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The Dresden Files => DF Spoilers => Topic started by: Morenath on May 15, 2018, 05:23:23 AM

Title: Harry's Duster and the dangerous world of Chicago
Post by: Morenath on May 15, 2018, 05:23:23 AM
Harry wonders if they make bullet proof vests for dogs when mouse gets hurt.  Why doesn't he enchant a fetching doggie tuxedo?  For that matter, why not make Karen, Butters, and Michael some bullet proof stuff?

He was worried about Michael, who had to rely on Charity being awesome and thinking ahead to save him on the train, so why not lay the enchantment right on his tabaed for him?  Hell, a jumpsuit under the armor would have prevented the incident at demonreach,  right?

Help me out here... it's killing me. (And crippling Michael)
Title: Re: Harry's Duster and the dangerous world of Chicago
Post by: Fcrate on May 15, 2018, 05:58:11 AM
It's very time and energy consuming. And they have to be refreshed every 6 months or so., and Harry always has a lot on his plate.
Title: Re: Harry's Duster and the dangerous world of Chicago
Post by: Lost Merlin on May 15, 2018, 12:43:11 PM
Jim has also mentioned that harry spend roughly 20 hours a week working on magic gear maintenance.  I would assume that some of this is work on the duster.  To do this for additional items may just be too much of a time investment. 
Title: Re: Harry's Duster and the dangerous world of Chicago
Post by: WereElephant on May 15, 2018, 01:11:02 PM
Jim has also mentioned that harry spend roughly 20 hours a week working on magic gear maintenance.  I would assume that some of this is work on the duster.  To do this for additional items may just be too much of a time investment. 

I'd like to get a credit hour breakdown of each magical item/gadget/enchantment using that metaphor.

For example,

Duster: 4 credit hours
Blasting Rod: 3 credit hours
Staff: 3 credit hours
Shield Bracelet: 5 credit hours
Research: 5 credit hours

Or something like that.
Title: Re: Harry's Duster and the dangerous world of Chicago
Post by: Quantus on May 15, 2018, 01:24:03 PM
I'd like to get a credit hour breakdown of each magical item/gadget/enchantment using that metaphor.

For example,

Duster: 4 credit hours
Blasting Rod: 3 credit hours
Staff: 3 credit hours
Shield Bracelet: 5 credit hours
Research: 5 credit hours

Or something like that.
It's not a market exchange rate, its an ongoing design project.  At the beginning it's enchantments didnt last as long, and in the save of his canvas duster the entire process was different.  By Changes he thought he'd refined the design enough that the enchantments would last most of a year.  And even THAT is only based on the design he'd worked on which did not use any of the expensive materials known to make enchantments last longer (per bob in BR).

You cant get a standardized Man-hour requirement any more than you can reduce actual real-world crafts to that sort of hard-line repeatable schedule cost. 
Title: Re: Harry's Duster and the dangerous world of Chicago
Post by: Snark Knight on May 15, 2018, 01:49:05 PM
When Butters briefly borrowed the duster at the end of SG, didn't Bob have to power the wards on it for him? It might be something like the warden swords - for Harry it just works passively once he's set it up, but it would take a power source to work for another wearer.
Title: Re: Harry's Duster and the dangerous world of Chicago
Post by: Quantus on May 15, 2018, 02:18:18 PM
When Butters briefly borrowed the duster at the end of SG, didn't Bob have to power the wards on it for him? It might be something like the warden swords - for Harry it just works passively once he's set it up, but it would take a power source to work for another wearer.
Possible, but maybe not.  Bob was definitely powering Butter's own gear but in that last scene butters asked him to "access" the spells, and the result was Bob making the coat move on it's own to more actively protect him.  Plus I want to say we've seen harry put the coat on somebody else for their protection indicating it doesnt need to be worn him him for it's basic function.  I know we've seen him throw it in the fireplace to clean it.
Title: Re: Harry's Duster and the dangerous world of Chicago
Post by: Kindler on May 15, 2018, 02:24:10 PM
I always wondered why Harry never used his duster properly. It's bulletproof, but it's right up against his skin, so he gets battered pretty badly. If he held parts of it away from himself and ducked behind it, he'd be in a lot less pain.

