At character creation, enhanced and imbued items are among the starting merits you can get. However, if you want such items after character creation, you'll have to acquire the items through other means. This means either creating them yourself, requiring an extended spellcasting roll and the permanent sacrifice of a willpower point (which you can buy back with 8 xp), or roleplaying the acquisition. Perhaps your character knows an artificer and haggles with them, perhaps attaining the item in exchange of currency or a favor.
Remember, given the sacrifice of willpower to permanently alter or imbue an item with a power, such mages aren't willing to let an item go so cheaply. Your character could have also heard rumors of the existence of a “magical item”, and actively seek it out, spending an adventure (or several) trying to acquire this item. Or it could be built into a story itself, characters finding the item while exploring an ancient and mysterious dungeon, or looting it off the body of a powerful enemy they just defeated.
Either way, it would be nice to get a clearer explanation of how to create such items (without having to page back and forth through the book). Not only to help a character figure out how to create such an item, but to give storytellers and players an idea of the relative difficulty in creating the item so as to properly “value” the item.
Let us look at enhanced items first. These are items whose properties are enhanced by the matter arcanum. This includes increases in its structure, durability, size, or equipment bonuses, or giving it special properties such as 9 again or armor piercing. Let's actually ignore structure, as there's no spell that solely increases structure without increasing durability and/or size since the factors are intrinsically tied. This is because the structure of an item is equal to its size plus its durability. So, if the structure of an item is increased, you're accomplishing this through an increase of its durability or size or both.
Enhancing an item requires an extended spellcasting roll by a mage possessing one dot higher than the appropriate spell one is using to enhance the item. This is because you need one or more dots than the spell you are casting in order to apply the advanced duration factors, which contain the required “indefinite” duration factor. Indefinite duration requires an additional 5 successes on the spell casting roll. Since the enhancement spells (which I will go into soon) increase either durability, size, or equipment by one per success, the total number of successes one needs on the extended spell casting roll is equal to 5+the bonus you want the item to receive. Remember, if you enhance an aspect of an item beyond twice its normal value, it begins to invoke disbelief!
Let's look at the spells used in the enhancement process:
Alter Integrity (matter 3)- Increases Durability
Alter Efficiency (matter 4)- Increase Equipment Bonus
Alter Size (matter 5)- Increases Size
Let's say I want a katana with enhanced durability so as to better withstand the rigors of combat. A katana has a damage code of 3(L), a size of 2, a durability of 4, and a structure of size+durability, which in this case is 2+4 or 6. To enhance a katana's durability to 6 (and give it a structure of 8, accordingly), a mage must have a minimum of 4 dots in matter. Then he must undertake an extended spellcasting roll and cast “alter integrity” on the katana and get 7 successes, 2 to increase the durability by 2, and another 5 to make the duration indefinite. If the spell also had a mana requirement, the mage would spend a point of mana as well. (Alter Integrity doesn't) Finally, he must sacrifice a point of willpower to relinquish control of the spell.
If I wanted a Katana that did more damage, say 5(L) instead of 3(L), a mage with matter 5 is required. The mage would do the same as above, only casting Alter Efficiency rather than Alter Integrity. Additionally, Alter Intergrity requires a point of Mana, so I'd need to spend a point of mana to finish casting the spell.
A katana twice as long as a normal Katana requires someone with matter 6, but the same rules as above apply.
Items can have multiple enhancements, and the enhancements don't even have to be performed at the same time. The target number on the extended spell casting roll for each enhancement you put on the item is the same (5+increase in durability/equipment bonus/size), regardless of how many other enhancements are already on it.
Now that we've looked at enhanced items, lets now take a look at imbued items. Imbued items are items that either have a persistant spell effect (meaning its always on) or have a contingent spell effect (meaning activation of the power is contingent upon some certain condition- perhaps the utterance of a command word or the clicking of a switch).
Examples of persistent spell effect items:
-a magical amulet, when worn, that protects the user from harm via an invisible force field. (accomplished by imbuing an item with the forces 2 spell unseen shield)
-a protective talisman that warns the wearer of assailants trying to creep up on him (accomplished by imbuing an item with the life 1 spell, sense life)
-a magical silencer that gives no chance for observers to hear a shot from the gun its attached to, as opposed to observers within 50 yards getting to hear it if they get 4 successes on a wits+composure roll. (accomplished by imbuing an item with the forces 3 spell, sound mastery)
Examples of contingent spell effect items:
-a wand that strikes targets with a bolt of lightning arcing from its tip when the user utters the word “lightning bolt” (accomplished by imbuing an item with the forces 4 spell, thunderbolt)
-a ring of invisibility, that upon rubbing the jewel set into it and uttering a command word, renders the user invisible for a scene (accomplshed by imbuing an item with the forces 3 spell, personal invisibility).
