Both human technology and rare materials can make for very powerful, very deadly weaponry. Typically, such weaponry is simply too heavy to be carried by humans but almost all supernatural creatures have some version of supernatural strength. Yes, many supernatural creatures are terribly hidebound but a great deal of them do use advanced technology. So, a few options for our inhumanly strong opponents that occured to me;
If all you have is a hammer:
Imagine a hammer with a handle two inches thick and a bit over three feet long, with a head two feet wide and one foot thick. It is a large hammer, yes? Were it made from iron, it would weigh about half a ton. Were it made from tungsten alloy, a material nearly three times heavier and several times tougher than steel, it would weigh about a ton and a half... and superstrong faeries like Ogres and Trolls would have no problems touching it. Being hit by it would be as bad as being run over by a mack truck going fifty.
What kind of weapon rating would you give that?
Tanking out:
Bulletproof armor is usually behind guns because it faces a very real limitation; it has to be light. The average human can't wear armor heavier than fifty pounds and hope to retain any agility. Now, if you have someone super-strong who has no problem carrying around five thousand pounds...
What armor rating would you give to quarter-inch-thick hardened steel? That kind of armor for a human-sized combatant would weigh 200 pounds or so. What about the same armor from various superalloys? It wouldn't be any thicker thus bulk would be no problem but it would weigh a bit over five hundred pounds and its strength would be three-five times that of steel. Still, five hundred pounds are nothing for someone with inhuman strength and some might or supernatural strength and no might.
And now think of a troll with comparable quality and quantity of armor.
Size does matter:
With a multi-barrel 112 inches long, total length of 19 ft and a total weigh close to 600 pounds, the GAU-8/A is a BFG. It fires 30mm antitank bullets at a rate of 70 rounds per second and can turn tanks into swiss cheese. A superhumanly strong guy or gal that is still human-sized might have some trouble with its bulk but not its weight and a troll or ogre would wield it like we do an assault rifle. Since we have seen Gruffs use machineguns already, why not inhumanly strong opponents with that kind of heavy weaponry? They even have glamours that can hide their size and form until it's too late.
So, what weapon rating would you give the GAU-8/A ?
Well, to break the average steel handle you need more than ten tons per square inch. To break tungsten superalloys that are four square inches... naah. Superman might be able to do it. Not many other people though.
But why would you make the armor and hammer slow? If the wielder has effective might 10-11 (4-5 ranks plus supernatural strength) the hammer will be heavy but not heavier in comparison than a twenty-pounder for a normal human. If the wielder is a troll warrior (4-5 plus hulking size plus mighty thews plus supernatural strength) he'd have an effective might of 14-15 and the hammer would actually be fairly light for them.
I also would say the recoil is a bitch.
doesn't matter how strong you are, you're going to need LEVERAGE to move it.F = M*A. So for ten times the mass and ten times the strength, you have the same acceleration. For a hundred times the strength and a hundred times the mass, you have the same acceleration... provided your support is solid enough to take it. Assuming the troll is just as strong pound-for-pound for a human and it is elephant-sized, it has about fifty to seventy times the strength (I.e. it has an effective might of +12)
Tiny, who is about as big as a troll, is already as big as an elephant. How big is an elephant? 6000 pounds? 8000 pounds? More? If they have the strength to lift the 3000-pound hammer, they won't be unbalanced.
Besides, this is where the armor comes in. An armored troll that can lift its armor will also be much more difficult to unbalance due to the extra, evenly added weight. And yeah, now that armored Blampire will weigh about half a ton. A lot harder to push around, no?
