Artificer's Handbook
From: Mystic Eye Games
Reviewed by: Butch Curry
The Artificer's Handbook is a new D&D; 3rd Edition
supplement from Mystic Eye Games. One thing that always bothered me about the D&D;
magic item creation system is the experience point cost to create powerful
items. I always assumed that making them was a major endeavor, requiring
considerable time and effort. Instead of learning from it though - i.e., gaining
experience - you end up losing knowledge and power. It would seem that
the folks at Mystic Eye Games agree with me, and hence the Artificer's
Handbook was born.
From the back cover:
"Did you ever think that it makes no sense for a spell caster to lose
experience points to make a holy avenger? The newest book in the Arcane
Mysteries series, The Artificer's Handbook, details a completely unique
alternate magic item creation system."
What is it?
The Handbook is a complete overhaul of the D&D; 3rd edition
magic item creation rules. It can be customized based on the magic level in your
campaign (low, medium, and high magic), includes new prestige classes and feats,
and presents many sample items created using its system.
How does it play?
The Artificer's Handbook opens with a discussion on magic in your
campaign, and a discussion on the books chief mechanic for item creation, spell
slots. Short chapters on new item creation feats, artificer prestige classes,
and spells for item creation follow before we get into the fine details of item
creation for the remainder of the book.
Before we even get to the main
event, there are some fascinating nuggets in the introduction alone; the section
entitled 'Scaling for Economics' is of particular interest. Positing that a gold
coin is roughly the size of an American nickel, and that 50 gold coins weigh one
pound, we find that in order to purchase a Staff of Power based on the DMG recommended
price of 200,000 gp, you'd need nearly 10 cubic feet of gold coins weighing in
at two tons. (Hopefully, you'll have found a portable hole by the
time you want to buy one of these!) In some campaigns, this amount might be
readily available, while in others that sum could be more than even a powerful
kingdom could scrape together.
This segues nicely into the first
chapter, which discusses the level of magic in your campaign. There are many
options provided for limiting magic item creation based on the campaign power
level. In high magic campaigns, the only limitation might be time and money. On
the other hand, in lower magic level games, you can constrain magic item
creation in a number of ways, such as by making the required components more
scarce or dangerous to obtain, or making more powerful items inherently unstable
(there's a chapter on magic item instability later in the book). For all the
possibilities, even the traditional experience point cost option, pros and cons
are laid out clearly, making it that much easier for you to customize this
portion of the creation process as you see fit.
The next chapter breaks
down the spell slot creation process step by step. It's certainly more complex
than the basic process presented in the core rules. On the flip side, you'll
have the guesswork taken out of creating custom items. At its core, the spell
slot system uses the number of spells a mage can cast daily to determine how
powerful an item the mage can create. Different items have different costs
attached to them based on their utility; for example, a potion (which can be
used by anyone who can drink it) has a +2 cost, compared to +1 for a scroll
(which can only be used by a spellcaster), and items with multiple charges - or
no charges at all - cost more than one-shot items. These are all broken down
into clear, discrete categories, and a worksheet is provided at the end of the
book to help you keep it all organized. You can create items as simple as a
potion all the way up to intelligent/sentient items and new artifacts; the
system scales to cover all these power levels very neatly.
Subsequent
chapters cover magic item instability (there are chapters covering new spells,
prestige classes, and feats, but we'll get back to those later).
Instability in a magic item can lead to a cursed item, or the item developing a
quirk. A list of almost one hundred quirks is provided, ranging from simply embarrassing
(developing warts whenever you use it) to the dangerous (all undead within 500'
target and attack you immediately). I like these a lot; they'll add an
interesting touch to items which would otherwise come off as too vanilla.
