So I working up homebrew materials for my campaign setting. I came upon the idea of a material that, while rather expensive, could be used to reduce the level of a cast spell.
Now I'm not saying you carry around X rock and now you've got 2nd level fireball or cantrip shocking grasp. I'm well aware that will fail horrifically and end with spellcasters being even more powerful. My thought it that it would be based in the idea that this material had to be in a set location and you need quite a lot of it to do much of anything.
So as it stands the ideas I have are as follows.
-The material would be prohibitively expensive to get enough of it to make a real difference. Think level 8-10 to even get enough of it to reduce a spell by a single level.
-The material would merely channel magic through it and as such requires a very very specific alignment to its placement to do much of anything. Think of a ritual circle made of the stuff sitting in an arch-mages tower.
-The material would be very very dense and heavy for its weight. In addition ritual circles made from it would need to be rather large. The idea here is to prohibit PC's from strapping the things to the sides of animal companions or just getting a rather large wagon to carry this slab of magic about. Another alternative to this is that the material could be fairly toxic to be around for long periods of time, requiring specific rooms in bases and castles to mitigate its effects.
The big idea is that this material would be used in large castles, mage towers, perhaps in extremely large magical siege weapons, and anywhere else the PC's would go through the trouble of placing it. It would then be used to cast spells at lower levels to enable their abuse in defense of these structures (Or in the case of siege weapons attacking another structure, or even buffing an attacking army)
So I'm wondering how I would go about this? What possible exploits could we work around in this materials creation? What costs could you see associated with it? Would it be better to let people convert spells to rituals with this material? What risks are run using this material in a game with min max sort of PC's? However we can work out this concept I'm down for, even if it ends up being much more minor then reducing spell levels.
If you're worried about it being used, why introduce it in the first place?
There is no limitation that adventurers will not find a way around. These are the people to whom death is a mere bump in the road.
Honestly because I like the idea of players being able to upgrade their base or hideout or castle or what have you in such a way as to make spells easier to cast inside this location. It also has interesting applications from a world building perspective in military campaigns and the like. I'm really just looking for advice on how to make sure it doesn't get very easily broken. I'm aware we are playing pathfinder which means if the players want to break the game they very well can. Saying "Oh well if you are worried about it being broken why make it?" Is like saying "Well if you are worried about people power gaming why not just ban everything but the CRB?"
Its a homebrew message board. We aren't here to not take risks.
would it be better for me to propose possible effects for the material and gauge the reaction of the community?
In fairness, you can powergame pretty hard even with just the CRB. XD God Wizards, yo.
Specific rules text definitely helps if you want a reaction. I might add something about "attuning" to a given location - for, say, a month - before it works at all. That should pretty firmly discourage attempts to cart it around.
Now attuning is something I didn't even think about. Okay I'll get a rough idea wrote up in what little bit of rules text I actually speak and post it up here tonight
So I'd like to say I'm sorry about how I had to reformat the tables. I tried to make them work in the forums but that just wouldn't transfer or space out properly. But this should be a fairly finished write up of my idea. Sorry if some stuff doesn't have any context but a lot of it is history stuff and racial stuff from my setting. But none of it matter mechanically so here we go!
Deaghnàth Lace:
This rare metal is one of the most expensive materials known to the mortals of Elrahst. Its harvesting is a very expensive and difficult process that involves the smelting of the heavy metal Bismuth together with trace amounts of lead and gold. After this metal is heated until molten crystals specifically aligned with the elemental or outer planes are inserted into it in a very precise orientation. After this the metal needs to be treated with the blood of a Hyade, meaning the creation of this metal is entirely limited to willing Hyade donating their blood for profit, or from far less reputable sources. Due to this ability Deaghnath Lace has always had a mixed history of its legality to buy or even own. In the current age the Lace is well controlled by the empire in both its production and its sale but it is available for high costs. However its military use means that those who wish to use it to create ritual circles outside of buildings directly under empire control must obtain a special contract to even obtain the metal. Deaghnath Lace has the ability to assist in the channeling of the arcane or even divine energies needed to cast spells. It accomplishes this by channeling power into the caster with a much greater focus and force than the typical process of drawing energy from the planes and various natural forces. The material has gained its name from the extremely fine designs and sigils that are crafted out of it to form ritual circles. The effects of Deaghnath Lace are determined by the kind of attunement used within its crystals, the type of ritual circle, and the size of the ritual circle.
