Sorcery Enchantments - POW vs MPs & other ideas

[Titus]

Before I start, let me just say that my RQ will vary.

The sorcery enchantment rules in A&E don't FEEL right to me. When I first read them, I mostly liked them. The "dedicated POW" mechanic (a.k.a - MPs not regained) meant to me that those POW were in effect powering the enchantment. The MPs generated by those POW were going to the enchantment. I liked that concept because it fit well with the divine magician's dedicated POW providing MPs to the diety it is dedicated to. I did not like that if someone else broke the enchantment, that the sorcerer lost those MPs permanently.

But then the discovery that any old MPs that the sorcerer could get his hands on were good enough to create a permanent enchantment messed with that concept. That felt wrong to me. MPs are transitory. They are burned to create temporary magical effects. POW makes more MPs for magicians to burn to do more temporary magical effects. Hence, it should be POW that powers enchants, not MPs.

I plan to require POW investment in permanent magic items. The sorcerer can recover the spent POW over time and the magic item has its own POW powering its enchantment(s).

But I also plan to retain the A&E sorcery enchantment, with some modifications, as a type of temporary enchantment. If the enchantment is broken in any fashion, by anyone, the "dedicated POW" is freed up and the MPs from it will again be usable by the sorcerer. In addition, the sorcerer will be able to break the connection with enchanted item and reclaim the dedicated POW. I am not sure of the game mechanic for this, but it may require a reversal ritual of some sort, or maybe just a persistence roll. It would still require POW backed MPs to create the enchantments, so you can not just use any MPs you might have lying around.

There may be other sources of POW available for enchantments. I am planning to introduce some of the other types of magic crystals that were in earlier versions of RQ, so Powered Crystals (as opposed to Magic Point Store crystals) could be used to power the enchantment. An evil sorcerer may have a means of slicing off a piece of someone else's soul to power the permanent enchantment or to coerce them into supporting a temporary enchantment. A cult spirit ally (or essence?) might agree to provide the power for an enchantment. Maybe the power source concept from Necromantic Arts could be used for things besides making undead minions.

In any case, I am curious if others are modifying the A&E sorcery enchantment rules for use in their games.
If so, in what ways?

 

[PhilHibbs]

How about a variant of the Restoration spell that restores the MPs dedicated to the enchantment? Maybe as POW is special, Restore (POW) requires a source to restore it from such as a POW crystal.

 

[HalfOrc HalfBiscuit]

Interesting idea Titus - and I can see where you're coming from.

One idea that occurs off the top of my head - would it be possible for a sorceror to "steal" the POW from an existing enchantment to power a new one?

 

[Titus]

One idea that occurs off the top of my head - would it be possible for a sorceror to "steal" the POW from an existing enchantment to power a new one?

This is an interesting idea. If a Powered crystal was incorporated into the magic item, then yes I would allow the enchanted item to be broken to retrieve the crystal for use in another magic item.

As for stealing the POW of a item to create a new one, I might allow that, but would probably require a special spell or ritual to be performed. It would be done in conjunction with the enchantment spell.

 

[PhilHibbs]

Maybe you could use Tap (POW) to steal the POW from the enchantment.

 

[Mugen]

I have similar views on enchants.

I plan on mixing A&E rules with Sandy Petersen's rules on Sorcery to allow semi-permanent spells.

Nevertheless, I think RQ3 enchants cost in POW is too high for MRQII, where POW is just another characteristic and does not have a very generous rule for increase. Plus, having to re-compute skills each time you do an enchant is quite cumbersome.

Therefore, I will certainly use improvement roll instead of POW. And perhaps mix it with Sandy Petersen's rules on rituals, where Rituals were actually Sorcery/Divine/Spirit spells whose effects were related to Intensity or Points.

 

[Titus]

How about a variant of the Restoration spell that restores the MPs dedicated to the enchantment? Maybe as POW is special, Restore (POW) requires a source to restore it from such as a POW crystal.

Nevertheless, I think RQ3 enchants cost in POW is too high for MRQII, where POW is just another characteristic and does not have a very generous rule for increase. Plus, having to re-compute skills each time you do an enchant is quite cumbersome.

Therefore, I will certainly use improvement roll instead of POW. And perhaps mix it with Sandy Petersen's rules on rituals, where Rituals were actually Sorcery/Divine/Spirit spells whose effects were related to Intensity or Points.

Yes, when I first thought about this, I forgot that POW is much harder to improve in MRQ2 than RQ2 & RQ3. I am planning to make it easier to recover the POW sacrificed for permanent enchantments than it is to grow "new" POW. Basically, the magician's highest POW score would be recorded and improving POW back to that value will be cheaper. (I haven't decided how much cheaper yet and I don't have to until I have a player who wants to play a sorcerer. :wink: )

If a sorcerer suffered damage to their POW, then I would reduce the "highest POW" value by the same amount.

A ritual/spell which allowed a sorcerer to "eat" a POW crystal to regain POW spent on an enchantment has merit. I like it.

I don't think that Sorcerers will be making lots of permanent enchanted items using their own POW, though that may well depend on the availability of other sources of POW for enchantments. That is the GM's decision for the game.