Masterwork items

[gpetruc]

Masterwork lockpicks give a +2 to open locks. Healer's kit gives +2 to heal, ....

Is it possible to create also other objects such as masterwork soft leather shoes that give +2 to move silently, or a masterwork mimetic cloak that gives +2 to hide when in wilderness ?
And the price is always base price + 50gp ?

 

[Vaxalon]

I'd say yes, feel free to create various masterwork items that give a +2 to a skill, but craft skills are a lot less useful in a dungeon than move silently, so I'd make those items considerably more expensive.

Also, be sure to balance them out. If there's an item that gives +2 to hide, make one that gives +2 to spot, if you have an item that gives +2 to listen, make one that gives +2 to move silently.

 

[Lord Ben]

I have (actually I HAD them, they died now) a group of magic hating NPC's (Sentinals of the True Way in Kalamar) who tried to kill a few wizards. Anyways, part of the adventure was with some Rangers (no spells) who were sneaking up on the PC's. I gave them camoflage cloaks that added +4 circumstance to hide when in the woods. Perfectly balanced IMHO, wearing green in the woods should be a circumstance bonus of +2, finely crafted masterwork cloaks should add +4. Now the party has some camo cloaks at 4th level, not overpowering.

 

[Jondor_Battlehammer]

I have (actually I HAD them, they died now) a group of magic hating NPC's (Sentinals of the True Way in Kalamar) who tried to kill a few wizards. Anyways, part of the adventure was with some Rangers (no spells) who were sneaking up on the PC's. I gave them camoflage cloaks that added +4 circumstance to hide when in the woods. Perfectly balanced IMHO, wearing green in the woods should be a circumstance bonus of +2, finely crafted masterwork cloaks should add +4. Now the party has some camo cloaks at 4th level, not overpowering.

Very cool. I might steal those...(just did).

+2 to spot would be a hard one. The best I can think of is goggles, and those don't feel fantasy to me.

Padded shirt, +2 to intimidate.
Tiger claws, +2 to climb, turns unarmed damage leathal.
Back pack, -2 to weight penalties due to even weight distribution.
Snowshoes/crampons, +2 to balance in appropriate situations.
Book on how to win friends and influence people, +2 to diplomacy.
Musical instuments, +2 to perform.
Wepon/sheath, +2 to conceal on your person.
Coin knife, +2 to pick pockets.
Compass, +2 (or more) to intuite direction.

I like this train of thought, especially for lower level play, or low magic worlds.

 

[Rhael]

It does sound good for the low-magic settings, like the one I'm playing in. I'll have to make sure I point this possibility out to my DM.

In a party of seven, of average party level approximately 7 (my char is lvl 9), we have three +1 swords, a +1 flail, one set of +2 armour, and some potions.

(See 'Tales of the Obsidian Hammers' for the story hour of the campaign.)

 

[laiyna]

I sugested this to my GM also, but need to warn all that often +50 gp is not enough. A musical instrument normaly cost 5 gp, a MW one is 100 gp.

It all depends on the item and in what surcomstances you use it. But I would say for a mundane item the max bonus would be +2. Eg a green cloak is not enough, becouse with a Orange Cloak with Purple stripes would not mean your hide is nutral, I would give a bonus of 5 in these surcomstances...... (on the DC )

 

[Lord Ben]

Some would be extremely hard, like listen's. I don't really see masterwork earpeices happening except by magic.

How about some eyeglasses of magnification, great for searching for traps or whatnot, but hard to see at distanances. +4 search, -2 spot? Those would work.

Spyglasses (think the long pirate ones that collapse), should add to spot, but only when using them.

Intimidate is a hard one to use, a padded shirt would be rough to wear all the time. Any skill you need to RP out shouldn't have bonus's so easy. Almost any situation would give different bonus's, so it's hard to think of them ahead of time. If they don't think you're threatening some warpaint and a bloody set of torture equipment could very well add to that. If you're a high cha sorceror with high intimidate and there is a low cha half-orc barbarian maybe just having him stand next to you would add +2 to your intimidate. On a related note, some things like alchohol could be used to lower his sense motive instead of raise your intimidate.

Ever wear snowshoes? They're not something you'd want to wear all day. If you use them in game double your speed over snow (it's already like 1/4th), but take minus's on some other skills. Also you'd probably reduce the time you can travel all day to half. You'd move double speed for 4hrs instead of normal for 8.

I can see stuffing cloth or leather into cracks in platemail. ACP for move silent would be reduced by four, but for all other's the ACP would be increased by 4.

 

[KnowTheToe]

Let me start with I really like the camoflage cloaks.

You will want to be a little careful with item bonuses for non magic items. If I spent a feat on skill bonus (stupid IMO, but have done it for charater concept) I would be bummed if someone could find a mundane item to simulate the same effect. I would rather spend 100 gp on an item that use a feat. Just look at the player skills and feats and you should be fine.

 

[Lord Ben]

Well, camo cloaks would provide circumstance. Skill focus is probably competence.

 

[Lord Ben]

Here is a good example of a camo cloak, it's what I envision someone looking like when wearing a cloak of elvenkind.

http://realtree.com/people/images/1115.jpg

A camo cloak is completely effective in the woods, not so much in snow. Elvenkind I imagine to change to it's surroundings.