Magic Item Crafting Rules

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"Nope," said the rogue, "that room was completely empty."


Magic Item Pricing

If you want to buy an item that isn't listed on the Epic Path page (such as something listed on d20pfsrd), you must first get GM approval for the item. If it is approved, use the following pricing model, based on the caster level of the item.

Exceptions:

  • Any item which grants armor class costs double the listed value for its caster level.
  • Any item which grants a bonus to-hit costs quadruple the listed value for its caster level.
  • Any slotless item costs triple the listed value for its caster level.
  • You cannot buy any item from another site/source that already exists on the Epic Path page.

All of this is a stop-gap until the magic items on the Epic Path page have been built up to the point where we can safely say you cannot buy anything from other sites/sources.

Caster Level Cost
1 2,200
2 5,600
3 10,000
4 16,000
5 25,000
6 37,600
7 56,000
8 96,600
9 180,000
10 320,000
11 570,000
12 1,000,000
13 1,750,000
14 3,100,000
15 5,450,000
16 7,200,000
17 9,450,000
18 12,500,000
19 16,550,000
20 22,050,000

Who Can Create Magic Items?

In Epic Path, any character who has the skills, talents, and resources may create magic items.

  • The Paladin praying before an altar, literally sweating blood from the force of her faithful devotion? She's making that amulet with her Divinity.
  • The Fighter crisping at an anvil as he welds honest steel to dragon claws in a fire fueled by an elemental? He can use his Warfare for this job.
  • The Ranger standing in a forgotten grotto, singing as she weaves a cloak out of dryad hair and assassin-vines? She's using Naturalism.
  • The Rogue hiding in a bell tower, stealing chimes from the Great Bell to power her new Chime of Opening? That's Spycraft she's using to steal that magic.
  • The Monk meditating under a waterfall, infusing his Gauntlets with the pounding might of the plunging river? He's using his Reason to capture that power.
  • And yes, that Wizard casting spells in his tower as he labors over dusty tomes of lore? He's using boring old Spellcraft to get the job done.

They're ALL making things, and there's nothing any more or less magical about any of these methods of production.

Pre-Built Magic Items

Numerous pre-built magic items exist in Epic Path. The costs for these magic items is listed in each item's writeup, as are the costs and requirements for a character with the Creator Feat to build one of those items for themselves. Doing so costs the character some time in-game, which is time they cannot adventure or do other activities, but they can save a considerable amount of coin. Whether this is worth it to you depends upon the game, and we encourage all players and Game Masters to explore as many styles of play as they wish.

Upgrading Existing Items

It is certainly true that getting a new, shiny item is a thrill. Many players greatly enjoy getting or making brand new magic items. There are also players who like their existing items. They have built back-story into an item, and it is now a part of the lore of their character. A classic example is the heirloom sword, passed down for generations, that the character has sworn to use. Sadly, that +2 Scimitar with the fancy engraving that was so awesome and overpowered at level 4, is seeming a little...under-performing at level 14. Is the story-builder player just out of luck, stuck with an increasingly weaker weapon as they continue their career?

Of course not!

It is possible to enhance or build upon an existing magic item. Only time, gold, and the various prerequisites required of the new ability to be added to the magic item restrict the type of additional powers one can place. If you wish to devote the resources to it, that family heirloom can become a sky-splitting artifact of blinding power. Indeed, GM's should encourage this sort of behavior! Storied items are fun!

Simply put, you never lose value by enhancing an existing item. Calculate the cost of the item as it will exist when you upgrade it. From that, subtract the cost of the item as it exists now. The difference is the cost of the upgrade.

For example: A +1 longsword can be made into a +2 Flaming Longsword, with the cost to create it being equal to that of a +2 flaming sword minus the cost of a +1 longsword.

Of course, no magic item may be imbued with an enchantment type that is not permitted in that slot. For example, only shields can be enchanted with Shield Magic Properties enchantments.

Any item listed in these rules can be Created by the player if they have the resources and skill to do so.

Custom Magic Items

While it is incredibly cool to build your own items that do all sorts of cool, interesting stuff, such things are not allowed in Epic Path. If you want to create your own awesome items, then you will need to work with your Game Master and see if the proposed item is allowed.

We strongly recommend 'no', but every GM is allowed to run their own game, so if that's what you want to do, go for it!

Magic Item Creation

See the Creator (Feat) and Bailiwick skills for rules for how to do this.

There is also useful information on the following pages:

Magic Item Creator Level

  • Every magic item has a creator level (CL). This is the minimum character level required to create the item. In Epic Path, a character with the Creator feat has an effective creator level equal to the number of ranks in their bailiwick skill.
  • You may not always know the exact CL of the item you are attempting to create. In such a case, only the GM knows the true CL.

Creation Requirements

  • All items have requirements in their descriptions. These requirements must be met for the item to be created. The DC to create a magic item increases by 5 for each requirement the creator does not meet. The only exception to this is the Creator feat, which is mandatory.

