A prerequisite for all other Enchantment spells except Scroll. To enchant an item, the caster must also know this spell. The caster rolls against the lowerof his skill with this spell and the specific spell he wishes to place on the item. If he has assistants, they must have skill 15 or higher with both spells, but the roll is based on the caster’sskill.
Duration: Magic items are permanent until destroyed.
Cost and Time: See Enchanting
(p. 16).
Prerequisites:Magery 2 and at least one spell from each of 10 other col- leges.
Temporary
Enchantment
Enchantment
This lets the enchanter create magic items that only function a few times before losing their enchantment,
at a substantial savings in energy cost (and therefore time).
An item can be temporarily enchanted at an energy cost of 15% the normal cost for an item of that type per use. An item with only a sin- gle use can be created for 15% of the normal energy, two uses would cost 30%, four would cost 60% (very cost- ineffective under most circumstances) and the cost for an item limited to 7 or more uses actually exceeds the cost of a permanent item.
The temporarily enchanted item acts, in all respects, as a normal item of that type until all of its uses are con- sumed. Once all the uses of the tem- porary item are gone, the item is no longer magical.
The Temporary Enchantment spell is used in place of the Enchant spell. A single item may not be enchanted with both temporary and permanent spells simultaneously.
Temporary Enchantment can only be used to give items a one-time abili- ty to cast a certain spell – not to cast the spell on the object. For example, a
CHAPTER
EIGHT
ENCHANTMENT
mage couldn’t make a one-shot set of invisible armor – it would never wear off. He could give the armor the abili- ty to cast the Invisibility spell on itself at normal energy and duration costs.
Temporary Enchantment cannot be used in conjunction with any Enchantment college or Meta-Spell college spells except the following: Hex, Limit, Link, Name, Power, and Speed. Temporary Enchantment absolutely cannot be used to further reduce the cost of enchantments that already have limited uses (e.g., Skull- Spirit).
Duration: Until all of the item’s uses have been expended.
Cost and time: See Enchanting, p. 16.
Prerequisite:Enchant.
Scroll
Enchantment
Write a magical scroll charged with a spell from one of the other colleges. If a mage who understands the scroll’s language at Accented comprehension or better reads it aloud, the scroll casts its spell, after which its power dissi- pates and the writing on the scroll vanishes. Reading a scroll requires twice the normal casting time for the spell; the mage reading the scroll pays the normal energy cost. No skill roll is required when the spell is read unless it is Resisted. In that case, roll using the skill level of the mage who wrote the scroll.
Pronunciation is important when reading a scroll aloud! If the mage reading the scroll has Accented spoken comprehension of the scroll’s lan- guage, the scroll casts its spell at a -1 penalty; if he has Broken spoken com- prehension, the scroll casts at -3. If he has None, he cannot articulate the words properly and cannot cast the spell.
A scroll can be read silently, to see what it says. Any mage who under- stands the language will know what spell it is supposed to be. This does not cast the spell!
Spells may be written on any mate- rial, but parchment is traditional. Damage to a scroll does not affect its power as long as the scroll is legible.
Time to cast:The number of days needed to write a scroll is equal to the
energy cost required to cast the spell originally (base cost for area spells), not counting any bonuses for skill. Multiply this by $33 (or the setting’s usual per-point enchantment rate; see pp. 21-22) to get the normal market value of the scroll.
Example: The Rear Vision spell normally costs 3 energy to cast. A Rear Vision scroll would take 3 full days to write, and would normally cost $100. At the end of the writing time, the GM rolls against the writer’s skill with Scroll or the spell being written – whichever is lower. A successful roll means the spell is good. A failure means the scroll will not work. A crit- ical failure means it will cast a flawed spell!
Duration: As long as the spell would normally last. The mage who reads the scroll can maintain the spell, if it could normally be maintained.
Prerequisites: Magery 1 and must have at least Accented written compre- hension in the language the scroll is to be written in. A mage may not write a scroll for a spell he does not know.
Hex
Enchantment
Makes the item impossible to put down/take off/get out of/etc. In itself, this effect is merely inconvenient, and can even be useful – for instance, you will never drop a hexed weapon, and a hexed pair of glasses will never fall off. However, if the hexed object has another malign spell on it, it becomes much more dangerous. The hex effect is “always on.”
To escape from a hexed object, you must remove or suppress the enchant- ment, find someone to cast a Remove Curse spell, or amputate the body part involved. Attempts to break or cut off the hexed item will fail (or result in amputation). GMs should permit this rule to have illogical results, if neces- sary, to keep the hexed object on the victim. Hexes aren’t logical!
A hex may be limited by a Link or Password spell. For instance, a ring could be made with a Hex, the Strike Blind spell, and the password “Gesundheit.” Anyone wearing the ring would go blind – but should they say the magic word, the ring would fall off!
Energy cost to create:200.
Prerequisite: Enchant.
Power
Enchantment
Makes a magic item partially or completely “self-powered.” Each point of Power reduces the energy cost to cast or to maintainany spell on the item by one. Halve this bonus in a low- mana area (round down); double it in a high- or very-high-mana area. Power has no effect on the energy cost of the user’s spells!
If Power reduces the cost to main- taina spell to zero, treat the item as “always on” after the cost to cast is paid – but the wearer must stay awake to maintain the spell. If Power reduces the cost to cast to zero, the item is “always on” for all purposes, although the owner may turn it off if he wishes.
Energy Cost:See table below.
Power Cost
1 point 500
2 points 1,000
3 points 2,000
4 points 4,000
Double the cost for each additional point. May be recast at a higher level, as per Accuracy (p. 65).
Prerequisites:Enchant and Recover Energy.
Speed
Enchantment
Decreases the casting time of any other enchantments on an item enchanted with Speed. Each point of Speed cuts the casting time in half, just as high skill does for a mage. If the casting time is reduced below 1 sec- ond, the item can be used to cast the spell without concentration.
Energy Cost:See table below.
Speed Cost
1 point 500
2 points 1,000
3 points 2,000
4 points 4,000
Double the cost for each additional point. May be recast at a higher level, as per Accuracy (p. 65).
Prerequisites:Enchant and Haste.