Combining Wonderous Items

[Shadowbane2]

Can it be done? For example, (and the issue at hand) I would like to know if it's "legal" to combine, let's say, a cloak of arachnida with a cloak of resistance +5, forming a +5 Cloak of Arachnida?

I suppose what I'm asking in short is can wonderous items be combined like the different qualities in magic armour?

 

[Shin Okada]

It depends on what does "legal" mean to you.

Making a magic item which is not in DMG list is not a written rule, something each DM should judge.

There is a guide line. When combining 2 items into 1, you multiply the cost of more expensive item by 1.5, then add together.

So, in this case,

Cloak of Resistance +5 .... 25,000gp
Cloak of Arachnida .... 14,000gp

So, the final cost is 25,000 x 1.5 + 14,000 =51,500gp

But again, this is not a rule, but just a guideline. So the final cost should be determined by each DMs. Or, a DM may just disallow to make such an item.

 

[Cabral]

That's up to the DM. Effectively you are designing a new magic item. See the SRD.

 

[dcollins]

Actually, this one's pretty clear that you should be able to do that. Very last paragraph in my DMG. From the SRD:

ADDING NEW ABILITIES
A creator can add new magical abilities to a magic item with no restrictions. The cost to do this is the same as if the item was not magical. Thus, a +1 longsword can be made into a +2 vorpal longsword, with the cost to create it being equal to that of a +2 vorpal sword minus the cost of a +1 sword.

If the item is one that occupies a specific place on a character’s body the cost of adding any additional ability to that item increases by 50%. For example, if a character adds the power to confer invisibility to her ring of protection +2, the cost of adding this ability is the same as for creating a ring of invisibility multiplied by 1.5.

 

[Infiniti2000]

There is a guide line. When combining 2 items into 1, you multiply the cost of more expensive item by 1.5, then add together.

The guideline is to multiple the cost of the less expensive item by 1.5. Not the most expensive. Check the errata on this.

 

[marune]

Oh, perfect thread to ask my question :

One of my player's wants to add to his Boots of Levitation (7500gp) the "Striding part" (+10 land speed) of the Boots of Striding and Springing (5500 for both effects).

With those guidelines, how would cost some "Boots of Levitation and Striding" ?

Thanks..

 

[Patryn of Elvenshae]

The Striding part of the boots of Striding and Springing costs 2,000gp (in the original boots, it's x1.5 for being a secondary ability next to the +5 competence bonus to jump checks).

Therefore, it would cost him 3,000gp (or, 1,500gp and 120 XP) to get that added to his extant boots.

 

[Cabral]

Longstrider is the striding part.
As a level 1 Druid spell (1 hr/level) constant,

1 (lvl) x 1 (CL) x 2,000 gp (constant) / 1 (1 hr/lvl duration) * 1.5 (multiple different abilities) = +3,000 gp

 

[Infiniti2000]

Longstrider is the striding part.
As a level 1 Druid spell (1 hr/level) constant,

1 (lvl) x 1 (CL) x 2,000 gp (constant) / 1 (1 hr/lvl duration) * 1.5 (multiple different abilities) = +3,000 gp

Thus, the reason why they're guidelines. Don't just use the formulas or you are making a huge mistake.

 

[Patryn of Elvenshae]

1 (lvl) x 1 (CL) x 2,000 gp (constant) / 1 (1 hr/lvl duration) * 1.5 (multiple different abilities) = +3,000 gp

I agree with the answer, but not the methodology.

Generally, you should only price things as constant spell effects if there is no other way to do it, and even then be leary of it if the spell's effect is largely independent of caster level.

There is a general formula for enhancement bonuses to various character abilities:

[Bonus]^2 * Constant

For example, for AC, the constant is 1,000gp for armor bonuses and 2,000gp for other bonuses. For ability bonuses, it's 1,000gp.

Therefore, we can devise the constant that allows us to calculate the value of enhancements to speed.

We know that the boots of Striding and Springing have two components: +5 Competence to Jump, +10' movement speed. We also know that +5 Competence to a skill is [Bonus]^2 * 100, which gives us 2,500gp base for the jumping part. That means the other half (+10') must cost 3,000gp, which means that it's 2,000gp * 1.5 for a secondary ability.

So, [10']^2 * X = 2,000gp.

X, then, is 200gp.

The benefit of pricing them this way, rather than by the longstrider spell, is that it allows you to create boots with larger or smaller movement increases that scale appropriately.

It also prevents the player from paying a ridiculous amount for a continous ability just because his item happens to have a high caster level - a 10' increase in movement is at CL 1, generally speaking, the same as a 10' increase in movement as CL 6. The CL 6 version is much, much more expensive, however.

If, instead, the effect of the item were more closely tied to its caster level (i.e., +10' + 5' / 5 caster levels), then tying it back to the continuous spell effect would make more sense.