GURPS Magic - Creating gemstones - Page 2

SRoach · 05-19-2024, 04:52 PM

I saw a nice solution to creating items for magical use once. Don't allow it. The article, which was fairly long, basically said that, in his setting, items "Cure", over time, on the order of centuries, when formed and sitting in mana-rich areas, so items that were mined from natural veins in mana-rich areas would be better for enchanting, and just-created stuff, or stuff mined from mana-poor areas would be significantly worse, so enchanters would want the "real" stuff, even if a mundane couldn't tell the two apart.

In one Star Trek guide I have, the stated reason the Ferengi love Latinum so much is because that particular material couldn't be replicated (yet), while gold could be. A similar issue existed, in TOS, with dilithium crystals.
You could easily rule that certain materials, ones we value, are mystically impossible, (or at least EXTREMELY difficult) to produce magically, and that adds to their value, because they can't be counterfeited.
I'd start with the Cu family of metals, maybe throw in the family Pt is in, or not, (and I don't know that I'd want to keep Nickel rare), and then decide which gemstones are simply beyond producing with magic. If all the familiar precious stones; Diamond, Emerald, Ruby, Sapphire, (the last two are the same rock), happen to be hard to produce magically, they may be valued for that alone, as a form of durable hard coin.

Heck, you could easily double them up and say that materials that are difficult to impossible to conjure up make the best receptacles for enchanting, for the same underlying reason.

Anders · 05-19-2024, 08:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SRoach

I saw a nice solution to creating items for magical use once. Don't allow it. The article, which was fairly long, basically said that, in his setting, items "Cure", over time, on the order of centuries, when formed and sitting in mana-rich areas, so items that were mined from natural veins in mana-rich areas would be better for enchanting, and just-created stuff, or stuff mined from mana-poor areas would be significantly worse, so enchanters would want the "real" stuff, even if a mundane couldn't tell the two apart.

Thaumatology has rules for creating items through exposure or through deeds.

hal · 05-19-2024, 09:08 PM

Part of the issue is the low energy costs involved. Simple fixes would have been to give a duration for Earth to Stone, or Stone to Metal instead of instant or permanent. Had the energy costs been per pound instead of cubic yards, that would be better. Had there been a higher energy cost for gold as opposed to tin, that would help.

As written, any spell, such as inquired about by the Original Poster, should include higher energy costs and skill penalties to where creating certain gemstones are harder to do than others, and take it from there. One could even go the route of treating variant spells as techniques such that creating rubies is base spell-6, but one can study a technique to produce a given gemstone with a given clarity, etc. A success by a given amount creates an average color, clarity, lack of visible fracture lines and is seeming worth X dollars per carat.

The problem still remains: Player characters can create wealth out of nothing.

05-19-2024, 04:52 PM	#1
SRoach Join Date: Oct 2015	Re: GURPS Magic - Creating gemstones I saw a nice solution to creating items for magical use once. Don't allow it. The article, which was fairly long, basically said that, in his setting, items "Cure", over time, on the order of centuries, when formed and sitting in mana-rich areas, so items that were mined from natural veins in mana-rich areas would be better for enchanting, and just-created stuff, or stuff mined from mana-poor areas would be significantly worse, so enchanters would want the "real" stuff, even if a mundane couldn't tell the two apart. In one Star Trek guide I have, the stated reason the Ferengi love Latinum so much is because that particular material couldn't be replicated (yet), while gold could be. A similar issue existed, in TOS, with dilithium crystals. You could easily rule that certain materials, ones we value, are mystically impossible, (or at least EXTREMELY difficult) to produce magically, and that adds to their value, because they can't be counterfeited. I'd start with the Cu family of metals, maybe throw in the family Pt is in, or not, (and I don't know that I'd want to keep Nickel rare), and then decide which gemstones are simply beyond producing with magic. If all the familiar precious stones; Diamond, Emerald, Ruby, Sapphire, (the last two are the same rock), happen to be hard to produce magically, they may be valued for that alone, as a form of durable hard coin. Heck, you could easily double them up and say that materials that are difficult to impossible to conjure up make the best receptacles for enchanting, for the same underlying reason.

05-19-2024, 09:08 PM	#3
hal Join Date: Aug 2004	Re: GURPS Magic - Creating gemstones Part of the issue is the low energy costs involved. Simple fixes would have been to give a duration for Earth to Stone, or Stone to Metal instead of instant or permanent. Had the energy costs been per pound instead of cubic yards, that would be better. Had there been a higher energy cost for gold as opposed to tin, that would help. As written, any spell, such as inquired about by the Original Poster, should include higher energy costs and skill penalties to where creating certain gemstones are harder to do than others, and take it from there. One could even go the route of treating variant spells as techniques such that creating rubies is base spell-6, but one can study a technique to produce a given gemstone with a given clarity, etc. A success by a given amount creates an average color, clarity, lack of visible fracture lines and is seeming worth X dollars per carat. The problem still remains: Player characters can create wealth out of nothing.