[Magic] Enchantment Power

[jamesfoxbr]

The Enchantment Power (M57) say: "Each point of Power reduces the energy cost to cast or to maintain any spell on the item by one"

This mean if I have two or more spells on the Magic item the Enchantment Power 2 Reduce 2 points to cast and maintain each spell of the magic item?

[cccwebs]

Yes. Because those spells aren't cast at the same time but individually. In the special case of spells that are able to be cast at the same time, then the Power enchantment would apply to the total cost to cast, not each spell seperately.

[jamesfoxbr]

My friend made a magic item with 2 magics and 2 points of Power and the cost of each magic to cast is 2. This not make the two magic "always on"?

[Yami Fowl]

Yes...
That is why Enchanment must be something very well coordinated between player and GM, to avoid abusive use...

This case of item, is very aceptable, but imagine what would be dealing with a Power 5, Speed 1 enchanted item with multiple 1s spells added to it?

Power and Speed are very powerful enchantments which must never be learned lightly in-game. As a GM I usually require quests and long term researches to develop or learn those...

[Gef]

Originally Posted by Yami Fowl

Power and Speed are very powerful enchantments which must never be learned lightly in-game. As a GM I usually require quests and long term researches to develop or learn those...

Why? Their utility is what will ensure their proliferation, and the existence of such items will ensure that IQ 9 mages find employment wielding mage-only items in dangerous circumstances, while mages who can cast Power stay comfortably at home.

GEF

[Yami Fowl]

Originally Posted by Gef

...while mages who can cast Power stay comfortably at home. GEF

I couldn't agree more if that was the case...
But when the case is a Dark Wizards creating a Power 5 Staff, with Speed 1 and enchanting the item with a linked (through adjustable spells) flame jet, acid jet and light jet would be a very great problem...

Of course, if the GM does not allow you to adjust a spell prior to enchanting (I allow it by making so that the item always cast the spell with adjustments), this problem is partially solved, but you would still have to face the free-action and cost free jewel of flight, blur and haste (At +2 bonus)...

It's not that I don't allow it or find them naturally unbalanced, but I GM to few players that require special attention regarding rules "so easily abused".

[cccwebs]

But when the case is a Dark Wizards creating a Power 5 Staff, with Speed 1 and enchanting the item with a linked (through adjustable spells) flame jet, acid jet and light jet would be a very great problem...

So, 8000 energy to enchant with Power 5, another 400 energy for Speed 1, then whatever the energy costs for the other spells added to the staff. At a minimum 8400 energy, either the mage is going to need many assistants (and I can just imagine the fun plot devices having multiple mages work on such a "sweet" magic object would create) or a significant portion of his own lifetime to create the object. Either way, it'll be like many other highly powerful objects: targets to be acquired.

[Gef]

Originally Posted by Yami Fowl

But when the case is a Dark Wizards creating a Power 5 Staff…but you would still have to face the free-action and cost free jewel of flight, blur and haste (At +2 bonus)...It's not that I don't allow it or find them naturally unbalanced, but I GM to few players that require special attention regarding rules "so easily abused".

Disclaimer below*

I’d rather have a broken character than a broken setting. The “Curse of the Enchanter’s Grimoire” where every wizard who reads it dies mysteriously, where every guild library burns to cinders after it acquires a copy, sounds… Well, it sounds like a cool plot idea, come to think of it, but if it were not a centerpiece of the campaign, then it would be a distraction and a challenge to willing suspension of disbelief. Meanwhile, there are all sorts of ways to deal with problem PCs.

cccwebs' comments are sound. Items with a couple levels of Power shouldn’t be TOO hard to come by under the standard magic system, because a group of wizards with affordable Energy Reserves (Enchantment Only and Gadget: Wand) can manage that in a couple of lucrative days. Beyond that, Power is hugely expensive, and most customers will settle for the inconvenience of juggling powerstones, taking a break between uses, or hiring unskilled labor to submit themselves to Steal Energy to keep the item-wielder going. Having a super-item can be its own curse, and the name of the curse is avarice. But that said, the actual utility of such an item rarely equals its cost. Kings will commission them for spies and commandoes, but generally the counter to expensive magic is bunches of cheap manpower. Any reasonable monetary value for a Power 5 item will pay the annual operational cost of a company-strength merc outfit. Which would you rather have? The mercs could certainly cause more destruction. They'll counter your flame jet or acid jet with a volley of flaming or armor-piercing arrows, at greater range, for competitive damage.

GEF

*I feel silly writing this paragraph, but I’d rather be safe than sorry. I do not intend to attack any decision another GM has made regarding a game in which I am no participant, or to persuade anyone to run things differently. Rather, you have raised a point that strikes me as odd, and I am pursuing it in order to determine if I myself should run things differently in the future.