Magic gun

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Magic guns, also called spellguns or casters (presumably short for "spellcaster"), are an element of science fantasy (fantasy/science fiction) that combines firearms and magic (or some other supernatural power) to create a weapon with properties of both. In many fantasy settings, magic and technology are seen as distinct, separate entities, if not unmixable/incompatible, while spellguns serve as an unusual melange of both. Magic guns are popular in many anime, manga, and game series.

[edit] Typical form

Magic guns typically take the form of a handgun or carbine that either fires magical energy or ammunition or is otherwise enhanced or enchanted so as to enhance its normal properties. Some magic guns work on special cartridges or magical ammunition, and thus need to be normally reloaded, while others have inherent power or draw power from their user or the environment. They range in power from weapons that are virtually ordinary pistols to weapons of mass destruction.

Some weapons are magically created, but powered by psionics.

[edit] Story purpose and common elements

Magic guns are typically rare items within the stories that features them. Oftentimes, they are antiques or items of lost technology that were made either by hand or in extremely small numbers. Most magic guns do not require a character to be skilled in ordinary (non-gun-derived) magic to use one, so they may be used by people without magical properties as a force multiplier against enemy magic users. This idea may be extended so that "mage hunters", characters who act as bounty hunters to magic users, might see them as a weapon of choice. Othertimes, a character quite capable of using ordinary magic might use a magic gun to supplement his or her abilities, fire a spell without the time consuming creation of it, or to conserve his magical energies for other purposes.

