Enchanting is a serious and complicated business, but mastering it can make you an unstoppable force in The Red Venom Plains. Enchanting Chest Armor and Weapons is a vital skill for every class, as many enchantments from this skill can be applied to benefit those that do not wear armor or carry weapons. Other pieces of armor, such as Boots or a Helmet, do not follow these rules – only Chest Armors do.
Chest armor and weapons follow the same rules for enchanting, although each has its own list of potential enchantments. Every magical chest armor or weapon will have the same five components:
- The Material it is made of;
- The Base Type of item;
- The Enhancement Bonus of the item;
- Possibly a Primary Enchantment of the item;
- and possible Secondary Enchantments on the item.
The Material that an armor or weapon is made of will often have its own properties, which is actually controlled by the Smithing skill, and has little to do with Enchanting. Some materials count as magical for the purpose of overcoming magic damage reduction, but these are not inherently enchanted. Additionally, some materials specifically affect your Enchanting skill, but forging a Sperkmetal weapon is still Smithing, even if it makes it easier to add Air related enchantments.
The Base Type of the item is the shape of the item, such as “Longsword” or “Leather Armor”. Much like an item’s Material, the Base type of the item has little to do with Enchanting, except for modifications and restrictions. And Enchantment intended for a metal weapon cannot be put on a wooden shield. The Base type is a statistical function of the item, and has very little to do with Enchanting.
The Enhancement Bonus of an armor or weapon is it’s bonus to hit/damage, or more commonly known as it’s “+”. Enhancement Bonuses are either +1 (Uncommon), +2 (Scarce), +3 (Rare), +4 (Very Rare), +5 (Epic), and +6 (Mythic). Legendary items can go above that. Not every magical weapon needs an Enhancement Bonus; for example, a Vicious Weapon is a magical weapon that does not have an enhancement bonus on its own. Such weapons can be upgraded however, as it is possible to upgrade to a +1 Flame Tongue with the Enchanting skill. Enhancement Bonuses also determine how many Enchantments can be placed on an armor or weapon.
A Primary Enchantment is a main focus of a weapon or armor; one might say, the primary reason the weapon was created. Primary Enchantments are so strong that they often require attunement, and there cannot be more than one Primary Enchantment on any armor or weapon. Weapons such as a Flame Tongue, Frost Brand, or a Barricade Shield are all Primary Enchantments. Some Primary Enchantments are so strong that they count as a Primary and a Secondary Enchantment, but those are rare exceptions. If you are looking to see what counts as a Primary Enchantment, you can see our List of Primary Enchantments.
A Secondary Enchantment is a small bonus on a weapon or armor that enhances its abilities, such as Glamoured, Resistance, Slaying, or Mariner’s. While these bonuses are very helpful in certain situations, they don’t present a large enough bonus to be worth wearing as your primary armor or weapons. If you are looking to see what counts as a Secondary Enchantment, you can see our List of Secondary Enchantments.
Magical Item Limits on Enchantment
Any armor or weapon can only hold so much magic. However, as an item’s Enhancement bonus grows, so can the number of Enchantments it can hold. Any armor or weapon can hold a single Primary or Secondary Enchantment Bonus. But each Enchantment past the first requires a +1 Enhancement bonus. See this chart for a clearer description of this rule:
| Rank Required | Enhancement | Limitations |
| Novice | +1 | 1 Primary Enchantment OR 1 Secondary Enchantment |
| Initiate | +2 | 1 Primary Enchantment AND 1 Secondary Enchantment |
| Apprentice | +3 | 1 Primary Enchantment AND 2 Secondary Enchantments |
| Journeyman | +4 | 1 Primary Enchantment AND 3 Secondary Enchantments |
| Adept | +5 | 1 Primary Enchantment AND 4 Secondary Enchantments |
| Master | +6 | 1 Primary Enchantments AND 5 Secondary Enchantments |
- Rank Required refers to your skill in Fishing, Fletching, Smithing, or Tailoring, or whatever crafting skill that your weapon or armor recipe calls for. If you are unsure what the rank titles are, check their skill page.
- Enhancement is the Accuracy bonus on a Focus or Weapon, or the Armor Value increase on an Armor or Shield.
- Limitations is the type of Enhancements that an item can hold based on its current Enhancement. If the Enhancement on a weapon goes up, you can add additional Enchantments. Certain skills allow you to increase this as well, such as high level training in a specific weapon type.
Acquiring, Removing, or Transferring Enchantments
Acquiring Enchantments: The primary source for finding new Enchantments for your weapons and armor is by adventuring. When you acquire an enchanted Armor or Weapon, you can attempt to “strip” its enchantment and add it to a different armor or weapon. This process is described in the Basics of Enchanting. You can also enchant an item with an enchantment that you know the recipe for; or, if you have access to an Enchantment Workshop, you may be able to use one or more of the Enchantments inherent to the workshop. Enchantment Workshops will be described in further detail in Places of Power.
Removing Enchantments: An Enchantment can be overridden by adding a new Enchantment to that slot; doing so causes the older Enchantment to be lost forever. If you simply wish to remove an Enchantment with no replacement (perhaps because of attunement requirements), it requires 10 days of Personal Time, but no additional favors or gold cost. That Enchantment is lost forever. It is also possible to “Donate” and enchantment to an Enchantment Workshop or a Smithing Forge. When an Enchantment is donated to an Enchantment Workshop, there is a chance its recipe will become permanently available at that workshop; if it is donated to a Smithing Forge, a new weapon or armor forged can be instantly Enchanted with this bonus.
Transferring Enchantments: It will be possible to transfer enchantments between weapons and armor later in the campaign; this will be the process of taking one weapon with an enchantment, such as a Sword of Quickness, and moving that enchantment to a different weapon, such as your Axe +1. Doing so would not require you to know the recipe for the “Quickness” enchantment; you are simply moving the magic from one item to another. Details about this will be released later on in the campaign.