Re: My take on 3e helms

In <URL:news:local.spelljam> on Sat 16 Jul, Night_Druid wrote:
> Just tossing this out for the list to disect:
>
> Spelljamming Helm
[snip]

> Cost & means of making?

These are some suggested costs that I posted previously (end of
May 2005) about making helms based on the maker having "Craft
Wonderous Item".

Do you think this is appropriate (I have very limited knowledge
of 3e)?


Assuming we pinch as much from 2e as possible, I assume that you
would use the Create Minor Helm (arcane 6th, divine 5th) and the
Create Major Helm (arcane 7th) spells as the spells required to
make a Helm. Looking at these, I don't think Permanence would
also be required.

The item price is then the one given in "Concordance of Arcane
Space":

100k = Minor
250k = Major
 75k = Series
100k = Furnace

'Crown of the Stars' and Artifurnaces are assumed to be
artifacts, needing "Create Artifact", and the other sorts of Helm
are of less immediate interest.

Furnace Helms are obviously limited, as they cannot go into the
phlogiston, and Series Helms are most likely of interest to
psionics and others who cannot use the arcane or divine magic
energies they possess to power a Helm. Some DMs might have 'Minor
Psionic Helm' and 'Major Psionic Helm', which psionics use
instead of a Series Helm.


So assuming I understand the above, you need to create an arcane
magic Minor Helm someone with arcane magic capable of casting the
"Create Minor Helm" 6th level spell (11th Wizard?), the "Create
Wonderous Item" feat, 100 days work, 50,000gp of raw materials,
and 4,000xp to permanently invest in the Minor Helm.

It can be assumed that the cost of raw materials includes at
least a suitable normal chair or seat as required when casting
the "Create Minor Helm" arcane spell.

If the enchanter level is 11th then, if this is equivalent to the
caster level of the spell, this Minor Helm can power a 22-ton
ship. This would mean that the standard Minor Helm with its
capacity of 50 tons implies an enchanter of 25th level.
Alternatively, maybe 50 tons is the standard for an enchanted
rather than a spell-created Minor Helm.

Another approach would be to say that enchantment roughly doubles
the capacity, to a maximum of 50 tons, so a 13th or higher level
enchanter would produce a 'standard' Minor Helm. This is probably
not worth messing around with, though, so the standard of 50 tons
makes more sense.

Major Helm is then 13th enchanter, 250 days work, 125,000gp of
raw materials, and 10,000xp. 39 ton ship minimum (standard 100
tn is probably recommended instead). If you used the doubling
rule, above, 17th would be produce a 'standard' Major Helm.

--
Dreamer
dreamer@??????.?????.??.uk
http://www.romsys.demon.co.uk/