F = M*A. So for ten times the mass and ten times the strength, you have the same acceleration. For a hundred times the strength and a hundred times the mass, you have the same acceleration... provided your support is solid enough to take it. Assuming the troll is just as strong pound-for-pound for a human and it is elephant-sized, it has about fifty to seventy times the strength (I.e. it has an effective might of +12)
As for the GAU-8/A, yeah, it is a bit bigger than what a troll could carry. Maybe a giant? Do giants even exist in Dresdenverse? (since there are Norse gods, there must be giants too)
Tanking out:Given modern firearms to attack it with, a quarter inch of steel isn't bulletproof and is barely bullet resistant. A modern .308 rifle could penetrate that to a couple hundred yards, modern military ammo (like Soviet or Chinese ammo with mild steel cores to cut costs) can penetrate a quarter inch of steel at 500 yards. Modern armor piercing ammo could penetrate half an inch of steel armor plate at 300 yards and a quarter inch at double or triple that. A .50 BMG rifle, which is sure to be dragged out if armored trolls are on the offense, can easily penetrate an inch of steel plate at 200 yards with standard ammo.
Bulletproof armor is usually behind guns because it faces a very real limitation; it has to be light. The average human can't wear armor heavier than fifty pounds and hope to retain any agility. Now, if you have someone super-strong who has no problem carrying around five thousand pounds...
What armor rating would you give to quarter-inch-thick hardened steel? That kind of armor for a human-sized combatant would weigh 200 pounds or so.
What about the same armor from various superalloys?In generate these alloys aren't used as armor because when a plate gets too rigid it shatters much easier, other much denser alloys are often softer than steel, like depleted Uranium. In general you don't end up saving a whole lot of weight, it just ends up thinner for the same protection. But at this point you're talking about 3/4 of a ton on a man sized suit to keep out anything smaller than a .50 BMG rifle with Armor Piercing ammunition.
It wouldn't be any thicker thus bulk would be no problem but it would weigh a bit over five hundred pounds and its strength would be three-five times that of steel. Still, five hundred pounds are nothing for someone with inhuman strength and some might or supernatural strength and no might.
And now think of a troll with comparable quality and quantity of armor.
Size does matter:
With a multi-barrel 112 inches long, total length of 19 ft and a total weigh close to 600 pounds, the GAU-8/A is a BFG. It fires 30mm antitank bullets at a rate of 70 rounds per second and can turn tanks into swiss cheese. A superhumanly strong guy or gal that is still human-sized might have some trouble with its bulk but not its weight and a troll or ogre would wield it like we do an assault rifle. Since we have seen Gruffs use machineguns already, why not inhumanly strong opponents with that kind of heavy weaponry? They even have glamours that can hide their size and form until it's too late.
So, what weapon rating would you give the GAU-8/A ?
An A-10 Thunderbolt has to fire their guns in short bursts or the recoil will knock them out of the sky.Complete myth I'm afraid, there isn't even enough recoil on that thing to even slow it down a few mph when it fires. The reason it fires in short bursts is to avoid burning out the barrels through overheating.
F = M*A. So for ten times the mass and ten times the strength, you have the same acceleration. For a hundred times the strength and a hundred times the mass, you have the same acceleration...
So, what should be the weapon rating of a 1500 pound hammer? A car is weapon 5. It has a far larger impact area though-the hammer focuses that much power on a square foot or less.
It hits with the force of a swung car.
Make it a 5 i guess.
If you keep the laws of physics intact in your game, nothing Tiny-sized, no matter how strong, could control a GAU-8 in sustained bursts. Like any full-auto, the recoil would build exponentially as you kept firing, and it would spin the wielder around. Now, however, a small-arms caliber rotary weapon is totally within the realm of possibility. Give your troll or whatever an M134 Minigun with, perhaps, longer barrels and some kind of custom action housing for him to hold it, and you've got a formidable weapon. Or, if you simply must have a BFG, give him an M2 Browning .50 BMG. It'd still be hard to control, but it would be more within the realm of possibility for something with Hulking Size. And let's face it, both the .50 BMG and the 30mm are anti-aircraft rounds. There's no functional difference between the two. Anything you shot with them would be dead in one round.
An A-10 weighs about 11 tons and it is airborne. It can fire a GAU-8/A just fine.
A troll with superb might is 15 feet tall, weighs 4 tons and can wear 3 tons of armor plus use the 2-ton GAU-8/A without penalty. It can brace on the ground, something the A-10 cannot do.
I don't see the troll having a recoil problem. It's only 20% lighter but can brace.
