There have been many discussions about what magic items might be available to a party for purchase when they enter a community (whether it be a hamlet or a metropolis). The presence of magic items depends on many things. Unless there is a large population of adventurers constantly buying and selling each other’s loot, it must be assumed that these items are being manufactured. But by whom? Most PC classes are designed for adventurers and most adventurers are not spending their days putting their XP into magic items. Moreover, most NPCs of adventuring class don't spend years studying to be a wizard simply to open a magic item business and thus won’t spend feats on item creation (except, of course, that Wizards get Scribe Scroll as a 1st level bonus feat). Even if a spellcasting NPC of a PC class is available in a city, there is no guarantee that the individual has taken the needed item creation feats, has the prerequisite spells available, and is even inclined to make magic items for cash. These factors make it very difficult for a DM to determine what magic items might be available.
I submit that there is a class uniquely designed for magic item creation: Adeots. Adepts are an NPC class. They are not designed for adventuring and yet are very common. Most communities have at least one adept, and many have more. It makes perfect sense for adepts to make magic items during their spare time, in a world in which adventurers are not uncommon. There is little else productive to dedicate Feat slots to. An adept is essentially a village priest or, in a larger city, a lesser clergyman. His responsibilities are almost all skill related, requiring Knowledge (Religion), Heal, Craft, Profession, and perhaps Handle Animal. Most NPC adepts I’ve seen in game are assigned skill-boosting Feats like Negotiator or Skill Focus (Knowledge (Religion)). I think these adepts would be better suited to take Item Creation Feat and spend his off-time making items to sell to adventurers in order to increase the income of the church that he serves. This greatly reduces the effort a DM has to make to determine what magic items might be available. All one need do is look at the highest level adept in a given town and compare this to the lists below.
Of course, an adept cannot manufacture every magic item by himself, as an adept has a limited spell list. In fact, an adept cannot make any staves, constructs or arcane scrolls. (Such items would have to be commissioned through wizards and sorcerers--to make them as availble as the divine scrolls Adepts can scribe, I would generally make at least one sorcerer or wizard in any community with multiple arcane casters an NPC who trades and scribes scrolls.) Moreover, an adept cannot take every item creation feat available, until 18th level. Accordingly, I have ranked the item creation feats for the order in which I believe adepts would be encouraged to learn, so as to maximize their potential income-producing ability. For instance, an adept can only make a handful of rings and rods, so those feats would be taken last. However, in a community with many adepts, they might specialize. Some might eschew Brew Potion and take Craft Wondrous Item at 3rd level. One adept might take metamagic feats and then Craft Rod at 9th level, simply to sell metamagic rods. Note that some items, particularly arms and armor, can be made without a feat:
Adept Crafter’s Feat Ladder
1st: Scribe Scroll
3rd: Brew Potion
6th: Craft Magic Arms & Armor
9th: Craft Wand
12th: Craft Wondrous Item
15th: Forge Ring
18th: Craft Rod
This list does not change if the adept is human. A human adept cannot take any magic item creation feat as a bonus feat. Based on this Feat Ladder, adventurers in a given community should expect to be able to obtain the following items within a few days, based on the highest level adept in the community. Italicized items have racial or alignment prerequisites for the item’s manufacture. Note that this also presumes that the adept does not have any bonus spells for high Wisdom. That might make some these items available at lower level. I also did not include items that require skills that are no class skills for Adepts. It is unlikely that an Adept would be able to make a ring of jumping. However, you might include an unusual Adept who has taken jump as a cross-class skill.
