TEXT: Written by SEAN PUNCH
  Illustrated by DAN SMITH and NIKOLA VRTIS
  Reviewer: Steven Marsh
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  STEVE JACKSON GAMES
  Stock #37-0334 
  Version 1.0 – January 2016
  ®
  GURPS System Design z STEVE JACKSON
  GURPS Line Editor z SEAN PUNCH
  Assistant GURPS Line Editor z JASON “PK” LEVINE
  GURPS Project Manager z STEVEN MARSH
  Production Artist and Indexer z NIKOLA VRTIS
  GURPS FAQ Maintainer z  
  VICKY “MOLOKH” KOLENKO
  Chief Executive Officer z PHILIP REED
  Chief Operating Officer z SAMUEL MITSCHKE
  Executive Editor z MIRANDA HORNER
  Marketing Director z RHEA FRIESEN
  Director of Sales z ROSS JEPSON
  Page Design z PHIL REED and JUSTIN DE WITT
   Art Direction and Prepress Checker z NIKKI VRTIS
  TM
  TM
  
  IntroductIon  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .3
  Publication History  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . 3
  About the Author  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . 3
  About GURPS  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . 3
  More Power to You! .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .4
  Determining Power item Value .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . 4
  What Counts .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . 4
  What Doesn’t Count .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . 4
  Special Cases  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . 4
  What Can Be a Power Item .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . 5
  Changes in Value .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . 6
  Power Items Table  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . 6
  Optional Rule: Detailed Costs  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . 7
  tyPes of Power items .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . 7
  Caster Power Items  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . 7
  Psionic Power Items  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . 7
  Other Power Items .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . 8
  Endurance Items  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . 8
  Multiple Items of Different Kinds .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . 8
  using Power items .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . 9
  Spending Energy  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . 9
  Recharging  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . 10
  Supercharging?  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . 10
  Replacements and Upgrades .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . 10
  Power item Power-uPs  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . 11
  Extra Power Items  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . 11
  Power Item Perks .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . 12
  Recharger  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . 12
  Power item Control  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . 12
  Power Items . . . of Power  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . 13
  Index .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .14
   
  Contents 
  2
  Contents
  
  In dungeon fantasy, any spellcaster may designate one thing 
  he owns – holy symbol, staff, etc. – as his “power item.”
  – GURPS Dungeon Fantasy 1: Adventurers
  The main limit on how much magic a spellcaster can hurl 
  around – and on how often psionics, the Power Blow skill, 
  and many other special abilities can be used – is energy. Time 
  and skill level matter, too – but except in the most desperate 
  of situations, cunning delvers can win a few seconds to finish 
  casting or make a repeated attempt. Running out of fuel, by 
  contrast, means going to Plan B.
  Fortunately, heroes have options when Fatigue Points run 
  low. They can guzzle paut, ask associates to cast Lend Energy 
  or Share Energy, and in some cases burn Hit Points. The GM 
  might even let them rest! Such gambits mean accepting tacti-
  cal or financial inconvenience, however: diverting an ally from 
  fighting, weakening oneself in combat, or paying the steep 
  cash cost of paut (almost seven times as much per FP as a 
  power item recharge) or greedy “friends.” And monsters don’t 
  respect time-outs. An Energy Reserve is a convenient alterna-
  tive, but that requires precious character points.
  The beauty of power items is that they store energy that’s 
  accessible without delay or inconvenience, and every caster 
  and psi enjoys one for free – there’s no cash or point cost beyond 
  that for equipment the delver would buy anyway. While a poor 
  hero might not benefit much, most starting adventurers have 
  a weapon or a piece of armor valuable enough to hold 5-8 FP, 
  and trading quirk points for Signature Gear can net a $2,500 
  item that stores 13 FP. Seasoned looters can have dozens of FP 
  salted away in a single bauble.
  Yet insatiable adventurers are always questing for more. 
  GURPS Dungeon Fantasy 18: Power Items delivers useful 
  interpretations and new options for squeezing the most 
  out of this important resource, but be warned: Great 
  power brings great responsibility. More than many other 
  Dungeon Fantasy supplements, this one leaves much to the 
  GM, who should decide what’s allowed before turning the  
  players loose!
  PubliCation History
  This is the first edition of GURPS Dungeon Fantasy 18: 
  Power Items. It builds on rules for power items found in 
  earlier GURPS Dungeon Fantasy volumes – particularly 
  GURPS Dungeon Fantasy 1: Adventurers – and occasion-
  ally summarizes to minimize page-flipping, but is for the 
  most part new work.
  about tHe autHor
  Sean “Dr. Kromm” Punch set out to become a particle 
  physicist in 1985, ended up the GURPS Line Editor in 1995, 
  and has engineered rules for almost every GURPS prod-
  uct since. He developed, edited, or wrote dozens of GURPS 
  Third Edition projects between 1995 and 2002. In 2004, he 
  produced the GURPS Basic Set, Fourth Edition with David 
  Pulver. Since then, he has created GURPS Powers (with Phil 
  Masters), GURPS Martial Arts (with Peter Dell’Orto), GURPS 
  Zombies, and the GURPS Action, GURPS Dungeon Fantasy, 
  and GURPS Power-Ups series . . . among many other things. 
  Sean has been a gamer since 1979. His big non-gaming inter-
  ests are mixology and Argentine tango. He lives in Montréal, 
  Québec with his wife, Bonnie, and their cat, Zephyra.
   
  introduCtion 
  3
  introduCtion
  about GURPS
  Steve Jackson Games is committed to full support 
  of GURPS players. Our address is SJ Games, P.O. Box 
  18957, Austin, TX 78760. Please include a self-ad-
  dressed, stamped envelope (SASE) any time you write us!  
  We can also be reached by e-mail: info@sjgames.com. 
  Resources include:
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  grow – see what’s new at gurps.sjgames.com.
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  each themed issue from Warehouse 23!
  Internet. Visit us on the World Wide Web at  
  sjgames.com for errata, updates, Q&A, and much more. 
  To discuss GURPS with our staff and your fellow gamers, 
  visit our forums at forums.sjgames.com. The GURPS 
  Dungeon Fantasy 18: Power Items web page can be 
  found at gurps.sjgames.com/dungeonfantasy18.
  Bibliographies. Many of our books have extensive bib-
  liographies, and we’re putting them online – with links to 
  let you buy the resources that interest you! Go to each 
  book’s web page and look for the “Bibliography” link.
  Errata. Everyone makes mistakes, including us – but 
  we do our best to fix our errors. Up-to-date errata pages 
  for all GURPS releases, including this book, are available 
  on our website – see above.
  Rules and statistics in this book are specifically for the 
  GURPS Basic Set, Fourth Edition. Page references that 
  begin with B refer to that book, not this one.
  
