I love this item. It reminds me of the 2e Tome of Magic spell Steal Enchantement (or something I have the french version of the book). Very useful!
Good work Christine. Nice to see a women as one of the 32.
I'm happy that so many people want to use the arcane anvil in their games. I feel flattered :P.
You should! You designed a really cool item.
This is my favorite of the bunch.
As both a DM and a player, the "great weapon, but I've got Weapon Focus/Improved Critical in X" syndrome always bothers me. The Weapon Group feats from Unearthed Arcana help alot, and this item goes even further.
Great job! I definitely plan on working this into my campaign. :)
I would probably go with the suggestions of others on this thread and make it a minor artifact or a wondrous location ... particularly a locaiton, like that idea a lot.
Ditto. It feels a bit video gamey to me if they can use it whenever they want or just go to a store. Definitely would become the object of a quest. But in that case maybe you wouldn't need to sacrifice another magic item. It would just give you current item more powers.
Creative and definitely top 32 worthy IMO. Extra points because she's a girl too. Definitely not enough girls involved in this game.
Wow. To me that's a major artifact. I'd bring it into my campaigns, but with a God owning it, and with it built into a celestial/abyssal fortress, usable only when the deity deigns to allow you.
I was thinking about it being ripe for abuse too. There would be alot of hard DMing in what's a compatible effect or not. I'm mainly thinking of missile weapons, which tend to be balanced based on the concept that they are destroyed on impact, having their powers transferred to sturdier melee weapons which can be picked back up.
Contributor, RPG Superstar
aka Leandra Christine Schneider
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In my games, I'd say an enhancement is "compatible" if the weapon/armor could be created bearing the enhancement in the first place. So no hard ruling will be required (at least so I hope :P )
Aside from that I will allow enhancement transference from or to 50 pieces of similar ammunition-like weaponry, since the pricing guidelines are mechanically the same in that case.
It is a very interesting item with a day or two it can really supercharge up a group of PCs for the rest of a campaign and squeezing a lot of extra gold out of an odd weapon that would normally go unused or be sold at half price. I'd probably keep it under the control of the DM and not the players in a game. It would be more of an issue with a commercial adventures for unusual magic items the designers never expected the PCs to be really able to use. Tiny Fey weapons, e Giant sized weapons.
I was thinking about the Blue Alley adventure in the old Waterdeep boxed set it had a 2" Sword of Sharpness that was mostly good for cutting your fingers and never really intended to be used by the adventurers just a memorable unusable treasure. Fighting against giants normally any magic weapons would have to be sold for half price
Fighting werewovlves this week boys break out the Masterwork Silver weapons for your best weapon enchantment transfer.
Another week we are going to be fighting demons boys break out the the Cold Iron master work weapons for your best weapon enchantment transfer.
Not so useful for random encounters unless the party retreats first but one they know what they are doing but with certain types of monsters they can supercharge their weapons to the best advantage.
It really seems more powerful than 20,000 GP because once the PCs have transferred 40,000 GP in weapon or armor enchantments it's paid for in game everything is up and up.
On the flip side it would be nice for Paladins being able to get a Holy Avenger enchantment for their diety's favored weapon or some weapon that does more damage than a standard longsword. I can already envision the spiked chain Holy Avengers for Paladins.
The other thing is once this item is introduced into a campaign I can see the Players inquiring now how about that Arcane Anvil for Wondrous Items and Rings enchantment transfers DM? Normally non standard body slot magic items have a higher recommend cost based on body affinity.
Different body slots have different suggested magic affinites like Boots for travel spells.
Very creative item. I am really looking forward to seeing your country.
I don't have a lot to add to the conversation, save that I too like the item, but like it more as a wondrous/magical location...one that is difficult to reach in the first place, and even more difficult to return to.
Chad
I like the item. It makes a lot of sense for campaigns like the Savage Tide AP, where you don't see big cities for long stretches.
