“Enchanting” is the process of creating a magic item using spells from the Enchantment college. Enchantments must be performed using Ceremonial Magic (p. 12). Unlike most Ceremonial spells, however, enchantments can be performed alone (though most enchanters take advantage of the benefits of assistants). Lone enchanters cannot gain a skill bonus for using extra energy. To perform enchantments, the caster and any assistants must know both the Enchant spell and the specific spell being put on the item at an effective skill of 15 or better. Unskilled spectators cannot contribute energy to an enchantment.
Enchanting always requires time and energy. A particular enchantment might also require a specific item or material (e.g., a gem), or the expenditure of cash for “generic” magic supplies.
A given magic item may carry any number of spells. Each one requires a separate enchantment. The presence of an enchantment has no effect on later enchantments.
Power of a Magic Item
Each magic item has a “Power,” which is set upon creation. An item’s Power equals the caster’s effective skill with either the Enchant spell or the spell contained in the item – whichever is lower. The skill penalty for low mana does not apply when determining an item’s Power. Since enchanting is ceremonial magic, the caster can spend extra energy to raise his effective skill, and hence the Power of the item.
Record Power for each magic item created or found (to learn the Power of a found item, the PCs must use Analyze Magic). If an item has several spells on it, each spell has its own Power. Whenever it would be important to know the skill level of a spell cast by a magic item, use the item’s Power.
An item’s Power must be 15 or more for the item to work. Apply a temporary -5 to Power in a low-mana area; thus, an item with less than Power 20 will not work at all in a low-mana zone. No magic item works in a no-mana region!
Success Rolls for Enchanting
The GM makes all rolls to enchant magic items. As with other ceremonial magic, a roll of 16 fails automatically and a roll of 17-18 is a critical failure.
On a success, the item is enchanted. On a critical success, increase the Power of the item by 2d – and if the success roll was a natural 3, the item might have some further enhancement (GM’s discretion). The caster will know that his spell went well, but he will have to use Analyze Magic to know how well.
On a failure, the results depend on the method used to enchant the item – see below. A critical failure always destroys the item and all materials used.
This method creates a magic item quickly. It takes one hour per 100 points of energy required (round up).
Make the success roll at the end of that time. Succeed or fail, all the energy is spent when the GM rolls the dice.
A lone caster is limited to the energy provided by his FP, HP, and one Powerstone. But assistants can contribute their own FP and HP as described for ceremonial magic.
Assistants may also use one Powerstone each. The caster is at -1 to skill for each assistant; therefore, the number of assistants allowed is the number that would reduce the caster’s effective skill to 15. With more assistants, the enchantment won’t work.
If the caster uses HP to cast the spell, his effective skill is at -1 for every HP used. The same is true for assistants, but their skill does not affect the item’s power, as long as their effective skill is at least 15.
If anyone but the caster and his assistants is within 10 yards, the spell is at a further -1.
On a failure, the enchantment perverts in some way. It might acquire unpleasant side effects (see the Random Side Effects Table, p. B479), become an entirely different spell, or anything else the GM likes. The caster won’t know his spell went wrong unless he uses Analyze Magic or tries the item!
Example: Tubbs and Hawthorne decide to make some Powerstones as their first independent project, having secured three suitable gems. Hawthorne has skill 16 in Powerstone and Enchant, while Tubbs has 15 in both, so Hawthorne does the actual casting. After the minimum hour of casting, Hawthorne rolls 12 against his effective skill of 15 – success! Each enchanter spends 10 FP. Hawthorne sets aside the newly enchanted 1-point Powerstone, and they lean back in their easy chairs to recover. Since they both have Recover Energy-15, they recover fully in 50 minutes. In an eight-hour workday, they can repeat this process four times – five if they stay an hour late. A week later, they have successfully created two 10-point Powerstones (the third gem was shattered in a critical failure, but Tubbs promises he’ll keep the cat out of the workshop from now on). The following week, a mage comes in needing an emergency replacement staff. Hawthorne selects a good length of wood, and they start enchanting. Hawthorne’s skill with the Staff spell is 17. His effective skill is 15 (-1 for Tubbs, -1 for the customer, who refuses to leave them be while they work). He rolls a 9, succeeding. He spends 8 FP and 8 points from his new Powerstone, while Tubbs spends 9 FP and 5 points from his Powerstone, for a total of the required 30 points.
