Topic: RMU Treasure Law: How to create an assault rifle

[Thot]

I am trying to make an assault rifle. Well, a  magical item that is, in effect, and assault rifle of sorts.

So, what does the item need to do? It needs to cast a ranged attack spell, many, many times.

What ranged spell? Say, Fire Bolt from the Magician base list Fire Law, a 6th level spell.

Now, we cast this as a continous enchantment, which can be done with the spell "Constant X" from the Adept base list "Essence Emedding".
Constant X is a 35th level spell, and if you cast it twice, you can switch the fire bolts on and off. So we do that. (If we could find a
ranged attack spell of 3rd level or lower, we could use Constant III, which is only a 17th level spell, reducing cost.) We also want the
item to be durable, so it is going to be made from a durable material, such as bronze. It can be inferior bronze, as we are not really
attacking with the item itself, and bronze will not rust either way.

So, how much time would it take to enchant this item?

• Work Lesser Metals (5th level)
• Fire Bolt (6th level)
• Embed VI (13th level)
• Constant X (35th level)
• once more Constant X (35th level)

So total of 94 power points per day, for 94 days, are needed to enchant our level 35 item, and the item would cost 94*35=3230 silver pieces plus material cost (35²=1250) for a total of 4280 sp in a standard campaign.


But wait, this isn't actually an assault rifle, but just a rifle! An assault rifle can fire multiple times per second!

Does anyone have any ideas on how to make it do that?

[Thot]

Oh, wait. Cost is wrong in the above computation:

It is TWO sp per day PLUS 2 sp per day per 40 pp spent, so 4 per day. So the item would cost 94*4+35²=1,601 sp.

[nash]

So if you want a lower level attack - Shock Bolt I is second level spell for Magicians.

If you want multiple attacks per round consider Triad of Flame or Triad of Ice.   Both 16th level.

[Malim]

The prices are so of!!!

[Thot]

The prices are so of!!!

Are they? Did I make an error?

[jdale]

It's 94 days with a material cost of 35sp per day (material cost equals the level of the item, in sp) plus a labor cost of 4sp per day (2sp base plus 1sp per full 40 PP) resulting in a total of = 94 * (35+4) = 3666sp. So, it's a little more expensive than a medium ship (1900) plus two heavy warhorses (750 each).

For comparison, a staff with 100 charges of fire bolt would cost 592sp. So you pay a big premium for an infinite number of charges.

I don't remember seeing a way to let an item cast multiple spells in the same round. Triads are a good idea, although you have to split your OB.

[rdanhenry]

Core rule is one spell per round. The only way to get around that with a magical item is an intelligent item that is casting the spell itself (and therefore retains the one spell per caster per round rule). The Triad suggestion certainly works to get multiple "shots".

If one were to use the option allowing multiple spells per round, use the same spells (except the Work spell, that wouldn't need duplication) to create the same power again as a separate ability to have 2 Fire Bolts per round. Then again for a third, if you want. It'll get expensive, but it could be done. However, I recommend caution in allowing multiple spells per round.

[Thot]

It's 94 days with a material cost of 35sp per day (material cost equals the level of the item, in sp) plus a labor cost of 4sp per day (2sp base plus 1sp per full 40 PP) resulting in a total of = 94 * (35+4) = 3666sp.

Ah, gotcha. Thanks!

For comparison, a staff with 100 charges of fire bolt would cost 592sp. So you pay a big premium for an infinite number of charges.

That's better, not only in cost, but also because it requires a logistics chain for our rifle! Story potential!

I don't remember seeing a way to let an item cast multiple spells in the same round. Triads are a good idea, although you have to split your OB.

Hm, well, the analogy only goes so far, then.

[Thot]

[...]
If one were to use the option allowing multiple spells per round, use the same spells (except the Work spell, that wouldn't need duplication) to create the same power again as a separate ability to have 2 Fire Bolts per round. Then again for a third, if you want. It'll get expensive, but it could be done. However, I recommend caution in allowing multiple spells per round.

Well, it would be for a very "industrialized magic" type of setting. So that might just work. Thanks!

[jdale]

Triads give you burst fire. Functionally, what's the purpose of fully automatic fire? Probably area suppression and multiple targets. You might be better off making an item with area effect skills to serve those purposes. Wall of Fire, Firestorm, Fireball, etc. That also has the advantage that the user does not need skill in Directed Spells to use it effectively, which for an industrialized setting could be a big deal. They just need to be attuned, which can be done off the battlefield, and if you have industrialized production you can handle attunement failures by passing the item to the next recruit and give a new identical item to the first recruit.

For significant additional expense, you can also embed the Scope Skills talent into the items to get multiple targets, although that doesn't get around the need to split OB for bolts. I haven't done the math to compare the cost vs triads, but it does have the limitation that you are now requiring alchemists of two different realms.

[Cory Magel]

A 'prism' magic item that you fire the spell through in order to split it into multiple rolls?  The issue I see there is you'd be either be turning a higher level spell into multiple lower powered ones or you'd be creating a significantly overpowered ability.