Why Magic Items Are Rare in Inzeladun
by
Vincent N. Darlage

I think the DM should only introduce magic items that enhance the story being told. Each item should be unique and have a history. And each should have a cost to its use. I like the Alienism rules in the PO: Spells and Magic book.

Of course, I grew up reading Robert E. Howard (Conan, Kull, Soloman Kane, et.al.); Clark Ashton Smith; Tolkien; Washington Irving; Michael Moorcock; and H.P. Lovecraft. All of these authors use very sparing magic, and its use usually has a price tag attached. Side-effects and other sundry problems are the usual cost. You have to remember - Magic is power. Especially on a world where magic is rare.

Rulers of kingdoms would pay dearly to have magic at their beck and call, so heroes that display a lot of magic usually find themselves hunted. Magic-users tend to become corrupted by their power, abusing it, and so people tend to hate magic-users of all sorts.

Heck, on my world, a priest who casts spell is likely to be mobbed by the poor and destitute. Crowds would follow them around everywhere they went. So priests do not display their magic in public. Of course, most priests can't use magic in my world. Only the most devout have enough faith to get spells from their deities.

Essentially, on Inzeladun, if you have magic, hide it.

You won't find people selling magic items in stores in Inzeladun (unless the poor merchant didn't know it was magic). How can you put a price tag on the Wand of Magic Missles used by Grindill the ArchMage Sovereign of Indor during the Fourth Age War of the Confederation against King Andor of Magetstar? I have had characters in my world even seek out mundane items that have been used by famed heroes in my world. One player really treasured a Two Handed sword used early in his career by the infamous Lord Komaaks Nagutsikatsenu, founder of Lamapacher, also known as The Doom Bringer. It had no magic, but he thought it was great all the same. I think the best thing to do with a campaign, whether high or low magic, is to have a strong history. I have over four hundred pages of history written for Inzeladun. And, with 18 years of playing experience, hordes of old characters and heroes for the present players to revere.

The main thing with magic is to be sure everything is balanced. If the players can easily obtain magic, then so can the bad guys. If the players have to break their backs to get something special, so do the NPC's. They won't part with something hard won.

I like large scale battles with armies, and if all sides are decked out like Christmas Trees with tons of magic, then armies are almost a waste of time. Castles are useless. A high volume of magic in the world can easily escalate into a world where nothing really makes sense to exist.

Everything in a campaign should make sense in terms of that campaign. The DM has to justify the existance of every magic item.

If magic were free and easy, then everybody would become a mage. Fighters would be few and far between. Thieves would have to learn spells because they would not be able to make much of a living if all the houses were protected with Guards and Wards or Alarm spells. There would be no reason to have castles or armor (why would anyone make magic armor if a Cloak or Ring of Protection can do the same thing?)

If magic is rare and costly, then the value of magic and the usefulness of mundane items go up. If learning magic is dangerous to the practitioner (as per Alienism rules in Spells and Magic, or any of the optional spellcasting rules), then fewer people will be willing to learn to cast magic. Look what happened to Raistlin in Dragonlance. Magic should have a cost attached to it. And then armies of warriors become important again, because the likelyhood of a given rival having a mage in his employ drops considerably.

Of couse, +1 swords pretty much drop out of the picture in a low magic world. If a mage has decided to take the penalties of magic creation, then he will usually opt to make the weapon or item as powerful as possible. And he will usually add safeguards to make sure the weapon is used for the purpose he or she intends.

High magic worlds seem, to me, to work best in comedy situations. Compare Piers Anthony's Xanth (High Magic Comedy) to Robert Jordon's Wheel of Time (Low Magic Drama). In Mr. Jordon's world, using magic will usually drive you insane if you are male, and will possibly burn you out if you are female. There are real dangers to using magic. But in Xanth, everybody has a magic item or two. Heck, magic items literally grow on trees! High magic worlds quickly become silly. But if you like silly, then that is fine. If you want a serious campaign, then I recommend low volume, high power, dangerous magic items. I have had many, many players decide their magic items were just too much for them, so they store them in vaults so that no one else can use them against them. I have had players brick up their magic items in castle walls to avoid the costs of their use and/or presence. I have had others who said, "Damn the costs, I will be powerful!" and had a blast. No matter what, the magic item was memorable.

  In a low magic campaign, you can do other neat things with mundane weapons. I have created several blacksmiths that have become famous for their weaponsmithing skills, and characters often consider it a badge of honor to have bought a weapon forged by these masters. They may not be magic, but they are often proud to be the wielder of a blade "forged by Karl the Weaponmaster of Lamapacher". (I usually give these weapons of quality a non-magical +1 to hit).

That sort of campaign "richness" is hard to get if you have a high-magic campaign where a +2 or +3 sword is fairly common.

Another reason for the rarity of magic are Dragons. Dragons LOVE magic treasure, and they often kill heroes who possess magic, and then the magic fall into their hoards, out of reach of all but the most powerful and brave of mortals.

And each magic item should have a personal touch. Like potions made by my alchemist Kulthas. Each one was made addictive, so if a person found a potion of strength made by Kulthas in a hoard somewhere and drank it (and failed the poison save), he would become addicted and would have to keep looking for potions made by Kulthas. That could be rough if the mage that made the potion died 70 years back.

Introduce a potion or two like that, and players will start to research the alchemist who made the potions they find before they go about using them.
It should be the same for every magic item. Players should WANT to know who made it and why. That is hard to do in a High-Magic campaign. But it is so easy, and so enriching, to do in a low magic campaign.

Here is an example of why magic items should be rare. Let's take a "common" magic item:

To create a Wand of Fireballs (per DMG):

1) You must be an 11th level wizard.
2) You must research the creation process. 600-6,000 gp (if you have a lab already. If not, add another 10,000gp).
3) Find out if the DM likes the Practical Method or the Fantastical Approach (see DMG). If in Inzeladun, the DM (me) requires a combination of both.
4) Gather the material components for fireballs and other materials the DM requires. In Inzeladun, this would take Sulfer, Bat Guano, the voice of an Efreeti, and the footprint of a fire elemental.
5) An appropriate vessel must be made. A wand must be carved or constructed out of the best materials available. A wand of such quality would cost about 1,000 gp.
6) The wood must be prepared for enchanting and must be dipped in rare oils and herbs (another 500 gp to procure).
7) Cast "Enchant an Item" (2+1d8 days). Place the ingrediants into the wand. Cast 100 fireball spells into the wand. Each fireball takes 6d4 hours per spell to be placed into the wand. That means 600d4 hours!
8) As a wand of fireballs is a charged item, it does not require a Permanency spell.
9) chance of success = 60% + 1%/level - 10% (for Fireball, each ingredient, etching and artwork on the wand, purifying, enchant an item, hand making the wand, wood for the wand).

So an 11th level mage would have a 61% of success after all that.

That is why magic items are rare. Considering a mage can only work 8 hours per day on a magic item, at a minimum he is taking 3 days plus 600 hours (75 days to 300 days @ 2400 hours), in addition to spending 2,100 to 7,500 gp (with an addition 10,000 if he didn't already have a lab).