Ring of Sustenance

[Winternight]

from SRD:

Sustenance
This ring continually provides its wearer with life-sustaining nourishment. The ring also refreshes the body and mind, so that
its wearer needs only sleep 2 hours per day to gain the benefit of 8 hours of sleep. The ring must be worn for a full week before
it begins to work. If it is removed, the owner must wear it for another week to reattune it to himself.
Caster Level: 5th; Prerequisites: Forge Ring, create food and water; Market Price: 2,500 gp.

Is there any gamelogical explanation for this (gamebalancing) rule, that you have to wear the ring for one week to work?

 

[mikebr99]

from SRD:

Is there any gamelogical explanation for this (gamebalancing) rule, that you have to wear the ring for one week to work?

It's magic... slow working magic.


YMMV


Mike

 

[Orm]

It prevents you from passing the ring to your fellows each day. So it´s not "One Ring To Feed Them All".

Orm

 

[Skinwalker]

"Gamebalancing" was a good way to put it. I think the delay is simply for game balance purposes.

Basically, you can't just wear the ring when it is convenient - you have to wear it all the time to get the benefit. You can't just put the ring on when you feel hungry or thirsty. You can't just wear the ring when you're going to sleep and get a full night's sleep in only two hours. You can't just pass the ring to someone else when they're going to sleep.

The waiting period seems to be a simple mechanic to enforce game balance.

 

[Winternight]

Clarification

Sorry I did not make my self clear.
Rule: you have to wear the ring for one weak to function.

Reason: gama balance.

But is there a in game logic explantion for it. Maybe casting time of a spell. Non other macig item needs this atonement. I don't like rules they are because they are rules.
Especially with magic items.


Note:
broken game balance:
Ring of regenaration can be passed thru the hole party.
Same thing

 

[Caliban]

Re: Clarification

Sorry I did not make my self clear.
Rule: you have to wear the ring for one weak to function.

Reason: gama balance.

But is there a in game logic explantion for it. Maybe casting time of a spell. Non other macig item needs this atonement. I don't like rules they are because they are rules.
Especially with magic items.

In game explanation: It takes that long for the ring to attune itself to every system in your body and start providing it with nourishment.

Note:
broken game balance:
Ring of regenaration can be passed thru the hole party.
Same thing

Fraid not. Ring of Regeneration won't heal damage you have taken before you put the ring on. It only heals damage incurred after you put the ring on. So passing it around won't heal up the entire party.

 

[Winternight]

Thanx

In game explanation: It takes that long for the ring to attune itself to every system in your body and start providing it with nourishment.

THat's a rule I can live with. Still not happy.
*Game Balance*
Still not happy
*GAME BALANCE*
Ok

Fraid not. Ring of Regeneration won't heal damage you have taken before you put the ring on. It only heals damage incurred after you put the ring on. So passing it around won't heal up the entire party.

Those who can read may rule the world.
Thank you.

 

[Delemental]

Okay, this might be a bit of a stretch, but here goes...

Looking at the ring's entry, it operates at a caster level of 5, with a prereq of create food and water. Looking at that spell, it creates enough food for 3 humans per caster level. So at caster level 5, you get 15 man-days of food.

Now, this just covers eating. It is safe to assume that to cover the "2 hours sleep" function, roughly half the ring's power must go into that. Fifteen divided by 2 is 7.5; rounding down (since this is d20 and all fractions are dropped) you get 7 man-days, or a standard week.

The reason that the ring of sustenance takes a week to start working is that it releases it's magical power in one-week intervals, a "burst" of energy that sustains the wearer for the next 7 days. The ring was deliberately designed not to release its first energy burst until it had been worn for a week. It's a safety feature; if someone put the ring on, then took it off, then put it back on, they'd get two 'doses', which would overload their system and kill them.

The flaw in this interpretation is that technically someone could wear the ring a week, get their "burst", then remove the ring and still have the benefits for a week. This would allow sharing the ring, but it wouldn't be very efficient:

Day 1: Adam puts on ring of sustenance
Day 8: Adam receives benefits of ring for 7 days, gives it to Bob
Day 15: Bob receives benefits for 7 days, gives ring back to Adam (who has just lost benefits of ring)
Day 22: Adam receives another dose of ring's power, returns ring to Bob (who just lost his benefits)

So at worst, you'd have two characters getting the benefit of the ring every other week - adding more people just extends the amount of time you need to eat and sleep normally.