   
  More Power to you! 
  4
  As GURPS Dungeon Fantasy 1: Adventurers, p. 28 
  explains, any spellcaster may designate one material posses-
  sion as his “power item.” This object holds a store of FP the 
  owner can use to meet the energy costs of spells, powers, and 
  similar superhuman capabilities. The reserve’s size depends 
  on the article’s value as mundane gear; see the Power Items 
  Table (p. 6). Replenishing this energy involves visiting town 
  and paying $5 per FP.
  There are exceptions to almost everything in the previous 
  paragraph, however. Read on . . .
  deterMining Power iteM Value
  Normally, only an item’s physical features contribute to 
  the value used on the Power Items Table. Figuring out what 
  counts can get confusing – and there are exceptions! – so 
  here’s the lowdown.
  wHat Counts
  The following facets of an article’s price tag always count 
  toward its value on the table:
  • Base item value. Example: $40 for a large knife.
  • Modifiers for materials, including those for being made 
  of such extraordinary stuff as dragonbone, dragonhide, 
  orichalcum, poison metal, poisonwood, silver, spider silk, 
  or tempered glass. Meteoric iron goods can’t be caster power 
  items, but their higher value counts for other kinds; see Types 
  of Power Items (pp. 7-9). Example: $800 for a silver large knife.
  • Modifiers for mundane craftsmanship such as being bal-
  anced, dwarven, elven, fine or very fine, highly articulated, 
  mirrored, ornate, psiphilic, or spiked. Psiphobic articles can’t 
  be psionic power items (p. 7), but otherwise their higher value 
  counts. Example: $400 for an ornate large knife that grants +3 
  to buyer reactions.
  • Value explicitly added by permanently attaching gems 
  and similar pricey ornaments; see Adding Value (p. 6).
  If several features pertain, first apply multiplicative mod-
  ifiers – anything with a CF – and then add the value of gems 
  and the like. For instance, if a large knife were silver (+19 CF) 
  and ornate (+9 CF), it would count as a $1,160 item: 9 FP. If 
  its owner stole a $1,000 diamond and set that in the 
  hilt, the knife would be worth $2,160 and hold 12 FP.
  wHat doesn’t Count
  Supernatural properties do not generally enhance 
  an object’s capacity as a power item unless they can be 
  explained by materials or skilled-but-mundane crafts-
  manship. Ignore value added by magical enchant-
  ments (GURPS Dungeon Fantasy 1: Adventurers, 
  p. 30 and GURPS Dungeon Fantasy 8: Treasure 
  Tables, pp. 44-49) or any comparable spell-like effect 
  stemming from the alchemical, divine, druidic, emo-
  tion, magical, moral force, psionic, spirit, or will origin 
  described on p. 50 of Treasure Tables.
  This doesn’t rule out equipment merely related to occult 
  pursuits, such as backpack alchemy labs (Adventurers, 
  p. 26) and spellbooks (GURPS Dungeon Fantasy 4: Sages, 
  pp. 13-14). Such objects are considered mundane tools and 
  count at full value.
  sPeCial Cases
  The GM may make exceptions for certain extraordinary 
  properties:
  Blessed Equipment: A few items, particularly holy sym-
  bols (Adventurers, p. 26), are deemed sacred despite lacking 
  divine or cosmic “enchantments.” Such articles are almost 
  invariably glitzy gewgaws. While $1,000 high holy symbols 
  ostensibly bear more potent supernatural blessings than $50 
  symbols, temple gift shops won’t sell many if they don’t look 
  the part! Most such objects owe what power they have to the 
  wielder’s willingness to tie up net worth in a show of faith.  
  More Power  
  to you!
  Nowadays people know  
  the price of everything and  
  the value of nothing.
  – Oscar Wilde, The Picture 
  of Dorian Gray
  
   
  More Power to you! 
  5
  The feverish devotion of the cultists who craft such things, or 
  the High Hierophant’s blessing on the sweatshop, might also 
  help. Where such gear’s innate 
  benefit is subtle rather than 
  spell-like – e.g., a bonus com-
  parable to that for high-qual-
  ity tools – count its full value 
  on the Power Items Table.
  Cosmic Artifacts*: Anything 
  created by a bona fide deity 
  (not merely blessed by mortal 
  holy folk or enchanted using 
  clerical magic) can have whatever properties that god – i.e., 
  the GM – likes. The GM is free to add any fraction of value 
  attributed to cosmic effects to material value for Power Items 
  Table lookups.
  Elder Weirdness: The psi-enhancing abilities of az ampli-
  fiers, fhtagn focusers, and pyramid hats (GURPS Dungeon 
  Fantasy 14: Psi, pp. 26-27) originate from a confluence of 
  otherworldly materials and inhuman craft. They’re weird 
  technology, with a “psychic matrix” that relies on madness-in-
  ducing geometry, not supernatural imbuement. Use the full 
  value of such things on the Power Items Table.
  Extraordinary Craftsmanship*: Enchantment-like effects 
  explained by the artistic, chi, materials, or racial origin on p. 50 
  of Treasure Tables might result from transcendent aesthetics, 
  feng shui, the natural properties of substances rarer than sil-
  ver or orichalcum, or sufficiently advanced craftsmanship. If 
  so, the GM may opt to let some percentage of “enchantment” 
  value count on the Power Items Table.
  * Such “enchantments” can rack up extraordinarily high $ 
  values, so be wary of extreme power items. It may seem rea-
  sonable to have chi explain the equivalent of Accuracy +2, but 
  that’s a $20,000 enchantment, and boosting a $600 sword to a 
  $20,600 item means it holds 35 FP instead of 6 FP! Consider 
  limiting value added by spell-like properties to 
  the price of the underlying mundane item; e.g., 
  that sword could claim just +$600 from chi, 
  and even a very fine sword (+19 CF) would get 
  only +$12,000. This caps FP increases more and 
  more as the price tag goes up.
  Priceless Artifacts
  For extraordinarily rare artifacts, the details 
  of materials, craftsmanship, and perhaps even 
  the underlying item (“Is this a mace that resembles a holy sym-
  bol or a holy symbol chunky enough for braining enemies?”) 
  may be unknown or unknowable, which makes assessing a 
  fair $ value challenging. These curios often have supernatural 
  properties that blur into their physical nature, further confus-
  ing matters. Such objects are best assigned FP capacities.
  In the case of treasures found in GURPS Dungeon Fantasy 
  6: 40 Artifacts, GURPS Dungeon Fantasy 7: Clerics, and 
  other supplements, this is a simple matter of looking at the 
  “Power Item” stat. For original creations, the GM must do the 
  assigning. One way is to use published examples as guidelines. 
  Another is to set a modest “sell value” using the detailed rules 
  in The Problem of Price (40 Artifacts, p. 20). Yet another is to 
  place a fiat limit on how many $ the delvers can gross if they 
  sell everything they lug home from the adventure, subtract the 
  worth of all loot with an unambiguous price tag, and use the 
  difference to evaluate odd artifacts. Low figures here don’t 
  imply that shops sell similar goods cheaply – merchants inev-
  itably try to peddle ultra-rare or unique merchandise at pirat-
  ical prices, but market forces don’t establish intrinsic worth 
  (see Changes in Value, p. 6).
  wHat Can be a Power iteM
  Any discrete, unliving object can be a power item. This 
  rules out uncontained powders, liquids, and gases; ener-
  gies and force fields; and abstract concepts. It also for-
  bids pets and mounts (a familiar can provide an Energy 
  Reserve instead; see GURPS Dungeon Fantasy 5: Allies), 
  plants, and dark one living armor. Yet there’s much this 
  doesn’t prohibit:
  Sets: The owner of a suit of armor, pair of boots, or sim-
  ilar matching kit of related gear made by the same crafts-
  man has a choice. He can designate the set as a power 
  item and use its full value – but if a piece goes missing, 
  he can’t use his power item. Alternatively, he can avoid 
  this risk by using one piece – but then only its partial value 
  counts, although this leaves other bits free to be power 
  items. For instance, a $3,000 pair of orichalcum gauntlets 
  could be a collective power item that holds 14 FP when 
  both are worn, or the left glove alone ($1,500) could be a 
  caster power item that stores 10 FP, leaving the right one 
  to serve as a heroic power item, a friend’s power item, etc. 
  that also holds 10 FP.
  Consumables: Food, drink, oil, and so on are accept-
  able while contained, but lose all value if consumed or 
  poured out! A $1,000 dose of bladeblack stores 8 FP – but 
  once used, the $5 crystal vial holds no FP (or a paltry 1 FP 
  if bonded with). The high price tag of potions is decep-
  tive, as alchemical items don’t count (What Doesn’t Count, 
  p. 4). Ammunition presents a similar risk of loss: a gem 
  makes a great power item, but you won’t have it for long 
  if you sling it at a foe.
  Insubstantial Items: These are suitable provided that 
  they’re distinct objects in their native realm or dimension. 
  However, the owner can draw energy from or charge such 
  items only while he can hold, carry, touch, or (for altars, 
  castles, standing stones, etc.) stand in/on them. They’re 
  inaccessible while intangible to him, even if they’re super-
  naturally bonded to him or follow him around in their 
  ghostly state.
  Specific types of power items have stricter require-
  ments; see Types of Power Items (pp. 7-9). For instance, 
  caster power items can’t be made of meteoric iron, while 
  heroic power items must be martial in character. The 
  GM may enforce further restrictions; see Restricted Item 
  Types (pp. 12-13).
  Better a diamond 
  with a flaw than  
  a pebble without.
  – Confucius
  
