Magic Item Creation

Creating a Magic Item is no simple feat, requiring weeks of intense research and questing for the rare ingredients and processes to make them. While difficult, generally speaking it is possible for Characters to craft a magical item through the course of an adventure.

Creating a Magic Item begins by researching out a formula for the magic item you wish to create. This process can take [1d6 + Item Rank] in weeks to finish and requires a Philosophy Skill Rank equal to the Item Rank (Eldritch Arts for Arcane Items, Religious Arts for Divine Items, etc). Each formula is unique to a single creation of the item (i.e. even when for the same item) and requires 1-3 Karma to create. You may only pursue the creation of a single magic item a time. If you abandon work on a particular item, the formula (or your work towards the formula) is erased from your mind and you must start fresh with the new one. Once the formula is created, your GM will either determine the necessary ingredients and processes himself or have you roll on the Magic Item Formula tables below. The Rank of your Magic Item will determine the rarity of ingredients and processes that you need (see Magic Item components below).

Once the formula has been created, you can seek out and gather the rare ingredients and processes required to create the item. Certain ingredients or processes may have time limits on their usability, which makes them even more difficult to acquire. For example an item that must be forged under a full moon or within the flames of a still erupting volcano imposes obvious limitations as to when the item may be forged. Alternatively, a fresh cut black lotus blossom might need to be used within minutes of cutting it from the stem. When the ingredients and processes are combined, a Masterwork quality item may be given magical properties. The creator must then seal the magic with their own energy, permanently losing 1 Stamina and 1 Resolve to the item (which cannot be regained in any way, even if the item is destroyed).

Formulas can take many different forms, depending on the philosophy guiding the creation. Eldritch Casters usually write down the formula on a scroll or similar device. A Divine Caster's formula can be more ethereal, guided by following deific signs and prophecies. Once a Formula has been used to create a magic item, any physical evidence of the formula is destroyed and its knowledge ripped from the memories of the creator (consumed by the magic of creation).

Magic Item Components

Magic Items have two types of components to their creation: Ingredients and Processes. Ingredients are items that must be collected and are consumed by the creation of the item, such as Star Stone or Elemental Essence. Processes are locations or methods necessary for the creation of the item, such as a forge with Dragon's Breath or quenched in the River Styx. Ingredients have a rarity ranging from Very Common to Extremely Rare. Processes have a difficulty of use and availability ranging from Minor to Major. The Rank of the item determines the number and rarity of Ingredients and the number and difficulty of processes required to create it. When a formula is created, determination of these processes are typically rolled randomly, but may be replaced or modified at the GM's discretion.

Item Rank	Ingredients	Processes
Rank 1	1d4 Rare & 1d6 Uncommon or less	1d4 Minor
Rank 2	1d4+2 Rare & 1d6 Uncommon or less	1d4+2 Minor
Rank 3	1 Very Rare, 1d4+1 Rare, & 1d6 Uncommon or less	1 Moderate & 1d4+1 Minor
Rank 4	1d4 Very Rare, 1d4+1 Rare, & 1d6 Uncommon or less	1d2 Moderate & 1d4+1 Minor
Rank 5	1d4+1 Very Rare, 1d4+2 Rare, & 1d6 Uncommon or less	1d4 Moderate & 1d4+2 Minor
Rank 6	1 Extremely Rare, 1d4+1 Very Rare, & 2d6 Rare or less	1d4+1 Moderate & 1d4+2 Minor
Rank 7	1d2 Extremely Rare, 1d4+2 Very Rare & 2d6 Rare or less	1 Major & 1d4+1 Moderate
Rank 8	1d4 Extremely rare, 1d4+2 Very Rare, & 2d6 Rare or less	1d2 Major & 1d4+2 Moderate
Rank 9	1d4+1 Extremely Rare, 1d4+2 Very Rare, & 2d6 Rare or less	1d4 Major & 1d4+2 Moderate
Rank 10	1d4+2 Extremely Rare, 1d4+2 Very Rare, & 2d6 Rare or less	1d4+2 Major & 1d4+2 Moderate

Note that certain campaign environments may be incompatible with some ingredients or processes (i.e. in a world without night "a crystallized moonbeam" may not be an appropriate ingredient), in which case these components should be replaced if rolled.

Ingredients

Below is a random table of ingredients, sorted by rarity. This list is by no means exhaustive and should be changed, adjusted, and added to as you see fit.

