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Residuum for 5e

5e by default and (my homebrew setting specifically) is low-magic relative to the default setting of Faerun.  In search for a way for characters customise/create new magic items as well as create a money sink – something needed in 5e – I resurrected residuum from 5e.

Using a ritual to disenchant gives you residuum equivalent to the lowest value in gp of the item you disenchanted.  To upgrade an item you need to use the enchant ritual spell and spend enough residuum to meet the difference in gp value of your current item to your new item based on rarity.  So if your current item is Common (worth 50 gp) and you want to upgrade it to Uncommon (worth 500gp) you will need 450 gp worth of residuum and a spellcaster/ritual to do it:

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This system allows you to customise, create or upgrade your own system making random magic generation a little less painful.  For quick reference the rarity colour wheel:
  • Grey for all non-magical items.
  • White for Common.
  • Green for Uncommon.
  • Blue for Rare
  • Purple for Very Rare.
  • Orange for Legendary

Disenchant Magic Item

The item ignites in a brief flash of brilliant light, then crumbles to golden dust in your hands.
Level: 6
Category: Creation
Time: 1 hour
Duration: Instantaneous
Component Cost: 25 gp
Market Price: 360 gp
Key Skill: Arcana (no check)
When you finish performing this ritual, you touch a magic item and destroy it, turning it into a quantity of residuum valued at the lowest gp value at that items rarity level.  You can only disenchant items of rarity equal to your level or lower.

Enchant Magic Item

Magic drawn from the warp and weft of the universe infuses the item you hold in your hands.
Level: 4
Category: Creation
Time: 1 hour
Duration: Permanent
Component Cost: Special
Market Price: 175 gp
Key Skill: Arcana (no check)
You touch a normal item and turn it into a magic item of your level or lower (in terms of rarity). The ritual’s component cost is equal to the highest price of the magic item you create.

Residuum

Residuum is the magical substance that results from using the Disenchant Magic Item ritual on an item. It’s a fine, silvery dust that some describe as concentrated magic, useful as a generic component for rituals. In some exotic locales, residuum is traded as currency, measured by weight and carried in small metal vials. It’s a convenient way to transport large sums of wealth; 10,000gp worth of residuum weighs as much as a single gold piece and takes up only slightly more space, so 1 pound of residuum is worth 500,000 gp and fits in a belt pouch.

The concentrated magical substance that results from performing the Disenchant Magic Item ritual, residuum can be used as a component for any ritual. You can’t usually buy it on the open market; you acquire it by draining it out of magic items.
Posted in Adventurer's Vault

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