Magic Item Crafting

[Xiphose]

One of my party members is making magic items for the party, one of the spells that is needed is not on his spell list.

Can he just use a scroll to substitute for the spell?

If not that can we find another caster who can cast the spell for us.

If neither of those work do you have any suggestions as to how we can fix this issue?

Thanks C:

[merpius]

The easiest way is to accept the 5 pt penalty to the spellcraft (or other skill) roll to create the item. The only requirement that he must meet (unless it is a spell trigger or spell completion item) is the Item crafting feat. For each other one, he can just take a 5 pt penalty. Another option is to work together; it occupies everyone who is working on it's time, but so long as each requirement is met by at least one person participating, then you are treated as having met that requirement.

[Hendelbolaf]

Can he just use a scroll to substitute for the spell?

Yes

If not that can we find another caster who can cast the spell for us?

Yes

If neither of those work do you have any suggestions as to how we can fix this issue?

Both of those work, but, as mentioned above, if it is an item OTHER than a scroll, potion, wand, or staff, then you could increase the craft DC by 5 for every requirement you do not meet. The only exception there being that you must have the appropriate craft item feat.

For scrolls, potions, wands, or staves you must have the spell available each day during the creation process.

[Meirril]

I want to make sure its explicitly stated: When creating a magic item the required spells are consumed each day. That means if you are using a scroll, you need to burn one copy per day of enchanting!

Depending on the cost of a magic item (and the amount of time needed) it may be desirable for a player to spend 3 days to retrain a feat to "cooperative crafting" so the primary crafter can basically double his enchantment speed. Then spend another 3 days to retrain back to whatever feat the assistant wants. I'd say this might be seriously considered for any item that has a market price over 48,000gp as it will save a significant amount of time.

[OmniMage]

I'm under the impression that you only need 1 scroll, much like you use only 1 spell casting worth of material components. Unless of course you were making a wand or something like that, then things get blurry.

[Hendelbolaf]

OmniMage wrote:

I'm under the impression that you only need 1 scroll, much like you use only 1 spell casting worth of material components. Unless of course you were making a wand or something like that, then things get blurry.

You would need to cast the spell once per day of crafting.

Under Creating Magic Armor: "The act of working on the armor triggers the prepared spells, making them unavailable for casting during each day of the armor's creation. (That is, those spell slots are expended from the caster's currently prepared spells, just as if they had been cast.)"

Under Creating Magic Weapons: "The act of working on the weapon triggers the prepared spells, making them unavailable for casting during each day of the weapon's creation. (That is, those spell slots are expended from the caster's currently prepared spells, just as if they had been cast.)"

Under Creating Potions: "The act of brewing triggers the prepared spell, making it unavailable for casting until the character has rested and regained spells. (That is, that spell slot is expended from the caster's currently prepared spells, just as if it had been cast.)"

Under Creating Rings: "The act of working on the ring triggers the prepared spells, making them unavailable for casting during each day of the ring's creation. (That is, those spell slots are expended from the caster's currently prepared spells, just as if they had been cast.)"

Under Creating Rods: "The act of working on the rod triggers the prepared spells, making them unavailable for casting during each day of the rod's creation. (That is, those spell slots are expended from the caster's currently prepared spells, just as if they had been cast.)"

And on and on as there is a similar clause under each type of magic item to create.

So the spell is needed once per day of crafting or at least the slot is needed. How this would work with expensive foci or components is not stated, so the RAW would be it would cost the same amount as if you had cast the spell. I, however, would probably just have the caster use the slot with no extra expense for components or foci.

Scrolls being used for this, however, would be a different story and they would be much more expensive to purchase as they would include the cost of the expensive components and/or foci as well.