Ritual Path Magic and Magic Item Creation

[RaRaRasputin]

This is a common method all over GURPS - I didn't invent it, but merely used it. Call it what you want, it won't cause issues. :-)

Thanks. I started thinking up a similar treatment before I was even finished reading the article, but you did save me a bit of work. Of course, I immediately proceeded to reverse engineer your dollars-per-hour table with reference to the wages-per month table. Thank goodness I love spreadsheets.

I'm currently planning on having ten different types of Essence- one for each Path, plus one which can only be obtained by sacrificing character points. Maybe some items will require essence from more specific sources than that, it depends on how much paperwork my players are interested in doing.

Assuming your shortsword is just a "normal" magic sword and gives a bonus to damage and to hit it'd look something like this:

So I take the weapon's minimum ST value, triple it, and that's the appropriate reference ST to use?

Let me run a simpler example by you to make sure I understand. A Halberd (ST 13‡), wielded by someone with ST 39, has a 7d6+4 cutting swing [57.4], a 7d6+3 impaling swing [63.2], and a 4d6+4 impaling thrust [41.6]. If I want to add Armor Divisor (2) and nothing else, that's a +50% modifier on the most expensive of those attack modes and therefore [32]. Gadget modifiers and power modifiers don't apply to this cost, only to extra damage on top of this, right?

Almost anyone worth equipping with a weapon this freakng expensive is probably going to have some form of Weapon Master and the skill to back it up, and therefore be doing another +14 damage on top of that. Should I add that on to the cost as well, or is it a "freebie", calculated afterwards?

Yikes, that isn't cheap. Meanwhile, I was able to build a (non ST-based) 5d6 burn sur "cattle prod" wand for a mere [5].

Also, I thought you weren't allowed to apply Reliable to attack advantages, but apparently it's only forbidden for ranged attacks. Looks like I learned something else new.

Since you also wrote the section on buying spells-as-powers advantages as an alternate abilities to RPM Magery, I've got another related question: While my Magery or Ritual Adept advantage is switched "off", what exactly do I lose access to? I expect that the ER granted by the Magery will be "locked", and I can't cast any new rituals (or if I do, I'll do so as if I didn't have the advantage in question, which probably means I'll being doing it at lower effective skill), but I'm not sure whether any spells I currently have ongoing will be affected. If my incantation inflicts a debuff on my target as a side-effect/symptom, and I switch back to Magery, does the debuff instantly go away? Can I still activate Charms I prepared in advance?

To keep the above question from being off-topic: If I do take an incantation, can I also apply gadget limitations to it? Can I apply the limitation to only some levels of the advantage? (eg: Barry Drosden can toss a 3d6 jet of fire from his bare hands, or a 6d6 jet of fire from his specially prepared Blasting Rod)

Thanks again for your time.

[Christopher R. Rice]

Originally Posted by RaRaRasputin

Thanks. I started thinking up a similar treatment before I was even finished reading the article, but you did save me a bit of work. Of course, I immediately proceeded to reverse engineer your dollars-per-hour table with reference to the wages-per month table. Thank goodness I love spreadsheets.

What gamer doesn't love spreadsheets? Doug Cole is "Sir Excel" for a reason. ;-)

Originally Posted by RaRaRasputin

I'm currently planning on having ten different types of Essence- one for each Path, plus one which can only be obtained by sacrificing character points. Maybe some items will require essence from more specific sources than that, it depends on how much paperwork my players are interested in doing.

Interesting.

Originally Posted by RaRaRasputin

So I take the weapon's minimum ST value, triple it, and that's the appropriate reference ST to use?

That's what I do. It does make weapons more expensive with the base system - but it's not worth the headache of figuring the cost of the advantage from bearer to bearer.

Originally Posted by RaRaRasputin

Let me run a simpler example by you to make sure I understand. A Halberd (ST 13‡), wielded by someone with ST 39, has a 7d6+4 cutting swing [57.4], a 7d6+3 impaling swing [63.2], and a 4d6+4 impaling thrust [41.6]. If I want to add Armor Divisor (2) and nothing else, that's a +50% modifier on the most expensive of those attack modes and therefore [32]. Gadget modifiers and power modifiers don't apply to this cost, only to extra damage on top of this, right?

You got it. Remember to round off before applying the modifier there - you don't use the fractional number.

Originally Posted by RaRaRasputin

Almost anyone worth equipping with a weapon this freakng expensive is probably going to have some form of Weapon Master and the skill to back it up, and therefore be doing another +14 damage on top of that. Should I add that on to the cost as well, or is it a "freebie", calculated afterwards?

No, it's only for your ST (the sum of regular ST, Striking ST, and Arm ST) - bonuses from Weaponmaster or from a skill that allows you to use a unarmed skill with a weapon (say, a blackjack for Brawling are ignored for this.

Originally Posted by RaRaRasputin

Yikes, that isn't cheap. Meanwhile, I was able to build a (non ST-based) 5d6 burn sur "cattle prod" wand for a mere [5].

Magical items aren't cheap. Nor should they be really. My example is a sword that basically gives +10 to your ST and can cut through metal bars given enough time. On flesh it's devastating even at the lowest ST level.

Originally Posted by RaRaRasputin

Also, I thought you weren't allowed to apply Reliable to attack advantages, but apparently it's only forbidden for ranged attacks. Looks like I learned something else new.

Yup. Accurate for Ranged attacks, Reliable for non-ranged attacks and other traits.

