I've recently grabbed a near mint copy of Treasure Companion and the more I read it the more I like it. Above all I like the approach to give you a sound foundation to devise your own magical items, based on Spell Law (improving what was in the original Spell Law rules). Among other things I like the idea of giving an item a level based on the highest spell cast to make (and enchant) the item itself. It helps to devise the value, the difficulty, the level of the Alchemist itself, the bonuses, etc.. And it helps to gauge the overall balance of things.
In the campaign I'm slowly bringing ahead, it turns out it would be nice for the party magician to improve her chances to survive in melee (to be avoided, for sure, if possible at all). So I've looked at what should be done to get "simple" magic robes with AT3 (instead of the AT2 she is dressed with).
I would say that you need an Alchemist (say an Essence one) that casts "Work Cloth", to work with the robes, and "Armor II" to use it to imbue the robes with the "special effect" of minor increased AT (section 9.8.1of the rules). If it's the case, the Armor II spell in the Armor Enchantments list is a 9th level spell; it's the highest level spell (of the two); the level of the item would be 9. A Journeyman would be high enough.
Yet, I feel I'm missing something, as Armor II asks for a +5 non-magical material to begin with. Should the robes be enchanted via Armor I first, then worked using Work Magic Cloth (level 17 for Essence Alchemists)? If it were the case the level of the item would nearly double. But, then, the robes to be enchanted bu Armor II would not be "non-magical" to begin with...
Any suggestions?
Thank you in advance.