If item creation didn't use Xp, what should it use?

[Stalker0]

A lot of people don't like the consume xp for spells or item creation for a number of reasons.

Let's say that WOTC decided to do away with the whole xp thing and find a "better" way. What way would that be?

 

[Mishihari Lord]

Permanent stat damage

 

[IceFractal]

Well, think about it - what do magic items cost? Gold and XP. And what do quests give you? Gold and XP.

So that's a possible solution right there. Instead of spending gold and XP on making items, you have to go on an appropriately difficult quest for rare components. The quest should be of a difficulty such that you would normally get the amount of Gold/XP from it that you need to make the item. But you don't get anything from the quest - you get to make the item instead.

This will tend to vary a lot. For scrolls, the quest might be quite small, possibly something like hunting in the woods for a rare kind of plant to make ink from, and possibly getting attacked by a bear or whatnot. For something like a Holy Avenger, you might need a feather from a Solar - which means either fighting one, or more likely (if you're the type to use a Holy Avenger) doing a quest for one.

Now sometimes players may be able to pull a fast one and get the components they need a lot more easily than you expected. That's not a big problem - just make the components for the next item they want that much tougher to get to compensate.

 

[airwalkrr]

I doubt it would cripple any game to remove the XP cost. The XP cost was only added because it was seen as a superior cost (from a gameplay point of view) to the possibly ability point loss of previous editions. One way a DM can really limit magic item creation is time. It takes over a month to craft a belt of giant strength +6. If your DM never gives you a month of downtime, it is going to take a long time to get that project done. That said, simply removing the XP cost and expecting the time required is a good way to balance things out.

 

[FireLance]

Have it draw on another resource, such as gold. About 5 gp per point of xp looks about right.

 

[Darmanicus]

I'm with IceFractal on this, having to go find rare components in order to make an item is a really cool idea. It'll give the DM plenty of material to work with and could really help flesh out a campaign.

 

[PhoenixDarkDirk]

There's a book called The Aritficer's Handbook which has an alternate system that requires each nesescary spell to be cast many times every day until the item is finished.

 

[der_kluge]

There's a book called The Aritficer's Handbook which has an alternate system that requires each nesescary spell to be cast many times every day until the item is finished.

Well, not entirely. It requires that those spell slots (the number needed to craft the item) be consumed for the duration of the creation time.

I specifically wrote the Artificer's Handbook because I hated the way item creation worked. There are, in fact, a number of variant systems in it which are all perfectly reasonable that don't require XP.

In fact, IMC, I don't use XP at all. I've modified all the spells which require it, item creation doesn't require it, and I don't require it to level up my players - I do it when I feel like it.

 

[Piratecat]

I was annoyed enough with XP calculation that I chucked the whole thing. I instituted Action Points, including a system for using them for magic item creation. It seems to work really well for us.

The details, in a thread discussing the idea:

http://www.enworld.org/showthread.php?p=2834823#post2834823

 

[Cedric]

I'd have it use rare and hard to find components...all but the simplest of which would not be purchasable. So, if you want to scribe a scroll, you just need the right ink and paper, you can buy that.

You want to make a +5 Dragon Bane Sword...that's a WHOLE other matter. You might need a special kind of ore, you might need parts from an old'ish dragon, etc.