Magic armor bonus? Pffffft.

[Pax]

Rule of thumb at the exodus: Price the item based on the undalaying spell ... then price it based purely on the bonus(ses) it provides.

Then apply the HIGHER of the two.

So for a continuous shield spell that provides a +4 (shield) bonus to AC ... I'd price the (shield) bonus like an "armor bonus (other)", so:

Spell x Caster x Duration x 2,000gp (1 x 1 x 2 x 2000gp) is 4,000gp;
Bonus^2 x 2,500gp (4 x 4 x 2,500gp) is 40,000gp;

... the item would parse out to 40,000gp; that seems a mite high, so I'd probably halve it to 20,000gp.

All of those numbers being BEFORE affinity issues, of course.

 

[Thanee]

...and double the price of the most expensive enchantment.

That part has been errata'ed drastically in the DMG errata!

It's 1.5 times the lower cost now!

Multiplying the higher cost makes no sense, anyways, since you could simply make the lower cost ability a seperate, slotless item then and save majorly.

Bye
Thanee

 

[BSF]

Piratecat,
In 3.0 the shield bonus was an "armor bonus that stacked". They got sloppy on the 3.5 conversion and forgot to include Shield bonuses in the table.

All armor bonuses use the armor pricing. All stat bonuses use stat pricing. Those trump using an always on affect. Now, if Agar were going to go for a use/day item, he would have to decide what level the spell would be cast at. This would set things such as duration.

Ring of Force Shield is an idiosyncracy where they sort of applied the rules. the +2 bonus squared x 1000= 4000. Then they applied the make it up rules to accomodate the free activation so it doesn't interfere with a spellcaster, and the force affect as another base modifier.

The Brooch of shielding is another terrible example. As best as I can tell, they kept the price low to give the DM an item to equip an NPC with cheaply. It will effectively last an entire encounter for a BBEG, but for a PC it just becomes a bookkeeping hassle.

I would begin at the shield bonus for the shield affect (4 ^2 x 1000 = 16000). For the magic missle affect, I would be tempted to take a brooch of shielding double the price and give it an ablative affect of 101 points of damage/day. That would add an additional 3000 and it would give protection vs magic missile that could be brought down by a determined opponent.

Then apply appropriate doublings for mutiple affects in an item, etc.

 

[Thanee]

I'd price the (shield) bonus like an "armor bonus (other)".

Why?

Bye
Thanee

 

[Thanee]

The Brooch of shielding ..., but for a PC it just becomes a bookkeeping hassle.

For the magic missle affect, I would be tempted to take a brooch of shielding double the price and give it an ablative affect of 101 points of damage/day. That would add an additional 3000 and it would give protection vs magic missile...

You certainly like to hassle your players with bookkeeping, eh?

j/k

...that could be brought down by a determined opponent.

Bye
Thanee

 

[BSF]

You certainly like to hassle your players with bookkeeping, eh?

Heh - Don't think that I didn't think of that. But, there is a logic to my madness. A standard Brooch of Shielding might last several adventures. The entire time the player has to keep track of a running total. It might be a year before the Brooch is finally "done".

Adding it as a renewable affect each day means that the player will have to keep track of it over a shorter period of time. Admittedly, that might stretch across a session or three at times, but it might also refresh several times in a session.

As an aside, I don't think I would allow a standalone renewing Brooch for 3000 gp. But, as an affect on an item like a Robe of the Alienist? I think that will be one of the lesser powers and one of the lesser bolt-on costs.

 

[The Souljourner]

I revise my earlier statement, pricing it like bracers of armor is a good idea. It's essentially the same thing - duplicates armor without being armor. So 19000, which includes 3k for immunity to magic missiles. Screw the ablative crap, it's too annoying to keep track of, and not powerful enough to really matter.

Allowing it into your game does vastly increase the potential AC of anyone who normally wouldn't use a shield - i.e. monks, two handers, etc. And, it's yet another reason not to use sword and board. I don't think I'd allow it for that reason alone.

-The Souljourner

 

[Jeremy]

Shouldn't this be at CL 18 and therefore much more expensive?

CL 18? Yes. Much more expensive? Not really, no. 1 x 1 x 750 x .2 vs 1 x 18 x 750 x.2 didn't have that much of an effect on the number of sales of the runes.

 

[Epametheus]

I'd use a +3 mithril buckler as the closest comparison of such an item -- with a weight of like 1 pound, a -0 armor penalty, and 0% spell failure, it's as close to a shield that's not really there as you're gonna get without making a slotless item. That being said, the item in question would be worth 10K gold before magic missile immunity is factored in; 20K if you double it for being a slotless effect. Magic Missile immunity is a decent ability, since every wizard and sorcerer in existence uses that spell. Maybe 6K for a brooch of shielding effect that's slotless and never fails -- magic missile is just a 1st level spell, even if it's a really strong one.

 

[dcollins]

13K difference in cost, negates magic missiles, and stacks with mage armor! Is it just me, or is it almost always preferable to make an item with the shield spell?

...It clearly seems like a loophole in the rules. I'm quite curious as to what shield bonuses in items should cost, and what an item of shield is really worth.

As has probably been said multiple times at this point... the "new item" pricing table presents guidelines, not rules. That's not just hot air, you've discovered one of the many breakdowns if the DM isn't achingly cognizant of that fact.

Furthermore, any "new item" is intrinsically a new House-Rule, and the more that enter your game, the more it will look like the magic items that exist are broken. Exact same goes for the Craft Item feats: they look broken if PCs can always invent their own items of any type.

The DMG in fact says this:

Many factors must be considered when determing the price of magic items you invent. The easiest way to come up with a price is to match the new item to an item priced in this chapter and use its price as a guide. Otherwise, use the guidelines summarized on Table 8-40: Calculating Magic Item Gold Piece Values.

Therefore, according to the first and "easiest" way, if an item is trying to lend a +4 armor bonus, comparing that to bracers of armor, it needs to cost about 16,000 gp. Only if that example did not exist should you "otherwise" turn to the pricing formula guidelines.

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