Dynamic Magic Item Creation
House Rules: Power Components
Magic Items
Magic Armor and Shields
Magic Weapons
Potions
Rings
Rods
Scrolls
Staves
Wands
Wondrous Items
Table: Magic Item Price and Quality*
*Magic item price listed does not include base item price.Quality | Armor & Shield Properties | Weapon Properties | Potions | Rings | Rods | Scrolls | Staff Properties | Wand Properties | Wondrous Items |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Standard | 0–7,999 gp | 0–7,999 gp | 0–50 gp | 0–4,000 gp | 0–4,000 gp | 0–25 gp | 0–7,999 gp | 0–7,999 gp | 0–15,999 gp |
Expert | 8,000–17,999 gp | 8,000–17,999 gp | 51–150 gp | 4,001–16,000 gp | 4,001–16,000 gp | 26–525 gp | 8,000–17,999 gp | 8,000–17,999 gp | 16,000–35,999 gp |
Master | 18,000–31,999 gp | 18,000–31,999 gp | 151–750 gp | 16,001–36,000 gp | 16,001–36,000 gp | 526–1,625 gp | 18,000–31,999 gp | 18,000–31,999 gp | 36,000–63,999 gp |
Legendary | 32,000+ gp | 32,000+ gp | 751+ gp | 36,001+ gp | 36,001+ gp | 1,626+ gp | 32,000+ gp | 32,000+ gp | 64,000+ gp |
The overall quality of magic weapons, armors, shields, wands, and staves are determined by the original item's quality, regardless of the total value of any potency and property runes attached to them.
There are certain situations where you would want a low-quality magic item to be a higher quality, such to be able to attach enhancement runes to it. For magic weapons, armors, shields, staves, and wands, the base item needs to of the desired quality. However, the other two types of magic items that are used or worn (magic rings and wondrous items) have their base item already included in their magic item price. The price of a higher quality version of those items is either its current price multiplied by the quality price multipliers used for equipment or the minimum quality price for that type of magic item listed in the above table, whichever is higher. If the item's is already expert or master, divide its base price by 10 for expert or 25 for master, then multiply by the desired quallity multiplier.
Resonance
A creature's ability to interact and use the magic instilled in physical items depends on their soul's capacity to resonate with them. A creature's resonance pool is equal to their number of HD plus their class key ability score modifier (whichever is highest if there are more than one). The resonance pool is replenished after 8 continuous hours of rest. The minimum resonance pool a creature can have is 0; although rare, such creatures can be considered magically stunted.
Items that have constant effects while worn (armor, rings, worn wondrous items) or wielded (weapons) require the wearer to invest some of their resonance pool to keep them active. The invested resonance remains unavailable for use as long as the wearer wishes for their worn or wielded item to remain active. When the wearer or wielder ceases to invest resonance for a magic item while still wearing or wielding it, the item's effects persists for 24 hours before going dormant. The effects are immediately reactivated as soon as the wearer or wielded invests resonance to the item. Investing resonance is a free action, up to three items per turn; you can spend a simple action to invest in further items in the same turn.
If you are killed and then brought back to life, resonance invested in your items are lost, and you will need to rest to recover them. If you have remaining resonance, you can reinvest them into those items if need be.
Action activated magic items require resonance points to be spent per activation. If you do not have enough resonance points, the item can still be activated, but its effects are minimized with the lowest possible caster level. Items that have a limited number of uses per day can be used that number of times without spending resonance; when those daily uses are expended, you can spend resonance for additional uses.
One-time use consumable magic items do not require resonance to activate. However, you can spend a resonance point when using them to maximize the variable effects or increase its effects by 50% if their effects are temporary and not permanent.
The amount of resonance required depends on the quality of the magic item.
Table: Magic Item Resonance Cost
Quality | Resonance Cost |
---|---|
Poor | 0 |
Standard | 1 |
Expert | 2 |
Master | 3 |
Legendary | 4 |
Relation Between Resonance and Ability Scores
Strength: Magic is passive in its natural state, but a creature can use its own physical power to brute force their way to resonate with the magic in an item, and push it into an active form.
Dexterity: Balance is a natural part of magic, and a creature with quick reflexes and a good sense of equilibrium is capable of resonating with that part of magic in an item.
Constitution: As ethereal magic can be, it still requires a physical element for it to manifest in our reality. The greater the fortitude of a creature's body is, the better that creature can resonate and conduct the magic of an item.
Intelligence: The better a creature is able to understand the underlying principles of magic, the easier it is for them to resonate and activate that magic.
