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Systems & Settings => Rolemaster => Topic started by: DangerMan on February 23, 2011, 02:52:07 PM
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How available are magic items in your campaign / universe?
Could you just go to the "Kwik-E-Magic" and buy an item?
If yes, what items would be readily avaialble, and what would need ordering? If no, what would it take to purchase something, if one had set ones head on a given type of item?
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It depends on what you want. +5 weapon, +5 shield, +5 saddle? Sure, in civilized nations, it shouldn't be any problem if you have the money. +35 vampiric sword that shoots a Fire Ball five times a day and lets the wielder fly at will? That'd be a very special order.
No "Kwik-E-Magic". You'd go to an Alchemist if you wanted to order a specific unusual item or needed certain services (like wand recharging), but for a lot of things, the magic items are just the high end of an item type and you'd buy them where such items are found. A weapons merchant in a large town or city can be expected to have some low-end magic weapons, +5, +10, maybe a minor ability. He may also have some more powerful items, but he's not likely to mention them until he sees you've a heavy purse. Likewise, a jeweler may have a couple of magic rings or necklaces, locked up and shown to customers who can afford such luxuries. A seller of candles and lanterns may also have some Runes with light spells or more powerful items of illumination. A tailor may be able to set you up with a cloak of invisibility.
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I like to use the unsupplied market table in GM Law when determining if a magic item is available.
In general, selling magic items is not easy, nor is finding sellers. Most people won't really buy the lie about a magic weapon anyway, as only a fool would think a sword is magic rather than just very well made. Obvios magis like a flaming sword gets much more respect. Even so, your typical noble would have very little use for a flaming sword that cost years worth in taxes compared to a beautiful silver serving plate that 3x a day can produce fine breads, wine and cheese, an iten sure to impress any guest or visiting dignitary aND cost a lot less than a flaming sword. Also, our noble could equip a small garrison and keep it well trained for a small percentage of that swords worth.
All this considered, there really isn't much demand for alchemist to MAKE flaming swords when the rich prefer useful devices that will promote their image and toys for fun. An enchanted outfit that repairs and cleans its self and protects the noble from chills and extreme heat, now THAT is something a traveling noble could use.
Treasure Companion is a great read for more info on economics in a world with magic.
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I have made magic items quite rare in my own campaign world, sure I have run campaigns in which there are 'those kind of shops' available in every major conurbation and even in some of the smaller ones, in which a character can go and outfit themselves in a vast array of splendid (proscribed, game breaking, meta-level) items, if they have the coin. However, this time around I decided that was not to be the case.
Those items that do exist in my own campaign world fall into a number of catagories, each designed to lend power where needed, drain the wallets of the party and add an air of excitement and mysticism. I also make use of 'quality items' that can add bonuses to various tasks, i.e., A Superior quality saddle that adds +15 to the Ride skill or a high quality Scimitar that adds +10 to OB. These 'quality items' do not hold the full benefits of their magical counterparts, for example they are definitely easier to break and they can't harm those creatures that require magical weapons to damage them, but they do add to the skills and compensate for the lack of true items up for sale in my world.
I mentioned categories for the items we do use; here's a rough outline:
One shot deals: Herbs (I have limited these to 'real world' plants). Rune papers, potions and other one shot deals that are relatively easy to create by skilled spell users. Alchemical potions (something I have created myself to add flavour to my campaign world, replace some of the herbs I have taken away and allow the players access to some of the one shot deals that may turn the tide of an adventure. Hopefully I will be getting this to The Guild Companion in the near future for you all to take a look at). It is possible for some of these items to be purchased but of course it would depend heavily on the availability of the resources at hand. I introduced a little trick into my own alchemical potions system to limit sale of such things, I made the usual shelf life of the potions just 1 hour (must be consumed within 1 hour of manufacture).
Player created items: There are some professions that can create their own items relativly easily, those that come to mind immediately include Druid Staff, Wizard Staff, the various Tartot Mage items and of course my very own Staff of the Magi, featured in this month's Guild Companion. :) The one thing I do here to limit some of the power of these items, is insist that Power Point multipliers are not available, the spell adder option must be taken in all cases.