John Wick 2 illustrated it pretty well during some of the Rome sequences.

Title: Re: Harry's Duster and the dangerous world of Chicago
Post by: Mira on May 15, 2018, 02:52:51 PM


   Police dogs do wear protective vests but it doesn't totally keep them safe..  I think Mouse will, if he hasn't already developed his own form of protection, he doesn't need Harry or anyone else to make it for him.
Title: Re: Harry's Duster and the dangerous world of Chicago
Post by: Quantus on May 15, 2018, 03:08:55 PM
I always wondered why Harry never used his duster properly. It's bulletproof, but it's right up against his skin, so he gets battered pretty badly. If he held parts of it away from himself and ducked behind it, he'd be in a lot less pain.

John Wick 2 illustrated it pretty well during some of the Rome sequences.
Kevlar doesnt actually work well when hanging loose like that, and Harry's enchantments operate on a similar mechanism of spreading the force out over a larger surface area.  In other words it's not that he is using the enchantment wrong, it is that it's a fundamentally inferior enchantment, at least as compared to McCoy's bullet-proof robe in Changes where it just sort of shed the bullets like rainwater.
Title: Re: Harry's Duster and the dangerous world of Chicago
Post by: WereElephant on May 15, 2018, 03:34:39 PM
It's not a market exchange rate, its an ongoing design project.  At the beginning it's enchantments didnt last as long, and in the save of his canvas duster the entire process was different.  By Changes he thought he'd refined the design enough that the enchantments would last most of a year.  And even THAT is only based on the design he'd worked on which did not use any of the expensive materials known to make enchantments last longer (per bob in BR).

You cant get a standardized Man-hour requirement any more than you can reduce actual real-world crafts to that sort of hard-line repeatable schedule cost.

I was thinking more of credit-hours in the university sense. They don't translate to literal time you spend during the week, but they represent a portion or percent of how much you can take on. I'd like a list like this as a benchmark for how much is considered a full load to Harry.

As for it being an ongoing design, this is true. However, it is also an ongoing maintenance project. Maintenance is more regular in time cost. I imagine most weeks Harry simply restores the enchantments on his items as they wear away due to use. He would only decide to alter the enchantment on something (which would probably make it temporarily unusable until completion) when he saw a deficiency in the pattern he'd come up with or had an idea for a better way.
Title: Re: Harry's Duster and the dangerous world of Chicago
Post by: Quantus on May 15, 2018, 08:53:26 PM
I was thinking more of credit-hours in the university sense. They don't translate to literal time you spend during the week, but they represent a portion or percent of how much you can take on. I'd like a list like this as a benchmark for how much is considered a full load to Harry.

As for it being an ongoing design, this is true. However, it is also an ongoing maintenance project. Maintenance is more regular in time cost. I imagine most weeks Harry simply restores the enchantments on his items as they wear away due to use. He would only decide to alter the enchantment on something (which would probably make it temporarily unusable until completion) when he saw a deficiency in the pattern he'd come up with or had an idea for a better way.
Only when the design changes/improvements stop, at least in my experience.
Title: Re: Harry's Duster and the dangerous world of Chicago
Post by: Ananda on May 17, 2018, 01:14:21 AM
Jim has also mentioned that harry spend roughly 20 hours a week working on magic gear maintenance.  I would assume that some of this is work on the duster.  To do this for additional items may just be too much of a time investment.
After they all got bags of diamonds, they can afford to pay someone to make and maintain some thingies, I am sure. I’d spend it on clothes and so,  but I don’t participate in supernatural battles. :)
Title: Re: Harry's Duster and the dangerous world of Chicago
Post by: groinkick on May 17, 2018, 04:39:46 AM
Could be wrong but didn't Harry use Soulfire for his duster, and it later became known that such an object could be dangerous to the magic user because of this intimate connection with the object?
Title: Re: Harry's Duster and the dangerous world of Chicago
Post by: Quantus on May 17, 2018, 12:02:09 PM
Could be wrong but didn't Harry use Soulfire for his duster, and it later became known that such an object could be dangerous to the magic user because of this intimate connection with the object?
No he didnt, and yes it would.  So far he hasnt (as far as we know) done any Creating with Soulfire, and Jim said that a mobile piece of his soul like that would be a huge and dangerous Thaumaturgic link should anyone hostile get their hands on it.  As of CD Harry just said that he'd been avidly avoiding any actual experimentation with Soulfire, viewing it as akin to "swallowing nitroglycerine and jumping up and down" for Science! 
Title: Re: Harry's Duster and the dangerous world of Chicago
Post by: Snark Knight on May 18, 2018, 02:51:58 AM
Could be wrong but didn't Harry use Soulfire for his duster, and it later became known that such an object could be dangerous to the magic user because of this intimate connection with the object?

