Items made by Paladins

[Giltonio_Santos]

The rules do support this. All of the Item Creation Feats in the PHB list a caster level as their only requirement. A paladin has no caster level until her 4th paladin level, then it jumps to caster level 2 (half her paladin level). And a level 20 paladin has a caster level 10. That means that paladins can take item creation feats and are only prohibited from taking Create Staff and Forge Ring, as they both have a caster level 12 requirement.

That's true, but that's not the kind of rules support I was refering to. What I meant is that although the paladin has the ability to choose item creation feats, that is not a very good choice for him, since the majority of the items you'll expect him to create are out of reach for a character that will never have a caster level beyond 10th. For instante, he'll never be able to create a holy sword with an enhancement bonus greater than +3, and the same could be said about his suit of full plate.

Cheers,

 

[jaker2003]

That's true, but that's not the kind of rules support I was refering to. What I meant is that although the paladin has the ability to choose item creation feats, that is not a very good choice for him, since the majority of the items you'll expect him to create are out of reach for a character that will never have a caster level beyond 10th. For instante, he'll never be able to create a holy sword with an enhancement bonus greater than +3, and the same could be said about his suit of full plate.

I didn't think that an item's power is limited by the creator's caster level. As for the scope of his item creation choices . . . that's what I was hoping to correct with this thread.

 

[jaker2003]

I went through the DMG and I found that A paladin could potentially create the following magic items:
Armor and Weapons[sblock]
The various energy resisting armor abilities
Bashing shields
Banded Mail of Luck
Rhino Hide
Caster's Shield
Merciful weapons
Dwarven Thrower (assuming a dwarf)
CANNOT MAKE A HOLY AVENGER
Oathbow (assuming an elf)
Sun Blade[/sblock]

A whole slew of Potions & Scrolls; And every Paladin spell could be instilled within a wand.

Rods
Rod of Flailing
All the Metamagic Rods

Wondrous Items[sblock]
Belt of Giant Strength
Boots of Elvenkind (assuming an elf)
Bracers of Archery
Candle of Truth
Circlet of Persuasion
Cloak of Charisma
Cloak of Resistance
Elixir of Swimming
Elixir of Truth
Gauntlets of Ogre Power
Gem of Brightness
Incense of Meditation
Pearl of Power
Periapt of Proof against Poison
Periapt of Wisdom
Silversheen
Unguent of Timelessness
Zax, Cloak of Kings
Helm of Opposite Alignment[/sblock]

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

For instante, he'll never be able to create a holy sword with an enhancement bonus greater than +3, and the same could be said about his suit of full plate.

Actually, whether he can or cannot depends upon your DM.

About 2 years ago, my game group was struggling with the item creation rules, specifically the stuff about enhancing items that were already magical- as I recall, those rules are on p287 of the DMG or thereabouts (I don't have mine in front of me).

There were 2 interpretations:

1) To improve a magic item, you must have sufficient caster level to create an equivalent magic item from scratch. IOW, if you want to add +1 to hit to a +3 longsword, you must have sufficient caster level to create a +4 longsword. If the PC will never have sufficient caster level to create a +4 longsword, he cannot add +1 to a +3 longsword.

2) To improve a magic item, you need only have sufficient caster level to add what you intend to add. IOW, if you want to add +1 to hit to a +3 longsword, you must have sufficient caster level to create a +1 longsword. A PC could thus create a fairly powerful magic item by doing it in increments.

We wrangled with it for some time, and then finally submitted the question to WotC's CustServ. The response we got was surprising- both interpretations were correct!



The response clarified this, thank goodness. According to CustServ, that section of the rules was drafted with ambiguous language intentionally. The idea was that both positions had strengths and weaknesses, so they didn't rule out either, leaving the ultimate decision on the mechanics of improving magic items up to the DM.

So, in our game group, the DMs who favor the first interpretation run their campaigns with that interpretation in place, and those who favor the second use it.

And nobody complains.

 

[Felix]

Blessed: A blessed weapon has been imbued with holy power to strike true against evil foes. All critical hit rolls against evil foes are automatically successful, so every critical threat is a critical hit.
Faint transmutation; CL5th; Craft Magic Arms and Armor, bless weapon; Price +1 bonus.

This is worth quite a bit more than a +1 bonus; a better +1 equivalent bonus would be to add +4 to the confirmation roll to crit.

Keen, a +1 property, is equivalent to Improved Critical. Power Critical (I think that's the name) which adds +4 to the confirmation roll would then be worth the +1 magic equivalence that Blessed would provide.

At least, that's how I'd equate it.

