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What follows is part of a larger work I'm currently working on for a low magic campaign. Some of the earlier discussions from this campaign can be found here: http://paizo.com/threads/rzs2t1jz?Rewrite-for-Injury-and-healing-rules#1 and here http://paizo.com/threads/rzs2t45d?Low-Magic-Variant-Combat-Rules#1
I welcome constructive feedback on these ideas.
The Tiers of Magical Items
Under the LCM Ruleset it should first be understood that magic in all forms is much more limited than a typical D20 campaign. Spell casters are fewer in number and must specialize in a specific area of magic, magic items are more rare and require highly skilled craftsmanship to create, and spell completion items such as scrolls, wands and potions, have been significantly rewritten with dramatically reduced power arches. In general the world is more focused on the skills and talents of its heroes, and less upon their magic items.
Truly magic items under this system become more rare while items of exceptional quality have become more common. Low level magic items tend to fade into the background and are replaced by items of exceptional quality, or alchemical properties. An example might be the “loss” of the spider climb potion, but the “gain” of a Superior Quality climbers harness which add a + 6 bonus to climb checks. The advantage is that the harness is a permanent item, but one which is expensive, bulky, difficult to find / make and because it is now a skill check there is always the risk of failure.
The Tiers of these effects are universally scaled as Normal -> High Quality -> Superior Quality -> Masterwork Quality for most items, and weapons and armor also have Common -> Uncommon -> Rare -> Exotic. The 3rd and 4th Tiers in both cases have prerequisite skills levels, feats and quality of materials which must be used to achieve such results (detailed below). The distinction between the categories of “Masterwork” and “Exotic” when dealing with weapons and armor have specifically been maintained due to how tightly integrated these concepts are in the base game, and to maintain compatibility purposes.
Crafting is tracked in Tiers, which means for every + 10 by which the DC to create it has been passed the item advances by one Tier; IE: DC 15 with a total roll 35 is a Tier 2 item. When creating magical items it requires a quality level to equal the item bonus in order to create. Thus to add a + 3 enchantment the item must be of Masterwork or Exotic Quality.
Magic Items under the LCM Ruleset
Magic items never appear randomly in an LCM campaign, as such the skill Use Magic Device is BANNED. Furthermore magic items are extremely rare, like King Arthur’s sword Excalibur and Tolkien’s One Ring of Power, such items would never be for sale at any price. For this reason there are no magic shops in an LCM campaign, which makes barter and trade with Alchemists and Blacksmiths a lot more meaningful.
“Magic items” tend to come in 4 forms: Alchemical concoctions, items crafted from superior materials, items crafted with superior skill, and items that actually are magic in the traditional sense. Crafting of magical items, such as a weapon like Excalibur, might take a couple of years to gather the needed materials and then another several months to actually craft and lay the proper enchantments. Even then the creation of such an item would only be possible by a very small handful of Mages in the entire region.
Further, crafting simply takes too much time and expensive equipment (labs, libraries, forges, etc) to maintain between adventures. It is for this reason crafting feats are restricted (see below) to NPC experts and retired PC’s.
Alchemy .
Alchemy under the LCM ruleset has been greatly expanded and replaces magical potions.
Craft: Alchemy Mundane alchemical creations with a craft DC higher than 15 are restricted to the Alchemist, Druid or Witch classes. Druids and Witches both have an extensive understanding of the natural world and may craft Alchemical creations from plants and such using the skill Profession: Herbalism with a DC up to 10 + twice their level, and a hard cap of DC 30. Alchemist may attempt the creation of any alchemical substance whose DC is not greater than 15 + twice their level (IE: 5th level = DC 25) and they have no hard cap to DC.
Alchemical Healing Salves (AHS) are similar to an accelerated form of natural healing and thus will not regrow limbs or cure blindness (unless it was temporary to begin with), etc. Such potions only take one round to apply but any direct HP recovery takes effect once per hour based on the strength of the salve being used (see below). Salves and poultices which effect specific types of injury such as a burn ointment (ala Aloe Vera) will heal at twice the normal per round rate but only against that specific type of injury.
A normal Alchemical Healing Salve will heal 1 HP of damage every hour for four hours (4 HP total), and require a Craft: Alchemy skill check of 20 to create. Multiple applications may be applied per day equal to the CON bonus of the person receiving the medication (your party Warrior for example) + the WIS or INT bonus of the person applying it (your party Medic for example).
If the craftsman making such an Alchemist Healing Salve possess the necessary feats, AND the Craft check used to create such a poultice exceed the DC for creation by 10 then the concoction will heal for 2 HP per hour for four hours, 3 HP for 4 hours for a + 20 result, and 4 HP per hour for 4 hours for a + 30 result.
NOTE: AHS stacks with spells such as Cure Light Wounds.
Crafting Alchemical Items - For Tier two and three Alchemical crafting addition training is required in a specialized area of alchemy, examples would include Craft: Healing Potion, Craft: Explosives, etc.
FEAT: Tier 2 Craft Alchemy – Superior Quality
Requires: Alchemy (Specialization) Rank 8
FEAT: Tier 3 Craft Alchemy – Masterwork Quality
Requires: Alchemy (Specialization) Rank 13
The Cost for Alchemical Healing Salves (AHS):
For a standard AHS the cost is 15 gold, or 10 gold for a salve that only works against one type of damage (reference the comment about Aloe Vera above). For a Tier 1 salve the cost is 30 gold, 45 gold, 75 gold or 20, 30, and 40 for Aloe. AHS are generally sold in single application containers.
For Alchemical weapons (Alchemist Fire, Acid, Poisons, Grenades / Explosives, etc) assume the cost increase by x5 for each Tier. Keep in mind the level / skill requirements for each level and the rarity of such an item.
