These rules created by Aaron Oliver to go along with my Rules Cyclopedia Errata & Companion Document. http://RCerrata.redirectme.net January 17, 2009 - Version 1 Upon analysis, I came to the conclusion that the magic item creation rules in the Rules Cyclopedia are not well-written, the examples given aren't easy to follow, some of the example don't even seem correct, the chances of success are abysmal, and the prices produced were all wonky.... So I created my own rules for this, which are based on ideas from the Rules Cyclopedia and the Expert Rulebook guidelines for magic item creation. These rules do not (yet) cover the creation of Constructs or Huge Magical Items. =================== Magic Item Creation =================== Any type of spellcaster may create magical items. Spellcasters must be 6th level or higher to create temporary magic items such as potions, scrolls, wands, or missiles. Spellcasters of 9th level or higher may create permanent magic items. In the case of Paladins and Avengers, their Clerical level is used for this purpose, not their Fighter level. The spellcaster must be able to cast a spell that relates to each magical effect he wants to enchant an item with, or he must work with another spellcaster who can do so. The spellcaster must also find and work with a specialist who is capable of creating the physical object to be enchanted. The specialist's fees are considered to be included in the costs given below for creating an item. If the spellcaster has the appropriate General Skills, he can create the physical item himself. In this case, he may reduce the cost of creating the magic item by the amount that a specialist would normally charge. For example, an armorer normally charges 100 GP per month (see p.133). If the spellcaster is skilled as an armorer, he can reduce his cost of creating a magical weapon or suit of armor by 25 gp per week. The spellcaster must know precisely what type of magic item he is attempting to create, including the specific number of Bonuses, what specific enchantments he intends to place on the item, and what methods of operation the item will use (such as if the item will activated by concentration or by command word). He must submit his plans to the DM, who will decide if the item is acceptable, what rare components will be needed, and what Enchantment Levels to apply to Spell-Like Effects (as described below). The spellcaster can't alter any of this once he has his final plan and has started the process of enchantment. He must pay all costs and gather all the required components before he begins that process. The spellcaster will need to go adventuring to acquire rare components, such as special inks or parchment for scrolls, rare metals for weapons or armor, or specific monster parts for various enchantments. For example, if a spellcaster wishes to create a Dagger +2, +5 vs. Giants with Charm Person ability, the DM may decide he needs to collect the knucklebone of a Cloud Giant and the beak of a black-feathered Harpy. The spellcaster can usually gather enough components to attempt to make more than one of the item he plans to create, especially in the case of scrolls, potions, or other temporary items. To account for the cost of creating most items, gemstones are often purchased (until the required cost of the item has been met) and ground up to be mixed with other ingredients. Thus, all the money spent on creating an item will be gone even if the enchantment of the item fails. Two types of enchantments can be placed on items: Bonuses and Spell-like Effects. Every enchantment is also one of two main classes: Permanent or Temporary. Permanent - These effects may be used an unlimited number of times, or are always functioning. This includes such things as permanent weapon or armor Bonuses (plusses) and many types of activated or continuous Spell-like Effects. Permanent enchantments that require activation are often limited by how frequently they can be used. Temporary - These are effects that can be used only once, or items that have a limited number of charges. This includes potions, wands, scrolls, and missiles. Some items with charges can be recharged after use. One-use items are usually destroyed or consumed when used. Magic items must follow traditional standards. For example, - Permanent items usually aren't enchanted with One-use effects (since a One-use effect usually destroys the item when used), and no item can be enchanted with multiple One-use effects. Such an item would have to be created by using a few Non-Rechargeable charges. - Normally Temporary items like Potions or Wands cannot be made permanent. - Staffs are Permanent weapons that can contain multiple types of enchantments, including Bonuses, Permanent Spell-like Effects, and Temporary Spell-like Effects with charges. - Wands can only be used by Magic-Users, and can hold a maximum of 30 charges. Staffs can hold up to 40 charges. - Spell-like Effects with an Enchantment Level greater than 