Changing Item Creation

[IndyPendant]

I want to make item creation more accessible to players. 8 feats--some of which suck horribly--seems way too high a cost for making items, and there are flaws in the item creation process themselves. Therefore, I have created these rules which I am submitting to you for feedback. As usual, my goal has been to make the rules changes as easy to understand as possible, with as little work required by me as possible as well. This one's a bit complex though, so I am looking both for positive and negative feedback, and also for anything I may have failed to consider when designing these rules.

Thanks.

I have totally redone the Item Creation feats. They are in my feats file, but I have listed them here so you can examine them together with the new rules. There are now five base Item Creation feats, and three more feats that enhance the process. Here is a list of them. At the bottom of this file I have put a window in that describes the feats in detail, if you're interested.

Craft Charged Item
Craft Continuous and Item
Craft Magic Arms and Armour
Craft Single-Use Item
Craft Use-Per-Day Item
Fast Item Creation
Magic Artisan
Tap Item

Some item creation rules have also been changed. They are listed here:

--Sharing Prerequisites:
You do not have to be a spellcaster to create magic items anymore. Instead, you pay the xp cost as normal, but you or another character can be designated as the character who meets the item’s creation prerequisites (i.e. caster level, spells known, etc). If an item does not have a spell requirement (i.e. flat +1-5 bonuses to armour and weapons), then you can replace all Caster Level prerequisites with Character Level.

Let me provide an example. A 12th level elven fighter wants to create Boots of Elvenkind, a +3 Large Shield, and Gloves of Dexterity +2. Assuming he has the appropriate feats, he can create the Boots and the Shield himself, using his character level, since neither of those items have a spell as a prerequisite. However, the fighter would need to hire someone to help him create the Gloves, and he would use that assistant’s caster level (and not character level) to determine if he meets the prerequisites.

Everyone involved in the creation of the magic item must be present the entire time, as per standard SRD rules, and they must be willing participants. Should any questionable situations arise, I will resolve them on a case-by-case basis.

--Wands and Staves:
If you use the Craft Charged Item feat to create a staff with a base caster level (and calculated base creation cost) of 8th level or higher, then you can apply the standard SRD Staff benefits to that item. You are not limited in spell selection for your staff (i.e. by theme or groups of spells), and you can place only one spell in the staff if you wished.

Each wand is limited to a single spell of 4th level or less. You can have each use of the wand drain more than one charge, and reduce the wand’s creation cost accordingly as per staves.

--Base Cost:
For items that duplicate spell effects, the base price of the magic item, usually determined by its minimum caster level, remains unchanged. However, for most spells you receive significantly less benefit from increasing the caster level of the spell, compared to the base caster level. Therefore, if you want to increase the caster level of a magic item from its base, this increase only costs ½ the standard price. The exception to this rule is if the increase in caster level increases the dice of damage done by the spell in a straight 1-to-1 ratio (i.e. Cone of Cold, Shocking Grasp, etc). For these items, the increase in caster level is not reduced in cost. All staves have a minimum caster level of 8th for the purposes of calculating base cost (or higher if the spell is of higher level.)

Let me provide two examples. A wand of Magic Missile cast at 9th caster level would cost {(1*1*750)base+(8*1*750)increase/2=} 3,750gp, instead of 6,750gp. A wand of Fireballs cast at 10th level would be calculated normally, costing the full price of 22,500gp.

--Weapon and Armour minimum bonus:
You don’t need to put a minimum +1 bonus to a magic weapon or armour, to give it special abilities (like Shock or Fortification). The weapon or armour must still be of masterwork quality to receive any magical enhancements, and if a weapon does not have at least a +1 bonus, then it does not count as a magic weapon for the purposes of damage reduction.

--Artificers:
Artificers still progress through their crafting abilities as per their class description in the Eberron Campaign Setting. (Thus their abilities no longer perfectly match the Item Creation Feats themselves.)

And here are the feats themselves:

[B]Craft Charged Item [Item Creation][/B]
Source: Heavily adapted from Arcana Unearthed
Prerequisite: Character level 3rd.
Benefit: You can create any item that has limited charges, but can be used
more than once, whose prerequisites you meet (i.e. Wands, Staves, Necklace
of Fireballs, etc).  See my House Rules file for details of my changes to the
Item Creation rules.
Special: This feat includes both Craft Staff and Craft Wand, and replaces both
of those feats for the purposes of prerequisites.

