Artifact Creation


Advice


Hello everybody!!

I'm working on a rather large project and need a lot of insight and imagination from fellow GMs and players alike.
I am trying to build 21 special artifacts that are based off the major arcana tarot cards (excluding the Fool). Now my trouble is that i'm looking for a guideline on how many abilities these things should have, and how much to spend on them. I kind of already have a system set up but i'm having trouble with wording on the instructions on how to make magical items with spells per day effects, and other things. So i will give you the first item i'm working on and please give me your opinion. I will also put in the money value and the formula so you can see if i did this right.

The Magician
Caster Level 15
Old leather hat

+6 int= Ability Bonus (bonus squared x1000)=(6*6)*1000= 36000
+10 concentration(skill) Skill bonus (bonus squared x 100gp)= (10*10)*100=10000
+5 Knowledge Arcana(skill)=(5*5)*100=2500
+5 Spellcraft(skill)=(5*5)*100=2500
+5 Linguistics(skill)=(5*5)*100=2500

Now i also want this item to reduce the cost of metamagic feats by 1 for 3/day and by 3 1/day. For that price i used the chart that added spells constantly to the item. So the formula looked like this...

Spell lvl*caster lvl*2000/(5/times per day)
So for the feat reduction it looked like this...
1*15*2000=30000/(5/3)=17964
And 3*15*2000=90000/(5/1)=18000

So far what do you think? Am i reading it completely wrong or am i in the right neighbourhood? There are other things i have it do but i just want to check my math...


An item that cost about 200k gp would be effectively an artifact. Less than that is OK, CL 15 hat is fine. CL 20 is in the right range, lower CLs are also fine. That item there is a bit short of something I'd consider an artifact- make sure to give it a unique effect and some special qualifiers for using it or something. Also make sure to have a special destruction condition that is not easily met. Otherwise, it's just a really nice custom magic item.

Silver Crusade

As an artifact, it doesn't or shouldn't need to conform to standard magic item pricing, if that's what your goal is. An artifact can do whatever you want it to do without all the gold piece tracking.Just build it however you want to and roll with it.

I do like what you're trying to do with this artifact, but I would kick up Knowledge Arcana, Spellcraft and Linguistics to +10. The metamagic slot cost reduction is nice and can be very potent.


The reason i want a gold cost guideline is because i want players around level 10 to start finding them and i don't want stupid powerful characters to early. However i've already capped them at 1 artifact per player, unless they are of Royal bloodline and the chances of that are super slim. The story is a tyrant many 100s of years ago made 21 artifacts to go conquer the world. Now the artifacts are lost and people can find them.
As per destruction of each item, only another artifact of the same series can destroy each other, but working ona back up planas well...
Any suggestions for the Magician and was my math right?


Use scaling magic items instead of set artifacts.

Silver Crusade

My Self wrote:
Use scaling magic items instead of set artifacts.

Yeah, that seems the better course. Now if he has plans to introduce Mythic tiers to his players, the story could evolve that once the PC's achieve Mythic standing, said scaling items begin displaying their true capabilities.


No i don't think we'll do mythic cause we do have noobs in our group but the whole reason behind the artifacts is to provide a secondary story in case my players go off on their own away from my railroad...

Grand Lodge

Pathfinder PF Special Edition, Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber

An artifact by definition is an item that breaks rules.

One real question... why so many? Why not just a single card deck artifact?


It is a series of artifacts that a tyrant a looong time ago crafted to expand his empire. Each item representing each card of the major arcana of a tarot deck. All except the fool as he is a living contruct with class lvls in bard.


Garion Beckett wrote:
Now my trouble is that i'm looking for a guideline on how many abilities these things should have, and how much to spend on them. I kind of already have a system set up but i'm having trouble with wording on the instructions on how to make magical items with spells per day effects, and other things. So i will give you the first item i'm working on and please give me your opinion. I will also put in the money value and the formula so you can see if i did this right.

Guideline:

CL 20+ for a major artifact
CL 18-19 for a minor artifact
d20SRD Artifacts
2nd Ed ideas

Artifacts call attention to their use. If your player uses one to affect anyone but himself, it WILL be noticed. Byproducts like a bonus to a stat would not be noticed. When noticed, others WILL try to get them from you. Basically, they are plot trouble magnets.

Artifacts are hard to use. Takes skill or level to use well, and can backfire if not used properly. Character level ~15 minimum would be a good place to no longer worry about misfires. Can have different levels of misfires for different effects.

As already mentioned, they have a weakness that can destroy them. What it is can be difficult to find out. Making it happen could be easy, but is likely hard.

Garion Beckett wrote:

The Magician

Caster Level 15
Old leather hat

+6 int= Ability Bonus (bonus squared x1000)=(6*6)*1000= 36000
+10 concentration(skill) Skill bonus (bonus squared x 100gp)= (10*10)*100=10000
+5 Knowledge Arcana(skill)=(5*5)*100=2500
+5 Spellcraft(skill)=(5*5)*100=2500
+5 Linguistics(skill)=(5*5)*100=2500

Now i also want this item to reduce the cost of metamagic feats by 1 for 3/day and by 3 1/day. For that price i used the chart that added spells constantly to the item. So the formula looked like this...

Spell lvl*caster lvl*2000/(5/times per day)
So for the feat reduction it looked like this...
1*15*2000=30000/(5/3)=17964
And 3*15*2000=90000/(5/1)=18000

So far what do you think? Am i reading it completely wrong or am i in the right neighbourhood? There are other things i have it do but i just want to check my math...

A +2 Sacred Int would be better than +6 Enhancement, since it would stack with an existing bonus. Alternatively, make it +8 or +10 Enhancement

As mentioned elsewhere +5 is not much, but +10 works

In 3.X, a generic feat was valued at 10,000 gp + 5,000 gp for each prerequisite skipped. In 3.X there were sunned metamagic that gave these effects: Sudden Quicken=1/day free quickn. Sudden Reach=3/day free reach. What you have is more flexible, so call it 25,000 gp for the pair.

For pricing, add 50% of all lesser effects, since you hit the multiple effects ruls for magic items. If you hit in the neighborhood of ~200K, you have a reasonable item. At ~150K, it is a minor artifact at best.

/cevah


The best way to determine how many abilities an Artifact should have is to look at other artifacts in the power range you want, and build similar to that. ^^

Of course, there's lots of ways to build good items. 3.5's Weapons of Legacy can help you create all sorts of interesting items with a bunch of useful abilities that are appropriate for the characters' level. Individually, none of them will be game-breaking, but they can grow over time and still be a potent force.


This is excellent thanks guys!!

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