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Message: <blockquote data-quote="JayOmega" data-source="post: 1032063" data-attributes="member: 8650">I agree with Bel about the crit and elemental protections... why would such an item be created?  A party of six is not going to give up all their bracer (etc) slots to get the effect of half a magic item, except possibly at low levels.  And, I would assume that the "magic" going in to linking the items should make these items harder to create than a normal item of the type... it would break my suspension of disbelief to find out that 6 linked rings were easier to manufacture than a single ring with the same power.The "share Sorcerer spells per day" item would be a capital-A Artifact.The hit-point pool item makes some sense, but consider the game-play effects.  "[T]he Cleric could hide around a corner, and cast heal spells on himself constantly in saftey."  Being the healer is a boring job to begin with... giving the party an item that makes "keep the healer out of combat" the strongest tactic is just punishing the poor god-follower even more.  Granted, he doesn't have to sit out every fight, but this strong tactic will get used for the "boss monster" fights, which are the most enjoyable to play.  Also, distributing hit points hurts high-hit-point characters and helps low-hit-point characters disproportionately... the d4/d6 hit point set gain survivability from these bracers, while the d10/d12 set lose survivability... low-hit-die characters have low hit dice because of their power in other areas, so these items make wizards too powerful and warriors too weak for their level.  And I've never had a party where everyone was selfless enough to join into such an arrangement. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" />As an aside, the goddess of community & marriage in my world has a prestige class called the Lifebonded which has "pooled hit points" as one of its powers.  It doesn't have as much of this "hide-the-cleric" and "cripple the fighter, boost the wizard" effect, as hit points are only split between two (married) characters, both of whom must be 5th level+ clerics to begin with.  The mechanics are a bit different, as well... each keeps track of their own h.p., but when reduced to 0 h.p., the other takes damage for them, instead.  (The usual penalties for being at 0hp apply, making this a not-terribly-strong ability to depend on.)As ideas for other "gestalt items", this class also gets abilities of the following sorts: the "linked minds" ability of Axiomatic creatures; making certain saving throws together (i.e. both make Fort saves against death effects, and the target only dies if both fail the save); spontaneously cast a cleric spell that the other has prepared; voluntarily share Ability Score bonuses (one can transfer his Strength bonus to the other to aid in lifting a heavy gate, for instance... the donator has a +0 bonus until the effect ends); combine mental ability score bonuses for skill checks (perform heal checks with the sum of both characters' wisdom modifiers).I do like items of this sort, though.  It makes sense in a world where "adventuring groups" are common that magical items designed to take advantage of such group dynamics would exist.  My party currently has a set of mugs that act as "walkie-talkies" (when the mug is filled, a localized clairaudience effect is broadcast to the other full mugs... I stole this idea from somewhere, but I forget where).  That could be considered "sharing the resource" of knowledge."Team" items that don't specifically share resources are useful, too.  Telepathic and teleporting items are a natural choice for this.  "Pack attack" weapons that hit harder when their wielders gang up would make sense, as would a set of items that act together for an occasional strong attack (like the Shocker Lizard's ability).I'd like the items you listed if they guaranteed everyone some use out of them... for the bracers, perhaps the critical damage absorbed is divided amongst the other wearers as temporary hit points, or a blocked critical gives everyone a one-shot +1 bonus to hit the creature that dealt the critical?  The fire-resist rings could grant the Flaming special ability to a random wearer's attack for 1 round per 10 hp absorbed?Bonding items that give some form of aid, but geas their wearers to work together, would make sense as a "gift from the (non-good) king" or "guarantee of loyalty to the evil wizard."I have done multi-item sets for a single user, as well... my current group have (or once had) paired swords that are more magical when dual-wielded, a protective bracer/glove/ring set, and a pair of rings that only function when both are worn.</blockquote>

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