Need help with price for magic item

[med stud]

The item Im making is called Coat of the bear. It is a Hide armor +1. When the one who wears the armor goes into a rage (as per barbarian rage), he turns into a brown bear as per polymorph other.

The spell involved in the creation of the item is polymorph other. The item is superior to polymorph other in that it doesnt use a saving throw to avoid penalties, but it is inferior in that you cant chose your own form, and that you have to rage for it to take effect; you could even call it a cursed item in that it always turns you into a bear.

How much would you think it would cost? I appreciate any advice!

 

[pontus]

Maybe 42,000 gc. Does the character revert to his original form once the rage ends?

 

[KarinsDad]

A Cloak of the Manta Ray is very similar at 20,000 (multiple ablities of the creature like water breathing, fast movement, etc.). Remember, just like the cloak is controlled by a command word, the coat is controlled by raging. Hence, the save stuff is basically irrelevant.

An extra 1,000 GP for the +1 and you are basically there at 21,000 GP.

But, DMG magic item prices are often best guess as opposed to equations. YMMV.

 

[med stud]

To pontus: Yes, he reverts to humanform after a while, right now Im thinking of ending the bear form when the rage ends.

Thank you both for your suggestions! I think they are a bit too high, though; first, the wearer of the armor has to put up with a hide armor +1, which is as effective as a scale mail, and then he can only use the item when he rages; would you think about 10k is too cheap?

 

[Crothian]

Well, how eaxtly are you going to make this work? Will the Hide Armor still count for AC? I coiuld see that happeneing as a function of the Armor. THe Stats for a Brown Bear are str27, Dex 13, and Con19; are you going to allow rage to stack with these stas? Will the rage still increase his hp because polymorph self does not.

I think depending on how you plan to use it matters a lot. Either way I think 10,000gp is too cheap. I think 20k or higher is needed.

 

[kreynolds]

Well, how eaxtly are you going to make this work? Will the Hide Armor still count for AC? I coiuld see that happeneing as a function of the Armor. THe Stats for a Brown Bear are str27, Dex 13, and Con19; are you going to allow rage to stack with these stas? Will the rage still increase his hp because polymorph self does not.

I think depending on how you plan to use it matters a lot. Either way I think 10,000gp is too cheap. I think 20k or higher is needed.

I think they should have been made into pants or chaps. Hide armor is just silly.

 

[Crothian]

I think they should have been made into pants or chaps. Hide armor is just silly.

What's silly about hide armor? Sure, game wise it's noth the best armor, but it's good for some characters. It adds flavor to the Barbarian who refuses to wear metal armor or the Druid who just killed a bear and is using it as protection. Not every thing has to be the best for people to use it.

 

[kreynolds]

What's silly about hide armor? Sure, game wise it's noth the best armor, but it's good for some characters. It adds flavor to the Barbarian who refuses to wear metal armor or the Druid who just killed a bear and is using it as protection. Not every thing has to be the best for people to use it.

LOL Dude! It was a joke! Hence the "pants or chaps" comment.

 

[Geoff Watson]

I character in the game I DM wanted a similar item to this. He turns into a Troll as per Polymorph Self once per day. (Though I'm getting a bit annoyed at the Hulk jokes.)

I priced it at 8000gp, (Using the formula for a fourth level spell once per day at 8th level caster, with a large discount for only one form).

For your item, I have some more questions: How often can he use it? How long does the transformation last? Just the rage? Normal duration? Why not just take levels in the Bear Warrior PrC?

Geoff.

 

[med stud]

OK, the story behind the hide armor is that the armor is made from the skin of a bear; the most accurate I could come up with is hide.

The berserker is in the bearform as long as the rage lasts. He doesnt get AC from the armor in bearform (that's a +3 enhancement in MotW). The armor is also made of hide to make it more unattractive to the players. There is no limit on how many times the armor can be used, but it wont activate w/o rage.