Wisdom: As magic is a natural, fundamental underlying part of existence, creatures with strong instincts and strong willpower are able to naturally resonate with it.
Charisma: A creature's strong personality and inner confidence can resonate with magic. They are able to harness and activate magic through sheer force of will.
Runes
Armor, shields, and weapons can be magically enchanted through the means of etched eldritch runes. These runes must be physically engraved onto the items through the magical crating process to convey their benefits. They take two forms: potency runes and property runes.
A potency rune enhances the item's effectiveness. Property runes grant more varied effects, typically powers that are constant while the armor is worn or take effect each time the item is used. The quality of the item determines the maximum power of its potency rune and the number of property runes it can have. If you want to add a potency or property rune to an item of insufficient quality, you must first increase the quality of the item, as described in the Craft skill.
Item Quality and Runes
Quality | Max Potency | Max Properties |
---|---|---|
Standard | +1 | 1 |
Expert | +2 | 1 |
Master | +3 | 2 |
Legendary | +5 | 3 |
Epic | Unlimited | Unlimited |
Transferring Runes
You can transfer runes between one item and another if you have the appropriate item creation feat. The cost of the transfer is 10% of that rune's cost. Runes being transferred become inert as soon as you begin the activity, and their benefits resume only upon completion of the activity. The recipient item must be eligible to receive the transferred rune.
Although runes are typically created directly onto the recipient item, they can be created and stored separately onto runestones, small slates of alchemically processed stone and aetherite that fit in the palm of a human hand. These slates are capable of storing a rune's magic, and allow it to be transferred to and from it. While the rune is etched into the runestone, its magic is dormant and does not manifest any of its effects. A rune stone can only contain one rune at a time, but when the rune is transferred from the runeslate to an item, the runestone becomes a blank slate and can be reused to store another rune. Transferring a rune to a runestone also costs 10% of the rune's cost, as does transferring the rune from the runestone to a recipient item. A blank runestone costs 100 gp.
Purchasing Magic Items
Aetherite Price Fluctuation
Aetherite dust is the core component of all magical crafting (and some spellcasting as well), grinded from aetherite crystals that slowly grow out of the earth along magical leylines and focal points of magical energies. It has become a vital, yet very limited resource, which nations seek to control and hoard. As such, there is significant chance that aetherite prices fluctuate and become more expensive, affecting the cost of magical items and spellcasting requiring aetherite dust.
At the start of every month, the GM will roll a d% to determine the price fluctuation. A result of 01-50 means that aetherite prices are stable, and all magic item and spellcasting costs remain as noted in their respective descriptions. For every point the result is above 50, magic item and spellcasting costs increase by 2%. If you are crafting a magic item that will take time into the next month, the base cost of your item is affected by the price fluctuation at the start of your crafting time.
Magic Item Settlement Chance
A magic item may be purchasable in a settlement if its cost is within the settlement's purchase limit. However, the chance to find a specific magic item in a settlement further depends on the number of magical buildings in the settlement and the value of the magic item. Settlements, regardless of size, start with 0% chance of finding a specific magical item. This percentage increases by certain buildings built in the settlement (+1% per minor item, +5% per medium item, +10% per major item; see Nation Building), to a maximum of 95%. After totalling the magic item chance, capping out at 95%, reduce the magic item's chance of being available in a settlement by 5% for every 1,000 gp of the item's prices (rounded up if cost is over 1,000 gp), to a minimum of 0%, meaning the item cannot be found for sale in the settlement.
You may make only percentile check for each magical item you are searching for in a settlement once per month. If the item is not available, you may make another check at the start of the following month to see if it has appeared in that settlement.
Enhancement Runes
Additional magical abilities meant to enhance your current strengths can be added to magical items. These enhancement runes behave like property runes, except that these can only be added to items that are worn by a creature, and must already be magical. The cost of these enhancement runes depend on what ability they enhance, and what kind of bonus it provides.
In addition to taking up a property rune slot, the bonus that an enhancement rune grants is limited to the quality of the base magical item. Table: Magic Item and Enhancement Runes also lists the minimum caster level to create the rune (which is also the rune's caster level).
Table: Magic Item Quality and Enhancement Runes
Bonus | Caster Level |
---|---|
+1 | 3rd |
+2 | 6th |
+3 | 9th |
+4 | 12th |
+5 | 15th |
+6 | 18th |
(+1) | (+3) |
Worn magical items are items that are worn on the following slots: armor, belt, body, chest, eyes, feet, hands, head, headband, neck, ring, shoulders, and wrists. If a magic item does not have property rune slots by default, see Table: Magic Item Quality Enhancement Rune Slots.
