Various Magic Questions

[kirbwarrior]

Well, most of my players always end up finding other mages to help them enchant, severely cutting time down. If you can find the right mages in two weeks to shave months off of enchanting...

[Witchking]

Originally Posted by kirbwarrior

Well, most of my players always end up finding other mages to help them enchant, severely cutting time down. If you can find the right mages in two weeks to shave months off of enchanting...

QFT...I have as a GM had Mage Orders and Enchanting Circles (permenant Intstitutions) entice player into doing things for them by putting on the table (in addition to cash) a "favor".

Usually it was set up as "at a later point you can jump the line and we will do an enchantment of energy cost X start time within Y days of the request, at normal enchanting rates."

Valuable for the players as 1- established enchanters often had a "waiting list" of a year to 18 months. and 2- often they were unsure what they wanted to enchant; which enchantment they wanted, or where exactly they would be getting the cash from...

Sometimes the mages would also offer to give instead of cash a somewhat higher amount of "credit" towards enchanting work....

[kirbwarrior]

Originally Posted by kirbwarrior

Well, most of my players always end up finding other mages to help them enchant, severely cutting time down. If you can find the right mages in two weeks to shave months off of enchanting...

You know, I just now found it kinda weird that my players are willing to wait months in game for something but not days...

[Lamech]

Originally Posted by Bruno

You can't trade a finite amount of time for infinite energy - only finite energy.

1 day = 1 energy. It's a pretty terrible exchange rate.

The "D&D Standard +1 sword" - a magic sword that gives +1 to hit, +1 to damage, and is magically resistant to abuse - is 900 energy. That's two and a half years of effort, and you can't even take weekends and holidays off. You just have to work for two and a half years, straight.

I do note that while their are a bunch of options in Thaum to decrease the rate at which S+S enchanting gets done. In fact their are even a couple tricks in magic; one could use accelerate time to make oneself that much more efficient. Using the rules for time spent is one way to bump down the time it takes. Then the rules for symbolism, will bump it down some. (Especially since as the project goes on skill levels will increase.)
I think I remember a version of medatative magic where 4 energy points could be gathered in a day (it was similar to intensive training IIRC). Or perhaps even more if the guy can manage accelerate time.

So their are ways to manage to reduce the time for the slow method. That 900 energy sword would be impossible without some of the options in Thaum for Q+D enchantment.

[Bruno]

Regardless of the rules being used, it's still not "infinite energy". It's still trading finite time for finite energy, just at a more favorable rate.

Otherwise you'd be able to complete the enchantment in an infinitely short period of time, and would make Quick and Dirty enchantment rather laughable. :)

Ever since 3e I've always like reductions for symbolic design and appropriate magical materials, plus consumable sources of "raw magic" - quenching a sword in dragons blood is always good for style points for example. Or heating the sword blank with dragons blood, depending on your dragons blood and how on fire it is :)

[kirbwarrior]

That's true, its not infinite. I was just happy that you don't need powerstones or enough energy in general to do the enchantment. Can you use powerstones to speed it up (since they recharge at 1/day, it seems like it could replace a person)?