GM-created "Magic" Items

[hookertime 0]

 Are there any GM's that are creating "magic" items of any kind? I'm starting a game and am trying to see if anyone else has made any special items for their PC's to find.

[Mantis Sine 0]

I know in the old forum there were home-brew rules for creating magick items, based on the creature creation rules.  I have created items with the creature creation rules (also a plotline), although the item is as much a living thing.

Not much need for magick items with the Ki system, unless you NEED one as a plotline.  In THAT case there are a lot of fables on Gaia.

[hellgeist 0]

hookertime said:

 Are there any GM's that are creating "magic" items of any kind? I'm starting a game and am trying to see if anyone else has made any special items for their PC's to find.

 

Until English language supplements are available for this, I have used a modification of a player-made solution based on the German version created by Wolf Howl, which I feel is balanced enough for my campaign. Feel free to try this system or tweak one of your own.

Enchanting Magic Items

Creation Process:
Creating magic items/artifacts requires the investment of Development Points that are normally used during character creation and level advancement. To create a Magic Item, the hopeful character must invest a great deal of their own energy into the process, or find someone who is capable and willing to do so – the cost is very great, and NPCs are highly unlikely to ever do this for any amount money. However, a knowledgeable artisan may be willing to assist and direct the character during the creation of the object, and let him do the labor (investment).

To begin the work, the artisan must have access to a suitable forge or workshop, and have all the required objects, herbs, minerals, specimens, and other materials present (cost could be 1 - 2000 GC, GM’s discretion). To fashion the object, the artisan or his guide (if he is not himself an artisan) must have a skill in alchemy, metallurgy, or other related crafting skill of at least 60 and a Binding skill of at least level 60. The character, or the artisan if there is no intended owner, will have to expend 10 Zeon per day during the crafting process, and expend their own DP to afford the cost of the artifact.

At the end of the work (minimum 1 week), the artisan/guide must make both a successful test vs. their skill and Binding ability, and succeed with both in a task of Difficult (level 1 items), Very Difficult (level 2 items), or Absurd (level 3 items). If they fail, the work time extends for another 1-10 days. If 3 failures occur the object breaks, and the full work period must start over. Replacement materials may cost as much as the initial expense (or a % of value equal to the margin of the failure, GM’s discretion), however the DP invested are not lost.

DP Cost:
Magic items are able to affect things with a Gnosis force beyond human levels. The 3 basic levels of power require the following base investment:
75DP – affects forces with a max Gnosis of 10
150DPs - affects forces with a max Gnosis of 20
225DP - affects forces with a max Gnosis of 30

Additional DP requirements depend on the type and nature of the intended item:

Object size:
Small weapon: 5DP
Medium-sized weapon: 10DP
Great weapon: 15DP
Armor (chest): 5DP
Arms (upper body/partial): 10DP
Armor (complete): 15DP
Simple or decorative items (rings, amulets, etc.): 0DP
Ordinary objects (rope, boots, etc.): 5DP
Complex objects (cloaks, etc.): 10DP

Quality Bonus:
+5 = 20DP (30DP alternative cost, GM’s discretion)
+10 = 40DP (60DP alternative cost, GM’s discretion)
+15 = 80DP (120DP alternative cost, GM’s discretion)
+20 = 160DP (240DP alternative cost, GM’s discretion)

Item Powers:
These can be selected from the Creature Creation section (Chapter 26) and are factored at the costs listed per effect. Having only one power incurs no additional cost.
*Add a second power: effect cost +5 DP.
*Add a third power: effect cost +10 DP.
*More than three forces are not permitted for any artifact

Skills:
You may also add enhancement to specific Skills as forces:
Each point in a single Skill: 1DP
Each point in a second Skill: 2DP
Each point in a third Skill: 3DP
Each point in an entire Skill Field: 5DP

***Complete creation of any magic item no matter how minor should cost a minimum of 50DP

 

[Keylime 0]

Thanks for the repost of that.  It will come in handy very soon for me.

[hellgeist 0]

 

 

 

 

Update to an older post - just sharing updates to the house rules for Artifacts and Artifact Creation that I've been using.

Artifact Creation (house rules)

The level of the Artifacts cost in CP grants a number of development points that can be spent on the various Supernatural abilities in the GM section of the Anima Rulebook. Each level of the Artifact also grants the item a Gnosis rating which limits power selection but also determines the items import to the setting.
Note: characters who attempt to use artifacts with higher Gnosis than they possess will inevitably become the tools of the artifact, and not the other way around. If the artifact is not sentient, this control becomes the effect of it's destiny upon the character. Either way, the GM will apply the effects as is they were 2 or 3 point Disadvantages.

Level 1: Grants 75DP, Gnosis level 10
Level 2: Grants 150DP, Gnosis level 20
Level 3: Grants 225DP, Gnosis level 25

Categories
All Artifacts have a physical form can range from a ring to a sword to a clockwork cube. This basic form determines any starting statistics. If an Artifact is a Sword then it uses the basic stats for a sword as a beginning point. These categories may also be used to determine alternate forms for items that transform.