   
  More Power to you! 
  6
  Power iteMs table
  After determining an object’s effective power item value – 
  omitting any part of cost that doesn’t contribute – find that 
  price tag that in the “Value” column and read over to the 
  “FP” column to learn the article’s capacity as a power item. 
  For intermediate values, use the next-highest FP; e.g., even a 
  $10 quarterstaff holds 1 FP, while a $1,000 high holy symbol 
  stores 8 FP.
  Value
  FP
  Value
  FP
  $50
  1
  $670
  6
  $120
  2
  $880
  7
  $220
  3
  $1,100
  8
  $340
  4
  $1,400
  9
  $490
  5
  $1,700
  10
  Value
  FP
  Value
  FP
  $2,000
  11
  $69,000
  50
  $2,400
  12
  $91,000
  55
  $2,800
  13
  $120,000
  60
  $3,300
  14
  $150,000
  65
  $3,800
  15
  $190,000
  70
  $4,300
  16
  $240,000
  75
  $4,900
  17
  $300,000
  80
  $5,500
  18
  $370,000
  85
  $6,200
  19
  $450,000
  90
  $7,000
  20
  $560,000
  95
  $12,000
  25
  $670,000
  100
  $18,000
  30
  $810,000
  105
  $26,000
  35
  $980,000
  110
  $37,000
  40
  $1,200,000
  115
  $51,000
  45
  $1,400,000
  120
  CHanges in Value
  In their quest for ever-larger power items, adventur-
  ers will want to tweak their gear’s value. Below are rules 
  covering this. These aren’t realistic, just balanced for 
  Dungeon Fantasy. That remark applies equally to eco-
  nomics – power item capacity tracks fixed intrinsic worth 
  and never fluctuates with the market!
  Adding Value
  New equipment can be bought with features like sil-
  ver coating, gems, or a mirror finish to boost its value as 
  a power item. If it makes sense to add such adornments 
  later, go ahead! There are two options:
  Commissioned Work: Go to town, find a suitable 
  crafts-man (in a new place, the GM may require an Area 
  Knowledge roll), and pay the cost difference plus a 10% 
  commission. Work takes 2d days. If you provide neces-
  sary materials (e.g., gems or silver), subtract their value 
  from the cost difference – but you must still pay 10% of 
  the full difference for labor. For instance, adding $1,000 
  in gems costs $100 plus whatever fraction of the $1,000 
  you don’t supply as gems.
  DIY: If you have the right skill (e.g., Jeweler to set 
  gems or Smith to plate metal) and the associated tool kit 
  (GURPS Dungeon Fantasy 1: Adventurers, p. 24) or a 
  universal one (GURPS Dungeon Fantasy 4: Sages, p. 12), 
  you can do your own work. Cost is that of the upgrade, 
  which you must meet by buying materials or supplying 
  them; e.g., to add $1,000 in gems, pay whatever fraction 
  of the $1,000 you can’t supply as gems. You avoid the 10% 
  commission but must roll against skill. Any success does 
  the job while failure allows a repeated attempt – but crit-
  ical failure either destroys the item or ruins the materials 
  (roll 1d even-odd). Each attempt takes one week – this 
  is rarely done in the field – and you can use Time Spent 
  (p. B346) to save time or get a bonus.
  Once all work is done, refigure maximum FP from the 
  new value. The item doesn’t actually contain extra FP 
  yet – you must charge it up first (Recharging, p. 10). For 
  instance, if $1,000 in gems raises the value of your $100 
  warhammer (2 FP) to $1,100 (8 FP), you’ll have to pay $30 
  or wait six days for a recharge, depending on the kind of 
  power item.
  Swaps and Losses
  Removing adornments is sometimes possible – at least 
  with gems and similar discrete add-ons. To do so without 
  losing value, apply the Adding Value rules to one decora-
  tion at a time, with two changes: Reduce time to one day 
  per attempt per ornament, and labor costs to 2% of com-
  bined item value.
  Sacrificing one part to free up the other requires no 
  appreciable time, cost, or skill, but automatically reduces 
  the value of the sacrificed part by (1d+4)¥10%.
  Either approach leaves the underlying item and what-
  ever was extracted from it available for later use with 
  Adding Value.
  Example: A bejeweled crown is worth $10,000. Skill-
  fully extracting the biggest diamond, worth $5,000 on 
  its own, requires a day and either $200 (2% of the full 
  $10,000) or a skill roll (with the usual risks); this results 
  in a $5,000 crown and a $5,000 stone. Just sacrificing the 
  gem would be free and easy, but would result in a $5,000 
  crown and a damaged diamond worth $0 to $2,500. Once 
  separated, the crown can receive a new gem while the old 
  one can be set in another item; these are separate tasks.
  If a power item explicitly loses value – by deliber-
  ate removal or bad luck (e.g., giant slug acid dissolving 
  its silver coating) – its maximum FP capacity instantly 
  plummets to match. Stored FP in excess of the lower 
  limit are lost.
  Example: A wizard uses that $10,000 crown as a power 
  item storing 25 FP. If she skillfully removes the $5,000 
  diamond to pay The Devil, the crown is worth only $5,000 
  and can hold 18 FP. If it currently contains 19-25 FP, the 
  excess 1-7 FP are lost.
  
