The Dragon Tablets – Iteration Three: Enchantment

Quartz rose Brésil (pierre roulée)

The people of Menorra not only have access to alchemy, they also have enchantment. The ability of turning everyday items into tools of magic that can be used by the intrepid. But magic isn’t trusted and those that weave the arcane arts are generally not treated well by the common folk. So these items do not have the impact they could have had in a more open society. But leaders and adventurers often see beyond such petty squabbles, well aware of how useful they can be. Because of that, a disproportional number of magic items cater to adventurers.

Life Stones

Life Stones can store arcane energies released as a creature dies. Each one is rated on how much arcane energy can be stored in it. If the creature has the Magicka trait, the calculation is based on the Magicka trait. Otherwise, it is based on the HT trait.

A Life Stone can store up to 50 x trait level of arcane energy from a creature’s death. If a creature eg. has Magicka 10, a Life Stone can store up to 500 arcane energy from that creature’s death.

The bad news is that no one remains who know how to create Life Stones, so they are a limited resource. Because of how they are charged, it is near impossible to find charged Life Stones for sale at reasonable prices.

The silver lining is that they can be recharged indefinitely. And an empty one costs $1 times the amount of arcane energy they can store. They are gemstones with a value of (C² + 4 x C) x $30 with a weight of C carats; 1,000 carats is about 7 ounces, so you can carry as many as you like with no real effort.

Carats	Price/ Storage	Carats	Price/ Storage	Carats	Price/ Storage	Carats	Price/ Storage	Carats	Price/ Storage
1	150	6	1,800	11	4,950	16	9,600	21	15,750
2	360	7	2,310	12	5,760	17	10,710	22	17,160
3	630	8	2,880	13	6,630	18	11,880	23	18,630
4	960	9	3,510	14	7,560	19	13,110	24	20,160
5	1,350	10	4,200	15	8,550	20	14,400	25	21,750

Life Trap

Life Trap is a VH spell that allows the caster to “open” a Life Stone so that it can absorb newly released arcane energy. It is considered a Necromantic spell with a cost of 8 Magicka and takes 1 turn to cast. It has a prerequisite of Magery 3 and six other Necromantic spells, including Steal Vitality. With an energy cost to create of 500. If you have more than one Life Stone, it will store as much arcane energy as possible in the smallest Life Stone able to store all of it. If none of them can store all of it, the one with the most empty space is filled and the rest is wasted.

The Life Trap Sorcery spell is based on Leech (Life Trap Only, -0%; Malediction 2, +150%; Ranged, +40%; Sorcery, -15%) for 61.625 points for level 1 + 9.86 points/additional level (round up). Each level allows one Life Stone to be filled with 50 arcane energy per second. It costs 1 Magicka. If you have more than one, it will use the one with the most empty space. If that one is filled, it will continue with the next one until all Life Stones are filled or all arcane energy has been stored.

Life Enchanting

And how do you use a Life Stone for enchanting? That is a very good question. Other than Quick and Dirty and Slow and Sure enchantment that work as listed in GURPS Magic, with the help of Power Items rather than Powerstones, there is also Life enchantment. Life enchantment only takes an hour, no matter how much energy is required, but the enchantment can only be used 25 times before it needs to be recharged. For things like flaming sheathes on a sword, that means it can only be used to strike 25 times.

You use Life Stones to provide the needed energy. When an item is created, all energy must be provided, but you can choose to only recharge it partially. Dividing the energy cost to create with 25 for any item determines the cost to recharge it for one use. A wand that can cast the Enlarge spell has an energy cost to create of 2,000. Dividing that by 25 gives a result of 80. That means that a Life Stone has to provide 80 points of arcane energy for the wand to be able to cast that spell once.

Magic Items

We will be focusing on adventure ready “low-end” magic items.

Enchantments

This is a list of effects items can be enchanted with. It does not include the cost of the item itself. Most of these are unchanged since Iteration Two, but not all of them and some weren’t even in Iteration Two.

The DF references are to Dungeon Fantasy 1: Adventurers.

Accuracy: Weapons have +1, +2, or +3 to attack. $4,000, $8,000, or $12,000.

Acid Immunity: You are immune to the effects of acid, including damage. $36,000.

Breathe Underwater: You can breathe underwater. $10,000.

Climbing: You get a +4 bonus to Climbing. $16,000

Cold Immunity: You are immune to the effects of cold, including damage. $36,000.

Continual Light: An item radiates light equivalent to full daylight and eliminates all darkness penalties in a 10-yard radius. Unless you cover the item up, so that it cannot provide light, for at least 8 continuous hours per day, the enchantment is broken. After you take it out of its cover, you have to shake it vigorously for a minute before it starts working again. $9,200.

