FASA Games, Inc.

So, I've got a player obsessed with trying to stack up bonuses as much as possible. We're currently discussing what happens if you, for instance, forge an item multiple times, then weave threads to it, then enchant it with a spell (say, Combat Fury). The books aren't really all that clear, saying things like you can't forge threaded items, but forged items can be the basis for threaded items. And the rules regarding enchanting with spells are pretty vague as well.

I don't really have a problem with trying to game the system for big bonuses, but I also see the potential to create ridiculously game-unbalancing weapons and items. How do you handle stacking these different combinations of enhancements?

Stacking the effect of a spell on top of a forged weapon is perfectly fine. Even enchanting an forged weapon with a spell effect would work (though I would be a touch concerned what a Combat Fury enchant on a sword would do to somebody using it given the spell's restrictions).

Personally, I wouldn't allow more than one spell to stack its effect as an enchant, in addition to any bonuses the weapon might have from forging. I suppose you could allow multiple enchants -- but I would boost the difficulty of each subsequent enchant on the item in question. The interactions of multiple spell patterns would require care to make sure that they didn't mess around with each other.

When the item becomes threaded, that changes the dynamic of the item. When you enchant the weapon to become a thread item, the different things it can do become effects at different thread ranks. For weapons, this frequently means the full forging bonus is available as the first thread rank, and other powers are added as you weave more powerful threads to the item.

Because of the Legend Point investment required to use a thread item, I am a lot more flexible in terms of what they can do, and how they can "stack" effects, and you can space out how quickly those effects increase.

Personally, I've never come across a truly ridiculous, game-breaking combination in any of my games (and I've been running ED for almost as long as it has been around). Perhaps if you provided a more specific example of the combination(s) you're looking at, I might be able to better address it.

fun fact of earthdawn to solve ANY player trying to break the game.
whatever the players can do, the NPC's can do.
soooo he wants a sword with double damage, double to hit and a ghost version next it?
looky here, we have a caster that can cast bone shatter, wither limb and skin shift all 3 every turn thanks to his handy dandy staff that incorporates 3 nethermancer spirits.

not so fun now ej?

That's not as dangerous as the blindfolded Wizard.