Charms, Thoughts? Options

[Aerospider]

Charms are enhanted items designed to bring good fortune to any bearer, awakened or mundane. Some believe they create a favourable 'kink' in the local mana flow, some that it sharpens the wits and wiles through an unconscious link, but almost all concur that the millenia-old superstition of lucky trinkets originated in the imitation of the genuine article which is now back in the realms of thaumaturgical science. Crafting charms is demanding and expensive, making them treasured objects.

There are three types of charm that each affect the physical possessor with no need for bonding. Except where noted, they may be used in conjuction with one another.

Boons give the bearer an extra pool of Edge points equal to its Force. These points may be used exactly as though they were natural - they don't in themselves allow for more than one Edge point to be spent on the same test/action and they don't increase the attribute rating.

Cha Wen is pinned down by suppressive fire but across the room his mage is bleeding out fast. The run has already demanded the use of all three of the samurai's natural Edge points but fortunately she never leaves the house without her lucky ring, a Force 1 boon. She uses its only Edge point to add her full Edge attribute to her dodge roll, but this only grants her three extra dice, not four.

Runes are invariably covered in arcane markings (in origin the term 'rune' applies to the markings themselves, but colloquially it now applies eually to the enchanted item) and must be irrevocably assigned a physical or mental attribute within their formulae. They grant a number of Edge points equal to Force that may be spent as normal except for two conditions: A) the test must use the specified attribute and B) a point of edge must already have ben spent on the test. Only one rune may be used on any given test, but it may be used multiple times and even in different ways.

Redwood Ray has just summoned a particularly boisterous plant spirit and is facing 12 points of drain. With his drain resistance pool of 10 he doesn't like his prospects much and so adds his Edge of 5. He scores two 5s and a 6, which explodes but for no extra hit. 9 damage is still way too much for Ray, but he has a Willpower 2 rune for just such occasions. He spends a point from the rune to reroll the ten misses and gets two 5s and three 6s which don't explode. The damage is now down to 4 and Ray decides he'd prefer not to incur an injury modifier at this stage, so he uses the rune's second and last point. There are only five missed dice left so instead of a reroll he adds his Edge attribute of 5 for the exploding 6s. He scores a 5 and a 6 which explodes for another 5. The rune is now exhausted but with a dice pool of 10 and one Edge point he's knocked the killer drain down to one box of damage. Had Ray had a rune for his other drain resistance attribute he could have used that instead, but not as well.

Sometimes termed 'kingmakers', talismans are the most powerful and rare of all charms. They boost their owner's Edge attribute (and thereby his Edge points) by their Force. Long-term users of talismans, more so than other charms, tend to become highly paranoid of others coveting their power and their special item. Talismans demand great karmic responsibility - when someone loses a talisman they immediately lose the attribute boost and associated Edge points. Should they not have enough Edge points at the time they will perish in Essence minutes as their life force is sucked into the karmic void. A bearer can only have one talisman in use at a time - more may be carried but will be dead weight and don't endanger ther carrier's life.

Who knew transvestite ork gangers could be so touchy? Blur only had to drop off the paydata and he could take that well-earned holiday, but a misjudged inflection, or something, has brought some unsmiling attention his way. His only option is to talk his way out and it has to work. His natural Edge is 4 but, thanks to the very recent and very lucky acquisition of a Force 3 talismonger it's effectively 7. He spends a point (his sixth for the run) and adds seven dice to the roll ... Finally Blur makes it to the meet, but the J's astral security notices the charm and it's unceremoniously ripped from the thief's neck. He didn't have enough Edge points to pay back the talisman so not only does he lose the one he does have left but he also drops to the ground in agony. It seems that once again he's at a big disadvantage in the negotiations.

Charms replenish their Edge points at exactly the same time their current owner does, but because users who rely on charms rely less on their own prowess the recharging costs a point of karma per charm. If the user can not or will not pay the karma point then the charm will not replenish its Edge points this time and the user must wait again.


Let me know what you think of this idea. I'll probably never even use it my own games, but I quite like the notion. For that reason I haven't actually gone so far as to create an enchantment recipe, availability or price for any of them, but then I figured that each GM would have his own idea about how rare and expensive they would be in their game anyway. Essentially I'd imagine it that a Force 1 boon would be no big deal whilst a Force 6 talisman would be as legendary as Excalibur.

[Tanegar]

IMO, all three of them are game-breakers.

A boon allows its owner to use Edge more often than would otherwise be possible. Edge is already a powerful advantage when used intelligently, and this is a huge power boost with little cost.

A rune takes the rule that you can only Edge any given test once, and breaks it over its knee. That rule exists for a very good reason (balance).

