Treasure: Mind Control Ring

Uh, thanks Harvard ◔̯◔

Let's wander down an unusual path today, I'm gonna use the vanilla magic system to highlight an easy way to make some new magic items for Dungeon Fantasy in an easy way. Specifically, let's make a mind control ring, because someone asked me how to do it.

Mechanics

Today, you were useful to me.

First off, using Dungeon Fantasy 1, look at p. 30. The default Dungeon Fantasy setting has common magic, and we have a price of $20/enchantment point in this setting.

Next we need a spell that can control someone's mind. This is on page 139 of GURPS: Magic. The Charm spell needs 2,000 energy to become a permanent charm item.

The cost of the enchantment is
$40,000.

Wow! That took like less than two minutes.

But you, you have just
become a tiny bit more useful
to me!

Now, if we want to go the extra mile, let's figure out the price of the actual ring. For flavor, let's say it is a silver ring with a cheapish gemstone. To get stats for such a thing, let's look at Dungeon Fantasy 8: Treasure Tables. According to p.18 a silver ring costs $115, and weighs 0.15 pounds, or a little over two ounces. The ring is set with Chalcedony stone. The stone is an average sized one according to the list of gems on p.19, so that means 1.75 carats, and according to the small formula here, that comes out to roughly $101.

Altogether, our ring is:

• Silver Band: $115.00
• 1.75 carat Chalcedony Stone: $101.00
• Charm enchantment: $40,000.00

And that adds up to $40,216.00.

Other Thoughts and Conclusion

This is actually a phenomenally easy way to make magic items, surprised I never thought of it before. The hardest part was calculating the cost of the physical material of the ring, but Dungeon Fantasy 8 made even that pretty easy. I realized while doing this, I don't think there is a way to cost out a Sorcery enchantment that grants a disadvantage instead of an advantage. Hmm. Happy that I did a review of Dungeon Fantasy 1 then because scrutinizing the book a little closer helped me discover this simple, but pure gold nugget.