And if you allow Blessed as written, don't be suprised when all your paladins start wielding Scimitars and Rapiers.

 

[jaker2003]

This is worth quite a bit more than a +1 bonus; a better +1 equivalent bonus would be to add +4 to the confirmation roll to crit.

Keen, a +1 property, is equivalent to Improved Critical. Power Critical (I think that's the name) which adds +4 to the confirmation roll would then be worth the +1 magic equivalence that Blessed would provide.

At least, that's how I'd equate it.

And if you allow Blessed as written, don't be suprised when all your paladins start wielding Scimitars and Rapiers.

Let me rephrase the pricing:
Bless weapon is a 1st level spell
Pricing for continuous items: spell level X CL X 2,000gp X 2(spell's duration is minute/CL)
1stX5x4,000gp= 20,000gp

+1 enhancement has a 2,000gp base price
+2 enhancement has a 8,000gp base price
+3 enhancement has a 18,000gp base price
+4 enhancement has a 32,000gp base price
or bonus squared X 2,00gp . . . apply some algebra
20,000gp / 2,000gp = 10
square root of 10 is 3.162 or +3

There, it's a +3 bonus, but i'll let it be good-aligned and grant a +1 bonus to attack rolls against evil creatures.
Revised for you:

Blessed: A blessed weapon has been imbued with holy power to strike true against evil foes. The weapon is good-aligned and bypasses damage reduction acordingly. A blessed weapon grants a +1 bonus on attack rolls against evil creatures. Furthermore, all critical hit rolls against evil foes are automatically successful, so every critical threat is a critical hit.
Faint transmutation; CL5th; Craft Magic Arms and Armor, bless weapon; Price +3 bonus.

 

[RangerWickett]

Given that paladins have the spell 'holy sword' which makes a holy avenger, I don't see why they couldn't make holy avengers. It's just a 4th level spell.

 

[Felix]

Let me rephrase the pricing:
Bless weapon is a 1st level spell
Pricing for continuous items: spell level X CL X 2,000gp X 2(spell's duration is minute/CL)
1stX5x4,000gp= 20,000gp

+1 enhancement has a 2,000gp base price
+2 enhancement has a 8,000gp base price
+3 enhancement has a 18,000gp base price
+4 enhancement has a 32,000gp base price
or bonus squared X 2,00gp . . . apply some algebra
20,000gp / 2,000gp = 10
square root of 10 is 3.162 or +3

There, it's a +3 bonus, but i'll let it be good-aligned and grant a +1 bonus to attack rolls against evil creatures.
Revised for you:

Blessed: A blessed weapon has been imbued with holy power to strike true against evil foes. The weapon is good-aligned and bypasses damage reduction acordingly. A blessed weapon grants a +1 bonus on attack rolls against evil creatures. Furthermore, all critical hit rolls against evil foes are automatically successful, so every critical threat is a critical hit.
Faint transmutation; CL5th; Craft Magic Arms and Armor, bless weapon; Price +3 bonus.

Better, to be sure. Though I am more comfortable with a +1 equivalent that grants a +4 to confirm crits than a +3 that makes them automatic.

 

[Giltonio_Santos]

And if you allow Blessed as written, don't be suprised when all your paladins start wielding Scimitars and Rapiers.

In fact, the majority of my paladins (and I love to play them ) use falchions and prepare bless weapon always, and I also get Improved Critical as soon as possible. For a shield wielding paladin, I believe the best weapon (not accounting for exotic ones with higher damage and same threat range) is indeed the scimitar.

Blessed: A blessed weapon has been imbued with holy power to strike true against evil foes. The weapon is good-aligned and bypasses damage reduction acordingly. A blessed weapon grants a +1 bonus on attack rolls against evil creatures. Furthermore, all critical hit rolls against evil foes are automatically successful, so every critical threat is a critical hit.
Faint transmutation; CL5th; Craft Magic Arms and Armor, bless weapon; Price +3 bonus.

I don't think +3 for a bless weapon effect is worth it. I can simply cast it myself when necessary and spend my money in something else that does anything to non-evil opponents. Also, for 1 less point of enhancement, holy deals +2d6 damage to evil opponents all the time, and not only when you get a high number.

Cheers,

 

[Felix]

I don't think +3 for a bless weapon effect is worth it. I can simply cast it myself when necessary and spend my money in something else that does anything to non-evil opponents. Also, for 1 less point of enhancement, holy deals +2d6 damage to evil opponents all the time, and not only when you get a high number.

Cheers,

That's not the effect though; this ability automatically crits whenever the character rolls a crit threat regardless of the opponent's AC. That's the problem.