FIRST LEVEL ADEPT
Armor and Shields: Adamantine breastplate, Darkwood buckler, Darkwood shield, Dragonhide plate, Dwarven plate, Elven chain, Mithral heavy shield, Mithral shirt
Arms: Adamantine battleaxe, Adamantine dagger, Cold iron longsword, masterwork, Dwarven thrower, Masterwork silver dagger
Scrolls: Bless, Burning Hands, Cause Fear, Command, Comprehend Languages, Create Water, Cure Light Wounds, Cure Minor Wounds, Detect [Alignment], Detect Magic, Endure Elements, Ghost Sound, Guidance, Light, Mending, Obscuring Mist, Protection From [Alignment], Purify Food And Drink, Read Magic, Sleep, Touch Of Fatigue
THIRD LEVEL ADEPT
Potions: Cure light wounds, Endure elements, Protection from [Alignment]
FIFTH LEVEL ADEPT
Potions: Aid, Bear’s endurance, Bull’s strength, Cat’s grace, Cure moderate wounds, Darkness, Delay poison, Invisibility, Resist energy (any)
Scrolls: aid, animal trance, bear’s endurance, bull’s strength, cat’s grace, cure moderate wounds, darkness, delay poison, invisibility, mirror image, resist energy, scorching ray, see invisibility, web
SIXTH LEVEL ADEPT
Armor and Shields: Acid resistance (any), Banded mail of luck, Bashing (+1), Caster’s shield, Cold resistance (any), Electricity resistance (any), Enhancement Bonus (+1 or +2), Fire resistance (any), Rhino hide, Shadow (any), Sonic resistance (any)
Arms: Enhancement Bonus (+1 or +2), Merciful (+1), Oathbow, Sleep arrow
NINTH LEVEL ADEPT
Armor and Shields: Bashing (+2), Demon armor, Enhancement bonus (+3)
Arms: Enhancement bonus (+3), Javelin of lightning, Merciful (+2), Shock (+1 or +2), Shocking burst (+1), Sun blade
Miscellany: Armor of Arrow Attraction, Armor of Rage, Cursed Backbiter Spear, Everburning torch, Mace of Blood
Potions: Cure serious wounds, Daylight, Neutralize poison, Remove curse, Remove disease, Tongues
Scrolls: animate dead, bestow curse, contagion, continual flame, cure serious wounds, daylight, deeper darkness, lightning bolt, neutralize poison, remove curse, remove disease, tongues
Wands: Bear’s endurance, Bull’s strength, Burning hands, Cat’s grace, Contagion, Cure light wounds, Cure moderate wounds, Cure serious wounds, Darkness, Daylight, Delay poison, Detect magic, Invisibility, Light, Lightning bolt (5th through 9th), Mirror image, Neutralize poison, Web
TENTH LEVEL ADEPT
Wands: Lightning bolt (10th)
TWELFTH LEVEL ADEPT
Armor and Shields: Bashing (+3), Enchancement Bonus (+4)
Arms: Enhancement Bonus (+4), Merciful (+3), Shock (+3), Shocking burst (+2), Spell storing (+1 to +3)
Miscellany Amulet of Inescapable Location, Flask of Curses, Gauntlets of Fumbling, Helm of Opposite Alignment, Incense of Obsession, Periapt of Foul Rotting WONDROUS ITEMS: Amulet of health (any), Belt of dwarvenkind, Belt of giant Strength (any), Boots of elvenkind, Bracers of archery (any), Cloak of elvenkind, Elixir of fire breath, Elixir of hiding, Gauntlets of ogre power, Gem of brightness, Gloves of Dexterity (any), Golembane Scarab, Hand of glory, Helm of comprehend languages and read magic, Horn of fog, Incense of meditation, Ioun stones (any), Pearl of power (1st through 3rd), Periapt of health, Periapt of proof against poison, Phylactery of faithfulness, Pipes of sounding, Silversheen, Restorative ointment, Robe of bones, Unguent of timelessness
THIRTEENTH LEVEL ADEPT
Armor and Shields: Wild
Scrolls: cure critical wounds, minor creation, polymorph, restoration, stoneskin, wall of fire
Wands: Cure critical wounds, Polymorph, Restoration, Stoneskin, Wall of fire
Wondrous Items: Mantle of faith, Pearl of power (4th), Druid’s Vestment
FIFTEENTH LEVEL ADEPT
Arnor and Shields: Bashing (+4), Enchancement bonus (+5) ARMS: Enhancement Bonus (+5), Merciful (+4), Shock (+4), Shocking burst (+3), Spell storing (+4)
Miscellany: Intelligent Items
Rings: Energy resistance (any), Invisibility
SEVENTEENTH LEVEL ADEPT
Arms: Disruption (+1 to +3), Seeking (+1 to +4), Shifter’s sorrow
Rings: X-ray vision
Scrolls: baleful polymorph, break enchantment, commune, heal, major creation, raise dead, true seeing, wall of stone
Wondrous Items: Feather token (any), Gem of seeing, Goggles of minute seeing, Lens of detection, Marvelous pigments, Pearl of power (5th), Periapt of wound closure
EIGHTEENTH LEVEL ADEPT
Armor and Shields: Bashing (+5)
Arms: Disruption (+4), Merciful (+5), Seeking (+5), Shock (+5), Shocking burst (+4), Spell storing (+5)
Rods: Enemy detection, Flailing, Withering, Python
Looking at the list, some things become apparent. First, healing potions are available fairly readily in any community with one third-level Adept. Basic magic weapons, shields and armor are available in pretty much any substantive town. A wand of healing is available in almost any city. These are the staple magic items for most adventurers, so it is a good sign that these are not going to be scarce. Exotic items probably have to be commissioned from wizards and clerics (or NPC brokers who specialize in finding rare magic items) if they cannot be located as salvage in an adventure.