Minor Artefacts: Originally I had hoped to make all of the magical items in my campaign feel very special, Each would have it's own background story, intimate description and array of powers, however without taking on the guise of Stalin on a bad day, I knew if I went too far i would upset my players with the limits I would impose on them. As such 'Minor Artefacts' were born. All of my players are made fully aware that magical items are at a premium in our campaign and so it didn't take long before the background options tables were considered an easy chance to own an all powerful item at the very beginning of a character's career. I toyed with the idea of limiting the items to 'one shot deals' (as above), but then hit on something I had read many years ago (Johnn Four's Role-playing Tips mailing list, I think) about magical items that grow as the character grows (levels up). So every 3 or 5 levels these minor items now grow in power, from the +1 spell adder ring, to the +1 adder that casts Light 10' when the character is in darkness, to the +1 adder, that casts light and now emits 'Sudden Light' the first time the wearer is stunned in combat (per day). Contrary to my original idea of limiting magical items, I have given a little more power to them here, but it has also given them a hell of a lot more flavour. The overall effect here though was to allow my players the sense that although items are hard to come by, when you have one, it's useful and will get better as you progress.
Set Items: OK, so I stole this idea directly from some of those nasty computer games, however if slots in very nicely with my idea to allow magical items to progress in a way that is not linked to the level of the user. This method also allows me to create interesting back-stories, introduce new adventures and give the players a feeling that the items they do manage to procure or not of the static variety that would need replacing at later levels. Without going into too much detail right now, a character in my campaign began her career with a +10 scimitar (background option), I promptly gave it a name a created a background for it (that the character would have to discover). The sword is a part of a set of three items which also includes a shield and a helm. Each item has it's own abilities, but when used together other abilities (and higher bonuses) are gained.
True Artefacts (or Relics): A world low on magical items and I'm talking about perhaps the most powerful items in any campaign? Yes, low on the availability of magical items does not mean I have to be low on power. I absolutely love these things. Each with it's own background, personality, array of powers and of course, will. Could you walk into 'one of those' shops and buy the One Ring? Well, I suppose you could if it allowed. These items are game changing, not so much there for the use of the players, but more so for the use of the GM in the weaving of his tale. In my current campaign, which has been running for almost 3 years now (mean character level around 14), the party has come into possession of 3 relics; one that will guide them through a vast quest in the distant future but has been laying hints and tips of what is to come for the last 2 years (real time), one which contains the soul of a defeated enemy which will come back to haunt them one day and one which they think they are using right now to solve a chain of events but in fact are being used by to create said chain of events.
Hope this helps :)
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We allow magic items to be bought and sold. We use the Trading skill and the tables from GM Law to determine success/failure and the price, with modifiers for how special and how expensive the item is. More on this in the House Rules on my homepage.
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I toyed with the idea of limiting the items to 'one shot deals' (as above), but then hit on something I had read many years ago (Johnn Four's Role-playing Tips mailing list, I think) about magical items that grow as the character grows (levels up). So every 3 or 5 levels these minor items now grow in power, from the +1 spell adder ring, to the +1 adder that casts Light 10' when the character is in darkness, to the +1 adder, that casts light and now emits 'Sudden Light' the first time the wearer is stunned in combat (per day).
For Rolemaster, I would tie this to ranks in Attunement/Staves&Wands (or perhaps in the case of items with a specific mundane function and a skill for that function, use that skill, such as the weapon skill for a magic weapon, armor skill for magic armor, lock picking skill for magic lock picks) rather than level.
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For Rolemaster, I would tie this to ranks in Attunement/Staves&Wands (or perhaps in the case of items with a specific mundane function and a skill for that function, use that skill, such as the weapon skill for a magic weapon, armor skill for magic armor, lock picking skill for magic lock picks) rather than level.
Yes, a possibility, although I felt as the campaign progresses and levels increase, the power of the item should be synonymous with the general power of the wielder, not so much his or her skill with the item itself.
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For the most part the only items a player character could purchase in something akin to a "store" or a common shop that would be considered magical would be one shot items like Potions, Scrolls, Runes (that I use), etc.
If they wanted something like a magical sword made they would first have to come up with a sizable payment then track down skilled: Crafter(s), Alchemist(s), Spell Caster(s). Even then the Crafters and Alchemists involved might require the character to come up with some or all of the needed materials, possibly even the Spell Casters if material components are required for the spells.
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For the most part the only items a player character could purchase in something akin to a "store" or a common shop that would be considered magical would be one shot items like Potions, Scrolls, Runes (that I use), etc.