2: it takes a craft weaponsmith check to successfully imbue (but not destroy and charge). check DC is euqla to cost of items powers / 1,000. Thus a +4 weapon bonus (32,000 gp) takes a DC 32 craft weaponsmith check to imbue. If the check is failed, the magic is lost.
The craft check is a good idea to prevent munchkinism. The DC shouldn't be based on the enchantment price thought. That would make the anvil useless at higher levels. (+3 holy = DC 50 0_0) I would go with DC = 10 + casterlevel + 2 per enchantment not included in the caster level.
I don't have a lot to add to the conversation, save that I too like the item, but like it more as a wondrous/magical location...one that is difficult to reach in the first place, and even more difficult to return to.
Chad
Like the magical locations in the DMG2?? That's a cool idea. Good aventure hook for a side quest.
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This item and author get my "vote" as best of the first round. Several reasons:
1) Great description and flavor. Evocative and well written, but leaving the "details" to a GM to flesh as he sees fit. Does not "pigeonhole" the item like several other entries I have seen.
2) Creative premise, unique function and concept. It doesnt replicate spell effects, which is something I personally detest in a Wondrous item. It's something pretty much wholly NEW.
3) Well-crafted mechanics with a lot of the abuse potential written out. My only two tweaks would be some kind of save for intelligent items, and the specific exclusion of artifacts, which have laready been addressed.
4) BALLS. This item goes head to head with one of the stickiest portions of the 3.X rules (speaking as a GM): character wealth. It's quite an imperfect section of the rules, and as long as they remain RAW, Items like this are not needed, but amazingly useful to a GM in an attempt to keep things smooth and user-friendly. There are magic items to "tweak" doggone near every aspect of rules a character can interact with, especially with the MIC in play now. Acknowledging a sticky spot in the rules and addressing it with a magic item takes balls. Doing it as part of a contest takes SERIOUS huevos.
AWESOME.
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Contributor, RPG Superstar
aka Leandra Christine Schneider
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Considering this whole artifact discussion, I think it should be added that only minor artifacts pose a problem with the rules of the anvil.
Major artifacts "...are not easily destroyed. Each should have only a single, specific means of destruction,..." (DMG-Major Artifacts)
Since the anvil needs to destroy the item in question, it wouldn't work for this kind of indestructible item.
...while it it still bad that you can do all sorts of strange things with items like the "hammer of thunderbolts" at least, the "Bow of Kas" is out :P
I still think this is a cool item. I do something exactly like this in my campaign, except it is done behind the scenes by someone or something that reports to the crown, something that's assumed to be inaccessible to the PCs.
In my mind I always thought it was an epic spellthief (I pictured epic spellthieves being able to do exactly what this item does - drain the magic out of items and use it to create others), but that was before I got the Eberron sourcebook for Christmas and read about artificers.
So I'll update my earlier comment: sounds more like an artificer-in-a-box than a spell-in-a-box.
BTW, congratulations on progressing. You've been on my short list every round.
(yes, I am *WAY* behind the times...)
Wow - neat item! I definitely think it is hovering on the line between wondrous item and minor artifact. If *I* were using it as a wondrous item the PCs could carry around (and I can see *at least* one trying to), I would
-add a 0 to the price
-add a DC to use (not an issue w/ my PCs - they LIKE craft checks)
-make sure minor artifacts were immune
-make it obscenely heavy and too big to fit into a bag of holding
Now, the main ideas it gives me quickly nudge it over the line into minor artifact status. I would (based on the flavor text):
-tie it to a specific location (immovable)
-have it add the [Evil] descriptor to every new weapon it enhances
-have it triple the chance of creating an intelligent item
-make it intelligent
-have a ritual/cost associated with its use
-limit its availability for use
I'd be tempted to even put it on another plane entirely. That, and flavor-text tweaks, changes a lot of my ideas for additions. Wanna use it? Gotta sweet-talk Moradin himself first...
