Skill Boost Items (Complete Adventurer)

[Trainz]

Greetings,

Allow me to present to you a friend of mine, Pandora. She has a box, let's open it, shall we...

This has been a quite popular subject, some would say I'm beating on the putrefied skeleton of a poor long dead horse, but new info (to me at least) has been brought through Complete Adventurer, and I wish to launch a little brainstorming session.

I posted the following in another thread from the Complete Adventurer I just bought today (an awesome book BTW). This is a new magic item from CAdv:

Choker of Eloquence (Greater): +10 on Diplomacy, Bluff, and Perform (sing) checks. So basically +10 on 3 skills.

Here's the fun part: CL 6th, Craft Wondrous Items (NO OTHER PREREQUISITES !), 24,000 g.p..

Now given that the DMG tells us to base ourselves on already existing items to price and/or allow new magic items, it is safe to say that now a 6th level caster (arcane or divine, it doesn't matter really) can create a +10 to 3 skills item with no other prerequisite than having the Craft Wondrous Items feat. It would also cost him 12,000 g.p. and 960 x.p..

The DM in me rolls his eyes, but the munchkin in me giggles inanely.

Now the Choker of Eloquence is obviously created around a theme, so I guess other +10 to 3 skills items should also be built around a theme. So here are a few examples, following all those guidelines.

Slippers of Agility (Greater): +10 on Tumble, Balance, and Escape Artist. CL 6th, Craft Wondrous Items, 24,000 g.p.

Necklace of Infiltration (Greater): +10 on Move Silently, Hide, and Escape Artist. CL 6th, Craft Wondrous Items, 24,000 g.p.

Hat of the Mage (Greater): +10 on Spellcraft, Knowledge (Arcana), and Concentration. CL 6th, Craft Wondrous Items, 24,000 g.p.

Hat of the Pious (Greater): +10 on Spellcraft, Knowledge (Religion), and Concentration. CL 6th, Craft Wondrous Items, 24,000 g.p.

Circlet of Alertness (Greater): +10 on Listen, Spot, and Sense Motive. CL 6th, Craft Wondrous Items, 24,000 g.p.

Bracelet of Devices (Greater): +10 on Search, Disable Device, and Open Lock. CL 6th, Craft Wondrous Items, 24,000 g.p.

Vest of Athletic Might (Greater): +10 on Climb, Jump, and Swim. CL 6th, Craft Wondrous Items, 24,000 g.p.

Sash of Swashbuckling (Greater): +10 on Bluff, Tumble, and Escape Artist. CL 6th, Craft Wondrous Items, 24,000 g.p.

Cloak of the Warlock: +10 on Use Magic Device, Concentration, and Spellcraft. CL 6th, Craft Wondrous Items, 24,000 g.p.

...

Don't get me wrong, if no-one has a problem with this, I'd love to have one of these baubles for my character. It just seems... out of line.

 

[Darkness]

*gulp* Right, that's a little on the cheap side.

I think I like the DMG's suggestion better:

+10 to a skill = 10*10*100 = 10,000 gp

So one item with +10 to 3 skills would be: 10k + 15k +15k = 40k


Maybe they switched the 2 and the 4 accidentally and will correct this mistake post haste. (edit - And I'm not sure I would like the precedent at even that price.)











...Hey, I can dream, can't I?

 

[Trainz]

*gulp* Right, that's a little on the cheap side.

You think ?

(edit - And I'm not sure I would like the precedent at even that price.)

The precedent is huge.

The "theme" parameter is just an assumption, it's not really a rule.

Any rogue would KILL for a +10 on bluff (invisible blade), use magic device (bring those wands baby) and tumble.

We shall dub this bauble the Girdle of the Lollypop Guild.

 

[Iku Rex]

This is a new magic item from CAdv:

Actually, it's an old item (from Arms and Equipment Guide, +10 Diplomacy, Bluff, Innuendo, Perform [vocal only], 6000 gp) updated to 3.5 and re-priced.

Like Darkness said it's too cheap, but aside from that it's hardly a ground-breaking precedent. Competence bonuses to skills are about as basic as you can get when it comes to item creation.

(The closest Core item, Circlet of Persuasion, 4500 gp, grants a +3 competence bonus to all charisma-based checks. Looks like bonus squared/2 * 1000. Extrapolate that and a "+10 to all charisma-based checks" item is 50000 gp.)

 

[dcollins]

Don't get me wrong, if no-one has a problem with this, I'd love to have one of these baubles for my character. It just seems... out of line.

I agree with you, that the extrapolated examples are out-of-line. This problem goes away most easily by recognizing that all new items are House Rules, and that such extrapolation is not automatically available to players.

If you do allow new item invention, as the DMG says, "other items require at least some DM judgement calls". In this case, the required judgement call is that some skills are more valuable than others. Innuendo and Perform, for example, are on the low side -- Spellcraft and Use Magic device, being on the upper side and very potent in-game.

 

[Thanee]

There are plenty magic items, which are below the price from the guideline... it's a judgement call.

Here they obviously thought, that the disadvantage, that you have to get all three skill bonuses at once, while maybe not all are useful for you, and that the skills are close together to be considered similar (yes, there is no written rule about this) in some way (no DM should allow such an item with Use Magic Device, Tumble and Bluff, for example, as it does not carry the same limits).

I think the price is ok (a +10 to one skill item is usually superior, given the better (yes, better) cost-use ratio), the lack of prerequisites is another topic, however.

I mean who would really buy gloves of climbing and swimming instead of seperate gloves of climbing and gloves of swimming?

Bye
Thanee

 

[Scion]

Definately looks like they used the 'similar ability' rule for item creation.

I dont see a huge problem with it, so long as certain skills are not able to be on the same item. This is probably easier than listing every skill with a different price (which of course I would prefer, a +100 to jump is interesting but still unlikely to break games, even +30 on diplomacy can kill all sorts of things).

So long as each item has a good bit of flavor I see no problems. 24k is still a pretty big price and since you typically cannot use two or more of these skills at the same time anyway having a reduced price isnt a big deal. It is that or simply have multiple items that are switched for various situations.

 

[Gez]

Dang, you sure like Escape Artist a lot!

Make me a +10 Concentration, Spellcraft, Use Magic Device item I will... :yoda:

 

[Trainz]

What is the rule on pricing unslotted items (such has pearl of power, ioun stone et al) ?

Anyways, I think the dangerous precedent here is the caster level 6, no prereq (create wondrous items only). Basically then, a 6th level caster with the feat could add a +10 on any skill he wishes for only 5,000 g.p. and 400 x.p..

If you guys don't think that's over the top, my players will kiss you.

 

[Scion]

you feel that it is dangerous to let characters make skill bonus items?