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LetumLux
Acolyte
17 Posts |
 Posted - 19 Aug 2008 : 09:00:48
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Hi again!
My question this time is on the symbolism and significance on materials and components.
I'm curious as to significance of materials when crafting items; be they mundane or magical. Magic of Faerūn had a handy list of gems and their relevence to crafting wands, the attributes they provide; same with some wood and metal materials for armor but I'd like to go beyond that.
Are there materials sacred to dieties? Are there particular components said to be tied to certain magic, or planes, or concepts? Are there monsters/fantastic monsters that make "natural choices" to be incorporated? (e.g., the owl is silent and alert so it would be auspicious to make an owl feather charm to impart the same qualities. Turquoise is considered by some to be a "sky stone" thus would be a natural choice for an air/sky oriented item. An eye of a basilisk would be picked a component for a stone-based enchantment, et al.)
Thanks in advance!
Mod Edit: Found this scroll floating in the ether.
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Edited by - The Sage on 19 Aug 2008 14:20:30
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Wooly Rupert
Master of Mischief
USA
36912 Posts |
Posted - 19 Aug 2008 : 15:43:48
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I'm going to direct you to some 2E products...
For materials sacred to deities, check out the "Other Manifestations" section of each deity's description in the three deity books: Faiths & Avatars, Powers & Pantheons, and Demihuman Deities. Those books contain a wealth of lore, and I recommend them to any fan of the Realms.
In the 2E Monstrous Compendiums, there was a section in each monster description that mentioned magical uses (if any) for various body parts of the monster.
Lastly, check out Volo's Guide to All Things Magical (formerly a suppressed work  ). You can get it for free from the Wizards downloads page. There's a section in there on magical uses for various woods, metals, and gemstones, and an excellent description on how to create magical items -- my favorite one of all the ones presented in 2E.
Most of these products aren't too difficult to find on sites like eBay or Nobleknight, or you can go to the Paizo site and download the pdfs for $4 a pop. |
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ShadezofDis
Senior Scribe
402 Posts |
Posted - 19 Aug 2008 : 17:55:27
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I actually have a PC who is a bit of a magic component harvester. He's got high levels of knowledge arcana and profession taxidermy. What I tend to do is have him roll knowledge arcana to identify the best parts to harvest and profession taxidermy for how well he harvests the part. I then read the description of the monster or humanoid or whatever (typically I do this beforehand but sometimes I forget) and decide what type of enchantments would be most suited to the parts of the creatures.
For example, I let the PCs create a quill to use in inscribing illusion and shadow spells of up to 3rd level from a cloaker tail spike. (yes, I even make them use special components when making scrolls) The PC had rolled average and was relatively low level at that point so I went with that, with a high roll I might have let it be useful in inscribing runes and creating wonderous items with similar enchantments.
Well, that probably gives you an idea of how I do it anyhow, Wooly has linked some of the very best sources from printed material, so that should keep you busy for a while as well.
Good luck. |
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LetumLux
Acolyte
17 Posts |
Posted - 19 Aug 2008 : 23:42:30
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| Thank you muchly for the answers, and the proper placement of the topic! |
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Jamallo Kreen
Master of Realmslore
USA
1537 Posts |
Posted - 27 Aug 2008 : 06:52:54
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DEFINITELY have a look at Mongoose's Encylopaedia Arcane volume on components. It only deals with PHB 0 and 1st level spells, but it provides the actual guiding principles behind the original selection of material components (such as why a copper piece is used in telepathy spells). It also has two new Knowledge skills (or subdivisions of Knowledge (Arcana), if you prefer) which permit a character to understand those principles, making spell research more focused, or permitting calculated substitutions of components to obtain different or enhanced effects.
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Crafting and Item Component Significance
