seasong
First Post
I usually try to have something more fully worked out before I post it here, but I'm really hitting a bleak, black wall of writer's block when it comes to this. I kind of know what I want, but I don't entirely know how to balance it well.
So, here's my two thoughts and urges:
1. The XP cost for scrolls (and some other low-cost items) is very, very cheap. So cheap, in fact, that it only comes up once in a loooong while, and when it does, GMs tend to just give a few extra XP to cover it anyway. And when they don't, it's more of an irritant more than anything else.
I mean, you wants to be told that the dispel magic scroll so critical in the last battle has now resulted in you being exactly 63 XP short of the level everyone else gets?
So it should be, within reason, free. But how to allow some free scrolls without opening your game up to terrible, terrible consequences?
I was thinking a "free 1 XP per day", which can only be used for making magic items, or paying for the XP cost of a spell, and even then only if you do nothing else that day. This would be combined with voluntarily slower castings or craftings, so a wizard could take a week to make a 2nd level spell, or years to "craft" a wish.
2. I also want to re-organize the creation feats. There's been plenty of threads on this before, but I'm looking for some flava like this:
Craft Dweomer (Ink) - used for scrolls; and also used for tattoos that act like a scroll for the person they're inked onto, whether or not the person is a caster. The latter should cost more, of course, but how much more? And what's a good limit on how many tattoos a single person can have? Maybe HD in spell levels?
Craft Dweomer (Potion) - Exactly the same, I think. Maybe some more potion options.
Craft Dweomer (Common) - Items equal to or under 2,000 GP market cost. This is the cheap stuff that is likely to be available all over the place. Why differentiate between putting magic into a sword or into boots if neither one require that you have any craft skills?
Craft Dweomer (Wondrous) - Prereq Craft Dweomer (Common). Items over 2,000 GP market cost. Self explanatory?
Craft Dweomer (Construct) - Prereq Craft Dweomer (Wondrous). Used for those behemoths of destruction, golems. I like the idea that this needs to have its own feat, since it seems to be so different from other items.
So, here's my two thoughts and urges:
1. The XP cost for scrolls (and some other low-cost items) is very, very cheap. So cheap, in fact, that it only comes up once in a loooong while, and when it does, GMs tend to just give a few extra XP to cover it anyway. And when they don't, it's more of an irritant more than anything else.
I mean, you wants to be told that the dispel magic scroll so critical in the last battle has now resulted in you being exactly 63 XP short of the level everyone else gets?
So it should be, within reason, free. But how to allow some free scrolls without opening your game up to terrible, terrible consequences?
I was thinking a "free 1 XP per day", which can only be used for making magic items, or paying for the XP cost of a spell, and even then only if you do nothing else that day. This would be combined with voluntarily slower castings or craftings, so a wizard could take a week to make a 2nd level spell, or years to "craft" a wish.
2. I also want to re-organize the creation feats. There's been plenty of threads on this before, but I'm looking for some flava like this:
Craft Dweomer (Ink) - used for scrolls; and also used for tattoos that act like a scroll for the person they're inked onto, whether or not the person is a caster. The latter should cost more, of course, but how much more? And what's a good limit on how many tattoos a single person can have? Maybe HD in spell levels?
Craft Dweomer (Potion) - Exactly the same, I think. Maybe some more potion options.
Craft Dweomer (Common) - Items equal to or under 2,000 GP market cost. This is the cheap stuff that is likely to be available all over the place. Why differentiate between putting magic into a sword or into boots if neither one require that you have any craft skills?
Craft Dweomer (Wondrous) - Prereq Craft Dweomer (Common). Items over 2,000 GP market cost. Self explanatory?
Craft Dweomer (Construct) - Prereq Craft Dweomer (Wondrous). Used for those behemoths of destruction, golems. I like the idea that this needs to have its own feat, since it seems to be so different from other items.
