One of my characters want certain magic items crafted and wanted to know if anyone in the city can do this. My first thought was Skie but then I realised that someone who doesn't earn xp really probably wouldn't want to craft items. So I made the arbitrary decision that they had to order magic items from the white city (the closest and largest city to cauldron in my game world. Equivalent to Greyhawk).
I was just curious if anyone else has had a similar issue and how they handled it. Thanks,
Michael
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I use an npc with an npc shop in town, the npc is a 10 wizard who dedicated his life to item creation. There's allways a 50% chance though that he isn't at his shop and that the only one there is his assistant who just notes down their commision. Afterwards he will make the item when he gets there. The item of the players is allways 1D4 on the list of items created. He's quite popular to adventuring party's.
If he's not there he's out exp'ing while hunting/searching for items needed for his work. Since that item creation could be quite profitable he also sponsors adventuring party's to get the spells and items he would need for his items. Offers quite good sidequests and fun for the party. All my player's love him and offers me the chance to sometimes roleplay my favourite own pc to my players.
If you're interested I could allways post the info about this npc and his shop as he is when I started SC
Yeah, please. Thanks!
There is Vortimax Veer, a 10 lvl wizard which makes potions you can always give him other craft feats.
My solution to this was to utilize Coryston Pike, one of the kidnapees the party can rescue from Kazmojen in Life's Bazaar. In the web enhancement released for the original issue of Dungeon in which that adventure appeared, there was information about her being the daughter of a wealthy merchant in Sasserine. According to the information, she could send orders to Sasserine on the party's behalf after her rescue, and they could basically get anything they wanted delivered to Cauldron through her in something like 1d4+2 days; she even gets them a 10% discount on "disposable" magic items like scrolls, potions, wands, etc. I make liberal use of this to let the PCs acquire whatever they want from a metropolis-size city, while simultaneously letting me reward them for their past exploits and keep open a ready-and-waiting hook for a potential adventure (such as someone or something attacking the caravan/wagon delivering one of the PCs orders, so they have to go and track down their item and the thief).
Yes I would like to see that information also. That would be great.
I use an npc with an npc shop in town, the npc is a 10 wizard who dedicated his life to item creation. There's allways a 50% chance though that he isn't at his shop and that the only one there is his assistant who just notes down their commision. Afterwards he will make the item when he gets there. The item of the players is allways 1D4 on the list of items created. He's quite popular to adventuring party's.
If he's not there he's out exp'ing while hunting/searching for items needed for his work. Since that item creation could be quite profitable he also sponsors adventuring party's to get the spells and items he would need for his items. Offers quite good sidequests and fun for the party. All my player's love him and offers me the chance to sometimes roleplay my favourite own pc to my players.
If you're interested I could allways post the info about this npc and his shop as he is when I started SC
I like the Coryston Pike idea. Thanks!
Yep, this is the exact solution I use. She even became a bit of a romantic interest for one of my PC's.
My solution to this was to utilize Coryston Pike, one of the kidnapees the party can rescue from Kazmojen in Life's Bazaar. In the web enhancement released for the original issue of Dungeon in which that adventure appeared, there was information about her being the daughter of a wealthy merchant in Sasserine. According to the information, she could send orders to Sasserine on the party's behalf after her rescue, and they could basically get anything they wanted delivered to Cauldron through her in something like 1d4+2 days; she even gets them a 10% discount on "disposable" magic items like scrolls, potions, wands, etc. I make liberal use of this to let the PCs acquire whatever they want from a metropolis-size city, while simultaneously letting me reward them for their past exploits and keep open a ready-and-waiting hook for a potential adventure (such as someone or something attacking the caravan/wagon delivering one of the PCs orders, so they have to go and track down their item and the thief).
I have the church of Wee Jas be the place for magic item creation. According to the more detailed profile of her church (.zip download), magic item creation is an important duty of the church. I declared that they could enchant magic items up to 6th level caster level at book price. Anything higher would require a favor from one of the high priests. But they don't know that last part.
Luckly the PC dwarven wizard has picked up Craft Arms & Armor. What's even more interesting is that the dwarven wizard is a member of the church of Wee Jas in good standing. Since she donates her magic item crafting skills to the church and has demonstrated a proper lawful attitude, she has been awarded acceptance into the outer circle of the church, which grants a 20% discount on any Wee Jas items or service, and she may copy any wizard spell they have and it only costs her the cost of scribing the spell.
I have the church of Wee Jas be the place for magic item creation. According to the more detailed profile of her church (.zip download), magic item creation is an important duty of the church. I declared that they could enchant magic items up to 6th level caster level at book price. Anything higher would require a favor from one of the high priests. But they don't know that last part.