5 usually cannot be placed into Temporary item as charges, but they may sometimes be placed into Permanent items as charges or into single-use items. - No armor or weapon can exceed a Base Bonus of +5, or a Special Bonus of +5 (but the cumulative bonus of the two might exceed +5). - Typically, weapons and armor can only contain a limited number of enchantments, one of which must be the Base Bonus, and only one of which can be a Special Bonus. Swords can have up to 4 total enchantments, miscellaneous weapons (other than Staffs) up to 3, missiles and missile devices up to 2, and Armor up to 2 enchantments. Many other types of items (especially temporary ones) are not so limited. Spell Scrolls, for example, can contain up to 7 spells (the scroll would count as one magic item with 7 separate enchantment on it). Magical Staffs can contain a seemingly unlimited number of charged effects. - Direct offensive effects should always be limited, either by applying charges or by limiting uses during a time period. ================= Chance of Success ================= The Chance of Success for enchanting an item is determined by the following formula (Clerics use Wisdom instead of Intelligence): (Intelligence x 4 + Spellcaster Level) - (Enchantment Level x 2) = % chance The "Enchantment Level" is the level of the spell used to create the enchantment, or the Bonus (the number of "plusses") being added to a weapon or suit of armor. The chance of success is checked separately for each Bonus or Spell-like Effect placed on an item. Items must be enchanted in the following order: Base Bonuses, then Special Bonuses, then Spell-like Effects. Items other than weapons or armor usually skip the first 2 steps. Adding charges to a Charged item requires no roll for success, but when attempting to make a Spell-like Effect Rechargeable, the Chance of Success must be checked one extra time for that enchantment. If this roll fails, the item will not be Rechargeable, though it will still function normally as a Non-Rechargeable Charged item. No matter what the chance of success, a roll of 95 or higher will always indicate a failure. Too many failures when creating a magic item could cause the item to become cursed (assuming the spellcaster isn't trying to create a cursed item to begin with), or cause it to have malfunctions in its operation. A roll of 100 in any step along the way should indicate the item has become cursed (though the spellcaster might not know this). As an example, if a 9th level Magic-User with 16 Intelligence wishes to create a Dagger +2, +5 vs Giants with the Charm Person talent, his chance of success would be checked once for each enchantment, for a total of three times (once for the +2 Base Bonus, once for the additional +3 Special Bonus vs Giants, and once for adding the Charm Person ability). The +2 Base Bonus must be added first. His chance of success would be: (16 x 4 + 9) - (2 x 2) = 69% If he failed this roll, his dagger would have no Base Bonus.... If he passes this roll, then he has a Dagger +2. In either case, he can still go on to the next step and attempt to add the Special Bonus vs Giants. In the next step, adding the Special Bonuses is calculated the same as adding the Base Bonus. The Enchantment Level will be 3 this time, for adding the additional +3 vs Giants, so his chance of success is: (73) - (3 x 2) = 67% If the spellcaster passes both checks, he then has a Dagger +2, +5 vs Giants. If he passed the first one but failed the second, it would just be a Dagger +2 with no Special Bonus. If he had failed the first roll but passed the second, he would end up with a Dagger +3 vs Giants (only). The dagger would still be magical, and might be able to hit creatures that are unaffected by normal weapons (as long as they don't require a "+1 weapon" or better to be hit), but it would only grant a magical Bonus when fighting Giants.... If the spellcaster failed both rolls, his dagger is still not magical, but in any case, he may go on to the next step of adding Spell-like Effects. No matter the results so far, he can't attempt to add any further Bonuses at this point, since that was not part of his original plan. We'll assume that he passed both checks. The next step is adding Spell-like Effects. Charm Person is a 1st level spell so the Enchantment Level is 1, and the chance of success is: (73) - (1 x 2) = 71% If he fails this roll, he still has a Dagger +2, +5 vs Giants. If he succeeds, he'll have the full Dagger +2, +5 vs Giants with Charm Person, as he had planned. Regardless of any of the rolls, the dagger may not be enchanted any further; items may only be enchanted during their creation, and only to the extent that the spellcaster prepared for. If the spellcaster failed at all three enchantments, he will have lost all the money, time, and components required for the item, and the dagger will be non-magical and unsuitable for further enchantment. =================== Cost of Enchantment =================== Of