A. Level of Ritual Circle
B. Cost
C. Reduced by 1
D. Reduced by 2
E. Size Required for Ritual Circle
A. 1
B. 35,000 GP
C. Level 2
D. N/A
E. 10x10 FT circle
A. 2
B. 95,000 GP
C. Level 3&lower
D. N/A
E. 15x15 FT circle
A. 3
B. 225,000 GP
C. Level 5&lower
D. Level 3&lower
E. 25x25 FT circle
A. 4
B. 350,000 GP
C. Level 7&lower
D. Level 4&lower
E. 40x40 FT circle
A. 5
B. 750,000 GP
C. Level 9&lower
D. Level 5&lower
E. 60x60 FT circle
Attunement of Crystals
Spell Schools, Subtypes, and Descriptors Effected by the Circle
The 9 Hells
Evil, Law, Fire, Enchantment
The Abyss
Darkness, Evil, Chaos, Necromancy
Heaven
Good, Law, Light, Abjuration
Elysium
Good, Chaos, Divination, Cold
Plane of Fire
Fire, Evocation, Light, Healing
Plane of Air
Electric, Illusion, Air, Creation
Plane of Water
Cold, Water, Evocation, Darkness
Plane of Earth
Earth, Transmutation, Creation, Scrying
Astral Plane
Force, Pattern, Teleportation, Universal
Positive Energy Plane
Healing, Light, Glamer, Conjuration
Negative Energy Plane
Necromancy, Darkness, Shadow, Figment
The creation of a Ritual Circle made from Deaghnàth Lace is a long and drawn out process that involves a number of expensive magical rituals (Cost included in the costs above) that take place over the course of a number of days or even weeks. The time it takes is equal to 1 day x the level of ritual circle squared. The crafting of this circle requires a Knowledge Arcana check once a day during its creation. The DC of this check is equal to 15+(5x the level of circle doubled). It also requires a single DC 20 Craft or Profession check in a related field to the material the Ritual Circle is being set into (Such as Craft(Stone) when set into a castle tower). In addition once one of these circles in constructed specifically for the location in question as it must be built in such a way as to tap into and redirect the natural leylines and other sources of magical energy in the area. In rare cases these circles can be transported to new locations and altered slightly to work. This however requires a DC 30 Knowledge Arcana check and has only a 10% chance of working at all, and once altered in this way the circle can never be relocated again without being entirely rebuilt. If a circle is rebuilt from the remains of an old circle of the same level it can be done much more easily, only costing a 1/4th as much as creating a brand new ritual circle. However the remade circle must be of the same planar attunement as the circle it has taken its materials from.
A Ritual circle reduces the level of spells listed under its Planar Attunement by either 1 or 2 levels as determined by its level. No spell may be reduced in this manner or with a combination of other feats or spells to a level under 1st. Thus no spell that was not already a 0-level spell can be made to act as a 0-level spell. A caster must be within the confines of the ritual circle to spontaneously cast spells at these lower levels. In addition a spontaneous caster may only cast a number of spells per day in this fashion equal to their caster level. Prepared casters garner slightly more use from these circles but have a harder time holding their power in. Prepared casters that take the time to prepare their spells within the confines of a ritual circle can prepare up to ½ their caster level (Minimum 1) worth of spells in spell slots with their new adjusted level. These spells remain in these slots even if the caster moves outside of the ritual circle.