Price Check: Ring of Enlarge Person 1/day

[Nail]

Dragonlance minotaurs are humanoid.

Wow.

That's whacked.

Go get 'em, tiger!

 

[Technik4]

I would just rule that it can't be made. Enlarge Person is an annoying spell at any level. Especially in a world like Dragonlance. I don't remember any of the heroes growing every fight in the books (which isn't to say there should never be anyone using Enlarge Person on the world, just not someone who constantly uses it). Just my .02.

 

[calypso15]

I would just rule that it can't be made. Enlarge Person is an annoying spell at any level. Especially in a world like Dragonlance. I don't remember any of the heroes growing every fight in the books (which isn't to say there should never be anyone using Enlarge Person on the world, just not someone who constantly uses it). Just my .02.

Books are books. They work differently from roleplaying games. If we're going to start giving characters the book-treatment, then we're opening a whole can of worms.

For instance, resurrection spells sure don't make for very interesting literature. "Noooooo! WHY! WHYYYYYYY! Now we have to spend 10,000gp on a resurrection, damnit Thogg!"

 

[Rystil Arden]

Sure.

Benefits:

• +2 size bonus to Strength,
• a reach of 10 feet,
• weapons increase size one category,
• +4 grapple check from size.

Drawbacks:

• a –2 size penalty to Dexterity (to a minimum of 1),
• a space of 10 feet,
• a –1 penalty on attack rolls,
• and -1 AC due to its increased size.

For most combats, all of this is reduced to an effective:

• Extra reach,
• +2 Damage (Str + weapon size increase),
• -2 AC,
• -1 Ref saves

....that's it, really. It's really quite balanced for most situations.

This analysis is solid for a one-handed weapon--however, thanks to the troublesome size-increase rules for larger weapons, for a Greatsword, you instead gain:

* Extra reach,
* +4.5 OR +5.5 Damage (Str + weapon size increase--you get the higher number if your old strength bonus was odd),
* -2 AC,
* -1 Ref saves

 

[Nail]

Right.

2d6 goes to 3d6, which gives an extra +3.5 hp on average....a very nice boost!

I had forgotten about the difference between a +5 bonus and a +6 bonus. Nice catch.

 

[Nail]

For most "average damage calculations", +1 atk or +2 damage generally gives similar expected damage.

So with our optimal greatsword example (+5.5 dam, round to +6 dam), you are getting a 3-for-1 trade: +6 dam for -2 AC (a bonus on the opponent's Atk). That's a good trade!....so long as there isn't more than one opponent.

 

[Rystil Arden]

Right.

2d6 goes to 3d6, which gives an extra +3.5 hp on average....a very nice boost!

I had forgotten about the difference between a +5 bonus and a +6 bonus. Nice catch.

Yup--and I can tell you from experience that the +5.5 damage is totally worth it. For a 16 Strength Greatsword Fighter at 1st level, you actually gain +50% to damage just from this spell.

Although the percentage gain is less for a raging Barbarian, a 1st-level Orc Barbarian in Rage who maxes out Strength and then gets Enlarged will kill anything if you can keep it alive--+8 to hit (+9 to hit with Weapon Focus if she takes it), 3d6+10 Damage (average 20.5--doesn't quite kill CR3 Ogre in one hit, but she's getting there) and reach. However, the AC is probably abysmal (expect AC 12 when all is said and done), so it dies quickly

 

[Nail]

...However, the AC is probably abysmal (expect AC 12 when all is said and done), so it dies quickly

My experience (in the DMs chair), is that the Enlarged PC gets to kill lots of things for about 2 rounds....and then falls unconscious or ...dead.

The space that the enlarged PC takes up make an interesting difference. Not only can more monsters crowd around, but the space also limits how the PC allies can move around.

In particular I'm thinking of an end-of-adventure combat in which the PCs burst into the goblin king's throne room. The dwarven Bbn/Ftr got enlarged....and then quickly surrounded. The other PCs were behind the dwarf, essentially trapped and useless in the hallway behind him.

Later he was hit with a Hold Person, and I got to try a whole bunch of coup de graces on him. Amazingly, he survived 5 of them.

 

[Rystil Arden]

My experience (in the DMs chair), is that the Enlarged PC gets to kill lots of things for about 2 rounds....and then falls unconscious or ...dead.

The space that the enlarged PC takes up make an interesting difference. Not only can more monsters crowd around, but the space also limits how the PC allies can move around.

In particular I'm thinking of an end-of-adventure combat in which the PCs burst into the goblin king's throne room. The dwarven Bbn/Ftr got enlarged....and then quickly surrounded. The other PCs were behind the dwarf, essentially trapped and useless in the hallway behind him.

Later he was hit with a Hold Person, and I got to try a whole bunch of coup de graces on him. Amazingly, he survived 5 of them.

In my experience, the Enlarged PC can kick ass if you're buffing and healing her sufficiently. My low-level group relied on the fact that our dual-longswording Ranger (with Oversized TWF) was now doing 2d6+4 and 2d6+2 with his two attacks, plus more buffs, and we didn't worry *too* much about his 18 AC (after more buffs from me) because my buff Archivist combined with our healing Cleric were able to take good care of him.

The also works quite well at low levels with druid mounts (yes, you can Enlarge them with Enlarge Person if you have Share Spell) and Mounted Combat to negate those pesky attacks. Of course, Druid's don't normally have Enlarge Person to begin with, but the Wild Cohort feat and a Cleric with Strength domain could do the trick.

 

[Mistwell]

Your DM's 10k gp price is quite reasonable compared to buying 50 potions of enlarge person. For a character who stands to gain a lot of benefit from a size increase, that item would be HUGELY powerful.
-blarg

Ummm...as said earlier, the listing in the DMG is an error. 50 potions cost 2500 gp (it's a first level spell, and the spell would actually last 10 rounds as opposed to the 5 he is asking, and potions have no increased cost for this kind of reduced casting time). He priced this item at the cost of 200 potions of the same thing (only the potion effects would each last twice as long).

And, of course, you could use more than one potion per day.

I'll take 200 potions of double duration over a 1 x day item any time!