Bind Tool (Sorcerer’s Gambit)

Many magicians, finding themselves at the limits of their art but wishing to increase their power, may choose the risk and reward that come from placing part of their own essence into an object. The binding – that is, the permanent enchanting – of physical objects comprises an entire field of study for the magically adept, but the basics in most cases are the same.

An object of appropriate resonance must be acquired and readied. In some cases this involves the magician crafting it with their own hands; in other cases it requires them to collect components of arcane or spiritual significance, or convert a possession to which they feel a deep connection. In all cases, there is a final, grueling, ritual in which the enchanter puts part of themselves into the object to empower it and finalize the bond. The benefits are often seen to outweigh the costs, though, as the bound object becomes a potent tool for imposing the wielder’s will on the world.

The base difficulty of the enchantment ritual is d10. It takes a full day, requires the caster to sacrifice some number of attribute points, and costs the square of sum of the sacrificed attributes in both strain and fatigue. Increasing the difficulty by a step can decrease the ritual’s time requirement by a step (or vice-versa), but does not change the costs. This can be conducted as a group ritual, but only the costs in fatigue and strain may be shared.

As long as the bound item is in the binder’s possession, they operate as if they had suffered no attribute loss. When it is in hand, any attribute that was sacrificed from is increased by one. But if the item is taken and claimed by another (not simply borrowed; claimed as a possession), the attribute loss makes itself felt. If the item is destroyed, the loss becomes permanent, with an extra point taken from each relevant attribute, unless its maker unmakes it in another ritual just as difficult and draining as the first.

Enchanted items can often have other powers or special characteristics added (a good baseline is one per attribute point sacrificed), and appropriate tools (such as an enchanted mirror or flute) may make certain other spells easier to cast.

(Afterthought: this isn’t to say that this is the only way to create a magical object! There will of course be myriad variations on the theme, and a GM should feel free to change the details however they see fit. I provide this version merely as a baseline.)