Doctor Despair
2020-11-25, 09:20 PM
To create magic items, spellcasters use special feats. They invest time, money, and their own personal energy (in the form of experience points) in an item’s creation.
Note that all items have prerequisites in their descriptions. These prerequisites must be met for the item to be created. Most of the time, they take the form of spells that must be known by the item’s creator (although access through another magic item or spellcaster is allowed).
While item creation costs are handled in detail below, note that normally the two primary factors are the caster level of the creator and the level of the spell or spells put into the item. A creator can create an item at a lower caster level than her own, but never lower than the minimum level needed to cast the needed spell. Using metamagic feats, a caster can place spells in items at a higher level than normal.
Magic supplies for items are always half of the base price in gp and 1/25 of the base price in XP. For many items, the market price equals the base price.
Armor, shields, weapons, and items with a value independent of their magically enhanced properties add their item cost to the market price. The item cost does not influence the base price (which determines the cost of magic supplies and the experience point cost), but it does increase the final market price.
In addition, some items cast or replicate spells with costly material components or with XP components. For these items, the market price equals the base price plus an extra price for the spell component costs. Each XP in the component costs adds 5 gp to the market price. The cost to create these items is the magic supplies cost and the base XP cost (both determined by the base price) plus the costs for the components. Descriptions of these items include an entry that gives the total cost of creating the item.
The creator also needs a fairly quiet, comfortable, and well-lit place in which to work. Any place suitable for preparing spells is suitable for making items. Creating an item requires one day per 1,000 gp in the item’s base price, with a minimum of at least one day. Potions are an exception to this rule; they always take just one day to brew. The character must spend the gold and XP at the beginning of the construction process.
The caster works for 8 hours each day. He cannot rush the process by working longer each day. But the days need not be consecutive, and the caster can use the rest of his time as he sees fit.
A character can work on only one item at a time. If a character starts work on a new item, all materials used and XP spent on the under-construction item are wasted.
The secrets of creating artifacts are long lost.
To create a scroll, a character needs a supply of choice writing materials, the cost of which is subsumed in the cost for scribing the scroll—12.5 gp × the level of the spell × the level of the caster.
All writing implements and materials used to scribe a scroll must be fresh and unused. A character must pay the full cost for scribing each spell scroll no matter how many times she previously has scribed the same spell.
The creator must have prepared the spell to be scribed (or must know the spell, in the case of a sorcerer or bard) and must provide any material component or focus the spell requires. If casting the spell would reduce the caster’s XP total, she pays the cost upon beginning the scroll in addition to the XP cost for making the scroll itself. Likewise, a material component is consumed when she begins writing, but a focus is not. (A focus used in scribing a scroll can be reused.) The act of writing triggers the prepared spell, making it unavailable for casting until the character has rested and regained spells. (That is, that spell slot is expended from her currently prepared spells, just as if it had been cast.)
Scribing a scroll requires one day per each 1,000 gp of the base price.
]Prerequisite
Caster level 1st.
Benefit
You can create a scroll of any spell that you know. Scribing a scroll takes one day for each 1,000 gp in its base price. The base price of a scroll is its spell level × its caster level × 25 gp. To scribe a scroll, you must spend 1/25 of this base price in XP and use up raw materials costing one-half of this base price.
Any scroll that stores a spell with a costly material component or an XP cost also carries a commensurate cost. In addition to the costs derived from the base price, you must expend the material component or pay the XP when scribing the scroll.
All items have prerequisites in their descriptions. These prerequisites must be met for the item to be created. Most of the time, they take the form of feats and spells that the item’s creator must know, although access through another magic item or spellcaster is allowed. It’s perfectly acceptable for two or more characters to work together to create a magic item, with each character supplying some of the prerequisites. (In all places where this text refers to the “creator” of a magic item, it includes all characters supplying at least one prerequisite for the item’s creation.) The XP cost must always be paid by the character who supplies the item creation feat required by the item, no matter how many other characters cooperate in its creation.
So normally, to create a scroll, a character must have:
The Scribe Scroll feat
Choice writing materials (with the cost determined by the level of the spell and caster respectively)
The spell to be scribed as a "spell known"
The spell to be scribed prepared (if not a sorcerer or bard)
The minimum caster level to cast the spell (or higher)
Any material components or focuses the spell requires
Enough XP to pay the spell's XP costs (if any)
Enough XP to pay the cost for creating the scroll in the first place
A quiet place to work
Downtime
Based on the cooperative crafting rules, it seems like these requirements may be met piecemeal, so long as someone involved in the crafting meets each of the item's prerequisites. Artificers gain the following ability at their first level:
An artificer can create a magic item even if he does not have access to the spells that are prerequisites for the item. The artificer must make a successful Use Magic Device check (DC 20 + caster level) to emulate each spell normally required to create the item. Thus, to make a 1st-level wand of magic missile, an artificer would need a Use Magic Device check result of 21 or higher.' To create a bottle of air (caster level 7th), he would need a check result of 27 or higher to emulate the water breathing prerequisite.
