Masterwork (Chant)

Sidebar Heart of the Forge The masterwork chant represents an enormous effort by a team of smiths, working in shifts for months under the direction of a master smith to create an item of such perfection that it becomes imbued by magical power, as if the masterwork item had been enchanted. This chant permits the creation of magical metal items of up to +1 per two extra slots of the relevant nonweapon proficiency of the master smith. Thus, an armorer with only the base proficiency or one extra slot of proficiency cannot create a masterwork at all. However, an armorer with three slots (two for the base level of skill, plus one extra) of the armorer proficiency can create a suit of chain mail +1, plate mail +1, and so on. For items without “pluses,” a masterwork can yield an item of 1,000 XP value per two extra slots of the relevant nonweapon proficiency (usually blacksmithing). Magical spells that nullify or destroy a normal magical item (wand of negation, Mordenkainen's disjunction, etc.) have no effect on items produced by a masterwork chant.

When the months of effort are finished, the master smith must make a nonweapon proficiency check using his blacksmithing, armorer, or weaponsmith proficiency score, as appropriate. If the check succeeds, the masterwork is a success; if the check fails, the work is fatally flawed and must be started over. In either case, the attempt is so exhausting that the master smith cannot attempt another masterwork chant for 10 years.

The material component for a masterwork chant are a miniature hammer and anvil made of mithril (worth 1,000 gp).