   
  More Power to you! 
  7
  oPtional rule:  
  detailed Costs
  Complicated math doesn’t suit GURPS Dungeon Fantasy, 
  but brave gamers may opt to confront this monster. A power 
  item’s value is the materials cost (only!) for a Powerstone of 
  equal capacity. The sole reason for this is to maintain balance 
  if the GM permits both sorts of batteries. Per GURPS Magic, 
  p. 20, the formula for capacity P is:
  Value = ($10 ¥ P2 + $40 ¥ P) ¥ (54/53)P
  The power items rules make further assumptions:
  1. Values are rounded to the nearest two figures. For exam-
  ple, 4 FP and 5 FP call for $344.84 and $494.08 items, treated 
  as $340 and $490; 45 FP and 50 FP need $51,134.46 and 
  $68,747.72 objects, rounded to $51,000 and $69,000. This 
  consideration is aesthetic; groups comfortable with funky 
  price tags needn’t round.
  2. Values are treated as ceilings instead of floors. For exam-
  ple, $340 isn’t the minimum value for a 4-FP item, but the 
  maximum – anything larger, up to $490, is a 5-FP item. This 
  ruling serves to give starting adventurers a small boost. It’s 
  easily overturned; see Ceiling to Floor (p. 13).
  3. Past 20 FP, thresholds climb in 5 FP chunks. For exam-
  ple, $51,000 is the maximum value for a 45-FP item, and any-
  thing larger, up to $69,000, is a 50-FP item. Bickering over a 
  few FP seems petty if you have tens of them, but gamers are 
  free to split hairs; e.g., 46 FP and 47 FP give $54,343.90 and 
  $57,704.39, and the GM can opt to use those figures or round 
  ones ($54,000 and $58,000), as ceilings or as floors.
  tyPes of Power iteMs
  Nearly all wielders of supernatural powers have power 
  items, but certain details of these batteries vary with the kind 
  of power involved. There are several distinct types, split up 
  according to the “enabling advantage” behind the owner’s 
  capabilities; e.g., a wizard’s enabling advantage is Magery, 
  while a cleric or shaman’s is Power Investiture.
  Caster Power iteMs
  Anyone who can cast spells using Bardic Tal-
  ent, Deathliness, Demonic Attunement, Ele-
  mental Influence, Magery, Power Investiture, 
  or any similar enabling advantage – for a dis-
  cussion, see Magical Talents, Spells, and Powers 
  (GURPS Dungeon Fantasy 9: Summoners, 
  p. 13) – may designate a “caster power item.” 
  This can be made of any material but meteoric 
  iron. Caster power items are subject to three conditions:
  1. Their FP are restricted to energizing spells, abilities, and 
  items (such as scrolls) associated with the enabling advan-
  tage, plus general caster power-ups like those on pp. 13-16 of 
  GURPS Dungeon Fantasy 11: Power-Ups. The energy cannot 
  be used to meet mundane fatigue costs (e.g., for extra effort) 
  or to fuel general power-ups unrelated to being a spellcaster.
  2. They require Active Recharging (p. 10), which costs 
  money and is usually possible only in town.
  3. They cannot be drawn upon or recharged in an area 
  where the owner’s magic won’t work (e.g., a no-mana zone for 
  a wizard or a no-sanctity area for a cleric).
  There are several subtypes of caster items:
  Demonological Power Items: Used only by demonologists. 
  Demonologist spells and power-ups, and Demonological abil-
  ities, draw on extradimensional energies. Such forces give rise 
  to mana or dark sanctity where they impinge on the material 
  world, and that’s what demonologists most often rely on – but 
  their power items store a little bit of Hell directly.
  Magical Power Items: Used by bards, elementalists, and 
  wizards. All such casters require mana, which their power 
  items store in an accessible form. Power items for this group 
  aren’t distinct – a delver who combines two or more of these 
  professions (most often through lenses like those in GURPS 
  Dungeon Fantasy 3: The Next Level) uses the same power 
  item with all associated spells, powers, and power-ups. For 
  example, a wizard-bard would be able to designate only one 
  magical power item, and would use it for wizardly 
  spells, Bard-Song abilities, and special bardic skills 
  such as Enthrallment.
  Necromantic Power Items: Used only by necroman-
  cers. While mana and sanctity can influence these 
  casters’ abilities, neither is required. Deathly spells, 
  necromancer power-ups, and Necromantic abilities 
  rely on the residual life force in corpses, the spiritual 
  charge of ghosts, and sacrificing personal vitality. 
  Necromantic power items store such energies.
  Sacred Power Items: Used by clerics, druids, and 
  shamans. These three kinds of holy folk differ in import-
  ant ways, but all ultimately rely on faith. In dungeon fantasy, 
  this is a resource that can work miracles and be banked for 
  times when it runs low. A delver who combines the abilities 
  of two or more religious professions (either explicitly through 
  a cross-profession lens or implicitly via the New Realm pow-
  er-up from Power-Ups) uses the same power item with all 
  associated spells, powers, and power-ups.
  PsioniC Power iteMs
  Anybody with Unusual Background (Psionic) – see GURPS 
  Dungeon Fantasy 3: The Next Level, p. 40 or GURPS 
  Dungeon Fantasy 14: Psi, p. 14 – may designate a “psionic 
  power item.” The only objects off-limits for this are psiphobic 
  gear. Psionic power items are subject to two conditions:
  1. Their FP can be spent only to activate psi abilities and 
  power-ups. They cannot be used to cover mundane fatigue 
  costs, such as those for extra effort. Notably, the options in 
  Grimace and Glare (Psi, p. 33) are deemed extra effort: psionic 
  power items can fuel the underlying ability, but they cannot 
  pay the additional FP costs for pushing the limits.
  2. They use Passive Recharging (p. 10), which is free but 
  very slow.
  
   
  More Power to you! 
  8
  otHer Power iteMs
  If the GM feels it’s unfair to give spellcasters and mentalists 
  a “free” edge over other professions who must pay points for 
  expensive advantages and then spend FP to use the associated 
  special abilities, it’s easy to correct the inequity! Below are two 
  examples, both subject to the following conditions:
  1. Stored FP are useful only for skills and power-ups linked 
  directly to the enabling advantage(s), plus specific – but not 
  all – mundane fatigue costs.
  2. They use Passive Recharging (p. 10).
  Heroic Power Items
  Used by anybody with at least one of Heroic Archer, Trained 
  by a Master, or Weapon Master. While these power items are 
  most valuable to martial artists and swashbucklers, knights, 
  ninja, and scouts can have them, too. A delver can designate 
  one heroic power item, no matter how many relevant advan-
  tages he has or how many professions he combines. It comes 
  with a unique restriction and a special benefit:
  • The power item must be a weapon, shield, or piece of 
  armor. Close contact with that gear leaves residual chi or emo-
  tional charge that’s stored as FP.
  • The FP can be spent on not only skills and power-ups 
  enabled by one of the listed advantages (particularly Botte 
  Segrete, Breaking Blow, Chandelier Leap, Flying Leap, Hand 
  of Death, Kiai, and Power Blow), but also Extra Effort in 
  Combat (p. B357).
  Scholarly Power Items
  Used only by scholars, these items store cosmic energy 
  that’s generally worthless to mortals but which the enlight-
  ened can occasionally figure out how to exploit. They, too, 
  have an additional downside and upside:
  • The power item must be identifiably scholarly in nature. 
  A partial list: alchemist’s garb, backpack alchemy lab, correc-
  tive spectacles, etching kit, portable scribe, scientific instru-
  ments (GURPS Dungeon Fantasy 8: Treasure Tables, p. 16), 
  scribe’s kit, scroll belt, scroll case, shield lectern, and wax tab-
  let, plus any kind of book (the best of which are very costly) 
  and any knowledge-themed artifact. Stored FP represent a 
  psychic patina similar to that of a psionic power item but 
  imparted by pondering and scribbling.
  • The FP are useful for any spell or special skill enabled 
  by Book-Learned Wisdom or Wild Talent (No Advantage 
  Requirements), whatever its origin! They can also be burned 
  to cast from scrolls and in place of personal FP if the GM 
  assesses costs for long periods of study.
  enduranCe iteMs
  GURPS Dungeon Fantasy 8: Treasure Tables, p. 38 
  defines “endurance items” that serve as batteries for extra 
  effort and other non-supernatural applications of FP. Like all 
  power items, these have conditions attached:
  1. They’re useful for paying mundane FP costs – that is, 
  not for spells, special skills (e.g., Power Blow), or the abil-
  ities of powers. A handy guideline is to allow a proposed 
  expenditure only if it isn’t to energize a trait that requires 
  Magery, Trained by a Master, Unusual Background (Psionic), 
  or a similar extraordinary enabling advantage. Examples 
  are fueling extra effort (in or out of combat), athletics, and 
  repeated attempts at physical tasks, as well as absorbing FP 
  losses to exertion, sleep deprivation, starvation, and so on.
  2. They require Active Recharging (p. 10).
  An adventurer can’t just designate a random piece of gear 
  as an endurance item – this appears to be a property of spe-
  cially imbued objects. At the GM’s option, though, it may be 
  possible to add this capacity to any article of equipment . . . 
  for a price.
  Find the FP reserve of an endurance item by looking up 
  the underlying object’s price on the Power Items Table (p. 6), 
  using Determining Power Item Value (pp. 4-7) to assess what 
  elements of cost count. When buying or selling such an arti-
  cle, though, add $1,000 to its value. This surcharge reflect the 
  process of turning it into an endurance item, and in effect 
  replaces the need for an enabling advantage. Do not count 
  this premium when evaluating the gear as any kind of power 
  item. For instance, an $80 pair of boots could store 2 FP as 
  a power item; made into an endurance item, they would be 
  worth $1,080 but still hold 2 FP, not 8 FP.
  Endurance items may be commonplace, but the GM could 
  declare them a trade secret of particular towns, monasteries, 
  dwarven strongholds, etc. In that case, learning of these places 
  uses Finding a Quest (GURPS Dungeon Fantasy 2: Dungeons, 
  p. 4), while getting there is an adventure. Once the delvers 
  locate a source of endurance items, they can buy whatever is 
  for sale (remember the $1,000 surcharge!) or dish out $1,000 
  to enhance an existing possession, which takes 2d days.
  MultiPle iteMs of 
  different Kinds
  Racial traits, expensive cross-training, professional lenses, 
  quest rewards, and many other possibilities can add up to 
  give a delver command of several unrelated classes of abili-
  ties. For instance, an elf with racial Magery might start out 
  as a scholar, pay to learn a few wizardly spells, find religion as 
  a scholar-druid, and gain psi from a blow to head. The result 
  would be someone who can cast druidic and wizardly spells, 
  invoke scholarly Wild Talent to use countless other spells and 
  special skills, and wield the Druidic Arts and Psionics pow-
  ers. And anyone might loot or buy an endurance item.
  Always be wary of any 
  helpful item that weighs 
  less than its operating 
  manual.
  – Terry Pratchett, 
  Jingo
  
