Reconciling Item Creation

[GuardianLurker]

I like Monte's take on Item Creation feats; I think they do a better job of modeling item creation than the basic d20 ones. Craft Wonderous Items, in particular, throws a big monkey wrench into the theories.

However, I don't run an A.U. campaign, and the d20 feats do a much better job at matching the differing item types as presented in the SRD. And, since I'm using the SRD tables, this is kind of Important.

So what I'd like to do is reconcile the two systems.

The mapping I see is this:

AU Feat            SRD Items
-----------------  -------------------
Spell Completion   Scroll
Single-use         Potions, some Wonderous, a few Rods
Charged item       Wands, Staves, a few Rods
Constant item      Rings, most Rods, most Wonderous
Arms & Armor       Arms & Armor

So what are the differentiators among categories that have multiple types?

Potions vs Wonderous & Rods: Potions are self-only, where the others are both external targets only. (Examples: Potion of Cure Light Wounds, Bead of Force, Rod of Cancellation) However, only the Rod of Cancellation seems to fall in this category, suggesting it was mis-filed.

Wands vs Staves vs Rods: Wands are single-spell items with a power cap. Staves are multi-spell items, with no power cap. Rods seem to be single-spell items with no power cap. (Examples: Wand of Fireballs, Staff of Frost, Rod of Absorption) However, only the Rod of Absorption seems to fall in this category, suggesting it was mis-filed.

Rings vs Rods vs Wonderous: This is confusing; most rings duplicate single-spell effects on the user, but there are plenty that don't (Ring of Shooting Stars targets others, Ring of Climbing isn't a spell-effect). Rods seem to affect themselves, but some (Rods of Rulership, Flame Extinguishing, and Wonder) affect others, and many rest almost half-way in between (Rods of Lordly Might, Thunder and Lightning). I'm not even sure I can classify the Wonderous items - many don't consume chakras, but many do, and that seems to be the only reliable distinction.

Looking over these differences and simularities, I think there are a few aspects of item creation Monte's system missed. Here are the corresponding feats.

Craft Multiple Effect Item
Pre: either Craft Charged Item or Craft Constant Item
Effect: Allows the creator to imbued his item with multiple effects. The highest level effect costs normal, the second-highest costs 75%, and remaining effects cost 50%. The cost of the entire item is the sum of these amounts.
Comment: This is basically to preserve the creator-level-distinction between Wands and Staves.

Craft Veriform Item
Pre: any two item creation feats
Effect: The creator may vary the form of the item from its usual appearance. A potion could become a pill, for instance, or a Rod of Rulership, a crown. Depending on the new form, the item may or may not consume a chakra. If it consumes a chakra, and it doesn't consume one normally, or if it now consumes a different chakra (a Hat of Resistance), the base price increases by 50%. If it normally consumes a chakra, and does not now, the base price doubles. For multi-effect items, calculate the increases after the effect costs have been totaled.

Craft Unusal Item
Pre: Craft Veriform Item, Spellcaster level 15th+
Effect: The creator may create an item (of any type he knows) with an effect that cannot be duplicated by an existing spell.

Comments?

 

[Varianor Abroad]

Looking over these differences and simularities, I think there are a few aspects of item creation Monte's system missed. Here are the corresponding feats.

Craft Multiple Effect Item

Craft Veriform Item
Pre: any two item creation feats
Effect: The creator may vary the form of the item from its usual appearance. A potion could become a pill, for instance, or a Rod of Rulership, a crown. Depending on the new form, the item may or may not consume a chakra. If it consumes a chakra, and it doesn't consume one normally, or if it now consumes a different chakra (a Hat of Resistance), the base price increases by 50%. If it normally consumes a chakra, and does not now, the base price doubles. For multi-effect items, calculate the increases after the effect costs have been totaled.

Craft Unusal Item
Pre: Craft Veriform Item, Spellcaster level 15th+
Effect: The creator may create an item (of any type he knows) with an effect that cannot be duplicated by an existing spell.

Comments?

Monte's system doesn't replace the DMG creation rules. It just changes the feat structure. So you can make a "Multiple" item, you just follow the DMG rules to do it. You would need Craft Constant Item.

The AU system doesn't restrict the form of the item either. Craft Charged Item, for example, states that a charged item is typically a wand. But you're not locked into that. I'm playing in a game where I have an armband with charges. So the Veriform item feat isn't needed in standard AU. You still follow standard rules, so that most items created take up a slot. The creator determines which one. If you want a slotless item, you pay for it. It could be helpful for a crossover campaign with some having 3.# crafting and others having the AU version to prevent players from complaining about the AU crafter getting more advantages, but I'd just use the AU feats whole.