course, before the Chances of Success are checked, the cost of creating the item must be calculated and paid. Cost for Spell-like Effects --------------------------- The Enchantment Level for adding a Spell-like Effect is the equivalent level of the Spell that creates the effect. Since not every effect reproduces a spell exactly, the Enchantment Level can be adjusted based on the approximate spell level that would be equivalent to the effect. For example, a spellcaster wants to create a Ring of Water Walking. The 2nd level Levitation is the closest spell to produce that effect, so he will have to cast that spell during the creation process. However, Water Walking is much more limited than Levitation, since it only works in water, and it causes the user to go straight to the top of the water with no control of going up and down. Perhaps a Levitation spell that only worked in the water would be considered a 1.5 level spell (you may use fractional levels for the Enchantment Level when appropriate). Further limiting it by only allowing the user to go to the top of the water with no vertical control might make it only as powerful as a 1st level spell, so the Enchantment Level of a Water Walking enchantment could be considered to be 1. For another example, a spellcaster might want to create a magic item that increases an ability score by a certain number of points, or sets the ability to a specific value, like 18 (e.g., Gauntlets of Ogre Power). Changing a creature into another specific form is similar to a 4th level Polymorph spell (giving someone "ogre strength" could also be accomplished by polymorphing them into an ogre...), so the effect level for setting someone's Strength to 18 could be considered to be 4. Just altering an ability by a certain number of points should be a much lesser effect by comparison. If a level 4 effect could boost someone's ability all the way to 18, then just increasing an ability by 1 point would be about a .5 Enchantment Level. So if a spellcaster wants to create an effect that boosts an ability score by 3 points, it would have a 1.5 Enchantment Level. Enchantment Levels can be adjusted to create individually tailored effects. For example, a Fireball that has more limited range and a half radius explosion might be .5 less in Enchantment Level. Other examples could include reducing the range of an effect to "touch," having a wide-area bonus only affect the user, decreasing the duration significantly, or accepting special limitations for the item such as making it fragile and prone to breaking.... But no matter how many limitations are taken, .5 is the minimum value an Enchantment Level can be decreased to. An Enchantment Level can also be adjusted upward if the effect is more powerful than the spell it is based on. The DM must judge all such Enchantment Levels and make sure they are balanced. Once all Enchantment Levels are decided, the cost for each separate Spell-like Effect can be calculated (each must be calculated separately, one at a time). -------------------------------------------------------- Base Cost for Spell-Like Effects (in GP) -------------------------------------------------------- (Enchantment Level x 3 + 1) x Enchantment Class x 250 Items with Charges must add the cost for the Charges. Charges cost: 10% x Base Cost x Number of Charges (if an item can produce multiple effects with charges, calculate the cost based on the most expensive effect) -------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------------------ Enchantment Class for Spell-like Effects ------------------------------------------ Permanent - Unlimited use 12 Permanent - Once per Turn 11 Permanent - 3 times per Day 9 Permanent - Once per Day 7 Permanent - 3 times per Week 6 Permanent - Once per Week 5 Charged - Rechargeable 4 Charged - Non-Rechargeable 3 One-use Spell-like Effect .5 ------------------------------------------ Cost for Bonuses ---------------- Bonuses are added to weapons or armor. Other items are not usually suitable for receiving Bonuses. Armor Bonuses affect the AC of the wearer. Weapon Bonuses affect the hit rolls and damage rolls of the wielder. Weapons can have two types of Bonuses: Base and Special. The Base Bonus applies to all attacks, while a Special Bonus is applied only against certain categories of enemies, and is added on top of the Base Bonus. Missile Fire Devices (but not missiles or hand-hurled weapons) also have a Range Multiplier. Each device will automatically have a default Range Multiplier (usually 1x) based on its Base Bonus. This can be upgraded by adding the cost indicated in the Range Multiplier Cost Table below. The Range Multiplier is applied to all ranges (S/M/L) for a Missile Device. The cost for all of an item's Bonuses can be calculated in one step. -------------------------------------------- Total Cost to add Bonuses (in GP) -------------------------------------------- Enchantment Class x Base Cost x Bonus Cost -------------------------------------------- ------------------------------- Enchantment Class for Bonuses ------------------------------- Permanent 6 One-Use .5 ------------------------------- ---------------------------------------------------------- Base Cost ---------------------------------------------------------- Armor = Encumbrance value (cn) Weapon = (Max Damage + GP value) x 10 Armor includes barding and shields. Maximum Damage is for a normal weapon of that type. GP value is the normal sale price (minimum value: 1 GP). ---------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------------------------------------- Bonus Cost ------------------------------------------------------------- (Base Bonus x 3 + 1) + Special Bonus + Range Multiplier Cost Range Multiplier Cost is only for Missile Fire Devices. -------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------- Range Multiplier Cost -------------------------- Base Range Multiplier Bonus 1x 1.5x 2x -------------------------- +1 0 3 na +2 0 2 na +3 0 1 na +4 na 0 3 +5 na 0 2 -------------------------- So to continue with the example of a spellcaster creating a Dagger +2, +5 vs Giants with the Charm Person talent (usable once per day), checking the formulas above, the Base Cost to add Bonuses to a dagger (Max Damage: 4, Cost: 3 GP) is: (4 + 3) x 10 = 70 The +2 Base Bonus and extra +3 Special Bonus results in a Bonus Cost of: (2 x 3 + 1) + (3) = 10 The Enchantment Class for these Bonuses is Permanent (Enchantment Class 6), so the total price for the Bonus enchantments is: 70 x 10 x 6 = 4200 GP Next, we add the 1st level Charm Person effect (Enchantment Level 1) which is Permanent and can be used Once Per Day (Enchantment Class 7): (1 x 3 + 1) x 7 x 250 = 7000 GP So the total cost for this item is: 4200 + 7000 = 11,200 GP ============= Time Required ============= The time required to create a magical item is 1 week, plus 1 day for each 1,000 GP spent on the item (round up to the next 1000). So the above dagger would require 1 week + 12 days to complete, or 19 days total. ======= Batches ======= When creating Temporary items, a spellcaster may wish to create a batch of multiple identical items (e.g., some +1 arrows, or a batch of healing potions). In this case, the spellcaster can save time by enchanting multiple items at once. The cost for creating the items is figured separately for each item, as usual, but the time required to create the batch of items is calculated based on the sum of the costs for all the items combined, as if it were a single item. The Chance of Success is rolled only one time for each enchantment placed on every item in the batch, and is modified by -1% for each item in the batch. If the roll for success passes, then all the items in that batch are successfully enchanted. If the roll fails, then the enchantment fails for all the items in that batch. ===================== Stacking Enchantments ===================== Some effects can be produced by stacking several lesser enchantments on top of each other. For example, a +3 Dagger could be created by placing three separate +1 enchantments on the dagger. Since multiple stacked enchantments combine to produce one effect, the Enchantment Level is simply the sum of the Enchantment Levels for the lesser effects (i.e., the +3 enchantment produced by using three +1 enchantments is considered to be a single enchantment with an Enchantment Level of 3). However, the spellcaster can choose to enchant such effects one at a time. This does not affect the cost of the enchantment (as noted, it's still considered one cumulative enchantment), but it does affect the process of checking for success. For example, instead of making one roll for success against an Enchantment Level of 3 to create a +3 Dagger, the spellcaster can add each +1 Bonus individually, each at an Effect Level of 1. He could even choose do it as one +2 enchantment and one +1 enchantment, if he prefers to enchant it in two steps. In these cases, even if he failed one or two rolls, could still succeed at the next roll and end up with a Dagger +1 rather than a completely failed item. This method will add time to the enchantment process equal to 1 day for each stacked enchantment, including the first. So the spellcaster making the +3 Dagger by enchanting it with three +1 Bonuses would add 3 extra day to the time needed to create the item. ===================== Multiple Spellcasters ===================== If multiple spellcasters work together to create items, they must all be present for the entire process. For each step of the process that they assist in, each spellcaster must check his separate Chance of Success formula; only one spellcaster needs to succeed, but any roll of 100 will indicate the item became cursed. The Time Required is adjusted depending on how many spellcasters work on an item: -------------------------------------- Adjustment to Total Time Required -------------------------------------- Spellcasters Time Required -------------------------------------- 