   
  More Power to you! 
  9
  Any self-respecting munchkin in such a situation would 
  ask, “Can I have a power item for each set of abilities? How 
  about an endurance item while we’re at it?” The answer in 
  both cases is “yes” – with caveats.
  An individual can designate one of each of the following, 
  provided that the noted conditions are met:
  Demonological Power Item (p. 7): Requires Demonic 
  Attunement 1+.
  Endurance Item (p. 8): Requires a $1,000 fee and GM’s 
  permission.
  Heroic Power Item (p. 8): Requires Heroic Archer, Trained 
  by a Master, or Weapon Master, plus GM’s permission.
  Magical Power Item (p. 7): Requires Bardic Magery, Bar-
  dic Talent, Elemental Influence (any), or Magery at level 1+.
  Necromantic Power Item (p. 7): Requires Deathliness 1+.
  Psionic Power Item (p. 7): Requires Unusual Background 
  (Psionic).
  Sacred Power Item (p. 7): Requires Power Investiture 1+ 
  (any).
  Scholarly Power Item (p. 8): Requires Book-Learned Wis-
  dom 1+ and Wild Talent 1+ (No Advantage Requirements), 
  plus GM’s permission.
  Regardless of how many such items an adventurer pos-
  sesses, they’re collectively subject to a few important rules.
  One Object, One Reserve
  No object can serve as two or more of the above item types 
  at the same time! A delver who desires power items for two 
  kinds of spellcasting and psi abilities, and an endurance item, 
  needs four distinct pieces of gear.
  This rule prevents multitalented adventurers – who can 
  avoid the problems associated with particular abilities 
  (no-mana zones for wizardly spells, monsters for psi, and so 
  on) by turning to other gifts, and who tend to invade their 
  allies’ niches – from growing even more unstoppable and inva-
  sive whenever they acquire an expensive piece of gear. On the 
  flipside, it keeps loss of a single item from upsetting the cam-
  paign’s balance of power in the other direction. And babble 
  about “interference between occult energies” adds nice color.
  The GM might make exceptions for unique artifacts. Such 
  an item’s only remarkable property may be that it can fill sev-
  eral roles at once. The GM decides whether it gives a single 
  reserve useful for everything (which could be a curse if that’s 
  1 FP and counts as the owner’s only allowed power item in 
  every category!) or lets the owner designate separate reserves 
  (which can be ultra-powerful if the capacity is large).
  Two remarkable properties are always exceptions. Power 
  reserves (GURPS Dungeon Fantasy 8: Treasure Tables, 
  pp. 47-48), though recharged just like power items, aren’t con-
  sidered to be such for the owner; an object can have a power 
  reserve and be a power item simultaneously. Likewise, while 
  weapons enchanted with Blood Drinker (Treasure Tables, 
  p. 49) resemble endurance items, they aren’t – an object bear-
  ing this magic can be an endurance or power item at the same 
  time, by logic similar to that which excludes the enchant-
  ment’s $50,000 price tag from power item value.
  No Substitutions
  The FP stored in a power or endurance item are restricted 
  to the particular purposes noted for that item. For instance, 
  a cleric-wizard cannot divert energy from his magical power 
  item to his clerical spells or Holy Might abilities, nor can he 
  tap his sacred power item to cast wizardly spells or activate 
  his Secret Teleportation Spell power-up.
  There are no exceptions here except in the rare case where 
  a unique artifact counts as the owner’s allowed power item in 
  every category.
  One Feat, One Source
  Rarely, a single action could logically use FP from more 
  than one power item. In that case, the user must specify a 
  single source for the feat – energy cannot be drawn from two 
  or more such reserves. For instance, someone with Book-
  Learned Wisdom, Magery, and Wild Talent (No Advantage 
  Requirements) could designate magical and scholarly power 
  items; if she were to cast a wizardly spell acquired via Book-
  Learned Wisdom, she could draw on one or the other, but 
  not both.
  using Power iteMs
  So now you have a big, shiny power item worth $1 million. 
  How does it work? Here’s the owner’s manual.
  sPending energy
  You must be either carrying or touching your power item to 
  spend the FP stored in it. If you are, drawing energy from it is 
  automatic, instantaneous, and undetectable. Just tell the GM 
  “I’m using my power item” when you invoke the ability that’s 
  going to consume the FP. Physical separation is the only way 
  to prevent someone from using a power item.
  In particular:
  • The power item needn’t be in contact with bare skin. A 
  sword in a gloved hand counts, and so does a metal helm 
  over a cloth arming cap or even a fancy crest atop that helm. 
  Anything that adds to its owner’s encumbrance – or would, if 
  it had more than negligible weight – automatically qualifies as 
  carried or touched.
  • The power item needn’t be wielded. It can be slung, stuffed 
  in a pocket, or thrust through a belt. It can be in a pouch, 
  sheath, pack, or similar container provided that the owner is 
  carrying the container. However, it cannot supply FP partway 
  through being decorated (Adding Value, p. 6), enhanced into 
  an endurance item (p. 8) or item of power (p. 13), enchanted, 
  or otherwise improved – not even if the owner is doing the 
  work and has the thing on him.
  • The power item needn’t be mobile. If you truly want 
  your power item to be your $25,000 townhouse so you have 
  an extra 35 FP when working at home, go ahead – stand-
  ing on the floor or leaning on the wall counts as touching.  
  
