Enchanting Magic Items · Core Rules

Philosophy

A magic item in Cerberus is a spell made material. Enchanting means binding a spell into an object, wrapping it in gold so its magic cannot escape (see Alchemy in 12). Any known spell can become an enchantment. The chosen spell gives the item its nature; the player and GM design its exact behavior together.

Enchanting rests on a deliberately simple foundation. Magic makes weapons more destructive and armor more resilient, but it adds no bonus to Reflex rolls, whether attacking or defending. Anything beyond that foundation—a lightning blade, armor that teleports its wearer, or a bow that releases its spell on an attack—is a custom item.

The Fundamental Bonus

An enchantment's level produces the following value while its magic remains active:

Enchantment Level	Fundamental Bonus
1–2	+4
3–4	+8
5–6	+16
7–8	+32
9	+64
10	+128

A weapon adds this value to its damage. The bonus is part of the attack's damage and follows the normal rules for critical hits.
Armor adds this value to its magical DR.
A shield does not automatically gain DR or Reflex. Its magic level determines what it can block, and any special power is designed with the GM.
Any other item gains no fundamental bonus; its value comes from the spell it holds.

A weapon or suit of armor receives this bonus only once, even when its enchantment combines several spells or properties.

An Enchanted Item's Numbers

Every enchanted item carries two numbers, sometimes three. Recording them describes the item.

1. Item Level (0 for nonmagical, up to 10) is normally the level of the most powerful spell bound within it. For a wholly custom enchantment, the GM sets this level according to the actual effect. It determines:

a weapon's fundamental damage bonus, what it can parry, and what can parry it;
the magical DR added to armor's physical DR;
what a shield can block, up to two levels higher;
the power of any item's enchanted effect.

2. Item caster level is the enchanter's CL when the ritual was performed. It differs from Item Level: it measures the density of magic fixed in the material and therefore the difficulty of dispelling or disenchanting it. Every enchanted item has one, and it must always be recorded.

3. Effect DC applies only when the item's power requires a target to succeed on a Fortitude Check, Will Check, or another roll. Record the DC alongside the required roll.

The item sheet also states everything needed to use it without improvisation: action or tick count, range, targets, duration, trigger, number of uses, and recovery method, as agreed with the GM.

Material and Magic Stack

Exceptional material outperforms ordinary steel even before receiving magic. Its physical DR and other properties add to the values produced by the enchantment. Enchanted mithril armor does not stop being mithril: it retains its physical DR, Reflex bonus, and cleansing power, then adds the magical protection of the bound spell. A dispel removes only this second layer. The material catalog and its rules appear in 10.

Craftsmanship quality from M1 to M5 also stacks with an enchantment. It is neither a magical capacity nor a fixed limit on the number of properties an item can receive.

Designing an Enchantment with the GM

The player first describes the item they want to create in the world, then identifies the spell or spells that could produce that effect. Player and GM then define its exact operation. A power may be passive, activated, limited to a few charges, triggered by an attack, or bound to a particular condition: there is no universal conversion between these forms.

The Enchant spell provides a simple temporary infusion, but permanent magic items do not require it. The spell or spells that actually produce the effect are enough.

For example, a weapon based on a lightning spell might add lightning to every blow, release a lightning attack on command, or activate only on a critical hit. A weapon based on teleportation might transport its wielder, its target, or only itself. These versions are not equivalent; their range, frequency, action, and limits are decided before the ritual.

As a rule, a permanent or free effect, or one triggered by every attack, is more ambitious than a power that requires an action, has few charges, or answers a narrow condition. That difference affects cost, time, materials, and chance of success without imposing a formula. Several effects may coexist on one item if the GM considers the project feasible. Each additional effect normally makes the ritual more demanding, but never multiplies a weapon or suit of armor's fundamental bonus.

The Enchantment Ritual

Enchanting requires the enchanter to know the necessary spell or spells, possess a suitable vessel, and perform a long ritual. A ritual makes a spell more powerful for its slot cost, but is extremely slow to cast—time, not reserves, is its price. An unusual item may require research, plans, rare material, or a combination of spells.

Several casters may cooperate in one ritual if their caster levels are close enough. Cooperative Casting in 12 gives the allowed gap, each helper's contribution, and the +50% ceiling. A circle enchantment is therefore more powerful than a solitary one and is the normal way to create a high-tier item.

Gold Cost. Permanence is paid for in gold. The GM sets the amount by one simple principle: the higher the caster level, the more gold the ritual demands. A Level 9 or 10 enchantment represents colossal wealth, sometimes more than a kingdom's treasury. This is no accident of lore: the humans of Cerberus trade with dwarves, who supply gold and purchase their enchantments and potions in return.

Gold binds red and divine enchantments. It has no effect on blue mana and cannot make a Psychic enchantment independent of its creator. A Psychic instead maintains the object by reserving the required spell slot, as described by Enchant.

