d20 Clockwork Golem Workshop The Magic Merchants Primer.pdf

Magic Merchants Primer

Using the Magic Merchants Series

Magic lies at the very heart of fantasy, yet too often in d20 fantasy the process

of acquiring magic items only serves to reduce the power of magic to spark the

imagination. In a world where wizards can craft staves and wands with ease and

fighters can calculate the cost of their next magic sword, the wonder of actually

owning a magic item is quickly lost. To make matters worse, d20 fantasy is balanced

on the assumption that characters will have access to magic equivalent to their level, so

merely ruling that magic cannot be created or traded for by the players simply replaces

a thematic concern with a mechanical one. Hence the core question remains: how does

the gamemaster keep magic important and interesting as the players reach higher

levels?

The Magical Merchants series is designed to help strike a balance between the

necessities of theme and mechanics, providing you with a series of detailed characters

and locations that the players must interact with in order to get that crucial +1 dagger

or potion of cure moderate wounds . Every release in the series is designed with the

belief that magic stores and the people who run them should have just as much

character and importance as the dragon the adventurers defeated in order to earn their

gold. Rather than a simple exchange of gold, shopping for magic items can become an

experience that reinforces the power and role of magic within the campaign world.

While the series can make the process of acquiring items interesting once

more, there is more than can be done to help generate interest in magic from even the

most jaded player. In this primer you will find suggestions for making the most out of

the Magic Merchants series, as well as alternate rules you can use to maintain the

mystery of magic while still allowing players to buy and sell at will. There are hints for

using magic to generate a sense of place and history, as well as rules for limiting the

kind of magic that can be created without denying players the opportunity of creating

their own staves and swords should they wish to. Whether you use the Magic

Merchants series or not, these rules can be used to liven up the magic items found in

your games.

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Magic Merchants Primer

Rule 1) Attach a Sense of Place to Magic Items:

While some items are universally useful and should be found

nearly anywhere, choose a few items from your treasure lists

and simply state that they are only crafted in a few select

locations in your world. In many ways, these items become a

signature for a place or culture within your campaign.

Countries, particular wizards, humanoid tribes and

cities are all canditates for signature items of some kind or

another, it’s simply a matter of selecting one or two and

making a note of it for future reference. Just as a katana can

make us think of Japan and the horned helmet makes us think

of vikings, signature items can become a short-hand for an

entire image if used carefully. While taking the time to give

each item a history can be time consuming, signature items and

magic items with strong cultural associations are often a quick

and easy way of giving the same effect.

A +1 spell-storing greatsword may seem mundane on its own,

but if the only people who create these swords are the tattooed

Warrior-Sorcerer’s of Ken’Lun it instantly becomes more

interesting to the players. Finding such a weapon among a

treasure hoard starts raising questions beyond Should we sell it

or give it to the party fighter? Instead it prompts the players to

question how such a blade came to be so far from home, or

why it was found in the hand of a goblin-chieftain’s

bodyguard. A wizard who wants to create such an item must

travel to Ken’Lun to study the secrets of forging the weapons

himself, or must acquire such a blade to study within the

privacy of his home (and it’s possible the warrior-sorcerers

guard the secrets of the blade’s creation very, very closely).

Even if only one item in five or ten has this sense of

connection, it’s enough to remind players of the world outside

the current treasure horde. Places and people continue to exist,

even if the player characters aren’t paying attention to it at this

very moment.

Rule 2) Attach a Sense of Place to Magic Stores:

The Magic Merchants series can generate the same effect on a

more localized level, particularly when coupled with the

signature items included with each installment. Just as rulers

and culture can define a feel of an area, magic stores and the

items they sell can have an impact on their surrounding area. A

store that focuses on magic weapons will produce a region with

inordinately skilled fighters, enhancing the martial reputation

of characters that emerge from the small town where it is

located. An apothecary focusing primarily on alchemical items

can set the tone for an impoverished village, where magic is

still a rare and suspicious thing.

Once you place the House of the Transformed Toad

into your campaign, it serves as an easy short-hand for

determining the kind of magic items that are likely to be

carried by local adventurers. A low-level fighter carrying a

liquid image probably hails from one of the towns close to

Telgen’s store, and the hordes of monstes in the local area are

probably littered with items purchased from the store (much to

Telgen’s distress, to be sure).

Finding a dusty vial containing a potion that is only

found in the players home town in the hands of a villain several

thousand leagues from the store where it was made could

provide a subtle clue about the bad guy’s origins. Or it could

raise important questions as to how or why such an item ended

up so far from its source. Is there a former apprentice of the

wizard in town, replicating his master’s items? If so the party

may be able to use their familiarity with original store to gain a

valuable contact in an unknown teritory. Has the villain spent

his life searching for an item of power? Then it’s possible that

the wizard has a useful scrap of lore hidden away in his

inventory, or that he can direct the players to another clue in

the small town where they started their adventures.