   
  More Power to you! 
  10
  However, a static power item costs twice as much to recharge 
  because it requires a house call.
  Once FP from a power item are spent, they’re gone until the 
  conditions under Recharging (below) are met.
  reCHarging
  When a new adventurer enters the campaign, any gear pur-
  chased with starting money and designated as a power item 
  is fully charged. After its FP are spent – and whenever some-
  one bonds to a new power item (Replacements and Upgrades, 
  below) – the item will need recharging. Power items fall into 
  two categories for this purpose. This is inherent in the type of 
  item, not a choice on the owner’s part.
  Active Recharging
  To recharge any caster power item or an endurance item, 
  the owner must bring the object to a suitable institution. This 
  is normally a holy place (e.g., temple) for sacred power items, 
  the Wizards’ Guild for magical ones, or somewhere consid-
  erably creepier for demonological or necromantic ones. For 
  endurance items, it’s the local chapter of whoever manufac-
  tures such things. The GM decides whether a given settlement 
  has the necessary facilities, but any good-sized town should 
  do unless “recharges aren’t for sale” is part of the current 
  adventure – though tiny communities may have hard limits 
  on how many FP they can recharge per day!
  The recharging process takes an hour and requires the 
  owner to be physically present. It costs $5 per FP restored. 
  Double cost if those doing the recharging must make a “house 
  call” (only in town!), or if the item benefits from Better Power 
  Items (p. 12); if both apply, that’s $20/FP. Fees are customarily 
  treated as donations for sacred power items, straight-up com-
  mercial transactions for magical ones and endurance items, 
  and shady deals for necromantic and demonological items.
  Recharges can be full or partial, and of old or newly des-
  ignated power items – this doesn’t change the price per FP or 
  the time requirement.
  Passive Recharging
  A heroic, psionic, or scholarly power item – or a caster 
  item specially designated by someone with the Passively 
  Rechargeable Caster Items perk (p. 12) – cannot be ritually 
  recharged. It regenerates 1 FP per day (24-hour period, for 
  rules lawyers visiting weird realms) while specific conditions 
  are met:
  • A heroic power item regains 1 FP on any day the war-
  rior spends equipped with it. A weapon or a shield can be 
  wielded, scabbarded, sheathed, or slung, as applicable; armor 
  must be worn. Those with Chi Mastery or Ninja Training need 
  only bear the item for the 1d hours they spend maintaining 
  their powers daily. Everyone else must schlep it around for 
  16 hours a day, meaning that in locales where carrying it is 
  forbidden, the owner is out of luck.
  • A psionic power item regains 1 FP on any day when the 
  psi sleeps for at least two hours with it touching him or within 
  arm’s reach. If he can’t sleep that day, too bad.
  • A scholarly power item regains 1 FP on any day when the 
  scholar spends at least two hours reading or writing. Memo-
  rizing knowledge with Book-Learned Wisdom counts.
  • A caster power item made passively rechargeable via a 
  perk regains 1 FP per day spent in an area where spells of the 
  associated variety can be cast.
  There’s no known way to accelerate this. A week resting  
  in town sees such a power item recover 7 FP, while casters 
  can normally spend cash to replenish the largest reserves in 
  an hour. On the other hand, items that recharge passively do 
  so for free – even in the field!
  rePlaCeMents and uPgrades
  One of the joys of killing monsters is loot, and valuables are 
  the ticket to ever-larger power items. Upgrades aren’t auto-
  matic, however.
  You can designate a new power item wherever and when-
  ever you want, regardless of whether you currently have one 
  of that kind. To do so, you must make direct contact with the 
  desired object, such as by laying bare hands on it. If it’s cur-
  rently somebody else’s portable possession (power item or 
  not), you must either physically separate it from him or get 
  his permission to take it over. If it’s static, like a cas-
  tle, you’ll need his permanent demise (death for 
  mortals, destruction for lich lords, and so on) or 
  a formal title transfer. There’s no known way to 
  circumvent these conditions if somebody doesn’t 
  want you to bond with his property!
  Each attempt at the bonding process requires 
  one hour of constant contact and a Will roll. For 
  a caster item, you may add your level with the rel-
  evant casting advantage (e.g., Magery, for a mag-
  ical power item). For an item that can energize a 
  power, you may add your power Talent level (Chi 
  or Ninja Talent for a heroic power item, Psi Talent 
  for a psionic one, and so on). Any success bonds 
  you with the item while any failure doesn’t; critical 
  success or failure has no special effect. Repeated 
  attempts waste time but incur no penalties.
  Successfully bonding with a new power item of 
  a given type causes following things to happen:
  • Your former power item (if any) of that type ceases 
  to be a power item, regardless of its location: your 
  pack, town, enemy hands, another dimension, wherever.  
  Supercharging?
  Players who read How Much? (GURPS Dungeon Fantasy 2: 
  Dungeons, p. 29) will ask about “rituals that charge power items 
  far beyond their usual limits for an exorbitant fee.” A suggested 
  rule: Any actively recharged (above) power item can be temporarily 
  filled to up to two times its normal capacity using a rare process 
  known only in a few cities. Cost is $70 per FP past the usual max-
  imum, doubled as usual for “house calls” or Better Power Items; 
  e.g., an item that holds 4 FP could be fully charged for $20 and 
  then supercharged to 5, 6, 7, or 8 FP for another $70, $140, $210, or 
  $280, respectively. This is just over twice as expensive as drinking 
  paut to restore FP – but possibly worth it, since while both are one-
  shot benefits, supercharged FP are available in an up-front chunk.
  
   
  More Power to you! 
  11
  Any stored FP drain away. You or someone else can later  
  (re-)bond with it as the same or a different kind of power  
  item – a separate process that requires its own time and  
  Will roll(s).
  • Your new power item immediately loses any status it 
  might have had as your power item of another kind or as 
  someone else’s power item of any type (regardless of where he 
  is). Any FP held in that capacity drain away.
  • You can now charge your new power item. It starts at 0 
  FP and can be filled to the capacity its value prescribes, in the 
  usual manner (Recharging, p. 10).
  There’s no known way to transfer FP between power items. 
  Bonding always empties any old item of that kind and yields 
  an empty new one, regardless of the kinds of items involved or 
  who owned them. Don’t switch items if you have no time to hit 
  town or rest (as the case may be) – that is, unless bonding with 
  a purloined enemy item to drain it would be of tactical value!
  Unlinking
  If for some strange reason (probably involving gods or 
  bizarre foreign laws) you want to disconnect from a power 
  item without replacing it with another, you can. The object 
  needn’t be present. Otherwise, follow the rules for bonding: 
  take an hour and roll against Will. Any success breaks your 
  bond with the power item, which is immediately drained  
  of FP.
  Memory
  Objects have no “memory” of their history as power items. 
  If someone bonds with a new item and wants to return to 
  an old one, he must go through the bonding process all over 
  again – and afterward, that item will start with 0 FP, not the 
  FP it stored when he was last bonded with it.
  Past designations have no impact on current ones. If some-
  thing used as a psionic power item is repurposed as a magical 
  power item, it will use active rather than passive recharging, 
  and any FP recharged will be useful for magic, not psi.
  Abilities such as Better Power Items (p. 12) and Passively 
  Rechargeable Caster Items (p. 12) go with the owner, not the 
  item. Only the traits of the individual currently bonded with 
  the object matter.
  Exception: Once the premium is paid to enhance something 
  as an endurance item (p. 8) or an item of power (p. 13), the 
  object “remembers” no matter how often it’s later bonded as 
  a power item. These properties work upon bonding – there’s 
  no need to pay the fees anew! To learn whether an article has 
  such capabilities, use Artifact Lore (see GURPS Dungeon 
  Fantasy 11: Power-Ups).
  Lending, Borrowing, and Stealing
  It’s impossible to spend FP from somebody else’s power 
  item or to act as his proxy for recharging, even if he grants 
  permission. The energy resides in that individual’s bond with 
  his possession – not literally “inside” the object. All taking 
  another person’s item does is prevent him from using the 
  energy and give others an opportunity to bond with it. If the 
  owner gets it back, it will contain exactly as many FP as it 
  stored when he lost it, unless someone else bonded with it or 
  he bonded with a replacement.
  The bond between a power item and its owner cannot 
  be “fooled” to circumvent these rules. A doppelgänger, how-
  ever flawless, has no link with the power item of the original 
  person. Likewise, the supernatural ties persist if someone is 
  transformed, swaps bodies, or returns from the dead, however 
  different the new form; e.g., a druid would retain her bond 
  with her power item while using Alternate Form, or even after 
  dying and returning in a new body via the Reincarnation ability 
  from GURPS Dungeon Fantasy 11: Power-Ups. Changes to 
  the mind – even drops to animal-level intelligence and about-
  faces in personality due to curses – are equally irrelevant.
  Power iteM Power-uPs
  Power-hungry delvers are always looking for ways to stash 
  more energy. Increasing personal FP or buying an Energy 
  Reserve works but costs 3 points/level. That underlines what 
  makes power items so attractive: equipment rarely costs 
  points, and even when it’s acquired via Wealth, Signature 
  Gear, or trading points for money, designating it a power item 
  adds no extra point cost. Power items provide a handy boost 
  that’s initially free but comes with conditions attached.
  But what if an adventurer is willing to spend points 
  to work around those conditions? Here are some possi-
  bilities. More than most traits, these require GM judg-
  ment, as they enable many other abilities to be used 
  more often or for more-impressive feats.
  Extra Power Items
  Variable
  You’ve learned a major ritual that empowers you to 
  bond with more than one power item of a particular 
  kind. You must specialize by type. This is most often 
  some variety of caster power item – e.g., Extra Power Items 
  (Magical) or Extra Power Items (Sacred) – but nothing pro-
  hibits Extra Endurance Items, Extra Power Items (Heroic), 
  Extra Power Items (Psionic), and so on.
  The cost is 15 points per extra power item: 15 points 
  for a total of two of one kind, 30 points for three, 45 points  
  for four, and so on. You must 
  disconnect from an exist-
  ing item only if you exceed 
  your maximum number 
  of power items, in which 
  case it’s your choice which 
  link you break. If you 
  also have Better Power 
  Items (p. 12) and/or Pas-
  sively Rechargeable Caster 
  Items (p. 12) for this type 
  of item, you may specify 
  which ones are affected by 
  your perk(s).
  
