GURPS Dungeon Fantasy Power Items

pnewman · 01-28-2008, 07:48 AM

So, I'm building a Wizard character to test out the system. GURPS Dungeon Fantasy 1 states that a spellcaster may designate any item that they own as a power item to hold extra FP for spellcasting.

I decide that this wizards power item is going to be his staff. The rules say that the more expensive an item is, the more FP it can hold. My wizard is bying his staff as signature gear, 5 points or $2,500 worth of gear, so he can afford a fairly expensive power item. So I try to build the most expensive staff I can. The basic cost of a quarterstaff type Wizards staff is $ 50. I decide that I'm going to throw on every possible weapon modifier I can to make the staff more expensive, and thus able to hold more power. I take Balanced (+4 CF), Fine (+2 CF), and Ornate (+3 reaction) (+9 CF). I can't take dwarven, elven, meteoric, orichalum, silver or very fine as none of them apply to a wooden staff. The staff has to stay wood (or other formerly livng matter such as bone) per the rules for the Staff spell. Therefore I can't take any more modifers to its cost. My staff now costs $800 (50 * (1+4+2+9). A $800 item can hold up to 6 FP in power. I can't afford to make this staff a Magic staff because that has a minimum cost of $5,000 and I don't have that much money, moreover the rules say that 'The maximum FP it can hold depends on its value as a nonmagical item' so adding the enchantment probably won't let it hold more FP anyway.

Therefore my Wizard suffers because he chose to make his Staff, a key piece of Wizardly equipment, into his item of power. If he'd chosen to make a $2,500 diamond into his item of power it would have been able to hold up to 12 FP, but the cheaper staff can hold only 7 FP. What can I do to make the staff cost more so that it can hold more FP? Can I just add the diamond to the staff? Woud it be better to rework the wizard so that his Item of Power is something other than the staff? I don't want to do that, the staff is iconic. Can I extend the value of Ornate, say +4 reaction from buyers for +16 CF and +5 for +25 CF. Should I stop at +4 since the Basic set says that presentation items can cost up to 20 times as much, so 25 times as much is too much?

The rules for items of power also say that a caster must spend $5/FP to recharge the staff, but (per GURPS Supers) you can buy consumable signature gear at 5 x cost. Can I say that this staff recharges for free and pay $ 25 per FP extra from my signature gear fund, or is mixing those two rules a bad idea? If I do say that this item of power recharges for free can I use that cost to raise the base cost of the staff, thus letting it hold more FP, or is this unfair because 'The maximum FP it can hold depends on its value as a nonmagical item'? Maybe instead, or in addition, I should just buy some Paut as comsumable signature gear (x5 cost) at $675 per dose per adventure?

01-28-2008, 07:48 AM	#1
pnewman Join Date: Aug 2004 Location: Anchorage, Alaska	GURPS Dungeon Fantasy Power Items So, I'm building a Wizard character to test out the system. GURPS Dungeon Fantasy 1 states that a spellcaster may designate any item that they own as a power item to hold extra FP for spellcasting. I decide that this wizards power item is going to be his staff. The rules say that the more expensive an item is, the more FP it can hold. My wizard is bying his staff as signature gear, 5 points or $2,500 worth of gear, so he can afford a fairly expensive power item. So I try to build the most expensive staff I can. The basic cost of a quarterstaff type Wizards staff is $ 50. I decide that I'm going to throw on every possible weapon modifier I can to make the staff more expensive, and thus able to hold more power. I take Balanced (+4 CF), Fine (+2 CF), and Ornate (+3 reaction) (+9 CF). I can't take dwarven, elven, meteoric, orichalum, silver or very fine as none of them apply to a wooden staff. The staff has to stay wood (or other formerly livng matter such as bone) per the rules for the Staff spell. Therefore I can't take any more modifers to its cost. My staff now costs $800 (50 * (1+4+2+9). A $800 item can hold up to 6 FP in power. I can't afford to make this staff a Magic staff because that has a minimum cost of $5,000 and I don't have that much money, moreover the rules say that 'The maximum FP it can hold depends on its value as a nonmagical item' so adding the enchantment probably won't let it hold more FP anyway. Therefore my Wizard suffers because he chose to make his Staff, a key piece of Wizardly equipment, into his item of power. If he'd chosen to make a $2,500 diamond into his item of power it would have been able to hold up to 12 FP, but the cheaper staff can hold only 7 FP. What can I do to make the staff cost more so that it can hold more FP? Can I just add the diamond to the staff? Woud it be better to rework the wizard so that his Item of Power is something other than the staff? I don't want to do that, the staff is iconic. Can I extend the value of Ornate, say +4 reaction from buyers for +16 CF and +5 for +25 CF. Should I stop at +4 since the Basic set says that presentation items can cost up to 20 times as much, so 25 times as much is too much? The rules for items of power also say that a caster must spend $5/FP to recharge the staff, but (per GURPS Supers) you can buy consumable signature gear at 5 x cost. Can I say that this staff recharges for free and pay $ 25 per FP extra from my signature gear fund, or is mixing those two rules a bad idea? If I do say that this item of power recharges for free can I use that cost to raise the base cost of the staff, thus letting it hold more FP, or is this unfair because 'The maximum FP it can hold depends on its value as a nonmagical item'? Maybe instead, or in addition, I should just buy some Paut as comsumable signature gear (x5 cost) at $675 per dose per adventure?