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Pathfinder RPG (2nd Edition) Pathfinder RPG (1st Edition) Starfinder RPG

Rules Index | GM Screen
Pathfinder Unchained / Dynamic Magic Item Creation

Adjustments

Source Pathfinder Unchained pg. 181
The first challenge, preparing the vessel, sets some base statistics for the new magic item. Further challenges can cause adjustments to the magic item. The GM can create her own challenges, and should consider the DCs of the challenge’s tasks when deciding adjustments. Challenges with lower DCs should typically have benefits that merely avoid negative adjustments, while challenges with higher DCs should be more likely to add beneficial adjustments.

Cost: Challenges that adjust the cost increase or decrease the crafting cost by increments of 5% of the final market price. The cost can go over 100%, meaning the item would cost more to make than its market price. The final cost can never be lower than the initial 25% investment; the characters can’t get a refund of that expenditure.

Time: Challenges may add or subtract the number of remaining days of work required to create the item. When this happens, adjust the timing of challenges accordingly. The total number of days of work can never decrease below 1, nor can it decrease below the number of days the characters have already spent crafting the item. For example, if on day 3 of a 5-day process a successful challenge decreases the time by 1 day, the final challenge will happen on day 4 instead. But if the result says to decrease the time by 3 days, the PC is instead able to attempt the final challenge immediately.

Perks, Quirks, and Flaws: A challenge may add a beneficial perk, a somewhat neutral quirk, or a detrimental flaw to the item. These three types of adjustments give an item a distinct flavor that sets it apart from others of its kind. The GM should secretly roll for perks, quirks, and flaws as they occur, rerolling duplicate or contradictory results. Detect magic and identify typically don’t reveal an item’s perks, quirks, and flaws; analyze dweomer does, though only once the item is complete.

Destruction: A few challenges can, if critically failed, destroy the in-progress item, which costs the PCs their current investment. Such challenges come with enticing benefits for critically succeeding, making them potentially worth the risk.