As for the damage dealt by a 30mm round, a grenade is weapon 4. Being hit by a speeding car is weapon 5. Being hit by Harry's fuego that can burn through exterior walls and carve coffin-sized dents in the pavement is weapon 8. Even if you put the GAU-8/A as damaging as Harry's fuego, lots of heavy-hitters are going to need several bursts from it to go down. (the aforementioned troll would need two when unarmored. Magog would need eight.)
heres an idea i jacked from a david weber sci fi series that starts with "through the looking glass". One of the space marines is nicknamed two gun for his ability to use two pistols at once (which is REALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLY freakin hard to do effectively) . They have power armor. So what does the company armorer make for him to use? he takes two barret .50 cal sniper rifles chops the barrels down and extends the clips. Presto .50 BMG semi auto pistols. Now thats a gun.
Valera Smith
High Concept: Cute Nephilim Trouble: Dolls for the Little Girl?
Other Aspects: Angelic Interlopers, Compensating for Something?, My Father is a Fallen Basterd, My Weapons-fu is Better than Yours, Legendary Temper
Refresh: Submerged, 1 fate point. Physical OOOO(OOOO) Social OOO Mental OOOO
Born to a temperamental Irish mother -father unknown- Valera Smith is firmly on the small side for a human... but compensates for it with a fiery personality, fiery-red looks and a freakish strength for her little frame. The first time her strength became apparent was when she saved her mother by throwing an armed burglar half across the house, through a barred window and several floors down... at the age of thirteen. Since then, her strength has steadily increased-though she barely grew an inch over five feet.
When she became eighteen years of age, a suit of arms and armor that fit her like an old glove magically appeared in her own room. Made of a dark, dull metal, the inch-thick armor weighed as much as a fair-sized car and the hammer that complemented it about a third as much. That was not a terribly great weight for Valera - in fact, she felt like one of those knights in shining armor donning them. And then came the second surprise; the armor could look like normal clothing as long as she didn't hold the hammer ready or did not test its sturdiness by hitting it.
Filled with glee, Valera got outside to test her new birthday present; she'd later come to know the full extent of the supernatural world and be visited -repeatedly- by her sinister father and his even more annoying (but in a good way) enemies...
SKILLS
+5 Might, Weapons
+4 Rapport, Discipline
+3 Conviction, Endurance
+2 Presence, Athletics, Fists
+1 Stealth, Contacts, Scholarship, Lore, Alertness
POWERS AND STUNTS
[-4] Supernatural Strength
[-4] Supernatural Toughness
[+3] Catch is Silver
[+0] Inhuman Constitution (like the wizard's, to reflect that she eventually heals and she does not normally age)
[-1] Monstrous Strength (as per mighty thews-but without the bulky muscles)
[-1] Size Does Matter: +1 weapon rolls with oversized weaponry
[-1] Waif-Fu: use weapons for defense rolls
[-1] Item of Power: The Arms of Talus
* It is inch-thick armor from superheavy metal; weighs 2 tons and needs effective might 12 to wear comfortably but is armor rating 5
* It is large-headed hammer from superheavy metal; weighs as much as a small car and needs effective might 13 to wield comfortably but is weapon rating 5
* Indestructible
* One-time Discount. +2 refresh
* Human Guise
* Physical Immunity: the wearer takes half effect from magic (includes magic that would be beneficial). -2 refresh
* True Strike. -1 refresh
Valera Smith
High Concept: Cute Nephilim Trouble: Painfully Obvious
Other Aspects: Angelic Interlopers, Compensating for Something?, My Father is a Fallen Basterd, My Weapons-fu is Better than Yours, Legendary Temper
Refresh: 20 refresh, 1 fate point. Physical OOOOOO(OOOOOO) Social OOOO Mental OOOO
Backstory:
Born to a temperamental Irish mother -father unknown- Valera Smith is firmly on the small side for a human... but compensates for it with a fiery personality, fiery-red looks and a freakish strength for her little frame. The first time her strength became apparent was when she saved her mother by throwing an armed burglar half across the house, through a barred window and several floors down... at the age of thirteen. Since then, her strength has steadily increased-though she barely grew an inch over five feet.
