Spell Engine
| Main > Magic |
Spell-trigger items which casters can use as if they were their own sphere abilities. A caster's magic tradition must match the magical source of the spell engine, or else the caster must activate the wand through the Use Magic Device skill.
A spell engine contains a limited amount of casting ability, which can be activated by the one wielding the wand as a standard action, as if the magic were their own. A spell engine possesses a school feat, a caster level, and a small pool of spell points. The spell engine uses its own caster level and spell points to fuel its casting ability; under normal circumstances, a caster cannot spend their own spell points or use their own caster level when activating a spell engine. If a spell engine's effects call for a saving throw, the DC is equal to 10 + 1/2 the item’s caster level.
Once per day, a character with a spell point pool may spend one of their spell points to restore 1 spell point to the wand. A spell engine may only have one spell point per day restored in this fashion, regardless of how many casters attempt to do so.
The simplest spell engine a crafter may create contains a school feat, 1 spell point, and a caster level of 2. This wand has a base price of 1,000 gp. When a crafter increases a spell engine’s caster level (to a maximum of their own), for every 2 caster levels a spell engine gains, the crafter may place a feat belonging to the school into the spell engine, or may increase the spell engine’s maximum spell point pool by 1.
A crafter must possess each feat to be placed in the spell engine, or else must have access to that feat through another caster. If a feat has a prerequisite caster level or prerequisite feat, the spell engine must possess that caster level or feat. Likewise, if a crafter possesses a drawback for the spell engine’s school feat (or simply wants to create a focused wand), that spell engine also possess that drawback, and gains either a bonus feat or a spell point in exchange.
A spell engine may be used to meet the prerequisites for creating other magic items.
A spell engine’s pricing is determined by comparing it to the table below:
| Caster Level | # of additional feats/ spell points |
Price (gp) |
|---|---|---|
| 2 | 0 | 1,000 |
| 4 | 1 | 4,000 |
| 6 | 2 | 9,000 |
| 8 | 3 | 16,000 |
| 10 | 4 | 25,000 |