Metatronic Enchanting

Metatronic Enchanting

After I had a long discussion about Sorcery and enchanted items in general, I decided to try to adapt my Metatronic Alchemy to generic enchanting. The goal here is to adapt the enchanting mechanics and find a simple formula that would dictate how long the enchantment takes. This all will be based around Metatronic Generators from Pyramid #3-46.

                Each enchanted item must be created as an advantage or a combination of advantages. Do not emulate the function of a non-enchanted item – you already have paid for it with money. Keep in mind that such enhancements as Follow-Up require you to adjust its value based on the parameters of the underlying attack. In this case, you have to try to emulate the base item with advantages just to determine the value of Follow-Up.

                Dollar cost depends on the item’s size and power requirements. Consult the Power Table (Pyramid #3-46, page 19) for details. I would recommend using the weight to determine the class size if you are not sure about the item’s size. This is the retail price; the production cost usually will be twice lower.

Invention rules on p. B473 imply that materials should cost around 20% of the production cost.

                How long does the enchantment process take? Let us assume that a TL 3 enchanter has a wage of $3,500. This will allow him to lead a Wealthy lifestyle. Knowing the wage, the labor cost, and the number of workdays in a typical month (22), we can calculate how many items of a particular CP cost the enchanter must enchant to earn the wage. Using this number, we can deduce how much time enchantment process should take. This gives us a linear progression – (22*Labor Cost/Wage), rounding up.

                Time to enchant (TL 3/$3,500) ≈ 0.0025 * Item’s dollar cost

Not every person should be able to enchant items, obviously. I suggest using the following perk.

Artificer-Enchanter

You can enchant items with supernatural abilities, as described in this post. You can only enchant items with abilities that you can use, or if the ability being enchanted is similar enough to the ones you have, if the GM allows it. You must specialize by power source. This will also determine the skill you use for enchanting. For example, a mage might use Thaumatology, Ritual Magic, or Symbol Drawing; a priest might use Religious Ritual to enchant relics; a psi would use Meditation, etc.

Enchanting required constant attention of the enchanter – at least 8 hours per day. At the end of the enchantment time, the enchanter makes a roll against the technique he is using. A success enchants the item with no flaws. A failure by -5 or less still enchants the item, but imposes a flaw (limitation or removed enhancement that decreases the item’s CP cost by -10% per point of margin of failure). A failure by -6 or worse fails to enchant the item. A critical failure can produce catastrophic results. A critical success adds some minor effect that increases the item’s CP cost by 10%.

Just like with alchemy, enchanting complex items should impose a penalty, as every enchanted item is a technique that defaults off the enchanting skill. A penalty of -1 per 10 points of item’s point cost sounds reasonable. Techniques must be specific – a flaming sword and a flaming axe are different items. A formulary is recommended!

As a typical method of gadget control, I would suggest forcing the enchanter to pay 1/5 of the item’s CP cost in character points (round down). The Artificer-Enchanter perk allows him to use the rules for Devotional Enchantment (p. T54) to gain CP for the purpose of enchanting.

                For Invention rules, let us consider this progression for Complexity:

Item’s Point Cost	Complexity
0-20	Simple
21-50	Average
51-70	Complex
71+	Amazing