So, how do we determine if a spell effect is/should be persistent or contingent? For the most part, only “prolonged” spells can be persisted. Additionally, such spells can only effect the wielder. The shielding spell of any arcana can be persisted, but something like “control electricity” that dimishes or alters the direction of flow for a line of power within sensory range of the person using the spell cannot. This is because the “prolonged” duration refers to the amount of time the current is diminished/altered, not how long the spell user can alter/diminish such flows.
There are exceptions though. For example, imbuing a silencer with “sound mastery” to totally deaden the sound of the shots from the gun. Or creating a fridge/oven that requires no power by imbuing a container with control heat set for a specific temperature. For the most part, rely on your common sense when trying to figure out if a spell can be persisted. In the two aforementioned examples, the imbued objects are performing simple tasks- deadening a loud sound in close proximity to it, or keeping something within its confines at a certain temperature. If the spell interacts with the environment in more complex ways, chances are it can't be peristed.
And remember, you don't have to make a spell that can be persisted persistent. You can always choose to make it contingent and have the power active only when you invoke it. However, with spells whose effects are dependent on the number of successes, you may want it to be persistent if you always want the spell to have a particular potency. For example, let's say you want a belt that increases your strength by a certain number of dots, or a circlet that increases your charisma by a certain number of points. When imbuing the item (supreme homing for strength, supreme augmentation for charisma), in addition to the duration factor, you may want to get a specific potency, say 4 to raise the user's strength or charisma 4 points. Some storytellers may find such items grossly unbalancing, so let's give an example of something less powerful. Take the aforementioned protective talisman that warns the wearer of living creatures trying to sneak up on him. the number of successes determine the radius of the “safety zone”. No living creature can come within a certain number of yards of the wearer without them knowing. (Unless the person uses certain magicks to avoid detection) So during item creation, you may want to get a certain number of successes to set this radius, say 4 to create a “safety zone radius” of 8 yards.
This is a good segue into contingent spell effect items. Think of it as an item that allows you to cast a particular improvised spell, even if its a spell you may not be able to cast yourself. So, it works like any other improvised spell, using your own gnosis, and the level of the relevant arcanum the mage who imbued the item had at the time of its casting.. (i.e., if a mage with forces 4 imbued an item with the ability to cast thunderbolt, and he eventually raises it to 5, the spell roll when the item is activated is the user's gnosis+4, not +5.)
Remember, unlike artifacts, anyone can use magical items, even sleepers. In those cases, the spell roll is equal to the item wielder's power (blood potency for vamps, nothing for sleepers, etc) + the item imbuer's level in the relevant arcanum at the time of the imbuement. As such, magical items won't work as well for sleepers as they will other supernatural folk. And if the spell effect is vulgar, it can still invoke paradox or disbelief, even if the sleeper himself is the one who invoked the spell in the first place.
This brings up another caveat of imbued items. Even though contingent spell rolls for imbued items use the gnosis of the wielder, the paradox roll for the spell if its vulgar, is based off the person who imbued the item. So if a mage with gnosis 1 cast a thunderbolt out of a wand imbued by a mage with gnosis 6, the paradox roll is based off the imbuer's gnosis of 6, not the wielder's gnosis of 1.
If the contingent spell effect an item performs requires mana, the item must be “imbued” with the ability to hold mana. Such items can hold 10 mana points plus one mana for every spell the item is able to cast. The forces 3 spell “personal invisibility” requires a point of mana per use, so a ring of invisibility would require the wielder to spend a point of mana from the item's repository each time they used it to turn invisible. Once you use up all the mana points an item, you can no longer use the spell or spells it can cast until you refill it. This can be done by diverting your own mana into it, or using prime spells to take mana from another source and place it into the item. Another important thing to note is that upon creation, the item contains no mana unless the creator put some mana into it during creation.
Okay, now that we have a general idea on the difference between contingent and persistent powers and how they work, let's take a look at the imbued item creation process.
Creating an imbued item is a little more complex than creating an enhanced item. For one, not only does the imbuer need to be able to cast the prime 3 spell “imbue item”, he must be able to cast the spell he wants to imbue as well as have one dot higher in the arcanum the spell belongs to in order for the character to make it of indefinite duration. And remember, even if it is a contingent spell effect, we still need to give it an indefinite duration to keep the spell “permanized” on the item. Its not the duration of the spell effect once its invoked that's indefinite, its the duration of its existence “in” the item.
However, the process is very similar to enhanced item creation in that it requires an extended spellcasting roll equal to the potency of the spell plus 5 additional successes per spell imbued for the indefinite duration, and another 3 if the item is to have a mana pool. The imbuer must also pay any and all mana requirements for the spells involved. The casting of imbue item requires a point of mana per spell imbued itself, so mana cost is at least 1, plus any mana cost the spells to be imbued normally require. And if the item has a mana pool, while that gives it the capacity to hold mana, it will not contain any mana unless the imbuer puts mana into it. Again, this is in addition to the normal mana requirements of the spell. And finally, the imbuer must spend a permanent willpower point for each spell imbued to relinquish control of the spells.