Originally Posted by RaRaRasputin

Since you also wrote the section on buying spells-as-powers advantages as an alternate abilities to RPM Magery, I've got another related question: While my Magery or Ritual Adept advantage is switched "off", what exactly do I lose access to? I expect that the ER granted by the Magery will be "locked", and I can't cast any new rituals (or if I do, I'll do so as if I didn't have the advantage in question, which probably means I'll being doing it at lower effective skill), but I'm not sure whether any spells I currently have ongoing will be affected. If my incantation inflicts a debuff on my target as a side-effect/symptom, and I switch back to Magery, does the debuff instantly go away? Can I still activate Charms I prepared in advance?

Yeah, you can't use your mana reserve at all. Ongoing spells are not affected and spells that you've already cast stay in place for the duration - you can switch them off, but you'd need to switch back on your Magery first. Charms are not affected at all.

Originally Posted by RaRaRasputin

To keep the above question from being off-topic: If I do take an incantation, can I also apply gadget limitations to it? Can I apply the limitation to only some levels of the advantage? (eg: Barry Drosden can toss a 3d6 jet of fire from his bare hands, or a 6d6 jet of fire from his specially prepared Blasting Rod)

No. Incantations are innate capabilities, gadgets by their nature are not.

Originally Posted by RaRaRasputin

Thanks again for your time.

Sure. Hope I helped. I personally use Metatronic Generators for RPM items because it ignores some of the headaches the regular system can cause. I'll note though that I do like RPM's base enchantment system better than I like most point-based gear (which I really don't like at all).

[RaRaRasputin]

So by contrast, if I wanted to make a magic shortsword as a metatronic generator, it would look a bit more like this:

Cutting Attack 1d6 (Armor Divisor (2), +50%; melee weapon, reach 1, -25%; magical, -10%; reliable 2, +10%; ST-Based, +100%; thrusting blade, +15%) [21]

I'm not sure whether it would have Apparatus (+0%). Some of the example generators have it, some of them don't, and it doesn't make a difference to their cost either way.

I wouldn't have to worry about the fact that a ST 24 person swinging the shortsword has a 4d6+2 cut swing attack [33] and a 2d6+2 imp thrust attack [21], I'd just calculate the metatronic generator price based on the profile above.

If I call the sword a "small" class generator, it should have a cost of $52,500, weigh 3 lbs, an XS power cell for 6 hours (unless it it loses "shots" with each swing?), a bulk of at least -5, and a minimum ST of 4 (which gets replaced with the sword's minimum ST of 8).

I'd then take the shortsword's 2 lb. weight and $400 base cost (unless I make it Very Fine, which is probably worth it), multiply them each by 0.8, and add them to the above for a final weight of 4.6 lbs and a final cost of $52,820.

If I think that weight is a bit much (or I've got money to burn), could I use the "mini" class instead, and pay $63,320 for a sword that weighs 2.24 lbs and uses T cells?

[Christopher R. Rice]

Originally Posted by RaRaRasputin

So by contrast, if I wanted to make a magic shortsword as a metatronic generator, it would look a bit more like this:

Cutting Attack 1d6 (Armor Divisor (2), +50%; melee weapon, reach 1, -25%; magical, -10%; reliable 2, +10%; ST-Based, +100%; thrusting blade, +15%) [21]

Cost would be 17 points (+140% of modifiers x 7 points = 16.8), but yeah. That's about right.

Originally Posted by RaRaRasputin

I'm not sure whether it would have Apparatus (+0%). Some of the example generators have it, some of them don't, and it doesn't make a difference to their cost either way.

Apparatus' are specifically for non-weapon gadgets.

Originally Posted by RaRaRasputin

I wouldn't have to worry about the fact that a ST 24 person swinging the shortsword has a 4d6+2 cut swing attack [33] and a 2d6+2 imp thrust attack [21], I'd just calculate the metatronic generator price based on the profile above.

Yes. Exactly.

Originally Posted by RaRaRasputin

If I call the sword a "small" class generator, it should have a cost of $52,500, weigh 3 lbs, an XS power cell for 6 hours (unless it it loses "shots" with each swing?), a bulk of at least -5, and a minimum ST of 4 (which gets replaced with the sword's minimum ST of 8).

This is where it can get a little tricky. For most magical items, I highly suggest that you use the Self-Powered modifier. Otherwise, it'll last for six hours of continous use, after that it's just a normal sword. Most of the time you'll need to add 50% of the weight and cost of a normal weapon to the cost of the generator.

Originally Posted by RaRaRasputin

I'd then take the shortsword's 2 lb. weight and $400 base cost (unless I make it Very Fine, which is probably worth it), multiply them each by 0.8, and add them to the above for a final weight of 4.6 lbs and a final cost of $52,820.

For most weapon generators you don't need to do this as long as it emulates a attack - you will need to add 50% of the cost/weight (see above) though. Adding the cost like in your example is explicitly for weapon-shaped generators like mind-control staves, weather control hammers, etc.

Originally Posted by RaRaRasputin

If I think that weight is a bit much (or I've got money to burn), could I use the "mini" class instead, and pay $63,320 for a sword that weighs 2.24 lbs and uses T cells?

Yes. Sure. One thing, if magic items are rare in your world use the listed costs. If they are uncommon reduce final cost by 10% to 20%. Common items could reduce final costs up to 50% - this might lead to the DnD problem of too many +1 weapons though.