MaxWilson
2014-12-05, 11:17 AM
Since I hate the DMG's crafting rules, I've been trying to think up my own. Here's the thing: the DMG has a very useful and interesting table of "minor properties" for items/weapons. E.g. "Metamorphic" means it changes appearance randomly, kind of like Lady Teldra in the Vlad Taltos novels by Brust. I plan to leverage this for item creation.
Main main objection to the DMG rules, for low-level items, is that they are too cheap. If you can find the formula for a +1 longbow, it only takes three weeks and 500 gp to make one. (500 gp is a lot of money of course--it won't become a small amount of money until they start killing CR 11+ monsters, which will probably be around level 8--but still it bugs me from a simulationist perspective that Mithril Plate Armor is cheaper than regular Plate Armor.)
So my tentative solution is kind of AD&D-ish. Enchanting a weapon (armor) is about altering the weapon's (armor's) self-image. Enchanting a weapon or suit of armor to +1 will still require 500 gp, but the formula for doing so is specific: for those three weeks, you have to cast Magic Weapon on the weapon every day (haven't decided what for the armor, maybe cast Shield of Faith on the empty suit of armor), and you have to spend an hour telling it stories about the great deeds it has done that make it special. "Remember that time when Elder Webster and JD were both down and dying, and Connor was facing two hobgoblins all alone as a first-level Barbarian? Who came through and saved everybody's lives? It was you. Who bashed in the first hobgoblin's ugly mug and then, when the second turned to flee, hit him unexpectedly and brought him down as well? You. Who efficiently dispatched Myron the Troll in the swamps of Catagonia? It was you. I name thee Scoursour, the Goblin Cleaver!" At the end of that time, I'll have you make an Int (Persuasion) check to see if the weapon (armor) believed you, with a DC dependent on how good your stories were. If it fails, you don't need to spend more money but you need to invest another three weeks. If it succeeds, Scoursour now has a dim self-identity, a minor property related in some way to its self-identity (e.g. glows when goblinkin or giants are within 100'), and a +1 bonus.
You are invited to share your comments or your own item-crafting rules now.
Main main objection to the DMG rules, for low-level items, is that they are too cheap. If you can find the formula for a +1 longbow, it only takes three weeks and 500 gp to make one. (500 gp is a lot of money of course--it won't become a small amount of money until they start killing CR 11+ monsters, which will probably be around level 8--but still it bugs me from a simulationist perspective that Mithril Plate Armor is cheaper than regular Plate Armor.)
So my tentative solution is kind of AD&D-ish. Enchanting a weapon (armor) is about altering the weapon's (armor's) self-image. Enchanting a weapon or suit of armor to +1 will still require 500 gp, but the formula for doing so is specific: for those three weeks, you have to cast Magic Weapon on the weapon every day (haven't decided what for the armor, maybe cast Shield of Faith on the empty suit of armor), and you have to spend an hour telling it stories about the great deeds it has done that make it special. "Remember that time when Elder Webster and JD were both down and dying, and Connor was facing two hobgoblins all alone as a first-level Barbarian? Who came through and saved everybody's lives? It was you. Who bashed in the first hobgoblin's ugly mug and then, when the second turned to flee, hit him unexpectedly and brought him down as well? You. Who efficiently dispatched Myron the Troll in the swamps of Catagonia? It was you. I name thee Scoursour, the Goblin Cleaver!" At the end of that time, I'll have you make an Int (Persuasion) check to see if the weapon (armor) believed you, with a DC dependent on how good your stories were. If it fails, you don't need to spend more money but you need to invest another three weeks. If it succeeds, Scoursour now has a dim self-identity, a minor property related in some way to its self-identity (e.g. glows when goblinkin or giants are within 100'), and a +1 bonus.
You are invited to share your comments or your own item-crafting rules now.