Luckly the PC dwarven wizard has picked up Craft Arms & Armor. What's even more interesting is that the dwarven wizard is a member of the church of Wee Jas in good standing. Since she donates her magic item crafting skills to the church and has demonstrated a proper lawful attitude, she has been awarded acceptance into the outer circle of the church, which grants a 20% discount on any Wee Jas items or service, and she may copy any wizard spell they have and it only costs her the cost of scribing the spell.
I ruled that most customised items of +2 or above could only be made by the church of Wee Jas or ordered (with a long lead time) from Sasserine via Skie and/or Maavu. Skie stocks items of this power but not necessarily exactly what the party wants. This led to a great meeting with Ike where a couple of PCs were rude to him when he was dismissive of them and got into a confrontation with him. "Luckily" for the PCs some lay worshippers turned up and an embarrassed Ike ushered the PCs on their way as their "combat training" had "over-run." Of course, there are great opportunities for veiled animosity in public meetings, now, to say nothing of a chance to get revenge in Lords of Oblivion.
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In the original web enhancements for Life's Bazaar and Flood Season Jenya is Clr 5 and then Clr6. At 6th she takes Leadership, which I didn't like. As the temple was going onto a defensive footing with Sarcem's assassination I had her take Craft Magic arms & Armor. She helped the Saint Cuthbertian PC and the Pelorian paladin with arms and armour, they ahve paid of course (the Church's funds where seriously depleted after buying the wands).
Coryston Pike is certainly viable, as listed in the original web enhancements. The Wee Jasidan virtually lives at Vortimaz Weer's, and happily shops there. I also had Skie shake some contacts occasionally for specifics. The players asked for items as opposed to money when going to rescue Zenith, and asked for two suits of adamantine full plate. The reward money is per head assuming 6, I just times it by 6 and let them divide between the three of them as they wished.
Also the Plain of Cysts was an opportunity to place custom bilt celestial treasures. I went max end of the suggested table as included Arms and Equipment Guide, and used Book of Exalted Deeds for materials and abilities. I also made the holy bastard sword a sun blade, and got rid of the cloak and bracers. This made up for the dozens of wandering monsters the players had encountered crossing Occipitus that had no treasure. The items where slightly weaker or equivalent to what the players already had, but where different enough that in most cases the PCs went with them, sold their existing gear, and augmented the celestial gear in Greyhawk City afterwards. I did a little blurb on each of them, named them, what they where made from and what they might have been doing on Lunia when Adimarchus invaded. I'll post them when I get home, as an example. It is a way to give players what they need or want when they can't create.
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Here is what I put in the Plain of Cysts:
The Blade of the Sun: This sword is a sun blade. The blade and tang is formed from a single golden yellow crystal of Frystalline from Blessed Fields of Elysium. The blade glows with a golden glow from within, magically empowered to destroy evil and undeath. The cross guard and pommel are forged from gold plated solanian truesteel. The hilt appears to be ivory with two equidistantly spaced golden bands engraved (+1 smite damage) with Celestial prayers beseeching Kyurek, favoured of Pelor, to aid the wielder in battle against evil and the undead. The script is inlaid with Frystalline and the “ivory” is actually the remains of Kyurek’s femur (thighbone). The weapon is superbly balanced and very light for its size (like all sun blades).
The blade was forged centuries ago to honour the aasimar crusader Kyurek, who fell in battle against the cult of Tharizdun when his body and mind where blasted to fragments by a cult lich, forever precluding him from Sainthood in life. Crusaders of Pelor mustered to gather his remains and destroy the cult of Tharizdun, and though several died, the cult was defeated and Kyurek the Favoured mortal remains where recovered. Only his thighbone and a few melted lumps of his solanian truesteel armour remained. These where then used to forge one of the first sun blades consecrated to Pelor.
The crusaders often visited him upon Elysium for guidance, as he was exalted and favoured in Pelor’s eyes and was reborn as a solar in his service. They founded a small Knightly Order in his honour, the Blades of the Sun. The Order was completely destroyed several decades later when it’s knights where slain to the last man when they responded to a demonic invasion of Lunia. Their remains where forever lost when fragments of Lunia, infested with the demonic invaders, where cast down into the Abyss by Barachiel the Messenger. These fragments landed upon Occipitus, the 507th layer of the Abyss, where the fallen planetar Adimarchus began to absorb the fragments into Occipitus, becoming the demon prince of the layer in the process.
This sword is the size of a bastard sword. However, a sun blade is wielded as if it were a short sword with respect to weight and ease of use. (In other words, the weapon appears to all viewers to be a bastard sword, and deals bastard sword damage, but the wielder feels and reacts as if the weapon were a short sword.) Any individual able to use either a bastard sword or a short sword with proficiency is proficient in the use of a sun blade. Likewise, Weapon Focus and Weapon Specialization in short sword and bastard sword apply equally, but the benefits of those feats do not stack.
