View source for Book of Elements (3.5e Sourcebook)/Magic Items

===Other EXP Costs===
EXP costs are bad for the game, so we are doing away with them as actual costs that must be paid, with a few exceptions.  Instead, the EXP cost to cast a spell refers to either the amount of planar currency that must be used to fuel it.  Souls, Concentration, Hope, and Raw Chaos all have a value listed in experience points (for instance, Souls are worth 20 EXP times the square of the CR of the creature within), and any of them can be used to pay experience costs.

The ''Wish'' spell is an exception; its experience costs are actual experience costs that must be paid in your own experience points, or those of the person you're reviving if you're reviving the dead.  Also, since it should have been already, ''Limited Wish'' is free for all uses.  The [[SRD:Miracle|''Miracle'']] spell description has a list of ''Miracles'' that you can get for free, and then some vague guidelines on what you can't.  While the spell will be fixed more thoroughly and made more distinct from ''Wish'' in the Book of Stars, until then it's probably wise to use the list of ''Miracles'' that are free from the spell description and the list of ''Wishes'' that aren't from the Tome of Fiends.

You can go a bit more radical and get rid of EXP entirely, like the Book of Gears suggests and many people already do.  In this case, even ''Wish'' either pays EXP costs in planar currency, or in some other resource.  For instance, you may have an EXP allowance where you're allowed to pay a certain amount of EXP costs per level, similar to an Eberron artificer.  Depending on how often people are supposed to be using exp-consuming ''wishes'', the DM will want to set the EXP allowance higher or lower.  More information on EXP-less advancement systems, alternate systems for EXP costs, and so on, will be given in the Book of Stars.  Also, if you're using planar currency as fuel, using ''Wish'' to increase the power of an item should only grant 5 GP of value per XP spent, since otherwise it actually has the same cost as making it the long way, and you can ''Wish'' in combat.

Fueling things with souls raises some important questions.  While its fine and dandy if any given piece of Concentration or Raw Chaos is consumed forever, people tend to be a bit pickier about souls.  Any use of souls to fuel a spell gives the spell the [evil] descriptor, and souls cannot be used to fuel a spell with the [good] descriptor.  Exactly what happpens to the soul depends on the effect used:
*[[SRD:Atonement|''Atonement'']], [[SRD:Commune|''Commune'']], [[SRD:Planar Ally|''Planar Ally'']]: Soul is given to the caster's patron, who must be bargained with for its release if anyone else wants it (if it isn't resold or used)
*[[SRD:Awaken|''Awaken'']]: Soul is bound to the ''Awakened'' creature.  Requires Craft of the Soulstealer feat.  The awakened creature is its own person, not the stolen soul, although the stolen soul might be able to talk to it sometimes.  This is usually upsetting enough to eventually drive the creature to random violence or self-destruction.
*[[SRD:Gate|''Gate'']]: Soul is paid in tribute or used to bait for the called creature and not released until it dies.
*[[Genesis (3.5e Spell)|''Genesis'']]: Soul is bound into the created demiplane, and released when the demiplane is destroyed.  It's that hard.  Requires Craft of the Soulstealer.
*[[SRD:Permanency|''Permanency'']]: Soul is bound to the spell, and released when the ''Permanency'' is dispelled or the target is destroyed.  Requires Craft of the Soulstealer or Devour the Soul; the latter only works for self-targeted effects.
*[[SRD:Greater Restoration|''Greater Restoration'']], [[SRD:Vision|''Vision'']]: Soul is scattered.
*[[SRD:Simulacrum|''Simulacrum'']]: Soul is bound into the Simulacrum for use as fuel, although the soul is never depleted, just like when it's used to fuel a magic item.  Requires Craft of the Soulstealer.

Souls that are listed as "scattered" are scattered across the Astral or Ethereal plane, and finding them requires a [[SRD:Discern Location|''Discern Location'']], ''Wish'', or ''Miracle'' or several plus actually gathering the pieces and putting them back together to release it.  Once any soul is released, and not before then, it goes on to its afterlife and can be returned from the dead.
Component	V + and S +
Level	Bard 2 +, Sorcerer/Wizard 3 +, Bard 0 +, Cleric 0 +, Druid 0 + and Sorcerer/Wizard 0 +
Range	Other + and Personal +
School	Divination +
Summary	Determine if a creature has a specific ancestor. + and Determine how bright of light is shining on you +