4.1.11 Investing enchantments in items
Investing an enchantment involves casting the
enchantment on an item which then acts as a focus for the enchantment.
There are three reasons that a caster might choose to invest an
enchantment into an item:
- To put a continuing enchantment (e.g. with some beneficial effect)
into the item, such that the item can be passed from one person to
another. Whoever holds the item gains the benefit of the enchantment.
For example, a broach is invested with a permanent Earth magic
resistance enchantment. Whoever wears the broach gains the benefit of
the additional protection provided. This type of enchantment is known as
a focused enchantment, because the enchantment has been focused
in an item but otherwise works in exactly the same way as a normal
enchantment. All focused enchantments must have a duration greater than
instantaneous and must be fully autonomous. Apart from this, there is no
additional difficulty added to the casting of a focused enchantment.
- To create an enchantment that lies dormant within the item, but, when
at a later date conditions specified by the caster occur, this triggers
the manifestation of the enchantment. For example, a door is invested
with a Fire magic attack spell that will manifest if anyone other than
the caster opens the door. This type of enchantment is known as a ward,
because it is typically used to create traps to protect items or
locations. The additional difficulty added to casting a ward depends on
the duration that the ward itself will last and the number of times the
enchantment can manifest within that duration.
- To create an enchantment that lies dormant within the item, but, can
be invoked by the holder of the item at a later date to trigger the
manifestation of the enchantment. For example, a sword is invested with
a temporary weapon enchantment. When the holder of the sword needs it,
he/she can invoke the enchantment, which for the period of the
enchantment then makes the sword more effective. This type of
enchantment is known as a invokable enchantment, because the
holder of the item chooses whether to invoke it or not. The additional
difficulty added to casting an invokable enchantment depends on the
duration that the invokable enchantment itself will last and the number
of times the enchantment can manifest within that duration.
The investment difficulty for wards and invokable enchantments is equal
to the average of their duration and availability ratings as follows:
| Duration rating |
Duration |
Availability rating
|
Number of manifestations
|
| 0 |
1 Minute |
0 |
1 time ever |
| 1 |
10 Minutes |
1 |
1 time per year |
| 2 |
1 Hour |
2 |
1 time per month |
| 3 |
6 Hours |
3 |
1 time per week |
| 4 |
1 Day |
4 |
1 time per day |
| 5 |
1 Week |
5 |
2 times per day |
| 6 |
1 Month |
6 |
4 times per day |
| 7 |
1 Year |
7 |
6 times per day |
| 8 |
10 Years |
8 |
10 times per day |
| 9 |
100 Years |
9 |
15 times per day |
| 10 |
Permanent |
10 |
20 times per day |
Examples
Roger, a Countermagician, decides to focus a detect magic spell in a
ring that he has so that he can give the ring to a friend to wear for the
day. He decides to cast a General Detect magic enchantment with
Power 2, Finesse 4,
Range self (i.e. 0), Area
of effect 15 metre radius (i.e. 4), Duration
Day Autonomous (i.e. 4 + 1 = 5), Concealment 3,
Investment 0 = Difficulty 18 in total. He has to make the enchantment
duration autonomous in order to be able to focus it in the item.
Roger decides that he wants to invest his staff with a counterspell
(suppression of magic) enchantment that he can invokable at will. He wants
the invokation duration to last for 1 year (rating 7) and wants the staff
to provide the counterspell up to 10 times per day (rating 8), making an
average investment difficulty of 7 1/2. He does not want the enchanted
nature of the staff to be obvious (so chooses concealment 3 on the dormant
enchantment), but does not mind if the counterspells are obvious when
invoked (concealment 0 on the manifestation), making an average
degree of concealment of 1 1/2. The counterspell
itself is Power 7, Finesse
3, Range self (i.e. 0), Area
of effect self (i.e. 0), Duration
instantaneous (i.e. 0), making a total difficulty of 19 in total.
Charles is a Fire magician and is investing a Fire attack spell into a
door so that if anyone apart from him opens the door they will get fried.
He chooses a warding enchantment of a Fire Attack enchantment of
Power 7 and Finesse 4.
He wants to make the enchantment as obvious as possible when it is invoked
(to provide the maximum deterrance) but wants to make it difficult for
other magicians to analyse and defuse the enchantment. He, therefore,
chooses to put Concealment 7 onto the dormant enchantment and Concealment
0 onto the manifestation, making the average degree
of concealment 3 1/2. He wants the ward to last for a year (rating
7) and to manifest up to 4 times/day (rating 6), making an average
investment rating of 6 1/2. The duration is to
be instantaneous (i.e. 0), affect a single target (i.e.
area of effect 0) and have a
range of up to 3 metres (i.e. range 2) just in
case some clever person tries to open the door with a long pole. The total
difficulty is 23.
Roger's friend Cormac is about to go into battle with some evil
magicians. Roger decides to invest Cormac's helmet with a counterspell
(suppression of magic) enchantment to protect him. He doesn't mind if the
magic is obvious. He has three options:
- create a focused enchantment, for example a Counterspell with
Power 7, Finesse 3,
Range self (i.e. 0), Area
of effect self but fully selective (i.e. 0 +2 = 2),
Concealment 0, Duration
1 day autonomous (i.e. 4 +1 = 5), Investment 0 = Difficulty 17 in total;
- create an invokable enchantment that Cormac can call upon when he is
attacked by magic, for example a manifesting Counterspell with
Power 7, Finesse 3,
Range self (i.e. 0), Area
of effect self (i.e. 0), Concealment 0,
Duration instantaneous (i.e. 0), lying dormant
for up to 1 day (rating 4) and manifesting up to 10 times during the day
(rating 8) giving average investment 6 rating = Difficulty 16 in total;
- create a protective ward that will automatically activate whenever
Cormac is in the area of effect of an attack spell, for example a
manifesting Counterspell with Power 7,
Finesse 3, Range
self (i.e. 0), Area of effect self (i.e. 0),
Concealment 0, Duration
instantaneous (i.e. 0), lying dormant for up to 1 day (rating 4) and
manifesting up to 10 times during the day (rating 8) giving average
investment 6 rating = Difficulty 16 in total.
The main differences between these three are that:
- the focused enchantment offers unlimited protection during the day,
whereas both the ward and invokable enchantment are limited to 10 uses
in this instance;
- with both the focused enchantment (because it is fully selective) and
the invokable enchantment, Cormac can decide whether to use the
enchantment, whereas the ward will go off automatically, whether Cormac
wants it or not;
- the invokable enchantment requires a combat action to invoke, whereas
the ward and focused enchantments do not;
- the ward and invokable enchantments are slightly easier to create
than the focused enchantment.