Amulet of Continuous Turning

[Corbert]

Just a wild idea I had, I used the online d20 SRD to calculate the price and XP cost. I know its really powerful, that the point, its for use when my players get up to epic level. I just want some feedback, is it a decent idea? Questions, comments, constructive criticisms?

Amulet of Continuous Turning

When worn by a cleric, this amulet constantly radiates positive energy in a 30’ radius that is harmful to undead. All undead within 30’ take 11d6 damage each round they remain in the area of effect. The affected undead get a Will save DC 27 for half damage.

Strong necromancy; Caster level 21st; Craft Wondrous Item, Craft Epic Wondrous Item, Undeath to Death, Price 1,320,000; XP to create 23,200.


Edit: by the way, this concept uses the varient turning system from complete divine.

 

[Rystil Arden]

This is comparable to, but more powerful than (since it doesn't reduce the effective level), an epic feat for Clerics, so it should probably be epic too.

 

[Vrecknidj]

Very, very powerful. I agree with Rystil Arden that it should be epic (and epically expensive).

Dave

 

[Corbert]

This is exactly the kind of feedback I'm looking for, thanks.

I changed the item to reflect epic creation, and added in a saving throw, which I realize I should have done in the first place .

 

[Nyeshet]

Amulet of Continuous Turning

When worn by a cleric, this amulet constantly radiates positive energy in a 30’ radius that is harmful to undead. All undead within 30’ take 11d6 damage each round they remain in the area of effect. The affected undead get a Will save DC 21 for half damage.

Strong necromancy; Caster level 11th; Craft Wondrous Item, Craft Epic Wondrous Item, Undeath to Death, Price 132,000; XP to create 11,320.

This is still way too good for its price. If it continuously turned as an 11th level caster (normal turning, not variant turning), such that most undead could not approach within 30 ft of the cleric and those that did often fleed the following round, and none of the undead were ever destroyed or even damaged - then I could accept this price for this item. The Will save would still need to apply, of course, although it would be to resist the urge to flee out of the 30 ft area around the cleric.

What you have to understand is that all undead that come within 30 ft of the cleric will take - on average - 38.5 points of damage. So all undead with 6 HD or less are all but certain to be destroyed instantly - especially as at that level their Will save (if they are mindful enough to have one) is likely to be quite low. This means that all ghouls and vampire spawn (as such only exist up to 4 HD then become ghasts and vampires) will be destroyed. It means that all mindless undead of 6 HD or less will be destroyed upon approaching the cleric. In effect, only the undead BBEGs and their highest level minions will be a problem for the party.

Consider for a moment the recent Ravenloft module. The only undead in that module that wouldn't be destroyed in 1 round is the infected blaspheme in the village and - in the castle - the mohrg (91 hp), the forsaken shell (105 hp), the 4 boneclaws (105 hp), the 2 bloodhulk giants (196 hp), stephania and endorovich (45 hp, 7 HD spectres), rafail (78 hp, vampire), sasha (78 hp, vampire), and strahd (65 hp, vampire).

So, out of perhaps a hundred undead in the castle (from all the zombies, wraiths, ghouls, etc) only 8 unnamed undead and 5 named undead would not instantly be destroyed by this amulet. Granted, the named undead would likely last more than the 2 rounds their hp suggest, as they have ~30-40% chance of making their save, but the point remains that nearly all other undead in the castle would be toast in one round. Also, the amulet would not be available until at least 11th level, and if possessed it would likely use up most of the cleric's monetary allotment. However, the adventure is made such that one is 'suggested' to be ~10th level when they encounter strahd, so this cleric would only be 2-3 levels at most above what they should be upon entering the castle - and yet, by themself, they could all but clear out the castle just by walking through it. That is far too much power, even in an undead specific module.

If, however, it merely turned (in the normal sense) all undead within 30 ft then it would be fine. It would still destroy 1 HD undead that failed to flee the scene by the second round, but considering we are speaking about an 11th level cleric, such would be minor nussances anyway. For the stated price I could perhaps accept this level of power at this level. After all, fleed undead are still around to go after others. They just leave the cleric alone is all. Think of it as a potent form of undead-specific sanctuary around the cleric. And the more mindful undead (ie: having a realistically good will save) might yet be able to resist it - for a round or two at least.

 

[Corbert]

Nyeshet, you make some good points on how powerful it is, but as an epic item none of my PCs are going to get their greedy hands on it until they are at least 21st level . So, any undead they encounter are going to be epic as well, and most non-epic undead encountered would be nothing but fodder anyway. Also, I use a varient for turn resistance for undead in my games, for each point of turn resistance an undead has it gets to roll 1d6 to negate turning damage, applied before the save. I realize this wasn't in my first post, but it's a house rule, and I didn't see the need.

Besides, I think I may have priced it wrong as an epic item , any one want to help here?

 

[Li Shenron]

I have the feeling that if you allow this item in your game, you can forget about designing an undead encounter anymore...

I'm not talking about the minions, that's still acceptable if anyway most of them can be anyway dispatched with a single attack. But then when facing the BBEG you're most likely going to keep rolling every round and decrease the BBEG hit points by a certain average amount. Could be fun the first time, but it won't be very amusing the next, because it's a weapon that doesn't require much tactics from the players at all. Just IMHO.

I don't know the epic pricing rules, wasn't there a +500.000gp for each item? In any case, I REALLY hope you're pricing this because you're going to make the players CRAFT it but not BUY it in the "epic magic shop 'round the corner"

 

[JonnyFive]

epic magic items follow the DMG magic item pricing chart.... then multiply the final cost by 10.

 

[Nyeshet]

Okay, I think I understand, but I still have a couple concerns. 1) Why not have the player take the feat instead? Continuous turning to a radius of 15 ft as a cleric ten levels lower as I recall. Less potent than your amulet, but using the Xd6 damaging variant it would still be quite potent. Also, it cannot be lost, disjuncted, etc and leaves wealth open to buy other things.

2) An epic item should not be craftable prior to epic level. The fact that it has an 11th level caster level suggests that it is priced for mid-level play. The minimum caster level for making the item should be 21st level, and it should almost certainly require the feat mentioned above for the cleric to make the item - since it is, in effect, mimicking an epic feat.

Otherwise I am (almost) fine with this item. Note that 21 level -10 levels works out to 11th level, your targetted level of damage as I recall. Your range is doubled however from what the feat grants (a 15 ft continuous aura).

Prerequisites: Cha 25, ability to turn undead, ability to cast dispel evil. (& caster level 21+)

Benefit: Every undead creature that comes within 15 feet of you is automatically affected as if you had turned it. This doesn’t cost a turning attempt, and you don’t have to roll turning damage (it automatically affects all undead in a 15-foot burst), but it only turns undead with Hit Dice equal to or less than your effective cleric level minus 10 (and automatically destroys undead with Hit Dice equal to or less than your effective cleric level minus 20). Just as with normal turning, you can’t affect undead that have total cover relative to you.

If WotC had a suggestion for pricing items that grant continuous use of feats we would have an easy way of approximating the cost for such an item. However, they understandably do not (as all feats are not created equal). I tried working out the equation used in the metamagic rods, but eventually I gave up.

 

[Corbert]

In any case, I REALLY hope you're pricing this because you're going to make the players CRAFT it but not BUY it in the "epic magic shop 'round the corner"

Absolutely . Thers no way my players will be able to find or buy this item, but I am going to drop in game hints of its method of crafting.