In normal combat, the glowing golden blade of the weapon is equal to a +2 bastard sword. Against evil creatures, its enhancement bonus is +4. Against Negative Energy Plane creatures or undead creatures, the sword deals double damage (and x3 on a critical hit instead of the usual x2).
The blade also has a special sunlight power. Once per day, the wielder can swing the blade vigorously above her head while speaking a command word. The sunblade then sheds a bright yellow radiance that is like full daylight. The radiance begins shining in a 10-foot radius around the sword wielder and extends outward at 5 feet per round for 10 rounds thereafter, to create a globe of light with a 60-foot radius. When the wielder stops swinging, the radiance fades to a dim glow that persists for another minute before disappearing entirely. All sun blades are of good alignment, and any evil creature attempting to wield one gains one negative level. The negative level remains as long as the sword is in hand and disappears when the sword is no longer wielded. This negative level never results in actual level loss, but it cannot be overcome in any way (including restoration spells) while the sword is wielded.
Weighs 2 lbs. Hardness 14; hp 30. 51,335 gp market value.
Glorious Dawn: This is a +2 sacred heavy mithral shield of glory (BoED pg. 112; A&EG pg. 93; DMG pg. 284; HoB pg. 130). The central face of the shield is embossed with a gold plated holy symbol of Pelor. This symbol extends across the shield’s face as a stylised sunburst radiating outwards towards the shield rim. The sunburst is inlaid with alternating bands of Frystalline crystal and gold plate. The inside of the shield is engraved with phrase in Celestial entreating the wielder to “Rise with Glory at Dawn, Serve the Lord of the Sun”. The glory power works without the need for the Leadership feat or auras for Saints of Pelor, for those who have the True Believer feat and whose patron deity is Pelor, or those appointed as a champion of Pelor by a High Priest of the Church of Pelor.
+4 AC, 5% arcane failure, max Dex bonus -, armour check penalty 0, weighs 7.5 lbs. Hardness 19; hp 40. 28,020 gp market value.
The Order of Law: This is a +2 heavy adamantine shield of command (DMG pg. 283; A&EG pg. 93). This 2 ½-foot diameter round shield gleams like a mirror, so it is actually quite difficult to perceive the otherwise prominent symbol of Law that forms the central shield boss, or the fact that the metal used in its construction is adamantine. The rim of the shield is engraved with liturgies ordering warriors to be steadfast in battle and obey their commander’s orders (presumably referring to the wielder). The lettering used is decipherable by any intelligent creature with a language, even illiterates.
+4 AC, 15% arcane failure, max Dex bonus -, armour check penalty -1, weigh 15 lbs. Hardness 24; 46 hp 21,020 gp market value.
The Wings of Heaven:+1 solanian truesteel heavy mace of impact (BoED pg. 38; A&EG pg. 14/97) Seven flanges like stylised angels wings rising from each angels back, the angels legs merge to form the haft. Each angel represents one of the Seven Martyr’s of the Celestial Hebdomad, the ruling Council of the Seven Mounting Heavens’ of Celestia. As the mace is made of solanian truesteel the weapon confers a +1 to confirm criticals.
Weighs 8 lbs. Hardness 13; hp 27. 9,312 gp market value.
The Invincible Blade: +1 heavenly burst solanian truesteel battleaxe (BoED pg. 38/113; A&EG pg. 14) double bladed axe with each blade face engraved with Heironeous’ holy symbol, with each hand facing outwards from the haft. The weapon’s name is engraved in Common down each side of the axe head where the haft is mounted. The hilt is covered with fiendish blue dragon hide with a Seren wood haft engraved (+1 smite damage) with battle hymnals of Heironeous in Celestial inlaid in solanian truesteel. As the blades are made of solanian truesteel the axe confers a +1 to confirm criticals.
Weighs 6 lbs. Hardness 8; hp 14. 20,310 gp market value.
Aegis of the Defender: This armour is a suit of +1 exalted mithral full plate (BoED pg. 112; DMG pg. 284). The armour is stylised with numerous celestial motifs (although angels wings are most prominent), inlaid with solanian truesteel and silver. All the stylised angel’s wings upon the armour are plated with gold. The Aegis is engraved with numerous prayers to Sealtiel, the Defender, to shield and protect the wearer in battle from the malevolence of the vile servants of evil. +9 AC, 25% arcane failure, max Dex bonus +4, armour check penalty -3, weighs 25 lbs, counts as medium armour. Hardness 17; hp 50. 26,500 gp market value.