When she became eighteen years of age, a suit of arms and armor that fit her like an old glove magically appeared in her own room. Made of a dark, dull metal, the inch-thick armor weighed as much as a fair-sized car and the hammer that complemented it about a third as much. That was not a terribly great weight for Valera - in fact, she felt like one of those knights in shining armor donning them. And then came the second surprise; the armor could look like normal clothing as long as she didn't hold the hammer ready or did not test its sturdiness by hitting it.
Filled with glee, Valera got outside to test her new birthday present; she'd later come to know the full extent of the supernatural world and be visited -repeatedly- by her sinister father and his even more annoying (but in a good way) enemies...
Current Events:
Nearly four decades have passed since the seventies and Valera's awakening to the supernatural world. Now a full-grown woman, she is one of the tallest people in the world at 7 ft 7 inches and 7 thirteenths of an inch. Unlike normal humans with giantism she has a strong build, resembling an athletic 5-foot girl in analogies. Despite her relatively small size compared to some gargantuan supernaturals, her strength rivals that of a dragon or a very strong giant; she can lift nearly two hundred tons without any great effort and could throw around tanks or small locomotives.
Valera has now taken part in hundreds of supernatural conflicts, especially the hidden supernatural parts of several "human" conflicts around the world. She is well-known as a fighter for a good cause and even more for her legendary temper; when you can flatten a tank if angered, most people learn to tiptoe around you.
Oddly enough, her weapons and armor have grown with her, slowly adapting to her greater size. Most people think that's due to their magical nature though Valera suspects they've had help from the unnamed interlopers in her life.
SKILLS
+6 Might, Weapons, Intimidate
+5 Discipline, Fists, Resources
+4 Rapport, Endurance, Presence
+3 Conviction, Craftsmanship, Athletics
+2 Alertness, Lore, Contacts
+1 Guns, Scholarship, Drive (heavy vehicles only)
POWERS AND STUNTS
[-6] Mythic Strength
[-6] Mythic Toughness
[-2] Hulking Size
[+3] Catch is Silver
[+0] Inhuman Constitution (like the wizard's, to reflect that she eventually heals and she does not normally age)
[-1] Monstrous Strength (as per mighty thews-but without the bulky muscles)
[-1] Size Does Matter: +1 weapon rolls with oversized weaponry
[-1] Weaponsmaster: use weapons for defense rolls
[-1] Massive Blows: +2 damage with massive melee weapons
[-1] Smash Armor: negate up to 2 armor with melee weapons
[-1] Heavy Weapons Expert: use weapons instead of guns for attacks with heavy weapons such as RPGs, missile-launchers, autocannons and giant-portable tankbusters
[-2] Item of Power: The Arms of Talus
* It is inch-thick armor from superheavy metal; weighs 10 tons and needs effective might 14 to wear comfortably but is armor rating 5
* It is large-headed hammer from superheavy metal; weighs as much as a truck and needs effective might 15 to wield comfortably but is weapon rating 5
* Indestructible
* One-time Discount. +2 refresh
* Human Guise
* Physical Immunity: immune to magic (includes magic that would be beneficial). -3 refresh
* True Strike. -1 refresh
ITEMS AND RESOURCES
Modified GAU-8: this two-ton weapon is a modified version of the avenger autocannon of an A-10 Thunderbolt. The frame has been modified to be mounted on the back and left hip of a huge humanoid and the hydraulic rotors have been replaced by an old gatlin mechanical equivalent that is rotated by hand. The avenger having a non-automatic mechanism and specifically fine-tuned against malfunction, this weapon is highly resistant to hexing. It has an effective range of 0.7 miles and is weapon 7 with armor-piercing (-2 armor) ammunition.
GPAD: this giant-portable surface-to-air missile launcher uses targeting lasers to guide 85-pound missiles with HEAT tandem warheads-alternatively, the missiles have their own heat-seeking mechanism if the wielder wants to fire and forget. Extremely sensitive to magic, it is only good against non-supernatural targets. Adapted from the Brimstone and Starstreak line of missiles and with a quick-reload mechanism, it has an operational radius of 7 miles, can hit both air and surface targets if the wielder uses the targeting laser and is weapon 8, +4 vs objects and machines.
