From: CX6L <CX6L@MUSICA.MCGILL.CA>
Subject: RE: GURPS: Enchantments questions
Organization: McGill University
Date: Tue, 12 Jan 1993 18:31:16 GMT

In article <5216@equinox.unr.edu> hodges@unssun.nevada.edu (Marcus Hodges) writes:
>1)  In the Magic book, in the beginning section on Enchantment (p. 16) it
>    is stated that the base power for an item is the creators Enchant skill
>    or the skill for the spell being enchanted.  Later in the chapter (I
>    believe p. 20) it is stated that if a person wants an item with a power
>    of twenty, three time the base amount of energy is required.  The
>    second example assumes that Enchant spell has a maximum effect of 15.
>    If this is true, then the only use for a high Enchant skill would be
>    for an enchantment using multiple enchanters.  What is your opinion
>    on this?

     Completely wrong. Consider: if an item requires 2000 energy, and
you are all alone, then it takes 2000 days to enchant. If you want
that to be a Power 20 item, so it can work in a Low Mana zone, or an
even higher Power item, so that it has a decent range, say, then you
are going to want to have a high skill. If your skill is only 15, and
you need a 20, then it will take *6000* days to make that item!
     Admittedly, by itself, Enchant is not too useful at a high level.
However, the *lower* of your Enchant and the spell being enchanted
into the item is used in the casting, so if you regularly wish to makw
higher Powered items, you'll need Enchant as well as the other spell
at a decent level. Nowhere does it say the maximum level with Enchant
is 15: it just says that a roll over 15 always fails.
     The system assumes that most items will be made at level 15,
because items enchanted below that power do not work. If, however,
your skill with both spells is higher, the item's Power is higher.
A +5 Power costs three times as much. This happens to be 20 if your
skill is 15, but your skill does not stop at 15 and *have* to be
improved by energy use!!!!!
     The actual cost scheme is:
+1  +20%
+2  +40%
+3  +60%
+4  +100%
+5  +200%
& + 100% for each level beyond +5
     . . . so it is far more effective and efficient to make your
high Power items via skill and not energy.
     As for lower cost items, the high skill comes in very handy
when you have lots of assistants. Not to mention that, in a Low Mana
area, your *base* (not *effective*) spell skill is at -5, so if your
level with Enchant is <20, you *cannot* enchant there!
     High Power items are obviously useful, as they have greater
effective range, resist and are resisted at higher levels, and
can be ported to Low Mana settings and used.

>2)  In the Magic book, the Quick Draw enchantment says that any weapon with
>    this enchantment will leap to the weilder's hand, and be ready, at their
>    mental command.  The question is, what about missile weapons?  The
>    description of the spell states that the weapon leaps the the wielders
>    hand and is instantly ready.  The enchantment normally costs 300/pound
>    of the weapon, but has a special cost for missile weapons of a flat
>    2000 energy.  Would the missile enchantment cause an arrow to be knocked
>    and ready to fire whenever the wielder pulled back the string, thus
>    removing a Fast Draw roll and an action to ready the weapon?  If the
>    enchantment just puts the arrow into the wielders hand, I think that
>    2000 energy is way out of line.  How is anyone else handling this?

Like said in my earlier response: the Quick-Draw enchantment is really
for hand weapons. It allows you to ready any hand weapon in no time.
This allows you to Fast-Draw weapons that cannot normally be Fast-
Drawn (halberds, etc); to ready dropped weapons in your hex; and to
get your weapon instantly, even if tied-up or in close-combat. As a
side effect, since Fast-Draw is a 0-time action, and dropping a weapon
is a 0-time action, you could drop your unbalanced weapon at any time
and use Quick-Draw to ready it in 0 time. Effectively, this means that
an unbalanced weapon will always be ready. So the designer just said
that this was the case, period.
     However, the spell is Quick *Draw*, not "Quick Ready". The spell
draws a weapon for you, and puts it in your hand. It happens that
drawing and readying a hand weapon amount to the same thing. This is
a coincidence: it is not meant to imply that the spell *readies* a
weapon: just that it draws it. A quiver with this spell on it puts a
missile in your hand, unerringly, every time: regardless of position,
DX penalties due to Shock, et al. It is an extremely valuable item.
A missile weapon, say a bow, with this spell, appears in your hands,
off of your back or horse or whatever, unerringly. This is useful
because you don't want to be carrying a longbow at the ready all the
time (tiring), and you can't Fast-Draw a bow. This cost is based on
the bow's weight, and is *not* 2000 energy. That's for the *quiver*!
     Check out Magic Items I for the Rapid-Fire Crossbow and other
self-cocking weapons. Check out the Graceful Axe spell (in the as of
yet unpublished Grimoire) for a spell that *readies* and does not
*draw*.

>3)  Can a Golem use magic items?  Not just weapons, shields and armor, but
>    what about wands of Fireball or other debilitating effects.  Would they
>    be able to power the item with their own fatigue, or would they have
>    to use self-powered items?  What if they had a powerstone inset in
>    their body during creation?  (How many PCs smash the body to rubble
>    to see if there is anything inside?)  Can a Golem itself be enchanted
>    with spells (i.e. Hawk Flight, Invisibility, etc.)?

A Golem is a magic item. It is neither sentient nor a mage. It could
*not* use any item or spell that a magic chair, magic scroll or such
could not benefit from. This leaves passive things. So a Golem could
be Shatterproofed, Fireproofed, made Invisible, etc, *permanently*,
as if it were any inanimate object; and its sword or armour could be
magical, but it could *not* use any item intended for use by a sentient
being. This means that Elixirs are useless to it, it cannot activate
*active* items, such as Haste boots or a Blur item, unless such objects
are self-Powered and *always on*. It could *definitely not* use Mage-
only items like Scrolls or Fireball wands. By definition, this means
that it cannot use Fatigue. After all: it is an indefatiguable entity:
why would it even *have* a Fatigue score? ST is *not* Fatigue!! It
just happens to be the same for humanoids.
     A Golem is a mass of animated, unliving matter. It is not a
sentient.
-Kromm.