Hi, I'm a young wizard that is studying spellcraft and I have an idea for a new spell. How do I go about creating this spell for use by everyone?
Also, I work with a young smith in Waterdeep and we were wondering how to create new items based on some ideas we had.
Thank you,
Azan Leshere
Also, I didn't see any rules about creating powers/rituals at all for homebrew campaigns.
-IIRC The book Adventurer Vault should have the rules you seek. I don't remember what the DMG has to say about your question.
-Resumes lurk mode.
18DELTA
-Leaves lurk mode.
-Resumes lurk mode.
18DELTA
You need to at least PM me about this.
Who messed up my 18D?!! Why is he in lurk mode!!
The easy, simple answer is: Just eyeball what the game has and try to match it. That's how it's worked in other iterations of the game and it should serve you just as well here.
I don't like easy or simple answers
What I do when attempting to create something new, whether it be a magic item or a monster power or a class power, is analyze not just similar items of the type (like wizard spells to other wizard spells, or items to other items) but also to similar items of different types (like wizard spells to fighter powers, or boot items to armor items).
The formulas for 4E are pretty tight and, as such, are pretty easy to customize in my opinion. It is obvious from some analysis that:
1) Weapon attacks (which include proficiency bonuses) are almost always versus AC when they do a bunch of damage;
2) Other attacks, which may be versus different statistics, trend towards doing less damage;
3) Where 2) doesn't apply, the person doing the damage/having the power tends to be more vulnerable to being hurt than other people;
4) There is a hierarchy of "status effects": action denial (stunning, dazing) are very powerful effects; other effects vary depending on level and save vs. until-end-of-your-next-turn effects.
The last point is probably the most difficult one to keep in mind and adjudicate when creating new powers. It's easy to over- or underestimate a power's effectiveness in 4E until you actually see it in play. Some powers that look good on paper (Careful Strike, for instance: STR or DEX *+2* vs. AC!) don't work out too well in practice (no bonus=stink).
Other powers require different circumstances to be useful, and a circumstantially limited power provides more balancing points. For example, the two Wizard at-will area effect powers Thunderwave and Scorching Burst are balanced as follows: Thunderwave deals Thunder damage, which is rarely something a creature or monster has resistance to, so it is a Close Blast effect, which requires the wizard to be up-close and personal and restricts his field of fire more; but in return for that he also gets a push. Scorching Burst has a great deal more flexibility in having a range of 10, but it is fire damage--one of the most commonly resisted types--and it doesn't do anything but damage.
The things requiring the most eyeballing/discretion are Rituals and Utility Powers; not enough are really available to make readily accessible comparisons at this point in determining what levels might be appropriate (though there's a DDI article on Rituals that can be useful for comparison purposes).
Items are a slightly different story. AS others mentioned, Adventurer's Vault should have more than enough items in it to allow you to make better comparisons level-wise...but, in general, Property items that don't have Daily powers need to have weak regular powers & their level is adjusted accordingly. The book itself is your best guide for the varying levels of powers of items and what they count them as.
Hope this helped!
I think I'll wait to see what the Adventurer's Vault has before going to make new stuff.
As for the DMG, it has nothing on creating items, spells, monsters, or classes. It has a short blurb about how to create house rules, but that's about it.