Charge Item (517)
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Charge Item is a spell from the Major Elemental spell circle. It allows a properly trained Wizard to place more charges into a magical item.
Mechanics
In order to charge a magical item you'll need an orb gem worth at least 1000 silver, a grot t'kel potion, and a magical item that can be charged. This includes some common items such as small statues (older statues may have to be used once first), heavy quartz orbs, blue crystals, ruby amulets, and nearly every wand. Note that white crystals and black crystals are not chargeable in their natural state. (The difference being that some of these items are generated at their capacity while others are not.)
The mana cost for charging a spell varies based on the type of spell and ranks in Elemental Mana Control. With twenty-four (24) ranks in EMC, charging a spell from within your sphere will cost the same as the spell. A Spiritual or Mental spell will cost three times as much as the spell, and a Sorcerer Base spell will cost twice as much. So, say for example, you are charging a blue crystal (Spirit Strike). This spell costs 17 mana to cast and is a spiritual spell. Thus, it would require 17*3 = 51 mana to increase the charge on the blue crystal by one. Ranks in Elemental Mana Control, however, will reduce this cost by 1 point per 5 ranks in Elemental Mana Control.
e.g. If you have 100 ranks in Elemental Mana Control, the cost to increase the charge on the blue crystal will be 17*3 - 100/5 = 31. To reduce the cost to charge the crystal to the base cost of 17, 170 ranks of Elemental Mana Control are needed.
In the case of a ruby amulet (Wall of Force), 40*3 = 120 mana is required to increase its charge by one. However, using the equation 40*3 - x/5 = 40, where x is the amount of ranks needed to reduce the mana cost, x turns out to be 400! This means you would need 400 ranks of Elemental Mana Control to reduce the cost to its minimum. However, since you can at maximum only have 200 ranks, the minimum cost is 80 mana. The absolute minimum cost for Wall of Force would be 70 mana if you had an additional 50 ranks of EMC from enhancives, putting you at 252 max ranks of EMC.
Note that the more charges you try to add into an item, the more difficult it will be to succeed, and the more severe the failures will be. The maximum number of charges any item can hold is forty (40). In addition, higher level spells and spells from outside your sphere are also more difficult to charge. Failures with the spell vary. The most extreme failure is complete destruction of the item, though a more common failure results in "greening" the item, preventing it from ever being charged. Other failures include loss of mana points or injury to the caster.
Process and Messaging
The stages of charges are outlined below.
Gem Preparation
To begin, you pour the grot t'kel potion on the orb gem, then cast 517 at the gem. After casting the spell, the gem will be replaced with a pulsating orb which appears on the ground. It can not be retrieved. If the potion evaporates, the gem is not an orb gem.
>pour my potion on my ruby
You pour your potion on the ruby.
You carefully work the liquid in until it is all absorbed.
You have 4 doses left.
>prep 517
You recite a series of mystical phrases while raising your hands, invoking Charge Item...
Your spell is ready.
>cast my ruby
You gesture at a star ruby.
The star ruby quickly expands into a blue pulsating orb!
Cast Roundtime 3 Seconds.
>look
[Wizard Guild, Workshop]
You notice a pulsating orb and a sleek wood owl.
Obvious exits: northeast, southeast
>take orb
You can't pick that up!
Orb Preparation
In order to prepare the pulsating orb for charging, the charger must cast 517 at the orb repeatedly until it begins "flickering in color and humming tones of enchantment." If the orb gem continues to grow in size, it is approaching preparedness. Note that these successive casts of 517 only cost 1 mana point, as opposed to the full 17 of the initial cast.
>prep 517
You recite a series of mystical phrases while raising your hands, invoking Charge Item...
Your spell is ready.
>cast orb
You gesture at a pulsating orb.
You gesture over the pulsating orb while muttering a few arcane phrases.
The orb resonates in response to each of your gestures and words.
It grows in size!
>prep 517
You recite a series of mystical phrases while raising your hands, invoking Charge Item...
Your spell is ready.
>cast orb
You gesture at a pulsating orb.
You gesture over the pulsating orb while muttering a few arcane phrases.
The orb resonates in response to each of your gestures and words.
It shines brightly for a moment, flickering in color and humming tones of enchantment!
The following message indicates that the pulsating orb was already sufficiently prepared for charging:
>prep 517
You recite a series of mystical phrases while raising your hands, invoking Charge Item...
Your spell is ready.
>cast orb
You gesture at a pulsating orb.
The orb is already prepared for enchanting.
Each cast of 517 has a chance of failure and may reduce the size of the pulsating orb. Additional casts of 517 will be required in order to prepare the pulsating orb for charging:
>prep 517
You recite a series of mystical phrases while raising your hands, invoking Charge Item...
Your spell is ready.
