Magic Item Creation (revisited)

[Tilla the Hun (work)]

What is the difference between use-activated and continuous use wondrous items? Is it better to make a button to push or make it a usable item, like a stone?

As an example, suppose money and xp were of a concern, but you wanted to make a wondrous item of Insight Deflection.

Prerequisites: Mage Armor, Shield, Insight, Shield of Faith

Now, do you make this a stone that you hit yourself alongside the head with to activate? Or do you make this a helmet with continuous usage?


Secondly, can you make an item in the 'continuous use' bracket that continually bestows a True Strike upon the bearer?

I'm not saying it should be allowed (probably not) I'm just asking if it's 'legal' by the rules...

 

[dcollins]

Working from 3.0 here...

What is the difference between use-activated and continuous use wondrous items?

Use-activated items are anything that have a magical effect just from using them normally, like swinging a sword. "Use activation is generally straightforward and self-explanatory". Continuous use items are a subset of these, where you just have to carry or wear the item.

Many use-activated items are objects that a character wears. Continually functioning items... are practically always items that one wears. (DMG ch. 8: "Using Items: Use Activated")

Is it better to make a button to push or make it a usable item, like a stone?

If you're asking about inventing new items, then this question, along with the rest, is in the realm of House Rules and dependent on whatever your DM allows. I suppose you can do whatever is more efficient or advantageous or cheaper as dictated by your DM.

Here's what I'd rule if I were your DM. First, I generally recommend that DMs not allow new item inventions in the first place (www.superdan.net/dndfaq3.html). Second, the "normal use" with a rock is not to beat oneself in the head with it, so I would definitely never allow that as a legitimate use-activated magic item. Third, I'd disallow a use-activated True Strike item -- you'll hear a bunch of people jump in here and assert that any True Strike item takes a full round to activate (and is thus balanced and allowable), but that in itself is a DM House Rule on that particular item, not dictated anywhere by the core rules.

 

[der_kluge]

True Strike is a personal spell. I don't allow Personal spells to be placed into use-activated items. They have to be either spell-trigger, or spell-completion, and in those cases they generally have charges.

One of the characters IMC has a True Strike bow, but it has something like 8 uses per day. It's not unlimited. And he's a wizard (spellsword), so he can activate the magic in the bow. Only another spellcaster can use it.

 

[kreynolds]

Like the Bow of True Arrows from S&F. I always did like the idea behind that bow.

 

[Spatzimaus]

I just added two rules/guidelines for my campaign, and they've stopped 99% of these problems.

1> Continuous or unlimited-use items have to be Rings or Rods. Rings take up the finger slot (max two), Rods must be wielded in your hand to bestow any benefits.
If you have an existing Wondrous item that either has unlimited or continuous effects, change it to an X/day item, where X is usually 5, for the listed price.
(This was based on the classic "Quacks Like A Duck" rule. Too many people kept wanting a Wondrous Item that had the same effect as their favorite ring/wand/rod/staff, to keep from having to spend more Feats.)
2> The caster level of an item has to be at least what's needed for the Feat in question. So, let's say you want to replace the 3E Boots of Springing and Striding. To make a Ring that casts Expeditious Retreat at will, under 3E pricing, would be 1.8k * 1(spell level) * 12(caster level) = 21.6k. Not the cheapest item in the world, and having to activate it hundreds of times could really annoy everyone, so you'd probably pay 24k for a continuous-effect version.
I haven't worked out the 3.5 pricing yet.

 

[kreynolds]

Another good solution (of which I ganked from either here or over on the WotC boards) for continuous items (IMO, and one that I adopted as an additional option, and not necessarily a replacement) is multiply the cost given by the formula by 0.2 per use. For example, 5 uses is 1, 4 is .8, 3 is .6, etc, etc. But this works great for items that can be used more than 5 times per day. Say you want to make it useable 10 times per day, or even 15 times per day. The multiplier for those would be x2 and x3. This works great for most items.