If they wanted something like a magical sword made they would first have to come up with a sizable payment then track down skilled: Crafter(s), Alchemist(s), Spell Caster(s). Even then the Crafters and Alchemists involved might require the character to come up with some or all of the needed materials, possibly even the Spell Casters if material components are required for the spells.
The economy of one shot items is the most tricky one to get right. I think that for almost every setting will be true that there either exist expensive newly made power magic items or there exist expensive lost-art magic items. It often very easy to exclaim why such magic items might be traded out of curiousity or due to status of having them in your possession. I could easily economic wise explain why a hamlet might a magic sword for sale. There is simply not any buyers available, and the owner might keep it just in case but sell if the price is right.
One shot magic items on the other hand must be sustainable by the actual local economy. I would say that it is extremely rare in books settings that it does have a economy that can support one shot magic items. If we are talking about game worlds I think the same hold true.
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In my campaigns it basically depends upon the answers to 2 questions:
1. Is this a high, low or medium magic world?
2. What is the political/religious attitude to magic items? I.e., do the authorities (and the man on the street) tolerate others having magic items or visibly using magic items? This can vary from town to town (or even neighborhood to neighborhood in a large city).
Of course the players are excited when they can pop down to the shop and get a nice reloadable wand of fireballs right up until they realize that their opponents can (and do) buy the same thing.
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I tend to restrict the purchase of magic items in my game. If players want to "buy" a magic item, they need to first locate an alchemist capable of creating the item, get the ingredients, pay for the alchemist's services, and wait for the item to be completed. The majority of magic items in my campaign are found as treasure or earned as rewards. Selling magic items is difficult as well, since most merchants (except for large cities) cannot afford to buy them.
I do allow simple low level items to be purchased, but the PC's have to be in the right area (ex. large city). So far I have never had a PC complain in the 15+ years I have been GM'n games.
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HARP/Cyradon strikes me as a medium magic setting so charms and runepapers are readily available. Also the prevalence of alchemists and thaumaturges makes minor items commercially available, at least to the wealthy (which includes adventurers).
The one thing you do have to keep an eye on is how easy you want players to be able to sell unwanted magical gear. Players forget that the average town isn't exactly swimming in gold pieces so they shouldn't expect to get "fair" market value.
A shopkeep needs goods the average man desires and has little use for a +10 magical shortsword and even if he does he's not going to spend more than 30-50% of the item's value otherwise there's no profit.
>>ReaperWolf
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I have specifically 3 cities in the world where magic items are bought and sold, so in order for the PC's to go "shopping" they need to make the trip. I have a table of availability which limits the amount of potent or most potent items in the store. In addition I have an "attunement point cap" so the characters are limited to exactly how many items they can be attuned to (or possess).
It's a fairly easy system. Base Attunement points = EM/10 + 1 point per experience level. In addition racial bonuses can be added to that. I typically give more base points to dwarves and elves than I do humans, and probably less to halflings. (Or in my world the races that approximate them).
I have multiple levels of Artifacts as obviously some Artifacts are far beyond what you would normally see, for instance a class 5 artifact is the type of thing that can alter the entire world or kill a god or demon, whereas a class I artifact may be great but is unlikely to do anything but give the PC a big advantage.
Class V (Legendary Artifact): 1 = 20 points per item (Example: "Stormbringer" "The One Ring" Covenants "White Gold" et)
Class IV (Lore Artifact): 2 = 15 points per item (Example: The 3 Elven Rings from Tolkien, The Sword of Shannara et)
Class III (Heritage Artifact*): 2 = 12 points per item (Example: Excalibur,Artifacts in the RM companions, Vorpal Weapons)
Class II (Major Artifact): 3 = 10 points per Item (Example: +60 or better weapons with abilities, things with x6 mulipliers)
Class I (Minor Artifact): 3 = 8 points per Item (Example: Many of the Artifacts in CT I - ie +25 to +35 swords with lots of abilities)
Most Potent: 4 = 5 points per Item
Potent: 6 = 2 points per item
Moderate: 8 = 1 point per item
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How available are magic items in your campaign / universe?
Could you just go to the "Kwik-E-Magic" and buy an item?
If yes, what items would be readily avaialble, and what would need ordering? If no, what would it take to purchase something, if one had set ones head on a given type of item?
