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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Spatzimaus" data-source="post: 533161" data-attributes="member: 3051">How'd I fix it?  Well, it's a tough one.  Let's look at how it works right now:> Cost: (bonus^2) * 20gp> Requires creator to have skill of (bonus/2) ranks OR a spell that gives a comparable ability (Invisibility for Hide, etc.).  Yes, I know not every item has this, but it's a majority, enough that I think it's more a fundamental part of the item than a use of the "requiring a skill reduces cost" thing.> No cap on how much an individual skill can be boosted, since these are circumstance bonuses instead of skill ranks> No penalty for boosting a cross-class skill.  If you want Hide and Move Silently, don't bother taking a class that has it, just buy a couple +10 items.Each of these is a problem, IMHO.  You could raise the cost to n^2 * 100 and it'd still be cheap for many skills.  I pointed out in the other threads how much difference a +5 makes on opposed skill checks (instead of 47.5/5/47.5%, it's now 70/3.75/26.25% chance of win/draw/lose).  That would only cost you 500gp under the core rules, 2500 under even this higher price.  What high-level character WOULDN'T want that, even at double price for a slotless item?As kreynolds said, it really varies by skill.  Some skills (Jump, Appraise, Profession, Tumble) just don't benefit much from overkill.  Either you succeed or you don't, so a +10 versus a +30 just isn't significant.  On the other hand, for any skill that isn't used in combat but where extra ranks help (Scry, Craft, Perform, etc.) you could just pull a +10 item out of your haversack any time you need to make a skill check.Here was a possible solution we came up with on this board before.  It hasn't been used yet, and it's a big change, but it's a start.> Cost: bonus^2 * 100gp (maybe cut it in half for "useless" skills like Jump, DM's discretion)> Requires creator to have a number of skill ranks equal to the bonus of the item (not half)> The bonuses are all Enhancement bonuses, so you can't stack ones for the same skill but they DO stack with circumstance bonuses.> The bonus is treated as extra ranks of the skill ONLY for the purpose of skill checks.  This means that the item can't take you beyond the maximum available to your class.If you've maxxed out that skill for your level, a +skill item won't help at all (possibly house-rule it to give a minimum +2, sorta like masterwork).  If it's a cross-class skill, your cap will be lower, so a Wizard can't load up on Hide/Move Silently items to pretend he's a Rogue.(Reason I have the "only for skill checks" part is to keep you from using a +skill item to make a bigger +skill item; I mean, there are VERY few uses of skills other than skill checks, so this normally won't be an issue.)Even with this nerfing, I'd STILL want a lot of +skill items.  The problem is, who wants a +5 skill bonus more, the person with no ranks or the one who's maxxed it out?To compensate for this, I was thinking of tweaking it further, making the price be (100gp x Caster Level x Bonus) and have the Caster Level be the maximum number of ranks the item could take you to (replacing the "can't go beyond your own max" limit).That is, a level 7 Rogue with 10 ranks of Hide wants a +Hide item that takes him to 15 pseudoranks (which might give him a +20 Hide check), so he has to find a 15th-level caster to make him an item, and it'd cost 100x15x5=7500gp.  If he then gains a level and puts a point in Hide, he'd still have 15 "ranks" since the item can't take him beyond its own caster level, so he might want to buy a CL 20 version from the start.  A bit more expensive, but a longer lifespan.One nice side effect: no +21 or higher items until you go Epic.</blockquote>

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