Deflect: DF 30. +1 DB. $2,000.

Deflect: DF 30. +2 DB. $10,000.

Disease Immunity: You are immune to disease. $10,000.

Dream Guide: The wearer can enter the Dream World while sleeping. They leave their physical body behind for the duration. The physical body gains no rest while in the Dream World. $55,000.

Fire Immunity: You are immune to the effects of heat and fire, including damage. $36,000.

Flaming Weapon: Your weapon is wreathed in flame and it does +2 burning damage. This increases base damage for the weapon. $3,780.

Fortify: An invisible shell surrounds you and gives you DR. +1 DR for $6,000, +2 DR for $12,000, +3 DR for $18,000, and +4 DR for $24,000.

Hide Thoughts: You get a bonus to protect your mind from mental assault. +1 for $4,000, +2 for $8,000, +3 for $12,000, +4 for $16,000, +5 for $20,000, and +6 for $24,000.

Icy Weapon: Your weapon is wreathed in cold and it does +2 burning damage. This increases base damage for the weapon. $3,780.

Improved Block: You get a +1 bonus to both your Block defenses. $10,000.

Improved Dodge: You get a +1 bonus to your Dodge score. $15,000.

Improved Parry: You get a +1 bonus to all your parries. $10,000.

Invisibility: You can become invisible. $80,000.

Jumping: You get a +4 bonus to Basic Move for jumping purposes only. $16,000

Lighten: You can carry a multiple of your Basic Lift that doesn’t affect your encumbrance. BL costs $5,000, 2x BL costs $10,000, 3x BL costs $15,000, 4x BL costs $20,000.

Lighten Container: The affected container holds more than it normally do. The extra weight does not count as encumbrance. Adding 50% costs $5,000, 100% costs $10,000, 150% costs $15,000, 200% costs $20,000.

Moly: Grants 5 levels of Magic Resistance. $10,000.

Move Object: You can move things with your mind up to 10 yards away from you. Your mind’s ST score works the same way as your body’s for this purpose. ST 1 costs $5,000, ST 2 cost $10,000, ST 3 cost $15,000, and ST 4 cost $20,000.

Penetrating Weapon: Your weapon has an armor divisor of (2). $2,500.

Perfect Balance: Grants Perfect Balance. $15,000.

Poison Immunity: You are immune to poisons. $15,000.

Puissance: DF 30. For melee weapons. $5,000.

Puissance: DF 30. For missile weapons. $10,000.

Recover Energy: You recover Magicka at 1 point per minute instead of the standard 1 point per 10 minutes. $50,000.

Reinvigoration: You don’t have to eat, drink, or sleep. $60,000.

Shock Immunity: You are immune to lightning and electricity, including damage. $36,000.

Sickness Immunity: You are immune to sickness. $15,000.

Silent Stealth: This enchantment confers the effect of a number of levels of the Silence advantage. 1 level costs $5,000, 2 levels costs $10,000, 3 levels cost $15,000, 4 levels cost $20,000.

Shatterproof: DF 30. $8,000.

Slow Fall: You fall slowly to the ground. $20,000

Swimming: You get a +4 bonus to Swimming. $16,000.

Walk on Water: You can walk on water. $15,000.

Other Items

This list is for complete items.
Cornucopia Quiver: DF 30. $110, 0.5 lb.

Gem of Healing: DF 30. $400, neg.

Necklace of Fireballs: DF 30. $7,200, 0.25 lb.

Pain Giver: A short staff delivers agonizing pain when touching or striking the target. $28,020, 1 lb.

Siege Stone: DF 30. $550, neg.

Warlock Medallion: A medallion made of Entercian silver and worn by warlocks. It warns the warlock bound to it of the presence of supernatural creatures by vibrating and tugging on the chain. The exact way it does this informs the warlock of the creature’s direction. It “sings” if magic is close by and this arcane song can be heard by the warlock, and only him, even if the medallion is ten yards away. And the song indicates the direction to the magical source. The medallion becomes “warm” when danger approaches, but this is an arcane, rather than physical, heat that the warlock can sense through his armor. The intensity of the vibration, song, or heat increases with the number of sources. Some powerful creatures know how to shield themselves from detection and certain phenomena or locations may be so overwhelming in magic that the song can be misleading. These medallions are given to aspiring warlocks when they have passed their tests. Some have been lost or stolen and can be found for sale on the black market. $91,000, 1 lb.

Wizard’s Staff: DF 30. $40, 4 lbs.

Wizard’s Wand: DF 30. $50, 1 lb.