In my world (Which is high magic) you can go to the alchemist guild and buy magical items of the most common type.. which is items that can be made of an Alchemist of 10th level or lower.
There is an incredible amount of items that can be made with low level spells and most of them will not upset play-balance.
Some of them will however affect the world a LOT. Look at the "Warm solid" spell. It will warm an item for 24 hours. Now make that a Daily 1 Item and you will have an radiator! Up the level by one and use the Cool Solid and you can have a refrigiator.
Another level up and you get the Heat solid. You can actually cook on that without the use of wood or coal.
So with these spells alone, you warm up houses, keep food fresh and cook without the use of fire.
The advantages are obvious and in my world, those spells are the reason that the huge forests are still there, since a lot less wood are being used.
Now look at the heat solid spell again. If you place that spell on a container with water and activate it, that water will boil.. and you will have a steam engine that doesn't need fuel. Kinda fancy :)
I dont really like that in my world (I dont play Steam Punk), so I've made this rule:
"When used on land or in the air, the combination of heat and pressure causes a micro fissure in the planes, leading into the elemental plane of steam. This causes the boiler to explode and everything near it to be cooked alive as massive amounts of steam pours through the fissure for a few minutes until the fissure closes again."
So in my world they have steam ships for the big rivers and oceans, but none on land.
This is just an example to show that magic can quickly lead to technology, unless you think it through before you introduce it :)
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I believe, in a basic non-house ruled RM setting, magic items would be fairly common. Why? Because anyone can be a mage. By not making a special requirement in order to even be able to learn magic (like a 20, 30, whatever-point talent that only a fraction of the population even possesses), there would be many able to do magic - even if it was only a half-dozen spells to give them an edge in their profession*.
So, without enforcing a reason for magic rarity, your common blacksmith would have spells he would use to smith better and quicker. (I like to reference a Turttledove series about a fantasy world undergoing a world war scenario, and the tailor characters using spells to enhance their tailoring by speeding it up and making it more uniform.)
That doesn't even include the non-human influence here; elves particularly are nearly always portrayed as being very magically oriented. Plus, their civilizations are almost always ancient, so they there would be a lot of history in which magic items would be made. Increasing their numbers over the course of thousands of years.
*I would think that any self-respecting - and looking to succeed - craftsman would start spending "DPs" to acquire spells right around the time they have 15 to 20 ranks in their professional skills. Although, in a setting that takes this into consideration, they could easily be part of a guild that begins teaching them certain spells almost from the beginning.
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How available are magic items in your campaign / universe?
Could you just go to the "Kwik-E-Magic" and buy an item?
If yes, what items would be readily avaialble, and what would need ordering? If no, what would it take to purchase something, if one had set ones head on a given type of item?
In my world (Which is high magic) you can go to the alchemist guild and buy magical items of the most common type.. which is items that can be made of an Alchemist of 10th level or lower.
There is an incredible amount of items that can be made with low level spells and most of them will not upset play-balance.
Some of them will however affect the world a LOT. Look at the "Warm solid" spell. It will warm an item for 24 hours. Now make that a Daily 1 Item and you will have an radiator! Up the level by one and use the Cool Solid and you can have a refrigiator.
Another level up and you get the Heat solid. You can actually cook on that without the use of wood or coal.
So with these spells alone, you warm up houses, keep food fresh and cook without the use of fire.
The advantages are obvious and in my world, those spells are the reason that the huge forests are still there, since a lot less wood are being used.
Now look at the heat solid spell again. If you place that spell on a container with water and activate it, that water will boil.. and you will have a steam engine that doesn't need fuel. Kinda fancy :)
I dont really like that in my world (I dont play Steam Punk), so I've made this rule:
"When used on land or in the air, the combination of heat and pressure causes a micro fissure in the planes, leading into the elemental plane of steam. This causes the boiler to explode and everything near it to be cooked alive as massive amounts of steam pours through the fissure for a few minutes until the fissure closes again."
So in my world they have steam ships for the big rivers and oceans, but none on land.
This is just an example to show that magic can quickly lead to technology, unless you think it through before you introduce it :)
Rome had magnificant engineering ability, but little scientific knowledge. They had reached an engineering level were steam power and gunpowder could have been used, but lacked the science to make it happen. Thus no electricity in Rome.
