Creating magic items is an exciting prospect for magic-user and cleric PCs, whether they are replicas of those described in the Rules Cyclopedia or new items of the player's own devising. However, the guidelines for magic item creation found on RC/250-5 are neither entirely consistent nor streamlined. They also ignore, to some extent, one aspect of magic item creation that should be held paramount: the role playing opportunities such an undertaking presents.
This article attempts to improve on the "official" guidelines though a new set of magic item creation instructions. As such, they may be used to create magic items of any sort: enchanted armour and weapons, permanent and temporary magic items, magical constructs, fortifications, and magical vehicles.
Construction Basics
Magic items are created by imaginative, industrious, and talented magic-users and clerics; unless otherwise noted, no other classes are capable of fabricating magic items. In very basic terms, the creation process is simple: a mundane physical form or substance is invested with magical energy, turning it from something normal to something enchanted.
Obviously, this is easier said than done, and there are many individual steps, each representing a potential point of failure, in the process. First, an item's physical form must be flawless and fabricated with all manner of rare and exotic ingredients. Once fashioned, the item must be prepared to receive enchantment, which is not always possible. If the preparation is successful, the item is subjected to the appropriate magicks, each of which must be applied flawlessly. Finally, after all desired dweomers have been absorbed by the item, they must be bound in some permanent manner. The entire process makes great demands of the spell-caster, both in terms of time and skill, not to mention finances
The six phases of magic item creation are outlined below and detailed further on in this piece:
- Determine form and powers
Write down the item's name, what form it takes, and its desired powers. - Gather spell components
Obtain the rare and exotic ingredients necessary to enchant the item. - Create a the vessel
Fabricate or otherwise construct the magic item's physical form. - Prepare for enchantment
Prepare the item to receive magicks. - Enchant the vessel
Embue the item with those magicks. - Bind the enchantments
Permanently enfuse the magicks with the item.