Rolling Dice 3
Power Substitution with Appendix A of the Treasure Tome
The tables in Appendix A, by rarity, produce on average items appropriate to that rarity- the average Rare item produced by any of those tables has a base cost of approximately 12,500gp, the average Very Rare likewise worth 60,000gp, the average Legendary worth 300,000gp (except Legendary implements, which average higher to match the distribution of existing items, mostly due to ritual effects). Notably, powers are the same- the average Very Rare power has a base cost of 60,000gp, and so on. One could construct a set of items, in terms of average base cost, at a given rarity by simply rolling for powers of that rarity, assigning one power per item. This is not the approach taken.
For weapons and armor, part of the budget needs to be allocated to permanent bonuses on each item. Implements are broadly built as charged items, occasionally with additional powers. Scrolls and potions aren’t dealt with in Appendix A, due to any further elaboration on the diversity of those tables requiring the creation of additional spells. This leaves rings and miscellaneous items, both of which are generated using rarity-sorted powers or combinations thereof. For these, a Rare item might have a Rare power, or a Rare and an Uncommon or two, 3 Uncommons, or 2 Rares- each of which, for average values of those bins, would still be appropriate for a Rare item, averaging 12,500gp. The tables to make Very Rare items of these types mix Rare and Very Rare powers, and the tables for Legendary items mix Very Rare and Legendary powers, for similarly balanced results.
Obviously, no design principle forbids putting small powers on big items- published Legendary items contains powers that, individually, would be Uncommon or Rare- but the tables are kept simple rather than exhaustive for ease of use. Adding in the possibility of these lesser power is simple, and requires no additional fine-tuning of tables for average value:
Replace each Rare Power result on the Very Rare Miscellaneous Magic Item table with a roll on the Rare Miscellaneous Magic Item table.
Replace each Very Rare Power result on the Legendary Miscellaneous Magic Item table with a roll on the Very Rare Miscellaneous Magic Item table.
This can be done recursively, if desired, given a Very Rare power the opportunity to decompose into Rare powers, and then possibly further into Uncommon powers. Total expected value can go up or down at each step of the process, and final value varies depending on the actual powers involved.
Let’s work through an example Legendary item. The initial roll tells us it has three Very Rare powers. We roll each of those like it’s its own Very Rare item: One is a Very Rare; one a Very Rare and a Rare; the last is 3 Rares. 6 powers is plenty of complexity, so we’ll stop here rather than roll for further detail on the Rares. Powers rolled:
1st level spell 1/hour
1st level spell 1/hour
2nd level spell 1/week
4th level spell 1/week
Permanent energy invulnerability (one type)
Permanent telepathy
Telepathy is an arcane spell, so we will be selecting arcane spells for the other powers. A d6 tells us that fire is the energy type in question for the invulnerability. Rolling weekly effects we get deep slumber and dominate humanoid. Hourly, we have frighten humanoid and infuriate humanoid. By happenstance, all four of our activated effects are enchantments, in an item with telepathy. We’ve got a pretty strong mechanical focus there, with fire invulnerability looking a bit odd by comparison. Form and theme of the item are rolled as Sheet (blanket, carpet, tarp) and ‘Natural’. Weird form, for an item with ranged activated abilities, and weird theme, for something whose powers are mostly used against people.
Locus of Discipline
Base Cost 188,000gp: Permanent (1/turn) Telepathy 4th level esoteric effect 100,000gp; Permanent (1/hour) Energy Invulnerability 4th level effect 48,000gp; 1/day Deep Slumber 4th level effect 20,000gp; 1/day Dominate Humanoid 2nd level effect 10,000gp; 1/day Frighten Humanoid 1st level effect 5,000gp; 1/day Infuriate Humanoid 1st level effect 5,000gp. Apparent Value: 3,000gp.
This 5’ diameter white wool rug has a pattern of concentric golden rings, 5 in total, with a red circle at its center; each ring is broken in one point. Once per day each, by speaking the words “relax”, “submit”, “flinch”, or “rouse” in any language, the user may cast deep slumber, dominate humanoid, frighten humanoid, or infuriate humanoid respectively. Any creature touching the rug can speak to activate it, but even if multiple do so it can only be activated once per round. A creature that has succeeded on a saving throw against one of the carpet’s effects can, when sitting on the carpet alone initiate mental contact with others as the spell telepathy. If he has succeeded on saving throws against each of the carpet’s 5 effects, including the telepathy, he is immune to fire damage as the spell energy invulnerability for as long as he remains on it.
This rug is all that remains of an obscure monastic order which focused on rejecting what it perceived as failings of the mind. Exhaustion, Supplication, Hesitation, Arousal, and Comprehensibility, respectively, were seen to be the failings rejected by one resisting the rug’s effects. At Judge discretion, appropriate feats could likewise be treated as defeat of these failings. Exposure to the effects occurred in ceremonies, testing the commitment of acolytes, until an acolyte who claimed to be free of all failings would be anointed in oil, sit on the rug, and be set alight. Those untouched by flame would be elevated to the higher rank of the order, while those who burned were evident failures. Over time, the higher rank grew corrupt, secretly exposing their candidates to the rug outside of proper ceremony until they succeeded, or tricking candidates they opposed into believing they had succeeded a test that was not made and seeing them burn. One candidate, on discovering this, secreted trails of oil before his initiation to ignite the monastery whole along with him, killing those who perverted a divine cause in the same way they plotted to kill its true followers. The man himself survived with partial burns, having defeated Hesitation as he committed the act, but the rest of the rotten order perished in the flames. He took the rug with him, aiming to recreate the order in a place far from its failure, but any success or failure on his part is unknown to reliable histories.
The activated effects were adjusted, meeting in the middle to all be 1/day, at a minor change in cost. The location of the monastery is left vague so it can be adjusted to different campaign settings, but I figure it’s up in the snow on a mountain somewhere. The resulting item is strange, and probably most useful when ‘unlocked’ as an item of telepathy, but this is the first time I’ve written something with a self-referential restriction on users, and I like how that bit turned out.
Yeah, the self-referential user restriction is really interesting. Really fits the theming for a disciplined monastic order, neat way to unify the mechanics with the description.