You have a neat rule, but human ignorance and habitual living is more than enough to keep the middle ages alive and well.
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The chinese invented gunpowder around 9th century AD, mostly due to their medical use of the components.
Steampower as a concept were described by Heron of Alexandria in the 1th century AD, however I do not know why they didn't use it.. most likely a problem with making a boiler that can take the pressure needed.
Imagine Roman level technology and then add magic and enchanted materials and you got a whole new ballgame.
You still have a point regarding the human ignorance, but I just dont see it in a world with magic.
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Steampower as a concept were described by Heron of Alexandria in the 1th century AD, however I do not know why they didn't use it..
They had slaves, they didnt need it.. At least that was what I read somewhere.. Extensive source, that "somewhere"...
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I also like to think that just the presence of magic retards scientific advancements; take 50% (or more) of our world's scientific minds and shift them to the study magic. Don't you think that would slow down (purely) technological growth? I do.
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Steampower as a concept were described by Heron of Alexandria in the 1th century AD, however I do not know why they didn't use it..
They had slaves, they didnt need it.. At least that was what I read somewhere.. Extensive source, that "somewhere"...
Chuckle...SOMEWHERE, OVER THER RAINBOW...(laugh point).
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As long as some of those magic-wielders go into investigative magic, I see acceleration, not retardation, of technological progress (which went on even in the so-called "Dark Ages"). If magical healing is used to improve health care and magical enhancements improve agricultural efficiency to move more individuals out of farming and into other lines of production, then you'll even end up with a greater quantity of inventors and engineers.
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Assuming 1d100 stat generation, and that 90 prime is a requirement 10% of any population will be able to be a caster of a given realm. 1% will be potential hybrids. . .0.1% will be potential tri realms.
Of course, that assumes if you have a 90 EM you're Essence. . .not a 40 In, 90 Em of the realm of channeling. (if realm is not fixed to high stat, it cuts the odds to 1/3 the above). But assuming realm and stat run in synch. . .
So in Ancient Rome. . .100,000 potential magicians, 10,000 potential Sorcerers or Mystics, and 1,000 potential archmages. . . .just in the city itself.
If you assume you just need a 90 potential, that might double or triple. (profession is fixed in adolescence, so likely not)
Of course, how many of those are uneducated, of the wrong social strata, or in a religion that frowns on magic and burns witches? They might never learn a spell.
If the empire actively tested and trained casters regardless of caste or background, that number might be close to actual, depends how diligent and efficient they are.
What if the imperial authority and/or church hunt down and kill casters?
Also, as the seat of a major empire, it might draw caster potentials out of the whole empire, draw them in to the capitol, so that number could be much much higher. . .or the capitol might send out their hordes of mages to hold the imperial frontier, so most of the casters in residence would be non combative types, trainees, or central management, and lower in overall number.
What if casters are required to join a celibate order, or otherwise prevented from reproducing? What if only casters are allowed to have children? Could skew the odds in a remarkably short turnover of generations if the capacity is at all genetically based.
A lot of social and economic variables in play that can radically skew results.
Then again, I'm not a big fan of prime requisite stats, but that's the best way of measuring proportions of caster possibles in a given population.
But, too many variable factors under GM control to really state there's one obvious generic answer that fits all worlds, even just using the base core rules basic stuff like "How many people in the kingdom?" determine answers. . . .in a nation of 50,000 people, the odds above say that at most there are 5000 magicians, 500 essence hybrids, and 50 archmages. . .who might actually be farmers or some other more common profession, even though they have the capacity to be a caster, they never encounter or learn magic. . .in a low population world, casters might be exceedingly rare. Unlike Channelers, magicians appear to need to be taught, rather than made. . .so you need for one of 5000 random people in a kingdom to encounter someone who can teach them, early enough to where they can learn (i.e. in adolescence). . .what are the odds?
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Of course, how many of those are uneducated, of the wrong social strata, or in a religion that frowns on magic and burns witches? They might never learn a spell.
Yes, but discounting "seat of empire" effects both pro and con, and assuming that 9 of every 10 people don't have the education/social standing/desire/etc. to be a spellcaster, that still leaves 10,000 Magicians, 1,000 Sorcerors and a hundred Archmages within the city of Rome. Not common, but hardly rare either, a sector of both culture and economy large enough to have a noticeable impact.
