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Old 06-18-2019, 11:58 PM   #1
Whitewings
 
Join Date: Jul 2005
Default Suggestions for item enchantments

Short version: SF/Fantasy overlap. In a particular star system, magic works. Items can be enchanted by mages, but can also become enchanted by constant exposure to extreme environment, the more extreme, the more energy per year. A young woman, frozen in cryostasis, has passed ten thousand years in a cometary orbit within this system prior to her ship being able to enter a parking orbit of a human-compatible planet and send her pod to the surface, where she can be revived at long last. She's a sabre fencer, part of what would have been an entire colony's worth of people, and hers the only cryopod still working; it and the great ship are on their last legs.

Now, I'm looking for suggestions on what enchantments her personal effects might have acquired after ten thousand years in deep space (the dips into the life zone were too brief to count against the time in deep space), meaning a per-item energy budget of up to 10,000 points. I already have a clear concept for her sabre.

Last edited by Whitewings; 06-19-2019 at 12:23 AM.
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Old 06-19-2019, 05:50 AM   #2
Taneli
 
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Helsinki, Finland
Default Re: Suggestions for item enchantments

Something to do with Void college(see... Thaumatology? There's a Void college somewhere out there) and Cold sub-college might be appropriate. Also abilities pertaining to surviving in space & zero-gravity.
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Old 06-19-2019, 06:18 AM   #3
AlexanderHowl
 
Join Date: Feb 2016
Default Re: Suggestions for item enchantments

Item enchantments from the standard magic system have highly variable utility in non-fantasy settings. I would instead suggest using the Magic as Powers rules to create magical gadgets with the CP equivalent of 10,000 energy, which is 400 CP. Even a single 400 CP magical gadget would have earthshaking consequences when introduced to a setting (think of the Diadem from Jo Clayton's Diadem series).

For example, let us say that you have a ring that became such an object. The ring can be stolen or disabled by damage, but it will not work for a thief, so it functions as a -25% limitation on any ability. A simple Ring of Time could give Accelerated Time 6 (Magical, -10%; Protected Ring, -25%) [390] plus some other minor benefits.
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Old 06-19-2019, 10:39 AM   #4
PTTG
 
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Join Date: Feb 2011
Default Re: Suggestions for item enchantments

The blade could afflict enemies with a compulsion to refuse to use ranged weapons against its wielder.

The cryopod probably ended up getting what is effectively a slow-time enchantment, causing it to function long after it should otherwise have failed and exposed her to enough cosmic rays to scramble every cell.

The ship's uniform, badge, or other insignia would represent the final resting place of thousands of people. Perhaps it provides a connection to their spirits whereby they communicate to the bearer, granting knowledge and experience -- and also critique. Makes even more sense if that item already doubles as a communicator, a la Star Trek.

More generally, if an item doesn't otherwise have strong resonance with a magical use, it probably only accumulated energy. I'd make many of the items large, but single-use, powerstones.
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Old 06-19-2019, 11:01 AM   #5
Whitewings
 
Join Date: Jul 2005
Default Re: Suggestions for item enchantments

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The ship's uniform, badge, or other insignia would represent the final resting place of thousands of people. Perhaps it provides a connection to their spirits whereby they communicate to the bearer, granting knowledge and experience -- and also critique.
I really like this one.
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Old 06-19-2019, 11:51 AM   #6
Varyon
 
Join Date: Jun 2013
Default Re: Suggestions for item enchantments

Information on what her personal effects are may be helpful here. What jewelry (if any) does she have, and what connection does it have to her (is her ring an engagement ring, her necklace an heirloom from her grandmother, etc)? What clothing/uniforms survived the 10,000 years? What gear does she carry, aside from the sword?
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Old 06-19-2019, 05:14 PM   #7
Anaraxes
 
Join Date: Sep 2007
Default Re: Suggestions for item enchantments

What's the character concept, if there's something beyond "stranded spacer"?

What do you want to do with the character in the game?

What's the game about? Combat, exploration, diplomacy, building up the local tech to return home, founding your own empire, kill dungeon dwellers and take their stuff?

