Cloak of Ugliness

[wuyanei]

Hmm... is the ' –4 penalty to all charisma checks and charisma-based skill checks' deliberate? With only three Ugly Strikes per day, the wearer will never 'break even' in this case. Is it your intention to impose a minimum -1 penalty?

Also, 'ability damage' has specific meaning in D&D 3rd ed... I really do suggest re-terming it as a penalty. (Basically, all damage stacks and do not 'go away', in the sense that hp damage does not 'go away'. The damage is done, the magic over. All you can do is heal the damage, either naturally or with magic.)

BTW, on the issue of pricing:

I would price this as a cursed empowered ray of enfeeblement effect, CL 5, 3/day.

The ability to penalize Dex, Con, etc. at you choice instead of strength only is obviously better than Str only (especially Con!), but 2 points per attack, maximum, is definitely worse than the (1d6+5)*1.5 = 9 ~ 15 per hit for an Empowered RoE. Furthurmore, the Ugly Strike requires a touch attack to deliver -- a tricky thing, sometimes: especially against the likes of a purple worm.

Empowered Ray of Enfeeblement effect, CL 5, 3/day:

3 SpLvl x 5 CL x 1800 x (3 / 5) = 16200

As for the curse, the -3 penalty to all Charisma-checks and Cha-based skills, I'd just take the price of a +3 bonus to all Charisma-checks and Cha-based skills out of the price of the cloak. Luckily, we have an item Circlet of persuasion (4500 gp), that grants exactly that +3 bonus. Its even CL 5. How nice!

So our price for the cloak is 16200 - 4500 = 11700 gp

Personally, I find 11700 gp a bit expensive for such an item. I would probably DM fiat a 75% discount for the EmpRoE effect. Call it a price reduction due to reducing a ray effect to touch range.

16200 x 75% - 4500 = 12150 - 4500 = 7650 gp, which I think is in the ball-park.

A 7650 gp cloak could be worn by a 7th level PC (40% total wealth) or a 10th level NPC (47% gear value), which is about right for a 'boss' type encounter. If you want it to be cheaper, a 50% discount for the EmpRoE effect will get you:

16200 x 50% - 4500 = 8100 - 4500 = 3600 gp, compairable to a +2 Cloak of Resistance

3600 gp is 40% of the wealth of a 5th level PC, and 38% of the gear value of a 8th level NPC character, so you may introduce the cloak at about party-level 5 in this case.

So in the end we have:

Cloak of Ugliness

(descriptive text)

Moderate necromancy; CL 5th; ray of enfeeblement; Price 11700 gp, 7650 gp, or 3600 gp; Weight 1 lb.


Hope you find this useful! I certainly had fun!

 

[TheLe]

Hmm... is the ' –4 penalty to all charisma checks and charisma-based skill checks' deliberate? With only three Ugly Strikes per day, the wearer will never 'break even' in this case. Is it your intention to impose a minimum -1 penalty?

Oops. I forgot to change that. I think a -4 is pretty heavy, and will be changing it back to -3. Everything else is the same though.

`Le

 

[DreamChaser]

As several of us have comented, Penalty, Damage, and Drain are three different ways in d20 to reduce an ability score and they have systems set down:
Penalty has a duration and generally (though not universally) cannot reduce an ability score below 1. Penalties can be dispelled but not Restored.
Damage is instant but the target of the damage recovers 1 point of ability damage per day per ability. Damage can be Restored but not Dispelled.
Drain is instant and the ability score does not recover naturally. Drain can be Restored by higher level spells but cannot be dispelled or healed naturally.

This item definitely uses the first mechanic. My suggestion for wording is below.

I agree with the others who think that this item's usefulness is so limited that it would be pointless to have. -3 penalty per day (-6 after 7th) if every touch succeeds and that only just allowing you to break even on the penalty for 2 hours.

Either, keep the -1 penalty but make it useable any number of times per day.
or
Keep it 3 times per day but make it a penalty equal to 1d6+1 (like ray of enfeeblement).

I like the idea of the 1st one. Especially allowing them to benefit from up to +6 (for a net +3). They can make themselves beautiful, but only be making those around them ugly (or later other stats).


