[DM advice] How do you deal with your enchanter?

[korbeau]

How do you deal with your enchanter?

I just end a campaign where one of the players was a great enchanter but the problem was that he can never enchant anything. The quest begin, the party prepare their stocks but realise that they needs a specific potion or sword. After calculating the numbers (which take 30-45 minutes) the mage need 4 years for building it.

The group don't have that time and go for the quest. During the quest, it's impossible for the enchanter to use his talent. The quest ended, the party need to rest at least one year for the next quest for letting the enchanter would like to create some magical broom. Boring for the adventurers to wait one complete year befor the next adventure.

And so on...

For thoses of you where players are enchanters, how do you deal with that? I don't want to make object in an instant for the economy of the world yould collapse. Any advices?

[malloyd]

Originally Posted by korbeau

For thoses of you where players are enchanters, how do you deal with that? I don't want to make object in an instant for the economy of the world yould collapse. Any advices?

Enchanters don't make great adventurers for the same reasons that master craftsmen of any other sort don't. Fine manufacturing simply isn't an adventurous profession.

That said, if you really want to do it sticking mostly to the standard magic rules, consider some sort of way of turning character points into energy. A ratio of 1 character point -> 25 energy approximates the current one (200 hours per character point/8 hours per day = 25 days/character point), though a higher ratio (say 100:1) is probably necessary to convince PC enchanters to actually be willing to "waste" points building an item.

[Witchking]

Originally Posted by korbeau

How do you deal with your enchanter?

<snip>
For thoses of you where players are enchanters, how do you deal with that? I don't want to make object in an instant for the economy of the world yould collapse. Any advices?

Well knowing the limitations of enchanting for PC's going in I limited the enchantments I had to things I could cast with Quick and Dirty enchantment method (mostly under 100 energy).

So I had the Staff enchantment (30 ene) and the GM let me have a staff with the Staff Enchant at "rollup" for no $ cost.

I had the Powerstone enchant and used it to a- make my own powerstones and b- earn a living while travelling...

Basically that is done by doing 1 casting of Powerstone Q+D everynight before betimne (or as often as you can manage) use that to build somewhat bigger powerstones than the ones you currently have...when the stone is done...sell the smallest of the ones you have, use some of the money to buy new raw materials and start cycle over...pocketing the profit.

Basically a mage in a lot of settings can make decent money doing that and still be "adventuring."

Other than that I think I had Lesser Wish and enchanted 2 or 3 of those...did not sell any WAY too nice to have and if you can make them you do not have to rely on whether the GM wants you to have one or not...

But RAW enchanting other than small Q+D items will mostly be circles of enchanters who do that for a living and pretty much nothing else...ie NPC's

IMHO and YMMV...

[SuedodeuS]

Allowing the enchanter to use rare materials (gained through adventures) as energy in enchanting can allow him to get his personal FP costs below the Quick and Dirty threshold. You might also have sites of power, which would add a certain amount of energy to any artificing but would have long-term drawbacks (such as attracting powerful monsters - you know, the ones the PCs had to get past to reach the site) preventing anyone from establishing a settlement over them. Both options encourage adventuring for an artificer and make him more viable without risking economic crash. The rare materials might have a high selling price, provided the PC's can find a buyer.

[korbeau]

The enchanter already use the Q+D method, in combo with Hermetic Magic but the idea about converting CP is a great one.

If we start in mind that principally only PC (or major special NPC) can cumulate CP, I can use that kind of system without scraping the hole economy of the setting, leting my enchanter to use his CP like a ressources.

Malloyd, you can give yourself 2CP :P
Witchking and SuedodeuS, 1 Cp each for the help ;)

[Gnomasz]

Sorry for a little Summon Spirit casting, but I've come up with an idea last night.

Enchanters don't make great adventurers for the same reasons that master craftsmen of any other sort don't. Fine manufacturing simply isn't an adventurous profession.

Unless we're talking about Quick Gadgeteers.
Thus, I'd make a new advantage: Quick Enchanter [50].
It let's you enchant items Slow and Sure way, with an exception of not being Slow. Enchanting is comparable in time required to make to Amazing Gadgets. Quick Gadgeteer turns time of creation of 3 months into 4 hours. Or, one day to 24/9 minuts, rounding up to 3 minutes.
So, Quick Enchanter needs (Energy / 20) hours to enchant an item.
There is an fatigue cost, but it's divided by 100, so 8 hours of enchanting consumes only 1.6 FP, or 2 FP - it usually doesn't matter. Cost of magical materials required is also divided by 100.
Additionally, Quick Enchanter speeds up inventing new spells and magical items, just like Quick Gadgeteer.
Oh, and Quick Enchanter could spend more than 8 hours a day at enchanting, just like Gadgeteer can.

With Quick Enchanter, Deflect 5 still requires 125 days to create. But Fortify 1? Take a bath and come back for your item.
As it cost 50 points, it won't ruin economy of the world, because it would be rare.

I think it's balanced. If Quick Gadgeteer can assemble a Force Sword in 1d hours, why Quick Enchanter couldn't make a Fireball Staff in 5 days?

[Lamech]

He could just use timeport. Sure it might take him 27 years, but for everyone else the enchantment was done yesterday!
Other options include noming a big amount of paut, raise cone of power, and using the time required rules.

[Kromm]

I see lots of options here for how to enchant more quickly . . . the rate is ultimately up to the GM. The system's default assumption is that "enchanter" is a highly educated and basically sedentary job, not a profession for a full-time or even occasional adventurer. In the rules as written, it only makes sense to allow PC enchanters in a campaign that also allows PCs to be architects who take decades to construct cathedrals, lords who manage estates and other holdings, abbots who run abbeys, and other people who basically put down roots and do something that defines "all their life." GURPS definitely does not assume that the usual way for PCs to get magic items is to have other PCs manufacture them; rather, it takes the standard fantasy-game stance that magic items are either found in chests or bought at shops, and that their makers are very senior, off-screen NPCs with access to magical trade secrets.

[Ulzgoroth]

I'd only make an adventurer who is an enchanter if I they are intended and built to do everything they need to with Quick and Dirty enchanting. There are plenty of things that can be done that way, especially if you've got energy reserves and such. But forget about anything that needs to be slow and sure. That stuff isn't for you.

[ajardoor]

They cover this type of thing in Thauamtology.

I think one solution was to reduce all energy costs for enchanting to a quarter of the original values.