What value are Magic Items.

[Brian Logan]

With mages who can create magic items being rarer in Birthright than in
other worlds, what value are magic items? As only blooded mages can create
items (and extremely high level elves) there is surely a shortage of magic
items. does this mean that the bulk of magic items are clerical? Regents
have the finances to commission a magic sword to be made, or a guilder could
be on the lookout for magic items. These come up for sale when one regent
destroys another and keeps his magic item heirloom -- while he could give it
to a lieutenent, he may prefer to get the gold for it. If he has no magic
user lieutenents and needs the gold he is likely to sell a wand he cannot
use. I'm talking about player to npc, player to player interactions are not
a problem.
any suggestions

We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars...
- Oscar Wilde

[Laldw@aol.co]

In a message dated 97-02-16 01:27:57 EST, you write:

[Jonathan Picklesimer]

On Wed, 19 Feb 1997, John Gilchrist wrote:

>
> What was meant by saying that elves have more to give and lose in terms
> of life spans? Aren't they immortal?
>

Well, I don't think that the elves are immortal. They can be killed.

The real point, though, is that life is precious. Elves, being as long
lived as they are, would understand this very well. Every day that
passes is a day that is lost forever. What is said and done during that
day can never be unsaid or undone. No amount of gold or prestige can
ever replace the experiences that were possible in even a single day.

The elves love their lives. It may be a long life, but every moment that
passes is precious. Every word said and every deed done is something
that lives forever. Loosing a day would mean loosing a chance to spend
time with ones' family. Loosing the chance to finish a tale or a song.
Loosing the chance to watch a chipmunk play or an eagle soar on the
wind. Loosing the opportunity to "suck all the marrrow out of life."
Volunatarily giving up several YEARS of a lifetime, no matter how long,
would mean giving up all of the experiences I have mentioned and more
hundreds of times over. What elf, let alone human, would willingly
sacrifice that much for any reason, let alone for the creation of
something that will some day be destroyed?

I think that at times we take the issue of the lifespan of our characters
too casually. It is not often in a lifetime that you find something
worthy of sacrificing your life for. Occasionally, a person or a PC
will find someone worth dying for, but very few would find some THING, an
inatimate, unfeeling (mostly) object to sacrifice their own life for.

IMHO, of course,
Jonathan