Electronic Headgear: In addition to fine-crafted telescopic sights and an encrypted comm, this set also confers infravision and sound amplification for night operations.
without chopping barrels off rifles you can get that size gun in reality. A troll might eve be able to shoot it one handed if you modified the grips and triggers to fit his oversize hands.
Here is a link . . .http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/.50_caliber_handguns (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/.50_caliber_handguns)
The recoil of the GAU-8/A in high setting is a bit over 45 kN. That would be half the armored troll's weight or so-about equal to a 100-pound human firing an AK-47 full-auto. High but not impossible.
As for what buildings can support 9-10 tons? Well, not many. But the troll is supposed to be a battlefield tank, not an urban setting investigator. Half-inch superalloy armor, antitank weaponry, what else could it be?
Incidentally, a submerged changeling or scion character with Might +5, Weapons +5, Athletics +4, Resources +4 and the following powers and stunts:
Hulking Size [-2], Supernatural Might [-4], Size Does Matter: +1 to attack and damage with weapons weighing over 200 pounds [-1], Supernatural Durability with Silver catch [-1] and Windfall [-1]
Could both buy and use the armor and the weapon.
So the question is, what's weapon rating for GAU-8 1-sec burst and what's armor rating for tank armor?
I'd say that since a burst from the GAU-8 is slightly less damaging than something that could tear down a small house so... weapon 7?
And light tank armor would be what, armor 5?
Which reminds me;
That's one really tough little girl. :) She is adult in human terms but since she's a Nephilim, she's nowhere near grown yet. She'll eventually have Mythic Toughness, Mythic Strength, Hulking Size, Massive Blows (stunt for +2 damage for heavy melee weapons), Smash Armor (stunt to reduce armor by 2) and maybe full immunity to magic when she unlocks the full potential of her armor.
She'll be 20ish refresh by then but she'll be a freakishly powerful combatant. Weapon 13 attack, Legendary attack and defense, 12 boxes physical stress and heavy armor. And she'll be able to use a tank for a thrown weapon with her +22 Might, provided the ground beneath her feet does not cave in or something.
Here's the full-grown version:
heres an idea i jacked from a david weber sci fi series that starts with "through the looking glass". One of the space marines is nicknamed two gun for his ability to use two pistols at once (which is REALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLY freakin hard to do effectively) . They have power armor. So what does the company armorer make for him to use? he takes two barret .50 cal sniper rifles chops the barrels down and extends the clips. Presto .50 BMG semi auto pistols. Now thats a gun.
She's actually weaker than the rules tould technically make her. Drop the hammer (but not True Strike), the armor, the supernatural toughness, the monstrous might needed to wield them and the immunity to magic and replace them with a longsword, advanced tactical suit and Physical Immunity with Catch Holy Stuff (researchable)
She is now weapon 7 instead of weapon 9 but she is immune to all damage unless it's holy stuff... and she still has armor 3 against holy stuff and an epic defense.
As for the GAU, a sustained burst would probably count as more than one exchange. Besides, weak exterior walls only have a stress track of 8. With a weapon 7 and a good roll to hit, you could deal 9 stress and break the wall. On the other hand, an ogre has a stress track of 10 and armor 2. You'd need five good hits with weapon 7 to take them out. That's why it says ogres are bulletproof.
(But a good hit at legendary attack with weapon 7 could take out the Ogre in one blow and Valera has Legendary and either weapon 7 or weapon 9, depending on if she wields her big hammer or a longsword)
That's Ringo, not Weber.
And I still want to know what the PCs are like, that you are pointing GAU-8s at.
BTW, just how strong is Tiny? Firing the gun is 10,000 lbs of load. For me, I probably wouldn't include the GAU-8 in my game. If I were it would do a damage of [[ plot ]] and an effect of [[ plot ]] on the shooter. In my book you need something bigger than Tiny to deal with the recoil, reasonably, of a GAU-8.
