Magic Item Creation Run-through: The Felfang Amulet
 

Hi everyone,

I'm statting out a magic item for my game. It's called the "Felfang Amulet", and is a TFT amulet (ie Avert magic) vs four separate types of creature: humans, vampires, zombies, and ghouls. I wanted to gauge how difficult such an amulet was to create, and how much you might expect to buy or sell it for. I've attempted to follow the RAW - please let me know what you think, if I've missed anything, etc.

For argument's sake, I'm excluding the amulet mundane cost; let's just say it's a nice looking rock on a rope you sling around your neck.

• So, the first stage I think is clear: 1 IQ18+ wizard with the Lesser Magic Item Creation spell, and 4 apprentices with Aid, cover the 125 ST/day listed on ITL p151 for an "Amulet vs Creature". 300sp / week on ingredients, which are 2 doses of Fear potion. It takes 3 weeks, so that's 3 separate 3/DX rolls and 900sp.
• Second stage: the Magic Item Creation table doesn't list any particular footnotes for creating amulets, so I use Multiply Enchanted Items on ITL p155 as written. So, for the second spell in the amulet, I double up: 2 IQ18+ wizards with the Lesser Magic Item Creation spell, 8 apprentices, 600sp / week on ingredients. Another 3 weeks of 3 separate 3/DX rolls and 1800sp.
• Third stage, same process: 4 wizards, 16 apprentices, 1200sp / week on ingredients. 3 more weeks, 3 more 3/DX rolls and 3600sp.
• Final (4th) stage, same again: 8 wizards, 32 apprentices, 2400 sp / week on ingredients, 3 more weeks of 3 / DX rolls and 7200sp.

If I roll an 18 on any of those 12 rolls, the current stage *only* is ruined, and I lose any ingredients and time / ST invested on *that stage only*, and I must start that stage again.

By the end of the process, I've spent 12 weeks and 13500sp on ingredients to create my 4-spell "Felfang Amulet".

LABOUR COSTS

Just for a baseline, I'm looking at the Table of Jobs (ITL pp58-59). Apprentices get 25sp / week, and an IQ17-18 Town Wizard gets 200sp / week. So:

• Stage 1 costs (4 x 25sp) + 200sp per week for 3 weeks, so 300sp x 3 = 900sp.
• Stage 2 costs double that, so 1800sp.
• Stage 3 costs double again, so 3600sp.
• Stage 4 costs double again, so 7200sp.

So the total labour costs for the Felfang Amulet are 13,500sp. Coincidentally, that's also the same cost as the ingredients (13,500sp), for a grand total of 27000sp. Of course that's the base price, assuming no DX roll failures or stage "do-overs"; using the Business Sense talent as a guide, I'd say a bunch of PCs without Business Sense would end up selling such an item at 13500sp, or buying it at 54000sp. Let the haggling commence... ;-)

Incidentally, the "Price" for an "Amulet vs Creature" on the Magic Item Creation Table (ITLp151) is 3000sp. That number seems to have no relation to the Stage 1 cost above, which is 1800sp. So, I'm guessing the Magic Item Creation Table prices are very much handwavy ballpark figures - this one seems to be figured from a 1000sp / week baseline, but who knows? I don't see it's a problem, except that if I was running a game where PCs were actively creating and selling magic items, I'd probably want to recalculate the Table numbers to reflect the creation rules more closely.

In any case, for my own purposes, I think I've worked out that Felfang Amulets aren't going to be growing on trees - setting aside the fact that 27000sp is a fortune, the biggest issue is the requirement for 8 IQ18 wizards to hang out together. My own ballpark demographic calculations suggest that there probably aren't going to be 8 IQ18 NPC wizards in my *whole campaign area*, let alone 8 who are willing and able to work together! The Felfang Amulet is going to basically be one-of-a-kind, a legendary item that was "forged in the mists of time by mighty enchanters", something that should shake the campaign rather than be hanging off a shelf in Ye Locale Magicke Shoppe. Kinda priceless, really. And I must admit I like it like that. ;)

Does anyone have any comments?

Cheers,

Sarah

Re: Magic Item Creation Run-through: The Felfang Amulet
 

Here's a detailed calculation showing the problem with the book formulas not accounting for cost of living of the enchantment team:


https://www.hcobb.com/tft/Potion_Problems.html#amulet

Re: Magic Item Creation Run-through: The Felfang Amulet
 

Hi Henry,

Cool - thanks for that. I can see your reasoning in all cases. So the 3000sp is very much a base price - if you're a creator and selling for any less than that, you're seriously cutting into everyone's profits. And of course a 200sp weekly profit for an IQ 18 Wizard working full time is indeed a paltry sum.

I think in my campaign, magical items are going to be rarely for sale (although correspondingly there won't be that many buyers capable of paying the price either), so the book prices are more or less just a guide if you're trying to sell one for some reason. And if you want to commission a bunch of wizards to make something custom, you're going to need a ton of money and / or influence, or do those wizards a BIG Questy Favour (yay!), and wait a while!

There's a definite case for aggregating all those various cost factors into a single table in the core book. :) (y)

All the best,

Sarah

Re: Magic Item Creation Run-through: The Felfang Amulet
 

One tiny errata needed.
At ITL 166 the "standard" rate that PC might hope to buy magic items is the value of the underlying item, twice the "value" of the enchantment, plus $100 and 1% of the underlying value for a certificate of enchantment from the wizards' guild.

The value the PCs might hope to sell the item for is half the base value of item and enchantment unless they are able to demonstrate a valid purchase.

Re: Magic Item Creation Run-through: The Felfang Amulet
 

Like you, Shaira, I reckon that magic items are rarely for sale and expensive. However, you mention that it's hard to gather four IQ 18 wizards together. That's true in my campaign, but not altogether necessary. From ITL 153:

Re: Magic Item Creation Run-through: The Felfang Amulet
 

Nice breakdown. However, it might throw new players off when you say healing potions "can't exist" because given the costs suggested by the rules they'd be produced at a loss.

It might be more useful to new players, and those who just skim the page, to just say that given the suggested costs, you'd have to sell healing potions for $200 instead of $150 if you want to make a reasonable profit.

Re: Magic Item Creation Run-through: The Felfang Amulet
 

That's what I sell them for and I rarely have more than two available.

Re: Magic Item Creation Run-through: The Felfang Amulet
 

I'm tempted to say that only healing potions (and no magic items) are available at start and at doubled cost, unless you have a priest in the party. (These healing potions are stamped with the church's seal and their mass production is subsided by the faithful.)


Finding magic items for purchase and then flipping them for huge profits is way too easy with a starting hafling merchant. Best beset the party with thieves as a gateway to adventure.

Re: Magic Item Creation Run-through: The Felfang Amulet
 

Do you have many players itching to play halfling merchants?

Re: Magic Item Creation Run-through: The Felfang Amulet
 

The halfling merchant is Henry's second favorite character.