for any supernatural toughness abilities possessed by outsiders. This weapon increases and stress it inflicts on an Outsider by 1 step.
The wording here is a bit off, and I think it grants too much power for one refresh. Since the sword was made to fight one specific outsider, I would only allow it to cut through that outsiders toughness entirely. However, since that would be a little bit weak for one refresh, I'd let it also reduce the toughness power of any outsider by one step. And no extra bonus, that's too much rolled into one.
You could add another [-1] power, that adds 2 stress on successful hits against outsiders. It would stay the same cost, since we increased the discount above.
[-1]The Quest. This item is unbreakable as long as it is used in the service of the family destiny. If it is ever used to further the aims or ends of Outsiders it looses it's magical properties until the user redeems himself or it passes to a new member of the Akai family.
I'm pretty sure, this does not need a refresh point to be active. An item of power is always unbreakable, and it will always be undone, if it is used against it's purpose. Of course, that might mean, that it can't even be used to battle faeries or wizards or anything that isn't an outsider. You should talk about what the purpose of the sword allows and what it doesn't with your player.
[-1]Spirit Sheath.Up to Four times a day you may use the sword to generate a strength 7 Block against magic on yourself.
Um... No. This is really odd. First of all, a flat out number like that is kind of wrong. If there are numbers like that, they are usually 2 or 4, the equivalent to tagging an aspect or two. Then the "four times per day" is also kind of strange. Those things are usually measured in "per session", which is how long you play (unless you allow the item to replenish earlier, because you are playing extra long, or enough time has passed ingame, and so on).
Now I kind of see what he did there, but I am still questioning the "strength 7" part. You can buy 4 enchanted item slots for 1 refresh (the 4 uses). If you have thaumaturgy or evocation, you can create enchanted items that hold spells, for example block spells. Those spells have a base strength of you lore skill. Now for the sword, it doesn't have to be the lore skill, you could replace any other skill for it. Weapons (without any increases from stunts and powers) would be the one to go for here, probably, or you take an arbitrary number, since one of his ancestors created the weapon, and he would have probably also laid down the enchantment.
Though I have to say, this would be easier as a stunt, again. Make it a stunt that allows the wielder to do a weapons block against magic, per the standard (as in: not magic) block rules. It kind of amounts to the same thing, but he can keep it up indefinite if he has to, as long as he rolls the block each exchange as his action. He can also, if need be, increase his roll with fate points and tags, which would not be possible in the current form.
So yeah, that's what I got. hope that helps.