A Note on Magic Item Shops
I am not a fan of the concept of magic item shops. Most items listed above would have to be commissioned from the adept in question. If, however, you are really hankering for a magic item shop, make the highest level adept in town a magic item proprietor and assume that the adept has the following inventory:
- d3-2 of each item that could be made at the adept's level
- d4-2 of each item that could be made at half the adept's level, rounded down
- d6-2 of each item that could be made at one-quarter the adept's level, rounded down
- d10-3 of each item that could be made at one-eighth the adept's level, rounded down
- d12-3 of each item that could be made at one-sixteenth the adept's level, rounded down.
If the die roll is less than 1, none of that item is available. Be sure to have the adept hire guards and install traps in the shop that make the EL for overcoming the shop's defenses commensurate with the treasure level of the value of the shop's inventory. Otherwise, it makes no sense for the shop not to have been cleaned out by thieves long before the PCs even roll into town.
Comments are welcome!
It should be noted that this article only uses the corebooks. Spells and magic items from supplements are not included. However, such items would probably not have altered the analysis much because Adepts rarely gain access to non-core spells and most magic items in the supplements require spells from that supplement in item creation. This idea is also totally useless in Eberron, which has its own NPC classes dedicated to magic item creation.
Being valuable commodities, magic items would naturally flow from one area to another, so even if nobody in a given town was capable of making a given item, it stands to reason that it would be available if someone thought it would be profitable to sell. Not all towns with a jewelry store need a gem mine nearby, right?
Also, most permanent magic items are just that- there's no stated reason, other than intentional or accidental destruction, that a magic item wouldn't remain potent for centuries or millennia. Some of these would end up locked in a tomb or dragon's hoard somewhere or outright destroyed, but most would probably pass from creature to creature as merchandise, heirlooms, or spoils for quite some time.
That said, magic item creation does seem to be a good niche for adepts. Not like they can do much else, after all.
This idea is also totally useless in Eberron, which has its own NPC classes dedicated to magic item creation.
Intresting. Where do Magewrights fit in then? (A new NPC class in Ebbron, all about making magic items.{Sub note: I don’t think that’s how you spell the class name})
I think they would fill the same role sans familiar.
Necessity: I don't think the presence of tombs and dungeons can explain the presumed commonness of potions and scrolls in the standard D&D campaign. I understand that medium and major items should be very rare. The presence of those items can certainly be explained as ancient tombs and the accumulation over time of items that are rarely destroyed.
But minor items appear everywhere. Adventurers carry around several vials of healing potions, wands of healing, +1 bracers, amulets and rings. Where are these minor items coming from? I don't think ancient tombs address this adequately in the default campaign setting described in the corebooks. And saying that they are owned by kings and merchants only begs the question of where did the kings and merchants get them from? Is the court wizard spending every day making potions and scrolls that randomly filter through the kingdom to be bought up by adventurers? No, court wizards have better things to do with their feat slots than take Craft Wands.
But I think Adepts should be the answer for most minor items. Think of them as medieval monks toiling away in their cloisters, scribing scrolls or mixing unctions. The head of the abbey (the occasional 9th level adept) will spend his off-time making wands. The idea isn't to sell it immediately, but, knowing the world is full of adventurers, there are likely merchants who come buy, purchase them, cart them to the city and sell them to a profit to a group of adventurers in need.
The scheme has two problems. First, making magic items requires an up front investment of 50% of the costs of materials. Now, if you know you have a market (say, a merchant who buys an abbey's healing potions and carts them to market in a city frequented by adventurers), no problem. The merchant fronts you the cash. But why make more obscure items like, say, +2 chain mail of electricity resistance? That's why I said that most of those items has to be commissioned. (Likely, the merchant who is selling the potions to the party is available to broker such a deal.)
The second problem is that a lot of minor items cannot be made by Adepts. Adepts have only a limited number of potions and wands available to them. Who makes wands of magic missile, a staple in many games? Or oils of bless weapon? Or potions of magic fang? I have no answers to this.
Interesting. Where do Magewrights fit in then? (A new NPC class in Ebbron, all about making magic items.{Sub note: I don’t think that’s how you spell the class name})
As I note in the last line of the post... "This idea is also totally useless in Eberron, which has its own NPC classes dedicated to magic item creation."
Thank you for this great contribution!
Note that some items, particularly arms and armor, can be made without a feat:
No they cannot. You need Craft arms/armor for any magic armor or weapon.
No they cannot. You need Craft arms/armor for any magic armor or weapon.
I was referring to the nonmagical arms and armor located on the Magical Arms and Armor lists. (I know that sounds contradictory.)
Those items are:
ARMOR AND SHIELDS: Adamantine breastplate, Darkwood buckler, Darkwood shield, Dragonhide plate, Dwarven plate, Elven chain, Mithral heavy shield, Mithral shirt
ARMS: Adamantine battleaxe, Adamantine dagger, Cold iron longsword, masterwork, Dwarven thrower, Masterwork silver dagger
These items do not require the feat Craft Magic Arms and Armor to manufacture. Ranks in the Craft (Armorsmithing) and Craft (Weaponmaking) are all that's required (well, that and the materials).