Use this method when the enchanter wants to be sure it’s done right. It takes one “mage-day” per point of energy required. A mage-day represents a full eight-hour workday for one mage. For instance, an item that requires 100 energy points would take one mage 100 days, two mages 50 days, and so on. A mage may work on only one enchantment at a time; he may not “work two shifts,” either on the same or different items.
All of the caster’s assistants must be present every day. If a day’s work is skipped or interrupted, it takes two days to make it up. Loss of a mage ends the project!
Make the success roll at the end of the last day. There is no FP or HP cost to the enchanters – they invested the energy gradually as the spell progressed.
On a failure, the enchantment didn’t work. The time was wasted, and any materials used in the spell are lost.
(Exception: If the mage was adding a spell to an already-enchanted item, it is unharmed, though extra materials are lost.)
Time spent enchanting with the Slow and Sure method counts as on-the-job training (p. B293); the enchanter must split these hours between the Enchant spell and whatever spell is being enchanted into an item.
An item may carry any number of spells; each one requires a separate enchantment. The presence of a spell on an item does not affect further enchantments. Exception: The Bane spell (p. 62) limits an item’s use, but makes it easier to enchant it further.
Placing multiple spells on a single item has advantages and disadvantages. A multiply enchanted item is easy to carry and use; dedicated Powerstones can be used by all the spells in the item. On the other hand, that single item is vulnerable. If it breaks, all the enchantments are lost... and a critical failure while adding a new enchantment destroys the item and all previous enchantments.
Some spells have “item” options that do not create an item. Typically, this entails making the spell permanent with the expenditure of substantially more energy – usually 10 or 100 times the usual casting cost. Generally, spells with this option take an area or person as their subject and thus cannot be enchanted into an item.
Nevertheless, the resulting effect is a true enchantment, and can only be removed with Remove Enchantment.
Some magical items are not created by enchanters. Alchemists can create a variety of enduring objects with magical power – alchemical amulets and talismans, homunculi, and the philosopher’s stone, to name a few (see pp. 220-221 for details). Other items become magical spontaneously; very-high-mana zones sometimes generate magic items with weird and potent abilities.
Remove Enchantment and Suspend Enchantment will still work on these items, but at a -2 unfamiliarity penalty.
If a mage is interrupted while enchanting using the Slow and Sure method, note the following:
He will be fatigued. Assume he will be missing 1d FP.
He must keep concentrating on his enchantment; therefore, any other spell use is at -3. (If he stops concentrating, he loses the day’s work.) A wizard who is bothered while not actively working on his enchantment is at no disadvantage!
When wizards become frustrated with the availability of magic items in their world, they will likely look into producing their own. If the GM feels that a particular item is too easy to make, or might imbalance the campaign, many approaches can make the item’s creation more difficult.
Rare Materials: Many items demand specific materials for their enchantment. The GM could change these to rarer and more precious ingredients. In addition to making it more difficult and costly to enchant the item, the search for rare ingredients can become an adventure unto itself.
Side Effects: Enchantments are unpredictable. After making an item, the PCs might discover that odd things happen whenever they use their new toy. Further obscure rituals or precautions might be necessary to make the item safe.
Additional Expenses: The GM may simply raise the cost of making magic items, demanding that more expensive materials be consumed in the item’s manufacture. This is not the same as demanding rare ingredients – the additional material is readily available, but expensive. Perhaps a workshop similar to the type required for spell research (p. 15) is required for enchantment.