Spatzimaus said:
I used only off-the-shelf items, or items built within the parameters of the magic Weapons, magic Armor, and Brew Potion rules. Not custom spells and whatnot.
Just because it's "within the parameters" doesn't make it valid for a cross-campaign discussion. For example, under the DMG rules, I can make an item that gives me continuous True Strike (+20 to my attack rolls) whenever I attack for only 2000 gp (1st level spell, use-activated)
No DM in his right mind will allow this item as is. Yet, under the item creation rules, it fits the parameters of what can be made.
Same goes for an item with continuous Shield, or Magic Missile at will, or Cure Light Wounds at will... they meet the guidelines, but you won't see many DMs go for it. Maybe yours will, but since most others won't it's not a fair baseline for a discussion.
No, you would then be making a custom item. The dagger and the buckler use the "pick and choose" method by which ALL general magical armors, shields, and weapons are put together; it's not custom in the sense of the item you put forth.
The potion uses the specific rules for maing a potion, not the "guidelines" for nonstandard custom items. That price list in the DMG is -not- a set of rules formaking a new item; it is a set of guidelines to help DM's PRICE a new item.
However, Brew Potion IS a rule for creating potions. And the Magic Arms and Armor sections ARE rules for assembling items with custom sets of effects.
Every item is subject to DM approval. However, those items that are explicitly listed in the DMG (or whatever other official book you use) are officially "endorsed" as being balanced That's why these discussions should be limited to only listed items; everything else is really up to the whim of the DM.
So, there isn't a single scroll thatis endorsed, because they don't
specifically list those scrolls? Bull. Neither the list of potions, nor the list of scrolls, was ever intended to be exhaustive or comprehensive.
And this assumes the item IS valid in the first place, and part of the earlier discussion was how personal spells and/or spells requiring that sort of decision-making wouldn't be allowed for potions.
As someone else pointed out,
Alter Self is a personal-range spell that is still listed as a valid potion, by WOTC. And nothing in the PHB rules indicates that a Personal range spell isn't acceptible for Brew Potion.
To the other stuff:
As the others have said, you don't lose a spell slot if it goes over 24 hours, you only lose a spell slot if it was cast within 8 hours of refreshing your spells (and if you need 8 hours of rest, that means ONLY if you were interrupted while sleeping or if you delayed meditation until the middle of the day).
Okay, my bad.
And Expertise and Fighting Defensively DO stack, that one has been explicitly clarified in the FAQ (p.17). They're Dodge bonuses, which is one of the few types that stacks with itself, and it doesn't explicitly say that Expertise replaces Fighting Defensively.
As I have repeatedly stated, the FAQ != the Errata. If and when the Errata indicates a change inwording, it's core rules. Until then, it's only WOTC-Seal-Of-Especial-Approval House Rules.
Look up the definitionof Errata, and the definition of FAQ. A FAQ can be in error, and in this case, must implicitly be so.
) Much better investment than a 50k on a Ring of Prot. +5.
