Need help with magic item creation

[Alejandro]

I'd like to create a belt that doubles a giant's carrying capacity. It does not affect attack and damage bonuses or Strength-based skill checks. It's meant to make giants (the PC race in Arcana Unearthed) comparable to Giants (the monster type) in terms of carrying capacity.

My DM has challenged me to find a rule that would allow me to create such an item. Since each doubling of carrying capacity is equivalent to boosting Strength by 5, I'm partial to 3.5's guidelines on skill check bonuses (bonus squared x 100 gp).

This would make the "Belt of the Shu-Rin Initiate" (double carrying capacity) cost 2500 gp and "Belt of the Shu-Rin Master" (quadruple carrying capacity) cost 10000 gp.

What do you think? Anyone have better guidelines or rules?

 

[kreynolds]

My DM has challenged me to find a rule that would allow me to create such an item.

Unless you can find the exact item already in the DMG, there isn't one. Is he not willing to help you?

 

[Alejandro]

He'd like to use guidelines where possible. We acknowledge that such an item is not explicitly described in the DMG, so we're trying to find rules or approximations which make sense.

 

[Mal-2]

This would make the "Belt of the Shu-Rin Initiate" (double carrying capacity) cost 2500 gp and "Belt of the Shu-Rin Master" (quadruple carrying capacity) cost 10000 gp.

What do you think? Anyone have better guidelines or rules?

Well, there are some items in the DMG that increase carrying capacity, though not in the way you're looking at.

Bag of Holding, Type I: 250 lbs, 2,500 gp
Bag of Holding, Type II: 500 lbs, 5,000 gp
Bag of Holding, Type III: 1,000 lbs, 7,400 gp
Bag of Holding, Type IV: 1,500 lbs, 10,000 gp

Looking at the Carrying Capacity chart, here's a couple of examples with strength and heavy loads:

STR 10, 100 lbs. Doubling would add 100 extra pounds of capacity, and quadrupling would be 300 extra pounds.

STR 14, 175 lbs. +175 for 2x capacity, +525 for 4x.

STR 18, 300 lbs, +300 for 2x capacity, +900 for 4x.

STR 22, 520 lbs, +520 for 2x capacity, +1,560 for 4x.

If you have a really high strength, you might be better off with the girdle for raw carrying power, but the bag isn't nearly as obvious, since it's an extradimentional space. On the other hand, with the girdle, you avoid the volume limitations of a Bag of Holding.

So 2,500 gp for double carrying capacity sounds good to me. It's probably just about as useful as a Type I Bag of Holding.

I'd probably drop the 4x carrying capacity item to 7,500 gp, about as useful as a Type III Bag of Holding.

Mal-2

 

[Alejandro]

Posters from the Necromancer boards have also suggested finding a comparable spell in order to create a constant item.

Enlarge Person is a 1st level 3.5 spell that increases Size and therefore carrying capacity. A wondrous item that doubles carrying capacity may therefore cost as little as 2000 gp, though this doesn't feel right to me. Unfortunately, Enlarge Person does not exist in AU.

Any thoughts on which spells may mimic the desired effect? Thank you for the analysis on Bags of Holding, by the way.

 

[der_kluge]

I suggest you pick up a copy of Mystic Eye Games' Artificer's Handbook. Never have a question about how to create a magic item again. Well, for most things, in any case.

 

[Dire_dungeonmaster]

Bag of Holding, Type I: 250 lbs, 2,500 gp
Bag of Holding, Type II: 500 lbs, 5,000 gp
Bag of Holding, Type III: 1,000 lbs, 7,400 gp
Bag of Holding, Type IV: 1,500 lbs, 10,000 gp
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
is wrong look in dragon mag 357 pg 37!

 

[Hypersmurf]

is wrong look in dragon mag 357 pg 37!

He last logged in over nine months ago.

The likelihood of him seeing that is slim

-Hyp.