Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 Style75 May 01, 2011 13:25:41	I came across a very interesting article at Argonaut Games Studio  regarding turning the creation of magic items into a skill challenge. I'm thinking about adopting this for my campaign but I'd like some feedback first. I'm not very good at spotting problems ahead of time so I value everyone's opinion on the matter. Article PDF of the skill challenge rules So what do you think? Will this work? Will it be fun?
#2 slobo777a May 01, 2011 15:53:28	Probably my least favourite thing from "Chivalry and Sorcery" re-imagined as a 4E add-on :-) It's possible some players might enjoy the immersion of rolling for item creation and having special reagents. However, it's definitely not for me. If I was told this house-rule was in effect I'd probably not take the item creation ritual in that game, and let it be someone else's part of the game. More objective cons:  - There is no "game" here, there is basically a probability that you might create an item after X days.  - 2 days per item level? What are the other party members doing during this downtime?
#3 Style75 May 01, 2011 16:31:58	In my campaigns, good magic items are hard to come by. So far I've restricted the use of the create item ritual to special situations and I've used a semi-wishlist method for handing out magic items. This was done with full agreement from the players in my campaign and has not been an issue at all. Lately, however, I've been thinking that I'd like to give the players a little more freedom with item selection. The problem I have is that I find the create item ritual RAW to be very bland and boring. I've been searching for a way to make creating magic items a little more interesting, something with some risk involved. while I don't agree with everything in the article, the method it outlines does a good job of creating a risk-reward situation that works nicely with the rest of the 4e game mechanics. More objective cons:  - There is no "game" here, there is basically a probability that you might create an item after X days.  Agreed, this is not a game and will simply be a series of skill checks. It's not a skill challenge in the typical sense. It simply uses the skill challenge model as a way to create calculated risk. In my opinion, its a clever way to say "The ritual doesn't always work, this is a costly and risky experiment". The players should be made aware of the challenge framework before hand and make their decisions accordingly.  - 2 days per item level? What are the other party members doing during this downtime? Yeah, this part of the idea seems silly. If I use this method I'd remove the this part of it. I do not see any reason to drag it out past the normal length of time for this ritual. Any other constructive comments? I'm looking for ways that this model could break or be broken/manipulated by clever players.
#4 argokirby May 02, 2011 9:23:21	Wow, thank you Style 75 for spreading the conversation out to a wider audience. slobo777a, I think you make 2 very valid points. How do you like the idea of having the skill challenge allow for an extra power to be added to the item and that a failure means that the item is created as expected. That might be a bit more fun. The time frame fits in my campaign, but I would not fault anyone from droping it... See my article about loving the delve format. www.argonautgamesstudio.com/archives/151 slobo777a
#5 slobo777a May 02, 2011 10:11:06	How do you like the idea of having the skill challenge allow for an extra power to be added to the item and that a failure means that the item is created as expected. That might be a bit more fun. slobo777a