Pricing Itimes with Initiative Bonus

[Cheiromancer]

@Vraister, I personally find the AEG too erratic in its pricing to be much help in designing items. Some things are way too expensive, and others are too cheap.

I think the "rule" is that either side can 'drop initiative' whenever they want, but if you drop it and they don't, they get in a free hit. ^_^

I like this rule a lot. To use it, the rogues just have to get far enough away so that the "free hit" won't bother them- then they can reroll initiative when next they meet the party. Do you have a similarly elegant rule for when you have to check for surprise? (i.e. how can the rogues get another chance to surprise the party?)

 

[Nifft]

The biggest advantage/abuse seems to be for rogues, for getting in all those sneak-before-they've-acted hits in. But certainly we can agree there are diminishing returns?

No. Rogues were just one example. The biggest advantage is for spellcasters.

At low levels:
- Sleep
- Entangle
- Hold Person
- Suggestion

Mid levels:
- Fireball et al.
- Dominate Person / Hold Monster
- Dimensional Anchor
- Holy Smite
- Enervation

At high levels:
- Waves of Exhaustion
- Blasphemy
- Reality Maelstrom
- Shapechange
- Gate
- Power Word: any
- Time Stop

-- N

 

[ARandomGod]

@Vraister, I personally find the AEG too erratic in its pricing to be much help in designing items. Some things are way too expensive, and others are too cheap.



I like this rule a lot. To use it, the rogues just have to get far enough away so that the "free hit" won't bother them- then they can reroll initiative when next they meet the party. Do you have a similarly elegant rule for when you have to check for surprise? (i.e. how can the rogues get another chance to surprise the party?)

I'd say the rogues get another chance to surprise the party if the party does drop the initiative, and the rogue then comes back.

 

[Cheiromancer]

If the rogues go away and drop their initiative, the party gets a "free hit." Since they are out of range, this doesn't make any difference. The party can stay on initiative if they like, but when they encounter the rogues again, they will have to roll initiative again.

However, they know the rogues are out there, and have an idea of the rogues' tactics. If the rogues dimension door in again 5 minutes after the last time, should the party be treated as surprised? What about if this is the 10th time the tactic was used in the last hour? (I know, that's a lot of Dimension Dooring, but you know what I mean.)

I don't think this is really off-topic to this thread. I think it is important, when designing an initiative item, to figure out how it will be used. If a +20 initiative item would allow rogues, under reasonable interpretations of the rules, to slaughter the party, then the bonus should be capped at +4 or +5.

 

[ZuulMoG]

It's really quite simple...

Initiative is a Dexterity-governed stat. 2 points of Dex = 1 point of Init.

The max bonus to Dex from non-epic items is +6, and costs 36,000. That's a +3 to Init.

The max non-epic bonus to Init is +3, and costs 36,000gp. Bonus squared x 4,000gp.

This "'Nervous Norvis' Twitchy Itches" spell sounds broken to me. +5 Init for a 1st level spell? How long does it last? Is the material component a god sacrificed on an altar to another god? I hope so.