A Technical Treatise on Gem: Opals, the Poor Mage's Emeralds
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A Technical Treatise on Gems : Opals, the Poor Mage's Emeralds
This treatise covers the use of Fire Opals in wand craft. The repetitious nature of these treatise have left me mentally drained and not as witty as I would like. Fire Opals function much like emeralds do in wand craft just not as well and thus they've been nicknamed among artificers as the poor mage's emeralds. While I prefer to work exclusively with emeralds sometimes an emerald isn't needed and I can't bring myself to use a sapphire so I turn to the humble fire opal; the poor mage's emerald.
Sorting
The first thing we need to do with fire opals is to sort them. There are a whole slew of characteristics that influence how you can use a stone; for simplicity's sake I am going to lump them all together into a singular category. As a master artificer there are only four categories I use and that is category 1 through category 4. Category 1 is reserved for fire opals that are only fit to be used in a wooden wand. Category 2 is reserved for fire opals that can be used in a steel wand. Category 3 is reserved for fire opals that can be used in ivory wands. Category 4 is reserved for fire opals that can be used in a gold wand. This category of gems happens to be my favorite and subsequent information will illuminate why.
Each wand also has a base ranking on the Flenken Power Scale and a certain number of castings that it can hold. If you are unfamiliar with this information I recommend you pick up a copy of A Technical Treatise on Wands, it covers this basic information. All gems can either modify this ranking, provide additional charges, do both, or provide other properties that make them useful. Fire opals are used to increase the Flenken Power Scale ranking by 33% and provide 33% more castings of the spell; or more depending on the category of the fire opal used.
Wooden Wands
Wooden Wands have a base FPS ranking of 0.075 and provide 5 castings. Using a category 1 fire opal in a wooden wand will increase the FPS ranking to 0.1 and provide an additional casting of the spell. Using a category 2 fire opal in a wooden wand will increase the FPS ranking to 0.125 and provides an additional three castings of the spell; it will also offer a slight increase in the potency of the wand. Using a category 3 sapphire in a wooden wand will increase the FPS ranking to 0.15 and provides an additional five castings of the spell; it will also offer a slight increase in the potency of the wand. Using a category 4 sapphire in a wooden wand will increase the FPS ranking to 0.175 and provide an additional seven castings of the spell; it also offers a modest increase in the potency of the wand.
Steel Wands
Steel Wands have a base FPS ranking of 0.15 and provide 10 castings. Using a category 2 fire opal in a steel wand will increase the FPS ranking to 0.2 and provides an additional three castings of the spell. Using a category 3 fire opal in a steel wand will increase the FPS ranking to 0.225 and provides an additional five castings of the spell. Using a category 4 fire opal in a steel wand increases the FPS ranking to 0.25 and provides an additional seven casting of the spell; it also offers a slight increase in the potency of the wand.
Ivory and Gold Wands
For the sake of brevity, I will cover both Ivory Wands and Gold Wands simultaneously; Ivory Wands have a base FPS ranking of 0.225 and provide 15 castings while Gold Wands have a base FPS ranking of 0.3 and provide 20 castings. A category 3 fire opal in an ivory wand will increase the FPS ranking to 0.3 and provide an additional five castings of the spell. A category 4 fire opal in an ivory wand will increase the FPS ranking to 0.325 and provide an additional six castings of the spell; a category 4 fire opal in a gold wand will increase the FPS ranking to 0.4 and provide an additional seven castings of the spell.
This concludes my treatise on fire opals. As with my other books this book is just a primer. It will take you decades of research and experimentation to truly master the skill of artifice as I have. At long last I've completed my treatises on commonly used gems in artificing. Take this treatise, dear reader, and go forth and burn brightly.