2 -20% 3 -30% 4 -35% 5 -40% -5% for each additional spellcaster. -------------------------------------- Round the result up to the next day. The minimum Time Required is 1 week. ========= XP Awards ========= Since it requires much time and money, spellcasters are awarded XP for the creation process. For each successful enchantment a spellcaster places on a new item, he earns XP equal to 50% of the GP value of that enchantment. For each failed enchantment, the spellcaster still earns XP equal to 10% of value of that enchantment. In the case of stacked enchantments, XP is awarded based on how many successful rolls are made in creating the effect. For example, when combining 3 stacked enchantments into one effect, a spellcaster passes 2 rolls but fails the third. He will gain 2/3 of the usual XP for a successful enchantment. If multiple spellcasters work on an item, the XP awarded for each enchantment is divided equally among the spellcasters who actually participated in creating that enchantment. ================== Rechargeable Items ================== An item may never have more charges than it did at the time of creation, and every time an item is recharged, it will lose 10% of its maximum charge capacity. The cost to recharge an item is calculated the same way as the cost to add charges to an item when creating it, and the Time Required is calculated in a similar manner, based on that cost. These calculations are based on the number of charges actually being placed into the item, not the maximum number of charges the item can hold, if different. A small amount of rare components might be required, but the Chance of Success does not need to be checked when recharging an item; the item's ability to be recharged was determined at the time of creation. =============== Level of Effect =============== By default, Spell-like Effects of magic items will operate as if cast by a spellcaster of the lowest level needed to create the item, or the lowest level spellcaster needed to cast a spell of that level, if that's higher. For example, by default all Spell Scrolls operate as if cast by a 6th level spellcaster (since that's the minimum level at which Scrolls can be created). But a 4th level Ice Storm spell can only be cast by a Magic-User of 7th level or higher, so a Scroll of Ice Storm would operate as if cast by a 7th level caster, even if the creator of the scroll was higher than 7th level. Altering the Level of Effect ---------------------------- An enchantment's level of effect can be boosted beyond the minimum, but may be boosted no higher than the actual level of the spellcaster who is creating the enchantment. This will result an increase in the final Enchantment Level. All other adjustments to Enchantment Level must be made before applying a level of effect increase. The result of following formula is then be added to the Enchantment Level: (Enchantment Level + 1) x (Increase in Level of Effect) x .2 "Increase in Level of Effect" is the number of levels to add to the default level of effect described above (e.g., usually 6 for scrolls, but may be higher). Round the result up to the nearest .25, and add it to the original Enchantment Level to get the final Enchantment Level for that Spell-like Effect. Lowering the level of effect is easier; just reduce the Enchantment Level by .25 for every level subtracted from the default level of effect. However, this should only be allowed when the decrease in level of effect will make a noticeable difference, such as decreasing a Fireball by one die of damage. So, for example, if an 11th level spellcaster creates a Staff that contains charged Fireball effects, they will cause 9d6 damage each (since 9th level is the minimum level needed to create a Staff). But the caster wants to have the Fireballs operate at 10th level (for 10d6 damage). Fireball has an Enchantment Level of 3 and he wants to add +1 to the level of effect, so, (3 + 1) x (1) x .2 = .8, which is rounded up to 1 Meaning the spellcaster only needs to add 1 to the Enchantment Level of the Fireball, giving it a new Enchantment Level of 4, which is then used for determining the cost and Chance of Success for the enchantment. If he instead decided to boost the level of effect by +2, to 11, it would be: (3 + 1) x (2) x .2 = 1.6, which is rounded up to 1.75 So the Enchantment Level of the Fireball effect would be 4.75 in that case. The spellcaster could not boost the level of effect any higher than that, since he is only 11th level himself. If the spellcaster wanted his Staff's Fireballs to have a level of effect of 8 (for 8d6 damage), this would be a decrease of 1 level from the default level of effect, so the Enchantment Level would be reduced by .25, to 2.75 (from 3) for the enchantment. ======== Examples ======== Ring of Water Walking --------------------- The Ring of Water Walking has no Bonuses (rings don't normally contain Bonuses), so we go straight to the Spell-like Effect process. We decided