Examples of Other Alchemical Items of note:
Alchemists Fire is advanced with each Tier by + 1d6 damage, the radius doubles, flames continue to burn for ½ base damage for 1d4 rounds per Tier, and the cost increases by x5 per Tier. Alchemist fire ignites via a violent explosion upon exposure to air. If a single person is the target of the attack, resolve the attack as per ranged touch with no save, for those within the blast radius of the explosion they may make a Ref Save of 15 + 3 per Tier advanced.
This highly volatile material is dangerous to carry around and is will break upon a critical hit against you, or a failed Ref Save. In such an event any other alchemical flasks you are carrying will also break, their effects are cumulative. Such materials are highly illegal in most kingdoms outside of officially sanctioned use by the military, and most soldiers want to be nowhere near such items on the off chance of a breakage that could blow them all to kingdom come!
NOTE: It is not the intended purpose of this document to detail the Tier advancement of every Alchemical item in the game. Future documents however will undertake a much more thorough exploration of both spells and alchemical creations.
Examples of what such Tier advancement might be: medical items increase the effectiveness of Heal checks, amount of healing done, the time its effects will last, etc. Weapons such as Pellet Grenades could see DC and damage increases. Items which allow for a bonus to saves / skill checks (such as a +2 to Survival) could see that bonus with each Tier, such as a +4, +6, etc.
Arms & Armor – Superior Materials
Human IRON & Steel – Humans smiths use the widest variety of metal working techniques seen in the campaign. The most common metal typically worked by human hands is iron, with Steel showing up in better quality items. Bronze is also common among humans, but they tend to use it more as a decorative metal for high lights and inlays. Lead-Lined, Copper-Plated, Alchemical Silver, and Silversheen are fairly common techniques seen among human craftsmanship.
Elven Craftsmanship: Elves are fond of working with Mithril and alchemically treated organic materials such as Darkwood, Darkleaf Cloth, and Whipwood. Finely crafted steel sees a lot of use in Elven culture, as does wood items such as a training sword made of Darkwood. Iron is never used in Elven construction due to the harmful effects it has upon these Fey blooded people.
Dwarven Craftsmanship: Dwarves work commonly with bronze, steel, mithril and Adamantine.
Dwarven weapons and armor are commonly seen with runes of the Dwarven language engraved into them. A classic example of this would be a shield engraved with the large face of a Dwarven ancestor or deity with family name or lineage or prayers surrounding the border of the shield. Dwarves never make light / finesse weapons such as the rapier as they consider them too “dainty”.
Arms & Armor – Superior Skill
Metal Items are typically produced in four Tiers of quality and follow both the Masterwork and Exotic construction lines. Common Quality, most of which is made of iron and rough leathers. High Quality is usually made of Steel and is effectively a + 1 item, Superior Quality is usually made of Mithril and a + 2 item, and lastly Masterwork Quality is typically made of Adamantine and is a + 3 item. Steel is the only material beyond iron which does not require additional feats to master, but does require the smith to beat the crafting skill check by + 10.
Masterwork quality may advance a weapons up to + 3. This bonus would be applied to either the hit or damage rolls. Elves favor hit bonuses, Dwarves favor damage bonuses, and human craftsmen tend to favor a more balanced approach such as a + 2 / + 2. NOTE: Elven one handed bladed weapons are considered light / finesse weapons.
Exotic quality likewise comes in three tiers and may advance either the weapon’s threat or crit multiplier by 1 per tier. This effect does stack with the Improved Critical feat. Once again, Elves tend to favor improved Threat Ranges, Dwarves improved Crit Ranges, and Humans a point or two in each.
FEAT: (Tier 2) Superior / Rare Craft Weapon - Mithril
Requires: Weapon or Armor Smith Rank 8
FEAT: (Tier 3) Masterwork / Exotic Craft Weapon - Adamantine
Requires: Weapon or Armor Smith Rank 13
*Skill: Crafting* requires a Skill Crafting: Weapon check. For every + 10 by which the craft skill is passed the crafted item can be advanced by + 1 enhancement bonus (with the right feats and materials).
The crafting of racial armor
• Dwarven - for each Tier the armor adds + 1 to DR, and + 1 to Saves vs Massive Damage, but increases the weight by + 20% per Tier. Due to their natural affinity with heavy armors, Dwarves simply do not make light armor.
• Elven – for each Tier the armor adds + 1 dodge bonus to AC, offsets - 1 Armor Check Penalty, and is 20% lighter.
Masterwork Shields
Shields Master Work
Base Cost: +500%
max AC by shield weight: +1AC Light, +2AC Medium, +3 AC Heavy, + 5 Tower
NOTE: Tower Shield – see above
Miscellaneous magic items are very rare in the campaign and are largely replaced by high quality or alchemical mundane items. An example would be wearing fine clothing and jewels getting a + 2 bonus on diplomacy when dealing with nobles, or Boots adding a + 2 bonus to Stealth checks. When used this way the Tiered system for Arms & Armor is still used here. A standard item specifically constructed for the purpose (a set of Thieves Tools for example) adds a + 2 bonus, high quality adds + 4, +6 superior or + 8 for top tier masterwork gear.
Magic Scrolls are not used in the campaign – thus Scribe Scroll is BANNED.
Wands, Rods & Staves: Are only available for use by core Prepared-Spontaneous Caster classes (Cleric, Druid, Mage, Priest), and augment the casters existing spellcasting abilities. For example, a Wand of Fire + 3 would grant a + 3 bonus to the DC check for casting any Fire related spell and add 3 additional spells levels per day as free magic for casting fire related magic. Such an item would only function in the hands of a core caster who could already cast a spell with the Elemental: Fire descriptor.