The last feat you have listed is interesting. Are there any further restrictions? It seems like work for the DM to figure prices on items that aren't duplicated by a spell because you have to benchmark the effect and then decide if it should cost more to be Constant, Charged, etc? The idea is cool - it allows for creation of stuff not listed - I just wonder on the implementation.

 

[GuardianLurker]

Monte's system doesn't replace the DMG creation rules. It just changes the feat structure. So you can make a "Multiple" item, you just follow the DMG rules to do it. ...
The AU system doesn't restrict the form of the item either. Craft Charged Item, for example, states that a charged item is typically a wand. But you're not locked into that.

Agreed. However, it completely blows away the distinctions between the various SRD item types, which I want to preserve.

Why? 'Cause all the standard treasure tables assume that split (and the associated distinctions), and I don't want to have to completely rework the treasure tables. As I assume Monte did, since I don't have Diamond Throne (I don't run an AU campaign, remember?).

The vanilla AU system also removes all level caps (by implication) for the single-use and charged items, something I'm still not sure is something I want in my campaign. A Wand of Teleports just doesn't feel right to me.

Also, all of the AU item creation feats only mention their "prototypical" items.

From Arcana Unearthed:
Create Charged Item
With the right materials,... you can make magical items that contain charges, such as wands.
...
Charged items are usually spell-trigger items, like wands.

While I agree that it's clear that Wands are only a sub-category, it isn't clear what the other sub-categories are. Moreover, since the SRD limits wands to single-spells, it isn't clear if multi-effect items are applicable. Especially since Create Constant Item is careful to use the plural term "powers" while Creat Charged Item only uses the singular term "spell".

The Veriform Item feat is there to allow for "wonderous" items. While mechanically there may be no actual need for it, I think that both it (and multi-effect) are a very good way of detailing a crafter-mage's growing expertise (and a better way than item-type progression). I also was considering detailing exactly which effects are appropriate for which chakra - the "standard effects", in some sense. For example, the Foot Chakra obviously relates to movement and movement's side effects - thus Boots of Speed, Elvenkind, and Varied Tracks.

The last feat you have listed is interesting. Are there any further restrictions? It seems like work for the DM to figure prices on items that aren't duplicated by a spell because you have to benchmark the effect and then decide if it should cost more to be Constant, Charged, etc? The idea is cool - it allows for creation of stuff not listed - I just wonder on the implementation.

Yah, so do I. It's there to deal with Rods, primarily - "Rods are scepterlike devices that have unique magic powers...". Its also a band-aid for the fact that the SRD doesn't have any (many?) skill-boosting spells. Frankly, this one's easy to get rid of - require spell research first. Of course, there are effects that are fine as an item, but not as a spell, and vice versa.

Another idea I debated (but got rid of for simplicity's sake) was extending multi-effect to include single-use items, instead of just charged and constant. [font size=2]Whoops. I just realized I hadn't made that limitation explicit in the original posting.[/font]

 

[Plane Sailing]

You've missed out one of the (brilliant) new differentiators of staffs - they use the casters attribute and any caster feats when setting DC's and determining caster level for the purpose of spell variables. Staffs grow with the caster, where wands don't.

Monte doesn't have anything to model that property that I'm aware of. I think you would really need another feat "Advanced charged item" with "charged item" as a prereq, which would enable the creation of things with staff-like properties.

Cheers

 

[GuardianLurker]

You've missed out one of the (brilliant) new differentiators of staffs - they use the casters attribute and any caster feats when setting DC's and determining caster level for the purpose of spell variables. Staffs grow with the caster, where wands don't.

Monte doesn't have anything to model that property that I'm aware of. I think you would really need another feat "Advanced charged item" with "charged item" as a prereq, which would enable the creation of things with staff-like properties.

Cheers

That is cool. I looked over the 3.5 rules when they came out and chucked 'em as I had too much invested in 3.0.

Not bad changes (except for the reorg - ARG!) just too many to switch over right now.

Actually, that's probably a better feat than the "Unusual item" feat anyway, so:

Create Bound Item
Pre: Create Charged Item
Effect: When creating a charged item the creator can "bind" it to him. Spells cast by a "bound" item use the spellcaster's abilities and feats to determine a spell's DC and caster level. Metamagic feats still must be applied at item creation.
Optional: Allow this to apply to Constant Items as well.