Pricing a ring of gravestrike

[frankthedm]

Ok, that is tracking what I thought. I am uncomfortable with
the spell myself. What I am really looking for is a way to allow
one of my players, who plays a rogue, to be useful when fighting
undead

Then He uses Use Magic device and a wand. A Staff of fire is reaonably affordable and a higher level cure wounds wand can let the rogue handle the healing for the combat.

Undead are weak vs. undead, this was part of the system. The cleric picks up the rogue's slack when the undead show up. If you look at gravestrike, you will notice that a rogue can use it only through multiclassing, losing sneak in the process. It is a hidden safty feature that prevents 1 round swift spells from geing used by UMDers

What I think would be good is increasing corporeal undead HP across the board, maybe charisma mod to HP, and have undead vulnerable to sneak attack and critical hits from a weapon specific to the creature.

Vampire - Ironwood & peircing or silver & peircing
Wight - Silver
Zombie - Slashing
Skeleton - Bludgeoning
Lich - Cold Iron Bludgeoning Magic

 

[frankthedm]

I would also put a limit on the maximum Sneak Attack damage possible. That way, there could be different versions of the Ring, all of them at a different cost:

+1D6: 2000 GP
+2D6: 8000 GP
+3D6: 18000 GP
+4D6: 32000 GP
+5D6: 50000 GP
+6D6: 72000 GP
+7D6: 98000 GP
+8D6: 128000 GP
+9D6: 162000 GP
+10D6: 200000 GP

Even thought many Rogues might get a cheaper one, very few would pony up for the more expensive ones. This, I think, is balanced.

That is a very good idea.

 

[HeapThaumaturgist]

Hrm. I would say it should be rather expensive.

The Rog/Clr in our current AoW game uses the spell quite often (and it comes up quite often) and it certainly does allow him to spike his damage output through the roof.

That said, I would say that if Undead are to be a regular or focus component of your campaign, you should give him some ability to use his major combat skill on them. A 3/Day ring at a reasonable price-point would be good. A totally custom item that might be good, if you think it is going to be a regular thing for them to fight undead, would be a custom-costed item that allows 3/Day sneak attack undead at some lesser amount than normal that still scales ... either reduces all dice to d4s or halves the number of dice he gets. That way it scales, but it doesn't let him dominate undead combat consistently.

--fje

 

[Stalker0]

I defiinately agree with the X/day idea. There's a big psychological difference between at will and not at will. You may give him grave strike 10/day and he might still want to save a few uses "just as in case." But once its at will players go crazy with it.

 

[Kalshane]

What I did for a game that was Undead heavy was create a weapon property called Redeemer which for a cost of +1 allowed critical hits and 1/2 dice sneak attacks against undead. It allowed the rogue to be useful in undead fights, but he had to give up a "plus" on his weapon that could be used on other things to have it. (As for the +1 pricing, I was originally pricing it at +2, but the Disruption ability is a +2 and forces a Fort Save or be destroyed on every hit. Being able to crit and make sneak attacks is less powerful than that.)

 

[rowport]

...What I am really looking for is a way to allow
one of my players, who plays a rogue, to be useful when fighting
undead. ...

Tom-

Well, of course, he could be useful as a support character without changing anything. Using aid another, flanking, and even preparing healing potions for allies can all be useful enough.

But, for specifcally damaging undead, you might consider the Lightbringer Rogue alternate class ability from Expedition to Castle Ravenloft. The Lightbringer Rogue loses the Trapfinding bonus in exchange for half his normal sneak attack damage affecting undead.

 

[Korak]

The rogue needs a ring of minor spell storing and 3 pearls of power 1. That will provide your answer, if the cleric is willing to give up a spell slot when it needs refilling.

 

[MarkB]

Consider allowing the rogue to take the Disruptive Attack alternate class feature from the PHBII.

This feature replaces Uncanny Dodge, and lets the rogue inflict a -5 penalty to any creature's AC in place of dealing sneak attack damage. This ability can be used even on creatures immune to sneak attack.

If your campaign becomes undead-lite in the future, let him use the PHBII retraining rules to switch back to Uncanny Dodge.

 

[kerbarian]

One option that's completely within the rules would be a wand of extended gravestrike for 4500gp. It takes a standard action to activate, and then the rogue can sneak attack on the following round, plus he can get sneak attack damage on his AoOs for two rounds (which can be significant with Opportunist). This also requires him to have a good UMD skill and a free hand for the wand.

Definitely not as effective as a ring, but it's also cheaper and not likely to cause balance concerns.

 

[KarinsDad]

One option that's completely within the rules would be a wand of extended gravestrike for 4500gp. It takes a standard action to activate, and then the rogue can sneak attack on the following round, plus he can get sneak attack damage on his AoOs for two rounds (which can be significant with Opportunist). This also requires him to have a good UMD skill and a free hand for the wand.

This would not work. Activating a spell trigger item, even one of Swift spells, is a standard action. So, the Rogue could not both activate the wand and attack.

However, a Wand of Extend Spell Grave Strike would work. The Rogue could only attack every other round though.