Magic Items (Existence Supplement)
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Magic Items
In a world in which so much has been lost, one thing not lost, thankfully for adventurers, is the art of magical crafting. Within Existence, magic wands, rods, armor, weapons and so much more exist and can be crafted by those who know how to. What is different in Existence is the additional way in which a magic weapon, armor, or shield can be crafted.
Traditional and Upgrades
Traditional magical armor and weapons exist in existence. These items follow the rules as found in the Pathfinder Core Rulebook, and game supplements. Like Pathfinder Society, a masterwork item can always be upgraded to a +1 item without paying for the masterwork cost again. Instead, you pay the difference between the cost of the +1 item and that of the masterwork item. This rule also applies to upgrading from a +1 item to a +2 item and so on—you never have to repay the original cost or sell your current item for half to upgrade to the next step. Note that this only applies to items of the same kind—you can’t, for example, turn your masterwork rapier into a +1 greatsword. A mundane item can not be upgraded to masterwork, nor can nonmagical aspects of equipment be upgraded (such as the strength rating on a composite bow).
In addition to upgrading from a +1 to a +2 and such, items can also have special abilities added onto them, for the cost difference just as though they were adding another +1 or +2 to the weapon. Also, a special ability can be upgraded to the next tier, if it is a valid promotion. A prime example is a +1 flaming sword being upgraded into a +1 flaming burst sword at the cost of 10,000 gp (a +3 weapon costs 18,000 gp and the current +2 equivalent costs 8,000 gp).
Any item that has a + equivalent may be upgraded, such as a Ring of Protection +1, but an item that simply casts a spell cannot. So a wand casting Cure Light Wounds cannot be upgraded into a wand casting Cure Moderate Wounds, though a Belt of Strength +2 can upgrade into either a Belt of Strength +4 or a Belt of Strength +2/Constitution+2. This allows for players to upgrade equipment without having to sell an item just to purchase the next tier of it.
Sockets and Materia
The new way for magic items to work only includes armor, shields and weapons, and must be done at the time the item is initially crafted. For now, the term weapon shall be used for simplicity, though this applies to shields and armor just the same.
A weapon can be crafted to include a number of sockets, though this must be done by the crafter of the weapon and at the time of crafting. These sockets are able to hold certain magical Materia which act much like the weapon special abilities that other items have built into them. This allows for a customization of a weapon without the need for players to have five different weapons around for each possible encounter ahead of them.
A weapon can have a total socket power equal to 2x its enhancement bonus and is unaffected by weapon material. Since the sockets are crafted when the weapon is crafted, later upgrading the enhancement bonus of a weapon does not gain the ability to increase either the number of sockets nor individual socket power. A socket power simply states what the most powerful Materia can be placed into it, ranging from a +1 to a +5 equivalent. Since enhancements, and special materials, are never found in the form of Materia, a weapon will only gain additional special abilities while keeping its base foundation. Adding up the total of each socket power equates to the weapons total socket power which, as stated before, cannot exceed 2x the weapon enhancement.
The cost for a number of sockets can be found on the chart below, though the number may never be more than 4. The socket power does not affect cost, though it must be decided at the time of construction and cannot be changed. The cost of the sockets does NOT include the cost of the enhancements, material, and base weapon itself, only an additional cost to be added on.
As a full round action, a character may socket, or remove from a socket, a single Materia with a DC 10 Use Magical Device check. A failed check simply means that the Materia either remains in the item as it was, or does not get locked in and fall right back out into the user’s hand.
| # of Sockets | Total Cost |
|---|---|
| 1 | 0 gp |
| 2 | 1,000 gp |
| 3 | 5,000 gp |
| 4 | 15,000 gp |
Example A fighter has a +1 Longsword sword crafted for himself. Knowing it will never change base material, he has the Longsword made out of adamantine to start with. Right now the base cost is going to be 5,015gp; 2,000gp for the +1, 3,000gp for the adamantine, and 15gp for the Longsword itself. Now the fighter can choose to either have two sockets with a power of 1 or one socket with a power of 2. Trusting that he wants more frequent damage, and though less powerful critical damage, he chooses to have two sockets at power 1. This increases the cost of the sword by 1,000gp for a total cost of 6,015gp. Now, the fighter either needs to use his own Materia that he has on hand to add special abilities to the sword, or he will need to find or buy some to use. Unfortunately for him, he only has a Flaming Materia and a Speed Materia, and so he has the Flaming Materia put in a socket but cannot use the +3 equivalent Speed Materia with this weapon.
Cost of Materia
The following two charts list the cost of purchasing a Materia for an item. This cost is derived from the base price modifier of the enhancement. As one can see, this is much more expensive to purchase than a simple magical weapon, but unlike traditional magical weapons, this allows for a much greater level of customization than otherwise would be possible.
| Materia Base | Cost |
|---|---|
| + 1 | 4,000 gp |
| + 2 | 16,000 gp |
| + 3 | 36,000 gp |
| + 4 | 64,000 gp |
| + 5 | 100,000 gp |
| Materia Base | Cost |
|---|---|
| + 1 | 2,000 gp |
| + 2 | 8,000 gp |
| + 3 | 18,000 gp |
| + 4 | 32,000 gp |
| + 5 | 50,000 gp |
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