
Archives of Nethys

Archives of Nethys

Pathfinder RPG (1st Edition) Pathfinder RPG (2nd Edition) Starfinder RPG

Rules Index | GM Screen | Player's Guide
Treasure Vault / Secrets of Crafting / Crafting Alternate Rules

Converting Magic Items

Source Treasure Vault pg. 162 1.1
Many magic items found by higher-level characters never see play, destined instead to live at the bottom of a backpack, forgotten and unused. Others are quickly sold to fund the purchase of a more appropriate item. Others still are so irredeemably evil that selling them is an unconscionable act, and the item ends up being destroyed. All of these situations can make it difficult for the GM to properly calculate and balance the party's wealth, which can lead to imbalanced encounters and other problems at the table.

This variant simplifies the problem by giving the players another option for items that they don't intend to use, allowing them to break an item down and recycle its parts for the creation of another item.

When breaking down an item, you have a choice on how to proceed. You can immediately use the components to create an item with a similar theme to the one that you deconstructed, or you can save the components for use in any one item created later. If you create a similar item, such as deconstructing a magic weapon in order to create a different but similar type of magic weapon, you can harvest more of the components and residual magic for the new item, giving you more in return than you might otherwise get by simply harvesting the best parts of an item.

The GM determines whether the new item is similar enough to warrant this benefit, but the new item should be similar either in ability or in general theme. For example, deconstructing a cloak of the bat to create winged boots certainly qualifies, as does deconstructing a ring of climbing to create slippers of spider climb. Items of the same general type might qualify, but only if their abilities are thematically similar.

Generic components can be saved for later, but they can't be combined with other components from another deconstructed item. If excess value remains after making a new item, that value is lost, as the remaining parts are just the leftover bits, with the best parts being used for the new creation. The deconstructed item has the same Bulk as the original. GMs might want to put an expiration date on deconstructed items to prevent too many of them from piling up in character inventories, but unless players are breaking down items all the time, it shouldn't be a problem.

Deconstruct

Rare Downtime 
Source Treasure Vault pg. 162 1.1
You deconstruct an item to provide the starting point to convert it into a new item. You need the Alchemical Crafting skill feat to deconstruct alchemical items and the Magical Crafting skill feat to deconstruct magic items.

To Deconstruct an item, you must meet the following requirements.
  • The item is your level or lower. An item that doesn't list a level is level 0. If the item is 9th level or higher, you must be a master in Crafting, and if it's 16th or higher, you must be legendary.
  • The item isn't a cursed item, artifact, or other item that is similarly hard to destroy. The item isn't a consumable item.
  • The item has a listed Price.
  • You must have an appropriate set of tools and, in many cases, a workshop. For example, you need access to a smithy to deconstruct a metal shield or an alchemist's lab to de-concoct alchemical items.
At the start of this process, you must decide if you're using the deconstructed item to build a new, similar item, of if you are simply breaking it down for raw ingredients that can be used at a later date for any item. In either case, this activity takes 1 day to perform, but if you're using the item to create a new, similar item, that day can be counted as one of the crafting days for the new item.

At the end of the activity, you must attempt a Crafting check. The GM sets the DC of this check based on the level of the item you are attempting to deconstruct, its rarity, and other circumstances.

Critical Success If you are deconstructing the item to make a new, similar item, you can apply 80% of the cost of the deconstructed item to the new item. If you are deconstructing the item for raw materials alone, you can apply 55% of the cost of the deconstructed item to a single new item. In either case, if this is in excess of the new item's cost, the remainder is lost.
Success As critical success, but you can only apply 75% of the deconstructed item's cost to the new similar item and 50% of the deconstructed item's cost to any single item.
Failure You fail to deconstruct the item, wasting your time. You can try again.
Critical Failure You fail to deconstruct the item and damage it in the process. You must either repair it before attempting again, or you can attempt to deconstruct it again but lose 5% of the value of the item.