However, had you brought that up for me as a player, before giving me a chance to give it a physics smell test I would have declared "DIVE FOR COVER!"
Bah! Safehold isn't anywhere near massive.
Try the Weber's Honorverse stuff if you want massive. On Basilisk Station is the first. Mission of Honor is 12. (Mission of Honor ends with a great scene.) The there are 4 side plot novels too. (The Torch line and the Shadows line...) And he as a new one apparently, Out Of Darkness, in a new 'verse. No clue if it is stand alone or not.
@ballplayer72
I am counting the thirty bullets as weapon 7, not a single bullet; a single bullet wouldn't break down a wall. Sort of like an AK-47 is weapon 3 for a burst, not a single bullet.
@YuriPup
Assume a PC with supernatural toughness and an athletics as good as the equivalent attacker's skill plus endurance +3. That PC could be "Feet in the Water" and still have refresh left. The following are true;
1) The PC has a stress track of 8 boxes plus armor 2.
3) A normal hit from the attacker's GAU-8 is going to do 7 stress; 7 from the GAU-8 weapon rating plus ignoring 2 armor from AP rounds.
4) The GAU-wielding attacker needs to score 3 average hits for a takeout or get really lucky.
Now let's do the same math for a normal tank;
1) The tank has mythic toughness, hulking size and thus stress track 12 and armor 3. (it also has physical immunity to weapons 3 or less but that's irrelevant)
2) A normal hit from the attacker's GAU-8 is going to do 11 stress; 7 from the GAU-8 weapon rating, -1 from the tank's armor which is reduced due to AP rounds, +4 from the attacker's skill since the tank has no athletics skill to dodge plus a +1 due to hulking size being easier to hit.
3) The tank is going down in 3 average hits or one really lucky hit.
So, as you can see, a "Feet in the Water" tank is just as hard to kill with a GAU-8 as a normal, mechanical tank. Yes, a trained gunner is going to have stunts to improve his skill with weapons and thus kill both tanks in one burst each but we are talking Feet in the Water here. A submerged tank is significantly tougher (the submerged version of Valera could survive over twelve average attack rolls with her defenses)
And the Submerged Valera is neither strong enough nor bulky enough to use the GAU-8 yet. Her 20-refresh version? Certainly.
@tymire
The GAU-8 is not an automatic weapon, it is not chain-fed or clip-fed (it takes individual bullets) and was made with anti-jamming in mind. Once you remove the hydraulic/electric rotors and replace them with a hand-moved rotor that a superhumanly strong character could move, you've kicked the tech back to 1860. Yes, THAT far back. Only a very powerful wizard could jam it and only if he was intentionally trying to hex. And yes, the 20-refresh version of Valera took that into account.
Most normal humans have a stress track of 2. Most normal bulls have a stress track of 5 or 6. Neither have armor. Hence even a glancing (mediocre) hit from a 30 mm bullet could do serious damage to the bull and kill the human. A dead-center hit like you're describing does 5 stress from weapon rating and +4 for a great hit and would kill both human and bull.
Do note that a sniper rifle is weapon 3, a grenade is weapon 4 and being hit by a car is weapon 5.
As for being overpowered, ever seen a submerged wizard pancake an entire building with a Weapon 9, attack 10+ blast that spreads over three entire zones? We are talking dozens of vampires and minions burned to a crisp in one blow here. Because how many times has Harry done so by now? I'm kinda losing track. Yeah, a submerged guy isn't going to do that more than once or twice in a session but once or twice is usually enough.
@tymire;
Nicodemus has physical immunity. He ignores nukes-it even says so on his sheet. Ditto for ghosts with Physical immunity to anything they are ignoring. The Loup-Garou also has physical immunity. Harry blasted it through a whole freaking police station, thrusting it through several walls only by the knockback of his spell, and halfway through another building to boot. It wasn't even wounded-and that blast was the equivalent of what, a tankbuster missile? More?
