Ritual Path Magic- Charms Granularity

Some options that add additional grit to charms. 

Charms

By default charms are lightweight and fragile items meant to be destroyed quickly via a Ready maneuver to activate a spell- glass/ceramic tokens, origami, thin cloth, etc.

 

As such, Charms can be safely assumed to have 1 HP and no Damage Resistance, although it could be argued that Toxic and Fatigue damage shouldn't damage inanimate objects and therefore charms, but YMMV.

Given the fragility of charms, GMs might rule that they are subject to possibly being destroyed inadvertently by large-area attacks, explosions, or falls.

DF2 gives a roughly 2/3rd chance (rolls of 1-4 on 1d) of potions and grenades being destroyed when the containers they are within are bashed. I find that percentage (~15%) to be a smidge high for Charms on a person's body. The description of a quick-release backpack in DF1 suggests that breakables break on a roll of 1 on 1d6 which seems more reasonable overall.

Breakage of Charms:

Large-Area Injury, Explosions, and Falls have a chance of breaking- and thus activating- charms. Explosions and Large-Area Injuries must first penetrate the DR of both the character carrying the charms and the container that the charms are within (if any), but such DR does not apply to charms stored on the exterior of one's body! 

Falls must be large enough to actually deal damage- catfall, acrobatics, feather fall and other mitigations protect normally, but Damage Resistance does not.

 
Roll 3d6 for each charm individually, on a 6 or less the charm is broken and activates, immediately applying its relevant effects as if cast.

Specialized protective containers with the cushioned modifier are designed to minimize breakage and reduce the chance of breakage to a roll of 3 on 3d6. 

Rugged Charms

Charms can be constructed out of more rugged materials to mitigate the chances of accidental activation. Rugged charms have Injury Tolerance (Homogeneous), and each drawback taken gives the charm an additional HP 1, and DR 6. Which drawbacks apply must be selected when the charm is first created.

Rugged Charm Drawbacks:

• Longer Preparation time- a full hour instead of half an hour, as more resilient materials take longer to impregnate with magic
• Rugged charms cost 1 FP to activate, representing charms set off by a trickle of specific magical energy
• Rugged Charms take 2 (or more) Ready Actions to Activate, representing fail safes and other measures meant to prevent the accidental activation of especially dangerous spells

Attacking Charms Directly

Charms can likely be assumed to be roughly 1-2 inches in size, which gives a mighty -9 to -11 Size Modifier penalty to-hit. Larger charms should have smaller penalties (e.g: dream-catchers, paper fans, etc).

Whoever is holding a charm that comes under attack may defend normally, but may not parry with the hand holding the charm.

Large-Area attacks such as cones, explosions, and such do not suffer the to-hit penalty from size modifier.

Stealing Charms

Attempting to snatch or wrangle a charm from the hand of someone is possible.

 

Doing such requires a Regular Contest with Sleight of Hand at -4 (for targeting the hand) against the target's DX (or Sleight of Hand if higher). I suggest a Regular Contest as opposed to a quick contest given how pivotal stealing a charm can be.

Alternatively, one may attempt a theft after successfully grappling the limb holding the charm, and then winning a Regular Contest of ST or DX or Sleight of hand vs. the Target's DX, ST, or Sleight of Hand.

At the GM's discretion a caster might be able to activate a charm after being grappled before the grappler can attempt a theft.

 

Targeted Attack (Hands) is probably a valid technique for Sleight of Hand to reduce the penalty to -2 when attempting to steal charms. For more cinematic games a technique could be allowed to buy off the entire -4 penalty.

Fast-Drawing Charms

Charms stored on the exterior of one's body, belts, or bandoliers give no penalty to fast-draw. Belts and bandoliers protect their contents with their DR (if any).

Charms in pockets give a -1 to fast draw, but the charms benefit from the DR of the garment they are stored in.

Charms stored in internal jacket pockets give a -2 to fast draw, but the charms benefit from garment DR and give a +2 bonus to Holdout to prevent the charms being discovered during a frisk.

Charms stored under armor give a -4 penalty to fast-draw, but benefit from all DR and have a +4 bonus to Holdout to avoid being discovered during a frisk.

Charm Gear:

As container DR contributes to defense against accidental destruction of charms, the rugged modifier from Low and High-tech can be applied to storage containers meant for charms.

Rugged:

Cost Modifier is +2. Weight increases by 1.2x. Container HT +2, and double DR (or increase DR to 2 if DR is initially 0)

Cushioned:
Reduces the chance of accidental breakage. Charms break on a roll of 3 on 3d6 instead of a 6 or lower on 3d6.

 

Cost Modifier is +2, no changes to weight or other stats.

Quick-Access:
Gives +1 to fast-draw when applied to particular garment or container. May only be applied once to a particular piece of gear, but bonuses from multiple articles with the modifier can stack to offset penalties, with a maximum bonus of +1 after negating penalties.

Cost Modifier is +2.

All three modifiers are compatible with one another.