Small Weapon: 5DP
Medium Weapon: 10DP
Large Weapon: 15DP
Armour (Chest): 5DP
Armour (Shirt): 10DP
Armour (Complete): 15DP
Jewelery or Clothing: 0DP
Complex/Unique Item: 5 to 10DP

Quality
Artifacts are generally beyond the need for quality as they possess Gnosis and can only be destroyed by beings, items, or events with a higher Gnosis. The other benefits of quality such as bonuses to speed, damage and armor-piercing can be purchased through the selection of various powers.

Powers
Artifacts feature a number of special abilities that normal items do not, these abilities are bought using the Supernatural Powers with Development points provided by the Artifacts level. The more diversified an Artifact’s abilities, the higher they cost, add the following modifiers when purchasing powers.

First Power: No Additional Cost
Second Power: +5DP
Third Power: +10DP

*An Artifact can have no more than 3 powers.

Skills
Beyond powers an Artifact may also provide a bonus to skills. These bonuses are only applied to secondary skills. Bonuses to skills are specific to an individual skill but the cost is determined by group. Artifacts can not provide bonuses to more than 3 skill fields and can not provide a bonus higher than ten times the level of the Artifact.

Cost of Skills in 1st field: 2DP
Cost of Skills in 2nd field: 3DP
Cost of Skills in 3rd field: 4DP

An Artifact can not provide skill bonus to more than 3 skills per Cp spent on the item.

Summonable Artifacts
Some Artifacts can be "Owned" by a person to the extent that the owner can summon the object in most situations. There are three types of summoned Artifact:

• The first is an object which exists outside of time and space and can be called into existence by the owner at any time usually via a command word.
• The second is an Artifact that always exists in the real world but can be teleported into the wielders hand when needed (unless prevented by an energy barrier just like normal teleportation).
• The third exists as a physical item which transforms into the true Artifact when needed or upon command. Its normal form may look innocuous to most, but can still be taken away from its owner.

*An item can only possess one of these abilities.

Summonable Cost: 50DP
Recall: 30DP
Transformation: 20DP

Specialty Items
Some magic items provide benefits outside of direct skill or combat bonus these items tend to bolster the possessor’s supernatural abilities or provide other esoteric abilities. An Artifact can only provide benefits to one type of supernatural ability or effect. That is the item can have one of the following abilities.

Magic Container Zeon Storage: 5DP per 10 points of capacity.
Supernatural Prison: 20DP per +10 Presence the item can contain beyond its base for use with the Bind ability.
Psychic Crystal: 30DP per +5 to Psychic Potential
Accumulator: 30DP per 1 bonus Generic Ki Accumulation point.

*Buying one of these abilities counts towards the maximum number of powers the Artifact can possess.

Sentience
Some Artifact’s are not just inanimate objects some are blessed or cursed with Sentience. Unlike items that have had a powerful supernatural essence permanently bound into them these items have developed their limited awareness though their sheer existence. There are two levels of Sentience, Primal and Awakened. Sentient items experience the world through their wielder and can commune with them but otherwise can not interact with the outside world.

Most sentient Artifacts are well disposed towards their true owners and will support them in their pursuits however it is possible that the actions of a Sentient item's owner may conflict with the whims of the Artifact, in these cases (which should be rare) the intelligence may not allow the wielder to access any special abilities the item contains (ie: Gnosis differential, moral fiber, purpose, race, etc).

When either level of Sentience is purchased the DP spent are then taken by the GM who uses then to buy an Intelligence, Willpower and Perception for the item using the costs on table 81 (page 282 of the main rules). A minimum of 1 is required in each of these three characteristics. Any left-over points are then spent to acquire additional powers, abilities or skills, which are solely under the control of the intelligence. A wielder may only activate these powers with the items consent or by passing an opposed Willpower check.

Primal: 15DP
This item can communicate in only basic ways such as Pain, Kill, hurt, hunt, Flee. The intelligence itself is capable of activating any special ability of the Artifact that does not rely upon the wielder. A primal intelligence is capable of making skill checks using any skills from the Perception field using any skills the wielder possesses. The GM determines when a Primal Intelligence uses this ability and the rolls the item makes are closed rolls.

Awakened: 50DP
This level of awareness is capable of fully coherent conversation with its bearer. Awakened items are capable of making skill checks from the Perception and Intellect field using any skills the wielder possesses. The GM determines when a Awakened Intelligence uses this ability and the rolls the item makes are closed rolls. Unlike a Primal intelligence it may achieve inhuman levels of difficulty on these checks. An Awakened item can attempt to active or deny the use of any of its associated abilities that do not require the physical interaction provided by its Wielder.

***Additional house rule I may bring to bear on my campaign***

Gnosis Effect

I really don't think artifacts should be as care-free and easy to abuse as they are, so with great power should come great responsibility, and that would be manifested by Gnosis (levels).