I wonder if he could rig enchanted gear to explode if, say, it gets more than twenty feet from him in any situation other than being properly disarmed and stored at his home. The crystal shield from TC had a destructive function, and the shield item Madrigal was using in the duel in WN let off a fair bit of energy when suddenly broken.
Title: Re: Harry's Duster and the dangerous world of Chicago
Post by: Quantus on May 18, 2018, 11:55:25 AM
I wonder if he could rig enchanted gear to explode if, say, it gets more than twenty feet from him in any situation other than being properly disarmed and stored at his home. The crystal shield from TC had a destructive function, and the shield item Madrigal was using in the duel in WN let off a fair bit of energy when suddenly broken.
Come on now man, He's got a kid around now.  He cant go walking around with pockets full of hand-grenades.  Sharp Objects are even a grey area
Title: Re: Harry's Duster and the dangerous world of Chicago
Post by: Kindler on May 18, 2018, 02:07:47 PM
Come on now man, He's got a kid around now.  He cant go walking around with pockets full of hand-grenades.  Sharp Objects are even a grey area

Dang it, now I want a short story of Harry baby-proofing Chicago. (Anyone else listen to the Thrilling Adventure Hour? Sparks Nevada baby-proofs Mars, stopping virtually all crime in a matter of a few weeks, and it's as funny as it sounds. As a further tangent, Mark Evan Jackson's is precisely the voice I hear for Harry's dialogue.)
Title: Re: Harry's Duster and the dangerous world of Chicago
Post by: Snark Knight on May 18, 2018, 06:57:02 PM
Come on now man, He's got a kid around now.  He cant go walking around with pockets full of hand-grenades.  Sharp Objects are even a grey area

He's going to need some sort of weapons locker for the perfectly normal firearms anyway if Maggie is around. Might as well have a docking station for storing magical things-that-go-boom safely.
Title: Re: Harry's Duster and the dangerous world of Chicago
Post by: groinkick on May 18, 2018, 07:30:19 PM
One thing to consider is Harry needs to keep maintaining his gear in the Earth realm.  Every new sunset degrades magical energies.  However Jim has said that all the members of the Senior Council have their own private pockets in the NeverNever...  He didn't use the words "private pockets"..  The word sounded like Demazeen or something similar, I looked it up at the time and it meant something like "domain" but I haven't been able to find the exact spelling since then and can't remember the word.  Demazeen, Demazin, something like that.  Could it have been Denizen?  When Jim said it it didn't sound like that, more like Denizeen but that could be it maybe

Anyways if Harry began stashing gear in the NeverNever it may not degrade as quickly which means he could make more magical stuff.
Title: Re: Harry's Duster and the dangerous world of Chicago
Post by: Fcrate on May 18, 2018, 11:42:06 PM
He's going to need some sort of weapons locker for the perfectly normal firearms anyway if Maggie is around. Might as well have a docking station for storing magical things-that-go-boom safely.
Knock knock....
- Who's there?
- Beast badass come to kick your ass.
- Oh, give me 5 minutes to get my stuff and I'll be right out.
Bleh. Doesn't work.
Okay, on a serious note, maybe magick a little spot to be invisible to anyone but him. Yep...
Title: Re: Harry's Duster and the dangerous world of Chicago
Post by: LordDresden2 on May 20, 2018, 05:18:58 AM
One thing to consider is Harry needs to keep maintaining his gear in the Earth realm.  Every new sunset degrades magical energies.  However Jim has said that all the members of the Senior Council have their own private pockets in the NeverNever...  He didn't use the words "private pockets"..  The word sounded like Demazeen or something similar, I looked it up at the time and it meant something like "domain" but I haven't been able to find the exact spelling since then and can't remember the word.  Demazeen, Demazin, something like that.  Could it have been Denizen?  When Jim said it it didn't sound like that, more like Denizeen but that could be it maybe

