Since ME isn't brimming over with heirloom magic items, one wonders how long enchanted items last?
With the case of very powerful items, such as a Mercere Portal, they should gain Warping points over the years until they are Warped out of recognisability.
But what about lesser enchantments that help about the Covenant or Redcap?
I suppose base materials would be a factor - a wooden staff/wand can decay, a ceramic lamp can be dropped and chipped, a metal sword blunted.
There are level 2 guidelines in Animal and Herbam to preserve 'a corpse' or 'dead plant' from decay. That might be used to slow down the age-related loss of some magical items. There is also a level 15 Terram guideline to 'Repair any crafted item to like-new condition' -- but, of course, it cannot be permanent without a ritual & Vis. I wonder if there is a 'preserve an item of earth from decay' guideline, maybe level 2 (added magnitudes for stone, metal, & etc) or a 'Preserve any solid object from decay' guideline. Such a guideline for Aquam would also be a way to keep your wine from spoiling....
These effects could be enchanted into an item, but any continuous effect would cause warping -- which also might remove the item from the game world. I suppose this is similar to a Longevity Ritual for objects.
Given that there are rules and regs in the core lab guidelines for Planned Obsolescence Magic Items that are not assumed to be the default, I've always assumed they just work until forever, and that a big chunk of the season(s) spent instilling the effects and the Vis required also includes making them not warp from being enchanted.
You're right that there probably should be more heirloom magic items lying around, given the rules. And it might be that there are but so many of them aren't necessarily interesting enough to make a story around. Eg, "Your covenant has a bunch of Infinite Lightbulbs lying around" is, at most, a lab/Covenant virtue you buy without thinking and then never mention again.
We also know that any Hermetic magic items that make their way outside of the Order of Hermes into mundane hands are to be snapped up as fast as possible; I would accept the idea of a subsest of Quaesitors who make a point of just breaking the things because that's easier than getting them back.
I wonder also if a bunch of them get traded to the Faeries. "Hello Blackberry God, I really really need the ashes of a dyslexic pfenix for a one-use ceremony, I will gladly trade my magical washing machine for them." And then that gets squirreled away to deepest Arcadia and never comes back.
ALL THAT SAID, I do still think that RAW and the general tone of the setting don't align super well on this front. Hence things like Transforming Mythic Europe.
Which books contain any specific rules for warping items? The Core Rulebook says that a constant effect results in one warping point per year. After gaining 5 and 30 warping points in total, a mundane character gains a minor flaw. At 105, 140, 180 etc. warping points, a mundane character gains a major flaw.
If you apply the same rule to items, an item less than 105 years old would have some oddities (minor flaws, e.g. offensive to animals). From 105 years on, it would accumulate major flaws that could make it more interesting or reduce its usefulness (e.g. necessary condition). You could also draw inspiration from the side effects table on p. 109 of the Core Rulebook for the type of flaws.
Old magical items have a problem: their purpose and way to use them might be forgotten by their owners and inheritors of subsequent generations.
Once this happened, analyzing them becomes work for the next generations (ArMDE 08-Laboratory Investigating Enchantments) and takes seasons from the busy schedules of self-important Intellego Vim experts. If there is no legend still attached to a trinket, chances are that these deem their own pet projects more important.
Warping points are gained from continuously being under a supernatural effect unless it was specifically designed for [the subject].
An enchantment on an enchanted item is obviously designed for that enchanted item. It doesn't gain Warping from its own enchantment.
A Ritual such as the Hermes Portal would cause Warping to whatever it is cast upon. IIRC you need to cast Hermes Portal to establish a Mercere Portal, so it might accumulate a few Minor Flaws & a Virtue that way.
Not quite. Page 167:
There are four main sources of Warping
Points:
- Living in a strong (6 or higher) mystical
aura.- Being affected by a powerful mystical
effect, unless you created the effect, or it
was designed especially for you.- Being continuously under the influence of
a mystical effect, whether powerful or
not.- Botching a roll to use a mystical ability.
Even if a continuous effect was specifically designed, it still causes 1 warping point per year.
I had been working on the presumption that the enchantment in the Mercere Portal kept the Hermes Portal ritual continually working. Thus accruing Warping points.
An interesting point. I will need to ponder.
I don't have the books in front of me, but:
I recall there is a sidebar in main 5th Ed book on Warping and Non-Humans that says things can be warped.
RoP:M has Magic Things that come about through Warping (example is a Magus' woolen cloak)
And I think there is a bit in Transforming Mythic Europe.
I suppose whether giving an item the capability to cause a magical effect means that the item itself is under a magical effect... Can't think of an analogous situation to compare to. Mystery initiation giving someone a Supernatural Virtue? (inasmuch as the item might be thought of having the equivalent of a Minor Power or Greater Power.)
Creatures with Might no longer get Warped by their Realm, since they're wholly a part of that Realm; I'd be inclined to say that enchanted items are also wholly a part of the Magic Realm.
Unless there's a Story to be had by Warping an enchanted item I wouldn't bother. I do have a Magic Thing in my game -- there's an (Intelligent) magic book that's the best friend of the Jerbiton librarian (as a Magic Thing Companion virtue). Its backstory was sitting around getting Warped in Val-Negra's library so its Warping is providing story hooks.