[B]Craft Continuous Item [Item Creation][/B]
Source: Heavily adapted from Arcana Unearthed
Prerequisite: Character level 5th.
Benefit: You can create any item that is always in effect, excluding weapons,
armour, and shields, whose prerequisites you meet (i.e. most rings and
wondrous items).  See my House Rules file for details of my changes to the
Item Creation rules.
Special: This feat includes both Forge Ring and Craft Wondrous Item, and
replaces both of those feats for the purposes of prerequisites.

[B]Craft Magic Arms and Armour [Item Creation][/B]
Source: Heavily adapted from Arcana Unearthed
Prerequisite: Character level 5th.
Benefit: You can create any magic weapon, armor, or shield whose
prerequisites you meet.  See my House Rules file for details of my
changes to the Item Creation rules.

[B]Craft Single-Use Item [Item Creation][/B]
Source: Heavily adapted from Arcana Unearthed
Prerequisite: None.
Benefit: You can create any item that can only be used once, whose
prerequisites you meet (i.e. scrolls, potions, oils, dusts, contingent spells
(see Complete Arcane p. 139), Feather Tokens, Manuals, etc).  See my
House Rules file for details of my changes to the Item Creation rules.
Special: This feat includes both Scribe Scroll and Brew Potion, and
replaces both of those feats for the purposes of prerequisites.  Wizards
start with this feat instead of Scribe Scroll.

[B]Craft Use-Per-Day Item [Item Creation][/B]
Source: Heavily adapted from Arcana Unearthed
Prerequisite: Character level 3rd.
Benefit: You can create any item that has a limited usage per day, whose
prerequisites you meet (i.e. Tattoos (see my House Rules file), Eberron
eternal wands, Metamagic Rods, Boots of Speed, Ring of Elemental
Command, etc).  See my House Rules file for details of my changes to the
Item Creation rules.
Special: This feat includes most rods, and replaces Craft Rod for the
purposes of prerequisites.  

[B]Fast Item Creation [Item Creation][/B]
You can create items faster
Source: Adapted from the Netbook of Feats.
Prerequisites: Any Item Creation Feat
Benefit: You increase the daily rate at which you create magical items by
1000 gp.
Normal: All spellcasters normally create items at the rate of 1000 gp per
day.
Special: This feat can be taken several times. Each time it is chosen,
you add 1000 gp to the value of magical items you can create in a day.

[B]Magical Artisan [Item Creation][/B]
Source:  The Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting
Prerequisite:  Any Item Creation Feat
Benefit:  Each time you take this feat, choose one item creation feat
you know.  When determining your cost in XP and raw materials for
creating items with this feat, multiply the base cost by 75%.
Special: You can gain this feat multiple times. Its effects do not stack.
Each time you take the feat, you must choose a different Item
Creation feat.

[B]Tap Item [Item Creation][/B]
You may draw upon the power of other magic items to create new items.
Source: Adapted from the Netbook of Feats.
Prerequisites: Any Item Creation feat.
Benefit: When creating a new magic item, you may draw any amount of the XP
cost from other, existing items of the same type.  The items from which the
energy is taken are destroyed in the process, and they cannot be artifacts.
The maximum XP that can be drawn from any one item is equal to half the XP
needed to create that item. (If an item has charges, its XP value is
reduced in proportion to the charges used up.)

 

[whydirt]

I like your idea and think it would work well!

I've been wanting to do something similar for my game, so I'll share it with you as an alternative. My thought was to eliminate the requirement for the Item Creation feats to make an item, but make them cost twice the amount of XP to do so. The Item Creation feats would them serve as specializations for those who wish to craft many items.

However, I would add a requirement of having an appropriate Craft skill at a minimum rank based on the item type and equivalent spell level's being used in item. Here's a rough draft on what I'd require:

Magic Item/Required Craft Ranks
Spell-completion: 2
Single Use: 4
Charged: 6
Weapon or Armor: 6
Constant: 13
Spell Level Used: +0-9

This would allow a master swordsmith to craft a +1 weapon with 7 ranks of Craft (Weapons) if he had someone available to cast Magic Weapon. I'd also allow the character with the Craft ranks to split the XP cost with the spellcaster if they were separate individuals.

