What would be the ramifications of this?

[Morrus]

My players want to be able to "donate" XP towards the creation cost of magic items. So if Wizard X was making a new item for Fighter B, Fighter B would pay the XP cost instead of Wizard X.

It seems reasonably on the face of it, but I've hesitated before saying yes. I'm assuming there's a good reason it's set up like it is, and I want to explore the ramifications of the change before doing anything.

The only thing I can thin of is that if the Wizard has to pay all the XP himself, it probably reduces the number of items being made. Are there any other factors I may be missing?

 

[Legildur]

This is one of the parts of 3.x that have always bugged me. I can't see what difference it makes as to whose xps are spent. The wizard has already given up a valuable resource (feats) in order to be able to make magical items.

That being said, maybe there should be a 'tax' on the donating character, like an additional 10%, or the requirement of a special magical item or spell to facilitate the donation/transfer of xps. Or, at worst, a feat.

What if the wizard paid the 10% when another character donated? That would still give some cause to think twice about making items.

 

[Old Drew Id]

We played a 2 year campaign with this rule in place and had no problems. In fact, it encouraged the party to make their own items instead of tracking down magic item dealers. Plus, because they made their own items, they were able to customize them more to their own specific needs, which made the items themselves more unique and "fantasy-esque."

Boots of spider-climb are just an item.
Boots of spider-climb, usable by good-aligned elf rangers only, is an item with a story behind it. (In this case, they were pirate boots designed for the party pirate, useful for scrambling around the rigging of a ship without fear of falling.)

Plus, items the party makes in this fashion tend to stay within the party or are given as gifts to cohorts and important NPC's, not sold on the open market. To encourage that behavior, we also instituted a rule that whoever paid the XP cost for an item was forever linked to that item, and could be scryed by whoever owned the item, etc. I guess in some ways it was a pick-up version of Weapons of Legacy or something similar.

 

[Bacris]

Another option would be that similar to some XP costs - half the wizard, half the person who will be using the item...

Personally, I don't think it would be a big issue - it would actually likely AVOID the issue of 1 party member being a level behind due to XP payments and the "Item Creation Gravy Train" associated therein.

 

[Dracomeander]

The two greatest factors limiting PCs in the creation of magic items are experience costs and the time required.

By the rules, multiple people can work together to create a magic item provide each is contributing at least one of the prerequisites for the creation. When multiple people work to create an item, the experience cost can be split among them however they agree.

I see no problem expanding this to include experience donations from others idf they are freeing willing. All that would need to be determined is if you would require a specific mechanic to allow this donation.

The most positive ramification would be that the item creator won't be the only one taking the experience hit slowing the experience gap created when a PC becomes an item creator for the rest of the group.


My typing is pitifully slow. there were no responses when I started.

 

[sirwmholder]

That has been the case with our group... then again we play that higher level items either have to be quested after or made... there is no "high" level magic shop. This brought up an interesting mechanic when the PC's couldn't unload some of their older gear... the Mage began taking ranks in profession (merchant) and became renowned for selling odds and ends as the Roaming Gnome Merchant of Versai.

Anyway mechanically speaking, we allow others to donate XP at a 1:1 ratio if they possess the appropriate craft skill or feat... if not all XP is donated at a 2:1 ratio... also if their skill is higher than the person crafting it we allow both to make the roll and take the better result. This has lead to our rogue taking a few interesting crafting choices.

Thank you for your time,
Wm. Holder

 

[diaglo]

and mostly to drive the economy.

seriously, many times the PCs buy their created items from NPC wizards/clerics/crafters.

if the NPC says something like i need your blood (Xp) to power the magic for creation of this item over the next X days/weeks.

how many PCs are gonna sit around and wait?

they just wanna put their orders in. and come back later and pick them up. in the meantime they are off adventuring.

this is one of the reasons few PCs take item creation feats. time away from adventuring. not just the Xp or gp cost.

 

[Infiniti2000]

If anyone pays the XP, then the person who paid for the feat will not likely get compensated for it. Also, what will happen is that the players will each take separate item creation feats, making sure there's no overlap. This fosters an attitude of minmaxing that a lot of people will find distasteful, especially if the heroes did not all "grow up" together and start at mid- to high-levels.

Additionally, all of the PCs will lag behind in XP. Normally, you'd think that'd be good because it'll maintain a status quo amongst the party. The problem is that at some point the party should be considered at a higher level. That point will be very hard to determine though. You will notice that they are blowing through encounters that you otherwise would have figured to be a little tougher. A DM to take into account higher-than-normal party treasure levels is IMO one of the hardest things to do. I don't like it because of the tendency to overestimate (too many hard encounters leading to deaths) or underestimate (too many easy, not fun, encounters).

You can strike a balance somewhere, but I have not yet seem a good system on it. I'm personally trying to work one out and posted it on the House Rules forum, but it was lost. If you want it, send me e-mail. (Hope I still have it, actually, after reformatting my drive.)

 

[dshai527]

Not quite the same thing, but I allow my players to pick one item and put XP into it. The item is only magical in thier possesion at first and so far has been a lot of fun. I have one character (The character's name is Pack) who put his XP into his backpack. First it had a percentage chance, as determined by me, to have any mundane item stored within it. Second it was a lesser bag of holding, then a portable hole type. It allows the fighter to keep weilding teh sword hsi father gave him without having to find a wizard to make it magic. His belief and force of will make it so in his hands...and once he hits about 12th level it becomes magical if someone else grabs it but to a lesser extent and so forth on up the levels. So far it has been a great addition to the game and has not caused any problems, but we are not minmaxers either.

 

[darthkilmor]

I'd let them do it, and if you're managing the parties wealth fairly ok then it should be a problem I think.
And you can always add some spice to how its done to make them think hard about doing it.

F:"Hey wizard, can me make this sword magical for me?"
W:"Sure. Lemme see.....I'm going to have to stab you though."
F:"What?"
W:"Stab, with the sword. In your gut. To make magic sword."
F:"Uhhh.....well uh. hmmm. uh. what about Jeffords the stable boy over there? can you stab him instead? He's just an NPC."
W:"Don't be such a baby! <stabby-sounds! Crit! max damage!> uh oh..."