I’m thinking about making some magic items for my campaign but, is there something like a template i could use to balance them within the rules. How can i figure out what levels are my items?
Yoan
I asked this a long time ago (http://www.burningwheel.org/forum/showthread.php?14042-Are-there-any-magical-item-creation-guidelines&p=139056#post139056) and it didn’t go anywhere, unfortunately. The best thing you can do is stay close to the magic items given in the book and maybe even use the spells and prayers as a guideline. Charges and the chance for something to be destroyable also helps to keep balance. My players like magic items and like giving them, so I just compile lists of items that I can give out whenever. I’ll steal flavor from other games and make up my own magical traits for Torchbearer. There was also a magical item thread that Thor started (http://www.burningwheel.org/forum/showthread.php?14276-Magic-Items!) and people came up with a few interesting items here and there.
Yeah, there aren’t any rules for it and the items in the book are as good a template as any. In terms of balance, I also start with what I want the item to do and then balance it by placing restrictions on it, like:
One-use only
One use per phase
Only usable during a particular phase
Limited Charges
Must fulfill some condition before being used again
Can only be used in certain conditions (i.e. Total Darkness, When You Have X Condition, etc)
The range of possible effects is too big to really list out and range from bonuses to certain rolls to flat out breaking the rules. I always prefer the more creative ones as opposed to the more mundane +1D items, though both definitely have their use.
Edit: I always feel like the item is done when the restriction makes sense within the fiction, too. One Level 1 item I made, “The Sunshard Ring” allowed the user to make it glow like a Torch once per Adventure phase. This coincides with a day/night cycle as they have to camp in order to call on the power again.