 

[wuyanei]

IMC I do something similar, except the Item Creation feats are divided by activation method:

Craft Spell-trigger Item
Craft Spell-completion Item
Craft Spell-storage Item (potions, Necklace of Fireballs, Necklace of Copper Coils etc)
Craft Command Word Item (anything that replicates a spell with a command word)
Craft Use-activated Item (Metamagic Rods, Cubes of force etc. items that do not actually emulate a spell)

and a special catagory:
Craft Continuous Enhancement (Armor, Weapons, Cloaks of Charisma etc)

Some items will require two or more item creation feats to make. A rare few items need no feat at all. I judge on a case-by-case basis, so I do not claim that this method is complete.

 

[Kerrick]

Interesting. I think "Use-per-day Item" would fall under "charged item," since it effectively has charges (uses per day).

I like the fact that weapons/armor/shields don't have to be +1 to have powers - I've always though that was a stupid rule. We decided that an item doesn't have to be MW to be enchanted, but we also added a craftsmanship bonus - depending on how well-crafted the item is, it increases the bonuses (attack rolls, armor check penalty, etc.)

You do not have to be a spellcaster to create magic items anymore. Instead, you pay the xp cost as normal, but you or another character can be designated as the character who meets the item’s creation prerequisites (i.e. caster level, spells known, etc). If an item does not have a spell requirement (i.e. flat +1-5 bonuses to armour and weapons), then you can replace all Caster Level prerequisites with Character Level.

I really like this - it explains how Bruenor (from the Driz'zt books) made Wulgar a warhammer without having any spellcasting levels at all. High-level crafters SHOULD be able to do stuff like that - spellcasters are more oriented toward making wands, rods, and other magic items, IMO.

 

[KingOfChaos]

I really like this - it explains how Bruenor (from the Driz'zt books) made Wulgar a warhammer without having any spellcasting levels at all. High-level crafters SHOULD be able to do stuff like that - spellcasters are more oriented toward making wands, rods, and other magic items, IMO.

I kinda wonder if that wasn't some strange racial ability of the dwarven clan Bruenor was the leader of since in the book it was explained that his people only made one perfect item in their lifetime and every item thereafter seemed somehow flawed and disappointing.

 

[NewLifeForm]

Interesting...

My campaign uses a much, much simpler system. I don't recommend it to everyone, but I wanted the type of feel you get in the World of Warcraft MMORPG. We have feats like Create Potion, Create Magic Armor, Create Magic Weapon, Create Magic Item, Create Magic Gear (Steampunk/Magic Technology - Tinker Gnome stuff). The PC's ranks in skills such as Knowledge Arcana, Spellcraft, Craft and Profession then contribute to what they can make.

The prerequisites for these feats are normally at least 2 levels in a certain Class, at least 1 skill in two or more knowledges, etc.

For example, a potion that heals 1D8 hp might require Create Potion, Knowledge Arcana 3, Knowledge Alchemy or Herbalism 3 and the right components. A potion that heals 3D8 might require Create Potion, Arcana 6, Alchemy/Herbalism 6 and Profession (Apothacary) of at least 1.

That's just an example. I have a more detailed breakdown somewhere, but we're pretty flexible at my table

This system really helps the party work together, since a magic sword may need feats and skills that are possessed by only a Warrior AND a Wizard.

Later Days,
NewLifeForm

"It's life Jim, but not as we know it..."

 

[der_kluge]

You could check out the Artificer's Handbook. It has three core item creation feats, and a couple of other helper feats, which can augment the process.

 

[IndyPendant]

Hmm, thanks guys. By the feedback, I take it nothing's extremely overpowered here. (Which tells me just how utterly weak the SRD Item Creation feats are!)

On further thought tho, and on considering the feedback, I'm thinking now of dropping the number of feats down to five total: Create Single-Use Item, Create Charged Item (now including Create Use-per-Day Item), and Create Continuous Item (now including Create Arms & Armour)--with Fast Item Creation and Magical Artisan rounding it out.

I love the idea of using skills in Item Creation--but that would be far too complex for my purposes. I want something that can be detailed in a few paragraphs. So no go on that one, unfortunately.

Any further comments? Thanks to the six of you that have given feedback so far...: )

 

[ChrisHaines]

You might check out this post of mine:
http://www.enworld.org/showthread.php?t=132193

I consolidated all the creation feats into one, which not many people agree with. You mgiht still be able to alter it to use with XPs. I like the idea of adding the Craft(Magic Item) skill to the creation process, you might like it too.