>As I've posted before, I like the transform idea of taking a
>limited magical item from anywhere and being able to transform
>it (similar to despoil but instead of hp you get dam redux).
>Having the spell available at 30 means every mage can get some
>sort of dam redux, even if it is only 10%. The more powerful
>items that give longer lasting and more reduction take some
>difficulty in getting. You'd have to kill a pretty tough mob.
> Plus, they might be items that people actually wear so there
>is competition in that, too.

Ultimately, there is zero risk to this solution, and one of the reasons I'm not a fan of it. Taking away a cabal skill and tossing it out to every mage is another reason I'm not a fan.

>One reason you said you disliked the idea was because of the
>abundance of magical items. Well, if you make the majority of
>them give only minimal redux, what's the problem with that?

So define the scale. There are ~20,000 objects in the game, let's just assume 33% are magical. Tell me what your thoughts are for balancing that across ~7000 items.

>It still takes some work in going out and killing appropriate
>mobs to gather/farm them.

And you can do that in relative seclusion with minimal risk (or just full loot your kills so you've got an ample supply).

>Exploration is still involved. Mages would have to go out and
>gather, test, and find what works efficiently for them.

Exploration is involved, risk isn't.

>The transform idea would also reward long-lived characters
>because it'd be hours based and % based to a small extent. It
>would also take the veil into account, which is a great
>addition but often ignored by non-nexuns and battle.

Why? Again...define a complete solution here.

>And depending on the nature of the item, you might even throw
>in some possible goodies. A magical item from coral palace
>might grant water resist or water breathing or shield of waves
>from a unique, hard to get item. Something from kiadana might
>make you heal faster in a burning area, give channel heat, or
>a random wall of fire prog to a weapon.

If I'm not going to build up kits for shamans based on their sphere, I'm sure as hell not going to build up something based on where an item came from.

>Can you point out the flaws you see in something like this so
>we can discuss it?

There ya go.