Post by David on Apr 7, 2006 16:18:36 GMT -5
Recently we've been discussing the steps that go into magical item construction. I think much of the difficulty has been overlooked, so here're the steps to take, in order. Please note, you'll find these steps MUCH easier and player-friendly than those presented in the DMG, Tome of Magic, Spells and Magic, etc.
1) decide what kind of item you want to make -- single-function or multi-function, standard or unique, active or passive, etc.
2) research or acquire the steps to make the item. This is treated as researching a first level spell (if you can't already find the info) for single-function items. For each function beyond the first, add one spell level. Thus a +1 or even a +4 sword has one function (+ to hit and damage), while a +1 flame tongue has two (+ and flame), a sharpness or vorpal two (+ and slicing off body parts), a holy sword has five (+, bonus for paladins, bonus vs CE, magic resistance, dispel magic aura), and a staff of the magi six (saving throws, innate powers, one charge powers, two charge powers, absorbtion, retributive strike).
For known items (items in the DMG and UA for Oerdians), the chance is x2 of success. In addition, for passive items (items that work without user activation or interaction, such as magic swords or rings of invisibility), the chance is again x2. Therefore making a regular ring of protection would be as per a first level spell with x4 chance of success, while a ring with a protective radius would be as a second level spell with x4 chance, but a ring of the magi would be as per a sixth level spell.
3) once the mage knows HOW to make the item, he needs to gather the ingredients. I would allow items of less than 100gp quality be used, but if ingredients of lesser value or used, there is a higher chance of failure later on (so, yeah, you can enchant a random baseball bat à la Mage, it's just harder). To be successful, the ingredients need to be related to the effect sought -- think sympathetic magic -- so items of protection might use dragon scales, bulette hide, gargoyle skin, etc while items of strength might use giant sweat, ogre blood, etc.
In overview, then the mage needs to gather all the ingredients and become a hermit for 3-10 days. Casting or invoking ANY other magic during this time ruins the whole process. Once that's done, the mage rolls a save vs magic with no more than a +3 bonus (due to high quality ingredients).
If that fails, the item in question can't be enchanted by that mage -- Game Over. If the save is made, the mage now knows the item is ready for other spells -- Continue.
4) Each additional spell or power requires 1-2 days per spell level (roughly). That translates to 3-5 days per plus for weapons and most armor (long story, just trust me). Also, each additional function (wounding, +X vs some creature, slaying, etc) requires an additional such set of days. At the end of each set of days a SECRET save is made to determine if the spell "took" -- the mage ONLY knows what the final powers of the item will be when he's ALL done.
Note, failed rolls can't be "made up" by trying to add "extra" pluses -- common items (steel, wood, ceramics) can only take two pluses -- items of greater power have some other alloy (star-steel/meteoric iron, mithril, adamantium, orchilium, etc) or make-up (livewood, pottery made of clay golem remains, etc).
5) if the item is passive, one last roll with a bonus for int and wisdom is rolled to make the item permanent (see, I don't require another 8th level spell!). If roll is made, you're done, otherwise, your item will fade to non-magical over time on its own.
6) if the item is an active or charged item, a permanency spell is required, then repeat step #5.
7) At this point the magic item is created and the mage has some ideal who successful he's been.
Example:
Treblo SkyMage is commisioned to create a +1 longsword. He laughs at the person making the request because the required amount of work doesn't justify setting his sights so low. For step ONE, he's going to shoot for the very best his (normal) raw materials can get: a +2 long sword of sharpness.
For step TWO, Treblo researches making the (non-standard) weapon. It counts as a second level spell and is non-standard because sharpness items are normally only +1. On average, it'll take Treblo about 7200gp and six weeks to figure this out.
For step THREE, Treblo collects aurumvorax claws, umber hulk mandible, and a couple tarrasque teeth (for sharpness). He also has a fine, +1 quality longsword commisioned (500gp, I believe). Because he is using three high quality items, he can have the full +3 on his save.
He cuddles with the blade in near-complete isolation for about a week. At the end of this time, he was an 80% chance of being able to continue. Otherwise, he trashes the sword, ingredients, and starts over.
