[RPM] Counterspelling magic items

[Christopher R. Rice]

Originally Posted by GarenLiLorian

I have a couple of questions. Cohen the Barbarian has retrieved the Serpent-Slaying Sword of Ur from the lost temple. It's a legendary weapon; in addition to being balanced and very fine, it grants Extra Attack 2 (50 cp, minus gadget limitations (DR6: 10%, Stolen by DX: 30%, SM -3: 15%, and power mod: 10% for a total of 18cp).

He's got the cp and wants to attune to it, however, he has no Magery or Thaumatology skill, so his maximum conditional spells are...
a) Equal to his Thaumatology default (IQ-7)?
b) Non-existent and he can't use magic items until he puts a point in Thaumatology?
c) Something else?

It's A.

Originally Posted by GarenLiLorian

- What does this counterspell look like? A counterspell usually is lesser destroy magic + the energy of the spell to be countered. Is this the CP cost of the sword? Does the wizard need to pay for duration, subject weight, or anything else?

You can't counterspell a magic item. You must suppress it. That's a Greater Destroy effect. You'll need to add Duration (for how long you want to keep it down), Subject Weight (if needed, probably not for most weapons), and Range (if you want to affect it at a distance). Finally, you'll need to add Altered Traits, Disadvantage to suppress the magical powers of the sword. In this case your base spell line would look like this:

Typical Casting: Greater Destroy Magic (5) + Altered Traits, Negate Sword (4) + Duration, 10 minutes (1) + Range, 2 yards (0) + Subject Weight, 10 lbs. (0). 30 energy (10x3).

Originally Posted by GarenLiLorian

- Magic vs. Magic (RPM Pg. 24) says the sword resists using the Path skill used to cast the spell in the first place; does this require reverse-engineering the ritual necessary to imbue such a sword? Eyeballing it, Greater Strengthen (Body? Matter? Both?) to add 50 cp of advantages permanently would require quite a high Path skill!

No. You just need the Path skill. If you don't know I'd assume 15 for most enchanted items. Remember, enchanted items have a HT of 12 so even if the Path skill is 11 or less to make them they'd roll 12 vs. magical spells.

Originally Posted by GarenLiLorian

- Assuming the sword fails its resistance roll, how long is it dispelled for? Permanently until Cohen can get the sword re-enchanted? Minutes equal to margin of victory, like Neutralize? As much duration as the wizard pays for? If they don't pay for duration, is it just a single second?

For whatever the duration the wizard used for the spell.

[GarenLiLorian]

Originally Posted by Christopher R. Rice

You can't counterspell a magic item. You must suppress it. That's a Greater Destroy effect. You'll need to add Duration (for how long you want to keep it down), Subject Weight (if needed, probably not for most weapons), and Range (if you want to affect it at a distance). Finally, you'll need to add Altered Traits, Disadvantage to suppress the magical powers of the sword. In this case your base spell line would look like this:

Typical Casting: Greater Destroy Magic (5) + Altered Traits, Negate Sword (4) + Duration, 10 minutes (1) + Range, 2 yards (0) + Subject Weight, 10 lbs. (0). 30 energy (10x3).

Thanks for the response! The above ritual would negate any 20 point advantage, regardless of source though, right? For example, it would equally negate someone’s Elastic Skin advantage. But the magical limitation specifically has a “vulnerable to counterspells” facet to it. Does that not come into play when using RPM specifically to “counterspell” advantages with that limitation? In other words, what does the phrase “subject to counterspells” in the RPM book (when talking about advantages with the Magical limitation mean?

[Christopher R. Rice]

Originally Posted by GarenLiLorian

Thanks for the response! The above ritual would negate any 20 point advantage, regardless of source though, right? For example, it would equally negate someone’s Elastic Skin advantage. But the magical limitation specifically has a “vulnerable to counterspells” facet to it. Does that not come into play when using RPM specifically to “counterspell” advantages with that limitation? In other words, what does the phrase “subject to counterspells” in the RPM book (when talking about advantages with the Magical limitation mean?

So in this case, no. You're exchanging specifics for specialties - you're negatting a magical item that has up to 20 points of properties. “vulnerable to counterspells” is a term of art - it also encompasses dispeling or temporary suffocation of abilities.