Draft:Scroll of enchantment

Omega 0.90.4

Scroll of enchantment?TypeScrollBase value (Au)200Item level2Weight5Unidentified appearanceRandom inscriptionCursed nameScroll of disenchantment

A scroll of enchantment improves a selected item and can replenish its charges. The danger depends on the target's enchantment before the attempt, so another improvement can be risky even when the previous one was safe.

Generation

This item-level-2 scroll can be found as random loot, bought when stocked at the pawn shop, or obtained through acquirement. Ordinary copies start at +0 enchantment and neutral blessing.

Description

An ordinary noncursed +0 scroll adds +2 enchantment to a selected non-artifact. If the target can hold charges, it also adds twice a single roll from 1 to 10: the result is 2, 4, ..., 20 charges, not the sum of two independent dice. A scroll with enchantment s instead adds s + 2 enchantment and (s + 2) times that single charge roll, provided its resulting enchantment effect is nonnegative. Blessing does not directly increase this effect, although applying blessing to the scroll also changes its enchantment.

Before improving a non-artifact, the game compares its current enchantment p with a random integer from 1 through 20. If p is greater, one item explodes instead. The explosion chance is 0 at +1 or below, (p − 1)/20 at +2 through +20, and certain at +21 or above. A +1 item can safely become +3 from an ordinary scroll, but enchanting that +3 item again has a 10% explosion chance. The resulting mana storm has damage parameter 5p and can hurt the reader and nearby creatures.

An artifact follows a separate rule: enchanting one restores its original activated power if that power was removed; otherwise it produces a mana storm with damage parameter five times the artifact's item level. It does not grant the usual +2 improvement.

A cursed ordinary scroll selects a random accessible possession. Mundane weapons, armor, shields, food, missile weapons and already powerless objects are excluded from disenchantment. Cursed targets resist, and artifacts resist two attempts in three. A susceptible target has enchantment set to 0, charge set to −1, and its magical use removed. This is more serious than losing one charge. Unusual negative enchantments on the scroll can change which branch is taken, because both curse and enchantment contribute to the effect's sign.

Choosing money instead of an item changes cash by a random multiple of one sixth, from losing one half to gaining one half, with integer rounding. Cancelling spends the scroll. Noncursed use identifies the type before target selection.

Strategy

Special weapons retain their attack effects when disenchantment erases their equipment power. A disenchanted Firestar can therefore still create its fireball while no longer protecting the wielder from fire. Likewise, a named weapon such as Victrix belongs to the weapon category, so it does not receive the artifact-specific restoration described above.

Use safe early improvements on equipment you expect to keep. Above +1, weigh the exact failure chance against both losing the target and surviving the blast. Do not assume a blessed scroll removes over-enchantment risk or makes an already functioning artifact a suitable target.

For replenishing a useful wand without risking its high enchantment, charging is the more focused option. The enchantment spell supplies the same +2 effect as an ordinary scroll, but retains the same target-dependent explosion test. Blessing can also alter enchantment and is worth considering when its target conditions are satisfied.

Move valuable susceptible possessions into the backpack before knowingly experimenting with a cursed copy; merely removing a ring or wand from active use does not remove it from the random accessible-slot pool. Restoring a disenchanted artifact is a legitimate special use of a noncursed scroll, distinct from trying to improve an intact artifact.