Talk:Magic Item Creation (3.5e Variant Rule)

thoughts on variant magic item creation (Blueprints)

System

Blueprints

Blueprints, originally, were the reproduction method for large-scale engineering drawings; the method was somewhat akin to xerography and created characteristic dark-blue lines on a much lighter blue background. Finding a 19th century engineering term grafted into a magic system is unsettling. Granted that the term schema has been appropriated by the Eberron setting (for a different use), but at the very least this needs a less scientific / engineering name.

Costing

This wildly skews the cost-to-create of existing magic items. Everything from level 1-6 is much cheaper, and everything from 7-8 is greatly more expensive. I don’t know how this would affect game balance, but I can’t believe it would be unaffected by such a drastic alteration. It certainly does make low-level consumable magic much cheaper and easier to make, which would lead, presumably, to a lot more of it. The time to make an item is directly proportional to the cost of the item, so manufacture times drop precipitously as well. Presumably this would lead to many more scrolls, lots more potions and wands, and fewer of the traditional wondrous items. I'm not sure what the game effect would be.

Feat Impact

The impact on the value of item-creation feats seems clear. Scribe Scroll, Brew Potion, Craft Wand and Craft Staff all become much cheaper, and therefore better choices — especially when consumable magic tends to be the same Cure Light Wounds and Magic Missile type of magic. Craft Wondrous Item, Craft Magic Arms and Armor, Craft Rod, Forge Ring all lose significant value. After all the time and effort to find/create/invent the Blueprint of Cloak of Charisma +4 to create the Cloak of Charisma +4 how many of these does is a player going to create? One? Two? Under these rules, the player wizard is going to want to craft as many as he can, simply because there’s no other way to get sufficient value out of the sub-optimal feat choice (assuming he takes the feat to begin with).

Overall

Ultimately these rules, like all the rules in the D&D system are meant for player characters. This isn’t about designing a working magical economy, or deep sociological thought about how widespread availability of magic would affect a world or culture, or what sort of magical advances would occur. All of those things add depth and interest, certainly, but the rules are there to make a game of high adventure. I’m not sure this adds to the sense of high adventure.

Roszlishan 09:26, 2 December 2007 (MST)