Magic Item Creation Cost

  • The cost to make an item yourself with the Creator feat is half of the cost to purchase the same item on the market. This cost represents the material costs of building the item. Whether the magic item creation check succeeds or fails, these materials are always used up in the creation process and cannot be recovered. The cost of a workshop and its tools are not part of the cost of item creation.

Making the Creation Check

  • To create magic items, characters must have the Creator feat. No exceptions! The Creator feat represents the innate talent required to handle magic and infuse it into an object, allowing a character to invest time and money in an item's creation.
Where did I put that treatise on Time-Spalled Anguishes?

Dual-Slot Items

Some items can be treated as two different kinds of magic items, and enchanted once for each 'slot' they represent. The most common example is a double weapon, which occupies the 'main hand' and 'off-hand' slots. Each end of a double weapon must be enchanted separately, and each end is treated as a separate weapon as regards to properties, etc. In NO case do any abilities ever stack! Adding Precognitive to both ends of a staff does NOT allow you to stack twice the AC. Ever.

Magic Item Slots

Most magic items need to be donned by a character who wants to employ them or benefit from their abilities. It's possible for a creature with a humanoid-shaped body to wear as many as 15 magic items at the same time, plus another wielded in each hand for a total of 17 magic items. However, each of those items must be worn on (or over) a particular part of the body, known as a "slot."

A humanoid-shaped body can be decked out in magic gear consisting of one item in each slot, and never more than one item in each slot. Having some slots empty of magic items has no effect.

Wielded
Items that are held in the hands. These can be weapons, wands, shields, and numerous other items. Consumable items also require on or both hands to use. Wielded items may require one hand or both hands. See each item for details, or simply use common sense. The GM adjudicates any unusual circumstances.
Armor
This slot is used for suits of armor that are worn. Other items may also fit in the armor slot.
Belts
This slot consists of belts and other items that can be worn around the waist.
Body
This slot consists of cassocks, coats/overcoats, harnesses, robes, vestments and any other article of clothing that is large and loose, or very, very tight, over the entire body.
Chest
This slot consists of shirts, corsets, body wraps, bandages, and other items that can be worn tightly against the torso or chest.
Eyes
This slot consists of goggles, lenses, monocles, spectacles, masks and other items that can be worn over the eyes.
Feet
This slot consists of boots, footwraps, sandals, shoes, slippers, and other items that can be worn on the feet.
Hands
This slot consists of gauntlets, gloves, and other items that can worn on the hands.
Head
This slot consists of circlets, crowns, hats, helms, hoods and other items that can be worn on the head.
Headband
This slot consists of bands, headbands, laurels, phylacteries, and other non-head slot items that can be worn around the forehead.
Neck
This slot consists of amulets, brooches, medallions, necklaces, periapts, scarabs, and other items that can be worn around the neck or fastened to a cloak.
Ring (up to two)
rings worn around the fingers... or... other appendages. Normally one per hand.
Shield
This slot is for carried shields. Note that a carried shield uses the same slot as a wielded weapon, and while it is possible to 'stack' these items, there are penalties for doing so, including the loss of all bonuses provided by the shield in any round that the wielded weapon sharing the shield's hand is used to attack. This also occurs if the shield is used as a weapon, using shield bash.
Shoulders
This slot consists of capes, cloaks, cords, mantels, pauldrons, shawls, stoles, wings, and other items that can be worn on the shoulders.
Wrists
This slot consists of armbands, bracelets, bracers, gauntlets, manacles, shackles, vambraces, and other items that can worn over the wrists.
Slotless
Items not worn or carried in one of the above slots are called "slotless" items. Sometimes these items take the form of trinkets, like figurines of wondrous power. Typically the possession of such an item is enough to gain its benefit, but sometimes one must manipulate and/or activate the item.
Consumables
Consumable magic items are slotless, but have no effect until consumed. These items include potions, scrolls, alchemical creations and ammunition.

Each of these items must be wielded, worn, or consumed, depending on the item, in order to gain their benefits. If an item is worn, it takes up one of the body's magic item slots and no additional items of the same slot may be worn there. If it is wielded, it takes up one or two hands.

Magic rings, boots, hats, cloaks and basically "everything else" that isn't a weapon, armor, shield, rod, staff, wand or consumable magic item is considered a wondrous item. For those of you who need a tramp stamp, tattoo, rune or other weird atypical magic item, those are all treated like slotless wondrous items.

Magic items in each slot may only be enchanted with specific bonus types, to prevent stacking absurdities. As a rule of thumb, no magic items should stack with other magic items. Doing so quickly breaks the game, so don't do it. The GM is always the final decider on whether anything is allowed to stack with anything else.

Of course, a character may carry or possess as many items of the same type as he wishes. However, only one item may be worn in a particular body slot, and additional items of the same body slot type grant no benefits to the character unless they swap out the other item first.

The exception to this rule is slotless items, which can be worn or carried without taking up a slot on a character's body. The description of an item indicates when it has this property.