Attunement

Attunement is the bond between a wielder and the spirit bound inside a magic item. Any item with a special ability the wielder can actively control must be attuned before that ability can be used. Any other item that needs attunement says so in its description.

• Attunement Score: equal to the item's level.
• Attunement Slots: a character can be attuned to at most 10 items at once by default. Most items use 1 slot; especially rare or powerful items (GM's call; Major-tier items and Relics are the likeliest) may need more.

The Attunement Challenge

Attuning is an opposed Skill Challenge (3 successes before 3 failures). Declare your Approach: how are you convincing or compelling the spirit to bond with you? The GM assigns the skill that fits (Diplomacy to court it, Intimidation to compel it, Mysticism to commune with it, and so on). Each exchange, roll your check against the item's roll of 1d20 + its Attunement Score; whoever rolls higher wins that exchange, counting toward the challenge's tally. On success you become the item's Owner.

Owned Items

Once an item has an Owner, its Attunement Score for any later Attunement Challenge becomes its Owner's level or its own level, whichever is higher.

Contested attunement. If you acquire an item whose original Owner is still alive, you must still complete an Attunement Challenge; the bond doesn't transfer automatically. The GM decides whether the item resists its former Owner being replaced; if it does, it rolls its side of the challenge with Fortune. If the original Owner has died, the bond is severed and attunement is a normal challenge with no resistance.

Gifting

An Owner can willingly gift an attuned item in one of two ways:

• Full Ritual (1 hour): Owner and recipient spend an hour together with the item in a transfer ritual (trappings up to the table). No roll: the recipient attunes automatically.
• Quick Ritual (10 minutes): the same ritual, shortened. The recipient still attunes, but rolls their checks with Fortune instead of succeeding automatically.

The Creator's Bond

An item's creator automatically succeeds at their first Attunement Challenge with it, and the item always recognizes its creator afterward: even if it has another Owner, the creator can reattune either automatically or with Fortune (GM's choice, depending on how dramatic the moment should be). This can run the other way too: an item that wants to stay away from its creator rolls with Fortune to resist them (GM's discretion).