[DF] World-building the magic item (and power item) industry

[Michael Thayne]

Tried to come up with a list of enchantments that should be wizard-only and here's what I came up with: Adjustable Clothing, Dancing Weapon, Dancing Shield, Dopplegänger, Hideaway, Impression Blocker, Leak, Loyal Sword, Quick Draw, Simulacrum, and all "Wizardly tools". "Limiting enchantments" mostly seem appropriate for divine spellcasters. The spells Lich, Manastone, Powerstone, and Wraith should probably be unavailable to anybody.

[Varyon]

Originally Posted by Fred Brackin

Nope, 1 hour per hundred energy. This is a significant limit when you try and exploit big sources of energy but are going beyond the normal 8 hour work day. That's minuses to skill.

Ah. Well, looks like the cutoff point for DF is 100 energy anyway, so for DF, it seems to be assumed it will always be a 1-hour job. Of course, those enchanters who can finagle things to gather more than 100 energy in one go can presumably make bank, as they can get away with charging the S&S prices - for a 200 energy item, they could spend 2 hours and get wages appropriate for 200 mage-days.

Originally Posted by Michael Thayne

The Place of Power idea is interesting, and it occurred to me that maybe power items can only be recharged in areas of high mana / sanctity. With sanctity, it makes sense that relevant places will be found in towns, but for mana there are more questions about whether every town has a high-mana area, if that affects distribution of towns, etc.

Well, I feel the biggest advantage of the Place of Power idea is the boon to worldbuilding. There's a lot you can do with the concept, and you can make it quite distinct for each setting (or do a classic DF mishmash and have different towns follow a different trend).

For example, perhaps an arcane* Place of Power is a sink rather than a source. This gives you a town that has normal or better mana, with a big juicy mana deposit at the center, but the outskirts are low mana and the environs surrounding the town are no mana. Monsters of a supernatural persuasion are going to be disinclined to go into the town, as they have to pass through a no mana zone to do so - which is uncomfortable for most (they don't have access to some of their "natural" abilities) and actively damaging to others (those with an outright Dependency) - and in a setting where most monsters are at least a bit magical, this is excellent defense for a town. It can also make for an interesting time of figuring out how to get a mana-dependent PC across without harming them, and if the area is larger than the town can patrol, it's a good place for mundane bandits to spring ambushes.

Or, perhaps a divine* Place of Power is reliant upon an enshrined holy relic of some flavor (the big toe of a saint, the feather of a high-ranking angel, the Sword That Cuts Evil Into Tiny Pieces, etc), serving as a focus to draw in the energy of the townsfolk's prayers. The holy energies dissuade monsters from coming in (and perhaps even make inhabitants and visitors more peaceful, preventing violence), in addition to being a source of energy for the local priests to draw from. An obvious plot hook is the relic being stolen (needing recovery) or outright destroyed (needing replacement) - or (one or more of) the PC's being tasked with stealing/destroying.

*Yes, I'm stealing terms from That Other Game, because they just work well here.

Originally Posted by Michael Thayne

For magic items, I like the idea of restricting "Quick and Dirty" enchantment to certain items, like wizard staffs and ammunition.

That's a good idea, as well. Basically, expendable magic items, and those that just serve as foci for other magic rather than granting effects by themselves, use Q&D, while magic items that last use S&S.

As for availability of second-hand magic items, I generally assume (and the magic item creation system I'll be using for Oubliette has explicitly defined) magic items are more robust than mundane ones, and require little to no maintenance (Oubliette magic items even heal themselves over time, so long as they aren't actually "killed"). This is necessary for ancient ruins and the like to still have magic items in working order. So, you've potentially got a large pool of items to draw from - those previously commissioned by adventurers (including those commissioned by adventurers who never came to pick up their order, on account of getting eaten by goblins or whatever before the item was complete) but sold off when they retired/got something better/really needed some money/broke their neck climbing a cliff, those recovered from ancient ruins and sold off because they weren't quite as good as what they already had, those created by enchanters for practice, those looted from battlefields (officers and/or their bodyguards may well have magic items), etc. But, yeah, if you commission a custom magic item, that's going to cost more - but on the bright side, you get exactly what you wanted, rather than being at the mercy of a random magic item generator (there is a wait involved, but acquiring the appropriate reagents - either by spending more coin or gathering them yourself - could reduce that markedly); for that, either a multiplier for the normal costs or something based on wages.

[StevenH]

I once had a character able to make magic items. Since the RAW enchanting rules were bare bones to say the least, I...elaborated.

You can find my write up (and it's considerable) here. It basically details out what an enchanter mage does all day, and uses the basic rules as a jumping off point. Something in there might be of use to you.

[Michael Thayne]

If I use this in my games, I'll probably add Suspend Enchantment to the list of wizard-only enchantment spells, since Suspend Spell is wizard-only. OTOH I do think clerics and druids should be able to cast Remove Enchantment.

[ericthered]

Originally Posted by Michael Thayne

Here's a proposal:

New Spell: Charge Power Item

Time to cast: Normally eight hours, becomes 1 second in high mana or high sanctity areas (as appropriate).

I'd change that to very high rather than high. High magic isn't that impressive. Very high magic is wildly powerful.

[Michael Thayne]

Originally Posted by ericthered

I'd change that to very high rather than high. High magic isn't that impressive. Very high magic is wildly powerful.

The significance of high-mana areas is normally modest, but I'm trying to justify the spell being extremely powerful in the hands of professional spellcasters in Town, but of limited utility to most PCs most of the time.

[Fred Brackin]

Originally Posted by ericthered

. Very high magic is wildly powerful.

More dangerous than powerful. That's why you build vaults to hold charging Powerstones in VH Mana but don't go there otherwise.

Start casting spells in VH mana as fast as you can and the inevitable crit fails will kill you pretty quick. Like in 216 seconds or less. Perhaps 1200 seconds if you have a Stabilizing Skill.

High Mana isn't so much for direct casting but does double the yield of the Power enchantment. It's an interesting place for self-powered magic items and a society that uses them.