Enchant an item

Enchant an item was a powerful spell, and a common alternative in the practice of item enchantment by wizards; it was also useable to recharge some devices.

Effects
The spell required an item to be enchanted, which had to remain in contact with the mage casting the spell throughout the casting. As on average it took an uninterrupted week to cast the spell, with some castings stretching up to a tenday, and interrupting the casting would force the user to start over again, this spell was unlikely to be undertaken lightly.

Once the initial stage was complete, the caster could employ other spells to add new properties to the item to be enchanted. The process of enspelling stretched for hours; the discovery of which spells would yield which property was more of an art than a science, to be researched for each item. Though perfect results were not very likely, incomplete successes still created something.

Charged items required no further processes, but permanent items required a permanency spell for finishing. When used on an already enchanted, charged item, the spell instead allowed or it to be recharged. However, it was a long process.

The spell risked the caster's lifeforce, and there was a chance, however slim, that they permanently lost some of their vital essence.

Components
The spell had verbal and somatic components. The item to be enchanted was considered a material component. Weirwood could be used as an additional component to improve the odds.

History
The spell was already known by the time of Netheril, its invention not attributed to any of its arcanists. It was part of all three known schools then.

The spell was known to be listed in the Scalamagdrion, and the Scrolls of Ha Rahni, written by a wu jen from Kara-Tur, bore the spell as well. The insane lichnee Druth Daern of Myth Drannor also had this spell in his working spellbook.

By it had grown rare; it was all but forgotten by the, having been replaced by other, universally more accessible techniques.

Trivia
The spell was needed for the focus of the versions of trap the soul available by. The demiplane seed spell best known before required a focus prepared using enchant an item, rope trick, and distance distortion. The spell was also required to prepare the material component of the triad gem spell.

The hearts of stone guardians were made using this spell, just as lightning golems, phylacteries of dracoliches and of regular liches. Though doom guards were not made with this spell, the anvil of darkness used to create them was.

Some gray slaadi were known to possess this spell; red slaadi could be enslaved for up to six tasks with a charm created using this spell, a wish to cleanly remove a pellet from one of their victims, spiritwrack, and limited wish.

Albeit the spell could not ordinarily be cast out of a magical item, but the cloak of stars bypassed this restriction.

The spell took ten times as long in the Ethereal plane, and half as long in the Inner Planes.