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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Hawken" data-source="post: 5063586" data-attributes="member: 23619">Actually, there is a table in there for the locomotion of a stronghold that is capable of movement. I don't have the book in front of me right now (I just moved to a new place) but I'm fairly certain that table has different costs associated with it based on varying speeds.I think I saw the final version a little while back, but my point was about your claim of handwaving and such. You're a little too quick on your claims of handwaving and arbitrariness while offering (initially) nothing better and you're doing the same thing here, especially considering that you seem not to even understand the work you're now criticizing. Before you start claiming flaws in things you don't understand--and you don't understand the SBG or we wouldn't be having this conversation--why not try to figure out what it does first and learn its strengths; and in doing so, you'll figure out possible shortcomings that can be corrected.There are patterns in the book. If you read the rules (until you understand them), you'll see the patterns in the tables and the pricing. That you're not seeing 'patterns' simply means you've either not looked at the rules or you've only skimmed through them. Read them. If you don't get it the first time, repeat as necessary. They're not too straightforward but its not like reading the owner's manual of a car either. That's the thing though. You're not seeing it. Clearly at any rate. You fired off snap judgments before. You're doing the same thing now. You didn't understand the DMG rules then, you're missing the SBG rules now. The thing is, that's exactly what the book does. The costs are based on the spells used (and thus their levels), there is some issue of frequency but SBG typically covers ongoing enchantments. Also, I personally don't get your "action-taxing activation" thing. Whether an effect is triggered by an act of will, a spoken word or waving an arm or object around, is largely irrelevant and a matter of flavor for the most part. It shouldn't be any more or less challenging to make an effect activate in whatever manner its creator desires. Because potions are liquids, they are activated by being consumed or rubbed on someone. Scrolls are activated by being read (by a spellcaster that can understand what's written). Just about everything else is by an act of will or a spoken word. That has no bearing on the price but is a consequence of the nature of the magical item.Then you and those hundreds of others need to go back and actually read the rules. Its one thing to not understand something but its another thing entirely to disagreeBecause epic characters tend to invest their wealth in arms, armor and other items, not in real estate. Characters that don't spend their money on gear for the next tougher monster to come along get eaten by that monster without some seriously good rolls or divine (DM) intervention. If you want to create a game where the players have to "build" a flying island, go for it. But they'll probably get bored really quickly because there's nothing exciting about it, there's no challenge and what's the pay-off? Oh, I got a flying island, but I don't have the gear or resources to defend it! Now what?One thing you're missing here that you missed with your item creation discussion is that for the most part players don't care about creating magic items beyond "can I do it?", "how much does it cost?" and "when do I get it?" The rules are for the DM to use to help him decide if it can be done, if it should be done and how much it will cost. That's why its in the DMG and not the PHB. Parameters that have been set out and explained already. Just because you don't understand or agree with them doesn't make them less valid or even useless.</blockquote>

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