Alchemy trumps magic?

[alsih2o]

I have the urge for an alchenical magic drain. I want a difficult to make alchemical substance that can be hurled like a tanglefoot bag and drains magic from items.

But I kinda suck at the mechanics end.

Can anyone help with a semi-balanced alchemical-substance-that-drains-magic thingy?

I appreciate any input. I see it as somehting like a to hit, then 1-3 rounds to drain a +1, so on, so forth, but I am willing to work with what folks can do

 

[Crothian]

That's a cool idea. I would personal require the use of a specific power component for this type of item since just a high DC and lot of gold might not be enough to really balance it all out. Are you looking for a permanent drain, or a temporary one?

 

[alsih2o]

well, I was satisfied wiht my idea but now, thanks to Crothian, I would really like a permanent and a temporary one. Maybe something that just inhibitted the magic for a few rounds?

 

[Crothian]

Do you like the power component required idea, or do you want it to be more general and just have a DC and gold piece value?

 

[alsih2o]

I am open, a rare or expensive component could be really cool.

 

[frankthedm]

Disenchanter saliva and powdered tounge mixed with dwarfin blood and powdered lead salt crystals. goopy mess thats toxic and leaches magic from an item

 

[Nifft]

Windghosts (MM2) have a natural anti-magic field, and they're not as lame as Disenchanters.

-- N

 

[tarchon]

If it's temporary, treating it like a something dispel magic potion is probably fairly balanced. A permanent effect would be a lot trickier.

 

[JimAde]

Mechanically it sounds like you want to have effects similar to Dispel Magic and Mage's Disjunction. So that gives you some idea where to go on costs. I would think the costs would be comparable to a scroll since the alchemical item is more generally usable (anybody can throw one) but you have to roll to hit, etc.

But maybe not. Actually I have a type of magic item in my game that is mechanically similar, so I'd be interested to hear opinions on whether a cost similar to a scroll is balanced.

 

[Conaill]

Green Ronin's "Races of Renown: Plot & Poison" has a really good section on "Creating alchemical items with spell effects".

First, you figure out the market price of a single-use magical item for that spell, i.e. spell level x caster level x 50 for 3rd level or lower spells, x 100 for higher level spells.

The market price for the alchemical item will be 2.1 times the market price of the equivalent magical item. [This means that the alchemist will pay just as much in raw materials as the magical crafter would pay in materials plus XP]

For a Dispel Magic alchemical item, that would mean a market price of 3 x 5 x 50 x 2.1 = 1575 gp

For DC, they recommend using your own judgement and comparison with existing items. Spell effect items should typically be considered complex or superior items, so minimum DC 20. As a rule of thumb, they suggest to add the spell level to that, so total DC would be 23.

I would pick a DC that's a bunch higher though. There are *very* few published items with a market price over 500, and those typically have DC's of 35-45.

Third DC approach: figure at around what level you want this item to become available for a dedicated alchemist. I figure 1st level alchemists can handle DC's close to 20, 20th level alchemists close to DC 50. So set the DC for the item to 20 + lvl x 1.5. You want this item to become feasible around lvl 16? DC = 20 + 16 x 1.5 = 44.


If you want something a lot lower-powered, Lords of Darkness has a "Witchweed Stick" which creates a 10' cube of light smoke (no concealment), forcing a Concentration check DC 15 + spell lvl to cast arcane spells. Lasts for 5 rnds.