Physical immunity is just that; you cannot be harmed except for a specific thing that is your weakness, major artifact weapons and gods. Anything else could only knock you around, perhaps cause some pain but no lasting wounds at all.
@ballplayer72;
Harry's Submerged version does Weapon 8 blasts at attack +7 if he makes his spells lethal-paying the minimum mental stress. Against something that can't dodge, that's 15 stress on an average roll. You need only 12 stress to blast a vault door or really fortified walls.
Now, paying his 4th mental stress track and one mild mental consequence plus his 3rd mental stress track and one mild physical consequence, he could deal 14 stress on three entire zones. Instant pancake.
Yeah, a submerged wizard could only do it once every other scene (he or she needs the intervening scene to recover from the milds) but they can still obliterate lots and lots of people. THAT is why Lawbreakers exist; so that wizards have to be careful not to kill humans with magic. Otherwise, wizards would simply nova every singe encounter.
Well, you can only go up to -2 for Lawbreaker: First. And if you're a submerged wizard who already has that Lawbreaker maxed, it just gives you a +2 to any spells intended to kill. So, Conviction 5, focus +2, specialization +1 gives 8 minimum power, Discipline 5, focus +2, Lawbreaker +2 gives 9 control.
So our Lawbreaking Submerged wizard is doing 8-shift killing spells at +9 attack, dealing 14 shifts of damage on someone with good defense, 17 shifts of damage on something that can't dodge or has mediocre dodge. That's cleaving-a-tank-in-two or ripping-off-the-vault-door kinda blast if focused on a single target. Or it can be pancake-the-building kinda blast if focused on two-three zones.
And the scary thing? This is a 1-stress spell for the wizard who can have it as a Rote. He can do it 4 times per combat without consequences.
Yep. Magic is badass. Harry Dresden has just a bit lower power than that when he starts out only because he's not fully focused on blasting; he has some potion-making and divinations oomph too and doesn't have full Lawbreaker. But we're talking only about 2-3 less stress or so, out of 14.
Problem with the GAU guy is that he's gonna be doing only half the damage of the blaster wizard and he would also lack the wizard's Thaumaturgy abilities. Besides, would the wizard actually need to use his rote more than 4 times in a scene? And if he's facing a sea of enemies, he could just go Nova, spend two mild consequences and take some backlash to flatten all enemies in 5 zones with a megablast. Harry Dresden kind of did that in book 3 and fully did that in book 11.
Yes, but he was already very tired in 3 before attempting it and a little bit beat up; that's why the spell nearly killed him. A fresh wizard who is prepared to Lawbreak your ass into oblivion is really, really scary.
If all you have is a hammer:
Imagine a hammer with a handle two inches thick and a bit over three feet long, with a head two feet wide and one foot thick. It is a large hammer, yes? Were it made from iron, it would weigh about half a ton. Were it made from tungsten alloy, a material nearly three times heavier and several times tougher than steel, it would weigh about a ton and a half... and superstrong faeries like Ogres and Trolls would have no problems touching it. Being hit by it would be as bad as being run over by a mack truck going fifty.
What kind of weapon rating would you give that?
Its pretty tough to swing around a weapon that weighs a significant fraction of your mass. I'd say over half of your weight and swinging that thing would send you flying off balance.
The handle is also made of the same space-age metal alloy. Iron could hold, but I am not sure. But the handle also being just as dense actually improves balance by distributing the weight a bit more evenly.
Half???
Heck, most zweihanders ran only 4-7 pounds in weight (ceremonial ones up to 16 pounds).
Battle axes tend to weigh under 6 pounds and even the Danish axes tended to weigh only 2-4 pounds.
You can purchase a Briar Axe from Lowes ... weight 4.6 pounds (36" handle). I could see having a slightly heavier blade and it still being wieldable, but not too much heavier or the user would not be able to make an attack per second +/- (faster if striking for speed to distract, hook, or accomplish other such result).
There is a HUGE difference between being able to pick something up, being able to toss it a small distance, and being able wield it as a weapon and not get overbalanced by it.
Remember, E=MC^2 so once the mass is moving any appreciable speed it starts throwing you rather than you diverting its direction.