Cloak of Ugliness
This Cloak flickers with a green, red, and blue glow normally, but this glow ends when it is worn. As long as the owner is wearing this cloak, his face will become deformed and grotesque, effectively imposing a –3 penalty to all charisma checks and charisma-based skill checks. However, all is not lost. Three times per day as a standard action, the wearer of this Cloak may attempt a Ugly Strike (Su) with a touch attack. Upon a successful strike, the recipient of the strike takes a -1 penalty to charisma, which lasts for two hours, while the wearer of the cloak gains a +1 bonus to all charisma checks and charisma-based skill checks for the same duration. While this charisma bonus stacks with itself, a given creature may only be affected by this Strike once per two hours.

If the wearer of the Cloak of Ugliness is 7th level or higher, his Ugly Strike will inflict a -2 penalty to charisma rather than -1, but his charisma bonus does not change.

Furthermore, as the wearer becomes more seasoned, he will be able to use this Ugly Strike to deal ability damage to other attributes, but doing so will still only grant him charisma bonuses. If the wearer misses an Ugly Strike, that attempt will have been used up for the day.

Using Ugly Strike cannot cause an ability score to drop below 1.

The following chart describes the type of abilities that can be drained, and the minimum level required for it.

Table: Ugly Strike

Level/Ability
1 Charisma
3 Strength
6 Intelligence
7 +2 ability damage
9 Wisdom
12 Dexterity
16 Constitution

 

[wuyanei]

Yup! As I said, ability penalty, ability damage, and ability drain have very specific meanings in D&D 3rd ed. Characters (actually players, and mildly meta-gamey players, at that) who *snoff* at 'ability penalty' will flee in screaming horror at the very mention of "permanant constitution drain".

thele, I *do* think your concept for an 'ability damage that goes away in a set amount of time' is best described in 3rd-ed legalese as an 'ability penalty'.

 

[Bront]

I think this works much better now. Though I think that penalties and bonuses lasting 1 day instead of 2 hours does not overpower the item, and gives the user a chance to actualy use his increased charisma skills outside of combat (a 2 hour duration is not likely going to get a player from an encounter to a social setting without him specificly trying).

Allowing for an eventual bonus to be granted is a good idea too.

 

[Thondor]

I agree completely with Bront on keeping the gain to last all day. This was the most important feature. It means that you can effectively uncurse yourself, but only ideally- moreover at that point the cloak wouldn't be granting you anything, so in an ideal situatuin why should it be hindering you?
Ah, everyones so picky with terminology, he's defined what he means what does it matter?
I love the progression concept and use it whenever I can. Call them level items. I assume after the 2 damage at 7th level you let all the categories do 2 damage.
Hmmmm you could think about letting them get the other kinds of damage(1) earlier and then getting damage(2) at seperate times for seperate abilities, makes for a more complex table but . . .
Plus items that hurt you but help you more are always cool. You should ask yourself if this should actually be a "cursed" item meaning you need to cast remove curse to get rid of it.
Items in sets are also really awsome, the whole set becomes more powerful the more items in the set are aquired.

 

[glass]

Ray of enfieblement is a 1st level spell that does 1D6+lv/2 str damage. 2 points per hit is nothing.

No, it gives a Str penalty, it doesn't do damage. Big difference.


glass.

 

[TheLe]

Compromise

Thank you for your wonderful comments. I decided to make the charisma bonus +2 if the wearer deals 2 ability damage (ie 7th level). So if he uses it against 3 creatures, he gets +6 to charisma, a net gain of +3.

Furthermore, I decided to compromise on your suggestions -- the ability damage lasts for 1/2 of a day, rather than 2 hours (or a full day for that matter). That will give it some oomph.

Thanks again. So other than that, it seems you all approve of my madness. Thanks.

~Le

 

[Bront]

Thanks again. So other than that, it seems you all approve of my madness. Thanks.

Not so much approve as share in it

You've put some interesting items up here. I might have to look at some of these 17 item PDFs you're producing. I'm generaly not a big PDF buyer, but you have some different ideas, and I like different, makes items unique.

 

[TheLe]

17

Not so much approve as share in it

You've put some interesting items up here. I might have to look at some of these 17 item PDFs you're producing. I'm generaly not a big PDF buyer, but you have some different ideas, and I like different, makes items unique.

Groovy. Let me know what your email address is, and I will be happy to send you a complimentary copy of 17 Magic Weapons and 17 Magic Armors.

~Le