1) The player's Gnosis must be equal to or greater than the gnosis of the artifact in order to use it as they see fit.

2) If the player's Gnosis is lower than the artifact, then they are the instruments of the object (if it is sentient), or they become an accessory to the artifact's purpose and/or destiny (depending on its history and origin). The severity of this would be similar to at least a 1 or 2 point Disadvantage, depending on how stages the character is inferior to the artifact.

A level one character with a 3CP artifact would be 2 stages below the item's Gnosis, and therefore his/her peril will resemble a 2 point Disadvantage. This is not an actual penalty, this is something that will affect the character's experience in the campaign - similar to how spell casters must deal with the Christian Church and it's Inquisitors, but on a more personal level.

A good example of this is Elric's sword Stormbringer, which had a much higher Gnosis compared to his, and it was evident throughout his story that, over and above any will contests over small decisions, he was the sword's pawn.

The puzzle box from Hellraiser and Bilbo's magic ring are other good examples.

Thoughts?
 

[NekoShogun 0]

These are some really interesting rules, and they already have me thinking about how I could use these in a game. I'll have to save them for later for when everyone (myself included) in my gaming group has a tad bit more exp with the system.

[Jtest 0]

Here is a set of house rules I am thinking of using in my next game.

 

Artifact Creation Rules

For the purposes of our games I am going to rank artifacts on a scale of one to five. The artifact perk will remain unchanged in the core book as rank four and five are out of reach of starting characters.

Choosing the level:
The first step to creating your artifact is going to be selecting the Artifact Rank. For every rank an artifact has it receives a +5 quality bonus as per the rules on page 67 of the core book. The artifact will also receive DP to use to flesh out the actual powers.
• Rank 1: 50DP
• Rank 2: 100DP
• Rank 3: 200DP
• Rank 4: 400DP
• Rank 5: 800DP
Choosing the Form:
The next step will be to choose the base form. When choosing a weapon or armor as the base form note the normal presence of the item as listed in the equipment section on tables: 26, 27, 28, 29, 31, 32, and 35. Once you have the base form apply the quality bonuses based on the rules from page 67.
When choosing something not included on the above tables than use tables 77 and 78 on page 218 to estimate the base presence (with GM approval). Once you have the base form we have to apply the quality bonuses from page 67, but we run into a small snag; the rules state that the item receives +10 to the ability when using the item. This is where a bit of interpretation comes into play, a +10 crown isn’t going to add +20 to your “wear crown” skill; however it would be thematically correct to add +20 to any of the following: Style, Leadership, or Persuasion. Basically the ability bonus will be based on an ability thematically appropriate to the form, for example a wand adding a bonus to magic projection, or an old church relic adding a bonus to banish.

Choosing Additional Abilities:
Now it is time to start spending the DP gained from your artifacts level. Additional skill bonuses can be purchased at the same rate as the freelancer class (2DP per point) for the following skills: Attack, Block, Dodge, Wear Armor, Magic Projection, Summon, Control, Bind, Banish, Psychic Projection, and all secondary abilities.
You can only buy a bonus to an ability that was not granted a bonus from quality. For example you cannot buy more attack and block for weapons, or more Wear Armor for armor (the -5 armor requirement bonus counts as+5 Wear Armor in this case).

Choosing Mystic Object Powers:
You will see the core book reference a few different types of mystic objects: Magic containers (page 111), Magic Amplifiers (page 112), and Psychic crystals (page 211). These minor powers can be mimicked by artifacts as well. These come with all the bonuses and potential drawbacks described.
• +5 Zeon storage: 2DP
• +1 MA Multiple: 60DP
• +5 Psychic Potential: 60DP

Choosing Major Powers:
You may now pick out any major powers offered to your character by the artifact, use you’re remaining DP to buy creature powers from page 286-296. When selecting powers treat the artifact as having its rank x5 in gnosis (this is not actual gnosis but rather simply to determine if it’s eligible for a power).

Accursed Items

With GM approval you may be able to create a cursed item. These items may be the product of a dark history, or dark design. Often if subtle enough a wielder may not even be aware that the item bears some sort of curse.
Cursed items are made the same way normal artifacts are, the exception being that various disadvantages maybe taken granting additional DP but applying any disadvantages directly to the owner. The standard disadvantages from page 285, Penalty to Mystic Resistance page 291, Degeneration page 292, and Extreme Vulnerability page 292 maybe used. You may also use Bad Luck, Unfortunate, Exhausted, Unlucky Destiny, and Damned gaining a number of DP equal to the CP bonus x10

Bane Items

Bane items are things of pure malice. Bane items have nothing but disadvantages. For the purpose of crafting a bane item treat the DP bonus of a disadvantage as its cost.
• Rank 1 Bane Item: 25DP
• Rank 2 Bane Item: 50DP
• Rank 3 Bane Item: 100DP
• Rank 4 Bane Item: 200DP
• Rank 5 Bane Item: 400DP