Anthony Jackson
First Post
Another thread gave me this idea, which I tried to polish for a bit before writing up.
It has been mentioned that you can do D&D 4th edition without merchants; just use found items, residuum, and enchant item. This still, however, requires characters to get a fair amount of cash, and sometimes the amount of money they get can seem rather odd; should my sword be really worth as much as a craftsman makes in a lifetime? In addition, it can be difficult to explain just how and why the mindless monsters you've been fighting all level built up a large horde of treasure.
The component system is a way around this. Essentially, when you kill a magical creature (and possibly certain other creatures), you can extract magical components from the body, and those components can be used to cast ritual spells or craft items. Components are rated by their bonus, normally +1 to +6, though higher numbers are possible (the chart below should be obvious). The standard awards per kill are as follows:
Subtract 4 from the level of minions. Add 2 to the level of elites. Add 5 to the level of solos.
For most rituals, cost is very simple: look up the level of the ritual on the reward chart, and that tells you the components required. There are a number of exceptions, however:
Purifying and Diluting components
Sometimes, the components you have are of a level you don't want. Five +X items can be purified into a single +(X+1) item; one +X item can be diluted into 3 +(X-1) items (yes, there's a 40% round trip loss). If all components are optimized, so is the result.
Optimized Components and Recipes.
Certain components are exceptionally useful for certain purposes; for example, red dragon skin is exceptionally useful for creating flamedrinker scale mail. Treat optimized components as one step better than normal when used for their special purpose. In addition, if all of your components are optimized, increase caster level by 5 for purposes of the maximum level of effect you can generate. This can be a good way to give specific magic items to PCs; e.g. a level 8 solo normally generates 4 +3 components, and a level 8 item requires 4 +4 components, but if the solo is generating optimized components, you have an immediate item and you only need a level 3 enchanter. It's also easily possible to split the components across several encounters.
A recipe is a special ritual formula, which gives a set of components to be used for a specific ritual. These components may or may not be usable as normal components at all; if they're usable as normal components, they may be assumed to count as optimized for purposes of the ritual. Again, this a method for quest magic items.
Sacrifices
A sacrifice is a living component; i.e. rather than killing the creature and extracting the components for a ritual you will perform later, killing the creature is part of the ritual. Sacrifices normally perform just like a normal component; however, a recipe (above) may include a sacrifice. This is more common for evil magic.
Buying and Selling Components
Buying and selling of components kind of misses the point of the exercise, but you will come close (10-20% over) to existing price rules with the following costs:
It has been mentioned that you can do D&D 4th edition without merchants; just use found items, residuum, and enchant item. This still, however, requires characters to get a fair amount of cash, and sometimes the amount of money they get can seem rather odd; should my sword be really worth as much as a craftsman makes in a lifetime? In addition, it can be difficult to explain just how and why the mindless monsters you've been fighting all level built up a large horde of treasure.
The component system is a way around this. Essentially, when you kill a magical creature (and possibly certain other creatures), you can extract magical components from the body, and those components can be used to cast ritual spells or craft items. Components are rated by their bonus, normally +1 to +6, though higher numbers are possible (the chart below should be obvious). The standard awards per kill are as follows:
Code:
Level 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Award 2*+1 3*+1 4*+1 5*+1 6*+1 2*+2 3*+2 4*+2 5*+2 6*+2
Level 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20
Award 2*+3 3*+3 4*+3 5*+3 6*+3 2*+4 3*+4 4*+4 5*+4 6*+4
Level 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30
Level 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30
Award 2*+5 3*+5 4*+5 5*+5 6*+5 2*+6 3*+6 4*+6 5*+6 6*+6For most rituals, cost is very simple: look up the level of the ritual on the reward chart, and that tells you the components required. There are a number of exceptions, however:
- Brew Potion: use potion level, not ritual level
- Disenchant Magic Item: produces 5x
- Enchant Magic Item: use item level, not ritual level, and increase the required enhancement by 2 (this will generally require using Purify)
- Make Whole: use item level, not ritual level, and increase the required enhancement by 1. For a non-magical item, treat as a magical item with the same value.
- Resurrection: requires 10 +2 components up to level 8. For higher levels, find the standard award (above) and multiply by 5 at level 9-10, 4 at level 11-15, 3 at level 16-20, and 2 at level 21+.
Purifying and Diluting components
Sometimes, the components you have are of a level you don't want. Five +X items can be purified into a single +(X+1) item; one +X item can be diluted into 3 +(X-1) items (yes, there's a 40% round trip loss). If all components are optimized, so is the result.
Optimized Components and Recipes.
Certain components are exceptionally useful for certain purposes; for example, red dragon skin is exceptionally useful for creating flamedrinker scale mail. Treat optimized components as one step better than normal when used for their special purpose. In addition, if all of your components are optimized, increase caster level by 5 for purposes of the maximum level of effect you can generate. This can be a good way to give specific magic items to PCs; e.g. a level 8 solo normally generates 4 +3 components, and a level 8 item requires 4 +4 components, but if the solo is generating optimized components, you have an immediate item and you only need a level 3 enchanter. It's also easily possible to split the components across several encounters.
A recipe is a special ritual formula, which gives a set of components to be used for a specific ritual. These components may or may not be usable as normal components at all; if they're usable as normal components, they may be assumed to count as optimized for purposes of the ritual. Again, this a method for quest magic items.
Sacrifices
A sacrifice is a living component; i.e. rather than killing the creature and extracting the components for a ritual you will perform later, killing the creature is part of the ritual. Sacrifices normally perform just like a normal component; however, a recipe (above) may include a sacrifice. This is more common for evil magic.
Buying and Selling Components
Buying and selling of components kind of misses the point of the exercise, but you will come close (10-20% over) to existing price rules with the following costs:
Code:
Component +1 +2 +3 +4 +5 +6
Price 8 40 200 1000 5000 25000
