Magic Item Creation Alternatives

[Shostak]

This old thread doesn’t give much in terms of options, so I’m starting a new one to invite folks to share their thoughts on better* magic item creation rules. Have you developed any satisfying altneratives to the RAW enchantment system? Or have you tried something and abandoned it?

*This is subjective, I know, but at least less arbitrary, for starters.

[hcobb]

Use Alchemy for the crafting with lots of strange and mysterious ingredients needed.

[David Bofinger]

Step One is to decide if and why you want player characters enchanting things.

Step Two is to write rules which achieve the reason given in Step One.

Step Four is Profit.

[EKB]

Originally Posted by David Bofinger

Step One is to decide if and why you want player characters enchanting things.

Or if and why you want NPCs enchanting things for the player characters.

More generally, "Do magic items exist? If so, where do (or did) they come from?" Also: "Which ones exist, and which don't?"

Step Two is to write rules which achieve the reason given in Step One.

Step Four is Profit.

Yes and yes.

[EKB]

Personally, I like the idea of player characters having items that were Specially Made For Them, and I like the idea of items that augment a wizard knowing a spell, rather than only being a substitute for it. So in my world of Etan, NPC (and PC) wizards can enchant various items from my own reworked list, and many of the items take the form "Lets the user cast the spell as if he knew it. The user must either be a wizard or else have an IQ at least equal to the required IQ of the spell. If the user actually does know the spell, he gets a +4 DX bonus to cast it when using the item."

Also, there isn't actually that much of a demand for significant magic items (or for wizards casting significant spells) in Etan setting. Instead the bread and butter for town and village wizards is the production and sale of "magical reagents." In addition to being ingredients for the creation of regular potions and items, magical reagents are useful for various minor household and workshop tasks - tasks minor enough to fall below being worth having crunchy rules for. So instead of those magical reagents providing any sort of bonus or benefit when used, there will be ad hoc penalties if they become absent for some reason.

[Shostak]

My latest post on my occasional blog presents an alternate approach to enchantment rules.

[hcobb]

All your wizard really needs is the Bind Spirit spell.