I don't recall where, but I swear I've read about an item almost identical to this, however the one I remember was a bit more limited, like a +3 enchantment was transfered as a +2. Anyway, I'm surprised no one else has said anything about it. Maybe I'm misremembering.
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For my piece I absolutly love this item, but I must agree that it's broken a bit as written and can benifit from a few changes. Most of wich have already been touched upon in this thread many times (adding a craft DC, magical location, etc.) The biggest thing for people seems to be it's nigh artifact power level. While I agree it needs the modifactions mentioned, the point is that your players have access to this item relativly soon in their careers, and with some level of frequency. What good would it do anyone playing a AP for example that last only a year long in-game if they could only use it once a year.
I think that the whole point of the item fo begin with is to eliminate useless treasure (that is treasure only useable for selling) and allow players to use more unique player concepts without the DM having to handpick/rewrite every peice of treasure found. Not to mention it's just unrealistic to consistantly run across magical spiked chains every adventure.
I'm all for the item itself though and at it's 20k price tag accecibility too. Changes I would make I think are thus:
Add Craft DC relative to enchantment, maybe 10+CL+2per enchantment
(e.g. Holy = +4)
Make it a magical location useable 1/month per character
Location Attracts evil outsiders (to restock challenges)when the item is used it summons them at 1d4+1HD evil outsider per level of enchantment transfered.
Location is also permenatly Unhallowed, and cannot be teleported to within 50miles.
Ammunition is only transferable to other ammunition (no shortsword of slaying!)
Only Magic Arms/Armor can be transfered.
Not useable on artifacts.
I'm planning on blatantly yoinking this for my Age of Worms game, as I recall some points, especially towards endgame, where magic items worth tens of thousands become dust gathering paper-weights because the world has to be saved tomorrow, not after a week of selling magic items and then comissioning/hunting down new ones.
I'm going to try this as my personal modifier on it, critiques/comments are welcome:
Anvil is dwarven in origin, rather than infernal. Or maybe infernal dwarves! Oooooh! Definitely of artifact status, see later on for artifact hijinks.
Two checks must be made, one to "load" power from a destroyed item, another to "install" previously loaded power. Check DC is 10+Caster Level of item. First Check is a Craft Check related to the item being destroyed (usually weaponsmithing, armorsmithing, etc, but more on that later). Failure of check means item is destroyed and the energy is wasted. Failure by 5 causes a discharge of 1d6 raw magic damage per caster level of item, no save, radius 5' per caster level of item.
Second check is a Spellcraft check to put the powers into the new item, same DC. Same consequences for failure or catastrophic failure.
Items besides weapons and armor can be transfered with the anvil, but doing so is much more risky, both in the short and long term (see below).
Every time the anvil is used, a percentile roll is made (each check counts as a use, so two rolls per item). The base percentile chance is the caster level of the item being used. Assuming the dwarven origin idea, +10 if the check maker is chaotic or an elf (these would stack). For the hellish version, perhaps good or celestial.
-5 if the user is a dwarf or lawful. -5 if the user posesses the appropriate item creation feat, -2 if he posesses an unrelated item creation feat, these would stack as well. -2 for having 5 ranks in the appropriate craft skill, additional -2 for having 15 ranks. Same with spellcraft. +10 if you are attempting a power swap to or from a non-arms and armor source (this stacks, so +20 for trying to forge +2 gloves of dex into +2 boots of dex).
So, assuming a caster level 15 item, and a human wizard 15 with maxed spellcraft but only 4 ranks of blacksmithing, and Craft Wondrous item, the percentile chance is (15-4(spellcraft)-2(unrelated craft)) = 9.
Rolling below the number causes a mishap, which could be anything really, but I'm planning to draw from the 2nd edition Wild Magic tables, the Rod of Wonder tables, the Cursed Magic Item section (Mostly this, love cursed items), and the always unpleasant but often seen artifact shennanigan of "teleport away, ha ha ha".
Comments?