For step FOUR, Treblo casts the fourth level spell enchant weapon into the blade over about 4 days per plus or a total of eight days. Again, he can't do ANY other spell casting at this time and can't do anything more strenuous than a walk around the castle. After each of these steps he rolls and again has an 80% chance of success, but doesn't get to know until he's done. He then casts <I'm not sure what would be used for sharpness, but something like blade thirst maybe> into the weapon over several more days (at least one, but probably three or so) again with an 80% chance of success cuz he over-prepared.
For step FIVE, he rolls his "closing spell" to finish the sword and make it permanent. He can add another +5 to the roll, so has a 95% chance of success (1 always fails). Assuming he makes it, he's down. If he blow this roll, he is still done, but knows the sword's enchantment will ultimately "unwind" (similar to many items from the Changeling series by Roger Zelazny).
For step SEVEN (he can skip SIX), he now can figure out what he's made. If he blew BOTH of the +1 rolls, then the item is useless, because a non-plused item can't be sharpness. If he blew the sharpness, then the sword is "just" +1 or +2. On average, however, he'll probably blow one of the rolls, resulting in either a) start over, b or c) +1 sharpness, d) +2, or e) +2 sharpness for now. This is all after over two weeks in magical isolation and after six weeks of research.
Had Treblo tried for even a mere +1 sword, he would have probably saved three weeks of research (and half the cost), but any ONE failure would have resulted in ALL his efforts wasted. And it sill would have taken at LEAST 6 days + research, but on average 10 days plus research.
If this sounds unlikely, in a real scenario, Treb once tried to make Beulla a ring of protection and on the second try manage a +1 ring (he had been shooting for +3 on both tries and wasted nearly two months!).
Again, I'm smoothing over MANY of the details just to give a high-level overview of the process. It IS way more complex and failure-intensive than it first appears AND YET what I'm presenting is much more "friendly" than any of the official methods.
Suddenly it makes more sense why a +1 (probably failure of another, greater) sword costs 4000gp while a sword of sharpness goes for 50,000gp. Permanent items are basically immune to natural decay as well as most spells so there are hundreds out there to purchase, crafted over the centuries by dozens of long-dead wizards. Remember, 4000gp will buy the keep of a substantial castle while 50,000gp will purchase a fleet of caravels!
1) decide what kind of item you want to make -- single-function or multi-function, standard or unique, active or passive, etc.
2) research or acquire the steps to make the item. This is treated as researching a first level spell (if you can't already find the info) for single-function items. For each function beyond the first, add one spell level. Thus a +1 or even a +4 sword has one function (+ to hit and damage), while a +1 flame tongue has two (+ and flame), a sharpness or vorpal two (+ and slicing off body parts), a holy sword has five (+, bonus for paladins, bonus vs CE, magic resistance, dispel magic aura), and a staff of the magi six (saving throws, innate powers, one charge powers, two charge powers, absorbtion, retributive strike).
For known items (items in the DMG and UA for Oerdians), the chance is x2 of success. In addition, for passive items (items that work without user activation or interaction, such as magic swords or rings of invisibility), the chance is again x2. Therefore making a regular ring of protection would be as per a first level spell with x4 chance of success, while a ring with a protective radius would be as a second level spell with x4 chance, but a ring of the magi would be as per a sixth level spell.
3) once the mage knows HOW to make the item, he needs to gather the ingredients. I would allow items of less than 100gp quality be used, but if ingredients of lesser value or used, there is a higher chance of failure later on (so, yeah, you can enchant a random baseball bat à la Mage, it's just harder). To be successful, the ingredients need to be related to the effect sought -- think sympathetic magic -- so items of protection might use dragon scales, bulette hide, gargoyle skin, etc while items of strength might use giant sweat, ogre blood, etc.
In overview, then the mage needs to gather all the ingredients and become a hermit for 3-10 days. Casting or invoking ANY other magic during this time ruins the whole process. Once that's done, the mage rolls a save vs magic with no more than a +3 bonus (due to high quality ingredients).
If that fails, the item in question can't be enchanted by that mage -- Game Over. If the save is made, the mage now knows the item is ready for other spells -- Continue.