   
  More Power to you! 
  12
  If Recharger (below) is available to PCs, this ability is 
  subject to diminishing returns. At the GM’s option, paying 
  50 points lets you have any number of power items of this 
  kind – that is, the progression ends at 50 points for a total of 
  five or more power items. This is not balanced if Recharger 
  isn’t an option!
  Power Item Perks
  These count as Magic Perks; see GURPS Dungeon 
  Fantasy 11: Power-Ups, pp. 14-15. The † means specializa-
  tion by specific type of caster power item is required.
  Better Power Items†
  1 point
  Add 50% to the final value worked out under Determining 
  Power Item Value (pp. 4-7) when looking up an object’s value 
  on the Power Items Table (p. 6). For example, with Better Power 
  Items (Magical), a $2,000 jewel – normally limited to 11 FP – 
  functions as a $3,000 one that stores 14 FP when designated 
  as a magical power item. Such items are harder to recharge, 
  however: double cost to $10/FP ($20/FP for “house calls”).
  You must declare whether a power item will take advan-
  tage of this perk when you bond with it. If you have Extra 
  Power Items (pp. 11-12), you may decide separately for each 
  one. Once the decision is made, switching to the other option 
  requires you to unlink (p. 11) from the object and then re-bond 
  with it as though it were a new power item.
  If you have Passively Rechargeable Caster Items (below), 
  any object affected by both perks uses its normal value (not 
  50% more or less) to find FP but recharges at half the usual 
  rate (1 FP every two days).
  Dark ones have a special racial version of this perk that 
  doesn’t require specialization – it boosts all their caster power 
  items. See GURPS Dungeon Fantasy 3: The Next Level, p. 6.
  Passively Rechargeable Caster Items†
  1 point
  You know a minor ritual that allows you to designate your 
  caster power item as passively rechargeable. Such an object 
  has a capacity that corresponds to only half of the final 
  value worked out in Determining Power Item Value (pp. 4-7) 
  but automatically recharges 1 FP/day in any area where 
  you could cast spells that draw on its energy (see Passive 
  Recharging, p. 10). It cannot be actively recharged in town or 
  using Recharger (below).
  Example: A $5,500 piece of jewelry would be treated as a 
  $2,750 item, and thus hold 13 FP instead of 18 FP if desig-
  nated “rechargeable.” However, it would regain 1 FP/day with-
  out active recharging. If you’re a wizard, recharging would 
  happen only where mana is present.
  You must declare a power item as either actively or pas-
  sively rechargeable when you bond with it. If you have Extra 
  Power Items (pp. 11-12), you may decide separately for each 
  one. Once you set this property on an item, though, it will 
  only work that way until you unlink (p. 11) from it and then 
  re-bond with it as though it were a new power item.
  Recharger
  75 points
  Prerequisite: Recover Energy spell at 20+.
  You know the jealously guarded ritual that temples, the 
  Wizards’ Guild, and so on use to recharge caster power 
  items! You can help friends, but be warned that collecting a 
  fee for this service means running afoul of a powerful car-
  tel of priests and magicians. Challenging their monopoly 
  brings stiff consequences. At a minimum, your group will 
  be shunned in town, meaning you’ll be unable to buy or sell 
  magical or sacred goods and services (blessing, enchant-
  ment, healing, etc.) – and denied quests by organizations that 
  trade in such things – until you make (costly) amends. Repeat 
  offenders may be banned from town, sought by bounty hunt-
  ers, or cursed.
  This ritual isn’t specialized by type but can only recharge a 
  power item associated with a spellcasting Talent you possess; 
  e.g., to restore a druid’s power item, you must have Power 
  Investiture (Druidic). It cannot affect passively recharged 
  power items of any kind. To use it, take one hour, expend 
  five times the FP you want to restore (which can come from 
  any source, including personal FP, an Energy Reserve, or a 
  power item), and roll against IQ plus your level with the rele-
  vant Talent. Success charges the item, failure wastes the time 
  and energy, and critical failure taints the object permanently, 
  making it forever worthless as any kind of power item.
  This power-up is worthwhile only to spellcasters who pos-
  sess large amounts of FP and ER (preferably as much as the 
  campaign permits!) – and only if they have access to valuable 
  goods, are routinely away from town for extended periods, 
  and either know spells that need large doses of energy or have 
  associates who do.
  Power iteM Control
  If the GM feels power items are being abused, or plans to 
  introduce optional rules that increase their potency, there are 
  ways to maintain balance.
  Restricted Item Types
  Just as heroic power items must be martial gear and schol-
  arly ones are restricted to academic paraphernalia, the GM 
  can impose conditions on other types. Sacred examples may 
  need to serve some ceremonial purpose or be blessed, and 
  might even have to be holy symbols; magical ones could be 
  limited to spellbooks, wands, and staffs (and maybe robes and 
  pointy hats), though bards should always be able to use musi-
  cal instruments; psionic power items may have to be head-
  gear; and so on.
  Materials might also play a role. For instance, caster power 
  items can’t be meteoric iron, but perhaps divine mandate ren-
  ders orichalcum no good for anyone, despite its high value. 
  Alternatively, maybe only jewels and precious metals work – 
  no using plate corselets and fine rapiers just because they’re 
  expensive, though value added by making gear mirrored, 
  ornate, or silver-plated always counts.
  