That's my view too. The rules for warping of inanimate objects are vague, but I think an enchanted item made with Vis is like a creature with Magic Might, and won't warp.
Edit: having it happen occasionally for a neat story is fine, just treat it as an unusual event, and don't make players' lives harder with it. Warping is one of those areas where the Order doesn't really understand it enough, so surprises will happen.
Canonically, we have seen that magic items can become Warped by effects built into them that act on the magic item. Look at Gwidion's Riding Tree (MoH p.44):
Gwidion’s Talisman is a (now) fully grown oak, but due to its various enchantments it has become severely Warped over the years...
Yes, but if you look at C&G (and somewhere else where the information was reprinted), magic items are far more durable than their mundane counterparts. That doesn't mean they cannot be damaged, but it is harder.
First keep in mind that the magical effects for many magic items are for something other than the items themselves. A magical lamp that creates light would impact the light not the lamp for warping, but the light is so transitory it would not matter.
Secondly it is possible to design an effect so that it will not warp a certain individual. I believe that for an item which does affect itself the "spell" can easily be designed to not warp the item, and that would be the default plan.
so fundamentally yes there should be a ton of heirloom enchanted objects lying around. The reason there are not is twofold-
Firstly covenants fail. How many adventures are about recovering lost texts or magic items from fallen covenants, often because they got in over their head with some kind of conflict, whether supernatural or political. Even if the magi simply stopped recruiting new people and drifted into obscurity their stuff goes with them.
Secondly people don't fix what isn't broken. If the covenant already has a stewpot hat will handle cooking the food for you there is no point in enchanting a new one. as you get more enchanted items you have less staff and are that much closer to fading into obscurity...
Even if you rule that enchanted items gain a Warping point each year that's... not terribly concerning? After a century they've got 2 Minor Flaws & 1 Minor Virtue. Even after two centuries they only add 3 Major Flaws.
And the those are all related to the source of the Warping, so I don't see how it would make the item unusable -- just weird. After a century your item maybe has Magical Air & [Form] Monstrosity + something like Special Circumstances†. It's a little weird, but not unusable.
I'm not even sure what Major Flaws you'd give an item -- Blatant Magical Air? Bound to [Realm]?‡ -- but even that seems like it would only be annoying. If I tell someone their inherited Mercere Portal has Blatant Magical Air, I don't see the covenant's wizards deciding they won't make the grogs use it even though it's the covenant's Income source or whatever.
†I was looking for a Supernatural Virtue to give to an item and... not a lot of options there.
‡ at Warping 10 you'd need 5 × Major Flaws for your enchanted item. they probably all can't be Blatant Magical Air...
I think the vast majority of permanent items get forgotten. Alliances rise and fall. You need a specific InVi effect just to detect the enchanted item and why would you even bother to try to find them as to learn how to use them is harder than to make a new one.
I can see Verditius magi offering a pawn of vis per Major item found so they can recycle them back to vis. Even that is kinda of a wasteful season.Maybe as a house punishment?
Even if you inherit an object, can you trust it? Can you be certain there is not a hidden effect in it or that someone as created a permanent arcane connection to it and is scrying you via it?
Even if magical objects are the most powerful form of magic as they work irrespective of Aura, PeVi effects and even the Mighty Aegis, I think the secrecy around them makes the vast majority of them only useful for it's creator or the person for whom it was made. Knowing this, Magi outside of the house of Verditious probably often use the expiry multiplier ...
W
Learning how an enchanted item works is generally easier and faster than creating a similar item would be, and more importantly doesn't cost vis.
If everything is perfectly aligned yes. And even then, can you really thrust the item fully? Was your lab total really high enough to uncover all?
In most cases, you won't have the lab total or the effect will not be what you wanted or restricted or tainted. In most cases you're better off doing the item yourself unless you know something of the item and are an InVi specialist of which there aren't that many.
W
Let's be clear about this: it is possible to design an effect so that it does not warp a certain individual when used infrequently, and so that it only causes 1 warping point/year rather than 5 for continuous use, even if it is a "high power" effect. But even with the benefits of this "tailoring", which are also automatically available when originator and target coincide, 1 warping point per year of being continuously affected is unavoidable.
Oh if you're doing warped objects you should absolutely give them bizarre flaws. Give your flying carpet a Higher Purpose (whenever someone botches a roll, they lose control of it and are led to where the carpet thinks it will achieve its Grand Destiny, the unification of Alexander the Great's conquered lands). Give your magic spear Outlaw (you get +1 to Legerdemain while holding it, but other spears distrust it, and seek to hinder the wielder, gaining +2 to Atk against you.) That magic plow the grogs have been using to clear the fields for decades? It has Lycanthrope* and turns into a wolf with iron fangs on the full moon.
I would also accept the idea of warping applies the flaws to the user, or to people around them. Eg, your Witchlight has Blackmail (if someone in the room has committed a crime, it plays out in their shadow.) The censer that emits sweet smelling perfume through the covenant has picked up Missing Hand (anyone who spends too long breathing in the smoke slowly loses all sensation or control over their left hand, which may not become obvious until several accidents have befallen the grogs.)
This is a good "We need a lil' plot for the session" kind of problem, not something that needs to come up that often.
*This is a major flaw but I was pointing to the Virtues and Flaws list at random and it made me laugh.