4) Each additional spell or power requires 1-2 days per spell level (roughly). That translates to 3-5 days per plus for weapons and most armor (long story, just trust me). Also, each additional function (wounding, +X vs some creature, slaying, etc) requires an additional such set of days. At the end of each set of days a SECRET save is made to determine if the spell "took" -- the mage ONLY knows what the final powers of the item will be when he's ALL done.
Note, failed rolls can't be "made up" by trying to add "extra" pluses -- common items (steel, wood, ceramics) can only take two pluses -- items of greater power have some other alloy (star-steel/meteoric iron, mithril, adamantium, orchilium, etc) or make-up (livewood, pottery made of clay golem remains, etc).
5) if the item is passive, one last roll with a bonus for int and wisdom is rolled to make the item permanent (see, I don't require another 8th level spell!). If roll is made, you're done, otherwise, your item will fade to non-magical over time on its own.
6) if the item is an active or charged item, a permanency spell is required, then repeat step #5.
7) At this point the magic item is created and the mage has some ideal who successful he's been.
Example:
Treblo SkyMage is commisioned to create a +1 longsword. He laughs at the person making the request because the required amount of work doesn't justify setting his sights so low. For step ONE, he's going to shoot for the very best his (normal) raw materials can get: a +2 long sword of sharpness.
For step TWO, Treblo researches making the (non-standard) weapon. It counts as a second level spell and is non-standard because sharpness items are normally only +1. On average, it'll take Treblo about 7200gp and six weeks to figure this out.
For step THREE, Treblo collects aurumvorax claws, umber hulk mandible, and a couple tarrasque teeth (for sharpness). He also has a fine, +1 quality longsword commisioned (500gp, I believe). Because he is using three high quality items, he can have the full +3 on his save.
He cuddles with the blade in near-complete isolation for about a week. At the end of this time, he was an 80% chance of being able to continue. Otherwise, he trashes the sword, ingredients, and starts over.
For step FOUR, Treblo casts the fourth level spell enchant weapon into the blade over about 4 days per plus or a total of eight days. Again, he can't do ANY other spell casting at this time and can't do anything more strenuous than a walk around the castle. After each of these steps he rolls and again has an 80% chance of success, but doesn't get to know until he's done. He then casts <I'm not sure what would be used for sharpness, but something like blade thirst maybe> into the weapon over several more days (at least one, but probably three or so) again with an 80% chance of success cuz he over-prepared.
For step FIVE, he rolls his "closing spell" to finish the sword and make it permanent. He can add another +5 to the roll, so has a 95% chance of success (1 always fails). Assuming he makes it, he's down. If he blow this roll, he is still done, but knows the sword's enchantment will ultimately "unwind" (similar to many items from the Changeling series by Roger Zelazny).
For step SEVEN (he can skip SIX), he now can figure out what he's made. If he blew BOTH of the +1 rolls, then the item is useless, because a non-plused item can't be sharpness. If he blew the sharpness, then the sword is "just" +1 or +2. On average, however, he'll probably blow one of the rolls, resulting in either a) start over, b or c) +1 sharpness, d) +2, or e) +2 sharpness for now. This is all after over two weeks in magical isolation and after six weeks of research.
Had Treblo tried for even a mere +1 sword, he would have probably saved three weeks of research (and half the cost), but any ONE failure would have resulted in ALL his efforts wasted. And it sill would have taken at LEAST 6 days + research, but on average 10 days plus research.
If this sounds unlikely, in a real scenario, Treb once tried to make Beulla a ring of protection and on the second try manage a +1 ring (he had been shooting for +3 on both tries and wasted nearly two months!).
Again, I'm smoothing over MANY of the details just to give a high-level overview of the process. It IS way more complex and failure-intensive than it first appears AND YET what I'm presenting is much more "friendly" than any of the official methods.
Suddenly it makes more sense why a +1 (probably failure of another, greater) sword costs 4000gp while a sword of sharpness goes for 50,000gp. Permanent items are basically immune to natural decay as well as most spells so there are hundreds out there to purchase, crafted over the centuries by dozens of long-dead wizards. Remember, 4000gp will buy the keep of a substantial castle while 50,000gp will purchase a fleet of caravels!
) but I believe she's a few hundred K eeeps short of such endevors...