4.8.0 Building Magical Workings
In the jargon of wizards, a Working is any stationary, persistent magi cal effect or structure, such a magical ever-flowering spring, an array of heatless eternal lamps, or a persistent curse that blights all within its reach. Unlike a conventional magical item, a Working cannot be moved from its set location, and unlike a spell it will normally persist until damage or thaumic decay finally disperses it.
Workings come in five commonly-recognized tiers: trivial, minor, major, great, and supreme. Trivial Workings might be some minor magic like an enchanted light source, while a supreme effort might transform a whole city into a flying metropolis. While lesser Workings are still possible for skilled and erudite mages, supreme Workings are too mighty to be accomplished by anyone short of a legendary archmage.
A Working requires a skilled mage, a great deal of resources, and a considerable amount of time. Details can vary based on the arcane suitability of the landscape or especially powerful, useful components, but even a trivial Working is no minor labor.
4.8.1 Designing the Working
To create the Working, the architect must first be a spellcaster of at least 6th level, whether a full Mage or a Partial Mage. Mage classes that do not cast spells cannot normally create Workings, as their magic is insufficiently flexible. Less-accomplished spellcasters also lack the practical experience necessary to mold the powers.
The architect then decides what exactly the Working should do. The player involved discusses any custom ideas with the GM, judging the magnitude of each effect desired for the Working. A single Working may involve multiple effects, but they should be closely aligned; enchantments that provide a magical spring, hot water, enchanted lamps, and a pleasant climate might all be established as part of the same housekeeping Working, but placing a ward against devils and a magical garden at the same time might not be so plausible.
The GM then decides the total difficulty of the Working by adding up the difficulty point cost of each element of it. The adjacent table gives common ranges for each degree of difficulty, and the GM should pick a number that sounds right; the pettiest of petty Trivial magics might be 1 point, while something that could maybe even be Minor in strength would be 4 points. The total cost of the Working is whatever element costs most plus half the rest, rounded up. Thus, if some 10-point major effect also had a 3-point trivial effect and 8-point minor effect bundled with it, the whole would have a difficulty of 16 points.
This difficulty is then multiplied by the area the Working will affect. If the magic spring merely pours a small stream of water into the kitchen cellar, the area might only be that of a Room; if the stream was meant to provide a moat around a wizard’s keep, it would affect a Building, or perhaps even a Village-sized area. If the spring was to irrigate miles of surrounding countryside, it would affect a whole Region, and would probably be a great Working to boot, if not supreme. The difficulty total is multiplied by the given multiplier of the biggest area affected, so if the 16-point example above affected the whole wizard’s tower, its final difficulty would be 64 points.
The architect must then demonstrate that they can actually design such a Working. A given designer multiplies their character level by their Magic skill level times two. Thus, a 6th level High Mage with Magic-3 skill would have a total of 36. If this total is equal or greater than the Working’s difficulty, they can establish it alone. If it’s at least half the difficulty, they can build it if they can find other mages to help them and make up the missing points. If it’s less than half the difficulty, the whole enterprise is too difficult for them to envision.
4.8.2 Building the Working
If the Working is designed properly and enough help is had, it can be constructed at a cost of 1,000 silver pieces per point of difficulty and a time cost of one month, plus one week per five points of difficulty or fraction thereof. If the cost is doubled, the work can be done in half this time. Note that this construction only applies to the magical components of the Working; if the mage means to enchant a wall, the wall must already be built. A mage can generally adventure and do other things while completing a Working, but if they are taken away from the site for too long, the work may halt in their absence.
While Workings are generally very durable, intentional sabotage of critical points or the slow decay of ages can end up corrupting or destroying them, sometimes with catastrophic results. It is for this reason that many of the Workings found in ancient dungeons or forgotten ruins are dangerous or perverse, and many nations that could at least theoretically afford the construction of Workings avoid making use of them.
Magical Working Costs
| Degree | Difficulty Points | Area Affected | Difficulty Multiplier |
|---|---|---|---|
| Trivial | 1-4 | Room | x1 |
| Minor | 4-8 | Building | x4 |
| Major | 8-16 | Village | x16 |
| Great | 16-32 | City | x64 |
| Supreme | 33-64* | Region | x256 |
* Only demi-divine wizards can make these.