Enchantment as High Crafting Skill
 

I was going through GURPS the last couple of days looking for how smiths could create magical items through extreme skill in crafting (as in legendary- or mythic-level). The idea here is that high level smiths would not distinguish between making extremely high quality items and items with magical properties. There is just a natural blurring from one into the other. I was describing it thusly:

Likely, the ancient smiths do not distinguish between a high-level understanding of smithing and magically enchanting an item. To them, being a skilled smith of the highest caliber is to be able to produce wondrous objects with magical powers.

But, I was reading through Magic and Thaumatology and elsewhere here and there and was not seeing exactly what I was looking for. I was searching online and I found this from someone on Reddit:

Is that true? It seems like something that occurs often enough in fantasy that GURPS would have addressed it. For example, arguably, this is the method by which the elven (and probably even dwarven) smiths created wondrous objects in Middle-earth.

If it is true that there isn't a GURPS publication that addresses something like this, has anyone created something of their own for this situation?

Two elements that I did find that I would want to incorporate into this are the ideas of 1) the quest and the potential need to obtain legendary materials to incorporate into the item, and 2) the potential need to "put one's self" into the item. This potentially means that some items would be "one off" (like Fëanor's making of the Silmarils, which he did once, but can't do again).

Re: Enchantment as High Crafting Skill
 

Well ... other than a handful of paragraphs describing the whats and wherefores, what kind of mechanical support's needful? Something like:

A master weaponsmith (with base skill of 19+) who rolls a critical hit when setting out to make a weapon of Good quality or better can, through the perfection of his or her craft, impart magical qualities to it. Select appropriate weapon enchantments with an energy cost not to exceed a roll of 1d6 x 100; add half again to the result if the weapon was forged in a High mana/Sanctity zone, or if the weaponsmith has the Serendipity or Hedge Witch (cf GURPS Russia) Advantages or at least Magery 1.

That should suffice. Seems to me a system like this works better being light and mysterious rather than broken down into the usual exhausting degree of nuts and bolts.

Re: Enchantment as High Crafting Skill
 

Well Pyramid 3/102 has Crafting Imbuements that works as an alternative way to make "magical" items. You use the imbuement skills right after you've conventionally crafted something. You can use the "Craft Expertise" power modifier to make it like pure skill made this. Also Low-Tech Companion 3 has some information about crafting and a couple of good perks.

Re: Enchantment as High Crafting Skill
 

Something close to that is discussed on p. 160 of GURPS Fantasy, under Talents as Magic. You buy a Talent with Preparation Required, representing a ritual that must be performed; then you roll vs. skill + Talent -5 to produce an enchanted object.

Re: Enchantment as High Crafting Skill
 

Yeah, in this context that makes a lot of sense, IMHO. Very Tolkien.

Re: Enchantment as High Crafting Skill
 

I have a different take on this, in that it feels too random. For me, the idea is that high-level craftsmen can go into their workshop expecting to be able to make magical items. They are not depending on the change of rolling critical successes.

Re: Enchantment as High Crafting Skill
 

Okay, now that is interesting. I had not seen that and it was in a place I probably would not have thought to look. Thank you. The word "Talent" could even be replaced with something like "Trained by a Master", but in this context it would be focused on making things and not combat. You have to have special training above and beyond in order to create items of this kind.

Re: Enchantment as High Crafting Skill
 

I had not seen that either. It has been a while since I have gotten a Pyramid magazine. Thank you for pointing me to this. This is probably really close. Access to the necessary Imbuement skill could be what the great craftsmen of the past would have had.

As it happens, I also found "Willful Weapons" starting on page 70 of GURPS: Celtic Myth. The next page has "Making a Willful Weapons" that is also about how sidhe smiths can give magical properties to weapons while forging them. Lots of good stuff there. Not for the current edition of course, but that should not be too big a hurdle.

Re: Enchantment as High Crafting Skill
 

A related Low Magic alternative to Craft Magic is Creation as Deed (Magic Items 3) as well as Mysteries of the Trade (Fantasy 162-3).

Re: Enchantment as High Crafting Skill
 

IIRC, the higher your skill is, the greater the chance of a critical success. It may requires houserules, perks, or other fudging to allow critical successes at higher than a natural 6 (the limit in the RAW as far as I know, available at skill 16+), but that would also be somewhat consistent with Tolkien and other epic fantasy settings.