Backing
up to the earlier chapters: Feats, Prestige Classes, and Spells. The existing
magic item creation feats - Scribe Scroll, Craft Rods, Brew Potions, and the
like - are abandoned with this system, replaced with four simpler feats: Create
Single Use Item (such as potions and scrolls), and Create Simple, Moderate, or
Major items. Simple items cover spell-like effects up to 3rd level, Moderate
Items up to 5th, and Major items up to 9th. There are a number of optional feats
as well, covering things like adding magic effects to existing items, reducing
the instability of the items you create, and the like. You can easily ignore
these or add them in as you wish; they add flavor, but the real nuts and bolts
are covered with the basic four feats. If you choose to use these feats rather
than the core ones, you'll really be free to craft unusual items and let your
imagination run wild.
The prestige classes presented - Artificer and
Infuser - are very much geared towards the spell slot creation system, as you
might expect. What I think of as metagame prestige classes, i.e., this class
uses mechanics X, Y, and Z, so here are three prestige classes that are
particularly good at them. Classes like this are good for min/maxing a
character, or customizing it, but they don't really add much interest or flavor.
There are only a handful of spells presented, and one gets the feeling reading
over them that they're included not because they're of interest as spells on
their own, but because they'd be good choices to add into magic items; hardly
surprising considering the source.
You might think that the item creation
rules are overblown, but really they're quite compact considering their
flexibility. With all that's been covered so far, there's still more than half
the book left. A chapter on Variant Magic Item Rules contains a fine
implementation of sectional or piecemeal armor. I've never seen this presented
in 3rd edition before, so it's about time. A batch of new special abilities for
armor and weapons is included as well; most are quite sensible (Armor of Donning
can be put on or removed extremely quickly) while others are just... odd (who
ever heard of armor that gives the wearer an exceptional sense of smell?).
A
long chapter on spell components follows, and has most of the details you might
expect: what they look like, how difficult they are to find, and different uses
for them. The 'weird components' are a nice touch, and you can use them to
confound your players to good effect. ("If you want to make this suit of
magic armor, you'll need the skin of a ghost.")
The chapter on history
and flavor is a real boon to DM's who want to give their magic items some real
character. You can pick and choose among the many options, or roll randomly;
either way, in just a couple of minutes you can frame out a history for any item
- magic or otherwise! - in your game.
Collected in the appendices are
all the main charts and tables from the book. Additionally, there's a chart
showing many wondrous items from the DMG, written up in the spell slot
creation method. This is an invaluable resource, particularly if you had any
questions or concerns about the process while reading the book.
How does it read?
Though the subject matter of the Handbook can be dry at times, it's
written with more than sufficient skill to carry you through with little
difficulty. Given the number of charts, tables, and formulas included, the book
is surprisingly readable, so I give it high marks in this area.
How does it look?
The layout and design in the Handbook are nothing fancy, but they get the
job done without too much fuss. The art is almost entirely forgettable; only a
few pieces from Scott Purdy really stand out, though Patricio Soler's pencil
drawings do show promise. The rest is simply amateurish, at best, and the book
would not have been hurt in the least by simply omitting them altogether.
Is it worth it?
If your gaming group isn't really interested in creating magic items, you
probably won't find the Artificer's Handbook of much use. But if you have
even a casual interest, even if only as a DM to create some interesting new
items for your campaign, it's definitely worth a look. Check it out.
For more details on Mystic Eye Games and their new D&D; 3rd Edition
supplement "The Artificer's Handbook" check them out at their website
http://www.mysticeyegames.com, and at all of your local game stores.
(Product Summary)
The Artificer's Handbook
From: Mystic Eye Games
Type of Game: D&D; 3rd Edition supplement
Written by: Curtis Bennett, Manus Smith, Wade Nudson, Kenneth C. Shannon
III
Cover Art by: Rob Thomas
Interior Art by: Patricio Soler, Scott Purdy, Brannon Hall, Tamara
Pressman
Number of Pages: 120
Retail Price: $ 19.99 (US)
Item Number: MYG0203
ISBN: 1-932374-10-8
Email: info@mysticeyegames.com
Website: http://www.mysticeyegames.com
Reviewed by: Butch Curry