When creating an imbued item with persistent spell effects, you don't really have to worry about giving the item a mana pool. If the spell requires mana, the point is spent during creation. For persistent spells, the potency of the spell is probably more important. Let's look at the previous example of the amulet that keeps the wearer under the constant protection of the forces 2 spell, unseen shield. Like all shielding spells, the number of armor points one gets(or in the case if mental shield, the number of dice subtracted from the rolls of people trying to mentally control, detect, or influence you) is fixed at the level the imbuer had in the relevant arcana. But, the potency affects how hard it will be for other mages to dispel your shield, and in the case of unseen shield, determines the number of bonus dice you get in avoid knockdown. So when making the extended spell casting roll, you may want to raise the spell potency.
So, creating such a protective amulet, the imbuer would need to possess at least forces 3 in order to give unseen shield an indefinite duration. That means that amulet will provide 3 points of armor, more if the imbuer possesses more dots in forces. However, when making the extended spellcasting roll, the imbuer, in addition to the 5 successes required for the indefinite duration, can choose to raise the target number an additional four successes to give the spell a potency four, not only giving the amulet's wearer four extra dice to avoid knockdown, but giving enemies a -4 to their attempts to dispel the shield.
When creating an imbued item with contingent spell effects, it doesn't matter how many successes you get beyond the 5 needed for indefintite duration and the 3 required to give the item a mana pool, if the contingent power uses mana. This is because the successes on the spell are determined when the spell is activated, by the wielders gnosis (or power) + the level possessed by the imbuer in the relevant arcanum when the spell was imbued. So, a single contigent spell effect would only require 6 to 9 successes on the extended casting roll.
So, if one were to create a ring of invisibility, the target number for the imbue item spell roll would be equal to 1 for the spell's potency plus 5 for infinite duration, plus another 3 for the item to have a mana pool, or 9. After achieving 9 successes on the extended casting roll, the imbuer would spend two points of mana- the point of mana required to imbue the spell, and the one normally required of personal invisibility. Then a permanent point of willpower is spent to relinquish control. The imbuer also determines the sort of trigger he wants to activate the spell. Let's stick with “rubbing the jewel set into it and speaking a command word”. The item starts out with the capacity to hold 11 mana points, but unless the imbuer put an additional number of mana points into it beyond those required of the spell, the item is “empty” and cannot be used until it contains mana.
A mage can either put his own mana points into the item, or use prime spells to draw the mana from another source and into it. Once the item contains mana, the contingent spell can be activated with the trigger, with each spell draining one mana point from the item. If the item ever becomes “empty”, one just needs to fill it up again with mana.
Please note, if the contingent spell has no mana requirement, then spell can be activated again at no cost. Going back to our “wand of thunderbolts”, the wielder can continue casting thunderbolts to his hearts content since it has no mana requirement. That is, until he starts invoking paradox and disbelief.
When imbuing an item with multiple effects, the target number on the extended casting roll is equal to the total target numbers required of each spell. Let's say I wanted a gauntlet that not only let me telekinetically control items (as per the Forces 3 spell, telekinesis), but also lets me shoot blasts of telekinetic energy at my foes. Someone who wanted to create such an item would need to be able to cast both the Prime 3 spell “imbue item” plus the Forces 3 spells “Telekinesis” and “Telekinetic Strike” (actually, he'd have to possess at least 4 dots in the forces arcanum to cast them with an indefinite duration) Then they would make an extended spell casting roll, the target number equal to the sum of the target numbers required of each spell. Both are just 1 for potency + 5 for duration, so the imbuer is facing a target number of 12. Luckily, neither spell requires mana normally. So, the imbuer just spends two mana to imbue each spell, and two permanent willpower points to relinquish control of them.
I said neither spell requires mana. However, if the imbuer possessed forces 5, he would be able to spend a point of mana to do aggravated damage with telekinetic strike. So, the imbuer can choose to add another three successes to his target number to give the item a mana pool with which a wielder could draw on to do telekinetic strikes that did aggravated damage.
If I wanted to create a gauntlet that instead allowed a user to cast either “telekinesis” or “unseen hand”. Here the target number on the extended spell casting roll would be 6 (for telekinesis) +6 (for unseen hand) +3(for mana pool since unseen hand requires mana) or 15. The mana cost would be three this time, two for the two imbued spells, plus the mana required of unseen hand. If I wanted all three powers, the item would have a target number of 21, a mana cost of 4, and require the permanent expenditure of 3 points of willpower. It would also have the capacity to hold up to 13 mana.
Finally, an item can be both enhanced and imbued. There's no special formula to it, just add all the costs up.