Magic Merchants Primer

closely associated with particular creators, and players may

even search out master craftsmen in order to learn the secrets

of creating a particularly important item.

Even if you choose not to use item formulas in your

campaign, it’s recommended that you keep the signature items

listed for each magical merchants installmet rare in order to get

the most out of the series. You may also choose to apply the

item formula rule to specific types of magic items, such as

special abilities for Arms and Armor, Staves and Rods, and

Wondrous Items. This keeps scrolls, wands, potions and +1

weapons freely available to characters, while making the

creation of permanent items a more unique ability.

Rule 3) Require Item Formulas to Craft Items: Just

because a spellcaster has an item creation feat, that doesn’t

mean she automatically knows how to create every item in the

DMG. Just as a wizard must learn the words and gestures

needed to cast a new spell, magic items require the knowledge

of specific rituals and formulas to bind magic to an item. Those

who wish to create an item and do not have the formula for it

must seek out its secrets, either by learning them from another

spellcaster or studying a completed sample of the item.

When using the item formulas rule, assume that any

character selecting an item creation feat knows the secret of

crafting 1 item + 1 additional item per point of Intelligence

bonus (minimum 1 item). Learning the secrets of creating a

new item requires either one week studying a completed

example of the item to be created and a succesful Spellcraft

check (DC 15 + item caster level) or learning the formula from

a caster that already knows it (Spellcraft DC 15).

Creating a new item without the benefit of notes or a

completed example requires a strong understanding of magical

theory. The initial planning of the item requires one week of

study per caster level of the completed item and a succesful

Knowledge (arcana) check (DC 20 + item caster level),

followed by a Spellcraft check (DC 15 + item level) to ensure

the magical theory can be put into practice. If either of these

checks are failed, the research process must be started again. A

successful check allows the character to uncover a method of

crafting the item he is researching, while those that fail the

check by 5 or more may create cursed or flawed items.

Using this option makes item crafting more difficult for

players, but also turns each item into something of an

achievement. Just as learning to cast a new spell becomes the

goal of every wizard as they gain levels, learning the craft of a

new item becomes a key moment in the career of any

spellcaster devoted to artifice. Items can quickly become

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Magic Merchants Primer

when it is no longer needed but retain a sense that the blade is

important to someone else.

No magic item comes out of a vacuum, and all were

created for a purpose. Even a simple potion can be seem

important when this is remembered. A simple potion of

neutralize poison can seem a mighty prize when the players

find out that it was the vial stolen from the page of King

Tallarn III, mere hours before the king was killed by poison in

his wine. The magic value of the potion may be negligible to

high level characters, but the historical value of the vial may be

ten times its original asking price. To the family of the knight

that originally lost the vial, disgraced and outcast due to the

failure of their ancestor, its symbolic value could be even

greater.

Rule 4) Give Items Meaningful Backgrounds:

Attaching names and history to an object may be time

consuming, but it’s among the most effecive ways of making a

magic item interesting. Ask yourself a quick question – would

you rather be known as the guy wielding a a +1 longsword or

the Blade of Vistahl, used by a legendary elven hero to slay a

thousand orcs? It’s a fairly easy choice for any young hero to

make.

There are two main problems with giving items this

kind of detail. The first is that it’s time consuming. D20 games

tend to involve a lot of magic items and even if you limit

yourself to only generating brief histories for the permanent

items, you can still spend hours writing up notes when the PC’s

hit high levels.

The second problem lies in the mechanics of the game –

if the Blade of Vistahl is treated as nothing more than a +1

longsword with an interesting name, its glamor quickly wears

off and the details only serve to make the experience of

wielding the blade even more hollow. When no one

acknowledges the blade is special, or they dismiss the blade

because it lacks power it quickly becomes another

ddisappointment to the player with visions of heroes from

fantasy literature dancing through his head.

The key to keeping these items interesting is to make

their backgrounds meaningful to the characters. As you dole

out details about the sword’s background, back those details up

with game mechanics or value in the campaign. If the Blade of

Vistahl grants the wielder a circumstance bonus when dealing

with elves of Vistahl’s tribe, the players get the chance to see

the background of the weapon having concrete effects and may

act accordingly. If the tribe is willing to pay a little more than

the blade is worth in order to regain possession, you can give

the players the opportunity to divest themselves of the weapon

When other people actively want the item a character is

carrying, the player starts to get a sense of its worth. If the

history of an item suggests that it is valuable, make that value

meaningful beyond the rules for the item. If it means letting the

characters have a little extra gold or a circumstance bonus

under certain conditions, let them have it and find a way to

balance the game elsewhere.

Magic Merchants Primer

Written by Peter Ball

Edited by Adam Windsor and Cherelle Slater

Proofreading by Lucy McLaughlin and Sean Cunningham

For details on upcoming Magic Merchants PDF’s, visit our

website at www.clockworkgolem.com .

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House of the Transformed Toad

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