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Crafting Ephemeral Items

Magic Items

Artificing Guidelines Creating Permanent Magic Items Creating Ephemeral Magic Items Artificing Skill List
Scrolls  Scroll Comprehension  Potions
Wands Use Wand
The following guidelines apply to the creation of Magic Items and are intended for use by players of Characters that have the appropriate Skills to create Magic Items. GM's are of course free to just write up the Magic Items they want to use without going through the process of making Skill Rolls to determine success.
Crafting an Ephemeral Magic Item is identical to the rules laid out for Permanent Magic Items except that instead of having Independent, Ephemeral Items have Nonrecoverable Charges instead, and never cost Character Points to create. They are treated as a commodity like any other physical object.
Most Ephemeral Magic Items take the form of a Scroll, Potion, or Wand, but endless variations exist. Most Ephemeral Magic Items merely hold a given "Spell", or Power Construct, primed for use and usable a certain number of times from one to many.
COMPLEX EPHEMERAL MAGIC ITEMS
APPLICABLE SKILLS: KS: Artificing, KS: Investiture, KS: Runecrafting, KS: Brewing & Concocting
Some Magic Items are indistinguishable from a Permanent Magic Item to the naked eye but only hold a finite amount of power like Rings of Wishes or Swords of Nine Life Stealing and similar Magic Items that have a limited number of uses.
These are built as if they were Permanent Magic Items using the rules given, but instead of Independent they have Non Recoverable Charges. These Items do not cost Character Points to create.
SPELL BASED EPHEMERAL MAGIC ITEMS
Ephemeral Magic Items that hold a "Spell" Effect essentially take the Spell's write up, remove any casting Limitations (such as Concentration, Extra Time, Incantations, Gestures, and Material Components) affecting the activation of the Spell, and apply Nonrecoverable Charges and usage Limitations appropriate to the medium of the Ephemeral Magic Item (Scrolls must be read, Potions must be drunk, Salves must be applied, etc). Any Limitations particular to the base Power of the Spell are retained.
The primary advantage to do this is that it can have significant benefits for combat Magic. For instance Scrolls, though they take prior effort, effectively can allow the "fast-casting" of some Spells with stringent casting requirements such as lengthy time, demanding requirements for concentration, and bizarre material components.
The two most common forms of Spell-Based Ephemeral Magic Items are Scrolls and Wands.
SCROLLS
APPLICABLE SKILLS: KS: Scroll Scribing.
Scrolls are a particularly common form of Ephemeral Magic Item, used by Magic Users of many styles for several purposes. In addition to their usefulness as combat-castable firepower, Scrolls can also be used to transfer Spells from one Magic User to another.
Rather than using a Scroll to bring a Spell-effect into being, a Magic User with the appropriate Magic Skill may attempt to learn the Spell contained on the Scroll to his Known Spell List instead (following the normal rules for learning new Spells applicable to that Character's Magic System). This usage, whether successful or not, uses 1 Charge of the Scroll and if the Scroll only has 1 Charge it is destroyed by this process.
SCROLL SHORTHAND LIMITATION
Mechanically, Scrolls can be quickly built by applying a straightforward "short-hand" Limitation which works for the majority of Scrolls to a given base effect as follows. The Required Skill Roll portion of the Limitation ensures that only Characters that have the appropriate Skill Roll (or Spellcraft) can use the Scroll.
SCROLL: -5 1/2
The breakdown of that shorthand Limitation is as follows:
SCROLL: RSR: Specific Magic School (-1/20 Active Points, -1/4), Requires Light to Use (-1/4), 1 Nonrecoverable Charge (-3), Obvious Accessible Focus (Fragile; -1 1/4), Extra Time: Full Phase (-1/2), Incantations (-1/4); Total Limitation: -5 1/2
SCROLL COMPREHENSION
Scrolls are normally only usable by a Magic User that has the Magic School Skill appropriate to the Spell(s) on the Scroll, or Spellcraft. However, there is a way to circumvent the need to have the appropriate School Skill to use any particular type of Scroll; a Custom Talent called Scroll Comprehension.
Scroll Comprehension (Custom Talent):
This Talent allows the use of any Scroll bearing any Spell effect which the Character lacks the appropriate Magic Skill to use normally. A failed roll may indicate destruction of the Scroll without other effect, or a more catastrophic outcome depending upon the margin of failure and the GM's whim. This Talent is upgradeable to Spellcraft for +10 points.