The artificer must make a successful check for each prerequisite for each item he makes. If he fails a check, he can try again each day until the item is complete (see Creating Magic Items, page 282 of the Dungeon Master's Guide). If he comes to the end of the crafting time and he has still not successfully emulated one of the powers, he can make one final check—his last-ditch effort, even if he has already made a check that day. If that check also fails, then the creation process fails and the time, money, and XP expended to craft the item are lost.
For purposes of meeting item prerequisites, an artificer's effective caster level equals his artificer level +2. If the item duplicates a spell effect, however, it uses the artificer's actual level as its caster level. Costs are always determined using the item's minimum caster level or the artificer's actual level (if it is higher). Thus, a 3rd-level artificer can make a scroll of fireball, since the minimum caster level for fireball is 5th. He pays the normal cost for making such a scroll with a caster level of 5th: 5 X 3 X 12.5 = 187 gp and 5 sp, plus 15 XP. But the scroll's actual caster level is only 3rd, and it produces a weak fireball that deals only 3d6 points of damage.
An artificer can also make Use Magic Device checks to emulate nonspell requirements, including alignment and race, using the normal DCs for the skill. He cannot emulate skill or feat requirements, however, including item creation feat prerequisites. He must meet the caster level prerequisite, including the minimum level to cast a spell he stores in a potion, wand, or scroll.
An artificer's infusions do not meet spell prerequisites for creating magic items. For example, an artificer must still employ the Use Magic Device skill to emulate the light spell to create a wand of light, even though light appears on his infusion list.
Magic items created by an artificer are considered neither arcane nor divine.
So an Artificer, as a result of this ability, can:
Create items without having access to the requisite spells with a successful UMD check (DC 20 + caster level).
Repeat the check, if it is failed, for a number of times equal to the days it takes to craft the item.
Use their Artificer level +2 in place of their caster level (except for determining spell effects, where we use character level)
Use UMD to emulate any other requirements for the item, with the exception of feat requirements.
Suppose there were a Sorcerer 19 / Artificer 1 character who did not have Power Word Stun in their spells known. Providing they had ample WBL and XP to create a scroll of Power Word Stun, they would still only meet part of the prerequisites for the item, as they would not have the spell known, even though they had the caster level to cast it. Could this character make a UMD check to create a scroll of Power Word Stun, emulating the "spell known/prepared" requirement? Or would the same Artificer ability bar them from ever creating such a scroll by lowering their effective caster level?
On the one hand, the Artificer class ability explicitly says that you can do this. That's strong evidence in my eyes that this should be possible. If you can emulate the "spell prepared" requirement, we meet all the other requirements already.
If RAW tells us we can do this, it's notable because a high-level character with consistent UMD checks can create scrolls from other class spell lists (and presumably use them with that same high UMD bonus). This grants (limited, expensive) native access to any spell the character knows about, limited by their UMD check and time to craft the item, as the character should be able to craft as a caster level 19 sorcerer that just happens to have the spell on their spell list somehow (such as with Wyrm Wizard).
On the other hand, the Artificer class ability also states that that for the purposes of meeting item prerequisites, an artificer's caster level equals their class level +2. If this is always active, and not something you can apply if beneficial (using your actual caster level if it is higher), then although we have a high enough caster level natively, we would not be able to create the scroll, as we wouldn't have a high enough caster level for the purposes of item creation.
If RAW says that our item-creation caster level is ALWAYS equal to our modified Artificer level, even if we have a higher caster level from other sources, then taking one level of Artificer would artificially limit your item creation forever. I haven't seen provisions in the rules for flat-out ignoring an entire ability, so if we can't apply our real caster level when beneficial when using this Artificer ability, it should follow that we can't apply our real caster level when creating an item we would be able to make without the Artificer ability. Any artificer dip, unless you were planning to take it to at least Artificer 15, would limit the items you can create rather than expanding it. It seems silly that a Wizard 39 / Artificer 1 (with fireball as a spell known) wouldn't be able to create a Scroll of Fireball. It also seems silly because that same Wizard 39 could create the Scroll of Fireball if they had an Artificer 1 helping (supplying the feat requirement) instead of having the level themselves.
In summation: it seems like only one of the following can be true. What do you think, friends? According to RAW:
Can a character with a 1-level Artificer dip emulate the requirement to know/have prepared X spell when creating an item?
