One Spell and a Magical Item: Input?

[Reprisal]

SCATHE
Necromancy
Level: Sor/Wiz 5
Components: V, S
Casting Time: 1 Action
Range: Touch
Target: Creature Touched
Duration: Instantaneous
Saving Throw: No
Spell Resistance: Yes

Like it's more powerful divine counterpart, Ruin charges a subject with negative energy that causes a living creature to lose half of his or her remaining hit points, rounded up. The injury caused by Scathe resembles a wilting burn, hence its moniker. When the target is an undead creature, Scathe instead adds an amount equal to half of that creature's total hit points to its present total, to a maximum of the original maximum.

- I felt that mages needed something similar to Harm, but not as potent...

Iron Star: Closely resembling the medals given out by Emperor Trajanor II during the War of the Unending Tide, these slightly tarnished rewards for valour are found throughout the civilized lands. Worn tightly around the neck in full dress uniform, Iron Stars strengthen its wearer whenever an act of evocation is performed in the vicinity of the star. In game terms, the bearer of the Iron Star gains 1D8+X hit points each time an Evocation spell is cast within 100 + 10 ft. per X of the Iron Star. For this effect to occur, the Iron Star must be in contact with the bearer. (X is equal to the caster level of the Iron Star's creator up to a maximum of 5.) The Iron Star takes up the necklace slot on a character.
Caster Level: 3rd; Prerequisities: Craft Wondrous Item, cure light wounds; Market Price: Special (See Quote Box)

- For those groups out there that don't have a Cleric, or don't even have any magical back-up at all. It won't help at later levels, but it never hurts.

Possible Variations and Prices:
Looking at the Iron Star, it seems that one could have many variations on the device. For instance, this is a low level magic item. You could instead replace the word "cure light wounds" and with "cure moderate wounds," or even "inflict serious wounds." If it inflicts wounds, the Iron Star might instead be Spellbane Collar that triggers whenever a character casts a spell of the Evocation school. The names would change with different schools keyed into it... Evocation - Iron Star, Illusion - Vacant Pearl, Necromancy - Ivory Wilt, etc etc.

In any event, the pricing of this item would be: Spell Level * Caster Level * 2,000 GP as a Use-Activated device.

So, what do you think? Oh yeah, this is my first post in a while, it's good to be back!

- Rep.

 

[Shayuri]

SCATHE
Necromancy
Level: Sor/Wiz 5
Components: V, S
Casting Time: 1 Action
Range: Touch
Target: Creature Touched
Duration: Instantaneous
Saving Throw: No
Spell Resistance: Yes

Like it's more powerful divine counterpart, Ruin charges a subject with negative energy that causes a living creature to lose half of his or her remaining hit points, rounded up. The injury caused by Scathe resembles a wilting burn, hence its moniker. When the target is an undead creature, Scathe instead adds an amount equal to half of that creature's total hit points to its present total, to a maximum of the original maximum.

-- Weeelll, I'm split on my opinion of this spell. Spells that do damage as a percentage of the target's hit points just rub me the wrong way, I have to admit. They have the potential to be hideously abusive. And how do you calculate the level for a spell that has no theoretical limit on the amount of damage it can do? A mere two castings of this spell could reduce a creature with 1000 hit points to one that has 250 hit points.

And yes, the fact that it's a melee touch makes it tricky to deliver safely...but I find that spellcasters have the tools at their disposal to overcome this problem without much trouble.

- I felt that mages needed something similar to Harm, but not as potent...

-- I disagree, personally... I even feel that clerics might be better off without Harm. The spell opens too many difficult cans of worms.

Iron Star: Closely resembling the medals given out by Emperor Trajanor II during the War of the Unending Tide, these slightly tarnished rewards for valour are found throughout the civilized lands. Worn tightly around the neck in full dress uniform, Iron Stars strengthen its wearer whenever an act of evocation is performed in the vicinity of the star. In game terms, the bearer of the Iron Star gains 1D8+X hit points each time an Evocation spell is cast within 100 + 10 ft. per X of the Iron Star. For this effect to occur, the Iron Star must be in contact with the bearer. (X is equal to the caster level of the Iron Star's creator up to a maximum of 5.) The Iron Star takes up the necklace slot on a character.
Caster Level: 3rd; Prerequisities: Craft Wondrous Item, cure light wounds; Market Price: Special (See Quote Box)

-- So essentially, this allows the wearer to convert evocation spells of any level into a CLW, be that spell cast by a friend or foe. I can't think of many items with similar effects off the top of my head. I do think that pricing it as a straight 2000gp per caster level is probably a mistake though. Each caster level adds relatively little functionality to the device. It should have a pretty good-sized "up front" cost, with a smaller increment for each CL.

Comparing it to other "healing" items, one might want to make it pretty expensive. After all, a Ring of Regeneration only restores 1 hit point per hour, while this device has the potential to restore more than 1d8+1 per round! After all, if you're fighting 5 wizards or clerics, and they all use evocation spells near you, you get healed 5 times in a single round. And that doesn't include any spells cast by your buddies. But on the other hand, you can't just use it at will, and while spellcasters are commonplace, they aren't universal. And your buddies may take umbrage if you ask them to blow their combat slots on piddling healing for ya...

I figure a low-end Medium item pricing is probably fair... 20,000-25,000 range. I'd also suggest biting the bullet and just fixing the caster level at 5. To make your job easier.