Do you like XP costs for magic item creation?

Do you like XP costs for magic item creation?

  • Yes, I do.

    Votes: 59 29.5%
  • No, I don't.

    Votes: 141 70.5%

I generally think of level as having the most to do with life force (which relates strongly to HP and barely at all with Con). Attacks based around snuffing out someone's life tend to bypass HP (Finger of Death/necromancy effects, Enervation/level drain). So then XP in the sense of 'fractions of a level' would also relate strongly to life force.


Actually HP has the most to do with your "life force" in terms of how things typically work. Take your Finger of Death example, What happens when you make your save? You lose HP's. Not XP's. What happens when you lose levels? You also lose HP's, including CON bonus', which directly modify HP's.

So I can see how people can link strength to level, but I see a much stronger link to HP and their CON bonus, or penalty.
 

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Maybe it's just the simulationist in me, or maybe a violation of versimilitude (if I'm using the word correctly:blush:), but how does researching and accomplishing a project cause you to LOSE experience? Shouldn't you gain experience? To me, it's one of those instances where logic and "the rules" clash.
 

To the OP, absolutely not.

For me, I don't even use XP in my game at all. So, even if I liked the mechanic, it wouldn't be an option, since XP doesn't exist in my game.

It's an artificial solution to an in-game problem. I believe it represents sheer unadulterated laziness on the part of the 3.0 developers.

It's why I wrote the Artificer's Handbook.

Download an abbreviated version of those rules here:

http://www.mediafire.com/?hmj2zmwundk
 

Maybe it's just the simulationist in me, or maybe a violation of versimilitude (if I'm using the word correctly:blush:), but how does researching and accomplishing a project cause you to LOSE experience? Shouldn't you gain experience? To me, it's one of those instances where logic and "the rules" clash.

The idea is that you are imbuing the magic item with a fraction of your own lifeforce (or whatever you use to rationalize xp in your games). Besides, item creation would be broken if it allowed you to access magic gear at a fraction of the market price, and gain xp in the process...;)
 

The idea is that you are imbuing the magic item with a fraction of your own lifeforce

Then lose HP instead. XP is in no way a measure of "lifeforce", nor some midochlorian counter.

This is where the past had CON loss to show a portion of "life energy" given up to the creation process, since HP is too easily recovered.
 

I think for me, I'd prefer to use something more like this:

When creating magic items, casters imbue a bit of themselves (spirit, magical energy, lifeforce, etc.) into the item. But, with the innate survival that all living things have, casters won't release enough of their lifeforce to adversely affect themselves (usually). So, limiting how often a caster can create (imbue) a magic item, based on level or XP of the item, makes more sense to me.

Making items more often than the caster is able to recover would result in adverse effects (temporary loss of HP, temporary reduction of Constitution, temporary reduction in caster level, etc.). Although, it is possible (and narratively modeled in some fiction) for a caster to sacrifice all of his energy into the creation of an item, thereby killing himself (or becoming one with the force;)).


But, I think I would grant XP after the successful completion of a project.:cool: The limiting factor would be how often the caster can actually create an item.



I've never really thought about this indepth before (I've never had a PC wanting to make a magic item), but this thread has got me thinking. I'll probably make something up along the above lines, when and if I have a PC that wants to do this.
 

Why not just lose a few high level spell uses under vancian (or maybe the use of at-will and daily powers for 4th)?

Then it takes X days to regain their use equal to the level of item created.

There, you give of yourself, and can gain XP in the process and fluffwise it even makes sense. It doesn't harm the party anymore than normal healing does.

How badly did you want to wait for that new magic item?
 

Why not just lose a few high level spell uses under vancian (or maybe the use of at-will and daily powers for 4th)?

Then it takes X days to regain their use equal to the level of item created.

There, you give of yourself, and can gain XP in the process and fluffwise it even makes sense. It doesn't harm the party anymore than normal healing does.

How badly did you want to wait for that new magic item?

Dude, you just made it work for 3E and 4E. Nice.:cool:





P.S.: Threads like this are what I love about ENWorld.
 
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