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Post by meribson on Mar 2, 2017 22:59:00 GMT
I'm considering a homebrew system for magic items where the enchantments have a limited "charge" as it were. Essentially, enchanting anything in this setting (not the one in my signature) requires some amount of an ore called mana. The more mana used, the more powerful the enchantment possible or the longer it can go before running out.
The thing that I'm having difficulty with is the exact mechanic to use. I'm thinking of using a modified version of the charges wands and staves use but I'd like some other ideas.
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Post by dmgenisisect on Mar 3, 2017 1:16:08 GMT
You could give them charges like wands, or an interesting alternative...
Maybe the ore can be refined into a salt which is required to fuel magical items. Treat the powder as ammunition and deplete it whenever they use the item. This way you don't have the PCs favourite weapons disappearing but you still enforce the fleeting nature of these enchantments...
Just out of curiosity what edition are you running? Because of its 5e I would dissuade using a system that has the already rare magic items of the system just disappearing...
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Post by randosaurus on Mar 3, 2017 5:42:57 GMT
This notion or repairing/recharging magical items just came to mind recently when I came across a craft I wasn't aware of: "The Japanese art of kintsukuroi, meaning "to repair with gold or silver" is associated with the repair of broken pottery with gold or silver lacquer. The resulting item looks more beautiful than the original, is more beautiful for having been broken; a poetic metaphor for life."  How I imagined this as a game mechanic would be that magic items can't be crafted or imbued with power all at once. Consider how a magic sword is made now; some caster spends a week chanting over a nice sword and 1000 GP later, boom-- longsword+1. Woo. What in this process costs GP? How are the resources expended? Miscellaneous incense, inks, fancy paper for notes, whatever. It's undefined and that makes me cross. Instead, I would imagine the 'magic' being added in a repair process. That is, the +1 can only be applied by addition of a measurable material such as the gold or silver lacquer. In this mechanic I've imagined, the imbuing process can only take part as a repair-- that is, you can only make a magic item from a broken masterwork version. This of course requires a system of tracking wear and damage to items and probably some mechanic where critical fumbles generate an additive probability of breakage. The good news is, once an item breaks you can bring it back more beautifully (and more powerful) through repair. It could be geometric with power as well; suppose a +1 is more likely to break than a MW weapon. Each repair adds mechanical advantage but that advantages comes at a risk for breakage. And so on; this jibes with current magic item relative power, as staves & rods with high power spells have fewer uses before they become useless (break). You can easily add flavor in this approach as well; suppose a repair to add an icy burst requires the breakage be against some fiery creature. Or perhaps a critical hit needs to break armor to enhance it with fortification. It's the sort of mechanic I aspire to, where narrative influence has actual mechanical effects. It also lets weapons become mythic & storied, as they are sundered, repaired, passed from hand to hand. Every dented armor in the refuse pile has a story, and this mechanic can convert that history into character for items. I should mention this fits in my own setting, because there is almost no new magic items that can be created in by narrative; all magic items are scavenged from eras past, and rarity forces a dedicated class of artificers to repair them with specific feats and skills. I think any recharge/repair process by necessity should be done by NPCs, simply because I don't see downtime crafting +10 magic items over the course of 2 years as a valid use of PC lifespan. Your results may of course vary. |
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