Wrath of the Crusader: This sword is a +2 blessed cold iron greatsword (BoED pg. 113; DMG pg. 284). The blade is forged of cold iron blade with the sword’s name engraved on both sides down the blade in Celestial. The cross guard and pommel solanian truesteel and are stylised as flames and angel’s wings. There are engravings (+1 smite damage) upon the cross guard in Celestial. These are righteous battle hymns of the Seven Mounting Heavens, calling down the wrath of the Raziel the Crusader, the Firestar of the Celestial Hebdomad, upon the demons of the Abyss. They are inlaid with platinum. The hilt is bound in platinum with threads of Ysgardian Heartwire for added durability. The pommel is set with a single facetted ruby the size of a walnut.
Weighs 8 lbs. Hardness 14; hp 30. 21,350 gp.
Banner of Law (HoB pg. 133) 8000 gp.
Banner of Good (HoB pg. 133) 8000 gp.
Horn of Goodness/Evil (DMG pg. 259) 6500 gp.
Trumpet of Doom (BoED pg. 116) 8000 gp.
Has engraved haft/hilt, +1 smite damage, +1000 gp, Dragon # 331 page 90.
Frystalline +2000 gp (Good aligned for DR; BoED pg. 38).
Cold iron double base weapon, +2000 to enhance (DMG pg. 284).
Things brings up a subject I've been a bit plagued with in my game. My group has come to understand that they can dramatically increase their lethality and survivability by crafting their own magic items instead of relying on stumbling across them.
They have coordinated the jobs of crafting Arms & Armor, Wands, Potions, Scrolls, and Wonderous Items by ensuring that each of the casters has at least one of these feats and that all of these feats are represented in the group.
While I applaud the teamwork of the group and the sacrifice required to devote one or more slots to these feats, the result is the group is able to twink themselves to high heaven by selling off whatever they find at half market price and converting that gold directly into new magic items specifically tailored to maximize their offensive and defensive potential making them drastically more lethal and survivable than the typical characters of their level. This in turn reduces the challenge from every encounter they have and when the challenge is reduced, so is the level of fun.
While this issue is not specifiec to SCAP, and in fact they have not yet started SCAP yet but will be within then next couple weeks, I'm wondering if others here have encountered this dilemma and how it has been handled. Can anyone offer their insight?
ArchAnjel
I had the same problem in the evil campaign I ran before the SCAP; the wizard kept making everyone items, which was wasting all sorts of in-game time, draining experience, throwing off what I thought would be challenging and generally was not heroic/villanous/exciting in my opinion.
So when we started the SCAP, I banned craft feats for PCs. The players were a bit upset at first, claiming that if its in the book I should allow it. However, I don't think of endless hours crafting items when I think of fantasy.
One thing I did though to balance this was make magic items relatively easy to find. The treasure levels in SCAP are a little generous, but I allowed them to sell all their stuff in Sasserine and find pretty much anything they wanted their (given enough time.) The postive aspect of this was that the spellcasters didn't really lag behind too much in XP (besides the occasional commune or permanent *blank*) and they also got to spend their feats on cool stuff like metamagic and spell focii.
One player took the leadership feat in order to establish a church in Cauldron and his cohort had brew potion and craft arms and armor...so they still got some stuff at a discount.
The players had enough money to twink out their characters without these massive discounts anyways, so I think it worked out.
Unless someone has a specific idea for an artificer/crafter I plan on doing this in future games I run.
Another thing I have done in my SCAP is to require PCs to seek out training for each skill and feat they select. The amount of instruction in Cauldron is limited by the size of the city and not all skills and feats can be trained for in town. Even when the PCs find training, they are sometimes only able to be trained up to a certain rank before they surpass their mentor and must continue on their own, which slows down their study.
Also, I keep close tabs on crafting time for my players and try to keep the pace of the adventure fast enough that they don't always have time to craft multiple items whenever they happen to be able to afford it. There may be delays in acquiring the necessary materials as well. I don't go so far as to actively foil crafting, but I do what I can to make the everyday world real to the PCs. It takes more than writing it on your character sheet to make it happen in my game.
I try to find a nice balance of time between adventures to allow the characters with item creation feats to make some - but not necessarily *lots* - of items. I also use Tygot, Skie, Maavu, and Coryston (and Vortimax, to a lesser degree) to provide non-instant "order magic by caravan" shipments for them. It has worked out well so far.
The druid just picked up 'Craft Wondrous Item,' but with a few weeks between adventures, and his desire to scribe scrolls for himself as well, it's not like the party is suddenly all sporting +2 stat items aplenty - he made two during his time between adventures, and some scrolls. I'm enjoying that it takes some strategizing of their part: How much time am I likely to have, and in what order shall I begin creating items.
So, when I tell them, "It's been two and a half weeks," they smile, check off the items they had time to make, and we begin the new adventure.