   
  More Power to you! 
  13
  Forbidding some or all Special Cases (pp. 4-5) is also effec-
  tive. If no holy symbol is any better than the basic $50 model, 
  enchantment-like effects are discounted regardless of origin, 
  and even cosmic artifacts count as only basic gear of their 
  kind, a lot of big-ticket items are off the table. The GM can 
  introduce such goodies as treasure without worrying about 
  unintended consequences. This can be a blanket rule or adju-
  dicated on an item-by-item basis, effectively applying Priceless 
  Artifacts (p. 5) to all special gear.
  Ruling out large, stationary power items is yet another 
  possibility. This may seem a trivial inconvenience for errant 
  adventurers, but doing so prevents them from clearing the 
  vampire lord’s high-priced condo, moving in, and using it to 
  pay for overpowered magic.
  Born This Way
  Prohibiting Adding Value (p. 6) is a  
  simple-but-effective way of preventing 
  wealthy delvers from going nuts with 
  power items. If slathering something with 
  gems and gilding after the fact doesn’t 
  make it a higher-capacity power item, 
  heroes will require more resources and 
  have to lug more gear to get upgrades.
  Example: Finding a $3,000 gem, adding 
  it to a fine rapier ($2,000), and boosting the 
  blade’s capacity from 11 to 18 FP involves 
  $5,000 of resources and 2.75 lbs. of weight. 
  If that isn’t allowed, an adventurer who 
  wants an 18-FP power item would have to 
  find something worth more than $4,900 its 
  own right, which is almost by definition 
  rarer than a $3,000 gem – and carrying that 
  and the rapier would commit over $6,900 
  of resources. And if the found object were 
  a flimsy-but-ornate rapier worth $5,000, 
  keeping that as a power item and the fine 
  weapon for fighting would not only tie up $7,000 
  in resources but also entail 5.5 lbs. of encumbrance.
  Ceiling to Floor
  Reading the “Value” column of the Power Items Table (p. 6) 
  as having “At least” in front of each cost – so that gear must be 
  worth at least $50 to hold 1 FP, $120 to store 2 FP, and so on – 
  can afford a modicum of control at the start of the campaign, 
  when every $ and FP counts.
  There Can Be Only One!
  Limiting each adventurer to a single power item of any 
  kind – not one per type – can be an effective control on higher- 
  powered heroes. It forces psionic cleric-wizards who get 
  Trained by a Master to decide whether being a cleric, a 
  martial artist, a mentalist, or a wizard matters most. Extra 
  Power Items (pp. 11-12) should be off-limits when enforcing 
  this control.
  Ritual Conditions
  More stringent conditions for Spending Energy (pp. 9-10) 
  are effective controls. The most logical option is to require 
  users to wield power items and/or touch them with bare skin. 
  The downsides of holding a fragile bejeweled dagger in an 
  ungloved hand during a raging melee are obvious!
  Harder Recharging
  The $5/FP for active recharging (p. 10) and 1 FP/day for 
  passive recharging (p. 10) ensure that all but the poorest 
  delvers start every adventure fully topped-up. If the local 
  monopoly wants two or even 20 times as much to charge 
  caster items – or if adventurers with heroic, psionic, or schol-
  arly items can’t meet their recharge conditions in a given 
  area – FP rationing is likely. The GM most likely won’t want 
  to allow Recharger (p. 12) in that situation, and might also 
  rule out Passively Rechargeable Caster Items (p. 12).
  ’Til Death Do Us Part
  An extreme limitation on power items is to forbid replac-
  ing them (Replacements and Upgrades, pp. 10-11) until 
  they’re destroyed. Melting down an item made of precious 
  metals lets the owner recoup the cash value, but destroy-
  ing most things – weapons, armor, tools, books, etc. – ruins 
  them along with any supernatural properties they had. And 
  if someone steals a power item and keeps it intact, its right-
  ful owner is out of luck until he recovers it.
  With this rule in effect, it’s a good idea to buy power items 
  as Signature Gear. Power Items . . . of Power (above) also 
  becomes more attractive, and the GM may even rule that all 
  power items work that way for free!
  Lesser versions of this restriction may merely make bond-
  ing with new items onerous. It might take days, weeks, or 
  months instead of an hour. It could involve a ritual performed 
  by some specialist in town who charges anywhere from $20 
  per FP in the new item to the value next to that FP capacity 
  on the Power Items Table (p. 6). It may only be possible under 
  specific conditions: at supernaturally significant locales, on 
  particular dates (e.g., equinoxes), during rare events (say, 
  at the coronation of a monarch), or with special materials 
  (“Take the blood of a demon lord . . .”).
  Power iteMs . . . of Power
  GURPS Dungeon Fantasy 8: Treasure Tables, p. 42 introduces the 
  “wizard’s staff of power” and “wizard’s wand of power.” These are ornate 
  objects that, when used as power items, can be deliberately broken by their 
  owner (roll vs. ST) to release twice their full FP capacity for one final feat – 
  usually a spell. Doing so completely consumes the item.
  No price is given for this property, but $500 works. This makes the wiz-
  ard’s staff of power, at $4,040, a fancy $3,510 (15-FP) item with the Staff 
  spell ($30) and this capability. The wizard’s wand of power, at $2,550, is 
  a snazzy $2,020 (12-FP) object with those two additions. The extra $500 
  matters when trading such a thing, but not when evaluating it as a power 
  item of any kind.
  The GM decides how common wizardly items of power are and whether 
  there are also sacred, heroic, psionic, and other items of power. A trade 
  secret that demands a quest to discover is fun. Such items might be sold 
  “as is” (add $500 to the usual price), but it may be possible to modify an 
  existing power item for $500, which takes 2d days.
  
  Better Power Items power-up, 12.
  Blessed equipment, value of, 4.
  Bonding process, 10-11.
  Borrowing, 11.
  Caster power items, 7.
  Consumable power items, 5.
  Controlling power items, 12-13; forbidding 
  replacements, 13; found items only, 13; 
  harder recharging, 13; limiting quantity, 13; 
  minimum item value, 13; restricted item 
  types, 12-13; ritual conditions, 13.
  Cosmic artifacts, value of, 5.
  Definition of power item, 5.
  Demonological power items, 7, 9.
  Elder weirdness, value of, 5.
  Enchantment-like effects, value of, 5.
  Endurance items, 8, 9.
  Energy, see Fatigue Points.
  Extra Power Items power-ups, 11-12.
  Extraordinary craftsmanship, value of, 5.
  Fatigue Points (FP), changes in capacity, 6, 
  10-11; detailed costs and, 7; determining 
  capacity, 6; items of power and, 13; 
  restrictions on, 9, 11; source of, 9; spending, 
  9-10, 13; see also Recharging.
  GURPS Dungeon Fantasy, 3, 7; Dungeon 
  Fantasy 1: Adventurers, 3, 4, 6; Dungeon 
  Fantasy 2: Dungeons, 8, 10; Dungeon 
  Fantasy 3: The Next Level, 7, 12; Dungeon 
  Fantasy 4: Sages, 4, 6; Dungeon Fantasy 
  5: Allies, 5; Dungeon Fantasy 6: 40 
  Artifacts, 5; Dungeon Fantasy 7: Clerics, 
  5; Dungeon Fantasy 8: Treasure Tables, 4, 
  8, 9, 13; Dungeon Fantasy 9: Summoners, 
  7; Dungeon Fantasy 11: Power-Ups, 7, 
  11, 12; Dungeon Fantasy 14: Psi, 5, 7; 
  Magic, 7.
  Heroic power items, 8, 9.
  Immovable power items, see Static Power 
  Items.
  Insubstantial power items, 5.
  Items of power, 13.
  Lending, 11.
  Magical power items, 7, 9.
  Necromantic power items, 7, 9.
  Passively Rechargeable Caster Items perk, 12.
  Perks, 12.
  Power-ups, 11-12.
  Professions, power items for other, 8.
  Psionic power items, 7, 9.
  Recharger power-up, 12.
  Recharging, 10; active, 10; harder, 13; house 
  calls, 10; passive, 10; power-up, 12; static 
  items, 10; supercharging, 10.
  Replacements, 10-11; forbidding, 13.
  Sacred power items, 7, 9.
  Scholarly power items, 8, 9.
  Sets as power items, 5.
  Spending energy, 9-10, 13.
  Static power items, 9-10; gaining control of, 10; 
  recharging, 10; supercharging, 10.
  Stealing, 11.
  Table, power items, 6.
  Treasure as power item, 5.
  Types, 7-9; multiple items of different kinds, 
  8-9, 13; new, 8; restricted item types, 12-13.
  Unlinking, 11.
  Upgrades, 10-11.
  Using power items, 9.
  Value, adding, 6, 13; changes in, 6; contributing 
  properties, 4; detailed costs, 7; determining, 
  4-7; extraordinary properties, 4-5; FP 
  capacity determined by, 6; losses, 6; 
  minimum, 13; noncontributing properties, 
  4; priceless artifacts and, 5; restrictions 
  based on table, 13; swaps, 6; table, 6.
   
  index 
  14
  index
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