Or to put it another way, if it depends on stat (1 in 10) and is winnowed further by education/desire/etc. to 1 in 100, then if you live in an apartment complex in a metro area somewhere, imagine having magic use be common enough that half a dozen or so spellcasters live in your complex.
It's reasonably likely that one of your coworkers is one. Go to a large, crowded bar on a Saturday night, it's almost certain one of the drunks is one.
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Of those 10,000 Roman Essence casters, how many are Pure casters? Lets say 5,000.
How many are Alchemists? Illusionist entertainers get all the chicks, Magicians are in demand for the Legions. . . .
The availability of magic items would likely follow the logic of the real world economy also. . .
The $10,000 rifle, are you likely to find them in the hands of every soldier in the army, or in the hands of a high end mercenary or wealthy big game hunter?
The time it takes to create magic items (and the implied level of required stability) would likely direct most magical efforts to satisfy the wealthy or the state, who control the money and the stability. . . which might result in lots of roman magic being directed to creating items that adventurers would consider frivolous. . .or into public works like stadium effects, water purification or vermin reduction, which would likely be less than handy to adventurers or non portable form to prevent their theft.
Some adventurers might find a comb that keeps your hairstyle protected from the weather painful to wear under a helmet, and likely a podium of voice projection too bulky to carry around.
The flip side, in many games, is that the sword +5 tends to last nearly forever. . .
In the end, the GM can justify magic items being as common, or scarce as they want them to be.
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In addition I have an "attunement point cap" so the characters are limited to exactly how many items they can be attuned to (or possess).
I do something similar. We use PP adders instead of multipliers, but each one after the first is +1 DR harder to Attune.
We cast at Rank in the List (instead of lvl) and use a scalable PP system. Each "per level" effect in the spell is now a "per PP". So you have to spend PP to cast but also spend PP to maintain Duration, etc.
Magic is much easier to learn and cast but not many people can actually power effects. "You say the write words and do the motions perfectly... nothing happens."
This forces Alchemists to work together and limits players from making magic items.
The players like it, because they can actually cast spells. 10 Ranks in a List and you cast that List as 10th lvl. But if, for example, the spell is "1 min/lvl" it is now "1 min/+PP". That 10th lvl spell just cost you 10 PP and lasts 1 min; unless you spend more PP at the time of casting. But you can spend as many as you want! This drains PP fast and they have to make hard choices about what to cast and when to use a skill, saving PP.
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How about that Layman tailor that wants to learn a few spells to improve his business? There is nothing in there saying he has to have 90's in the appropriate stats. You only need those to be a particular profession - not to learn and cast spells. At least, that is how I have always seen it. (One of my favorite RM characters was a Fighter that had about 6 mentalism spells that helped him hide/sneak and granted him DB bonuses.)
So, you have your pure, hybrid, and semi-spell users, and then you have the rest of the population who are non-spell users, but can learn some spells, albeit very expensively. But, if it means that craftsman will be able to make 5 cloaks in the time it would normally take to make 1, I think it is a good investment. Not to mention, if he is able to make a cloak with a permanent enchantment that keeps it dry and warm, and/or keeps the color from fading, or a special color/pattern effect (Nobles! What is the next trend going to be? Living capes you need to feed?!?), or keeps it from wearing way/fraying, etc....
In a world were magic can be learned by anyone, it would become just like any other science, and permeate society in a myriad of ways. I surprised that RM doesn't have a magic book called: Mundane Magic Law, covering all the magic used by commoners and nobles to enhance their lives.
As long as some of those magic-wielders go into investigative magic, I see acceleration, not retardation, of technological progress (which went on even in the so-called "Dark Ages"). If magical healing is used to improve health care and magical enhancements improve agricultural efficiency to move more individuals out of farming and into other lines of production, then you'll even end up with a greater quantity of inventors and engineers.
Which is why I said:
(purely) technological growth?
Sciences that combined the two (magic & technology) would go up by - whatever the percentage is when you are saying it is higher than 0%. :o
I am a firm believer that daily life, in a world where magic is as common as RM would make it out to be, would be quite different than it is portrayed to be. Farming would be different; they might be able to get yields comparable to our modern farming, maybe even better. All manner of things would be different, and there would be crap loads of new ways, as well. The members of the Harbor Masters Guild use water magic to ensure safe passage through the waterways they operate in, scouts use nature magic to help track down escapees, or hunt the dangerous beasts terrorizing the townsfolk, etc... In a world of magic, it would be near suicidal to not learn some magic to be better at what you do. Most settings don't include this level of magic is because of 2 main reasons: 1) Tradition/Don't think of it: by going on rote, it never even gets addressed my the majority of the GMs and players. 2) Those that do think of it, usually decide not to do anything about it because it would be too much work and be a "power-level" problem.
