creating multiple items

I've been looking for a half remembered thread about creating multiple enchanted items in a season from a set of lab notes, but can't find it, so apologise if this question just repeats an old one..

from the manual I can see that when creating a magic item I have made before, and kept lab notes for, my lab total just has to hit the level of the item.

So for a lvl 25 item i need a lab total of 25, and I can make it in one season.

I would assume that if my lab total is 50, I can produce 2 lvl25 items in the one season, but can't see anything in the rulebook to confirm this.

The half remembered thread, was (i think) something along the lines of that if you're making multiple copies of the same item in a season, with each one you make you'd get a bonus to making the next one, knocking some levels off it's total as it gets easier to make.

I guess the justification for this could be that if you know you're making 2 or 3 of an item in one go, you could do each of the individual tasks 3 times, rather than finishing one, then starting again from scratch. Also the more you make it, the better you'll be know the process..

Does anyone remember the thread? or does any of this make sense?

I remember the thread or at least one thread. The discussion passed through the point that if someone were making two of the same item in a single season not from lab notes, it made sense to some of us (or at least me) that the second item should get the bonus from the lab notes of the first (even if they aren't made chronologically as a first and second item).

There was a quote from David (that may be in the FAQ) to the effect that using a lab text adds a bonus to the lab score equal to the level of the effect (providing that the original lab total was high enough to do the project without the benefit of the lab text)

I don't have the rules here to see why you're having questions, my understanding (based on my imperfect recall) is that if a characer does more than one lab activity they split their total between the activities. Using a lab text tells us that if the lab total is at least equal to the level of the job, then the project is accomplished in one season. So if the lab total after the split is equal to the level of the project then two projects could be done in the same season.

Multiple Laboratory Activities (ArM5, pg 102) says basically what Erik says. All activities must be of the same type (learning spells, instilling powers in an invested device, creating potions) and must use the same Technique and Form. You can experiment, and the Extraordinary Results rolled apply to all activities.

I don't remember the specific thread you mention, but the point about the text seems valid to me.

Well, if two (or more) items were identical, I'm guessing they'd fall both under the same type of activity, and the same Form/Technique.

The counter-arguement would be that you don't have the item, and therefore nor the lab notes, finished until the end of the season, so you could not have the lab notes to help you during the season. (This could also open the door to finishing "small/tiny" projects in less than a season, which, imo, would be a bad precedent, or interpretation.)

Further, altho' "intuitively" any mass production of identical items should have some economy of scale, Magic is unpredictable, and need not follow "intuitive" patterns, or the same expectations for mundane items. So, while making 4 silver spoons in a season should take less than four times the time required to make one such spoon, the same need not be true foraking 4 magical silver spoons.

That said, it does make some sense. I've GM'd and used a simply percentage- 4/5, 3/4, and 2/3 max, for 1, 2, or 3+ additional, identical items made concurrently (tho' it did not change the basic formula or vis needed, just for the math re time needed). worked for me.

(Off the top of my head I believe that btr the bonus to lab total is not "levels" of effect but "magnitude", +1/5, but I might be remembering 4th ed.)

Also, the question of failed (or overly successful!) magical experimentation could create some interesting math challenges, depending on exactly how/if the experiment turned out.

By ArM5 p.102, the lab total must exceed the effect level in this case, to allow completion of the item in one season.

It's also on ArM5 p. 102, and you would need a lab total of +51 to make the two items.

I don't recall having seen any such thread or argument.

Kind regards,

Berengar