Just for the communities understanding:

16:26    kenata    I have tried using <modtype>giveItem</modType> but it does not do anything
16:27    Cari_Elf    hmm
16:27    Cari_Elf    yeah, it's not directly hooked up
16:28    Cari_Elf    there are modifiers to give items
16:28    Cari_Elf    but they need a target
16:28    Cari_Elf    and modifiers from techs can only handle map or player targets

I'm not entirely certain what you're aiming for, so this is a bit of a shot in the dark, but:

Why not try it out as a spell instead of a tech? Spells have target values, and if you set it like imbue (sovereign only) it should work to your need?

It's the <EssenceCost> tag. As long as it has that, normal units can't use it. Unfortunately, a 0 value won't do either, so what I've been doing is:

        <EssenceCost>0.1</EssenceCost>

You'll be asked if you want to spend 0 Essence on the spell, but otherwise it works well enough.

Thanks to everyone for helping look into this this.

@kenata - Hmm... I suppose I could try spawning a goodie hut, I'll play around with the idea and see what I can come up with.

@Xiwi - Good to know about the item within an item bit. This might actually come in handy for something at some point in time.

@Kalin - Thanks for showing me a possible workaround, but my sleepy mind isn't thinking of a way to limit this to having just one type active at a time...