I'm playing a in long running RM2 (all companions allowed) campaign and my Numenorian Magus / Sailor has just completed his master piece set of armour.
There are a few game assumptions of course, noting that this game is set in the middle of the third age. Some tweaking of the Magus itself has also been done to bring its approximate power level in line with the Alchemist.
Generally the spells in the items are kept under 10th level as that is the "safe" level where you don't "ping" to the enemy.
There are a few reasonably liberal uses of spells for example:
1/ Regeneration in the ring. We (the GM and I) wanted a more subtle spell than a 50th level regenerate, so I came up with a way to have a similar affect but slower and in a more complicated way.
2/ Animate, this spell is inspired by and research by my character to do one thing automatically. Technically the base spell could do this but you would have to individually command every 5 square feet of animated substance which would be too slow. So the armour allows you to run through a forest and things get our of your way; undergrowth and tree limbs etc. Play testing the armour we can travel around 20'/round in the first 50' of rock and soil, but going through a small hill was easier as the material was all the same.
3/ The GM thought it reasonable to have a spirit rune that "Protects as Helm" at 20th level. Alchemy can do this and it is an important facet of item creation.
4/ The intelligences in the items are there to manage the spells in that item. So for example the amulet of Protection, the intelligence's sole purpose is to concentrate, keeping the spell up. The Helm is made with a high intelligence and has Telempathy so it can communicate with the other items an potentially items of allies.
One of the key amusements the GM has had with Sprit Rune Intelligence is that you are putting a random spirit into the item and have limited control once it is done. An essence user for example might train a loyal dog and kill it in its sleep, putting the spirit in an item. A channeller will ask for a spirit from his deity or if more druidic capture a spirit. This didn't sit well with me so I eventually found an NPC (took some adventuring as the GM new I wanted something like this) but we found a way to tap the owners own temporary Con into the item. This effectively made the spirit an echo of the owner and binds the item so that if someone else picks it up they will have to deal with the collective spirits. This might work well as heirlooms too, though slightly haunted. I've speculated that if we ever get dominated (we are fighting the Witch King) the items could notice after a while and may object. To balance the stat loss, I cast a stat boost spell on each player every day (well, an item does).
Another aspect of play balance for the Magus (argued by me actually) is that you can only put one sprit rune in an item per five (rune) levels; this broadly brings it in line with Alchemy. My argument was that other wise Alchemy would be so weak comparatively that no one would even know it existed. You could for example put 20 bleed spirit runes in a 20th level item and one scratch would kill most things.
So I hope you enjoy.
1. AT8 Armour
a. Animate Element; constant (for movement only) - This power parts natural material up to 200’ in front of the user. More complex or smaller material will drastically slow the user down, such as a castle wall.
b. +20 DB
c. Limited Shifting; default is AT4 and AT20, can be tailored on first wearing.
d. Medium Intelligence operates the Animate feature.
e. Gas to Air; permanent spell, 5 charges - Keeps a bubble of breathable air around the wearer.
2. Boots
a. Silence; once per minute, radius is 0 to 10 feet as set when cast.
b. Run x 3; once per minute - Use the same amount of exhaustion when walking as running.
c. Fly; 150 feet per round for 15 minutes, 5 charges.
d. Phantom Landing; 99% chance of landing on feet, 5 charges
e. Flip III; 5 charges
3. Circlet
a. Invulnerability Rune; Cut and Crush
b. Telempathy Rune; 2000’ range.
c. Misfeel Kind; 10 minutes per level.
d. Change Self; double or half mass
e. Protect as Helm
4. Amulet
a. Low intelligence
b. +15 RR vs Spells, +15 DB vs Elemental; Protections III once per day.
5. Primary Weapon
a. +20 OB
b. Holy
c. Cleave (level 15)
d. Vampiric; 5 hit and power points regained per crit level, only on creatures that take Holy Crits.
e. Invulnerability to Cutting
f. +15 OB and DB active spell - Combat III, Beastmaster RoCo II, activate to turn on or off. This spell is considered noisy (SUC Flourish Rules) by the GM so is not left on.
6. Off Weapon or Shield
a. +20 OB or DB (depending on weapon or shield respectively)
b. Parry Rune; +50 OB when full parrying.
c. Hand Rune; springs to hand
i. This gives automatic quick draw.
d. Free Hand - Gives one less hand than normally needed.
7. Cloak
a. Hues, +10 to +50 stalk and hide
b. Invisibility; 5 charges
8. Ring of Life ( plain mithril ring)
a. High intelligence
b. Perseveration; once per day
c. Life Keeping; once per day
d. Invisible item
e. Observation - This rune allows the owner or creator to use the Signwatch spell.
f. Regenerate II; once per day.
g. Maintain Nutrition; once per day.
h. Mind Merge; allows communication with the ring only.
i. Invulnerability to Crush and Fire.
j. Summon; item comes to owner or creator at 500’ per round.
k. Mind Warning; ring knows of impending mental attack to owner or self.
l. Mind Shield; ring gets +50 RR vs detection / mind attacks.
It is worth noting that this ring is designed to be as subtle as possible and is intended as a back-up should you die. The mind merge is almost constant and it is updating the recording of your brain should that delicate organ be destroyed. The regenerate will operate over several years if need be, slowly regrowing the destroyed body; using Maintain Nutrition as a source of food for the nascent being.
