Template Staves

[Staffan]

Since spell templates pretty much fill the same role in AU as metamagic does in D&D, I figured AU could use something that fills the same role as metamagic rods as well: template staves.

Most spell templates do not have a level increase, however, but are instead balanced with monetary costs or laden spells. Since you can use a higher-level slot to get two lower-level ones which you then use for a laden spell, I have chosen to consider templates with a cost of "laden spell" the same as rods granting a +1 level feat (e.g. Extend). The monetary cost is considered a material component, which increases the market price and cost to create by 50 times the cost of that component (since the items are limited in uses per day). This gives us the following costs:

Template     Level Comp.  Lesser (up to 3rd level)         Regular (up to 6th level)       Greater (up to 9th level)
             cost  cost   Base     Create         Market   Base    Create          Market  Base    Create          Market
Acid         0     20      1,500   1,750+60XP      2,500    6,000   4,000+240XP     7,000   13,500   7,750+540XP    14,500
Air          0     15      1,500   1,500+60XP      2,250    6,000   3,750+240XP     6,750   13,500   7,500+540XP    14,250
Blessed      0     0       1,500     750+60XP      1,500    6,000   3,000+240XP     6,000   13,500   6,750+540XP    13,500
Corrupted    0     0       1,500     750+60XP      1,500    6,000   3,000+240XP     6,000   13,500   6,750+540XP    13,500
Cold         0     25      1,500   2,000+60XP      2,750    6,000   4,250+240XP     7,250   13,500   8,000+540XP    14,750
Earth        0     25      1,500   2,000+60XP      2,750    6,000   4,250+240XP     7,250   13,500   8,000+540XP    14,750
Eldritch +1  0	   0       1,500     750+60XP      1,500    6,000   3,000+240XP     6,000   13,500   6,750+540XP    13,500
Eldritch +2  Laden 0       3,000   1,500+120XP     3,000   12,000   6,000+480XP    12,000   27,000  13,500+1,080XP  27,000
Electricity  0     30      1,500   2,250+60XP      3,000    6,000   4,500+240XP     7,500   13,500   8,250+540XP    15,000
Enemy Bane1  0     0       1,500     750+60XP      1,500    6,000   3,000+240XP     6,000   13,500   6,750+540XP    13,500
Fire         0     20      1,500   1,750+60XP      2,500    6,000   4,000+240XP     7,000   13,500   7,750+540XP    14,500
Permanent2   +3    0      15,000   7,500+600XP    15,000   60,000  30,000+2,400XP  60,000  135,000  67,500+5,400XP 135,000
Programmed   +3    0      15,000   7,500+600XP    15,000   60,000  30,000+2,400XP  60,000  135,000  67,500+5,400XP 135,000
Psionic      Laden 0       3,000   1,500+120XP     3,000   12,000   6,000+480XP    12,000   27,000  13,500+1,080XP  27,000
Sonic        0     spec.   1,500     850+60XP      1,600    6,000   3,100+240XP     6,100   13,500   6,850+540XP    13,600
Subdual      0	   0       1,500     750+60XP      1,500    6,000   3,000+240XP     6,000   13,500   6,750+540XP    13,500
War          +2    0       9,000   4,500+360XP     9,000   36,000  18,000+1,440XP  36,000   81,000  40,500+3,240XP  81,000
Water3       0     100     1,500   5,750+60XP      6,500    6,000   8,000+240XP    11,000   13,500  11,750+540XP    18,500
Wild         0	   0       1,500     750+60XP      1,500    6,000   3,000+240XP     6,000   13,500   6,750+540XP    13,500
1 Must specify creature type.
2 The wielder must pay for the XP cost of the permanent spell, 500 times the original spell level.
3 The spell must still be cast on or in a large body of water.

(Just hoping that table shows up properly...)
Item stats: Strong (no school); Caster level 17th; Craft Constant Item, access to the template in question (see the individual template descriptions); Market price and cost to create: see above.

Unlimited staves
It should be possible to make metamagic rods or template staves that don't have the limitation of only be usable 3 times per day. By reversing the "daily charges/5" formula from the item creation guidelines, we see that this ought to increase the base price by two thirds, or 67%. For template staves, this should also increase the component cost to the double (because unlimited items require 100 instances of components, while daily items only need 50). For simplicity, just double the entire cost (including XP).

 

[John Q. Mayhem]

Looks alright. You know in DT there are items that let you use spell templates? They do a bunch of other stuff, too, though, and are either very expensive or majotr artifacts.

 

[Staffan]

Looks alright. You know in DT there are items that let you use spell templates? They do a bunch of other stuff, too, though, and are either very expensive or majotr artifacts.

The only one I recall off-hand was a rather significant artifact in the hands of a faen who wanted to restart the magister's council or something like that. Like you said, it provided a template as well as a lot of other stuff, and I wanted something that only did the template thing.

 

[John Q. Mayhem]

There was also a single item for each element/energy type that gave you a couple spells per day and use of the associated template. It should be fairly easy to reverse-engineer from those and the guidelines for making items with templates applied to find out how much they should cost. You should also consider posting this on Mr. Cook's boards.

 

[omnimpotent]

I think you've got a great idea here, and you can consider it officially yoinked.

I don't much get into the magic item creation myself, what was your methodology? I understand the increased level parts, and I though your laden spell solution was inspired. What were the mechanics you used for, say, the fire template, which requires the feat and the 20 gp gem? Was it some sort of Eschew materials analog?

 

[Staffan]

I think you've got a great idea here, and you can consider it officially yoinked.

Thank you

I don't much get into the magic item creation myself, what was your methodology? I understand the increased level parts, and I though your laden spell solution was inspired. What were the mechanics you used for, say, the fire template, which requires the feat and the 20 gp gem? Was it some sort of Eschew materials analog?

Well, D&D 3.5e has a group of items called "metamagic rods" (they were originally in Tome & Blood, though the 3.5e ones are significantly cheaper) that allow on-the-fly use of a metamagic feat three times per day, limited to spells of a certain level (3rd for lesser, 6th for normal, and 9th for greater). I figured spell templates were similar, and thus used those.

As for the material cost, the item creation rules say that if you make a permanent item that's limited in uses (as in X times per day) and mimics a spell with an expensive material component, you need to include that component 50 times (it's 100 times for items without daily limits). This increases the market price, but not the XP cost or time to create (just like the masterwork weapon doesn't when making magic weapons). I applied this to the spell templates, so the lesser fire template staff has a market price of 2,500 gp: 1,500 is the base price for a lesser metamagic rod for a feat that doesn't increase the spell level, and 1,000 gp is the material component cost times 50. The time to create is based on the 1,500 gp figure (so, 2 days) as is the rest of the material cost (750 gp) and the XP xost (1,500/25 = 60 XP).