About Amia: Mythal Crafting System ("The MCS")

Release date: July 26, 2006. | Updated: October 2, 2012.

The year is 1372 DR, and the heroes of Amia have chased the seemingly benign Red Wizards from its main towns. Clerics of Mystra have taken back the mythal crystals, from the Frostmaiden's lair, and have split them into smaller shards and harnessed their power with crystal forges. These crystals may be used, like a magnifying lens, to focus a fine strand of the Weave into a material item, such as a suit of armor or a ring, and thus there is crafting potential.

General Procedure

The crafting process is known as infusion, magical powers are either added or removed from an item using a crystal, and this must be done within the vicinity of a mythal crystal forge. Removing a power is free of charge, the utilized crystal is neither destroyed nor is any gold taken from the crafter. Malign powers cannot be removed. Adding a power requires a successful crafting roll, and the following skills are used dependent on the item you're infusing:

• Craft armor is used to craft shields, helmets, and armour.
• Craft weapon is used to craft ammo and weaponry.
• Spellcraft is used to craft other items.

Either succeeding or failing the crafting roll, gold is taken. It is assumed that the clerics of Mystra must tax all who use the services of the mythal crystal forge. Success destroys the crystal but infuses the desired magical power into your item, and failure yields naught.

• Armor, gloves, and small-medium weaponry may have a maximum of 4 benign (positive) powers. Large weaponry may have a maximum of 5 beign powers.
• Equippable items may have a maximum of 3 benign powers.
• Ammo may have a maximum of 2 benign powers.

The item to be crafted doesn't necessarily have to be equipped, but it must be in your possession. Furthermore, plot items cannot be crafted. These include your journal, emote wand and so forth.

Crafting Rolls

To infuse an item with a magical power, make sure you're near a mythal crystal forge and then target your item with the crystal's unique power. A menu will pop up and depending on the power of the crystal (minor, divine, etc's) you'll be given a choice of powers to infuse. The menu will tell you the cost is, in gold pieces (GP), and it'll tell you what the crafting difficulty (DC) is that you must roll against to successfully infuse.

• The DC is preset plus ( two multiplied by the current number of powers on the item).
• The GP cost is preset. You will receive a warning if you attempt to craft an item that requires your current hitdice to equip.

Limitations

The MCS does have a few limitations:

• It'll override similar types of magical powers. For example, infusing enhancement +2 on a weapon that already has enhancement +1 will overwrite the latter without warning. It's the player's responsibility to check his or her items.
• Crafting will be aborted if you attempt to add more than one saving throw bonus power onto an item.
• Normal Dungeons and Dragons rules concerning stacking still apply. For example, if you craft an armor bonus onto a cloak, which is of deflection armor class, and then you craft an armor bonus onto a ring, which is also of deflection armor class, then upon wearing both these items only the one with the highest bonus will be applied to your armor class (AC). This is because both items provide the same type of AC. If the items provide different types of AC then they'll stack and both will be applied to your AC. For example, if you wore a pair of boots and a ring which both boosted AC then they'd stack.

Powers

All powers are worth 1 power, regardless of their strength, except as noted below:

• All armor class bonuses: +1 to +4 are one power; 5+ are two powers.
• Damage resistances: 15/- is two powers; 20/- and higher are four powers.
• Enhancement 5+ is four powers.
• Abilities cost powers equal to their modifier (ie: Str +2 costs 2 powers).
• Malign powers don't count towards power limit on an item.
• Permanent freedom is two powers.
• Personalization doesn't count towards your power limit on an item.
• Regeneration is 1 + 1 power per modifier. For example, +1 Regeneration is worth two powers while +3 Regeneration is worth four powers.
• Specific saving throw bonuses: +1 to +3 are one power; 4+ are two powers.
• Universal saving throw bonuses: +2 is two powers; 3+ are four powers.
• Use limitations and temporary powers don't count towards your power limit on an item.
• Visual effects don't count towards your power limit on an item.

The table below outlines the crafting powers of each mythal crystal.