[THM: Urban Magics] Cost of enchanted items with Magical Factories?

[Cowrie]

Thaumatology: Urban Magics talks about magical factories making enchanted items more readily available, but it doesn't seem to give any concrete suggestions for how the price should be altered. The closest thing it says is that magical factories can typically create magic items at 10X the rate of Slow and Sure enchantment. That could be extended to make the assumption that said items would have 1/10 the cost, but I'm not sure that's the intent. How would you modify the price of high-energy magic items for a setting that has magical factories?

[Anthony]

It mostly doesn't, because average wages are much higher.

[rkbrown419]

The Pyramid 3/66 article "Thoroughly Modern Magic" covers this in some detail.

[Fred Brackin]

Originally Posted by rkbrown419

The Pyramid 3/66 article "Thoroughly Modern Magic" covers this in some detail.

See also Gurps Clasic:Technomancer whihxc orignated the concept and is well worth having in your library for other reasons and GC:Magic Items III which has elaborate multi-TL charts for it.

[Anthony]

Note that an easier option is to just rule that magic item costs don't change with TL, and just adjust set factory statistics to match.

Even easier, toss the enchantment rules out the window and just assign magic items a money value; if done by NPCs the details of how it's done are setting flavor, done by PCs is just like any other crafting done by PCs.

[scc]

Originally Posted by Anthony

Note that an easier option is to just rule that magic item costs don't change with TL, and just adjust set factory statistics to match.

Even easier, toss the enchantment rules out the window and just assign magic items a money value; if done by NPCs the details of how it's done are setting flavor, done by PCs is just like any other crafting done by PCs.

100% of the cost of enchantment is labor (which I think you already know) so it should go up by TL.

[Anthony]

Originally Posted by scc

100% of the cost of enchantment is labor (which I think you already know) so it should go up by TL.

Only if enchantment methods don't get more efficient with TL. Also, there's no particular reason that 100% should be labor, that's just how GURPS Magic traditionally did it.

[scc]

Originally Posted by Anthony

Only if enchantment methods don't get more efficient with TL. Also, there's no particular reason that 100% should be labor, that's just how GURPS Magic traditionally did it.

For that to happen you'd have to have a machine (or something) capable of casting/amplifying spells, so how high tech do things get before you can use magic to make nukes?

[Anthony]

Originally Posted by scc

For that to happen you'd have to have a machine (or something) capable of casting/amplifying spells, so how high tech do things get before you can use magic to make nukes?

There's several spells that can achieve WMD-level destruction without any added tech, but the most obvious means of achieving this is just being able to use crafted materials to offset energy cost. Depending on how this process works it, it might or might not also work for non-enchantments.

[Prince Charon]

Originally Posted by Anthony

Only if enchantment methods don't get more efficient with TL. Also, there's no particular reason that 100% should be labor, that's just how GURPS Magic traditionally did it.

Urban Magics includes an entry for Sacred Architecture on, um, (*goes looking for the book*) pp21-23. You can use it to make buildings where it's easier to cast spells of a specific college or other classification, so if the GM decides that Sacred Architecture becomes more effective at higher TLs, you can have buildings that are designed to make Enchanting more efficient, and the higher your TL, the more efficient they become (though the Sacred Architect's skill would remain important).

How efficient it is (in general, by skill/degree of success, or per tech level) is something that the GM and players should try to agree on in advance rather than discuss during the gaming session, though.