Just guessing, probably 'demesne'.  There are various pronunciations.

Title: Re: Harry's Duster and the dangerous world of Chicago
Post by: Moonlight Wolf on May 22, 2018, 12:46:36 PM
LordDresden beat me to it.  Demesne was the word used.  I had to reset my password to get back logged in, but I'm back now.  Though all I ever do is lurk.  Hello to all the old names and the new ones as well!
Title: Re: Harry's Duster and the dangerous world of Chicago
Post by: groinkick on May 22, 2018, 04:36:20 PM
Just guessing, probably 'demesne'.  There are various pronunciations.

Yes!  Exactly, thank you.  So Jim said all the members on the Senior Council have a demesne in the Nevernever... 
Title: Re: Harry's Duster and the dangerous world of Chicago
Post by: Quantus on May 22, 2018, 04:49:07 PM
Yes!  Exactly, thank you.  So Jim said all the members on the Senior Council have a demesne in the Nevernever...
Yes, same word used in GP to describe the private pocket dimension that the ghost of Agatha Hagglethorn had on the NN side.
Title: Re: Harry's Duster and the dangerous world of Chicago
Post by: Fcrate on May 22, 2018, 05:17:06 PM
What I'd like to see is an upgrade for the duster; where it can spread the kinetic energy of the incoming projectile evenly across the body. Front and back, if possible.
Title: Re: Harry's Duster and the dangerous world of Chicago
Post by: Quantus on May 22, 2018, 05:45:10 PM
What I'd like to see is an upgrade for the duster; where it can spread the kinetic energy of the incoming projectile evenly across the body. Front and back, if possible.
Something that extends it out across his whol aura rather than the literal cover of the leather would be nice.  He saw it done in Changes when Lea made those protections for Susan, and an example on stage has been an easy source of upgrade before (see how many times he's mentioned adapting Rashid's eye salve).
Title: Re: Harry's Duster and the dangerous world of Chicago
Post by: Lost Merlin on May 23, 2018, 12:20:56 PM
Something that extends it out across his whol aura rather than the literal cover of the leather would be nice.  He saw it done in Changes when Lea made those protections for Susan, and an example on stage has been an easy source of upgrade before (see how many times he's mentioned adapting Rashid's eye salve).

I wonder what the life time on a spell like that would be.  It would be interesting to see Harry weigh the strengths of his spells vs the duration.  He says he is close to a year before having to rework the duster spells.  It would be interesting if he would give up say 6 months of duration to increase the strength and space of the spell. 
Title: Re: Harry's Duster and the dangerous world of Chicago
Post by: Kindler on May 23, 2018, 01:28:47 PM
I wonder what the life time on a spell like that would be.  It would be interesting to see Harry weigh the strengths of his spells vs the duration.  He says he is close to a year before having to rework the duster spells.  It would be interesting if he would give up say 6 months of duration to increase the strength and space of the spell.

I think he could circumvent that with some creativity. Figure out how to add in the second, aura-level protection in addition to his normal kinetic enchantment. The aura-level stuff could be a temporary thing—activate it, and it functions for a couple of days before he has to lay the enchantment back down. That way he always has his bulletproofing, which is the biggest concern most of the time, but when he's going up against nasty magic, he can pop his extra layer. It might take some of the pressure off his shield, too, which was frequently a concern.
Title: Re: Harry's Duster and the dangerous world of Chicago
Post by: Quantus on May 23, 2018, 02:29:42 PM
I think he could circumvent that with some creativity. Figure out how to add in the second, aura-level protection in addition to his normal kinetic enchantment. The aura-level stuff could be a temporary thing—activate it, and it functions for a couple of days before he has to lay the enchantment back down. That way he always has his bulletproofing, which is the biggest concern most of the time, but when he's going up against nasty magic, he can pop his extra layer. It might take some of the pressure off his shield, too, which was frequently a concern.
Not unlike the one-use super barrier crystal he gave Molly to use in TC.
Title: Re: Harry's Duster and the dangerous world of Chicago
Post by: Kindler on May 23, 2018, 02:32:16 PM
Not unlike the one-use super barrier crystal he gave Molly to use in TC.

