The Dresden Files > DFRPG

Enchanting guns and other tech items?

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MacsNewBrew:
Respectfully, I think you're taking it a bit too far. Murphy's (click to show/hide)P90 is a fairly complex firearm. So are the weapons used by (click to show/hide)Marcone's mercs in White Night and Nick's minions in Small Favor, and these seem to hold up well to a whole lot of mojo moving around. I only think it would start to be a problem one you started throwing in electronics, a la the XM-29, then things get dicey. Purely mechanical seems to be pretty safe. I know Harry's VW averages an issue once every eight days, but (IMHO) electronics are the main factor. Electrically, you cannot get much simpler than an incandescant bulb. Harry is amazed that Mac keeps ceiling fans running. The electrical system of a Bug is way more complicated than either. All that said, even WWI tech can be suspect. If I were a wizard, you could not get me within 50 meters of a proximity fuse. Harry has known the time in the books, so I suspect that he has a watch or clock around somewhere, probably spring driven.
If I were DMing, mechanical items would be safe, but iPhones could be used as incendiary devices.  ;D

Lanodantheon:
I agree, mechanical devices don't seem to bother Harry. I think the cut off is Electricity. However, the (click to show/hide)P90 was never used by Harry personally. If he had he probably would have made the magazine gang-fire.

But, remember that when Harry kills a computer he gets smoke from them. That smells to me like a power supply/cooling problem that is going wrong. Everything in TDF is plausible and even magic has some basis in reality.

I think iPhone incendiary is taking it a bit too far. IMHO I think an iPhone would just smoke and become your new paper weight.

MacsNewBrew:
Murphy's toy has been around at least one major Magical slugfest, so I would think it is safe in the hands of a wizard. The way I see it, is if his .44 doesn't cook off all six rounds at once, shoved in his pocket during the throw-down with (click to show/hide)Cowl during the Darkhollow (DB spoiler), then a 30 round mag is just as unlikely. That little party had to have more mojo in the air than anything to this point in the series. It would not be a matter of quantity in this case, but of complexity. The self-contained cartridge is not complex: just container (casing), cap (bullet), powder, and the cap, which happens to produce a very small explosion when subjected to enough physical force/pressure.

The way my mind works, assumes that the murphionic field works like EM fields, EM radiation, or particle radiation. If you expose one or fifty forks to the same level of radiation the solitary fork will have the the same level of radiation as one of the fifty. When Harry walks into a room with a single light bulb it sometimes goes out. That does not mean that if he walks into a room with 500 light bulbs every one always go out. He has been in enough public places that I think my theory holds water. Magic has to obey the laws of physics, as Harry would say. I could be wrong about the rules as Jim sees them--after all I am not him, but this is the conclusion I've come to (keeping in mind all of the tech failures we've seen {that I can remember} have had an electromagnetic component to them).


--- Quote from: Lanodantheon on August 12, 2008, 03:11:48 AM ---I think iPhone incendiary is taking it a bit too far. IMHO I think an iPhone would just smoke and become your new paper weight.

--- End quote ---
Mine has gotten uncomfortable to the touch on long flights (when watching a movie), but I was kind of making a point without meaning literally bursting into flames. I tend to forget that my typing lacks inflection sometimes.  :o

[EDIT here down] Ok, going back to usefulness I do not think a two handed firearm would be practical to a wizard during a fight. You got to have a hand ready to throw around energy or bring up your defenses. As far as Harry's reluctance to pick up an automatic, I think that is just Harry being paranoid, but "just because you're paranoid doesn't mean there isn't an invisable deamon about to eat your face."
Going back to an earlier post, I could see and possibly accept someone enchanting a bullet (projectile only) much the same way Harry uses his silver rings. That would be some hefty work to throw away, unless the enchantment is attached to another simple item which is designed to pass on the enchantment to other items through a less involved method before charging. Runes of sigils on the barrel would act as a release trigger, much the same way Harry triggers his rings--he doesn't have to be uber-precise on impact time. This method does seem like a kind of copout.
Thinking about it, if you want your 30 round cap .22LR to pack as much punch as a .729 Jongmans with Hydro-shok, of course (a 110lb rifle with "brutal" recoil), you better work your butt off on 30 enchantments, strap them on your shoes (think 1980's 'Roos shoes), and go run a marathon or three.

Diebdazar:
*nods* in the later books it does seem limited, mostly, to electronic items.

But in the early books of the series we have various automatic weapons having trouble when wielded near magic. . . most noticeable in storm front I think

MacsNewBrew:
I need to go back and reread that one I think..
Another though on the subject, specifically the kenetically charged ammo: A possible work around to having to enchant every single bullet would be to enchant a 2 or three pound block of lead (or an alloy of lead and silver), throw it in the trunk for 6-18 months, melt some shavings and pour into a mould for home reloaders like the one Murphy used in Fool Moon.

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