This develops the utility of the Adept class; I have always enjoyed the NPC classes. I only wish the Adept, Expert, Warrior and Aristocrat were more balanced with each other. Why couldn't Commoner have been a -2 instead of a -3? This is fantasy with deities and magic. I digress.
It also explains the presence of many low level magical items in the DnD worlds. Sword +1 was made by the Blacksmith (an Adept); a potion of healing was brewed by the village midwife (another Adept). The priest of the local shrine (also an Adept) makes scrolls for his faithful to help in their daily lives and in times of emergencies.
In my campaign, commoners are 90%, warriors 5%, experts 3%, aristocrats 1%, and adepts 1%. Easier math that way.
Of course, an adept cannot manufacture every magic item, as an adept has a limited spell list.
Minor correction: An adept cannot manufacture every magic item on her own, as an adept has a limited spell list.
However, other characters may fill prerequisites the adept crafter cannot meet. This provides a mechanism to craft a wider variety of items without the party casters having to tie themselves down with item creation feats. They just have to find the right adept to hire.
The second problem is that a lot of minor items cannot be made by Adepts. Adepts have only a limited number of potions and wands available to them. Who makes wands of magic missile, a staple in many games? Or oils of bless weapon? Or potions of magic fang? I have no answers to this.
Can't the occasional Adept take 1-2 (or more) levels in wizard, sorcerer, druid, or cleric to make those kinds of items? (Haven’t checked my DMG lately, but I thought they could do that.)
Or, they could just be made by wizards, sorcerers, druids, and clerics who want some extra cash or something to do, on commission or for the heck of it.
In the usual rules of D&D, adventurers essentially have a monopoly on XP. Anyone who is not an adventurer is doomed to remain a 1st level character for the rest of his life. Essentially, that means that the only way to become a good blacksmith is to go out and knive up orcs. Which results in the following scenario:
Jim and Bob are both boys from the same village. Jim was always a good student and paid attention whenever the elders tried to teach him something. Bob also has a pretty good head on his shoulders, but was more of a prankster and troublemaker (they both have an INT of 12).
Eventually, they both grow up to young adults. Jim becomes an apprentice with a famed blacksmith and learns all the tricks of the trade. Bob, on the other hand, goes out of town and into the wild. He meets with some other people with minds like his own and they move away from civilization to go knive up orcs and look for treasure in the caves that they guard. In game terms... Jim becomes an Expert and Bob becomes a Rogue.
Two years have passed. Jim is now a full-fledged blacksmith after all this time of hard training and has started his own forge with the money he saved during his apprenticeship. He takes orders from nobles and mercenaries to craft weapons for them.
Bob has had his fair share of orc fighting, took a few close calls, but managed to come out on top of it all. He is now a 6th level rogue. However, he did decide lately that this is not the kind of thing that he wants to do for the rest of his life. That's why last level, he invested all his skill ranks into Craft: Weaponmaking and took skill focus in that profession as his feat. At that point, he retires from the adventuring business.
Now technically speaking, the total skill checks are as follows:
Jim: 4 ranks + 1 (INT) + 3 (Skill focus) = 8
Bob: 9 ranks + 1 (INT) + 3 (Skill focus) = 13
In conclusion, Bob is quite a bit of a better blacksmith than Jim. However, Jim has been studying hard for the past two years under apprenticeship and Bob hasn't been to civilization and probably hasn't even seen an anvil during his travels. But even without skill focus feat, he'd still be better than Jim.
Same story with the adapts. Did Mr. Village Priest personally go out and smack orcs over the head with his staff? No? I'm sorry, No Remove Disease, Lesser Restoration or Neutralize Poison spells for him... His Heal ranks are also restricted to 4 and he can't craft a single item.
(Please excuse me if my contribution is naive, I'm new to these forums)
One thing to take into consideration is the enhancement bonus for weapons and armor has a caster level requirement equal to three times the enhancement bonus.Bravo. I can use this in my current campaign. Thank you.
Can't the occasional Adept take 1-2 (or more) levels in wizard, sorcerer, druid, or cleric to make those kinds of items? (Haven’t checked my DMG lately, but I thought they could do that.)
They can, technically, but I would ask why anybody would choose to be an Adept rather than a Wizard or Cleric? Why would anybody choose to be a Warrior rather than Fighter? My guess is that while the rules don't prohibit NPC classes from, in practice, only a select elite of people can have PC classes.
So my presumption is that Adepts are not multiclassing into anything except perhaps Expert.
they could just be made by wizards, sorcerers, druids, and clerics who want some extra cash or something to do, on commission or for the heck of it.
