Special Ammo

AX.GHW.09.03

Specialized ammunition is the hidden world's most consistent logistical requirement. Standard hollow-point works fine against human threats and most cryptids. Against everything else, material matters.

Specialized rounds are loaded into any compatible firearm. The same handgun that fires standard 9mm can fire silver-core 9mm, the weapon does not change, only the load. Characters who anticipate specific threat types should carry appropriate loads before the encounter; switching ammunition in the field requires a Primary Action.

Cost note: Specialized ammunition is not commercially available. All of the following require hidden-world sourcing, Network contacts, The Hollow Market, order fulfillment through organizations with appropriate supply chains. Cost reflects gray-market or specialty fabrication prices.

Silver Rounds

Cost: $8–$12 per round (Advanced, requires sourcing contact) Effect: +2 damage against shapeshifters, werewolves, and any threat with silver vulnerability (see individual threat entries) Notes: Silver is the catalog-standard bane material for the shapeshifter category. Silver rounds function as normal ammunition against all other targets; they deal standard damage, no bonus or penalty. Silver-core rounds are distinguishable from standard ammunition on close inspection; carrying a mixed load without explanation is difficult to justify to law enforcement.

Available in handgun, rifle, and shotgun configurations. Shotgun shells loaded with silver shot pellets work as standard buckshot plus silver bane.

Blessed Rounds

Cost: $6–$10 per round (Advanced) Effect: +2 damage against Shadow entities (the Hollow, shadow-touched), undead, and any threat with blessed-weapon vulnerability Notes: Blessed rounds require actual consecration, a Sacred Fire practitioner or ordained clergy performing a specific blessing ritual over the ammunition. The material is ordinary brass and lead; the effect is the blessing. Consecration requires approximately 1 hour for a box of 50 rounds. Blessed rounds cannot be factory-produced.

A box of 50 blessed rounds requires either access to a Sacred Fire practitioner or a cooperative clergy contact. The Order of the Warden's Flame maintains a supply for authorized users; others source independently.

Cold Iron Rounds

Cost: $15–$25 per round (Restricted, difficult to fabricate correctly) Effect: +2 damage against fae and spirit-type threats; suppresses fae special abilities for 1 round on a hit (target makes Body Save Threshold 3 to resist suppression) Notes: Cold iron must be unalloyed iron, not steel, not iron alloy. Fabricating functional cold iron rounds requires a smith with both the technical knowledge and the correct raw material. This is the most difficult specialized ammunition to source. The Grimoire Compact maintains a supply; the Hollow Market carries it at significant markup. Most hunters keep cold iron rounds in small quantities for specific operations rather than carrying them routinely.

Cold iron shotgun shot is available; same suppression effect, buckshot spread.

Salt Rounds

Cost: $2–$4 per round (Basic, the most accessible specialized ammo) Effect: Disperses ghosts, poltergeists, and other manifestation-layer undead; forces re-manifestation (target cannot act for 1 round while reconstituting). No damage to physical targets. Notes: Salt rounds are packed rock salt in a shotgun shell or similar configuration. They have no effect on physically present threats, Shadow entities, fae, or anything with a corporeal body. Against manifestation-layer undead (Vengeful Spirits, Poltergeists), they are extremely effective, the standard first response before a more permanent solution is implemented.

Salt rounds can be improvised: a character with Technical or Tactics 1D+ can load a shotgun shell with rock salt in the field (Wit + Technical vs Threshold 2, takes 10 minutes per shell, requires rock salt and shotgun shell components). This is a field expedient, not a reliable supply solution.

Incendiary Rounds

Cost: $20–$40 per round (Restricted, legally controlled in most jurisdictions) Effect: +1 damage; target may catch fire (Body Save Threshold 2 or takes 2 fire damage per round until extinguished) Notes: Incendiary rounds have limited general-purpose application but are specifically noted against the Wendigo (double fire damage; see 04-shapeshifter.md) and are effective against several aberration-adjacent entities with cold-based biology. They are legally restricted and create obvious fire evidence at scenes, Veil management implications are significant.