>cast orb
>You gesture at a pulsating orb.
You gesture over the pulsating orb while muttering a few arcane phrases.
You are unable to concentrate completely.
The pulsating orb shrinks somewhat.
Item Charging
Once the pulsating orb is sufficiently prepared for charging, the pulsating orb must be rubbed with the item to be charged in the character's right hand. When charges are successfully added to the item, mana will be drained from the character. The following messaging indicates that charges have been successfully added to the item:
>glance You glance down to see a blue crystal in your right hand and nothing in your left hand.
>rub orb
You gesture over the pulsating orb while holding a blue crystal near it.
A strand of pure essence leaps from the orb and onto the crystal!
The blue crystal glows with a bright hue as the fingers of essence caress it.
If the character does not have sufficient mana to place a charge into the item, the following message will be received (no mana will be drained from the charger in this case):
>rub orb
You gesture over the pulsating orb while holding a blue crystal near it.
A strand of pure essence leaps from the orb and onto the crystal!
You do not have enough mana.
Nothing else seems to happen.
Additional minor failures to charge are evident by the following messaging:
>rub orb
You gesture over the pulsating orb while holding a blue crystal near it.
A strand of pure essence leaps from the orb and onto the crystal!
You are unable to properly channel the flows.
Major failures can also occur. This causes the caster to lose all of their mana and the item will permanently be marked as unsellable, lose all charges, and become unrechargable. This is commonly referred to as "greening" an item. Messaging is as follows:
>rub orb
You gesture over the pulsating orb while holding a blue crystal near it.
A strand of pure essence leaps from the orb and onto the crystal!
It flares a sickening green and then goes dim.
When the character can no longer place charges into a magical item, they receive the following message:
>rub orb
You gesture over the pulsating orb while holding a blue crystal near it.
A strand of pure essence leaps from the orb and onto the crystal!
You are unable to add any more charges.
Nothing else seems to happen.
The message that follows indicates that the pulsating orb is not sufficiently prepared for charging:
>rub orb
The orb isn't properly prepared for recharging.
Orb Maintenance
During the charging process, the pulsating orb will reduce in size and require further preparation for charging. The character must monitor the ambient messaging of the pulsating orb in order to properly maintain it for use (the shrinkage messaging is ambient, rather than triggered by any direct character action). When this occurs, the character should return to the orb preparation stage of charging, casting 517 at the pulsating orb until it is once again ready for charging. The same failure messaging, success messaging, and mana point cost applies. A shrinking orb is evident by the following messaging:
The pulsating orb shrinks somewhat.
Eventually, the pulsating orb will expire with the following messaging. The orb gems (and therefor pulsating orbs) are consumable and the eventual expiration of pulsating orbs is natural. Note that the pulsating orb will also expire with the same messaging if it was never sufficiently prepared for charging.
The pulsating orb suddenly implodes into nothing but some lingering smoke!
Training
There are three skills that directly aid your casting of Charge Item (517). These are, in order of importance: Ranks in the Major Elemental spell circle, Magic Item Use, and Elemental Mana Control. Other factors that do not directly influence the success of the spell, but may be useful otherwise include the value of the gem, Harness Power, Spiritual Mana Control, Sign of Wracking, Symbol of Mana, Sigil of Power and having a friend or two help you out.
- Major Elemental Ranks and Magic Item Use
- These two factors directly affect the success of casting the spell, as well as the severity of a failure.
- Of the three primary skills, EMC plays the smallest role in success. However, EMC determines the mana cost for charging a spell. For example, with 200 ranks of EMC can charge spiritual spells as though they were within your sphere. At minimum, you should have twenty-four ranks so that you can charge spells from within your sphere for the same amount of mana as the spell normally costs.
- Value of the Orb Gem
- Though not a determinant in your success, more valuable gems will last longer as orbs, allowing you the chance to place more charges in an item if you so choose. The value and/or quality may also limit the amount of charges that can be added to a single item.
- By increasing the amount of mana you can hold, training in HP will allow you to place more charges into an item before the orb fades.
- Though not a direct influence in the casting of Charge Item (517), SMC will allow you to receive mana from classes that employ Spiritual Mana, such as Clerics and Empaths.
- These societal abilities provide you with more mana.
- Workshop
- Being in a workshop increases chance of success.
- Friends
- Aside from sending you mana for the casting of Charge Item (517), friends are also good for conversation and lending you money. They also make excellent scape goats, if the situation calls for it.
Related Articles
External Links
| Wizard Profession - edit |
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| Spell Circles: Wizard Base Spells | Major Elemental Spells | Minor Elemental Spells |
| Professional Highlights: Bolt spells | Call Familiar | Enchanting | Charge Item |
| Popular Archetypes: Pure Mage | War Mage | Enchanter |