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In regard to NPC spell casters, they don't need a prime stat at 90. To be precise nobody needs a prime stat at 90. CCL stated that "A character is guaranteed of having at least 90 in each of his prime requisites." and that NPC are assumed to have 90 in his primes.
All they need is 55 in the power stat, since that would give them 1 powerpoint per level.
So getting back to the Romans thats about half a million potential spell casters in the city alone and an untold number in the Empire.
As for mundane Magic, I use Prodaic magic from Spell Users Companion, which is kinda brilliant for that :)
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You are obviously going by RM2/C, which is fine. In RMFRP it states that to become a pure spell-user (magician, cleric, mentalist, etc..) you must have 90's in your prime stats - in fact, to be any of the professions you must have 90's in your prime stats. But, it doesn't say that to be a fighter that is going to cast spells they must have 90's in the appropriate realm stats, so you are good to go. Also, in RMFRP, you don't need a 55 in your realm stats to get power points, only bonus PP. You get PP by developing the skill Power Point Development, just like getting more Hits by Body Development.
So in RMFRP, the numbers of people being able to cast even a few spells increases dramatically.
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How about that Layman tailor that wants to learn a few spells to improve his business? There is nothing in there saying he has to have 90's in the appropriate stats. You only need those to be a particular profession - not to learn and cast spells. At least, that is how I have always seen it. (One of my favorite RM characters was a Fighter that had about 6 mentalism spells that helped him hide/sneak and granted him DB bonuses.)
So, you have your pure, hybrid, and semi-spell users, and then you have the rest of the population who are non-spell users, but can learn some spells, albeit very expensively. But, if it means that craftsman will be able to make 5 cloaks in the time it would normally take to make 1, I think it is a good investment. Not to mention, if he is able to make a cloak with a permanent enchantment that keeps it dry and warm, and/or keeps the color from fading, or a special color/pattern effect (Nobles! What is the next trend going to be? Living capes you need to feed?!?), or keeps it from wearing way/fraying, etc....
In a world were magic can be learned by anyone, it would become just like any other science, and permeate society in a myriad of ways. I surprised that RM doesn't have a magic book called: Mundane Magic Law, covering all the magic used by commoners and nobles to enhance their lives.
Prosaic Magic from Spell Users Companion and some of the Professional lists in both Companion 5 and Alchemist Companion can be used to reflect those "Mundane" spells.
I am a firm believer that daily life, in a world where magic is as common as RM would make it out to be, would be quite different than it is portrayed to be. Farming would be different; they might be able to get yields comparable to our modern farming, maybe even better. All manner of things would be different, and there would be crap loads of new ways, as well. The members of the Harbor Masters Guild use water magic to ensure safe passage through the waterways they operate in, scouts use nature magic to help track down escapees, or hunt the dangerous beasts terrorizing the townsfolk, etc... In a world of magic, it would be near suicidal to not learn some magic to be better at what you do. Most settings don't include this level of magic is because of 2 main reasons: 1) Tradition/Don't think of it: by going on rote, it never even gets addressed my the majority of the GMs and players. 2) Those that do think of it, usually decide not to do anything about it because it would be too much work and be a "power-level" problem.
I have incorporated a lot of magic into one of my worlds and Yes, it takes a lot of work AND it takes some time for the players to get used to, but I think that it is worth it.
Some of the most obvious things are also the most visible.. like that most protective walls are warded against desctructive magic (Crack Calls/Stone to dust ect.) and more then 30' tall (Leaping allows you to leap 20').
However it's also importent to note that many speciallity spell-lists will be guarded by those who have them and most likely by a guild of some kind, so while cleaning spells might be fairly common, smithing, tailoring and other professionel lists are not that easy to come by.
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With respect to the "requirements" for prime stats ... that is a D&D'ism that was imported into Character Law when Character Law was designed as a replaceable module for D&D. There is ABSOLUTELY no reason why it needs to be adhered to in RM. (Rule 0 = ignore any rule that is inconvenient) ...
