Ties that Bind - 3.5 Forgotten Realms Gestalt

[GSFRumble]

Actually they changed the wieldskill spell in the Players Guide to Faerun to a +5 skill bonus. It's OK if you will not allow this item. The main reason why I wanted it was so I wouldn't have take a whole bunch of knowledge skills for my character. ;}

Being a roleplayer before a rollplayer, I must say that sort of thinking always bothered me. Rather than taking a few ranks in a skill, putting some characterization and background to it, and then using it like it was meant to be used... That makes sense. That's how it's supposed to be. Taking an item that *gives* you a bonus to that skill without you actually needing the skill seems incredibly cheap to me; my Dwarven Cleric has no stealth ability past simply casting Silence on himself, but for a little gold, I can make him quieter than most low to mid-level rogues whilst he wears Full Plate and plods happily along.

As an aside, the build is finished for my submission; I'll type an Appearance, Personality, and Biography for him tonight.

 

[Erudite]

Hi Chubbell,

I hope you don't mind my opinion here. Having equipment that is incorporeal is an advantage, in that it it immune to alot of problems that corporeal equipment suffers from (theft, fire, sundering, etc.). It is definitely an advantage for a character, less so for an NPC, much that CR ans LA apply differently to PCs and NPCs.

I believe that the incorporeal equipment should have some cost adjustment if your character will operate in a mostly corporeal game environment. What this would be outside of magical arms and armor, I am not certain, but I feel that something along the lines of +50% would be reasonable.

Anyway, just my $0.02.
Cheers,
Erudite

 

[chubbell]

What about the following magic item?

Magical necklace with the following abilities:
-Enlarge Person (command word) (1,800 gp)
-Mage Armor (command word) (1,800 gp)(1.5)
-Magic Fang (command word) (1,800 gp)(1.5)
-Unseen Servant (command word) (1,800 gp)(1.5)
-Prestidigitation (command word) (1,800 gp)(1.5)
=======================================
Total cost 11,250 gp

 

[chubbell]

Hi Chubbell,

I hope you don't mind my opinion here. Having equipment that is incorporeal is an advantage, in that it it immune to alot of problems that corporeal equipment suffers from (theft, fire, sundering, etc.). It is definitely an advantage for a character, less so for an NPC, much that CR ans LA apply differently to PCs and NPCs.

I believe that the incorporeal equipment should have some cost adjustment if your character will operate in a mostly corporeal game environment. What this would be outside of magical arms and armor, I am not certain, but I feel that something along the lines of +50% would be reasonable.

Anyway, just my $0.02.
Cheers,
Erudite

Actual you add the Ghost Touch ability to all of the equip and magic items which costs an additional +10% to the final cost of the item. It was just very confusing in the Liberus Mortis book the way they described the issue of incorporeal/corporeal equipment and incorporeal beings.

 

[Erudite]

Wow, talk about undervaluing an ability (either that or I overvalued it)! I guess that is discussed in LM?

 

[Rystil Arden]

Being a roleplayer before a rollplayer, I must say that sort of thinking always bothered me. Rather than taking a few ranks in a skill, putting some characterization and background to it, and then using it like it was meant to be used... That makes sense. That's how it's supposed to be. Taking an item that *gives* you a bonus to that skill without you actually needing the skill seems incredibly cheap to me; my Dwarven Cleric has no stealth ability past simply casting Silence on himself, but for a little gold, I can make him quieter than most low to mid-level rogues whilst he wears Full Plate and plods happily along.

As an aside, the build is finished for my submission; I'll type an Appearance, Personality, and Biography for him tonight.

Gotta agree with you completely. I try to help with this IMC by disallowing custom +skill items. I certainly wouldn't allow anything that lets you use an trained-only skill untrained. I'd tell a player to tak Jack of All Trades if they want to do that.

 

[Erudite]

When generating higher level characters, I have found that many folks end up with a character who would have had limited utility at lower levels if played 'organically'. It is important when making up such characters to achieve a certain verisimilitude. Begin by creating the character level-by-level, then continue by imagining what contributions they would have made to the party as appropriate. How would they get by without the mega-equipment? What would be good spell or power choices for arcane/divine/psionic characters? That kind of thing.

It is hard to imagine a cerebral character who would not have invested at least one rank in several different knowledge skills.

 

[GSFRumble]

I mean, I would allow such items if the character has a few ranks in the skill. That makes sense as well.

Drizzt Do'Urden was a master swordsman. Then, he killed another House weapon master and stole his bracers, which enabled him to make blindingly fast sword movements. He later applied them to his legs, making him incredibly agile.

You can always get BETTER at something... I just don't hold with characters that can be good at something simply by holding a shiny rock.

 

[Rystil Arden]

I mean, I would allow such items if the character has a few ranks in the skill. That makes sense as well.

Drizzt Do'Urden was a master swordsman. Then, he killed another House weapon master and stole his bracers, which enabled him to make blindingly fast sword movements. He later applied them to his legs, making him incredibly agile.

You can always get BETTER at something... I just don't hold with characters that can be good at something simply by holding a shiny rock.

Ah, well that's the case for normal +skill items anyway (you can't use trained-only skills just by having a +item).

 

[GSFRumble]

My bad.

By the by, I was asked to post this so the DM doesn't forget: Is the Called special armor quality acceptable for use? It's from Defenders of the Faith (3.0, I know), but it was never updated with 3.5... Sooo... Maybe Wizards thought it was okay the way it was?

Myself, I don't see what's wrong with it; using a command word to magically don your armor is just plain awesome, and means that Bruggin doesn't always have to clank about looking fearsome.

He has a big heart, really he does.