Enchanted device

An enchanted item, also known as magical item or enchanted device, is an item that has been enchanted by a magus or other wizard. Enchanting an item means to instill a magical effect into it, a tedious process that takes at least a season of work in the laboratory.

Varieties of Enchanted Items

Invested device: An item with potentially many different powers, that takes several seasons to create.

Talisman: A special invested device intimately attuned to a particular magus, which helps him cast spells.

Lesser enchanted device: A device which has only one power or effect, but is simpler and cheaper to make than an invested device.

Charged item: An enchanted item that can only be used a finite number of times.

Items under an Aura or Aegis

It is unclear whether enchanted devices are affected by a supernatural aura in the same way that casting spells and using supernatural abilities are. One option is to let the aura affect the Penetration of the effects, and interpret negative penetration as a suppression and fizzling of the effect. Another is to ignore the aura, allowing items to function consistently in hostile auras. This appears to be the RAW, as no explicit mention of affecting devices is noted in the Realm Interaction Chart, but appears inconsistent with the otherwise universal affect of auras.

Since devices activate without any rolls involved, they offer a means of using magic in hostile auras without a risk of a botch.

Items brought to a foreign Aegis of the Hearth would be "resisted" by it.

Past Editions

Past editions of Ars Magica (ArM4 and earlier) included a category of items called potions, which are now considered simply a special type of charged item.

References

The edit history of this page before August 6, 2010 is archived at Legacy:enchanted_device.