Table: Magic Item Quality Enhancement Runes Slots
Magic Item Quality | Number of Slots | Max Enhancement |
---|---|---|
Standard | 0 | +1 |
Expert | 1 | +2 |
Master | 2 | +3 |
Legendary | 3 | +4 |
Epic | Unlimited | Unlimited |
Table: Enhancement Rune Bonus Prices
Enhancement Type (bonus type) | Price |
---|---|
Ability score (enhancement) | bonus2 x 6,000 gp |
Armor (enhancement) | bonus2 x 4,000 gp |
DV (deflection) | bonus2 x 4,000 gp |
DV (insight) | bonus2 x 10,000 gp |
Natural armor (enhancement) | bonus2 x 4,000 gp |
Saving throws (resistance) | bonus2 x 2,000 gp |
GM's note:
Magic items from the default rules (except for magic armor, shields, and weapons) that only grant the types of bonuses as listed in Table: Enhancement Rune Bonus Prices are removed from the game. The list of removed magical items includes, but is not limited to:
Belt of giant strength
Belt of incredible dexterity
Belt of mighty constitution
Belt of physical might
Belt of physical perfection
Cloak of resistance
Headband of alluring charisma
Headband of inspired wisdom
Headband of mental prowess
Headband of mental superiority
Headband of vast intelligence
Ioun stone (crimson sphere)
Ioun stone (deep red sphere)
Ioun stone (dusty rose)
Ioun stone (incandescent blue sphere)
Ioun stone (magenta prism)
Ioun stone (onyx rhomboid)
Ioun stone (pale blue rhomboid)
Ioun stone (pink and green sphere)
Ioun stone (pink rhomboid)
Ioun stone (scarlet and blue sphere)
Ring of protection
Vest of resistance
If a magical item grants one of banned types of bonus to one or more of the banned statistics, but also has other magical properties (such as the minotaur belt and the shifter's headband), then only the banned bonus is removed, and the item's cost is reduced by half the amount as listed in Table: Enhancement Rune Bonus Prices for that type of bonus. If this would reduce the cost of the item to 0 gp or lower, then the GM will need to recalculate the cost of the item's remaining abilities.
Adding New Abilities
Sometimes, lack of funds or time make it impossible for a magic item crafter to create the desired item from scratch. Fortunately, it is possible to enhance or build upon an existing magic item. Only time, gold, and the various prerequisites required of the new ability to be added to the magic item restrict the type of additional powers one can place.
For armor, shields, and weapons, adding new abilities is done by adding property runes. The quality of the base item determines the limit of how many property runes you can add to it.
If the base item is one that occupies a specific place on a character's body, and the ability to be added is from another item that fits the same body slot, the overall cost of all abilities to that item increases by 50%. For example, if you add the power of a ring invisibility (20,000 gp) to her ring of swimming (2,500 gp), the final cost of such a ring would be the sum of both items (22,500 gp) multiplied by 1.5 (33,750 gp).
If the ability to be added comes from an item of a different body slot or is slotless, or the both the base item and the other item are slotless, the overall item price is doubled. For example, if you add the power of a ring of invisibility (20,000 gp) to a boots of elvenkind (2,500 gp), the final cost of such an item would be the sum of both items (22,500 gp) multiplied by 2 (45,000 gp).
When combining the magical properties of 3 or more worn or slotless items, calculate the sum cost using the base prices of each individual item before multiplying.
Siege Weapons
Fireball Cannon
Aura variable evocation; CL variable; Slot —; Price variable; Weight —.
Description
Cannons are siege weapons made of metal, some cast in one piece like long, narrow bells, while others are built like bundles of metallic staves welded together and reinforced with iron bands. The cannon shoots a fireball in a straight line, but must wait 5 rounds before it can fire again as it gathers magical energies. The cannon comes in two versions:
- Minor: A minor fireball cannon has CL 5th and faint evocation aura. It has a maximum range of 600 ft., deals 5d6 fire damage, and has a price of 30,300 gp.
- Major: A major fireball cannon has CL 10th and moderate evocation aura. It has a maximum range of 800 ft., deals 10d6 fire damage, and has a price of 57,300 gp.
Both versions can additionally be enhanced to have their range doubled for increase cost: 39,300 gp for the minor version, and 75,300 gp for the major version.
Construction
Feats Craft Magic Arms and Armor, Extend Spell (optional); Spells fireball; Cost 15,150 gp (minor), 28,650 gp (major), 19,650 gp (minor extended), 37,650 gp (major extended).