That's true, but in my original article, I point out that such people should be rare. NPCs of sufficient level to make such items were probably adventurers. Most likely their feats are not in magic item creation. And most of them are retired, probably with sufficient wealth. Why spend their twilight years manufacturing wands of magic missiles?
Sadly, an NPC without the magic item creation feat cannot supply the spell for the item creator. (I.e., an Adept with Craft Wands cannot work with a sorcerer to craft a wand of magic missiles.) As best, an Adept with ranks in Use Magic Item could conceivably make other items using the scrolls of the component spells. (DC = 20+SL.) Sadly, Use Magic Device is a cross-class skill for Adepts (who only get 2+Int skill points a level anyway).
Where on earth are these people getting the experience to level up
Excellent question and entirely beyond the scope of this article. I am using the rules found in the DMG for setting levels to NPCs. In any large community, you will have plenty of people of NPC class of 6th level or higher. Where did this XP come from? Who knows. That should be the topic of another thread.
This thread is not intended to be a forum for complaining about the XP rules as applied to NPC classes.
One thing to take into consideration is the enhancement bonus for weapons and armor has a caster level requirement equal to three times the enhancement bonus.
Good point! I'll submit an edit to my first post!
Well thought out article, personally I try to limit the availability of magic items to encourage my players to take craft feats. They have to wait around for items to be made unless someone happens to have it as a curio. And I don't have many magic shops (2 shops on the continent could qualify as magic shops) so using this system at least they can get their hands on a few low level scrolls or potions.
(1) XP for Adepts (and other NPC classes as well): Why not consider that they gain XP from non-combat encounters? Roleplaying (or story) awards could contribute to their progress, could they not? Using the example of Bob and Jim, Bob can return with his newfound expertise (a natural talent maybe?) with a score of 13, to find that Jim has actually become a 6th level expert, has Skill Focus as well, and another "skill improvement" feat that adds +2 to his craft skill (like Negotiator for Diplomacy), and also has gained ranks in another skill that provides a +2 synergy bonus to make +15 or +17 even!
How did he get this experience? Well, there was that time that he encountered someone trying to rob his shop (if not combat, then Intimidate?), the time that he negotiated the regular deal to work on the town watch's equipment (Diplomacy), the time he aided a group of passing adventurers in identifying a particular weapon from a distant region or historical period (Knowledge), etc...
In this case Adepts could garner XP from similar experiences. Isn't that why it's called "experience" points?
(2) Adepts and Item Creation feats: The way I think about it (and I do plan on stealing your idea
), is that the adepts can create the items that would normally be of use in their community. This is like healing potions, utility wands, etc. These items would usually be low powered, as they would not have a high level of XP to spend on them, as they collect XP slower than a PC does. Budgeting XP? Why not?How do they get money for materials? Another thread somewhere is discussing NPC economics and related matters, so why not say that the local populace pays them? The villagers go to Mad Mary the Wise Woman and, in exchange for some coin (or food and shelter, etc), she grants them a boon of a small, low powered wondrous item that fills a need ... warms the village council hall, let's say.
The only change I'd be tempted to make in your description is to set the adepts feat progression list to drop magic arms and armor and place wondrous items at the earliest spot. This will mean that a number of small low-powered wondrous items, potions, and wands appear in the game (how handy would a wand of Mage Hand be, or a wondrous item that allows casting of the Light spell be for that matter?) and magic arms and armor become rarer to find outside of adventuring.
"Aye, our village has one enchanted blade. The Sword of Anuron. The headman was granted it as a boon in payment for Mad Mary seeing to the wounds of some stout adventurers that had dragged their sorry lot into the village one day after an encounter with road agents in the mountains. Of course, Mad Mary then arranged to live in her cottage rent free until the next planting season."
What do you all think of these ideas? Am I way off base?
I think your ideas make a lot of sense. However, I don't think Adepts would bother learning Craft Wondrous Items rather than Craft Arms and Armor at 6th level. Look at the list of Wondrous Items an Adept can make at 12th level. It's pretty darn useless to most communities. They'd much rather have a +1 sword and +2 shield for the Sergeant at Arms than an Unguent of Timelessness.
-Wrecan
Ninja_Sensei, Thanks for the kind words!
I think your ideas make a lot of sense. However, I don't think Adepts would bother learning Craft Wondrous Items rather than Craft Arms and Armor at 6th level. Look at the list of Wondrous Items an Adept can make at 12th level. It's pretty darn useless to most communities. They'd much rather have a +1 sword and +2 shield for the Sergeant at Arms than an Unguent of Timelessness.
-Wrecan
Ah! But what about those wondrous items that aren't listed in the DMG?