Does a character with a 1-level Artificer dip become unable to create any items that require a caster level higher than 3?
Note that all items have prerequisites in their descriptions. These prerequisites must be met for the item to be created. Most of the time, they take the form of spells that must be known by the item’s creator (although access through another magic item or spellcaster is allowed).
While item creation costs are handled in detail below, note that normally the two primary factors are the caster level of the creator and the level of the spell or spells put into the item. A creator can create an item at a lower caster level than her own, but never lower than the minimum level needed to cast the needed spell. Using metamagic feats, a caster can place spells in items at a higher level than normal.
Magic supplies for items are always half of the base price in gp and 1/25 of the base price in XP. For many items, the market price equals the base price.
Armor, shields, weapons, and items with a value independent of their magically enhanced properties add their item cost to the market price. The item cost does not influence the base price (which determines the cost of magic supplies and the experience point cost), but it does increase the final market price.
In addition, some items cast or replicate spells with costly material components or with XP components. For these items, the market price equals the base price plus an extra price for the spell component costs. Each XP in the component costs adds 5 gp to the market price. The cost to create these items is the magic supplies cost and the base XP cost (both determined by the base price) plus the costs for the components. Descriptions of these items include an entry that gives the total cost of creating the item.
The creator also needs a fairly quiet, comfortable, and well-lit place in which to work. Any place suitable for preparing spells is suitable for making items. Creating an item requires one day per 1,000 gp in the item’s base price, with a minimum of at least one day. Potions are an exception to this rule; they always take just one day to brew. The character must spend the gold and XP at the beginning of the construction process.
The caster works for 8 hours each day. He cannot rush the process by working longer each day. But the days need not be consecutive, and the caster can use the rest of his time as he sees fit.
A character can work on only one item at a time. If a character starts work on a new item, all materials used and XP spent on the under-construction item are wasted.
The secrets of creating artifacts are long lost.
To create a scroll, a character needs a supply of choice writing materials, the cost of which is subsumed in the cost for scribing the scroll—12.5 gp × the level of the spell × the level of the caster.
All writing implements and materials used to scribe a scroll must be fresh and unused. A character must pay the full cost for scribing each spell scroll no matter how many times she previously has scribed the same spell.
The creator must have prepared the spell to be scribed (or must know the spell, in the case of a sorcerer or bard) and must provide any material component or focus the spell requires. If casting the spell would reduce the caster’s XP total, she pays the cost upon beginning the scroll in addition to the XP cost for making the scroll itself. Likewise, a material component is consumed when she begins writing, but a focus is not. (A focus used in scribing a scroll can be reused.) The act of writing triggers the prepared spell, making it unavailable for casting until the character has rested and regained spells. (That is, that spell slot is expended from her currently prepared spells, just as if it had been cast.)
Scribing a scroll requires one day per each 1,000 gp of the base price.
]Prerequisite
Caster level 1st.
Benefit
You can create a scroll of any spell that you know. Scribing a scroll takes one day for each 1,000 gp in its base price. The base price of a scroll is its spell level × its caster level × 25 gp. To scribe a scroll, you must spend 1/25 of this base price in XP and use up raw materials costing one-half of this base price.
Any scroll that stores a spell with a costly material component or an XP cost also carries a commensurate cost. In addition to the costs derived from the base price, you must expend the material component or pay the XP when scribing the scroll.
All items have prerequisites in their descriptions. These prerequisites must be met for the item to be created. Most of the time, they take the form of feats and spells that the item’s creator must know, although access through another magic item or spellcaster is allowed. It’s perfectly acceptable for two or more characters to work together to create a magic item, with each character supplying some of the prerequisites. (In all places where this text refers to the “creator” of a magic item, it includes all characters supplying at least one prerequisite for the item’s creation.) The XP cost must always be paid by the character who supplies the item creation feat required by the item, no matter how many other characters cooperate in its creation.
So normally, to create a scroll, a character must have:
The Scribe Scroll feat
Choice writing materials (with the cost determined by the level of the spell and caster respectively)
The spell to be scribed as a "spell known"
The spell to be scribed prepared (if not a sorcerer or bard)
The minimum caster level to cast the spell (or higher)
Any material components or focuses the spell requires
Enough XP to pay the spell's XP costs (if any)
Enough XP to pay the cost for creating the scroll in the first place
A quiet place to work
Downtime
Based on the cooperative crafting rules, it seems like these requirements may be met piecemeal, so long as someone involved in the crafting meets each of the item's prerequisites. Artificers gain the following ability at their first level:
An artificer can create a magic item even if he does not have access to the spells that are prerequisites for the item. The artificer must make a successful Use Magic Device check (DC 20 + caster level) to emulate each spell normally required to create the item. Thus, to make a 1st-level wand of magic missile, an artificer would need a Use Magic Device check result of 21 or higher.' To create a bottle of air (caster level 7th), he would need a check result of 27 or higher to emulate the water breathing prerequisite.
