Enchanting
How magical items are made — relics, potions, scrolls, and enchanted ammunition. Magic items are rare, costly, and slow to produce.
Magical Items
Enchanted items are a mainstay of fantasy roleplaying. More precious than wealth, they offer power and utility in tangible form. It is not possible to mass-produce enchanted items on anything like an industrial scale.
Cultures with a robust magical heritage slowly accrue a backlog of magical items via cottage craft. However, this should never lead players to conclude that permanent magic items are plentiful or easy to obtain. Like all tools, they are created — and the process dictates their scarcity.
Relics
Permanent magic items are hard to create. There are two basic methods.
| Method | Requirements | Tiers |
|---|---|---|
| Ritual | The artificer first performs a divination to learn what reagents and feats must be performed. Such things must be done at a specific place and time, even for items with well-documented effects. Every permanent magical item is a quest. | All tiers. Tier 5 & 6 can ONLY be created this way. |
| Seclusion | An 11th-level or higher spellcaster spends months in seclusion with a list of special materials harvested under special circumstances. Materials are always worth at least 1000 silver per tier of the item (often more). | Tier 4 and below. |
Note. Most powerful casters produce only a handful of magical items throughout their careers, often after retirement.
Potions
Potions can be crafted by characters of any level, but several conditions must be met:
- 01
The creator must be a spellcaster or have the Alchemist perk.
- 02
The creator must have a workshop or alchemistry suitable for potion creation.
- 03
The creator must have access to magical reagents appropriate to the type of potion made.
- 04
The creator must invest 100 silver AND one full day of work per tier of the potion.
- 05
The creator cannot brew a potion of a higher tier than their proficiency modifier.
- 06
The creator cannot simultaneously brew and monitor more potions than their proficiency modifier.
Once a potion is mixed, it requires close monitoring for at least one hour a day to ensure that all the steps of the multi-stage brewing process are observed. Failure to do so for even a single day causes the potion to be ruined, and the reagents and investment to be lost.
Note. You can make batches of potions, but they require a stable workspace and downtime.
Scrolls
Scrolls are ritually prepared papers infused with the magic of a single spell. This magic can be released later by a spellcaster of the appropriate class and level, after which the paper burns up. Most scrolls contain spells that a caster would either not prepare normally or might desperately need in an emergency.
Scrolls can only be authored by spellcasters capable of casting the spells they contain. The creator must invest 100 silver per level of the scroll (plus the cost of any reagents) and a single day of work. The creator cannot record a spell of higher level than their proficiency modifier, so spells of 7th level and higher cannot be created. Certain ancient and fantastically powerful beings may surpass this limit at the narrator's discretion.
Inflicts three levels of exhaustion on the spellcaster. Each can only be removed by a full day of rest or light activity — they cannot be removed by magic. Creating scrolls too frequently is known to cause premature aging; most NPC spellcasters avoid producing more than one scroll a month.
Note. It only takes a day, but it's expensive — and if you do it more than once a month or so it messes you up.
Ammo & Trinkets
Magical ammunition and trinkets may be crafted by characters of any level, but several conditions must be met:
- 01
The creator must be a spellcaster capable of casting spells of a level equal to or greater than the tier of the item.
- 02
The creator must invest 100 silver per item tier and work a full day to enchant either one trinket or 20 pieces of ammunition.
- 03
The creator must obtain the correct reagents and/or be capable of casting spells similar to the effect being imparted.