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View Full Version : Can a system that allows Players to make any magic item in D&D be balanced?



John Out West
2018-12-29, 09:20 PM
One of my goals in the pursuit to create better crafts includes Artificing; magic item creation. After a few iterations, we created a version of Artificing that no longer can target and attack every creature in the world or change places with the gods, however I'm sure we missed something that will cause a catastrophic failure of the whole system. I would love if you would help me find the flaws in the system.

Artificing Theory & Balance:
Beyond the initial goal of a zero-gold system, where players don't have to buy anything to create magic items, we also wanted to make a craft that was balanced for the GM. In this case we created two drawbacks for Artificing: Thaumogenesis and Gemstones.
Each Artifice requires a Gemstone, which controls its capabilities. If GM's don't put gemstones in their player's inventory, or put very small flawed gems in their loot boxes, they won't be able to create overpowered items.
In Thaumogenesis, each Artifice creates an Anti-Artifice, a living creature connected to the item that cannot be destroyed without also destroying the magic item. The Anti-Artifice is a reflection of it's creator, and slowly learns to hate the Artificer, eventually coming to kill him. The Player is forced to destroy the Anti-Artifice, or find a way to avoid him until the connection between him and the item is broken. With Thaumogenesis, GMs are able to threaten players who create too many or too powerful items with Nemisis-like monster, forcing them to craft cautiously.

Those are the very basic ideas. The system has a 3 page introduction, another 5 to elaborate, and 11 of actual abilities you can imbue into an item. You can find the artificing rules at this link:

storage.googleapis.co
m/wzukusers/user-28883749/documents/5c195d462804e51yhFi7/Artificing%20Craft%201.0.pdf

I'd love to get your opinion on the subject, as well as any thoughts on the system itself.

Sir Brett Nortj
2018-12-29, 09:29 PM
One of my goals in the pursuit to create better crafts includes Artificing; magic item creation. After a few iterations, we created a version of Artificing that no longer can target and attack every creature in the world or change places with the gods, however I'm sure we missed something that will cause a catastrophic failure of the whole system. I would love if you would help me find the flaws in the system.

Artificing Theory & Balance:
Beyond the initial goal of a zero-gold system, where players don't have to buy anything to create magic items, we also wanted to make a craft that was balanced for the GM. In this case we created two drawbacks for Artificing: Thaumogenesis and Gemstones.
Each Artifice requires a Gemstone, which controls its capabilities. If GM's don't put gemstones in their player's inventory, or put very small flawed gems in their loot boxes, they won't be able to create overpowered items.
In Thaumogenesis, each Artifice creates an Anti-Artifice, a living creature connected to the item that cannot be destroyed without also destroying the magic item. The Anti-Artifice is a reflection of it's creator, and slowly learns to hate the Artificer, eventually coming to kill him. The Player is forced to destroy the Anti-Artifice, or find a way to avoid him until the connection between him and the item is broken. With Thaumogenesis, GMs are able to threaten players who create too many or too powerful items with Nemisis-like monster, forcing them to craft cautiously.

Those are the very basic ideas. The system has a 3 page introduction, another 5 to elaborate, and 11 of actual abilities you can imbue into an item. You can find the artificing rules at this link:

storage.googleapis.co
m/wzukusers/user-28883749/documents/5c195d462804e51yhFi7/Artificing%20Craft%201.0.pdf

I'd love to get your opinion on the subject, as well as any thoughts on the system itself.

Can you please fix the link? I would like to skim it over.

John Out West
2018-12-29, 10:13 PM
I cant "Post Links" yet. You should be able to copy that link into your browser as is.

Sir Brett Nortj
2018-12-29, 10:52 PM
I cant "Post Links" yet. You should be able to copy that link into your browser as is.

I will, so far sounds very interesting and unique.

Darth Ultron
2018-12-30, 12:45 PM
Substituting gems for gold seems pointless.

And the idea that a DM might just be a jerk and hide gems from the players is a bit hostile. It does not seem useful to have a rule that says ''ok need a super crystal X...but haha, none exist in the world".

The anti thing? Really, what is the point? It sounds like a nice idea....but then it does not really ''do" anything.

Like, ok, the lich lord has a Sword of Doom.....but instead of fighting the lich lord and the sword....you can, er, go find the thing and kill it...and destroy the sword. Seems like a huge cheat.

And worse, it's one the players Will HATE. As it has the problem of the players is all happy on an adventure with their magic item...and then the DM will just be like ''oh, your item goes poof" as someone somewhere killed the anti thing. Maybe roll a 1d20 every day and on a roll of one the player gets screwed?

John Out West
2018-12-30, 01:47 PM
Hey Darth,

Why does removing gold from the equation seem pointless to you?

I think there is a difference between "Hiding" gems and simply not putting them into your game. Gems are rare, but also incredibly common if you know where to look, such as jewelry. This allows a clever or attentive player to find artifice resources instead of just buying them, which is what all the new crafts are about! Also, gemstones come with 4 qualities: Cut, Size, Clarity, and Color which can effect its magical abilities, its duration potential, its distance potential, and its damage potential. An Artificer doesn't design an Artifice and then find a gem that fits, they find a gem and design an Artifice based on its potential.

The Anti-Artifice will literally try and kill the Artificer, but only after a seemingly random amount of time. What it does is keep the player from making too many powerful items, as each one comes at the cost to their safety & the safety of their friends. The Artificer must balance the abilities of a powerful new magic item with the danger of a similarly powerful Anti-Artifice.

Not gonna lie, the sword of doom thing actually sounds awesome. A quest to find and kill an Anti-Artifice to weaken a Lich is a really good plot thread. Although, the Anti-Artifice would probably ask to team up with the players to kill the Lich, assuming the lich is the Artificer, which is again a really good plot thread. Regardless, the connection between Artifice and Anti-Artifice wane in time, so old magic items will not have any Anti-Artifice to kill.

The Anti-Artifice is a character- Do all characters in your world have a 1d20 roll to die everyday? Is this Dark Sun? You can typically trust people to survive, and i would extend that Trust to Anti-Artifices. Unless you had enemies who went after your Anti-Artifices to weaken you, in which case... it sounds like you are the lich!

John Out West
2019-01-04, 01:16 AM
With some help from you guys I cut some of the fat from the Artificing system. You can see it here (https://storage.googleapis.com/wzukusers/user-28883749/documents/5c2eef4cbca59CWPIBEp/Aritificing%201.2.pdf).

I did this shortening by adding in a half-page that let me remove a large chunk from every school of magic, and allow them to create their own powers. I posted the half-page below, and I would love if you would try to see how it feels from the perspective of a player or a GM, and if you can find a way to break it I would be appreciative!


Secret Powers:
Artificers can potentially learn, find, or create new Powers that are not on the list below. These new powers have endless possibilities and generally adhere to the following guidelines:
(Damage) Is always used when determining the potential of damage, healing, Increases or decreases of maximum health.
(Distance) is used to determine the distance potential of a Power, how far away, long, wide, or tall the effect it creates is.
(Duration) is used to determine how long the effects of an impermanent Power last.
(Attunement) is required by items that are difficult to control, give stat bonuses, resistances, or involve an artifice’s user.
(Charges) are used by taxing Powers, such as healing, changing the form of animate targets, and resurrection.
(Feeble) is assigned to any power that could potentially defeat a healthy creature instantly under ordinary circumstances.
Artifices use magic energy to manipulate the world, but they cannot create matter. Conjurers can bring water from here to there, and Transmuters can turn air to water, but nothing can turn energy into matter.