The artificer must make a successful check for each prerequisite for each item he makes. If he fails a check, he can try again each day until the item is complete (see Creating Magic Items, page 282 of the Dungeon Master's Guide). If he comes to the end of the crafting time and he has still not successfully emulated one of the powers, he can make one final check—his last-ditch effort, even if he has already made a check that day. If that check also fails, then the creation process fails and the time, money, and XP expended to craft the item are lost.
For purposes of meeting item prerequisites, an artificer's effective caster level equals his artificer level +2. If the item duplicates a spell effect, however, it uses the artificer's actual level as its caster level. Costs are always determined using the item's minimum caster level or the artificer's actual level (if it is higher). Thus, a 3rd-level artificer can make a scroll of fireball, since the minimum caster level for fireball is 5th. He pays the normal cost for making such a scroll with a caster level of 5th: 5 X 3 X 12.5 = 187 gp and 5 sp, plus 15 XP. But the scroll's actual caster level is only 3rd, and it produces a weak fireball that deals only 3d6 points of damage.
An artificer can also make Use Magic Device checks to emulate nonspell requirements, including alignment and race, using the normal DCs for the skill. He cannot emulate skill or feat requirements, however, including item creation feat prerequisites. He must meet the caster level prerequisite, including the minimum level to cast a spell he stores in a potion, wand, or scroll.
An artificer's infusions do not meet spell prerequisites for creating magic items. For example, an artificer must still employ the Use Magic Device skill to emulate the light spell to create a wand of light, even though light appears on his infusion list.
Magic items created by an artificer are considered neither arcane nor divine.
So an Artificer, as a result of this ability, can:
Create items without having access to the requisite spells with a successful UMD check (DC 20 + caster level).
Repeat the check, if it is failed, for a number of times equal to the days it takes to craft the item.
Use their Artificer level +2 in place of their caster level (except for determining spell effects, where we use character level)
Use UMD to emulate any other requirements for the item, with the exception of feat requirements.
Suppose there were a Sorcerer 19 / Artificer 1 character who did not have Power Word Stun in their spells known. Providing they had ample WBL and XP to create a scroll of Power Word Stun, they would still only meet part of the prerequisites for the item, as they would not have the spell known, even though they had the caster level to cast it. Could this character make a UMD check to create a scroll of Power Word Stun, emulating the "spell known/prepared" requirement? Or would the same Artificer ability bar them from ever creating such a scroll by lowering their effective caster level?
On the one hand, the Artificer class ability explicitly says that you can do this. That's strong evidence in my eyes that this should be possible. If you can emulate the "spell prepared" requirement, we meet all the other requirements already.
If RAW tells us we can do this, it's notable because a high-level character with consistent UMD checks can create scrolls from other class spell lists (and presumably use them with that same high UMD bonus). This grants (limited, expensive) native access to any spell the character knows about, limited by their UMD check and time to craft the item, as the character should be able to craft as a caster level 19 sorcerer that just happens to have the spell on their spell list somehow (such as with Wyrm Wizard).
On the other hand, the Artificer class ability also states that that for the purposes of meeting item prerequisites, an artificer's caster level equals their class level +2. If this is always active, and not something you can apply if beneficial (using your actual caster level if it is higher), then although we have a high enough caster level natively, we would not be able to create the scroll, as we wouldn't have a high enough caster level for the purposes of item creation.
If RAW says that our item-creation caster level is ALWAYS equal to our modified Artificer level, even if we have a higher caster level from other sources, then taking one level of Artificer would artificially limit your item creation forever. I haven't seen provisions in the rules for flat-out ignoring an entire ability, so if we can't apply our real caster level when beneficial when using this Artificer ability, it should follow that we can't apply our real caster level when creating an item we would be able to make without the Artificer ability. Any artificer dip, unless you were planning to take it to at least Artificer 15, would limit the items you can create rather than expanding it. It seems silly that a Wizard 39 / Artificer 1 (with fireball as a spell known) wouldn't be able to create a Scroll of Fireball. It also seems silly because that same Wizard 39 could create the Scroll of Fireball if they had an Artificer 1 helping (supplying the feat requirement) instead of having the level themselves.
In summation: it seems like only one of the following can be true. What do you think, friends? According to RAW:
Can a character with a 1-level Artificer dip emulate the requirement to know/have prepared X spell when creating an item?
Does a character with a 1-level Artificer dip become unable to create any items that require a caster level higher than 3?