A talisman is like a boon, only even worse. No bonding cost instantly makes a high-Force talisman a must-have. The short lifespans of runners in general makes the drawback largely moot.

On a side note, what kind of Johnson just ganks a runner's gear out of the blue? And what kind of runner lets the Johnson gank their gear without at least trying to fight back?

[TheMidnightHobo]

Flavor-wise I love the boons, not so sure about runes or talismans, they do seem a bit...powerful. I dunno, as long as you keep the boons to level 1 or 2 I don't think they'd be too terrible. But can you imagine a 7 edge Human with a Force 3 Talisman? Hoo boy, good luck challenging that guy. >.>

So, good ideas, I do love the "lucky rabbit foot" a lot. I just think multiple edge uses could be a bit more overpowered than you think. Can you imagine a Body Rune on a Troll? Nothing would hurt him.

Extra edge flat-out is definitely a game-breaker. You know someone's gonna haul out the Lucky 14 edge character at some point (hell, I know I'd want to give him a shot, it'd be ridiculous).

[Fatum]

Well, those could be used, but the prices should be exorbitant to balance it out.
So the runners are sool, and the opposition, especially the recurring enemies, gets the trinkets!
*cue evil GM laughter, lightning strikes in the background, vile giggling hunchbacks*

[Saint Sithney]

I really like magic items for Mundanes. Like the F6 weapon focus from Digital Grimoire,

Kurokawa, The Black River
The bright blade Kurokawa is a katana featuring a vein
of orichalcum running the length of its folded steel blade,
and a hilt carved from the fang of an adult Eastern dragon.
Hiro Gassan, descendent of a line of Japanese master
swordsmiths, used an ancient magical formula to instill the
unique enchantment within the blade.
Kurokawa acts as a Force 6 weapon focus. The sword
immediately bonds with anyone who holds it, magician
or mundane, without having to pay Karma or perform a
bonding ritual and they gain the benefit of the focus immediately.
The blade is always active and dual-natured and
cannot be deactivated except through force (such as the
Disrupt Focus spell or an astral barrier). Kurokawa’s wielder,
even a mundane, may become subject to Focus Addiction
(See Focus Addiction, p.26–27, Street Magic), becoming obsessed
with the blade.

I also like the idea of charms as things which magic types give and sell to regulars for protective purposes. I've long allowed mundane to get counterspelling foci bound to them by a mage for a fee as basic anti-magic protection. (Mandatory team mages is dumb and so is removing magical threats.)

Personally, I would play with boons or talismans, but I would make the latter exceedingly rare, and the former unable to recharge on its own. Like, once a boon is used, it's burnt. There could, naturally, be some more unique boons out there, which will recharge, but only at a price, like they inflict poor luck (either fewer 1s needed to glitch, or 1s and 2s count towards glitches) on those around you in order to recharge. Talismans would naturally act this way and all be unique items not for sale.

[Traul]

Nitpick time: the name "talisman" is already taken. They are used for geasa.

[KCKitsune]

These charms should be a one-shot item and then it disintegrates.

I would also make it so that each charm has be used in a special way (rubbing a rabbits foot, praying with a "lucky" cross, etc, etc)

Finally, I would have it so that if a charm is used for a purpose opposite of the maker's intention*, then the user is Unlucky (per the negative quality) for next 3 times he has to use Edge (harm coming back to the perp three times and all that).

All of the above would make it more balanced.

* == for instance a "lucky" cross being used to summon a fire spirit to burn down a church. The exact nature is up to the GM. The GM should write it down and make sure if the player bitches then he can show him that it WAS preplanned.

[Badmoodguy88]

I like the idea of charms and other low level semi unique magic items. But you could really mix up how they get charged and what they are good for. Some could charge by using your own edge to charge it up. Put in two points, it charges up one. So you would need to save that charm for a rainy day. Maybe it charges on full moons or every second Wednesday but only if bathed in a waterfall. Or maybe the charm charges it's self but uses the points when it feels like it. The luck it gives might be a little twisted, like you fall down some stairs but miss the bullet that was about to hit you, or you drop your gun and a freak shot hits some street sam sneaking up on you. You could have some fun with it. The charm might actually be a very weak free spirit, you bribe it with a little karma and it uses some of it's edge on your behalf. That would make the charms basically canon though it is an odd spirit.

[Blastula]

They don't seem bad but possibly in need of tweaking. What would be bad is the Irish gnome PC, since there aren't any leprechauns, all dressed in green and deathly afraid that folks are gonna steal his Lucky Charms. He'd pretty much be a Lucky Charm hoarder, possibly with his own reality trid. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wobble.gif)