Like the Spells and Qualities articles, this one will be updated from time to time.

I started this item to be part of another Archetype, but I decided you'd have to be insane to ever let anyone have this.  It makes a good plot device for a limited duration, and it might work in some really high-powered game, or a one-on-one game, but for a regular Buffy or Angel game, I think it's far too powerful for regular use.

I might write up an evil version later on, which would work better as a plot device, a'la Darth Rosenberg.

Caster Pistol

Power Level: 6
Appearance: A Caster Pistol is normally an ornate, old-style pistol, and is usually quite bulky.  It fires Caster Shells, which are shotgun-shell sized, metal, and come in a variety of colors.
Requirements: The Caster Pistol must be loaded with a Caster Shell and fired as a normal pistol.
Effect: Hokey religions and ancient superstitions might not be a match for a good gun at your side, but with a Caster Pistol, you can have both.  Caster Pistols (and perhaps Caster Rifles, but they lack the personal touch) are created in realms of magic and technology, and even there, the weapons aren't all that common.  They're difficult to make, difficult to arm, and exact a cost on the user.  But even with these disadvantages, they are powerful weapons in the right hands.  The Caster Pistol can let a non-Sorcerer fire off spells.

A Caster Pistol is generally a single-shot, breach loading pistol.  Double-barreled and revolver variants are exponentially rarer.  Automatic pistols of any description are virtually unknown, as they would have some severe drawbacks.  Few arcane artificers even know the secrets of making them or their specialized ammunition anymore.  A Caster Pistol uses pistol ranges, and, if one were to fire normal bullets in it, would have damage equal to a "Big Ass Pistol."  That would be a terrible waste of potential, however, and might damage the delicate arcane circuitry of the pistol.

The true ammunition of a Caster Pistol is a Caster Shell, about the size of a 12-gague shotgun shell.  Caster Shells are essentially assemblages, but they're difficult to make.  Besides the efforts involved in casting the spell as normal, the gunsmith must also hand-craft each shell.  This requires a Mr. Fix-it test with a penalty equal to the power level of the spell being imbued into the shell.  WC: Gunsmithing cuts the penalty in half.  Alternately, the WC: Castersmithing skill can be used, which removes the penalty entirely.  If the crafting test fails, the shell is inert, even if the spellcasting test was successful.  For that matter, normal penalties for miscast spells apply, but only when the shell is fired, which can lead to interesting situations.  The shells are made from orichalcium (which isn't really all that difficult to acquire.  It's just an alloy of bronze with a particular red hue.  Real life is so boring sometimes.)  They change color and acquire mystical symbols based on the spells imbued into them, such that an Occultism test will tell a trained observer what a given shell does.  Inert shells look just like live ones.  There's no way to tell if the Caster Shell is live without firing it.

(As such, we suggest that the Director keep the rolls used to craft shells secret, to preserve the sense of wonder and adventure for the players.  Most of the time, it's safe to assume a shell got the minimum SL for a successful casting and not worry about it.  Inflicting defective or inert shells on Cast Members is probably worth a Drama Point or two.)

So why didn't the weapon smiths of old crank out millions of these things and arm every Tom, Dick, and Roland with one?  Well, besides being hard to make, the Caster Pistol has one big downside.  Spells take mystical energy, and that energy has to come from somewhere.  Where it comes from is the life-force of the user.  Every time you fire a Caster Shell, you do so at the cost of a little piece of yourself.  Most of the time, it's no big deal.  You use little bits of your life-force all the time.  But the Caster Shells take more than most people can easily deal with.

For Sorcerers, each Caster Shell fired counts as casting a spell of whatever power level the Caster Shell contained.  For normal folks, it's more difficult.  for Caster Shells with a PL of 3 or less, there's no problem, but for shells with a PL of 4 or greater, the cost adds up quickly.  When a Cast Member engages in extensive Caster Pistol usage, keep track of the shells he uses.  Once he stops (or whenever the Director thinks it's a good point) he needs to make a Consciousness Test.  Each shell with a PL of 4-6 adds a -1 penalty to the test.  Each shell with a PL of 7+ adds a -2 penalty.  Instead of Constitution doubled, use Constitution and Willpower for this test.

