Uncle Pine
2017-01-28, 03:07 PM
I was looking at the consolidated archive of Magic Books of Faerun and I stumbled upon this gem (pun not intended):
Nybor's Psychic Imprint
Transmutation [Evil, Mind-Affecting]
Level: Sorcerer/Wizard 6
Components: V, S, M
Casting Time: 1 hour
Range: Touch
Target: Creature touched
Duration: Instantaneous and see text
Saving Throw: Will negates
Spell Resistance: Yes
You create a magical field in the mind of the target creature, then use that field to recreate the target's mind in a gem. The stress of this mental attack knocks the target unconscious and deals it enough ability drain to reduce his Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charisma to 0, leaving the subject comatose. The psychic imprint stored in the gem is unstable and dissipates after 1 day per caster level unless the gem is crafted into a magic item or becomes part of a magic item. If so used, the item becomes intelligent (gaining the personality, Intelligence, Wisdom, Charisma, alignment, general memories, and languages known of the target creature). Any other properties associated with an intelligent item (such as empathy, speech, or telepathy, senses, and capabilities) must be crafted and paid for appropriately using the costs listed in the Dungeon Master's Guide. The psychic impression has no ranks in any skills or any other abilities other than what is described above (so an item made with the impression of a powerful cleric has only general knowledge pertaining to the target's religion); to tap into these abilities the item crafter must add appropriate item capabilities (in the cleric example, the item crafter would need to pay for the "item has 10 ranks in Knowledge" lesser power). Since the gem retains the target's personality, any feelings the target had toward you are echoed by the gem and the crafted item. For example, if the target of the spell hates you, the item will hate you as well. This attitude includes any temporary modifiers to the target's mental state (since the magical field copies the target's current mental state), so a charm person spell on the target makes the item always view you as its best friend. The target can recover from his ability drain as normal, and he and the item bear each other no ill will and have no unusual reaction to each other or way to recognize each other (in a way, their minds are similar but not identical in the same way as identical twins).
Note: Normally this spell is used to recreate the mind of a loyal vassal in a magic item to ensure similar loyalty in the item. Nybor used it to create spies in the households of her rivals, duplicating the minds of her charmed apprentices and presenting the crafted items as gifts to those she wished to observe. Some who have heard of this spell believe it can be used on creatures that died recently, and, in such cases, serves to preserve the legacy of a dead hero without imprisoning her actual mind within the item. Others believe this spell can press the target's mind into a body of inert flesh (similar to a clone spell, except it works even if the original subject is still alive) and that has been used this way in the past to trick and subvert the unknowing.
Material Component: A gem of any type worth at least 250 gp times the total of the target's Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charisma ability bonuses (so a target with Int 12, Wis 12, and Cha 10 requires a 500 gp gem and one with Int 18, Wis 18, Cha 10 requires a 2,000 gp gem). If crafted into a magic item, the cost of the imprinted gem counts toward the total price of the item. A gem can hold only one psychic imprint at a time, but if its current imprint is allowed to fade, it can be reused as a focus for this spell.
(Emphasis mine)
The DMG lists 8 possible mental abilities scores for intelligent items, but how about all the others? The chances that any spellcaster who is happily running around trapping people's minds into magic items encountering only creatures with 12-19 in both their mental scores and 10 in the other one are rather slim. What if I cast the spell on a 4th level Barbarian ogre (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/monsters/ogre.htm)? What if I decide to turn my old Druid buddy who just casted Owl's Insight on himself into a beautiful brooch? How do I calculate the price of that?
Assuming I haven't glaringly missed a price formula and one has to be house-ruled, has anyone reverse engineered something like that?
Nybor's Psychic Imprint
Transmutation [Evil, Mind-Affecting]
Level: Sorcerer/Wizard 6
Components: V, S, M
Casting Time: 1 hour
Range: Touch
Target: Creature touched
Duration: Instantaneous and see text
Saving Throw: Will negates
Spell Resistance: Yes
You create a magical field in the mind of the target creature, then use that field to recreate the target's mind in a gem. The stress of this mental attack knocks the target unconscious and deals it enough ability drain to reduce his Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charisma to 0, leaving the subject comatose. The psychic imprint stored in the gem is unstable and dissipates after 1 day per caster level unless the gem is crafted into a magic item or becomes part of a magic item. If so used, the item becomes intelligent (gaining the personality, Intelligence, Wisdom, Charisma, alignment, general memories, and languages known of the target creature). Any other properties associated with an intelligent item (such as empathy, speech, or telepathy, senses, and capabilities) must be crafted and paid for appropriately using the costs listed in the Dungeon Master's Guide. The psychic impression has no ranks in any skills or any other abilities other than what is described above (so an item made with the impression of a powerful cleric has only general knowledge pertaining to the target's religion); to tap into these abilities the item crafter must add appropriate item capabilities (in the cleric example, the item crafter would need to pay for the "item has 10 ranks in Knowledge" lesser power). Since the gem retains the target's personality, any feelings the target had toward you are echoed by the gem and the crafted item. For example, if the target of the spell hates you, the item will hate you as well. This attitude includes any temporary modifiers to the target's mental state (since the magical field copies the target's current mental state), so a charm person spell on the target makes the item always view you as its best friend. The target can recover from his ability drain as normal, and he and the item bear each other no ill will and have no unusual reaction to each other or way to recognize each other (in a way, their minds are similar but not identical in the same way as identical twins).
Note: Normally this spell is used to recreate the mind of a loyal vassal in a magic item to ensure similar loyalty in the item. Nybor used it to create spies in the households of her rivals, duplicating the minds of her charmed apprentices and presenting the crafted items as gifts to those she wished to observe. Some who have heard of this spell believe it can be used on creatures that died recently, and, in such cases, serves to preserve the legacy of a dead hero without imprisoning her actual mind within the item. Others believe this spell can press the target's mind into a body of inert flesh (similar to a clone spell, except it works even if the original subject is still alive) and that has been used this way in the past to trick and subvert the unknowing.
Material Component: A gem of any type worth at least 250 gp times the total of the target's Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charisma ability bonuses (so a target with Int 12, Wis 12, and Cha 10 requires a 500 gp gem and one with Int 18, Wis 18, Cha 10 requires a 2,000 gp gem). If crafted into a magic item, the cost of the imprinted gem counts toward the total price of the item. A gem can hold only one psychic imprint at a time, but if its current imprint is allowed to fade, it can be reused as a focus for this spell.
(Emphasis mine)
The DMG lists 8 possible mental abilities scores for intelligent items, but how about all the others? The chances that any spellcaster who is happily running around trapping people's minds into magic items encountering only creatures with 12-19 in both their mental scores and 10 in the other one are rather slim. What if I cast the spell on a 4th level Barbarian ogre (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/monsters/ogre.htm)? What if I decide to turn my old Druid buddy who just casted Owl's Insight on himself into a beautiful brooch? How do I calculate the price of that?
Assuming I haven't glaringly missed a price formula and one has to be house-ruled, has anyone reverse engineered something like that?