New 44-Page Elements of Magic (Revised) Preview!

[Dalamar]

Magic items were a sticking point, yes, and after reviewing your points, I'm considering upping the costs for a few spell effects. Ask me about any other item, though, and it should be pretty close to core.

Why did you change the way that weapons and armor are costed in the first place? I can understand that it was done to make the rules for making them in line with the other permanent items that are made with this system,
but that makes the item creation rules incompatible with the core rules.

In a campaign that uses mages alongside wizards and clerics, why would you ever buy +1 weapons from a mage, when you could get them with half the price from a wizard? And why would you ever get a weapon with a greater bonus than +2 from the same wizard when the weapons made by the mage are cheaper?

Weapons and armor didn't use the standard way of figuring the right price because if they did, they'd cost a lot more (since Greater Magic Armor/Weapon is a 3rd level spell, a +2 either would cost 3*7(minimum caster level for spells of this level)*1,000gp= 21,000gp in 3.0. Or in 3.5 it would cost 24,000gp since the spell doesn't upgrade so fast).

Really, I'm curious as to why you wanted to bring the weapon/armor enchantment costs in line with effects that duplicate spells straight?

 

[RangerWickett]

Here is one of the sample characters from the book.

Tri’ni Gren’eys, Elf Mage 13: Female elf; CR 13; Medium-size humanoid (elf); HD 13d4+13; hp 47; Init +2 (+2 Dex); Spd 60 ft. (Wayfarer’s staff); AC 22 (+3 Dex, +9 +4 mithral chainmail); Atk +7/+2 melee (1d6+1, +2 shortsword), or +9/+4 ranged (Evoke spells); SA spells; SQ Elvish traits, magical boons; MP 152; AL CG; SV Fort +5, Ref +7, Will +12; Str 8, Dex 16*, Con 12*, Int 13, Wis 14, Cha 24*.

*These are modified by magic items.

Skills, Feats, and Languages: Bluff** +20, Concentration +17, Craft (bowmaking) +4, Craft (painting) +4, Knowledge (arcana) +17, Sense Motive** +20, Spellcraft +17; Armor Proficiency (light), Armored Casting, Evoke Specialist, Intense Spell, Iron Will, Quicken Spell, Silent Spell, Still Spell; Common, Elvish, Goblin, Undercommon.

**These are tradition skills.

Magical Boons: Three bonus feats, lightning resistance 5, improved signature spell (Evoke Lightning).

Spell Lists: Abjure Aberration, Abjure Force, Abjure Law, Abjure Lightning, Abjure Nature, Create Air, Create Lightning, Create Nature, Evoke Air, Evoke Chaos, Evoke Force, Evoke Life, Evoke Lightning, Evoke Ooze, Evoke Sound, Illusion Death, Illusion Fire, Illusion Lightning, Illusion Shadow, Illusion Void, Infuse Force, Infuse Lightning, Infuse Nature, Infuse Time, Move Air, Move Fire, Move Force, Move Space, Transform Animal, Transform Earth, Transform Humanoid.

Equipment: +4 Mithral Chainmail, Shifting Cloak of Charisma +6, +2 shortsword, ten potions of healing dose (2d6), two potions of remedy, potion of inscrutable invisibility, two potions of commanding presence (+10 Charisma), Gloves of Dexterity +4, Wayfarer’s staff, Necklace of Clear Thoughts, Ring of Constitution +2.

Itemized Magic Items: (109,930gp)
Mithral Chainmail with Abjure Nature 3/Gen 1 (20,150gp).
Cloak with Infuse Fire 5/Gen 1 (36,000gp). Also has unlimited activations of Illusion Shadow 1/Gen 0 that can make the wearer look like someone else at will (2,000 gp).
Shortsword with Infuse Force 2/Gen 1 (9,310 gp).
Ten potions of healing dose, Heal Life 1/Gen 0 (20gp each, 200gp total).
Two potions of remedy, Heal Life 10/Gen 0 (2000gp each, 4000gp total).
Potion of inscrutable invisibility, Illusion Shadow 3/Illusion Lightning 4/Gen 0 (980gp).
Two potions of commanding presence, Infuse Fire 11/Gen 0 (2,420gp each, 4,840gp total).
Gloves with Infuse Air 3/Gen 1 (16,000gp).
Staff with Move Fire 2/Gen 1 to increase base speed by 30 ft. (9,000gp). Also has 35 MP that it can use to cast Move Space 7/Gen 0 to teleport up to 100 miles. This is a spell completion item (2450gp).
Necklace with Charm Humanoid 0/Gen 1 so that at any time, the first step of any mental effect on the bearer is negated (1000gp).
Ring with Infuse Life 1/Gen 1 (4000gp).