Like an item that helps planting, ensuring that the seed is placed in the optimum solid depth and position. Or any other small low level item that duplicates modern day items or processes that we may take for granted.
How about an item that helps cure pipeweed? Or another that heats small amounts of water (for washing clothes or bathing)? Or how about a D&D I-Pod (a small carved wooden nightingale that knows maybe one or two songs the user likes)? With imagination, the sky's the limit for wondrous items!
(And yes, I am notoriouos for putting these small wondrous items and the like in my games for my players to pick up. ;))
The idea of crafting weapons and armor isn't bad ... I just (personally) don't think that the village wiseman is likely to focus on it over "utility" magics.
I like the flavour of keeping it rustic.
Ah! But what about those wondrous items that aren't listed in the DMG?
I sort of assume that the Adepts aren't researching new items. (And by new, I mean things not in the DMG!) I would leave that job to wizards. Maybe the Magic Item Compendium will have stuff like that.
Like an item that helps planting, ensuring that the seed is placed in the optimum solid depth and position. Or any other small low level item that duplicates modern day items or processes that we may take for granted.
The problem is that the Adept spell list isn't well-suited for stuff like that. Well, purify food and drink and endure elements might be useful for crafting mundane items. But other than the occasional bowl of Tupperware, or windbreaker, I don't think so. And most of those items would be beyond the reach of commoners.
The idea of crafting weapons and armor isn't bad ... I just (personally) don't think that the village wiseman is likely to focus on it over "utility" magics.
Heck, in the dangerous world in which D&D occurs, I don't think there's much magic that has more utility than Crafting Arms and Armor!!
I like the flavour of keeping it rustic.
Um... magical leather armor and quartstaves?
Um... magical leather armor and quartstaves?
LOL! Very funny! :P
;)
Ah! But what about those wondrous items that aren't listed in the DMG?
Or Wondrous Items powered by the unseen servant spell that help keep the rich man's house tidy at a tenfold the cost of paying actual workers to do the job? Why create jobs for peasants when you can have NEAT THINGS?
Ah, rich men and their toys.
The problem is that the Adept spell list isn't well-suited for stuff like that. Well, purify food and drink and endure elements might be useful for crafting mundane items. But other than the occasional bowl of Tupperware, or windbreaker, I don't think so. And most of those items would be beyond the reach of commoners.
Good point. Counterpoint: in the Eberron campaign, adepts gain access to one domain of their choice.
They gain no special benefits from this save the ability to add the domain spells to their spell list. In other words, they gain 1 additional spell of 1st to 5th levels. (Apparently, this has no effect of the -1 NPC status of the class. Go figure.)
IMHO, this should be made standard for the Adept since it gives the much needed variety.
Speaking of Eberron, don't forget the Magewright, the arcane adept. With little refinishing, s/he can become arcane equivalent of the Crafty Adept.
Good point. Counterpoint: in the Eberron campaign...
Allow me to quote from my original post: "This idea is also totally useless in Eberron, which has its own NPC classes
dedicated to magic item creation."
Eberron is a campaign that is specifically designed for having more common magic items thatn a standard campaign.
This article is intended to use the rules as written for non-Eberron campaigns.
this should be made standard for the Adept since it gives the much needed variety.
I'm not sure we "need" such a variety. Eberron is great for Eberron. I'm just looking to use the current rules to explain the prevalence of minor magic items.
it may be possible that by virtue of said gold, the local noble is more likely to have a wizard or sorcerer at the top of their field when compared to adepts, than the average peasant.
I agree completely. That's a great point. Of course it begs the question as to whether these court mages would have item creation feats. That all depends on whether you can gain XP from stuff other than adventuring and whether there are a lot of wizards and priests who do that...
Allow me to quote from my original post:
"This idea is also totally useless in Eberron, which has its own NPC classes dedicated to magic item creation."
Actually, the magewright, while a decent NPC class in its own right, is significantly less capable of creating magic items than an adept. The reason for this is that magewrights would be better seen as Experts with magical enhancement, than as arcane Adepts. Unlike the adepts, who have a large spell list, magewrights only have a bare handful of spells, of which the most significant is Magecraft, which grants a bonus to Craft checks. In other words, unless it's pure CL that you need, magewrights won't be making many magic items.
Here's a Dragonshard article on magewrights.
Incidentally, Keith Baker has also created an NPC druid-like class, called the Gleaner. Might come in handy.
With a little tweaking the Spell Pool ability could be taken as a Feat of some sort as a Variant Domain.
Initiate of Mystra or the Spell Domain have Any Spell (0-2) which would also allow for a lot more spell versatility for level 8+ Adept.
Archway of Salvation
This expensive stone arch is placed in the doorway of largest churches and cathedrals. When activated with a command, it will read the aura of each person who passes beneath it for ten minutes. If you stand beneath it for one minute, the archway measures your precise alignment and then calculates to which realm your soul is destined to travel upon death. The purpose of the arch is to keep parishioners on the straight and narrow.