The ritual ends with a prescribed chance roll. The GM considers the enchanter's Intelligence, Charisma, experience, and caster level; known spells and received help; the item's M quality and materials; tools, location, invested time, and the ambition of the requested power. None of these factors sets an automatic probability. They help the GM prescribe a chance suited to the project.

Before the roll, the GM also states what failure places at risk: some gold or materials, time, enchantment stability, power, or a magical complication. Failure need not destroy the entire project.

Dispelling or Destroying an Enchantment

An abjurer can attack an item's magic with an opposed caster level check:

1d20 + Item CL (the item defends) against 1d20 + abjuration spell CL.

If the abjuration score exceeds the item's by 25%, the magic is disrupted and the item is disabled for 1d3 rounds.
If it exceeds the item's by 50%, the enchantment is permanently destroyed.

Dispelling attacks all the item's enchantments at once. It cannot select one property: when the item is disrupted, all its magical powers cease together; when the enchantment is destroyed, every magical property is destroyed. Material and craftsmanship remain intact.

Item caster level determines resilience. A high-CL enchantment is almost impossible to breach, while a low-CL trinket yields to the first abjurer who comes along.

Dwarven Runes

Dwarves cast no spells. Their path produces only objects, and produces them slowly. A rune is not a spell bound in metal, but an engraved form that draws directly on the power of its surroundings.

A caster imposes a will upon mana, then traps the result in an object. A dwarf works differently, shaping matter so it can work alone. Once complete, the rune holds no waiting spell and no longer needs its creator. It obeys a law written in its lines, feeds on its surroundings, and produces its effect for as long as its vessel endures.

Power Without caster level

A runic item has no caster level. It cannot be dispelled, an antimagic field cannot silence it, and it requires neither maintenance, renewal, nor gold to remain active. Breaking its power requires destroying the rune or the object that bears it.

Human enchantment is defined by its level and caster level. A rune bears only one number: its level, from 1 to 10. This measures both the complexity of its form and the power of the effect it can draw from the world.

A Level N rune of power grants the fundamental bonus for that level from the enchantment table. A weapon bearing a Level 5 rune of power therefore grants the same fundamental bonus as a Level 5 enchanted weapon. The resemblance ends with the result: one depends on an enchantment and caster level, the other on a physical engraving in the material. Every other rune has its own effect, described on its sheet.

Two Incompatible Paths

A rune and an enchantment can never coexist on the same item. The two forms of power oppose each other from the first inscription. A dwarven weapon may receive human red magic or dwarven runes, never both. The choice must be made before work begins and binds the item for its entire existence.

This incompatibility explains why dwarves sometimes sell a magnificent weapon without engraving it. Its human buyer remains free to enchant it. Conversely, a true runic weapon is never merely a vessel that can later be improved with a spell.

The Work of Two Castes

Creating a rune demands cooperation between two castes. The rune caste knows the forms, calculates their relationships, and designs the inscription. The forge caste prepares the vessel and carves the form into the material without breaking its balance. One may understand a rune perfectly without knowing how to carve it; the other may possess an exceptional hand without knowing the law it inscribes.

This division explains the rarity of runic objects. A talented artisan is not enough: two specialists must be brought together, given time, and entrusted with a worthy vessel. The item must be M2 quality or better. A rune does not forgive the flaws of ordinary work.

The art is secret. It cannot be learned by copying a symbol from a book or studying a finished weapon. Only a tiny minority of dwarves truly master engraving, and an outsider admitted into this tradition would be the subject of an entire story, never the result of ordinary training.

When a character truly possesses this knowledge, every inscription ends with a prescribed chance roll. The GM considers experience, Intelligence, tool quality, invested time, the vessel's quality and material, and the rune's level. These factors guide the prescription; they do not form an automatic formula. Player and GM design a new rune like any other custom item.

How Many Runes Can an Item Bear?

One rune is the norm. Two runes on one item constitute a masterpiece and require a vessel of M4 quality or better. Both forms must be designed together rather than simply added one after the other.

Items bearing three runes belong to the tales dwarves tell of their ancestors. They are not impossible, but lie beyond ordinary craftsmanship. Finding such an item, discovering how it was made, or attempting to create one can sustain an entire adventure.

Conditional Runes

Not every rune draws indiscriminately from the world. Some require a specific state in their bearer: fury, hatred, fear, flowing blood, or approaching death. They remain inert until the condition is met, then find in that state the power to awaken.

A handful of these forms are called demonic. Said to have appeared in a smith's corrupted dreams, they grant far more than a rune of their level should provide. Dwarves who know of them do not consider them progress. An ordinary rune draws from its environment; a demonic rune always raises the question of what it is truly consuming.

Distribution (GM Note)

There are no magic-item shops. Tier 3+ items are found, earned, or commissioned at great expense from a named enchanter with personal demands—and from a kingdom wealthy enough in gold to pay the bill. Every magic item has a provenance that can be told in one sentence.