You probably want to choose some abilities that you'll enjoy in play, that help you depict and engage with whatever you expect as the character's story. It's possible you just want to kick butt, in which case you just want the most powerful abilities you can get for your budget. But even then, "kicking butt" has different definitions.

It's hard to make any suggestions without knowing something about the character and setting. Possibly it's so wide open you just want us to guess, or come up with whatever we personally might enjoy in some version of the setting we imagine, just as a source of inspiration or ideas. That's okay, too, but it'd be nice to know that it's that sort of hypothetical playground. If there are no constraints, then the answer is literally "everything in the book, plus whatever else you imagine and can talk the GM into".
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Old 06-19-2019, 09:57 PM   #8
Whitewings
 
Join Date: Jul 2005
Default Re: Suggestions for item enchantments

This is more brainstorming for story ideas, to be honest; I'm basing the magic system on GURPS. Her sword and its case were made of materials able to survive vacuum exposure, as was her fencing uniform, and she has a jade ryu bracelet, an heirloom from Japan, and a silver brooch from the fencing academy, plus her pin with the ship's insignia. The rest of her things were kept in a warmed, nitrogen-filled compartment, but after thousands of years of vacuum exposure, well.

I just had an idea. I'm already pretty well committed to her fencing uniform being more protective, even to the point of acting as an environment suit. Obviously she'll want to wear it in combat, but she must wear one of its gloves to use her sabre. Why? In an inversion of Mjölnir, whose head was too hot for Thor to handle without the protection of Jarngripnr (in some versions), her sabre when picked up turns cold as interstellar space, and only her fencing gloves can prevent it from freezing her hands.

Last edited by Whitewings; 06-19-2019 at 10:30 PM.
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Old 06-19-2019, 11:32 PM   #9
Varyon
 
Join Date: Jun 2013
Default Re: Suggestions for item enchantments

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Her sword and its case were made of materials able to survive vacuum exposure
In the enchantment system I'm working on for my Oubliette setting, one way I'm making swords "special" is that you can have some of its enchantments be part of an Item Set with its sheath/scabbard. Item Sets there enjoy a price reduction, but you must have all parts of the Set equipped to benefit from such enchantments. Adapting this to normal GURPS Magic (Oubliette uses Spells as Powers, with the monetary cost of enchantments being based on the nominal character point value) may allow for your sword to have up to 20,000 points worth of enchantment, but with half of those only being available so long as the character is wearing (or carrying in her off-hand) the sword's scabbard.

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as was her fencing uniform
Enhanced protection, as you note, possibly with Vacuum Support. Allowing it to enhance her ST, DX, and/or HT might not be inappropriate as well.

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and she has a jade ryu bracelet, an heirloom from Japan
Jade is often seen as a good-luck charm, and I think some cultures saw it as having purification properties. It granting the character enhanced luck (Luck, Serendipity, etc) would be highly appropriate, and may help explain how she managed to survive when nobody else did. Purify Food and Water and/or Purify Air also wouldn't be inappropriate, although you may even be able to justify having the Jade sustain her, granting her Doesn't Eat or Drink and/or Doesn't Breathe (or lesser versions thereof). Note these are particularly appropriate for someone who has spent the last 10,000 years living off of, well, nothing. If the dragon has an ouroboros motif to it (holding its tail in its mouth, for example), this is doubly appropriate. If supernatural Evil exists, jade may repel it, give the character additional protection from it, or even make the character's attacks hurt it more.

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and a silver brooch from the fencing academy
Silver tends to have similar mythology to jade, albeit more on the purification side than the good luck charm side. A lot of what I said for jade would apply here. I'd be inclined to make this more offensive than defensive, however, as a)modern fantasy tends to put silver in a more offensive role and b) it's a memento from the school that taught her her combat style.

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plus her pin with the ship's insignia
As others have noted, a connection to the spirits of her long-dead fellow travelers seems appropriate here.


Note that, as all of this is essentially signature gear for the character, enchantments that make the items difficult to be stolen/lost or broken will be useful on all of the items.
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