Price an item that knows when you drop...

[AuraSeer]

Contingency is the way to go.

Detecting unconsciousness may seem like a simple effect, but that's not all the item does. It needs to respond to that detection by triggering another magical effect, without a character's intervention. No low-level spell manages to do that. (The few sense-and-respond spells that do exist, like Magic Mouth, are explicitly denied the ability to activate any magical effects.)

 

[Darklone]

There are armours with Cure Minor Wounds somewhere... only stabilize you but they are rather cheap.

 

[Quidam]

Contingency is it. 6th level. Ouch.

So... how much for the effect of being able to remain conscious under 0hp? I know there's a feat that allows it, but don't know if there's a spell.

 

[SheepLord]

Forget that 6th level spell. Deathwatch is just fine for this item. Read all the magical items in the DMG and you tell me that the spells picked were exactly what would make sense from the spell description. Some would fit, many would not. Besides, deathwatch does detect this status of a character.

Check out many of the magical traps, they all use the alarm spell for their trigger. If magical traps required contingecy, there wouldn't be any magical traps.

 

[Sejs]

Deathwatch (Clr 1)

Cure Light Wounds (Clr 1)

1/day when you drop below 0hp.

Making it need Contingency is unnecessary in my oppinion.


Deathwatch(primary effect: monitor user's hp. must be 1st spell on item). Caster Level(1) x Spell Level (1) x 2,000gp.
Cost: 2,000gp

Cure Light Wounds(secondary effect: when user's hp drop to between 0 ~ -10, cast CLW on user. If single attack will drop user below -10hp, item will not take effect). Caster Level(3) x Spell Level (1) x 2,000gp x2 (second spell on slotted item).
Cost: 12,000gp
Running Total: 14,000gp

Limitation: Takes a limited item slot (necklace). x1 cost.
Total: 14,000gp
Running Total: 14,000gp

Limitation: Only useable 1/day. Price / 5.
Total: 2,800gp



Market Cost: 2,800gp
Creation Cost: 1,400gp, 112 exp.

 

[Crothian]

Looks good to me. It's not going to be a game breaker and I can see these being populiar with important NPCs.

 

[Caliban]

I believe that any non-charged item that can cast healing spells should have it's price increased significantly. Healing it just to useful and effective in the game system.

Look at the Ring of Regeneration for example. 90,000 gp, and it only heals one hit point per level per hour. It won't even bring you back from the dead anymore.

Just my opinion.

 

[War Golem]

You may want to take a look at an item in Magic of Faerun: the Ring of Nine Lives. The description is too long to type, but the primary power of the ring is if the wearer drops to 0 hp or below, a heal spell is automatically cast on the wearer. The ring has 9 charges when created. Cost: 70k. (limited wish, heal)

Cheers,

-War Golem

 

[Sejs]

Ring of Regeneration is a poor example. A ring of regeneration has effects above and beyond the scope of the pre-requisite spell used in it's crafting, and will consistantly heal 24hp every day in addition to any natural healing rate. That's enough to bring most people back from the brink of death to full health in a day, and that's not even counting the natural healing from a day of bedrest. It heals subdual damage faster than normal, and it also does the standard regrowth of lost limbs, organs, etc from the regeneration spell.

Regeneration (Spell Level 7th) x Caster Level 15th (listed in ring description) x 2,000gp (use activated). = 210,000gp. Cost is not doubled because it takes up a limited slot (ring).

But the price in the DMG for the item is only 90,000gp.


I fail to see any problem with the healing scarab based on comparason to the ring of regeneration.

 

[kreynolds]

You may want to take a look at an item in Magic of Faerun: the Ring of Nine Lives. The description is too long to type, but the primary power of the ring is if the wearer drops to 0 hp or below, a heal spell is automatically cast on the wearer.

Some would argue, however, that it isn't truly "automatic", meaning that if you take enough damage to drop you to -10, the ring doesn't work. I wouldn't argue that, but some would.