Yeah, closer to a single-use device, like his belt buckle, for instance. Except not one that will take him a few months' worth of weekends to maintain and leave him feeling like he was dead.
Title: Re: Harry's Duster and the dangerous world of Chicago
Post by: Quantus on May 23, 2018, 03:00:06 PM
Yeah, closer to a single-use device, like his belt buckle, for instance. Except not one that will take him a few months' worth of weekends to maintain and leave him feeling like he was dead.
People always mention the Bear Buckle's own downsides, and there is the WOJ that he decided it was more dangerous than it was worth.  But it is also worth noting that before long he was dumping all his time, energy, and spare magic into Little Chicago, which had at least as much magic-storage in it (based on bob's cautionary statements on it)
Title: Re: Harry's Duster and the dangerous world of Chicago
Post by: Kindler on May 23, 2018, 04:11:46 PM
People always mention the Bear Buckle's own downsides, and there is the WOJ that he decided it was more dangerous than it was worth.  But it is also worth noting that before long he was dumping all his time, energy, and spare magic into Little Chicago, which had at least as much magic-storage in it (based on bob's cautionary statements on it)
Personally, I think Jim decided it was too OP. He wants Die Hard, not Die Hard 4.
Title: Re: Harry's Duster and the dangerous world of Chicago
Post by: Quantus on May 23, 2018, 04:44:41 PM
Personally, I think Jim decided it was too OP. He wants Die Hard, not Die Hard 4.
You shut your blasphemous mouth...There were only ever two Die Hard Movies: Legend of Hans Gruber the First, and The Revenge of Cousin Simon. 


Jeez, next you'll be saying there were some sort of Pre-Trilogy for Star Wars, or that they are still making Alien movies... ;)
Title: Re: Harry's Duster and the dangerous world of Chicago
Post by: Kindler on May 23, 2018, 06:12:14 PM
You shut your blasphemous mouth...There were only ever two Die Hard Movies: Legend of Hans Gruber the First, and The Revenge of Cousin Simon. 


Jeez, next you'll be saying there were some sort of Pre-Trilogy for Star Wars, or that they are still making Alien movies... ;)

What do you mean by "Pre-Trilogy?" Star Wars canon only has three movies, and an amazing Christmas special about the social life of Wookies on Kashyyyk.
Title: Re: Harry's Duster and the dangerous world of Chicago
Post by: groinkick on May 23, 2018, 06:23:30 PM
People always mention the Bear Buckle's own downsides, and there is the WOJ that he decided it was more dangerous than it was worth.  But it is also worth noting that before long he was dumping all his time, energy, and spare magic into Little Chicago, which had at least as much magic-storage in it (based on bob's cautionary statements on it)

I thought Jim said he didn't like it because it was too much like Batman with his belt and other gadgets turning him into that?
Title: Re: Harry's Duster and the dangerous world of Chicago
Post by: Kindler on May 23, 2018, 06:35:28 PM
I always liked gadgeteer characters. Favorite Forgotten Realms characters were always Cadderly and Jarlaxle, mostly for those reasons. Until R.A. Salvatore decided to destroy any future for those characters and I stopped reading, anyway.
Title: Re: Harry's Duster and the dangerous world of Chicago
Post by: Quantus on May 23, 2018, 07:01:30 PM
What do you mean by "Pre-Trilogy?" Star Wars canon only has three movies, and an amazing Christmas special about the social life of Wookies on Kashyyyk.
Hmm, I suppose "Amazing" is one word you could use  :P
Title: Re: Harry's Duster and the dangerous world of Chicago
Post by: Lost Merlin on May 23, 2018, 07:51:48 PM
Not unlike the one-use super barrier crystal he gave Molly to use in TC.