1d100	Common & Uncommon	Rare	Very Rare	Extremely Rare
1-3	Troll Skin	Stardust	Medusa's Eyes	Essence of Gravity
3-6	Depleted Wand	Minotaur's Sweat Gland	Unicorn Horn	Liquified Sin
6-9	Shaved Truffles	Treant Sap	Crystallized Moonbeam	Tarasque Shell
10-12	A Mummy's rotten bandage	Angel Blood	Demon's Remorse	Hair from a Deity's Head
13-15	Lily Pollen	Ghostlight Mushrooms	Hydra Head	Planar Shard
16-18	Rock Salt	Black Sand	A Banshee's Wail	Scale from a Prismatic Dragon
19-21	Bee's Stinger	Fairy Wings	Freshly Cut Black Lotus Blossom	Eyesocket Gem of a Demilich
22-24	Butterfly's Cocoon	Essence of Night	Leprechaun's Belt Buckle	Essence of a Primal Water Elemental
25-27	Pus	Hag Hair	Tooth of an extinct species	Balor Horn
28-30	Blood Soaked Earth	Dying Man's Last Breath	A Golden Egg from an enchanted bird	Essence of a Primal Air Elemental
31-33	Troll Skin	Stardust	Medusa's Eyes	Essence of Gravity
34-36	Giant Spider Venom	Powdered Unicorn Horn	Basilisk Venom	Inert Lich's Phylactry
37-39	Tuft of Nymph Hair	Drop of Shadow Essence	Tentacles of a Displacer Beast	Stolen Dreams of a Disciple of Cthu
40-42	Bushel of Dryad leaves	Drop of Magic Essence	The entire soft underbelly skin of a Behir	Tarnian Tears
43-45	5 lbs of Pixie Dust	Drop of Fear Essence	Heart of a white dragon	Blue Diamond purified by a Black Dragon's Stomach Bile
46-48	Monitor lizard hide woven with metal scales manufactured with halfling	A Walnut taken from the fae realm	Gorgon’s Testicles	Displacer Beast Hide A Paladin's Lost Faith
49-51	Hide of a winter wolf	1 lb powdered Minotaur Hoof	Phoenix Feather	Essence of a Primal Earth Elemental
52-54	Bodyfat of a Tyrant	Skull of a Windigo	A Vrock Feather	Solstian's Brain
55-57	Skull of a Winter Wolf	Metal straps must be made entirely of Mithral	Vampire Fang	Fallen Angel's Feather
58-60	Giant Spider Web	Elemental Fruit Rind	A Child's Laughter	Rainbow in a Jar
61-63	1 lb Gold Dust	Elemental's Core	Golem's Skin/Hide/Carapace	A god's day dreams
64-66	Gnoll's Mane	Two Right eyes from the same Ettin	Bottled Wind Gust	Leprechaun's Gold
67-69	Zombie's Animated Hand	An Owlbear's Feather	Icicle from the Elemental Plane of Water	Hag's Cauldron
70-72	A Skeleton Key	Vial of Necrotoxin	Shattered Dreams of a Noble	A Nightmare's Flaming Mane
73-75	Dire Bear Claw	1 lb of Mithral	Flames from a Hellhound	Bottled Nightmares of an Angel
76-78	A Drop of Virgin's Blood	Hippogriff's Beak	1 lb of Adamantine	A Balor's Scourge
79-81	Chunk of stone taken from a sieged castle	Tools of a True Master Craftsman	Hydra's Severed Head	Ore from a fallen Star
82-84	A Father's Tears	Harpy's Talon	A Piece of Sunsteel	The tears of a god of rage
85-87	Broken weapon of a warrior slain in honorable combat	Blood Smuggled by a Boabhan Sith	Lycanthrope's Jaw	A seed from the World Tree
88-90	Skull of an Animated Skeleton	A Grick's Mouth Tentacle	Manticore Spike	A scrap of cloth from the cloak of Death
91-93	Ankheg Pincer	High Priest's vestments	Blade of Grass from a Druid's Grove	Hide of the Hecatoncheires
94-96	A Bard's Instrument	Wizard's Hat	Medusa's Head Snake	Vial of Prophet's Visions
97-100	Ogre's Femur	Giant's Burlap Sack	Cyclops Eye	Lock of a Titan's Hair

Processes

Below is a random table of processes, sorted by difficulty. This list is by no means exhaustive and should be changed, adjusted, and added to as you see fit.

