Enchanting the Item

Wizards generally begin with the enchant an item spell to focus their magical energy and then cast additional spells to create the enchantment. If the item has a power that duplicates or closely resembles a known spell, that is the spell cast to create the enchantment. If the item has an effect that does not duplicate a known spell, the wizard must either research a new spell or cast some combination of spells that approximates its effects. The DM must decide which spells are necessary. See the enchant an item spell description and the Notes to Table 23 section for more details. Most items also require a permanency spell to complete the enchantment.

Wizards lose a point of Constitution when casting the permanency spell most magical items require. Priests do not normally suffer this loss, but the DM can rule that the long process that a priest must undertake is so physically taxing that it drains a point of Constitution. This loss applies only to items that would require a permanency spell if the item was created by a wizard.

Priests do not have the enchant an item spell, and they must petition their deities to instill power into their items. The procedure is described in Chapter 10 of the Dungeon Master Guide.

Notes to Table 23

Item: The type of item being created. These are divided into the same general categories as used in Appendix 3 of the Dungeon Master Guide and are further subdivided by how they can be used.

Single use: Using the item once completely consumes its magic, often consuming the item itself. Examples include virtually all potions, scrolls, dusts, oils, and elixirs.

Limited use: The item can be used a fixed number of times before it is consumed. Some limited-use items can be recharged, and some have multiple functions (see the Item Details section). This includes most rods, staves, and wands as well as some rings and miscellaneous magical items.

Single Function: The item has only one power, which usually functions continuously or on demand. Some single-function items expend charges when used. An amulet of proof against detection and location, cloak of displacement, and ring of multiple wishes are all examples of this type of magic.

Multiple Function: The item has more than one power. Some multiple function items are charged (and also are limited-use items) and some are not. Noncharged items of this nature include scarabs of protection, crystal balls, and hammers of thunderbolts.

Material: The more powerful the item, the more unusual the material from which it is made. Materials are classified by their rarity.

Common: The material is fairly plentiful under normal circumstances. Steel, oak staves, copper, and wool are common materials.

Rare: The material is expensive and difficult to find. Silk, diamonds, roc feathers, and ebony are rare materials. Common materials gathered under unusual circumstances are also considered rare. Wood taken from a lightning-struck oak, wool made from fleece taken at a lamb’s first shearing, and steel made in a furnace tended by a dwarven elder are rare materials.

Exotic: The material is unique or unusual and cannot be purchased—the character must undertake an adventure to obtain it. Exotic materials often exist only in a metaphorical sense. Steel smelted from the ore of a fallen star, the moon’s tears, the largest scale from a great wyrm’s tail, and a lock of a goddess’s hair are exotic materials. Common or rare materials gathered in extraordinary circumstances are also considered exotic. Cloth spun from phase spider silk under the new moon, a diamond freely given from a dragon’s belly, and wood taken from a lightning-struck treant are exotic materials.

Processes: A process is a prescribed method for accomplishing a specific task that is performed in addition to the normal steps necessary for making the item. Like materials, processes are classified according to rarity. For example, making a mold to cast a ring is not a process because creating a mold is a typical step in ring-making. However, making the ring’s mold from a wax model fashioned from beeswax taken from a hive of giant bees is a process because it is unusual. It’s not always easy to distinguish processes from materials, but the distinction is not important as long as the item is created using the required number of special elements.

Common: The process is fairly simple and straightforward, requiring only special care or some unusual preparations. Quenching a sword in snow from a spring storm, encrusting a ring with ornamental gems, and tempering a helmet in a furnace heated with lava are common processes.

Rare: The process requires extra effort or extraordinary expense. Quenching a sword’s blade in snow gathered at the top of the world, honing a sword blade with a stone of good luck, and etching an amulet with acid from a giant slug’s spittle are rare processes.

Exotic: The process is unique or unusual and cannot be purchased—the character must undertake an adventure to complete it. Exotic processes often exist only in a metaphorical sense. Quenching a sword blade in a lover’s sigh, heating a ring in burning ice, and bathing a shield in a knight’s courage are exotic processes.

Cost: This is what the character must spend for unusual fuels and other supplies when making the item. This cost is in addition to whatever the character spends on workers’ salaries, travel, professional fees, and purchasing the materials and processes necessary for making the item.

Time: This is the time required to actually manufacture the item once the material components have been gathered. It does not include time spent acquiring the materials and placing enchantments on the item. Time cannot be reduced by hiring extra workers, getting help from another character, or spending additional money.

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