If the unlucky spellslinger fails the Consciousness test, he must immediately make a Survival Test with 1/10th the penalty applied to the Consciousness Test.  If he fails the Survival Test, he falls into a coma and will lose 1 from all his stats per day.  Once he's out of stat points, he dies, unless heroic measures (or Drama Points) save him.  If he passes the Survival Test, he's merely in a coma for a while: 24 hours per point he failed the test by, divided by his Constitution.  So a spellslinger with a Constitution of 2 who fails his Consciousness test by 4 points would be unconscious for 2 days.  If he'd only failed by 1 point, he'd be out for 12 hours.  And he should really think about building up his endurance if he's going to go around firing Caster Shells indiscriminately.

Directors are free to determine what types of Caster Shells are available.  It's possible that the secrets of smithing them have been lost, so not even Enchanter/Superscientist Cast Members can make new ones.  By far most Caster Shells are damaging spells, but if your Director is amenable, there are other options.  Healing spells would seem like a bad idea, though.

The Colt

Power Level: 7
Appearance: A Colt Peacemaker, crafted by Samuel Colt himself, with a dark finish and a handle made of wood from a hanging tree.  The barrel is engraved with the latin motto "non timebo mala."  ("I will fear no evil.")  There were originally thirteen bullets, each cast from the metal of a blessed cross.  How many are left now is up to the Director.
Requirements: The user shoots something he wants to kill.  This requires a normal Gun-fu roll.  Period, hand-made revolvers aren't terribly accurate.  Increase all range modifiers by +1.  The gun works normally if loaded with normal ammunition.  Its true power is tied to the thirteen bullets.
Effect: When fired from the Colt, the magic bullets can kill anything, no matter how invulnerable it normally might be.  So long as the shooter isn't specifically aiming to wound (Targeting a limb, for instance) any shot is fatal.  Humans, werewolves, vampires, demons, even hellgods are all vulnerable to the Colt.

Notes: This is more a plot device than something a player would use long-term, but it might make a neat toy.  Say he's got 5 bullets left, and after that, he's down 14 XP (if you charged him for it).  He'd want to be really choosy.  And since he still has to hit, it's not a for-sure kill every time.

Emerald Flame of Life

Power Level: 7 (Don't even think about trying to make one)
Appearance: A green lantern, and a green ring crafted from the same strange green metal.  Only the lantern is really necessary.  The ring, though, acts as a smaller, more convenient remote unit, and keeps anyone else from using the power of the Lantern while it is worn.
Effect: The Emerald Flame of Life is an extraterrestrial source of vast power, perhaps sent to Earth by the Powers that Be.  It grants the user the equivelent of Sorcery 5, although rather than Occultism, the Emerald Flame requires its own Wild Card skill.  Rather than "Spells" the ring can do pretty much whatever the user can imagine, but it takes some time to figure out the more esoteric ones.  You can (assuming your Director allows it) probably whip out any PL 3 effect or less that you want.  Any others require you to purchase a special Quality called "Flame Kenning." (2 points per level)  This gives you access to new effects just as if you were a Witch with an Occult Library of the same value.  Invoking particularly powerful ones for the first time might require a Drama Point. 

The Emerald Flame also extends the life of its host.  If you began the game with the Emerald Flame, that's a reason to buy the Age Quality.  If you've raised your WC: Emerald Flame skill to at least 7, you can have the Ageless Quality, so long as you possess the ring.

The Emerald Flame of Life is not all-powerful, so users need to keep a few things in mind.  First of all, since it is the power of green and growing things, it is powerless against wood and plants, although processed plant fibers (cloth, rope, etc...) are fair game.  Why?  The forces of magic are just weird, that's why.  Also, the Flame is primarily a thing of White magic.  Using it for evil is difficult.  Any negative effects resulting from backlash are bumped up level.  So you're often wiser using the ring to protect yourself while just hitting people in the conventional way, rather than blasting them with bolts of verdant fire.  One final limitation: the ring can operate any distance from the lantern, even in other dimensions, but it needs to touch the lantern every 24 hours.  If it doesn't, then, starting on the 24th hour, it begins to lose 1 level of Sorcery every minute until it has none.  When it hits zero, it loses all power until it touches the lantern again.

The Flame is not just a power source.  It is also an intelligent being with vast wisdom.  The Bearer of the Flame can make friends with it, buying it as a Supernatural Contact worth two points.