The arch can be activated once per day. In most societies that employ the arch, it is customary to be measured on the anniversary of major life events (birthday, wedding anniversary, etc.)
The archway glows a color that corresponds with each of the outer planes:
Celestia: White
Bytopia: Copper
Elysia: Silver
Beastlands: Brass
Arborea: Gold
Ysgard: Yellow
Limbo: Swirling colors
Pandemonium: Green
Abyss: Black
Carceri: Ochre
Grey Waste: Grey
Gehenna: Orange
Baator: Red
Acheron: Blue
Mechanus: Indigo
Arcadia: Purple
Outlands: Brown
Faint divination; CL 1st; Craft Wondrous Item, detect good, detect evil, detect law, detect chaos; Price 1,440 gp;Weight --
Price calculation: spells (4) x spell level (1) x caster level (1) x 1/day (.2) x command (1800) = 1440
Bountiful Well
This well is constructed so as to be immovable. However, it's two-gallon bucket fills with water upon speaking the command word (usually the community's name) as a standard action. It has unlimited use. Communities will often pool their resources to purchase a bountiful well, which can easily support a village of more than 1,000 people and their livestock.
Faint conjuration (creation, water); CL 1st; Craft Wondrous Item, control water; Price 900 gp; Weight --.
Price calculation: Spell level (.5) x caster level (1) x command word (1800) = 900.
Magic Megaphone
This soft wooden cone applifies the voice of whomever uses it to eight times its normal volume. Quite expensive, it is purchased only by the nobility or those who often need to address crowds. Cities with arenas and amphitheatres will often give these to their announcers.
Faint illusion; CL 1st; Craft Wondrous Item, ghost sound; Price 9,000 gp;Weight 1 lb.
Price calculation: Spell level (.5) x caster level (1) x use-activated (2000) x no space limitation (2) x 1 min dur. (2) = 4,000
Tinker's Chest
This standard chest has a special enchantment. When a broken item is placed within, and the command word spoken, the item is immediately repaired. The chest can only be used once per day, and only repairs an item weighing less than 10 lbs. This is a luxury item owned either by the very wealthy, or given as gifts by adventurers to their peasant families.
Faint transmutation; CL 1st; Craft Wondrous Item, mending; Price 180 gp;Weight 10 lb.
Price calculation: Spell level (.5) x caster level (1) x command word (1800) x 1/day (.2) = 180 gp.
I'd also like to point you towards the thread about how much money commoners make. When you realize just what a large sum it is... it makes a lot more sense for their to be a bunch of magic items floating around out there. It just goes to show that there is a lot more money floating around out there than people realize.
My DM allows armor and weapons to be "upgraded." The patron simply has to pay the difference in cost for the upgraded weapon. I don't know if this is a houserule or not, but it explains a bit why you'd have so many +1 weapons and armors floating around.
No, it's not a houserule. Perfectly valid.
Looking at the spell list for Adepts, I was thinking of custom items that they could make -- using the DMG's rules for crafting magic items -- that could be usable by other NPC-classed individuals. The goal, of course, would be to keep the price under 1000 gp. Since most NPCs couldn't afford a luxury item costing several hundred gold pieces, I envisioned items that a community might pool their resources to buy.
Very nice but I have two suggestions for you to consider:
First, if you make the Archway of Salvation and the Bountiful "Fixed Architecture" as per the Stronghold Builder's Guide you could half the cost.
Second, the Magic Megaphone in my way is just a specialized variant of the Pipes of Sounding since it is only amplifying a voice. The Pipes of Sounding may be used continuously and only costs 1,800 GP which could be prorated for limited use.
First, if you make the Archway of Salvation and the Bountiful "Fixed Architecture" as per the Stronghold Builder's Guide you could half the cost.
I didn't have that book. What a great rule! With that in mind, here are some more pieces of "fixed architecture" an Adept might craft. The everlasting granary, in fact, is an item that no community would ever be without. In fact, I am going to consider this, along with the bountiful well, an item that almost every community will possess.
Diplomatic Chamber
This chamber has two stone chairs built into them. The chairs are identical, although one is lined in yellow amber and the other in purple amethyst. When the chairs are occupied, the occupants within may converse with one another as if they spoke one another's modern tongue. moreover, if only one seat is occupied, the occupant can understand any written material presented to him, as if under the effects of a comprehend languages spell. The chairs are affixed to the floor of the room. Moving them destroys the magic.
