[4e] Magic - FP cost enchanting and scaling?

[Jose]

So Ive been player in a fantasy game for a while and Im seriously considering enchanting.
Now GURPS runs a rather consevative estimate of how hard magic items should be to create taking many, many days.

But my group is playing in the forgotten realms setting where magic enchantments are rather common among wizards almost to the level of using magic swords as scarecrows.

Has anyone modified the base FP costs or otherwise modified the costs to reflect such an environment?

Ive read about the crossbow method but it has the problem of statistics vs the very high costs and the build a better wand in 7 days which leaves me with a thousand hours for the effigy for example. 41,66 days which my fellow adventures would never allow that.

So my question is, has anyone ever scaled the prices down to fit their world? And by how much?

[sir_pudding]

The Q&D limit is totally arbitrary, you could set it at 1000, or whatever.

[weby]

You can scale the limits as you feel fit the campaign. For most high magic games a much higher limit makes sense if you want to Keep the two current methods.

An alternative is to just raising the limit is to make intermediate levels of power take intermediate time between the Q&D and S&S.

So that the pricing could be something like:
1-50 energy: 1$/point
51-100 energy: 2$/point
101-200 energy: 4$/point
201-400 energy: 8$/point
401-800 energy: 16$/point
801+ energy: 32$/point

Or whatever scaling you think works for your campaign.

[Flyndaran]

Originally Posted by sir_pudding

The Q&D limit is totally arbitrary, you could set it at 1000, or whatever.

Warning: R.A.W. magic is my weakest Gurps subject.

Isn't that limit just about how many energy points can be put in per hour? I don't think that's really much of a time limiting factor for major enchantments.
Slow method of 1 pt. per day is. That one could be adjusted fully to some other number, or improved with higher than minimum Enchantment skill.

[evileeyore]

Originally Posted by Flyndaran

Warning: R.A.W. magic is my weakest Gurps subject.

Isn't that limit just about how many energy points can be put in per hour? I don't think that's really much of a time limiting factor for major enchantments.
Slow method of 1 pt. per day is. That one could be adjusted fully to some other number, or improved with higher than minimum Enchantment skill.

Yup, the "Q&D Limit" isn't really much of a limit, it's the Slow and Sure method that's terribly limited and would need to be changed to alter the cost of magic items.

[Flyndaran]

I wonder if there could be Enchantment Aspected magic zones that don't give extra skill or energy but allow much faster work per day.
+1 zones allow 2 per day, for example.

[evileeyore]

Originally Posted by Flyndaran

I wonder if there could be Enchantment Aspected magic zones that don't give extra skill or energy but allow much faster work per day.
+1 zones allow 2 per day, for example.

Interesting. Wars would be fought over them. Terrible and bloody wars that could end up cracking the world...

[Flyndaran]

Originally Posted by evileeyore

Interesting. Wars would be fought over them. Terrible and bloody wars that could end up cracking the world...

It might depend on how strong, common, and large each spot is.
Imagine being a landlord finding out that one of your properties has a small room with +3 to enchanting. Mother lode more profitable long term than a small gold mine.

[evileeyore]

Originally Posted by Flyndaran

It might depend on how strong, common, and large each spot is.

If they are as common as mud, then no, wars would not be fought. But if they were somewhat rare, then yeah, even a +1 spot would be worth fightin over.


For a twist they could be set on ley-line junctions that shift. Making Enchanters more like caravans rather than stationary set-ups. And if they move a bit randomly then there would be surveyors out scouting for new sites for their Enchanting Caravans to descend upon and squat until it moves again.

[Fred Brackin]

Originally Posted by Flyndaran

I wonder if there could be Enchantment Aspected magic zones that don't give extra skill or energy but allow much faster work per day.
+1 zones allow 2 per day, for example.

In Magic Items I there was thing called a "mana basin" IIRC. It was a location rated for a number of pts per day that could be drawn from it. So a multi-hundred pt gusher was a big deal but a 30pt mini-fountain didn't mean all that much to Q&D.

However, the way these things acted in S&S sure was as another enchanter. So even the most sluggish single hex mana basin allowed a lone S&S guy to double his output.

Also from that book there was an Enchanter's scabbard which was a unique item that reduced the cost to Enchant swords by 1/3rd.

Maybe also 3e but it might have come forward to 4e is the idea that Enchanting an Item is an appropriately Aspected area reduced cost to 75% normal.

That might be about it for S&S from official books but there was a fan concept about an "Enchanter's Workbench" that speeded up S&S.

Schemes for enhancing Q&D is a much more fertile area. :)