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The first part discusses Unique Items; that is, items with a bit more interest than normal. History, Personality and Character, PC Influence, and Alignment are the subheadings.
The second part of the appendix discusses Item Level, and includes a number of options to create items that scale with the party.
The third part is Enchanting Items, which talks about upgrading an item to a better type, and also a new ritual: Transfer Enchantment, which allows you to move the enchantment of one item to another. The best use of this would be to strip the enchantment off a nice bit of gear no-one can use (+3 leather) and put it on a bit of gear they can (platemail). Component cost is only 25 gp, and this is soon going to be an incredibly popular ritual in my campaigns, as it removes the need for me to give exactly the right gear out.
Woohoo! Elixir of Invisibility! Lasts 5 minutes or until you make an attack.
That's interesting: counts as a use of a magic daily power, as do a few of the consumables. (Elixirs, Whetstones and "Other").
Ooh... Reagents! Only a small list, all the way from a Sting song ("Desert Rose") which aids you in sustaining a power, to Fundamental Ice (sounds like a "Best Of" series), which causes immobilizes one of the poor dears you've just hit with an ice attack.
Rings from levels 14 to 30. Ring of Spell-Storing is back. It doesn't store as much (only one power), and you have to be high enough level to cast the spell in the first place. Other restrictions. More balanced, not quite as cool.
I just recieved mine yesterday and just started reading it today. I really dig the equipment chapter. Mounts, vehicles, and alchemy were much needed. Too bad it wasn't a bigger chapter.
Armor of Sacrifice, Moradin's Weapon and the two pact weapons are all pretty cool.
Rings from levels 14 to 30. Ring of Spell-Storing is back. It doesn't store as much (only one power), and you have to be high enough level to cast the spell in the first place. Other restrictions. More balanced, not quite as cool.
Still works to give the fighter a backup wizard spell, though.
Still works to give the fighter a backup wizard spell, though.
There is also a weapon version to do the opposite: store an exploit (martial power) so that a wizard or other can use it.
So what items just look really neat to you guys? (no, this isn't "which ones are broken or poorly executed"-- there is another thread for that)
For pure thematics alone, I am liking the phoenix cloak and ring of the phoenix.. not saying together, just individually. Of course, my group is far off from ever seeing it in play.
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That's interesting: count's as a use of a magic daily power, as do a few of the consumables. (Elixirs, Whetstones and "Other").
I think you'll find in 4e it's a lot harder to get "free" power boosts, even with items. This is one way to make sure people don't hoard all their 1-shots to blow in a "big" encounter, making it easier for DMs to judge power level of a party with lots of 1-shots.
It also allows characters with few items with daily powers to reap the rewards of hitting milestones, which I see as a good thing.
Personally, I am really pleased to have worked on this book, I think it turned out great. And, it's always fun to see just what -everyone else- wrote for it, which generally doesn't happen until I get my contributor copies.
I too am really interested in the content of this book. Really solid stuff packed in really tight and good illustrations as well. The equipment section had a clear win, though that was only because it had the most unique content in it.
As for one of my favorites off the top of my head (though there were a lot that made me wow) was thematically the Ioun Snake thing. A little metal golden snake sliding and coiling in a ring around your head with tiny tiny glowing gem eyes and a a tiny flake of ruby tongue, each true to life feature replicated in artifice entirely from valuable stones.
As for effects, they were all pretty cool but generic. I liked the pact weapons alot, though I havent finished reading it
So what items just look really neat to you guys? (no, this isn't "which ones are broken or poorly executed"-- there is another thread for that)
As the person who begant the other thread, I now feel compelled to post here.
I like the Alchemy stuff, although it is unfortunate they couldn't find room for more.
I think the expanded masterwork armour table is excellent, creating a much smoother progression and also allowing some minor differentiation between otherswise identical armours.
None of the specific magic items have really jumped out at me as especially cool -- but, despite starting the "complaints" thread, the vast bulk of the book seems to be pretty solid.
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If anyone's interested, I've got a spreadsheet with all the items from it here. I was impressed by the sheer number of them.
I'm also really fond of alchemical items. Not as fond of the level 1+ magic items which compete with regular Magic Weapon/Armor/etc. I'm a bit hesitant about the new alternate armor types, too, which give bonuses to defenses... It seems to me that defense bonuses are supposed to be on neck items, and we're inching towards the third edition paradigm where you can get a bunch of bonuses from a bunch of items...
I jump around. It arrived with my copy of the FRPG. They go great together. So much new stuff.
I love the Throwing Shield. I'm thinking about that being the "artifact" for the next Genasi enemy I throw at my players. Maybe it'll have a large star on it surrounded by red and blue...
The best part about it is that it's another normal, at-will attack option. And it doesn't suck!
As the author of the first draft of the throwing shield (which grew out of things I wrote for d20 Spectaculars and never saw use until now), I have to say I love the illustration for it.
Crap. I really hadn't wanted to purchase this, but apparently it has all sorts of useful material in it.
I'll try to hold off. I don't care about most magic items, and I'd hate to buy the book for just the scaling magical items and the rituals. Maybe I can borrow it from someone else.
Does the book have any "build enabling" items? You know, stuff that takes a build or a multiclass that wouldn't normally be viable, and makes it balanced? 3e did this a bit.
An excellent book... My only complaint is that they didn't include any new Artifacts.
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As the author of the first draft of the throwing shield (which grew out of things I wrote for d20 Spectaculars and never saw use until now), I have to say I love the illustration for it.
I foresee much use of it in my own games.
What, the illustration? "Yeah, okay, he's a famous armorer, but does his logo really have to be a dude hitting a goblin in the junk? It was kind of funny the first few times but now it's just getting old."
Quote:
Originally Posted by Cadfan
Crap. I really hadn't wanted to purchase this, but apparently it has all sorts of useful material in it.
I'll try to hold off. I don't care about most magic items, and I'd hate to buy the book for just the scaling magical items and the rituals. Maybe I can borrow it from someone else.
Does the book have any "build enabling" items? You know, stuff that takes a build or a multiclass that wouldn't normally be viable, and makes it balanced? 3e did this a bit.
Well, there's something that makes the Hex Hammer (Con-warlock, crank up con, use hammer rhythm) a little more powerful, and there are the Throwing Shield and Farslayer enchantments for martial characters who fancy the occasional range attack but don't want to use Quick Draw for it, often because they have a shield in the other hand. The "mage's" enchantment makes it a little easier for a character who started out wizard or warlock and splashed, say, paladin or swordmage to pick up a new weapon without dropping a feat on weapon proficiency, since it not only works if you know how to swing a dagger but can let you burn an encounter spell to recharge an encounter exploit of lesser or much lesser value.
But I didn't see anything that might make something viable when it wasn't before because of, say, a stat mismatch. There's much less worry about things like spell level and attack bonus in 4E multiclassing, as I'm sure you know, so magic items don't address those specifically. There are some "it's a weapon and an implement" enchantments to reduce total gear cost, but given that you can generally get 5 +N weapons for the cost of 1 +(N+1) weapon that's not much of a penalty.
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