Topic: More on magic weapons

[thrud]

Last evening I sat down with the GM and we talked a litte about how to handle the creation of magic weapons. A rough sketch on creation rules so to speak.
My intentions are to write a small something and submit it to ICE for publication in one of the EA's (if it's good enough).
You people are a great source for both inspiration and facts.
The goal is to handle

• Material/Composition (materials with inherent magical abilities)
• Worksmanship (bonuses to magical weapons due to craftsmanship)
• Magical enchantments (how to add magical bonuses to already magical materials)

I realise that some people will like my ideas and some will not, anyway here are some thoughts that I'd like your input on.
I'll try to work as much as possible within the RMC rules.
Alchemists will form the baseline for people responsible for the creation of magical items.
Core spells for magic weapons (RMC Sell Law, p165), Alchemst Base.

• Lv4, Weapon I
• Lv8, Wepon II
• Lv13, Weapon III
• Lv20, Weapon IV

There is no spell available for magical bonuses above +20.
I aim to make it possible to enchant Mithril, Laen and Eog giving them higher bonuses than what is currently possible.
Working within the core rules they have inherent magical abilities but there is no way to further enchant them for higher bonuses.
What would you have me do?

• Allow the current spells to work? Weapon I will make a Mithril sword +25 magical?
• Demand a higher level spell? i.e. Demand a weapon V to make a Mithril +25 magical sword? This would mean creating new high level spells not currently available

Let's start with this and see where it takes us...

[Ecthelion]

You might want to take a look into RMFRP's Treasure Companion. Many of the problems you write about are solved there and even if it is not an RMC most of it is perfectly usable with RMC as well as with RMFRP.

[thrud]

Yes, I do have that book (and many others) but there are hidden traps and some solutions which can be handled differently.
I'd rather not rewrite the entire spell list to solve this little problem...

(p.167 RMC Spell Law)

• Lv15, Work Mithil
• Lv20, Work Laen
• Lv25, Work Eog

It's not very likely you'll start throwing togeather Mithril or Laen Weapons for all your buddies at lv5...

I feel there should be a difference between enchanting an Iron sword compared to a Mithril one. Yes, we're talking higher bonuses now, +25 and up.

Maybe one could demand an enchantment twice as powerful? A weapon II to add a +5? (+25 Mithril magical weapon)
Let's just throw some ideas around and see what we come up with?

[OLF, i.e. Olf Le Fol]

You can just add the spell levels. For instance, to create a +25 Mithril weapon, one needs to know both Enchanting Ways and Inorganic Skills at level 19, and the level of the spells needed to be casted from both lists is 19 (15 + 4). For a +30, it'd be 23, etc.
GMs can adjust the power level by multiplying the level of the Enchanting Ways spell being added. For instance, if one considers level 19 way too low a level to allow +25 Mithril weapon, one can use a x2 factor, therefore making the forging of +25 Mithril weapon a level 23 (15 + 2x4) spell, of a +30 Mithril weapon a level 31 spell (15 + 2x8), etc.

[thrud]

That's a great idea, I love it.
 

[OLF, i.e. Olf Le Fol]

As a note, you'd notice the first option I proposed is pretty balanced since at level 19 you can forge +25 Mithril items... and +25 Laen at level 20. The same way, at level 23, you can forge +30 Mithril, at level 24, you can forge +30 Laen... and at 25, you can forge +30 Eog!

[thrud]

Yupp, me see that. 

[markc]

 I use a system like you propose above but it hase many more options. When I wrote it I looked at RM2 AC, AC, EC, RMSS TC and some MERP products. they all have great info on the subject.
MDC