Broken Spells in SC and Broken Items in MIC?

[eamon]

And yes, I'd allow a shirt that allowed you to re-target any evocation cast within 30' of you to yourself. Hell, I'd even call it a cursed item.

:-D

For the record, I'm not impressed by the vest. I doubt many players will buy it. Most enemies don't use high level healing spells like heal at all. There's essentially no-one that relies on them - even those that can cast them, it's by nature a fall-back option. Given the limited range, and the fact that you need to need healing yourself, and the fact that it requires hefty investment in spellcraft, and uses a perfectly useful body-slot (otherwise occupied by the ever-useful vest of resistance)...

It's potentially useful for front-line spellcasters (that are likely to get damaged but have spellcraft anyhow) - and that basically only means druids and clerics, who are unlikely to need this item.

It's potentially useful for non-casters if there's a lot of low-level healing going on, and they're on the front line - this won't be an issue at high levels, as the body-slot and the immediate action and the daily limit make it very unattractive. It won't be a problem at low-level because of the cost.

So, does anyone know of a situation in which it'll be extremely powerful? In most campaigns it'll be useless, and in others, mediocre. If you're a polymorphing rakshasa with a high-spellcraft check with a lot of undead allies, whom you're saving from risking death by redirecting a heal spell, then it might really be pretty good. Maybe.

It's a good item since it's an interesting idea and sparks potentially creative uses without being overpowering. It's not great since it's usage is rather inflexible and situational, but it's not overpowered either.

Compare with the Ring of Spell-Battle (12k, MIC127). That's better. You might find the "fluff-bonus" of information about spellcasting overpowering on that ring. The hard bonus is also more powerful, allowing you to retarget a single spell per day. However, if you interpret that as only targetted spells (do others?) then even that doesn't seem too nasty.

 

[brehobit]

And yes, I'd allow a shirt that allowed you to re-target any evocation cast within 30' of you to yourself. Hell, I'd even call it a cursed item.

Please note, that's not what I said.

 

[eamon]

Please note, that's not what I said.

No, indeed not, but it's still a hilarious concept :-D

 

[Hypersmurf]

Why does Heal keep coming up, in reference to the Shirt of the Leech? Heal isn't 4th level or lower...

-Hyp.

 

[Elethiomel]

Why does Heal keep coming up, in reference to the Shirt of the Leech? Heal isn't 4th level or lower...

-Hyp.

Because it was said that "If a healing spell (any, not just 4th level or lower) is cast within 30 feet, 3 times a day you can have it affect you instead of the intended target.".

 

[Hypersmurf]

Because it was said that "If a healing spell (any, not just 4th level or lower) is cast within 30 feet, 3 times a day you can have it affect you instead of the intended target.".

But the item text says "healing spell of 4th level or lower"...

-Hyp.

 

[Zurai]

But the item text says "healing spell of 4th level or lower"...

-Hyp.

The shirt has two functions. The first is automatic (no activation) and only works on healing spells of level 4 or lower:

Whenever a healing spell of 4th level or lower is cast within 30 feet of you, you instantly recognize the spell being cast

The second is a command (immediate) action and works on any healing spell, with no restriction other than range:

As an immediate action, you can activate a shirt of the leech to gain the effect of any healing spell cast within 30 feet of you, instead of the spell affecting its intended target.

The two effects are completely separate, with separate activation entries (-- and immediate (command) respectively), separate number of uses per day (continuous and 3/day respectively) and in separate paragraphs in the item description.

 

[Hypersmurf]

The shirt has two functions.

Ahh... I glanced at MIC last night and saw the "4th level or lower", and when I came to the thread today - away from my MIC - I checked Magic of Eberron for the exact wording.

It's apparently changed - in Magic of Eberron, it says "The shirt of the leech can be activated as an immediate action three times per day", and the paragraph describing what happens when you activate it makes no mention of level... but the preceding paragraph states "Whenever a conjuration (healing) spell of 4th level or lower is cast within 30 feet of you, you recognize that the spell is being cast (but not specifically which spell it is) and can activate the shirt of the leech in response."

So in the MoE version, you can only activate the shirt to steal the spell if the "4th level or lower" function has already triggered, which means you can't use it to steal a Heal, since that wouldn't trigger the recognition function.

It looks like there were some other changes as well - the MoE version requires you to make a saving throw to successfully steal the spell, and also costs 20k gp.

-Hyp.

 

[Vegepygmy]

Goggles of Foefinding.
2,500 gp to ignore cover bonuses to AC.

Why is this broken again? You still can't Make AoO against an enemy with cover, they still get reflex saves and hide bonuses....

Well, I don't know about you, but in every 3.5 game I've seen, the +4 cover bonus to AC applies about 90% of the time someone wants to make a ranged attack and probably 50% of the time they want to make a reach attack, so this item fails the "Would anyone not take it?" test.

Essentially, you're getting a +4 bonus on a significant percentage of your ranged attack rolls...for 2,500 gp. Appropriately, this item should be priced at some percentage of 4 x 4 x 2,000 = 32,000 gp; certainly no less than 50% (and I'd personally put it at about 70%).

Among my group of players, goggles of foefinding were immediately identified as a must-have item for ranged combatants...and were almost as quickly recognized as being severely underpriced.

 

[Zurai]

Unless the majority of your combat time is spent in 10 foot wide corridors, it's really not that hard to avoid cover penalties as long as you follow RAW regarding cover (You only need a line from one corner of your square to one corner of any of their squares that doesn't pass through a cover-providing square). Usually a 10' move to the side will clear up firing just fine.