I'll list her signature spells later. I just wanted to show the types of gear she has here.

 

[Dalamar]

Looking at her equipment, every permanent item has Gen 1. Now, I'm completely speculating here, but is that one put on Duration, Short to gain some kind of edge in pricing the magic item? Or is that Gen 1 considered the 'add 1' part of creating a permanent magic item?

 

[Blue mage for hire2]

Hey, I've always wandered, what is the Void element, anyway?
Why would you want a Void element sword, and how do I describe my characters' void spells? I just can't figure it out. I can take a stab at it looking at its opposition to Sonic (sound), describing it as........... pure silence. Pressurized air? Smothering blasts of..........void? I just don't have a solid, down-to-earth descrition of the element. The Dictionary is no help. Even sudden gusts of wind that hit you like a ton of bricks or razor sharp winds describe air damage without offically knocking back anything but the tiniest insects, so what about void? Even FF5's villain Ex-death's Void power (black balls of total nothingness that suck up reality) doesn't seem to fit the bill.

Write back soon, please.

 

[Blue mage for hire2]

Even sudden gusts of wind that hit you like a ton of bricks or razor sharp winds describe air damage without offically knocking back anything but the tiniest insects, so what about void?

What I meant was, if I have Evoke Void suck someone into a black hole, that forces them to move, when all other evocations without side effects leave their targets in place.

 

[RangerWickett]

Void is basically vacuum, or the absence of matter. The simplest effect of this is that it's kinda like mild disintegration. If you're hit with an Evoke Void spell, you'll have bits of you simply obliterated.

The side effect you can buy with Evoke Void basically sucks the air out of the victim's lungs, since air is the easiest thing to destroy. So Void is sort of a mixed bag of pseudo-antimatter and simple vacuum.

 

[Blue mage for hire2]

Okay, thanks.

Now, just to annoy you, how in the world do you Evoke Time or Space? Maybe gravity and temporal winds of the Temporal Energy Plane (circa Manual of the Planes) but I'd like to see what you have in store.

 

[RangerWickett]

Imagine bending spacetime inside a creature, warping reality. You might just twist its insides out, or age it painfully. These are just strains on the body as long as the creature still has hit points, but if the target dies, Space can tear things to pieces, and Time can wither things and age them permanently, so even if you're raised, you'll never get back your youth.

 

[Blue mage for hire2]

Time can wither things and age them permanently, so even if you're raised, you'll never get back your youth.

ouch. What about permanent transform time spells? But, if those exist, then the aristocracy in any campaign world will be immortal! Perverts will transform their victims into helpless children or infants! (or even old people!) Young-looking Human mages will be able to look down upon three hundred-year old Elves and say "I just don't understand you're thick-headed generation." It would be Exiler of Life for any two-bit mage that could do it! It would disrupt the birth-death cycle! And Matlock marathons would dominate all the programing hours! NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!

Okay. I just killed my own solution.......then freaked out a little. On a side note, while any GM can change the rules to however he (and his players) like to play their games, how will you guys handle this paradox? Will you allow permanent youthening spells, and grant humanity eternal youth? Maybe its just eternal youth and not immortality, like Timeless Body. Or just leave those defeated by 1st-level evoke spells to the ravages of time? Or maybe something that fixes magical (but not normal) aging, something like.....Heal Time?

p.s. Where can I get character sheets for EoM (if anywhere)? Spell casting sheets are really all you need.

p.p.s. Never try to slip Blue mages into your PC classes, it can't be done.

 

[RangerWickett]

Well, any permanent spell requires an XP expenditure, so if you want to keep being young, you have to keep on spending XP. It's really not much of a cost, honestly. From a balance standpoint, who cares how old you are, as long as you're not feeble.

Of course you'll want to impose some flavorful restrictions to eternal youth. Then there's always the pesky fact that a Dispel Magic will put you back to your own age, at least for a few rounds. But that few rounds of being dead will sort of keep you dead. True ways to avoid dying of old age would need a little more research, and would be plot-specific, no doubt.