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Enchanted Trinkets Complete--a hardcover book containing over 500 magic items for your D&D games!

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Message: <blockquote data-quote="AntiStateQuixote" data-source="post: 2267861" data-attributes="member: 30770">[Disclaimer]I've never actually played or DMed at Epic levels, so take this with a grain, er, um, slab of salt.[/Disclaimer] OK, so the time to create epic magic items is a problem? I wouldn't think so. What's wrong with it taking months . . . or years to craft the grand sword of ever-special doom (TM) that is likely a totally unique item that does not have many (or any) near equivalents in the campaign world or even in the multiverse? How long did it take to forge Stormbringer or Excalibur? How long did it take to craft the One Ring? How long did it take to create the Dragon Orbs? Remember that the +6 flaming holy vorpal great sword is a weapon the few mortals can even begin to craft. I'm assuming there are very few (if any) epic level spell casters in the campaign world when the PCs reach such levels. I'm also assuming that not all of the NPC epic level casters can craft epic magic items. Certainly none of them can craft all types of epic magic items. So, we have a very limited supply of individuals capable of crafting this monstrous item. The item is effectively unique. In most DnD games +1 long swords are very common. Hundreds (thousands?) of them exist in the campaign world. But there may be zero epic magical weapons if the PCs don't craft them. So, in order to meet the super-scary massive multi-verse threatening challenge of the century (also TM) the PCs are going to have to prepare. They must create the grand sword of ever-special doom (TM) in order to handle the threat. Remember, EL 21+ threats don't happen every day (month, year, decade?). In all likelihood the PCs spend a great deal of downtime between threats of significance. They should certainly have the time to build their own unique magical items of epic power which will enable them to meet the next appropriate level challenge. This kind of touches on another thread . . . 30th level at 21 (<a href="http://www.enworld.org/showthread.php?t=133012" target="_blank">http://www.enworld.org/showthread.php?t=133012</a>). In this thread the author complains that his PCs reached 30th level by age 21. So, in a span of a handful of years there were enough threats to the village/town/country/region/world/multi-verse to advance four PCs to 30th level? What would the world have done if they hadn't been around? Surely their aren't dozens (hundreds?) of people gaining such experience in such a short time span. If that's the case then it seems that these threats that came along in such rapid succession were tailor-made for the PCs. Well, of course, they were, by the DM, but that makes the world rather unbelievable. Maybe the DM in that campaign (and the one that started this thread) needs to slow things down. Should there really be a challenge of earth-shattering (EL 21+) proportions often enough that the PCs can't spend six months crafting items between adventures? Finally, there was some discussion of the cash necessary to build epic magical items. Sure it takes a lot of  to build the grand sword of ever-special doom (TM). It does not necessarily take raw materials that are available locally. What if you make acquiring the raw materials part of the challenge and potentially an adventure? I know this is not an original idea, but [rant type='explicitly not one' reason='I love DnD 3.x'] with the advent of item creation feats in DnD 3.x magic item creation has become formulaic. Forging a mighty magical weapon is no longer a thing of mystery and challenge. It's a simple matter of getting together the cash, spending some time and burning the XP.[/rant] So, how about making the 1,000,000 gp worth of raw materials needed to craft the epic item actually be something the PCs have to go find? You can't buy it in the city. You probably can't sell it in the city either. Someone would probably trade something worth 1,000,000 gp for this raw material, but it's unlikely you could just go buy it and sell it at the Local Wizard's Shop (TM). That being the case, you now have a potential adventure (go find the whatsit that's necessary to build the magic item) AND you don't have some gross distortion of a world's economy just because a PC wants an epic sword. In conclusion, the time and money to craft unique magical items of awe-inspiring power like the grand sword of ever-speical doom (TM) is not outrageous. It should take a long time to craft such items and the money used to craft them is not actually money.</blockquote>

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