Rule of Thumb for Enchantment Energy Cost of Custom Spells

[King_Of_Bel]

I was planning on allowing my players to purchase magic items that allow advantages at market. I want to make it internally consistent with the rest of the magic however. Conveniently there are guidelines for turning an advantage into a spell, but I can't find much on how to determine the total enchanting cost.

[Anthony]

Well, enchantment costs in GURPS Magic are pretty random, but an okay rule of thumb is 100 energy per character point for an always on item.

[Fred Brackin]

Originally Posted by Anthony

Well, enchantment costs in GURPS Magic are pretty random, but an okay rule of thumb is 100 energy per character point for an always on item.

That's a little high for most of the examples in Magic. Ambidexterity is 1500 but Perfect Balance is 750 and Combat Reflexes is 1200 (all on p.39). Voice is only 600 (p.174).

[kirbwarrior]

My rule of thumb right now for enchanted gear is to make the gear as a Gadget trait, then double it and look at that spot of Wealth. For instance, a 25pt DR5 enchantment on clothing would come out to 100x starting money as per Filthy Rich.

However, I'm not certain what magic system you are using. If you can provide that, we can help much better.

[aaron819]

I'd suggest using GURPS Thaumatology: Sorcery for both spells and magic items. It's so much easier to homebrew, since it can turn just about any advantage into a balanced spell or magic item. Another option is not to let them make them, but buy or find them instead. This way the energy point cost doesn't matter.

[hal]

Originally Posted by Anthony

Well, enchantment costs in GURPS Magic are pretty random, but an okay rule of thumb is 100 energy per character point for an always on item.

Question? How well does that approach match GURPS 2e and 3e costs for advantages, seeing as GURPS MAGIC was published in that era as opposed against 4e era.

[King_Of_Bel]

However, I'm not certain what magic system you are using. If you can provide that, we can help much better.

I'm using the basic magic system from the Base Set and Magic for 4e. A bit of thaumatology for extra flavor but that's basically it.

Question? How well does that approach match GURPS 2e and 3e costs for advantages, seeing as GURPS MAGIC was published in that era as opposed against 4e era.

What do you mean by this? I've got a 4e Gurps Magic.

[Fred Brackin]

Originally Posted by hal

Question? How well does that approach match GURPS 2e and 3e costs for advantages, seeing as GURPS MAGIC was published in that era as opposed against 4e era.

From CI to 4e the only change in the 4 Advantages granted by spells i listed was Ambidexterity dropping from 10 to the current 5. I do not believe the cost of the Enchantments changed at all (very little did) but all those spells were Grimoire rather than Magic (and we all know what you think of Grimoire).

[kirbwarrior]

Gurps Magic should already talk about the cost of enchantments and always on items. It might not allow every advantage, but I know it allows a ton and you kind kind of interpolate for other traits as you see fit. Namely, I think it's something like 33$ per point of enchanting (unless its 60 or below like Staff)

[King_Of_Bel]

Gurps Magic should already talk about the cost of enchantments and always on items. It might not allow every advantage, but I know it allows a ton and you kind kind of interpolate for other traits as you see fit. Namely, I think it's something like 33$ per point of enchanting (unless its 60 or below like Staff)

Thanks, but I already understand how to take the energy cost of enchantment to determine the market value and price of a magic item, and have configured those cost rules for my in universe economy. (i.e. I'm chargin $1.5 for the first 60 and $50 for up to 300, then $75 for for 301 and up)

I am not asking for the monetary cost. I am asking about the energy costs of enchantment custom spells.