Permanent Effect Magic Items

[Gregor]

Hey there, im not much of a wiz when it comes to making and pricing magic items so.......

My question is, would it be possible to make an item that when worn, like a ring for example, would bestow a permanent effect upon the wearer? So, can a person make a ring of mage armor that when worn, they are always under the spell? If so, how much would it cost?

Cheers,

 

[Skinwalker]

The example you gave, a ring of Mage Armor, should be calculated as an item that grants +4 Armor bonus to AC rather than an effect that grants 24x7 use of the Mage Armor spell. The 3.0 calculation of this is pretty straightforward, but I'm not sure if it has changed for 3.5.

 

[Gregor]

ya I guess that was pretty obvious.....I am SMARTACUS!

Cheers for the help btw!

 

[Spatzimaus]

Yes, like Skinwalker said, for continuous items price by the effect, not the source. So, a Ring that gives continuous Mage Armor should cost 16,000 gp (same as Bracers of Armor +4).
I'd probably discount it a bit since Ring is a more important slot and requires a higher level to make, but from a stylistic point of view I'd be more likely to throw other effects on instead. So maybe the Ring gives +4 Armor AC, DR 1/-, and low-light vision for a cost of 30,000 gp. It's just how rings are: multiple neat effects all in one hard-to-make package.

The thing to remember here, though, is that the pricing rules are NOT a construction system for players. They're a set of guidelines for DMs. The DM alone decides what types of items are acceptable, uses these rules to get a ballpark estimate, and then tweaks that value based on how powerful he thinks it should be.
After all, not all spells are created equal. Just because those guidelines say that an unlimited-use Cure Light Wounds item would be cheap doesn't mean any DM in his right mind would ever allow it.

Supposedly 3.5E provides some better guidelines for items mimicking spells (bringing spell duration into the equation, for example), but they're still just guidelines.

 

[dcollins]

Very much agree with the previous poster.

In the 3.0 Sword & Fist book (p. 77), precisely such an item is detailed: ring of mage armor, +4 armor bonus to AC, market price 12,000 gp (a bit discounted from bracers, exactly as the previous poster predicted).