Alchemy Costs

by Nicholas Caldwell


      Date: Thu, 6 Apr 1995 00:48:29 -0400
      From: "Nicholas H.M. Caldwell" nhmc1@hermes.cam.ac.uk
      To: Multiple recipients of list 
      Subject: Spell Mastery --- Alchemy & Size Costs (long)

One problem with the price of magic items is that smaller items cost more than larger items with the same abilities. Thus a Wand of Invisibility (Daily I) will cost THREE times as much as a Staff of Invisibility (Daily I), and a spell adder or multiplier in the form of a ring will cost FIVE times as much as the same bonus item in the form of a staff. Now there is nothing in any of the spell lists (except Alchemical Preparations) which suggests that it is any harder for the alchemist to make an item as a ring rather than a staff, but yet we GMs cheerfully apply the size multipliers to the base cost. We also charge extra for Mentalism & Channeling spell bonus items --- "because Alchemy is an Essence-based science'' (to quote the rules) but the same General #N spells (from Enchanting Ways) or +N Adder or xN Multiplier spells (from Multipliers -Guild Base Alchemy Companion) can be used to make spell bonus items of any realm without any extra difficulty.

So why do we do it? It's a question of game balance, if we didn't charge the earth for smaller items then characters would only buy the smaller size items, and very shortly they would have amassed a significant armoury of tiny items. Thus size multipliers help to limit the number of items that parties can acquire --- they can have lots of big ones but they can't carry many of them, or they can concentrate their cash into buying a few small items. Game balance in terms of the number of magic items available (at any given time) to characters is maintained.

Now the 13th level spell (Spell Compression) on Alchemical Preparations (RMC1 and Alc Comp) does provide a way of compressing spells in order to enable the construction of spell bonus items which are less than staff size. (Each size decrease ---staff to rod to wand to wearable to ring --- adds 13 weeks to the time required for item creation) There are two problems with this, firstly it doesn't solve the size problems for other items nor that of the realm cost multiplier, and secondly the assumptions made in the rest of the spell list are not suited to many, if not, most campaign worlds. (If Alchemical Preparations is necessary for your world then your Alchemists will all be NPCs, as any other option is too much hassle. No one in my experience or that of my fellow GMs uses this list.)

It is with this in mind that I present a unified system using Spell Mastery for handling these necessary (but otherwise unjustifiable) modifiers.

(Meta-note: These rules are for creating Daily Items and Spell Bonus items, NOT potions or the special runes (ie Daily runes) which can be created via Sigil/Runes Imbedding (RMC2))

We make the following assumption that all the Imbed, Daily, Constant, Adder, and Multiplier spells can only produce magic items of staff size or larger normally. We also assume that the Adder and Multiplier spells will only produce bonus items of the creator's own realm.

(As most folk probably use the General #N spells for spell bonus items, it is necessary to assume that such spells when used FOR THIS PURPOSE will normally be only able to create staff-sized spell bonus items for the caster's realm. A little bit messy, but never mind)

If the Alchemist wants to create such items but smaller than staff size or for a different realm, then he/she must develop the appropriate number of skill ranks in the appropriate Spell Mastery.

Spell Bonus Item  (Spell Mastery --- Decreased Size)

Cost   No of Ranks   Description
1x       NONE         Staff-sized
2x        2           Rod-sized
3x        4           Wand-sized
4x        6           Wearable (but larger than a ring)
5x        8           Ring-sized

Spell Bonus Item (Spell Mastery --- Keyed to Realm/Profession)

Cost    No of Ranks  Description
2x        2            Keyed to a specific Profession
2x        2            Channeling device
2x        2            Mentalism device
3x        4            Hybrid device
4x        6            Arcane device 

Note: A Hybrid device would be one usable by any profession which shares the same two realms, ie a Essence/Channeling multiplier would be usable by Sorcerers, Necromancers, Crystal Mages etc. An Arcane spell adder would be necessary to power Arcane spells.

NB Each Spell Mastery should be developed separately for each General or Adder or Multiplier spell ... just to keep the munchkins at bay

The situation for Daily Items (and Constant Items if they don't have to be rings) is a little more complex. To make a Daily Item, it is necessary to make extensive use of appropriate Imbed and Daily spells. I propose that similar Spell Masteries be developed but that the actual ranks needed be shared out between the Imbed and Daily Items. Thus to make a rod-sized Daily I item with a 1st level spell, it is necessary to develop 1 rank in Spell Mastery (decreased size) for Imbed I and 1 rank in Spell Mastery (decreased size) for Daily I. Hence we have the following table:

Daily Items (Spell Mastery --- Decreased Size)

Cost No of Ranks Description
     Imbed Daily   
1x   NONE  NONE  Armour, Staff or larger Size, and Books
2x    1     1    Weapon, Rod or Crown Sized and Scrolls
3x    2     2    Dagger, Wand, Garment or Tiara Sized
4x    3     3    Brooch, Bracelet, or Amulet Sized
5x    4     4    Ring, Necklace or Gem Sized

(Similarly for Constant or "At Will" Items)

NB Once again, each spell will require a separate Spell Mastery to be developed.

A further extension of this thinking provides an alternative means of dealing with the imbedding of nonEssence spells into items rather than requiring Ment/Chan Imbedding and Arcane Imbedding.

(Query for John W Curtis III : How in Standard Rules are Alchemists supposed to create items with hybrid spells imbedded?)

Thus the Alchemist develops Spell Masteries for the Imbed, Daily, Constant, "At Will" and Charge Staff/Rod/Wand spells in the same fashion as above. Hence to produce Daily Items, use the following table

Daily Items (Spell Mastery --- Different Realms)

Cost No of Ranks Description
     Imbed Daily
1x   NONE  NONE  Essence
2x    1     1    Channeling
2x    1     1    Mentalism
3x    2     2    Hybrid
4x    3     3    Arcane

(An identical system can be used for Constant. "At Will", Staves, Rods and Wands)

NB Different spells require different Spell Mastery skills

That concludes this posting, Thank you for your patience in ploughing through it all. I hope it is useful and/or thought provoking.

Yours,
Nicholas HM Caldwell
(nhmc1@hermes.cam.ac.uk)


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