Faint divination; CL 1st; Craft Wondrous Item, comprehend languages; Price 3.000 gp;Weight --
Price calculation: spells (2) x spell level (1) x caster level (1) x 10 min/level (1.5) x continuous (2000) x fixed architecture (.5) = 3000
Everlasting Granary
This granary is specially enchanted so that the food stored within never spoils. The granary does not protect against infestations from rodents and vermin, however. Up to 43,200 cubic feet of grain can be stored within, which is enough to sustain a small community for one year.
The entire granary is purified every three days. If heat or excessive rain would cause spoliation faster than that, if may be necessary to store less grain within. In dry, cool weather, even more grain can be stored in the granary without fear of spoliation.
Faint transmutation; CL 1st; Craft Wondrous Item; purify food and drink; Price 500 gp + cost of the granary; Weight --
Price calculation: spell level (.5) x caster level (1) x continuous (2,000) x fixed architecture (.5) = 500 gp (not including the cost of the granary itself)
Brooch of Authority
This jewel-encrusted brooch is specially crafted with the family crest of the aristocrat for whom it is intended (and which thus helps to prevent theft). The wearer of the brooch is entirely immune from all enchantment effects, as if protected by a continuous protection from chaos effect. If the wearer is not a lawfully-aligned individual with levels in the aristocrat class, the brooch will not function.
Faint abjuration and law; CL 1st; Craft Wondrous Item, protection from chaos; Price 4,500 gp;Weight --
Price calculation: spell level (1) x caster level (1) x 1 min/level (2) x continuous (2000) x class restriction (.7) x alignment restriction (.7) = 1,960 gp +2,540 for the brooch itself = 4,500 gp.
And Thrawn I don't suppose we could get a link to the commoner money thread I am most interested in seeing this.
Also on custom magic items, personally I have always associated those with court mages who can afford to more or less mass produce items and associate the unique or new items with PCs and other non-employed mages who create things for there own amusement or what have you. Maybe thats just me but I could see entire communities using these big or small, especially the granary and bountiful wells.
First off I have to say thanks for doing the work and making the flavor fit the setting. This is a great explanation really.
Thanks! That's what I was going for.
I could see entire communities using these big or small, especially the granary and bountiful wells.
I don't see why not. An Everlasting Granary would pay for itself very quickly. And the Bountiful Well isn't all that expensive considering it renders your community impervious to drought. These are very inexpensive magic items.
Moreover, it doesn't unbalance the game at all. It has no effect on PCs. It really just adds a little flavor and makes magic a natural part of the world.
And Thrawn I don't suppose we could get a link to the commoner money thread I am most interested in seeing this.
Heard and granted
See also my sig for other interesting commoner threads.
A, You are probably right. Adepts probably do most of that "random generation of items" work that fills the merchant's inventory. Along with clerics that is.
B. I totally disagree with the level distributions recommended by the DMG. I don't think I have created a city without a ruling council of 15th+ level leaders, guildmaster edging on epic. 5-10th level wackos roaming the nearby forests or slums. Captain of the guards min 12th level. Powerful druids watching the forests. A cloister of 10th+ Level clerics a every church.. don't get me started on the actual Monk Dojos...
Maybe its just me, but that only seems reasonable. Without such a top heavy distribution... (plus swarms of commoners.. I mean swarms) the heroes seem just plain SuperHuman by comparison.. and blech wheres the fun in that?
If you're wondering why the 12-17th level captain of the guards is sending the party out to do his dirty work.. well there are a couple dozen 10th+ level rogues to worry about.. Yeesh where do you think he got all that xp?
Caster Manacles
These masterwork wrought iron manacles are enchanted such that when placed on a caster and the command spoken, they completely inhibit spellcasting and psionics, even if the spell has no somatic component or the caster possesses the Still Spell or similar Feat. The Escape and Open Lock DC is 40 and the Break DC is 30. They have a hardness of 10 and hit points of 15. The manacles can only be placed on one person a day, but the effect lasts as long as it is worn. Finally, the manacles effectively occupy the bracers, bracelet, glove, gauntlet and ring body slots such that when worn any other items worn in those slot locations are rendered inoperative.
Faint abjuration; CL 5th; Craft Wondrous Item, bestow curse; Price 3,000 gp; Weight 4 lbs.
Price calculation: masterwork manacles (50) + amazing lock (150) + (SL (3) x CL (5) x command (1800) x 1/day (.2) x long duration (.5)
Crafting Adept
The crafting adept is an adept who spends his time in between prayers with the creation of items, mundane or arcane that can earn extra money for their church. Crafting adepts do not adventure, but they are a valuable resource to adventurers as they can often supply adventurers with important information and materials that they would need.
The crafting adept uses all the rules for the adept NPC class, except as follows:
Hit Dice: d4
Skills: 6 + Int
Skill Points at First Level: (6 + Int)
This is just, great. Really.
Good job.
(Also, I shall be using the Crafting Adept. Thanks. :D )