A Question about enchanted item slots

[PapaD]

A member of my group recently asked 'how many magic items could a non wizard carry and use, assuming that they have the ability to be used by others'

He was wondering about items slots, and the fact that if you don't have some casting ability, then you don't have any item slots, but arguably you can use a potion brewed by someone else, and if someone else made an enchanted belt, you could potentially use that.

He then asked, how about a wizard, do items usable by anyone take up item slots - could he just make lots and lots of weaker items (1 strength reduced for being able to be used by anyone) and ignore the item slot limitations.

I argued at the time, that from a game balance perspective, the answer is no, but from a thematic perspective, i wasn't sure exactly why.

Can anyone help?

[Rougarou]

The strength of an enchanted item may be
reduced by one to make it usable by someone
other than the caster, such as a magically
armored coat that anyone can wear.

and

A given potion can only be used once, period,
but it doesn’t face a surcharge for being usable by
someone else.

Those rules for potions and enchanted items being used by others. Since the rules make no mention of the items taking up item slots on the character they're being loaned to (which would make little sense since, as you stated, many of the characters they'd be loaned to would be non casters and thus have no slots), we're left to assume that they're still utilizing the slots on the character who created them. Therefore, I would say that no, a caster cannot make an item and hand it to someone else as many times as he wants... he needs to have available slots to do so.

You've got it right about the game balance mechanics... as for the thematic reason, just tell them that the slots represent how many magic items and potions the caster is capable of creating, not how many he is capable of carrying.

Hope that helps.

[Tedronai]

As Rougarou said, but with the caveat that I would allow a non-Practitioner to purchase a variant of Refinement to gain item slots providing that they had an appropriate aspect to represent the means by which they acquired the items (and/or continue to acquire them), and that in such a case the strength of those items would be based on some stat other than the Lore of the creator (probably substituting Resources or Contacts).

I would not allow a PC to gain long-term or ongoing access to enchanted items from an NPC without using the above option outside of extreme cases likely involving precariously small gaming groups.

[Rougarou]

I actually designed a custom power pretty much exactly like that, only it does still use Lore.

Enchanted Items [-1]
You have enchanted items for some reason. Maybe you found them in your travels. Maybe they were given to you by someone else. Whatever the case, you have them and you can use them. These enchanted items function exactly the same way as those granted by Thaumaturgy or Evocation. The more you know about the items you have, the more fully you can unlock your potential, which means their strength will be determined by your Lore skill.
Item Slots:
- You have four enchanted Item Slots. The items which go into these slots must be designed before play, but you may change them at appropriate milestones. You may gain more Item Slots by buying Refinement (-1).

[GryMor]

He was wondering about items slots, and the fact that if you don't have some casting ability, then you don't have any item slots, but arguably you can use a potion brewed by someone else, and if someone else made an enchanted belt, you could potentially use that.

He then asked, how about a wizard, do items usable by anyone take up item slots - could he just make lots and lots of weaker items (1 strength reduced for being able to be used by anyone) and ignore the item slot limitations.

My derivation (consistent with whats actually stated and whats implied by warden's swords and potions in the books):
Items require slots to be maintained and created. They can be loaned out to others (either potions or having paid a point for usable by others), but they still take up the slot of the one loaning the item. They can be transferred to someone else that has sufficient slots to maintain them, at which point they are no longer occupying the original owners slots. Abandoning an item by releasing it's slot when no one else is maintaining it removes the enchantment.

PCs can do what they want within those constraints (and past a certain point, are likely to make items specifically for leveraging the abilities of their compatriots). NPCs are unlikely to maintain an item for someone else long term, though it may be possible to buy the occasional potion if there is an artifacer available, at similar difficulties to buying a casting of a spell from a sorcerer. Just remember, at the end of the session, used or not, it's gone.

[Sanctaphrax]

Item slots, so far as I can tell, represent the need to maintain the enchantments on items. Without magic, you can't do that.

Anyway, here's a custom Power for ya.

BAG OF TRICKS [-1]
Description: For whatever reason, you have access to a few minor magical trinkets.
Skills affected: Contacts, Resources, Burglary, Lore.
Effects:
Enchanted Items: You have four potions, each with a strength equal to your Contacts, Resources, Burglary, or Lore skill. You may not increase their strength in any way. At the beginning of each session, you must declare which potions you have on hand.
More Trinkets [-1]. You have four additional potions. Furthermore, you may choose to leave potion slots open to be filled later with Declarations.