Help in Pricing an item of Fortunate Fate?

[Beretta]

Hi all,

A player in my campaign would like to create an item that bestows the effects of the spell Fortunate Fate on command. This spell can be found in Magic of Faerun.

For those not familiar with its effects, it's a 7th level cleric spell with a casting time of 1 minute, and duration of 10mins/level. It works essentially as a 'contingency Heal', in that if a creature warded by the spell is killed by an attack that a Heal spell can cure, the Fortunate Fate spell triggers a Heal which saves he 'victim' of the attack instead (restoring them to full health in the process).

The 1 minute casting time limits its usefulness as a memorised spell except as preparation for a big battle that they know is going to happen in advance. Command word activation is a standard action so this limiting factor is dispensed with in fabricating an item with this spell as its power.

By 'the book', this item would come out as 13 x 7 x 1800 = 163,800gp [caster level 13th]. However, I think that is far too cheap for an item of this power to be activated 'on command' for an unlimited number of times per day. Then again, its probably far too expensive for use just once/day.

The nearest 'equivalent' item I can come across is a Ring of Spell Turning at 150,000gp, but I've found that it's a bit cheap for virtual immunity to targeted spells at the cost of one (probably hasted) action, with unlimited usage per day. So I'm not sure how to proceed.

Basically I want to be fair to the player because it's not an unreasonable request, but on the other hand I don't particularly like the idea of a virtually indestructible paladin dominating the game either, one that need only fear death when confronted by attacks that can't be affected by Heal such as negative levels, ability drain (not temporary damage), disintegration, or death effects (espec. since he has a death ward or two memorised anyway). I want to keep things balanced so everyone is having fun. If one player can't die, they'll all want the item or else they'll just get frustrated and lose interest which would be a shame considering the time we have all invested in this campaign.

They've just reached 19th level (all the way from 1st when we started in December '01) so 150K-200K gp isn't as exorbitant as it once was (as I have been trying to stick to the treasure guidelines in the DMG).

If anyone could come up with a reasonable price (or if you think that the above price for unlimited use is fine) please let me know! I'd like to limit it to just one use/day [command word] but am not sure how that would affect cost.

Any and all help is most greatly appreciated!

 

[Hypersmurf]

Command word activation is a standard action so this limiting factor is dispensed with in fabricating an item with this spell as its power.

"Activating a magic item is a standard action unless the item indicates otherwise. However, the casting time of a spell is the time required to activate the same power in an item, whether it’s a scroll, a wand, or a pair of boots, unless the item description specifically states otherwise."

-Hyp.

 

[Beretta]

Re: Re: Help in Pricing an item of Fortunate Fate?

"Activating a magic item is a standard action unless the item indicates otherwise. However, the casting time of a spell is the time required to activate the same power in an item, whether it’s a scroll, a wand, or a pair of boots, unless the item description specifically states otherwise."

-Hyp.

That is certainly true, and something I considered until I came to the following (same page of DMG, under Command Word):

"Activating a command word magic item is a standard action and does not provoke attacks of opportunity."

I honestly don't know which is correct, but I assume Word means just that, not Words (or Litany as might be the case of a 1 minute casting time spell such as Fortunate Fate!)

Even if a Command Litany is required to activate the Fortunate Fate power, it's not something I'm comfortable with a PC having active for almost every battle (as it would last 130 minutes after activation, or just over 2 hours in game time). Due to both this and the unlimited usage, the 1 minute activation time is still not much of an issue. Having available once/day is like having the spell memorised permanently and is a bit more feasible from a game balance perspective also.

So going with either interpretation (they appear to be both contradictory but equally valid), I still don't know how to price this item...

 

[Hypersmurf]

Re: Re: Re: Help in Pricing an item of Fortunate Fate?

That is certainly true, and something I considered until I came to the following (same page of DMG, under Command Word):

"Activating a command word magic item is a standard action and does not provoke attacks of opportunity."

This is true. However, the casting time of a spell is the time required to activate the same power in an item, whether it’s a scroll, a wand, or a pair of boots, unless the item description specifically states otherwise.

The generic description of how command word activation works is not the item description specifically stating otherwise.

"As a free action once per round, the user may command the Rod of Rodliness to produce Faerie Fire" is the item description specifically stating otherwise.

The passage you quoted is not an item description - it's the description of a broad class of items.

-Hyp.

 

[Beretta]

Okay I think I see it now.

It takes a standard action to say the word, and it takes another 9 rounds for the magic of Fortunate Fate to 'power up' and come into effect.

To me, it sort of defeats the purpose of being Command Word, as I can't think of any other Command Word item whose powers don't take immediate effect as soon as the word is spoken (which isn't to say there aren't any - just that I haven't come across any is all...). The advantage is that the power isn't spell-completion or spell-trigger, which means that the paladin (or anybody other than a cleric or rogue with UMD) couldn't activate it if this was the case.

Any recommendation on how to price it, particularly if it's restricted to a maximum usage of once per day? Should the long activation time be a mitigating factor in its determination, also?

 

[Hypersmurf]

Any recommendation on how to price it, particularly if it's restricted to a maximum usage of once per day? Should the long activation time be a mitigating factor in its determination, also?

I should think the activation time wouldn't affect the price unless you alter it.

If he wanted to make something that cast Fortunate Fate as a Standard Action (ie, the item description specifically says "otherwise" ), I'd certainly up the price.

Especially if it could be used twice per day.

By the guidelines, one use per day would divide that base 163k by 5, or around 32k.

-Hyp.