Parthos Wiki: Magical Items

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Magical Items

Though magic items are not commonplace in the world of Parthos, an adventurer will encounter many of them over the course of his career. This section provides a broad overview of these extraordinary, cursèd, and sometimes merely odd items.

Using a Magical Item

In general, any character is able to use any magical item. There are exceptions -- scrolls, for example, require the use of Read Magic, and other items might require the user to be of a certain alignment, faith, or class, to name a few examples. But, on the whole, one need not have any particular talent or station in life to use a magical item. Any idiot can activate a staff -- so please do not give your staff to just any idiot.

It is usually a good idea to have an item identified before attempting to use it. Any magical item can be identified by a spell such as Object Read (Mysticism Level 3) or Read Object (Enchantment Level 4). Certain kinds of items can be identified by other means; for example, scrolls can be identified by Read Magic, and magical potions by Herbalism or Alchemy, as appropriate. Once you have identified an item, the GM will provide you with a description of its effects, limitations, and usage instructions.

However, if you're really in a hurry, most items can be used without first being identified. Sometimes this will require a roll called an activation roll; other items need only be worn, wielded, or otherwise used as they normally would to take advantage of their enchantments. Whether an item requires an activation roll depends on what kind of item it is; see "Types of Magical Items" below for more details.

Curses!

A sad fact of adventuring life is that some items are cursed. Artificers curse items for many reasons: to exact revenge upon potential looters; to dissuade potential looters; to summon an ancient evil back into existence; spite; or simply to destroy the resale value of the item in question. Whatever the reason, a wise adventurer is always careful to avoid cursed items.

In general, you must use an item in order to trigger any curses placed upon it. Most identification spells also trigger curses -- another good reason to have your items identified (by someone else). If you do have the misfortune of being cursed, there are a few ways to get your curse removed. The most popular of these is typically Absolution (Divine Level 17).

Types of Magical Items

Magical items generally fall into one of the following categories. Some may fit into two or more; for example, a sword might grant +5 CA as a constant effect and glow in the dark for ten minutes on activation. In such cases, the item's classification will depend on which effect is being used at the time.

One-Use Magical Items

One-use items are the most common type of magical item; they require relatively little power, talent, and resources to create. True to its name, a one-use item is expended after one use. Potions, magical scrolls, and explosives are among the most popular one-use items.

In general, one-use items require an activation roll. On any result of 95 or below, the activation succeeds, and the item works as intended. On a roll of 96-99, the item fails to activate properly, and the magic is wasted. A result of 100 is a critical failure. The precise nature of the failure depends on the item's intended effect. It is determined as follows:

If the item's effect is to cause damage, that damage is dealt to the user instead of the target. The user is allowed any saves that the target would have received.
If the item's effect is otherwise strictly quantitative, its effects are inverted. For example, a potion granting +25 Strength will instead inflict -25 Strength.
If the effect closely resembles a spell, the GM should apply that spell's 100 effect.
If none of the above apply, the effect of the critical failure is left to the GM's discretion.

Charged Magical Items

Charged items work in the same way as one-use items -- they just are expended once all of their charges have been used, rather than after the first use. Charged items require an activation roll, with critical failures determined as above.

Chargeless Non-Constant Items

Many items require activation but do not have a finite number of charges; they can be used indefinitely without fear of expenditure. This category includes rechargeable items. The activation roll for these items works much like the activation roll for expendable items. On a result of 95 or less, the item works as intended, and on a result of 96-99 the item simply fails to activate. (In the case of rechargeable items, a failure still expends a charge.) Similarly, a result of 100 is still a critical failure. When a critical failure occurs, the user must roll a second d100. The precise nature of the critical failure is then determined by the following chart:

1-30: Minor malfunction. The item is unusable for one month.
31-70: Damage. The item is broken and cannot be used until repaired by an Enchanter in a day-long ritual. Repair of the item requires material costs equal to one-half its original value as well as an Enchanter with a level of at least (Item's Value)/25. (e.g., a 200ss item would require a level 8 Enchanter and 100ss to repair; a 500ss item would require a level 20 Enchanter and 250ss to repair.)
71-100: Disenchantment. The item is permanently disenchanted.

Constantly Activated Items

These items are the easiest to use, since they are always active. The item must merely be worn or utilized properly in order to benefit from its magic (such as wearing a ring of intuition or wielding a sword of sharpness in battle). Barring extremely unusual circumstances, these items don't malfunction.

Magical Weapons

If the magical item is a weapon that the character cannot use due to BC restrictions, he can only utilize the weapon's magical abilities if they do not require the weapon to be used in combat.