House Rules to deal with the XP Penalty for item creation

[Bagpuss]

Of course, our group cooperates pretty closely. My cleric enchants the fighter's armor, because he knows that it will help the fighter (a) live, and (b) keep him safe. That's reward enough.

Well our non-spellcasters have convinced our spellcaster not to create potions or scrolls or wands, etc. Because it will mean they will fall behind the party in level, thus have less spells available and spell slots available, and thus be less useful.

Our group also co-operates, and they don't like the idea of the cleric having the take a XP penalty so that the fighter can benifit with say a Bull's Strength potion.

I guess they are focusing on the penalty aspect too much.

 

[Drawmack]

IMC magic items are ''bound'' to the person who puts their xp into it.

Binding means that the item performs better for that individual and if the item is in hand at the moment of death the person's spirit passes into that weapon.

For Example: If you are bound to a sword it will be a +2 sword but if you are not then it will be a +1 sword. There are also other things you can do like maybe it's always a +2 sword but for the person bound to it the sword will also cast fireball 1/day.

This means that whoever will be bound to the weapon has to hold the weapon during the final moments of the creation. Thereby sending their xp into the item instead of the caster's

There are caster's who make ''unbound'' items. These do not require xp but rather the bark of an ugath tree which only grows in the high norther marshes which are inhabited by hill giants. They require enough to make 5 items before they'll even think about making an item specifically for you.

 

[nameless]

The other players should probably look at how small the xp cost really ends up being. An +2 sword costs 8,000 gp (half that to the PC, since he's crafting), but only 240 xp. Assuming the minimum caster level (6th), 240 xp is a drop in the bucket.

I find the biggest hindrance to magic item creation is time, and DMs house ruling. Often, a party isn't given a week off for item creation during an entire campaign. Also, many DMs weaken the feats by forcing them to research new items before creating them. I say they're balanced and the DMs are messing with forces they don't understand... IMHO, FWIW, etc.

 

[ichabod]

I have something similar in effect to Drawmack's system. I assume that all permanent items are intelligent, which means they all have an alignment. Their alignment is based on the person who gave xp for the item, the idea being that they put part of their soul into the item. If the alignment is the same as yours, no problem. If the alignment differs, you have to make a will save each day (based on the cost and difference in alignments) in order to make the item work for you. There is a third level spell that allows a caster to use any willing target's xp for the item creation. If you have an item using your xp, there is no problem controlling the item, even if you later change alignment (the item is a part of you, so it changes also).

This encourages the non-casters to contribute xp to items when they have them made, evening out the xp discrepancies. It also affects the market, as dealers in magic items will only have used permanent items around, and not many of those as they are harder to sell. This makes the "I go buy 50K gp worth of items" issue disappear, as they have to commission any permanent items.

 

[Alchemist]

To sidestep this problem in our last campaign I invented an artifact that "stored" xp when a character placed his hand on it and willed the transfer. This xp could only be withdrawn from the artifact for the purposes of powering magic item creation, and could only be given into the thing willingly to prevent the devious members from forcing/charming/tricking people into giving up their xp.

In essence, it was an xp battery for creation. So if the fighter wanted a new sword, he would cough up the xp for it. If the cleric was going to make a wand of cure x wounds, everybody chipped in a share of the xp cost. It worked fabulously, even to the point where everybody agreed to tithe into the thing after every session.

I made it a pain in the ass, though. It took the form of a stone pillar and weighted something in the order of 1000 lbs. This made it less than mobile, and induced the party to unload cash for a fortress to keep the thing in. So many opportunities to muck them around. Too bad we called it off before my plans could come to fruition. Next time.

 

[kreynolds]

Okay what are the FRCS rules for awarding XP.

You can check it out here.

Basically, if you're lower level than the rest of the party, you'll earn more XP than them, thus you'll catch up pretty quickly.

 

[Ace]

Although both the casters in my group, have take item creation feats, neither of them are now using them, as the other non-caster have convienced them that they aren't worth the XP penalty, as they will end up levels behind the rest of the party.

I can kind of see their point as well. So now they feel they have wasted feats. Has anyone else come across this situation and do you have house rules for it?

Why is the penalty there in the first place?

I would suggest using the power components optional rule from the DMG. Let the player have his charcter buy the stuff for minor items (scrolls etc) and hunt around for the big stuff

If the player wants to make say a flaming burst flail --- tell him he will need to be 'x' level and will need wood consecrted in a sacred fire, lether boiled in holy oil (for the handle wrap) meteroic iron and blood of a fire elemental. Just getting those things is an adventure. Afterowrds he will need *item cost8 in mundane components and *item time* to make it

Not only does it provide a decent balance on item making it also fixes the xp problem.

 

[Hecatæus]

Evil things which drain levels might also allow one to use xp from non item creating casters.

Indeed the evil use of such monsters, spells, and items is a basic part of a campaign I am now writing up.