Enchant requirements

[Alex Koponen]

On Mon, 26 Jan 2004 08:15:29 -0500, Choinski, Burton
<Burton.Choinski at MATRIXONE.COM> wrote:

>You have to make the item yourself from materials you are sure have no
>outside contamination.  If you were making a sword for Law magics, would
you
>trust that slab of Iron that has been laying around some merchant's wagon?
>Elder, Kototh or Chaos forces could have touched it, or contaminated it.
>Only way to be sure you have the real deal is to take the ore, purify it
>under the flame and smelt out the clean iron.
>


  Okay. If we get philosophical about it, what is the difference between
uncontaminated or 'virgin' material fit for permanent magics and
contaminated material that is not fit for permanent magics?

  What contaminates an item or material?

  What does it take to 'purify' a contaminated object or material to where
it is once again fit for enchanting?

  Most gold gets reused again and again in jewelry and coinage. If one
melts down an old ring and makes a new ring from it is it still
contaminated? Or has it been purified? Would the Enchanter need to mine his
own gold? (In my game - No) How would one know that that ore hasn't been
contaminated sometime in the past in some way?

  If an Enchanter scrounges a bunch of rusty iron and steel from the site
of an old battlefield, would the melting of that scrap purify it? Could the
Enchanter then forge blades from the molten steel and enchant them?
I would think so. It would take a mighty spell to survive that treatment.

  Speaking of which, could someone simply cast a spell or prayer
that 'purifies' an item, say 'Dispell' or the Priest's 'Purification' at a
sufficient EL to remove any lingering metaphysical contamination?