[edit] List of magic guns and their owners

Boktai and Boktai 2: Django, the player character, uses a "magic machine" (an artifact) known as the Gun del Sol (a.k.a. the Solar Gun), that was manufactured by a now-extinct race of demi-gods known as the Solar Children. The Gun del Sol is a battery-operated pistol with the power to store pure sunlight (this is a major game element, since there is a photometric light sensor on the game pak itself) and then magically recreate it as bolts of light using a lens. Thus, the gun is a weapon that can be used against monsters that are damaged by sunlight, such as vampires and the undead. Later in the game, Django can find additional lenses that convert the sunlight to elemental attacks. The antagonist and later antihero Sabata uses the Gun del Hell (a.k.a. the Dark Gun), a copy of the Gun del Sol that fires bolts of darkness, and works in a similar fashion, although it can only be recharged while standing in shadows or at night, whereas the Gun del Sol can only be recharged in natural sunlight.
The Coldfire Trilogy: The very nature of the world in the Coldfire trilogy virtually necessitates that firearms be Worked (i.e. magicked) in order to work properly; an "unWorked" firearm could likely misfire, backfire, or even explode in the bearer's hand. The character Gerald Tarrant is notable in that he carries an unWorked pistol, without concern for the potentially deleterious side-effects.
Darkness: This series of books refers to weapons known as "sticks", which are a magical analog of modern firearms. They resemble guns, but they shoot beams of magical fire instead of bullets. They may be laser weapons, as targets can be protected against stick fire by reflective coatings. Also mentioned are several forms of magic artillery, such as the self-explanatory "heavy sticks" and "egg-throwers", which launch sorcerous energy-filled bombs ("eggs") at targets. All of them are used by the various warring nations throughout the series.
Devil May Cry: Dante uses a number of magical guns throughout the series. In the first game all of his standard guns such as the shotgun and his dual pistols, Ebony & Ivory, may be charged with the fire of Ifrit and lightning of Alastor. The Nightmare-Beta is a magical gun of demonic origin that fires energy powered by your devil trigger gauge (this demonic bio-weapon is related to the Nightmare boss within the game). In Devil May Cry 3 (a prequel), Artemis is a weapon that fires concentrated demonic energy beams that can target several enemies at once as well as bring a rain of demonic lasers from the sky. In this game the shotgun and Ebony & Ivory have the ability of magic charge but with no particular affinity as in the 1st game. Also, Ebony & Ivory "convert the magic in the air into bullets" which explains why Dante never runs out of ammo.
Dungeons & Dragons: Though not a common element, some DMs elect to include magical firearms in their campaigns, either as described above or as ordinary black powder firearms enchanted by magic.
Final Fantasy Tactics has three elemental guns - a "Glacier Gun" that, despite the name, casts fire spells, a "Blaze Gun" that similarly casts ice spells, a "Blast Gun" that casts lightning spells, and a "Stone Gun" that may petrify a target.
Final Fantasy: Unlimited: Kaze, an amnesiac traveler, wields the Magun, a magic gun in the form of an enormous, gold-colored dragoon's revolver with three chambers. When the chambers are filled with various magical elements and the gun is fired, it summons creatures that are combinations of the magical elements used.
Final Fantasy X-2 has the Gun Mage dressphere, which fire the Blue Bullet, magical attacks learned from enemies.
Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children featured several guns with seemingly (magicly) unlimited ammunition. Kadaj, Yazoo, and Loz each had a long pistol which also functioned as a short sword. Baret's new triple-chaingun arm not only seems to have unlimited ammunition, but has no logical place to store ammunition if it used it.
Fullmetal Alchemist: In Fullmetal Alchemist, most ordinary firearms used by the military of Amestris are enhanced or enchanted through use of alchemy. Others are created by alchemy, usually out of nearby objects. One of the more notable ones is the array of cannons that State Alchemist Basque Grand often sprouts from his body, which he transmutes from the iron in his blood. A minor character, the land-baron Mugwar, used alchemy-amplifying "Red Stones" and "Red Water" in conjunction with a special device to create a many-barreled machine gun.
Hellsing: The main character Alucard used two enchanted, specially made pistols (which actually have the dimension of carbines, but are shaped like pistols: as a vampire, Alucard is strong enough to wield them one-handed). The first one he used is the Hellsing ARMS .454 Casull Auto, which is crafted from the melted silver cross of the Lanchester cathedral. This gun fires custom made .454 Casull rounds containing an explosive silver core. The weapon is 29 cm in length, making it unfeasibly heavy and unwieldy for a human to use, but a perfect match for Alucard's heightened strength. It holds six rounds in a magazine in the handle. Later on he also has the Hellsing ARMS 13 mm Auto "Jackal". It has a length of 39 cm and weighing at 16 kg, making this gun - made of black gunmetal - not a weapon a normal man could even hope to wield, but as its designer says, "It was never meant for a man." It fires custom 13 mm armor-piercing, explosive, blessed and baptized mercury-core bullets (with casings of Macedonian silver), powered by N.N.A.9 gunpowder, and is designed almost exclusively as a weapon to use against Iscariot's Alexander Anderson, who shrugged off the Casull's rounds with ease. The words "Jesus Christ is in Heaven now" are engraved upon it in mockery of a similar statement on Anderson's gloves.
Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha and Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha A's: The mages in Lyrical Nanoha use magic mediated by technology. In addition to semi-sentient staves (Intelligent devices) used by the majority of Midchildean mages (along with Nanoha Takamichi), the sequel's antagonists, the Wolkenritter, use magical devices that can be temporarily empowered through the use of magic-containing metallic cartridges. The power boost from a cartridge is enough to allow a mage to actually damage or destroy an opponent's magical device. Later in the series, Nanoha and Fate upgrade their weapons, the Raging Heart and the Bardiche to make use of the cartridges.
Negima: In the anime, Negi Springfield briefly draws and fires a magic gun (resembling an antique pistol) while flying on his staff. It is briefly mentioned that this is not surprising, coming from a boy who is both a magician and a collector of antiques.
Orion: The imperial soldiers in Masamune Shirows manga use a variety of magical guns, ranging from man-portable cannons to large artillery pieces.
Outlaw Star: The characters Gene Starwind and Ronald McDougall both use magical guns known as "Casters". "Casters" in the world of Outlaw utilize a lost form of technology and magic and are considered rare antiques. Their ammunition, caster shells, come in 20 numbered varieties, the numbers connoting the varied effects; #4, #9, and #13 are the rarest kinds, as they could only be made by the wizards of Tenrei and the magical power of the shell draws upon the life force of the user. Casters in Outlaw Star use a form of magic that is extremely effective against Tao magic, the magic used by the majority of the show's antagonists.
Rifts: the techno-mage OCC makes a number of magically powered, and/or magically modified guns, among them the TK machine-gun which powered by telekinesis (either spell or psionic power), Lightning Blasters, etc.
Shadow Man: When Mike LeRoi becomes Shadowman his .45 pistol becomes the Shadowgun, which can drain the souls from enemies.
Supernatural: This The CW Television Network show includes a Colt model revolver with magic bullets, used by the Winchester brothers to kill demons. The ammo used is limited. Only the 13 magic bullets combined with the gun can elicit the desired effect. Regular bullets would not necessary kill anything.
Tokyo Underground: Sui, an exiled young inventor in the series Tokyo Underground, uses a magic gun (called a "Spirit gun" in the anime and an "Aero gun" in the manga) as his primary weapon, as does Ginnosuke, who learns how to build the device from Sui. The weapon allows Sui and Ginnosuke, who have no "elemental" powers the ability to fight on equal terms with the show's superpowered cast. He based the design off a prototype left by the researchers who created the Tokyo Underground, and can be seen throughout the series refining the design. At first, each shell is the equivalent of only one spell, but he later improves this to three shots per cartridge.
Trigun: The Angel Arms pistols used by Vash the Stampede and his brother Knives Millions can be considered magic guns. The pair of pistols (one gunmetal silver while the other is a polished black) are seemingly ordinary revolvers chambered in .45 Colt. In reality, the pistols can transform into organic superweapons capable of annihilating cities and in one case, punching a hole into a moon.
Wild ARMs: In the first game, the weapons known as ARMs were created using alchemy and living metal based off of the Metal Demons. One must be able to synchronize the ARMs in order use it. Few humans have the ability to use ARMs, but most Metal Demons are able to. Rudy Roughknight, the game's protagonist, can use practically any ARM.