Downtimes: Magical Creation

If there are potions, scrolls and spells in the world, Wizards are going to want to make them. Magical item creation rules are often a grueling mess of gold and XP costs, often not showing up until mid-high level. The downtime system gives us a simple framework to put these options in the game from the start.

These rules focus on magical consumables (durable items are covered by the Splendid Item concept, covered under Personal Development.) To avoid PCs stockpiling limitless amounts of scrolls and potions, I’ve tied creation to adventuring: Scrolls require gems of particular colours, while potions require monster parts. Cleric potions are limited mainly by the time taken in meditation and prayer to create them – which might prove to be a boring way to provide a bottleneck, we’ll have to see how it works in play.

The creation of new spells has another issue – new spells alter the rules of the game, so they can easily render areas of play trivial and boring. In my campaign, even being aware of the issue and putting restrictions on spells, new magic quickly rendered questions of resupply, travel, and communication moot.

This isn’t always a bad thing – sometimes you want everyone to be able to get together and get on with the story without a lot of long sea-voyages – but because of the impact spells can have I wanted a system where they are shaped gradually, over several DTs, with both DM and players able to consider and tweak their effects before they’re unleashed on the world. Having each spell in progress provide a cantrip immediately also provides a little bit of immediate gratification and expression of the character.

I’ve also gone with a Gygaxian conception of spells as straightforward formulae for accomplishing magical results, rather than Laurence’s vision of them as virulent potencies imprisoned on the page. I think it’s an interesting idea, and a good explanation as to why wizard’s towers should be at least half a mile from populated settlements, but in my conception D&D wizards have always been less the kind of guys who traffick with forbidden powers from beyond time and space (the domain of my clerics, perhaps) and more the kind of nerds who will use their mastery of the fundamental laws of creation to create a hovering disc they can carry money on.

Action: Brew Potions

Wizards and Clerics can brew potions.

A wizard potion requires four things: A base, an effective ingredient, a formula, and an alchemical laboratory.

The base must be a magical material, such as glowing crystals, broken magical items, or a component from an enchanted, summoned or constructed creature.

The effective ingredient must be recovered from an appropriate monster – the wing of a giant bat for a Fly potion, for example. In general, 1 item of reagents may be harvested from a willing creature without harming it (hair, saliva, a small quantity of blood etc.) A dead creature yields 1 item per HD.

The formula for a potion can be uncovered via the regular research rules. A one-tick clock will reveal the effective ingredient required for a given potion, or a potion that can be produced from a given ingredient. See Information Gathering.

A laboratory is a Holding which the Wizard must either own or be permitted access to. Only one wizard may use the laboratory at a time.

To make the potion, the wizard must mix equal amounts of base and effective reagents together and spend a certain amount of coin to replenish the lab’s supplies for each ingredient used. The costs are determined by the quality of his laboratory (see table below.)

The downtime result is modified by his INT and the DT Roll Bonus of his laboratory.

Additionally, the wizard can hire a number of alchemists (75cn each) not exceeding the number allowed by his laboratory. The number of potions produced are multiplied by the number of alchemists, and any ingredients lost are divided by the number of alchemists.

Laboratory / Wellhouse Shrine Table

Tier Cost/Ingredient DT Roll Bonus Max. Alchemists/Acolytes Cleric Font Capacity
1 100 -1 - -
2 100 0 1 1
3 75 0 1 5
4 75 1 2 12
5 50 1 3 18
6 50 2 3 32
7 25 2 4 48

For clerics, the first step to making potions is to bless holy water. This requires a holding of a holy font or wellhouse shrine of at least 2nd tier. The cleric may spend a downtime to fill the font to capacity. Water can be taken from the font in containers costing 5cn; if it is removed in any other manner it loses its holiness within 2 turns.

To create potions Clerics must first complete a Spiritual Journey. This provides 3 items worth of sanctified materials appropriate to their faith (1 on –, 5 on +). The sanctified materials must be combined with an equal quantity of holy water. From here the process is identical to that for Wizards, but the Shrine serves the function of a Laboratory and Acolytes (50cn each) may be hired instead of Alchemists.

Action: Scribe Scrolls

Wizards and Clerics may scribe scrolls. Cost of a scroll is 20 cn per level per tier (tier increases at 5 and 9.) See table below.

The cost must be paid in gemstone dust appropriate to the school of the spell to be scribed.

Level Cost Per Level Total Cost
1 20 20
3 20 60
5 60 300
7 60 420
9 80 720
11 80 880

The downtime roll is modified by INT for Wizards or WIS for Clerics:

Action: Research New Spell

A wizard may attempt to research a new spell.

The wizard must have access to a library, and write a description of the spell’s effect. Research costs 100gp per spell level per DT.

The first week of research grants the wizard a cantrip version of the spell, in addition to his usual cantrips. This cantrip is replaced when the wizard begins research on another spell, but is always available to the wizard to select as one of his regular cantrips.

If the DM decides the spell is reasonable as described for a 1st level spell, with one more DT the wizard completes his work and receives a formula which can be inscribed into a spellbook or onto a scroll.

Otherwise, the wizard receives clues as to what needs to be changed, and has the option to try again. He may raise the level by raising the gold expenditure correspondingly.

The roll is modified by INT and a modifier from the wizard’s library and the spell’s level:

Library Tier Spell Level Research Modifier
1 11 -3
2 9 -2
3 7 -1
4 5 0
5 3 +1
6 1 +2
7 Cantrip +3

So a wizard of 17 INT (+1) with a tier 5 library (+2) researching a 7th level spell (-1) would add +2 to their d12 downtime roll.