What can an Artificier use his Retain Essence ability on?

[WhiteBread]

Situation is like this:
I am playing a wizard and our dm added some custom made prc he liked on the internet. One of them included a spellcaster progression variant of the artificier.
Whoever is interested : http://www.dandwiki.com/wiki/Artificer_(3.5e_Prestige_Class)

Problem now is that last session I wanted to disenchant(or retain essence which is at least similar to that ability) from a stone circle. Each stone was magical and upon completing a riddle where you had to inscribe a sign on them you were allowed to ask a question and be divined into the direction of the answer. Example: Where can I find a magician? > It would give you a sign on your hand glowing when you are nearing one and dissapearing after. After we finished the riddle and everyone asked his question I wanted to disenchant these stones as I saw them as magical items. We kinda started arguing if the magical stones count as items or not. But because I had currently lost my magic powers he kinda said that I was not able to use my ability anyway and avoided the topic. However i fear that in the future he will always prevent me from using this ability on anything that is not an enchanted sword.
So I wanted to know how Artificiers abilities are normally treated if they try to disenchant things like this? Do the stones count as magical items? If not, what does? Can Artificiers disenchant relics and artifacts?

[Crake]

This is something that strongly falls into the realm of "Up to your DM". Were you going to take the stones with you? Perhaps they were once off items, or maybe they were just conduits for the magic at the location. We can't answer these questions, only your DM can. If your DM has considered how magic functions in his game, and how each thing came to be, he should be able to firstly tell you whether you can/cant disenchant it in a heartbeat, and secondly be able to explain to you why you can/cant. Realistically your character's whole schtick is enchanted items, there's no reason you shouldn't be able to take 10 on arcana or spellcraft and be able to firstly identify the item, and secondly understand how it functions and how it was enchanted.

Just ask your DM to explain why to you so you can start to better understand how his world works.

[torrasque666]

Situation is like this:
I am playing a wizard and our dm added some custom made prc he liked on the internet. One of them included a spellcaster progression variant of the artificier.
Whoever is interested : http://www.dandwiki.com/wiki/Artificer_(3.5e_Prestige_Class)

Problem now is that last session I wanted to disenchant(or retain essence which is at least similar to that ability) from a stone circle. Each stone was magical and upon completing a riddle where you had to inscribe a sign on them you were allowed to ask a question and be divined into the direction of the answer. Example: Where can I find a magician? > It would give you a sign on your hand glowing when you are nearing one and dissapearing after. After we finished the riddle and everyone asked his question I wanted to disenchant these stones as I saw them as magical items. We kinda started arguing if the magical stones count as items or not. But because I had currently lost my magic powers he kinda said that I was not able to use my ability anyway and avoided the topic. However i fear that in the future he will always prevent me from using this ability on anything that is not an enchanted sword.
So I wanted to know how Artificiers abilities are normally treated if they try to disenchant things like this? Do the stones count as magical items? If not, what does? Can Artificiers disenchant relics and artifacts?

This sounds like it was more of a magical location than a magical item. AFAIK locations have no real rules, let alone rules for if they count as items.

[WhiteBread]

This sounds like it was more of a magical location than a magical item. AFAIK locations have no real rules, let alone rules for if they count as items.

Well it might have been a magical location. However this one in particular contains magical stones(probably similar to the stones in skyrim) and therefore someone must have "created" them. And i thought that I could use my ability on anything that was basically crafted and therefore considered a magic item.
Or to make it simpler if a gem is a magical item and placed into the ground to have an area effect I still should be able to disenchant it no?

[torrasque666]

Well it might have been a magical location. However this one in particular contains magical stones(probably similar to the stones in skyrim) and therefore someone must have "created" them. And i thought that I could use my ability on anything that was basically crafted and therefore considered a magic item.
Or to make it simpler if a gem is a magical item and placed into the ground to have an area effect I still should be able to disenchant it no?

Not necessarily. For example, in the Complete Scoundrel I believe there's a magical location that is just the top of a high building (church I believe). Obviously such a thing was created by people but that doesn't mean the magic necessarily comes from the creator. The Otgyuh (sp? On mobile) Hole is just a dug pit, but magical. The stones could just be something that already existed at a location that someone just carved to make it easier to identify the magic.

[Gildedragon]

It sounds a bit like a Mythal which is a magic item (sorta... It is the result of an epic spell)
I'd allow an artificer type to drain the Mythal to reshape its effects... Or produce a magic item that only works within the mythal's area