[Prince Charon]

Magic Items

Common Symbol Items
Not exactly magical on their own, these are durable items with a set of symbols permanently marked on them, functioning like Parchment Symbol Casting, save that the items are reusable. The quality of the item is important: cheap items will break on any failure, good quality items will only break on a critical failure, fine items have a 2/3 chance of breaking on a critical failure, very fine items have a 1/3 chance of breaking on a critical failure, and superfine items (if any) will only break on a verified critical failure.

Tattoos may be common symbol items. If the tattoo 'breaks,' the wearer takes 1d-2 damage per Easy symbol, 1d per Average symbol, 2d-1 per Hard symbol, and 2d+2 damage per Very Hard symbol. Damage type should be set by the GM based on the effect that set of symbols was designed to create. If the campaign is using the hit location rules, the damage is of course done to the location of the tattoo. Either way, it cannot be dodged, blocked, or parried, nor does armor or force-field magic protect the wearer (in theory, that should go without saying, but in practice, there will be a few players who'd ask). Despite these risks, such tattoos are fairly common in the region, especially among those who can afford a really good tattoo artist.

A lot of adventuring wizards will carry a few common symbol items for healing effects and other magics that they may need to cast several times over the course of an adventure. In many cases, these are in the form of rings or other jewelry, or knives or other tools.


True Symbol Items
This covers both True Symbol Tokens, and items enchanted with Symbol Drawing magic. Such items may be activated by will or other conditions, or require a simple Symbol Drawing roll, or may require rolling on the user's lowest skill with the Symbols on the item. A few may even be always on.

In a normal mana region, the unmodified energy cost to enchant True Symbol Items is 100 times the total energy cost of all the symbols to be used (e. g. an Elven Symbol Item designed to bring rain when activated could use the Verb symbol Communicate in its Summon aspect, and the Noun symbol Weather, and would cost 300 points, but would be limited to existing clouds; replacing Communicate with Create would up the cost to 500, but could gradually produce rainclouds out of a clear blue sky, during a drought). This is doubled in low mana, halved in high mana, and quartered in very high mana. These items work in all mana levels from low to very high, though any magical skill rolls involving them are at -5 in low mana.

Modifiers work much as they do with advantage costs, where applicable. For example, a bronze go-limb arm (see below) created with one of the Craft variants of the Dwarven style would use the Symbols Control (in the Move aspect) Magic, Metal, and Life, for a total usual cost of 1,200 energy; however, this is a single arm, not a complete golem, and so a modifier is applied: 'Arm only, -60%,' for a total creation cost of 480 energy. GMs may prefer to alter how much this modifier is worth, of course.

Golems
A specific type of True Symbol Item, introduced by practitioners of Gematria, and imitated by other styles. The specific symbols involved vary from style to style, but usually include Move, Magic, and Earth (or whatever symbol best matches the substance the golem is made from). They are often created by Craft-based styles, such as Symbol Drawing (Sculpting).

Go-limbs
A very limited variety of golem, being a single limb or other body-part, bonded to a single owner, usually as a replacement for something the owner lost. Go-limbs may also be used to add things that someone was not born with, such as giving a human a tail, or granting sight to one who was blind from birth. In general, the symbol for Body or Self (or the nearest equivalent) is added to the set of symbols for a golem in the creator's style.


Alchemical Charms & Elixirs
The most common genuinely magical magic items (see also Alchemical Charms, GURPS Magic p220), this category covers the products of both alchemists and herbalists. A couple of common alchemical charms are below:

Staff
Alternative name: Wand, Sceptre, Magicum, Vendi

An alchemical charm to extend the user's reach and touch-range for magical purposes, as per the Staff spell (GURPS Magic pp13 & 70). Such items often have powerstones or symbol tokens mounted on them.

Duration: Permanent (alchemical charm).
Form: Generally a rod of stiff, organic material, such as a wand, dowel, or staff.
Cost: $66/$100.
Recipe: $33, 1 week, Alchemy-4.

Optionally, the GM may wish to have the staff serve as a power source, like a powerstone (see also Power Staff, Thaumatology p52). In that case, such a staff also risks developing quirks. Optionally, if the creation roll succeds exactly (a Margin of Success of 0), a normal staff might also have a quirk. This may be the case for some other alchemical items, if the GM wishes.


Powerstone
Alternative name: Witch-stone, Bloodstone, Gem of Mana, Potentia Lapis, Máttursteinn.

Powerstones are highly unusual alchemical charms, in that they may be empowered repeatedly, to increase the magical energy that they store. Apart from being created by alchemy rather than enchantment, they function basically as Powerstones from GURPS Magic p20 and 69-70, including the risk of quirks.

Duration: Permanent (alchemical charm).
Form: Generally some type of gemstone.
Cost: $70/$100 for a one-point stone (see Powerstone Costs, Magic p20).
Recipe: $20; 1 day; Alchemy-2.

Aspected powerstones (equivalent to the One-College Powerstone from Magic p70) default from Alchemy-1, have a recipe cost of $12, and a regular cost of $40/$70, but otherwise work as above. The equivalent to a Manastone is the Paut elixir (Thaumatology p52), which in this setting defaults from Alchemy-0; note that Paut only restores lost FP, not blood.


Thoughts?