Path-boosting magic items

Magic items that add levels to a mage's paths: what they add, the rule that the mage needs a level already, and which items do it.

verified 6.37updated 2026-10-02 · Jake5 min read

A path booster is a magic item that raises a mage’s skill in one or more magic paths for as long as he carries it. The manual gives these items a short chapter of their own, a table of the items and the paths each one lifts. This page explains what a booster does, the one condition on it, and which items count, using the Inspector’s item data for the numbers. For how skill in a path is gained in the first place, see How magic paths work.

What a booster does

Each booster adds levels to a path while the mage holds it. The item pages carry the exact amount. Most add one level in a single path, and a handful add one level in several: the Staff of Elemental Mastery lifts four elemental paths, and the Ring of Sorcery lifts Astral, Death, Nature and Glamour. The Inspector marks the Ring of Wizardry and the Robe of the Magi as lifting all nine paths from Fire to Blood, one level each. A few unique artifacts add two: the Inspector lists two levels in one path for Treelord’s Staff (Nature), the Sceptre of Dark Regency and the Jade Mask (Death), and Tome of Legends (Glamour), and two levels in each of two paths for the Forbidden Light (Fire and Astral). Boosters are not tied to one slot; the Inspector shows them as helmets, armour, boots, staffs, rings, shields and small carried objects.

Do not confuse the booster’s effect with the cost of making it. A booster is forged like any other item, and its own path requirements and gem price (see Magic gems) are separate from what it adds. The Skull Staff, for example, needs Death 2 to forge and adds one Death level when carried. The manual’s table lists, beside each item, the research level at which it can be forged: 5 for the early ones, 7 for the middle group and 9 for the artifacts.

The condition: you must already have the path

A booster gives nothing to a mage who has no skill in its path. The manual says so in its Empowerment section: such items need the wearer to hold at least one level there already, and spells that grant a battlefield path bonus, Power of the Spheres among them, are bound by the same limit. So a mage with no Death skill gets no benefit from a Death booster. Gaining a path from nothing is something only empowerment does, and it costs gems (see Magic gems).

The condition is per path. A mage with Fire 1 and no Air who carries a booster for both would get the Fire level and nothing for Air. The manual does not spell that example out; it follows from the rule as written, so treat it as our reading.

Boosters keep working on a projected mage. The manual says a Project Self projection cannot use gems or blood slaves, but any path-boosting items still have effect.

Stacking

The manual’s booster chapter does not say how several boosters in one path combine, and we have found no statement elsewhere in it that two items add together or that a cap exists. It does list communions as a separate source of extra levels: a communion master gains levels in each path where he already has at least one level, the same skill-already-present condition (see Communions). If you plan around stacking boosters, check it in a game before relying on it.

Notable boosters

The names below are from the Inspector’s item data, grouped by the research level the manual lists.

• Early (research 5): Skull Staff (Death), Thistle Mace (Nature), Flame Helmet (Fire), Winged Helmet (Air), Robe of the Sea (Water), Earth Boots (Earth), Gossamer Veil (Glamour), Horn of Storms (Air), Armor of Souls and Brazen Vessel (Blood), Coin of Meteoritic Iron (Astral) and Blood Stone (Earth).
• Middle (research 7): Ring of Wizardry and Robe of the Magi, which lift every path; Ring of Sorcery; Staff of Elemental Mastery, made in two versions (Fire and Water, or Air and Earth); Skullface, Treelord’s Staff, Blood Thorn, Water Bracelet, Starshine Skullcap and Moonvine Bracelet.
• Artifacts (research 9): the four Orbs of Elemental Fire, Air, Water and Earth, which the manual’s item table also lists as producing one gem of their element a month; Crown of the Elements; Tome of High Power; Atlas of Creation; Sword of Justice and Sword of Injustice; the Void Sphere, the Black Mirror and the Forbidden Light.

The Inspector also shows boosters the manual’s table does not list, such as the Jade Mask (Death 2) and the Crown of the Shah, which lifts the Holy path. Item pages under Items give the paths, amounts, requirements and any curse on each one. Several artifacts are cursed or tainted, so read the whole entry, not only the boost.

What the manual leaves out

• It does not say whether boosts from several items add together, or whether a cap exists.
• The table’s columns for each path were lost in the text copy we work from, so the Inspector’s data stands in for which path each item raises.
• It does not say how a boost interacts with the spells a mage already knows; read each spell’s own requirements.