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I think you'll have a fair number of extremely simple, low level items, available for a pittance. Why? Because the apprentice has to practice somehow, the master may as well make back a bit of his investment and get the local populace "spoiled" to having magic available while he's at it. The "loss leader" marketing concept.
Beyond that... relative to the prices for mundane equipment, magic items tend to be fearfully expensive. Sure it'd be nice to have a magic item than can plow an acre perfectly in 1 minute, but if its capacity per season is only about 10% of your farm and it costs half your budget for a year, are you going to buy one? Of course not.
Therefore in general, items above the "practicing apprentice" level will probably only be bought by those to whom monetary and time costs are not the overriding priority, either because the buyer is just that wealthy or because something else ("if I don't get one of these today everyone I know is probably going to die tomorrow") takes priority over any amount of money.
That said, magic items tend to be "eternal". While they may be buried, or in the deeps of a cave, or lost at sea, the chances of _____ magic items being reusable if/when recovered is far higher than for equivalent mundane items. Therefore you could expect availability to go up in fairly direct proportion with how long the area has been inhabited.
But really, magic item pricing and availability can't be put in a book, because the controlling factors are inherent in the setting rather than the game mechanics. 1. The creators aren't going to bother if they can't make a living at it. 2. The buyers aren't going to bother unless the economic cost/benefit of doing _____ with magic beats the cost/benefit of doing it some other way. Unless the book can manage the balancing act of every possible economic pressure in every possible economic system, the pricing and availability of the book can't possibly be any more than a best guess.
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but I think that it is worth it.
Me too.
However it's also importent to note that many speciallity spell-lists will be guarded by those who have them and most likely by a guild of some kind, so while cleaning spells might be fairly common, smithing, tailoring and other professionel lists are not that easy to come by.
Definitely. This is something I imagine even being specific to each particular culture/nation. Though there could very well be guilds that span several nations.
GOF: I have to say that is the 3rd method games (and GMs) use to limit magic items: by making the ingredients and process so prohibited, they aren't worth making at all. I mean, is a +20 weapon really worth 20,000 GPs?* I think not. (Of course, you can make the argument that the weapon is absolutely needed to beat the Big Bad, but that gets old quick and only works for a few items.)
*This was just a number I pulled out of the air, I don't know the real numbers for making RM magic items. But, I do remember that several of the special materials to use are upwards of thousands of gold pieces an ounce. How many ounces of metal do you need to make even a dagger? That doesn't include all the special ingredients that get used up in the process.
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The problem as far as relative "worth" of magic items is that it ties into the labor and materials cost to the creator. In short, you can't really drop the price much without making it economic suicide for those who make such items, unless you also adjust what is required to make it. Someone who has spent a fair portion of his life learning these skills, and then spends all of his time for weeks, months or even years just to make one item for you.... well yeah, you're going to have to make up that year or so that he couldn't make a living doing anything else.
More to the point, it's a vicious cycle, in that the more hideously expensive his products become, the smaller the market he can sell to, so when he does get a commission he pads the price to make up for all that dead time while he was unemployed. The result is that very minor adjustments to the time and expense need to create _____ item can have consequences in both price and availability that seem far out of proportion. And of course, if you apply that adjustment equally to all magic items it's possible to create, that multiplies the effect.
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It depends on the setting. Generally, magic items are family heirlooms and the sorts. Maybe they got their status /because/ they were passed down from generation to generation, slowly accumulating bonuses :)
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I have not run a campaign for several years. However, I decided that magic weapons should not be that difficult to come by. Unfortunately, they also break with significant regularity. I also came up with a lot of one shot items that could (and would) be produced.
As a result, I generally make it fairly easy to purchase a +5 wooden staff, or maybe a +10 magic sword. Runes are easy to get, if you can find the runepaper. Potions could be worked into candles, throwing crystals, etc. to allow one shot effects. Higher quality stuff (say a +15 magic spear of boarslaying) is fairly hard to find and rare to purchase. More powerful items are definitely difficult to acquire. However, the wrong character may get some powerful item they cannot control...
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Magic weapons break, but weapons of any sort take a lot of abuse, too. I'd expect weapons and armor to suffer more attrition than, say, rope or jewelry. Magical body parts would probably outlast the owner, and maybe outlast more than one.