Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Optimized_Commoner 05-20-07, 03:28 AM	Alright, I'm not a fan of spending XP to make magical items or of the material component system but I used them because I had nothing better. I've finally come up with a decent replacement, so I thought I'd present it here for some input. Still needs a bit more work as well, I need to write up the numbers for this and modify the WBL system to use this mechanic. Note: This system is intended as a replacement to the XP expenditure system, though it would be possible to use them both, I'm not considering that in my calculations so it will take a little adjusting if that's what you want to do. New Concepts Essence Crystals (working title): Certain locations of mystical importance gather magical energies over time. As these energies pass through, small amounts remain behind, growing into crystals in much the same way as limestone accretions form into stalagtites. The process takes a long time, the weakest stones growing within a few years while the strongest may take centuries to finish growing. These crystals are divided into 9 levels, which roughly correspond to spell levels. Many dungeons, castles, temples, mage towers and druid groves are built to guard one of these mystical locations. It is a sign of a kingdom or other group's power how many of these locations they have in their control. These stones can be magically infused into an item (with the appropriate item creation feats) to power a magical enchantment. A particular enchantment will require a crystal of a particular level. (Each level of essence crystal will correspond to an amount of XP, to determine the crystal level required round the XP requirement for the item to the nearest crystal level equivalent. That is the minimum crystal level required, you can not combine multiple weaker crystals to achieve that total but you can use a more powerful one) These crystals can also be destroyed to power the most costly of spells (those with an XP requirement, using the same system as magic item creation). The power of a crystal can also be temporarily drained for several effects, this temporary drain can be used to scribe a scroll, write a spell into a spellbook, brew a potion or to create dragon dust (see seperate section below). The crystal must be seperate (not infused into a magic item) and of the level of the spell to be scribed, brewed or written. A higher level crystal can be used to scribe, brew or write a lower level spell, however this still drains the power of the crystal. A crystal that is temporarily drained is described as inert and is not capable of being used for any of the functions a crystal can normally be used for. At sunrise each morning, as a tide of magic sweeps over the world, any inert crystals are recharged and begin functioning again. When a magic item fails its save against a mordenkainen's disjunction, all infused crystals are removed from the item and fall to the ground nearby inert. A person capable of crafting a particular item (i.e. has that item creation feat) can also remove infused essence crystals from that kind of item. The removed crystals are inert when first removed. Dragon Dust (working title): A fine powder produced by an alchemical process and then charged with energy by an essence crystal. Each gram of powder is worth 1gp on the open market but can be produced at a tenth of the cost by a skilled alchemist with access to an essence crystal. An essence crystal is capable of charging an exponentially higher number of grams (still calculating an appropriate amount). Spells which require material components instead use a certain amount of Dragon dust. If the cost of the components is negligible then only a fine pinch of the powder is needed, otherwise 1g is needed per gp cost of the components. Arcane Foci are not replaced by this system. Retrieving an amount of dragon dust in combat is exactly the same as retrieving a material component. The Eschew Material Component feat is replaced by Eschew Dragon Dust. This allows a caster to cast a spell that normally requires a pinch of dragon dust without it. Shameful confession: This was inspired by a combination of Materia from FF VII and that magic powder from the first D&D movie. Still a work in progress, please give any feedback you can think of.
Sylvaroth 05-20-07, 01:15 PM	I have written about a similar concept some time ago, you might find this interesting.
SlinkyTWF 05-21-07, 06:33 PM	I tossed the concept of XP out the window, and with that bathwater went the baby of spell/item creation XP costs. My solution was to replace the XP cost with "X GPs worth of gems." So far it's working fine and keeping the players poor.
Waterhammer 05-24-07, 12:22 AM	I tossed the concept of XP out the window, and with that bathwater went the baby of spell/item creation XP costs. My solution was to replace the XP cost with "X GPs worth of gems." So far it's working fine and keeping the players poor. Actually, the idea of spell components precedes the idea of XP costs, particularly for certain spells. Spells that now cost XP used to cost things that were harder to give up. Things like years of your life, or constitution points. On topic: The essence crystals reminded me of "Runestones" from Balder's Gate II: Dark alliance". Not a bad thing. The system seems workable. It might be good for certain items, and spells to maintain a need for additional material components. Just for flavor.
Sylvaroth 05-28-07, 11:45 PM	Voilą power components