that our Water Walking enchantment will have an Enchantment Level of 1, and it is a Permanent Unlimited effect, so the cost of the Ring will be: (1 x 3 + 1) x 12 x 250 = 12,000 GP And will require 1 week + 12 days to create. Ring of Protection, +2 ---------------------- As noted, rings don't normally contain Bonuses -- a Ring of Protection is actually enchanted with something more similar to a Protection from Evil effect (as with the spell, the Ring makes you harder to hit and also improves your Saving Throws by 1 point). The Protection effect is similar enough to the spell be considered to have an equal Enchantment Level of 1. To produce the +2 Protection effect, the spellcaster will simply stack two of these effects together into one effect with an Enchantment Level of 2. When checking for success, the spellcaster can choose to add the +2 protection in one step, at an Enchantment Level of 2 -- though if he failed that one roll, he will have ruined the item completely. Or, he could choose to create it by adding two separate +1 enchantments, each being Enchantment Level 1, in which case, even if he fails the first roll, he could pass the second one and end up with a Ring of Protection +1. The cost to create the Ring +2 is the same in either case: (2 x 3 + 1) x 12 x 250 = 21,000 GP And would take 1 week + 21 days to create. Enchanting it as two +1 effects would add 2 days to the creation process. 20 Arrows +1 ------------ The cost is calculated with each arrow counting as a separate weapon. Maximum damage for an Arrow is 6, and the cost for 1 arrow is less than 1 GP, so the minimum value of 1 is used, making the Base value for an arrow: (6 + 1) x 10 = 70 Bonus Cost will be: (1 x 3 + 1) = 4 (with no added Special Bonuses) And Enchantment Class is One-Use Weapon Bonus (.5), so the cost per arrow is: .5 x 70 x 4 = 140 GP Multiply that times 20 arrows, for a total cost of 2,800 GP. The creation time will be 1 week + 3 days; since the spellcaster is creating 20 identical arrows as a batch, he can calculate the creation time for them all together. Of course, he'll have -20% to every Chance of Success formula for creating the batch of arrows (only one Chance of Success roll is needed in this case, but if there was an additional enchantment on the arrows, the -20% would apply to that roll as well). It would be easier to create the 20 arrows in batches of 10 or 5, but that would require much more time, since each batch is created as a separate item. Wand of Polymorphing -------------------- A Wand of Polymorphing actually contains two effects: Polymorph Self and Polymorph Other. Both effects are 4th level spells, so the cost for each will be same. This is a Charged, Non-Rechargeable item (Enchantment Class 3), making the cost for each enchantment: (4 x 3 + 1) x 3 x 250 = 9750 This cost must be paid twice, once for each of the 4th level effects. The cost to add 20 Charges is calculated based on the most expensive charged effect, but in this case the effects are the same cost, so: .1 x 9750 x 20 = 19,500 For a total cost of 9750 + 9750 + 19500 = 39,000 GP This would take 1 week + 39 days to complete. 1st level Potion or Scroll -------------------------- A Potion of Healing or a Scroll with one 1st level spell would use identical formulas. Both reproduce a 1st level spell, so the Enchantment Level is 1. Both are One-Use Spell- like Effects, so the cost would be: (1 x 3 + 1) x .5 x 250 = 500 GP And would require 1 week + 1 day to complete. If the DM decided that the spellcaster collected enough ingredients to make 3 Healing Potions, they could be made as a batch at a cost of 1500 GP, requiring 1 week + 2 days to complete all 3 potions, and the Chance of Success would be rolled only once at -3%. Ring of 3 Wishes ---------------- Now let's try something that requires some creative application of all the rules.... A 36th level Cleric with an 18 Wisdom is going to create a Ring of 3 Wishes. The Wish spell is 7th level for him, but the spell description notes that a Cleric must be level 36 or higher to cast Wish. It also notes that a Wish spell is never found on a Scroll, which we can take to mean that a Wish cannot be made into a One-use effect at all. Traditional limitations for magic items say that you can't place Spell-like Effects with an Enchantment Level greater than 5 into a Temporary Item as Charges, so the Wish effect will have to be placed into a Permanent Item as a Charged Effect with 3 charges. So first, we need a Permanent Item.... The Cleric could create a weapon of some sort with Bonuses, then place the Wish effect into that. But in this case he just wants to create a ring, which will be easier to wear around and conceal. He doesn't want to place any other effects onto the ring.... he just wants it to be magical and "Permanent" so that it will be suitable for holding the high-level Wish effect. So, he simply places the bare minimum amount of magic into the creation of the Ring; since the effect literally does nothing (other than enchanting the ring to make it magical, though as a side effect it will probably become more durable) it can be considered to have an Enchantment Level of 0, and the Cleric will use the minimum Enchantment Class possible for a Permenet item, "Permanent - Once per Week." His cost to create this ring will be: (0 x 3 + 1) x 5 x 250 = 1250 GP The Chance of Success for this step would be: (18 x 4 + 36) - (0 x 2) = (108) - (0) = 108% So that's no problem for him -- he'll just have to avoid rolling a 95-100. Now that he has created a Permanent magical item which is capable of holding charges for high-level effects, he's ready to add the Wish. We start with an Enchantment Level of 7 (Wish is a 7th level Cleric spell), which operates, by default, at a level of effect of 17 (the minimum level needed for a Cleric to cast a 7th level spell). But the Wish spell is a special case, and requires a Cleric of level 36 to cast, so we need to increase the level of effect from 17 to 36 (a 19 level increase), so, using the formula for Altering the Level of Effect: (7 + 1) x (19) x .2 = 30.4 (which is rounded up to 30.5) We must add that result to the original Enchantment Level: 7 + 30.5 = 37.5 So 37.5 is the Enchantment Level for the Wish effect.... The Cleric's Chance of Success for this enchantment will be: (18 x 4 + 36) - (37.5 x 2) = (108) - (75) = 33% Yeah, not too good.... He better have a couple of his 36th level Cleric friends helping him enchant this powerful ring, or he's likely going to end up wasting a lot of money. The cost for the (Charged - Non-Rechargeable) enchantment will be: (37.5 x 3 + 1) x 3 x 250 = 85,125 GP And he needs to add 3 charges at a cost of: .1 x 85125 x 3 = 25,537.5 GP Making his total cost (remembering to add in the cost to make the ring magical): 1,250 + 85,125 + 25,537.5 = 111,912 GP, and 50 cents. The Time Required to create this item will be 1 Week + 112 days, or 119 days. That's about 4 months.... As mentioned, it's likely he'll want at least 2 other Clerics helping to create this powerful ring.... So with a total of 3 spellcasters at work, the total time required is reduced by 30%, meaning it will take them: 119 - 30% = 83.3, rounded up to 84 days to create the Ring of 3 Wishes. Platemail +3, Remove Curse -------------------------- Maybe our Cleric decides the above item is far too daunting to create, and all his 36th level Cleric friends are off battling demons anyway, so he decides he wants to create something else instead. He still has a vast amount of treasure to spend and he wants to create something very powerful that will aid the forces of good, so he decides on a suit of Platemail +3, with the Remove Curse ability that will work at 36th level of effect, with 3 charges. The DM tells him he needs some rare mithril from the deepest Dwarven mines, and some pure, untouched snow from the top of the highest mountain. But he's a 36th level Cleric who can cast Wish, so he returns 30 minutes later with everything he needs. The armor must be enchanted first. It weights 500 cn, so the cost calculations to get a +3 Bonus are: Enchantment Class: 6 (Permanent Bonus) Base Cost: 500 (500 cn) Bonus Cost: (3 x 3 + 1) = 10 (Armor has no Special or Range Bonuses) 6 x 500 x 10 = 30,000 GP He'll have no problem with his Chance of Success for adding the Bonuses, since he's uber. He'll just have to avoid rolling a 100 and ending up with cursed armor. Now that he's got a Permanent set of +3 Platemail, he can go about adding the Remove Curse effect. Remove Curse is a 3rd level clerical spell. The Cleric is going to take some special limitations on it, and say it will only work on the wearer of the armor (this will prevent some classes from using it), and also specify that it can only be used once per day (unusual for a Charged effect).... The DM decides that those are not very big limitations, but he'll allow it, and give the Enchantment Level a reduction of .5 for both limitations combined. So the Remove Curse effect will have a 2.5 Enchantment Level. The default level of effect for a permanent item is 9. The cleric wants to boost that up to 36 for heavy-duty curse removal, so he'll need to increase it by 27 levels. The cost to do this will be: (2.5 + 1) x (27) x .2 = 18.9, rounded up to 19 Adding that to his Enchantment level of 2.5, his new Enchantment Level will be 21.5 for this effect. His Chance of success for the Remove Curse effect would be: (18 x 4 + 36) - (21.5 x 2) = (108) - (43) = 65% The cost for making it Charged (Non-Rechargeable) is: (21.5 x 3 + 1) x 3 x 250 = 49,125 GP And to add 3 charges: .1 x 49125 x 3 Charges = 14,737.5 GP 49,125 + 14,737.5 = 63,852.5 GP Add that to the cost of the Armor: 30,000 + 63,852.5 = 93,852.5 GP This will take him 1 week + 94 days to complete, or 101 days. So even though he can afford it, and has a good chance of enchanting it by himself, it's always good to have help when creating really powerful items like this to cut down on the time required....