1d100	Minor	Moderate	Major
1-3	Etched with runes	Boiled in a wizard's skull	Forged with the head of a lava flow
4-6	Embroidered with golden thread	Heated with red dragon's breath	Smoked over the branches of the world tree
6-9	Bathed in ghoul's poison	Painted with Cockatrice blood	Quenched in the River Styx
10-12	Transported through a magical portal	Steeped in medusa's venom	Transcribe passages upon the item from the mad writings of a Demilich
13-15	Soaked in humanoid blood for 24 hours	Soaked in the blood of a Magical creature for 36 hours	Blessed by a Deity
16-18	Plated with Copper	Boiled in the bodyfat of a Tyrant	Worn or Wielded in battle by a Cyclops
19-21	Stitched with silver thread	Worked on the anvil of a dwarf craftsman	Used to slay a Planetar
22-24	Boiled in the body fat of a Commoner for 8 hours	Gazed at by a basilisk for 1 Phase	Used to slay a Balor
25-27	Bathed in a Winter Wind for 1 Hour	Soaked in the blood of an ally while they were in great danger	Bathed in the Breath Weapon of a Gargantuan or Larger Dragon
28-30	Rolled in the snow and packed with granules of ice	Metal for the object to be crafted must be shaved off of an Iron Golem	Inscribed with arcane and divine runes while within a deadly hurricane for 1 hour.
31-33	Bathed in ghoul's poison	Left in the presence of a sleeping dragon for 1 day	Blessed by a Drow Matron Mother
34-36	Transported through a magical portal	Previously animated by an Eldritch caster without the caster's knowledge of the crafter's intention	Struck with the hammer of a God of Smithing
37-39	Singed over the open fire of a traveler	Bathed in the Holy (or Unholy) Water within a temple opposite the crafter's alignment for 1 Week	Woven with the thread from a Lich's tunic
40-42	Touched by the hands of a Commoner, Nobleman and Tradesman	Blessed by a Cleric opposite the crafter's alignment	Enchanted with a beneficial ritual by a willing Lich
43-45	Etched with permanent eldritch runes of power	Wielded or worn in combat by a coward who achieved unaided victory in the face of fear	Bathed in the glow of a fallen star for 8 hours
46-48	Chewed in the mouth of a wild animal	Struck a Huge (or larger) dragon's flesh	Transcribe passages upon the item from the mad writings of a Demilich
49-51	Bathed in the light of the sun for 6 consecutive hours	Breathed on by all three heads of a Chimera	Worn or held while fighting an army single handedly for at least 10 rounds
52-54	Placed on a table in the middle of a Halfling Festival for the event's entirety	Gifted to a King, and returned willingly	Held while in Prayer to the god of the creation at the highest mountain peak in the world, uninterrupted without food, water or rest for 6 months
55-57	Blessed by a cleric	Crafted on the grounds of a Genius Loci for 24 hours	Worn or Held when slaying the one you love most
58-60	Emblazoned with a Wizard's Mark	Woven into the web of a Bebilith	Blessed by a Hag's Coven
61-63	Written on with Divine Scripture	Stitched with enchanted golden thread	Implanted with the bones of the greatest living warrior in the world
64-66	Singed with magical flame	Enchanted by an evil wizard twice in one week	Smelted by the heat of the sun
67-69	Chilled with magical cold	Swirled within the depths of a Black Pudding for 1 Hour	Lathered in Holy (or Unholy) oils in impenetrable Darkness for 1 year.
70-72	Deteriorated by magical acid	Thrust into the lava of an active volcano about to erupt	Buried in a Purple Worm Hive, then reacquired 3d6 months later
73-75	Charged with magical lightning	Creation completed on Hallowed Ground	Used to hold the spirit of a vengeful spectre
76-78	Placed in the presence of beautiful music for 1 hour	Completed on unhallowed Ground	Left unattended among the clouds for 1 year
79-81	Sewn together during a rainy day	Infused with the essence of the elemental plane of Air	Enchanted by the angry dead
81-84	Bundled in magically treated wool	Infused with the essence of the elemental plane of Fire	The last hour of item creation spent in the presence of a god that hates you.
85-87	Carved with a rune of wisdom by an owl's talon	Infused with the essence of the elemental plane of Earth	Forged within the Fire God's Forge
88-90	Carved with a rune of strength by a bear's claw	Infused with the essence of the elemental plane of Water	Tempered in the waters of 1,000 swirling water elementals
91-93	Left in the care of a wizard's apprentice for one day	Bathed in all the hues of a Rainbow for 1 hour	Crafted within the burnt ruins of a Dryad's Forest
94-96	Soaked in elven wine for 24 hours	Bathed in a Hellhound's Fire	Ride across 3 continents on the Chariot of the Fire God with the object bathing in its trail
97-100	Sat at the bottom of a lake for 1d4 days	Bathed in the blood of a Vampire Lord while it is still "alive"	Stoked in the flames of a gateway to the elemental plane of fire in the middle of a Hailstorm at the center of the frozen north