Artificers, and XP free wishes? [Archive] - Wizards Community

Artificers, and XP free wishes? [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
Santherus
01-14-06, 07:10 AM ...Not sure if this has been covered before, but it struck me that an artificer, when crafting magical items NEVER ACTUALLY CASTS THE SPELL.

To craft an item, an artificer emulates the spell prerequisite: unless I'm missing something, it means that they never cast the spell, and so never need any spell components.

If this is true, Item Creation (wands/staffs for example) where the spells held in the staff have no material component cost. So spells with an expensive material component, or with an XP component appear to be free. Wish (obviously) jumps out at me here. I'm sure there are lower level spells that can be optimised in light of this.... again - unless I'm missing an important concept somewhere.

I'm sure someone else would have come up with this before - am I missing something?
Grim_Revenant
01-14-06, 08:23 AM Yes, you are. Emphasis mine. If spells are involved in the prerequisites for making the item, the creator must have prepared the spells to be cast (or must know the spells, in the case of a sorcerer or bard) but need not provide any material components or focuses the spells require, nor are any XP costs inherent in a prerequisite spell incurred in the creation of the item. The act of working on the item triggers the prepared spells, making them unavailable for casting during each day of the item’s creation. (That is, those spell slots are expended from his currently prepared spells, just as if they had been cast.)You don't actually have to cast the spell while creating an item, you just need to have it available to cast - or in the Artificer or Warlock's case, emulate having it available. So nobody actually has to cast the spell, casters just lose an available use for the day. The item creation cost is separated from the spell costs in most circumstances.

This does mean that if you make a Tome of Clear Thought +5 tailored for your class and one of your skills (40% discount), it's actually cheaper than wishing for +1 to Int 5 times in a row.
Santherus
01-14-06, 10:23 AM ah well - thought it was too good to be true.
GeeBee
01-14-06, 10:31 AM Erm, I just wanted to make sure it was understood that the component spell's XP costs ARE involved in making the Staff or Wand. According to the DMG you pay them along with the normal XP cost for making the item, though the process is different for each one.

I think this is understood, but just thought I should mention it in case anyone thought they could get away with some funny bizness... :)

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Santherus 01-14-06, 07:10 AM	...Not sure if this has been covered before, but it struck me that an artificer, when crafting magical items NEVER ACTUALLY CASTS THE SPELL. To craft an item, an artificer emulates the spell prerequisite: unless I'm missing something, it means that they never cast the spell, and so never need any spell components. If this is true, Item Creation (wands/staffs for example) where the spells held in the staff have no material component cost. So spells with an expensive material component, or with an XP component appear to be free. Wish (obviously) jumps out at me here. I'm sure there are lower level spells that can be optimised in light of this.... again - unless I'm missing an important concept somewhere. I'm sure someone else would have come up with this before - am I missing something?
Grim_Revenant 01-14-06, 08:23 AM	Yes, you are. Emphasis mine. If spells are involved in the prerequisites for making the item, the creator must have prepared the spells to be cast (or must know the spells, in the case of a sorcerer or bard) but need not provide any material components or focuses the spells require, nor are any XP costs inherent in a prerequisite spell incurred in the creation of the item. The act of working on the item triggers the prepared spells, making them unavailable for casting during each day of the item’s creation. (That is, those spell slots are expended from his currently prepared spells, just as if they had been cast.)You don't actually have to cast the spell while creating an item, you just need to have it available to cast - or in the Artificer or Warlock's case, emulate having it available. So nobody actually has to cast the spell, casters just lose an available use for the day. The item creation cost is separated from the spell costs in most circumstances. This does mean that if you make a Tome of Clear Thought +5 tailored for your class and one of your skills (40% discount), it's actually cheaper than wishing for +1 to Int 5 times in a row.
Santherus 01-14-06, 10:23 AM	ah well - thought it was too good to be true.
GeeBee 01-14-06, 10:31 AM	Erm, I just wanted to make sure it was understood that the component spell's XP costs ARE involved in making the Staff or Wand. According to the DMG you pay them along with the normal XP cost for making the item, though the process is different for each one. I think this is understood, but just thought I should mention it in case anyone thought they could get away with some funny bizness... :)