I was also thinking this, but again how would having those two spells sitting side by side etched in to the same artifact.  I think maybe the hat could hold the one off force bubble that protects him head to toe for 24 hours. 

Also don't forget with something like that it needs to keep stuff from coming in, but also allow stuff to get out. 
Title: Re: Harry's Duster and the dangerous world of Chicago
Post by: Kindler on May 23, 2018, 07:54:19 PM
I was also thinking this, but again how would having those two spells sitting side by side etched in to the same artifact.  I think maybe the hat could hold the one off force bubble that protects him head to toe for 24 hours. 

Also don't forget with something like that it needs to keep stuff from coming in, but also allow stuff to get out.

Pfft, who needs things like air or sound waves?
Title: Re: Harry's Duster and the dangerous world of Chicago
Post by: Fcrate on May 23, 2018, 11:07:33 PM
Pfft, who needs things like air or sound waves?
Weaklings and newbies. All a real wizard needs are 3 things:
Title: Re: Harry's Duster and the dangerous world of Chicago
Post by: khadgar4606 on May 24, 2018, 09:59:55 AM
the common problem duster was needing repair lot of times harry doesn't have enough resource or connections to grab some real gear. as know harry has box full of diamonds and connection to some serious crafters so if harry want to have solid protective armor all he needs to do is walk down to molly's place and let dwarfs hook him up with decent duster to beat big bad of the book plus if the situation calls it i bet mab gives harry new gear along with enough training to let it be unnecessary  for harry on long run. as winter mantle slowly makes sure harry has insticts to protects his rear thus harry only needs to make sure he taps the combat instict of mantle the time combat starts all armor eventualy be useless in long run
Title: Re: Harry's Duster and the dangerous world of Chicago
Post by: Lost Merlin on May 24, 2018, 02:33:07 PM
Weaklings and newbies. All a real wizard needs are 3 things:
  • black leather duster
  • kick ass hat
  • A long phallic multi purpose stick

excuse me. It's Traditional Ozark Folk Art
Title: Re: Harry's Duster and the dangerous world of Chicago
Post by: Kindler on May 24, 2018, 02:39:30 PM
excuse me. It's Traditional Ozark Folk Art

I wonder if that excuse would work in reality.
Title: Re: Harry's Duster and the dangerous world of Chicago
Post by: Lost Merlin on May 24, 2018, 02:46:01 PM
I wonder if that excuse would work in reality.

With today's PC/law suit world I am sure in most places all he will need to do is make a scene and it will be allowed past.  Security people are always scrutinized for unfair treatment of individuals and are more then happy to avoid scenes.

Also Hipsters. 
Title: Re: Harry's Duster and the dangerous world of Chicago
Post by: Fcrate on May 24, 2018, 04:29:36 PM
excuse me. It's Traditional Ozark Folk Art
My bad. Traditional Ozark Fallic art.
Title: Re: Harry's Duster and the dangerous world of Chicago
Post by: Quantus on May 24, 2018, 09:01:26 PM
My bad. Traditional Ozark Fallic art.
Fallic Art slash Security Blanket
Title: Re: Harry's Duster and the dangerous world of Chicago
Post by: Kindler on May 31, 2018, 01:26:56 PM
With today's PC/law suit world I am sure in most places all he will need to do is make a scene and it will be allowed past.  Security people are always scrutinized for unfair treatment of individuals and are more then happy to avoid scenes.

Also Hipsters.

It is Harry's Emotional Support Staff. (Double-joke!)
Title: Re: Harry's Duster and the dangerous world of Chicago
Post by: Fcrate on May 31, 2018, 06:01:17 PM
My bad. Traditional Ozark Fallic art.
Fallic Art slash Security Blanket
It is Harry's Emotional Support Staff. (Double-joke!)

excuse me. It's Traditional Ozark Folk Art

This thread is giving me ulcer.