[Magic] Enchantment Power

[Gef]

Originally Posted by Yami Fowl

But when the case is a Dark Wizards creating a Power 5 Staff…but you would still have to face the free-action and cost free jewel of flight, blur and haste (At +2 bonus)...It's not that I don't allow it or find them naturally unbalanced, but I GM to few players that require special attention regarding rules "so easily abused".

Disclaimer below*

I’d rather have a broken character than a broken setting. The “Curse of the Enchanter’s Grimoire” where every wizard who reads it dies mysteriously, where every guild library burns to cinders after it acquires a copy, sounds… Well, it sounds like a cool plot idea, come to think of it, but if it were not a centerpiece of the campaign, then it would be a distraction and a challenge to willing suspension of disbelief. Meanwhile, there are all sorts of ways to deal with problem PCs.

cccwebs' comments are sound. Items with a couple levels of Power shouldn’t be TOO hard to come by under the standard magic system, because a group of wizards with affordable Energy Reserves (Enchantment Only and Gadget: Wand) can manage that in a couple of lucrative days. Beyond that, Power is hugely expensive, and most customers will settle for the inconvenience of juggling powerstones, taking a break between uses, or hiring unskilled labor to submit themselves to Steal Energy to keep the item-wielder going. Having a super-item can be its own curse, and the name of the curse is avarice. But that said, the actual utility of such an item rarely equals its cost. Kings will commission them for spies and commandoes, but generally the counter to expensive magic is bunches of cheap manpower. Any reasonable monetary value for a Power 5 item will pay the annual operational cost of a company-strength merc outfit. Which would you rather have? The mercs could certainly cause more destruction. They'll counter your flame jet or acid jet with a volley of flaming or armor-piercing arrows, at greater range, for competitive damage.

GEF

*I feel silly writing this paragraph, but I’d rather be safe than sorry. I do not intend to attack any decision another GM has made regarding a game in which I am no participant, or to persuade anyone to run things differently. Rather, you have raised a point that strikes me as odd, and I am pursuing it in order to determine if I myself should run things differently in the future.