Bo9S: Those maneuver granting items

[Three_Haligonians]

Hey folks,


Need some help here: The magic item section of Bo9S has those various magic items that grant a single maneuver to a character who wears one for 24 hours. I have a question about them:

It says that it grants the knowledge of one maneuver of a level up to the highest it can grant for which the wearer meets are pre-reqs, but that is all it says. What it doesn't talk about is recovery or readying.

If my character is a non-martial adept class, I assume this item works like the martial study feat: I can use it once per encounter with no recovery method. From that, I also assume that if I pick up martial adept class levels later, it still works the same way.

What if my character is a MA already? Does the item grant me a new maneuver known? Do I have to ready it like all my other maneuvers? Can I recover it as per my class?

How do you rule this? If it helps, the specifics are this: my swordsage/fighter just bought a Vest of Iron Heart [Novice] and used it to pick up the Disarming Strike maneuver.

Thanks!

J from Three Haligonians

 

[Mistwell]

I assumed you needed access to maneuvers already to be able to use the item. I do not think it operates as martial study, though I could be wrong.

 

[Arkhandus]

They're really vague items.

Firstly, they are meant to give access to maneuvers for non-martial adepts. It's mentioned a few times; once in the beginning of the item's description, again in the sidebar on the next page, and I think in one or two other spots. They also work for martial adepts.

But it says nothing of giving them an initiator level, or how often they can use the maneuver, or how they recover it, or the like.

It's probably easiest and best to just assume it works like the Martial Study feat, except without the bonus class skill. And without the limit on number of times gained (instead these items take up specific body slots, after all, and most of them are of a sort that you can't wear more than 1 copy of at any given time).

Therefore, initiator level would be 1/2 character level, useable once per encounter, for non-martial adepts. A non-martial adept would have to wait until 2nd-level at least to make use of the item, at which point their effective initiator level would be 1, the minimum to learn and initiate maneuvers (not that they'd likely find it as treasure before 3rd or 4th, anyway, since even a Novice Crown of White Ravens or similar is 3,000 gp). While martial adepts would probably just treat it as another maneuver known; they could ready it, initiate it, and recover it as normal.

The least-likely, but still fairly literal interpretation, could be said to infer that the maneuver can be used at-will by anyone donning the item for at least 24 hours, without need for recovery, although the initiator level would probably still be interpreted as being 1/2 character level for any non-martial adept.

 

[blargney the second]

They're really vague items.

Now that's an understatement. I keep wanting to give one as treasure, but the sheer vague vagueness dissuades me.