Creation, Crafting and Enchantment

[alex_greene]

Will there be anything in future supplements on things like creating / inventing new sorcery spells, crafting new grimoires, creating familiars and foci, enchantment of magic items and creating standing spells with permanent effects such as, for instance, a wall of shimmering air protecting a sanctum, or a permanent locus where the power of sorcery is enhanced?

 

[Guernicus]

I support this demand. All of the above would be very interesting. Maybe in Magic of Legend ?

 

[alex_greene]

I mean, I can already describe such things, and list the effects of the standing Wall of Air barrier or the Sorcery Sanctum - but their creation by the PCs clearly remains outside the remit of the core rulebook, which necessitates a further book of arcana, as well as a more detailed look at different sources for magic - twisted spirits, tainted Common Magic, warped sorcery that substitutes others' pain for Magic Points, blood magic, faerie magic and so on

Also, the book really needs to take a look at the most devastating trick in a mage's arsenal: ritual magic to strike down an enemy far out of sight, using a doll stuffed with bits of enemy fingernails and hairs, say, as a ritual connection for the spell.

Rules for that would go down nicely, thank you.

 

[DamonJynx]

Well if that's what you want, why not write them? Most of the posters here seem fairly articulate and able to write meaningful sentences. Give it a go.

 

[mwsasser]

Well... I for one feel that I lack enough history with the game to make balanced spells. Understanding the limits of what makes a good Common Magic spell, or if its too power and should be pushed up into Divine or Sorcery. What makes it too powerful for lower ranks in Divine and Sorcery ect.

 

[sdavies2720]

Well... I for one feel that I lack enough history with the game to make balanced spells. Understanding the limits of what makes a good Common Magic spell, or if its too power and should be pushed up into Divine or Sorcery. What makes it too powerful for lower ranks in Divine and Sorcery ect.

Don't let that stop you!

I mean, you're right, you probably don't have enough history to make balanced spells. But probably not for the reason you think. I've seen proposals that simultaneously were blasted for being too weak to be used, and also so strong as to unbalance the game. What I've learned is there are a lot of ways that RQ are being played, and the fan base is generally informed and articulate.

So use us! Put something together and ask for playtesters. I'm sure you'll get them, and you'll get more feedback than you want. Keep tinkering until you're getting fairly equal cries for "too strong" and "too weak", then stop.

Steve

 

[Hopeless]

I was wondering about this!

So far been thinking of introducing focal items for example having heirloom items namely an axe and shield which when the axe is knocked against the shield it imbues the axe with Bladesharp and the Shield with Protection both at Magnitude at 1 which cost the wielder 1 Pow for each.

Figuring doing the same for the sorceress by saying she uses her focal items to cast spells so rather than have them use Sorcery/Grimoire have Sorcery/Focal Item instead as this could lead to them losing their spellbooks during the adventure when a focal item could easily be removed but unrecognised making it easier to retrieve unless they're up against someone who knows them well enough.

Sorry for the offshoot from the original query but was wondering if any of you have had any ideas of your own along the lines of item creation or enchanting items and figured doing this might expand on the original query.

 

[alex_greene]

I bought a copy of an old Mongoose RQ book t'other day (the day I bought my dead trees copy of Legend Core), and it outlined the basic rules for the Enchantment skill.

This will do until Mongoose retool the rules for "Arcania of Legend: Enchantment," but I do have one interesting question.

The Enchanter doesn't have to be the one spending his own POW to make an item, does he? Let's say he's been commissioned to create a sword with a Bladesharp matrix (sounds like a fairly common task) - could the adventurer who commissioned it spend the POW instead of the Enchanter?

It sounds as if that's probably the most efficient way. The Enchanter can also throw in the Specific User condition, tying the weapon so created to the wielder whose POW is in it.

Now I need to work out an Enchantment to create sancta for spells, sorcery, spirit magic ...

 

[Simulacrum]

There's a lot of this in Age of Treason, which has extensive rules for sorcerous enchantment, including creating grimoires and familiars as well bespoke enchanted items. These rules do allow that an enchanter can create for a client who provides the characteristic points, but they diverge from the MRQ2 rules for enchantment that were printed in Arms and Equipment, which I guess is what you have (Legend currently has no enchantment rules in print other than those in AoT, right? I guess this will change when Arms of Legend sees print). The MRQ2 rules used dedicated Magic Points to power an enchantment - hence like a Divine Magic Pact you retain your POW score but lose access to the MPs it would otherwise generate for you. AoT enchantment (which is also much more elaborate) requires giving up permanent characteristic points to effect a permanent change. May be worth picking up the pdf and having a look - I would say that, tho, wouldn't I? :wink:

The AoT setting will allow for temporary dedication of magic points for temporary enchantments - as also found in Spellcom - but unless required for an adventure this probably won't be seen in an AoT publication until and if I get round to Assabian Rites after Shores of Korantia. I think it will be in whatever book (Magic of Legend?) contains the text of Blood Magic.

Age of Treason: The Iron Companion, which should be out in about 3 months, has Artifice rules.

 

[alex_greene]

There doesn't have to be a Specific User Condition on an enchanted item. You could establish in the setting that the client who supplies the POW gets to use the item exclusively.

If it's just dedicated POW, as in a Pact, no Specific User Condition; it's only through transferred POW that the Condition applies.

Something like that. Have to flesh this out ...

 

[Prime_Evil]

Well... I for one feel that I lack enough history with the game to make balanced spells. Understanding the limits of what makes a good Common Magic spell, or if its too power and should be pushed up into Divine or Sorcery. What makes it too powerful for lower ranks in Divine and Sorcery ect.

Give it a go anyway. There is no better way to get feedback about what works and what doesn't than asking the community. I've had helpful critiques of the various spells that I've developed and the process of designing them has helped me to improve my own understanding of the system. Most of the regular folks here are polite and respectful. They will give you honest feedback regarding the strengths and weaknesses of your ideas without being rude.

There's a lot of this in Age of Treason, which has extensive rules for sorcerous enchantment, including creating grimoires and familiars as well bespoke enchanted items. These rules do allow that an enchanter can create for a client who provides the characteristic points, but they diverge from the MRQ2 rules for enchantment that were printed in Arms and Equipment, which I guess is what you have (Legend currently has no enchantment rules in print other than those in AoT, right? I guess this will change when Arms of Legend sees print).

I actually prefer the rules for sorcerous enchantment contained in Age of Treason hardcover over the standard MRQII rules. It's a pity that Mongoose hasn't adopted them into the core rules. (I also wish that they'd fold some of the additional magic rules from Spellcom into the rulebook, but that's a different story).

I presume that Arms of Legend will incorporate the enchantment rules from the MRQ II Arms and Equipment guide - these aren't bad, but they are fairly limited in comparison to the rules from AoT. I never really liked the version of Alchemy in the MRQ II Arms and Equipment guide - for my own taste, it falls between two stools because it is neither an accurate depiction of how alchemy is shown in fantasy fiction, nor is it an accurate historical depiction of medieval alchemy. But other folks may feel differently...

(I should note that there are some additional rules for rune-carving in the MRQ II Vikings book that will hopefully appear in the upcoming Vikings of Legend book. These could be useful to develop a unique system of Dwarven magic in a traditional high fantasy setting...)