Magical Items

Some magical items, like the saw of mighty cutting or the spade of colossal excavation have an obvious value in the construction of a castle. In cases where some question arises as to the usefulness of a particular item, the DM must make a judgment call on whether or not the item will be a significant factor. For example, an enchanted shield is not likely to be of much help in building a castle, although gauntlets of ogre power might be.

As a rule, if the item is well suited to construction work, like the mattock of the titans, then it will be worth a number of men equal to 5% of the experience point award for its discovery. Thus, the spade of colossal excavation counts for 5% of 1,000 points or 50 men.

If the item seems to have some possible application, like wand of lightning (which could be useful in clearing land or digging the foundation of the castle), then it is worth 1% of its associated experience point award. Thus, the aforementioned wand would count as 40 men.

Items that the DM feels are of no particular use in the construction effort, like a ring of regeneration or elven boots are not counted toward the manpower total. If the DM rules an item to be useless, the owning player should be allowed to explain how he feels the item might be useful. If the DM is swayed by his or her case, then the decision may be reversed.