Scroll Comprehension: 5 Points for a base 11- roll, +1 to roll for 2 points
Upgrade to Spellcraft: +10 points to upgrade to Spellcraft
NOTE: If a Character has both Use Wand and Scroll Comprehension, it only costs +5 points to merge both and upgrade them to Spellcraft.
POTIONS
APPLICABLE SKILLS: KS: Alchemy, KS: Brewing & Concocting
Similarly to Scrolls, Potions are a popular form of Ephemeral Magic Items, particularly among adventurers. Potions and their like, such as elixirs, salves, creams, etc. are very similar to Scrolls in effect, but usable by the masses at large and therefore more useful to those not initiated in the Magical Arts.
However, unlike Scrolls which on occasion hold vastly powerful Spell effects, Potions usually are fairly weak, filling more of a "utility niche"
ALCHEMISTS
Normally a Magic User must know a Spell (or equivalent effect) in order to brew a Potion based on the Power Construct in that Spell, but some Characters are Alchemists and know Recipes instead of Spells, enabling them to brew certain Potions and the like without actually being able to cast a corresponding Spell.
Alchemists must pay for a 1 point Familiarity for each Recipe they know. They do not have any Spellcasting capability, or a Magic System to speak of; all they can do is create Potions (inks, dusts, creams, salves, unguents, elixirs, and so on) based upon the Recipes they know.
At the GM's discretion they could also know recipes for simple explosives, smoke bombs, agents and reagents, glues, poisons, and other such classic Hermetic Alchemy concepts.
A Base Package Deal is provided for Master Alchemists, but check with your GM to determine if such types of Characters are permitted in the game setting, and if so to establish guidelines for how powerful they feel Alchemical effects should be within the context of the campaign (for instance some GM's might want to place an Active Point on the abilities created using Alchemy; in such cases 60 Active Points is recommended).
POTION SHORTHAND LIMITATION
Potions can be quickly built by applying a straightforward "short-hand" Limitation which works for the majority of Potions (and by extension, inks, dusts, creams, salves, unguents, elixirs, and so on).
POTION: -5
The breakdown of that shorthand Limitation is as follows:
POTION: 1 Nonrecoverable Charge (-3), Obvious Accessible Focus (Fragile; -1 1/4), Extra Time: Full Phase (-1/2), Restrainable (Must be Imbibed or Applied, -1/4); Total Limitation: -5
WANDS
APPLICABLE SKILLS: KS: Wandcrafting, KS: Brewing & Concocting
The chosen weapon of many Magic Users, Wands are typically used for offensive Magic, giving a Magic User vastly expanded combat effectiveness, able to whip out attack Spells with abandon. Wands typically hold mid level offensive Spells, with fewer holding lesser offensive Spells, and a very few holding utility Spells. Magic Users tend to hoard good Wands and pull them out when the stakes are high and the chips are down.
Wands invariably just hold equivalents to Spell Effects known by the person that created them.
WAND SHORTHAND LIMITATION
Wands can be quickly built by applying a straightforward "short-hand" Limitation which works for the majority of Wands. The Required Skill Roll aspect insures that only Characters with the appropriate Magic School Skill to the Spell effect in the Wand can use it.
WAND: -3
The breakdown of that shorthand Limitation is as follows:
WAND: RSR: Specific Magic School (No Penalty, -0), 50 Nonrecoverable Charges (-1 1/2), Obvious Accessible Focus (Fragile; -1 1/4), Gestures (Make Arcane Gestures With Wand; -1/4); Total Limitation: -3
USE WAND
Wands are normally only usable by a Magic User that has the Magic School Skill appropriate to the Spell effects in the Wand, or Spellcraft. However, there is a way to circumvent the need to have the appropriate School Skill to use any particular type of Wand; a Custom Talent called Use Wand.
Use Wand (Custom Talent):
This Talent allows the use of any Wand bearing any Spell effect which the Character lacks the appropriate Magic Skill to use normally. A failed roll may indicate destruction of the Wand without other effect, or a more catastrophic outcome depending upon the margin of failure and the GM's whim. This Talent is upgradeable to Spellcraft for +10 points.
Use Wand: 5 Points for a base 11- roll, +1 to roll for 2 points 
Upgrade to Spellcraft: +10 points to upgrade to Spellcraft
NOTE: If a Character has both Use Wand and Scroll Comprehension, it only costs +5 points to merge both and upgrade them to Spellcraft.
CHARGE STONES
This form of Magic Item is explained in depth in the Piedragemas Magic System document.
Altering Magic Items
Ephemeral Items cannot be altered whatsoever (unless the GM determines otherwise).