Magic Item: Ring of Perminent Shield

[zlorf]

Hi,

Could someone tell me the cost of such a item. Apparently it works out to be 4000gp.
Seems pretty cheap for a item that give you +4 to AC and protect against magic missle.
Are we doing something wrong in calculating the cost?

Thoughts?
Zlorf

 

[Rkhet]

Prices for rings are just guidelines and require DM discretion. Which is why you don't get people walking around with rings of use-activated Truestrike or Cure Light Wounds.

 

[Ferrix]

Hi,

Could someone tell me the cost of such a item. Apparently it works out to be 4000gp.
Seems pretty cheap for a item that give you +4 to AC and protect against magic missle.
Are we doing something wrong in calculating the cost?

Thoughts?
Zlorf

A +4 shield bonus to AC, is about equivalent to a +4 armor bonus to AC, perhaps a bit better, thus it's 4^2*1000, or about 16000gp plus the effective cost of the protection against magic missile, which I'd probably just peg at a couple thousand.

If you think the shield bonus is better than an armor bonus to AC, make it 4^2*1500, which is 24,000gp. Although, at that point I'd just include the protection against magic missiles into that cost.

Refer to the Estimating Magic Item Gold Piece Values table in the DMG, if it provides a bonus that is listed, use that rather than the pricing of a spell, you generally get better results.

Overall, they are just guidelines, gotta use commonsense.

 

[Savage Wombat]

Take the cost of a Ring of Force Shield (which has a +2 bonus normally) and add +4000 GP to make it +2. Add a little extra for the protection from MMs.

 

[FireLance]

Well, the magic item pricing formulas are really guidelines, and you're advised to check the results against a similar magic item. For your shield ring, the closest equivalent would be the ring of force shield, which grants a shield bonus of +2 and costs 8,500 gp. Going by the principle that bonuses increase exponentially, i.e. a +2 bonus is 4 times (2x2) more expensive than a +1 bonus, a ring that grants a +4 shield bonus to AC should cost 34,000 gp.

Pricing the immunity to magic missiles is a little tricky. Basing off spell immunity results in a cost of 4 x 7 x 2,000 gp x 1.5 = 84,000 gp. On the other hand, a brooch of shielding that protects against 101 hp of magic missile costs only 1,500 gp. Maybe a good compromise would be to use the level of the specific spell being protected against (1) x the minimum caster level for spell immunity (7) x 2,000 gp x 1.5 = 21,000 gp. That's the equivalent of 14 brooches of shielding, or 404 individual magic missiles. As a gut assessment, I doubt that a character will encounter so many magic missiles over the course of his career, so I'm prepared to go with that.

Normally, adding an additional property to a single item costs double, but since the combined effect duplicates a single spell, I think it would be alright to just add the costs. I would thus estimate the value of a shield ring at 55,000 gp. Does this sound right to you?

 

[Shin Okada]

IMHO, when making a permanent magic item, it is inappropriate to use "spell effect" formula for spells which has very short duration. I will go for "compare with simular item" method.

The most simular item could be a +2 Animated Ghost Touch mithral heavy shield, which provides you +4 Shield bonus which is effective against incorporeal things, has no armor check penalty nor arcane spell failure, yet does not occupy your hand.

The shield costs 20 (heavy metal shield) + 1,000 (mithral) +49,000 (+2 Animated Ghost Touch) =50,020 gp, or roughly 50k gp.
This could be a good start.

Still there are some differences

*Pros for Ring of Permanent Shield
Gives you immunity against Magic Missile.
Not a physical shield by the rule, so does not hamper various class abilities. For classes such as Monk, Dervish, Duelist, etc, this is very important advantage.
Shield made of force is unbreakable. Never sundered.

*Cons for Ring of Permanent Shield
Does occupy a Ring slot.
Cannot be farther enchanted, of cannot be subject to Magic Vestment spell.
Cannot be subject to Divine Shield feat.

It is hard to estimate the costs for those differences. But the biggest obvious difference could be the immunity against Magic Missile. It is like having permanent Spell Immunity effect. So, 4 x 7 x 2,000 = 56,000 gp, or roughly 50k gp.

Now, two roughly 50k gp worth properties (or powers) are sharing the same space, so one should be multiplied by 1.5. So now roughly, 125k gp.

 

[Sithobi1]

I'd go with something far cheaper than 125k...that's pretty damn expensive. Take the Ring of Force Shield, which gives +2
Most things are bonus^2 times a constant, so if you double the bonus, you quadruple the cost.
Doing this yields a cost of 34000 gp, far more than the cost of Bracers of Armor +4, yet both combined are cheaper than Bracers of Armor +8, which is as it should be.

 

[Thanee]

A ring of shield would cost 20,500 gp.

16,000 gp is the cost for a +4 shield bonus to AC, similar to bracers of armor.

3,000 gp is a fair cost for the Magic Missile protection (twice the cost of the brooch of shielding). This cost must, of course, be increased by +50%, because of the multiple different abilities rule.

Bye
Thanee

 

[Shin Okada]

I'd go with something far cheaper than 125k...that's pretty damn expensive. Take the Ring of Force Shield, which gives +2
Most things are bonus^2 times a constant, so if you double the bonus, you quadruple the cost.
Doing this yields a cost of 34000 gp, far more than the cost of Bracers of Armor +4, yet both combined are cheaper than Bracers of Armor +8, which is as it should be.

I don't think Ring of Force Shield is that much simular to aforementioned ring. Ring of Shield creates a heavy shield made of force. It still need a hand to wield (do not give you a free hand). It is still considered to be a shield (cannot get various class bonuses and abilities which prohibits the use of shield). On the other hand, permanent Shield spell simply gives you +4 Shield bonus to AC.

Also, comparing two +4 items against one +8 item is wrong. A +8 item is meant to be expensive comparing to two +4 items. A +4 armor costs more than combined costs of one +2 armor and one +2 shield. Stacking and item slot are big issues.

 

[dcollins]

Could someone tell me the cost of such a item. Apparently it works out to be 4000gp.
Seems pretty cheap for a item that give you +4 to AC and protect against magic missle.
Are we doing something wrong in calculating the cost?

Thoughts?

There should be a FAQ on just this question alone.
- Remember that "new magic items" are a variant and not allowed by the default D&D rules in the first place.
- Recall that if allowed, the first rule for DMs pricing new magic items is to compare to an existing item, in this case to +4 bracers of armor.
- Failing that, all magic item pricing is ultimately a subjective call by the DM; any formulas are only guidelines.

Here's what Monte Cook, author of that section of the DMG, said on his website ( http://www.montecook.com/arch_dmonly3.html#marketvalue ):

The most important thing to remember is, Table 8-40 doesn't determine prices. It suggests them. Don't say, "Wow, these shoes of continual improved invisibility sure are cheap." Do say, "Hmm, these formulas don't work when it comes to spells like improved invisibility." When someone asks me, "Can I really make an item that will cast cure light wounds at will, activated by a command word, for only 900 gp?"I now reply, "Only if your DM isn't paying attention."