Scrolls, Gems, and Pearls... Oh my

[Gus_the_Unglued]

I recently had an idea for items, but I need to know how much they should cost. Want to be prepared for the off chance that the PCs want to sell it. I don't know why they would, as this is the sort of item I won't be selling in Ye Olde Magick Shoppe.

Scroll of Experience: Upon activation, the activator gains a bonus feat that the scroll contains. Essentially the experiences and abilities of the creator are infused into the activator's psyche. The activator still needs to have the prerequisites of the feat to gain its benefits.

Originally, I was going to use it for the Pathfinder Teamwork Feats. I like them, but they're so situational that many people don't take them. I have decided to expand this to simple feats (Spell Penetration, Dodge, Toughness, maybe a Metamagic feat).

I honestly have no idea how this should be priced.

Band of Metamagic: Works as a Metamagic Rod, but is one use and consumed during use. I liked the idea that a caster can use a metamagic feat he doesn't know... once. I was thinking that it could be based on how many spell levels the metamagic alters the spell by.

Gem of Understanding: An item that I cribbed from an old issue of Dragon magazine, but made some changes for ease of use (mostly because the item was too complex for my taste). It allows the activation of a scroll without a UMD check (well its old school equivalent). It also allows the learning of a scroll without a spellcraft check. I changed it to a one use item and narrowed it to a single spell level. A Gem of Understanding 1 would allow the use of a first level scroll for activation or transcription.

Pearl of Preparation: This one is to alleviate a player's woes. He is trying out a wizard for the first time, and is finding out that he doesn't like prepped casting. However, his character is well liked by the party. So I think he might get one or two of these. Again not an item he can buy, because otherwise it might get out of hand.

As a full round action, a prepared caster may lose a prepared spell in order to prepare another spell the user knows of the same level. This item is keyed to a specific spell level, like a pearl of power. For example, a Pearl of Preparation I could allow you to lose a prepared magic missile for comprehend languages.

[sktarq]

Scroll of Experience: Upon activation, the activator gains a bonus feat that the scroll contains. Essentially the experiences and abilities of the creator are infused into the activator's psyche. The activator still needs to have the prerequisites of the feat to gain its benefits.

I honestly have no idea how this should be priced.
Wow- that could be game busting. Like anything else that give you a big permanent bonus-very highly. More than a tome of bodily health for example as that takes a month to use. Also if the creator needs to have the feat there would be very few scrolls for combat feats. Also feats are one of the rarest in game commodities around this could really throw things out of wack if you are not careful.


Band of Metamagic: Works as a Metamagic Rod, but is one use and consumed during use. I liked the idea that a caster can use a metamagic feat he doesn't know... once. I was thinking that it could be based on how many spell levels the metamagic alters the spell by..
Looks nifty-you may wish to treat it like an optional material component which since this would work on any spell would be massively expensive (or components that only work for a couple spells should be made cheaper)


Gem of Understanding: An .... A Gem of Understanding 1 would allow the use of a first level scroll for activation or transcription.. Sounds good except for the question of "how do I use it" comes up. Does one eat it? Look through it? perform a ritual? How would one use it in combat?


Pearl of Preparation: This one is to alleviate a player's woes. He is trying out a wizard for the first time, and is finding out that he doesn't like prepped casting....a Pearl of Preparation I could allow you to lose a prepared magic missile for comprehend languages.
Looks interesting but extremely dangerous...there are so many spells that wizard could switch to. Perhaps it has to be charged with a specific spell and then it could be switched out with a currently prepared one upon activation or something? The power of a wizard is really ONLY limited by the fact he can throw everything they know at a moments notice and this device erodes that. Also what happens when the NPC wizards start carrying these things around-what would they put in them and how does that change what wizards are expected to do in session? Perhaps make it cost something to use like temp wis damage if you want to prevent abuse.

[ddude987]

I recently had an idea for items, but I need to know how much they should cost. Want to be prepared for the off chance that the PCs want to sell it. I don't know why they would, as this is the sort of item I won't be selling in Ye Olde Magick Shoppe.

Scroll of Experience: Upon activation, the activator gains a bonus feat that the scroll contains. Essentially the experiences and abilities of the creator are infused into the activator's psyche. The activator still needs to have the prerequisites of the feat to gain its benefits.

Originally, I was going to use it for the Pathfinder Teamwork Feats. I like them, but they're so situational that many people don't take them. I have decided to expand this to simple feats (Spell Penetration, Dodge, Toughness, maybe a Metamagic feat).

You shouldn't have to worry about it if your group aren't power gaming, but I think the feat should have a duration, and you should put a clause in that the feat cannot be swapped by the likes of dark chaos shuffle and friends to get whatever feat the person wants. Nifty item though. I've had DMs give feats for quests, so a feat from treasure is no different.




Band of Metamagic: Works as a Metamagic Rod, but is one use and consumed during use. I liked the idea that a caster can use a metamagic feat he doesn't know... once. I was thinking that it could be based on how many spell levels the metamagic alters the spell by.

Is the band keyed to one metamagic type or is it one time use any metamagic on any spell?



Gem of Understanding: An item that I cribbed from an old issue of Dragon magazine, but made some changes for ease of use (mostly because the item was too complex for my taste). It allows the activation of a scroll without a UMD check (well its old school equivalent). It also allows the learning of a scroll without a spellcraft check. I changed it to a one use item and narrowed it to a single spell level. A Gem of Understanding 1 would allow the use of a first level scroll for activation or transcription.

I dislike this because it voids the person who put points into UMD, and players getting outclassed by items is never fun. Just be careful with this.



Pearl of Preparation: This one is to alleviate a player's woes. He is trying out a wizard for the first time, and is finding out that he doesn't like prepped casting. However, his character is well liked by the party. So I think he might get one or two of these. Again not an item he can buy, because otherwise it might get out of hand.

As a full round action, a prepared caster may lose a prepared spell in order to prepare another spell the user knows of the same level. This item is keyed to a specific spell level, like a pearl of power. For example, a Pearl of Preparation I could allow you to lose a prepared magic missile for comprehend languages.

Seems good, might be powerful, might be normal. If he is that concerned, show him the divination school. At a certain level he will just be able to cast divination spells, figure out what the party will be fighting, and prepare accordingly.

[Hanuman]

@Gain Feat With Item
8k is the balancepoint, but 3-4k is actually more accurate for lesser feats such as teamwork.
The way I have integrated it is into my machine class is that a class feature grants you 1 swappable feat equivalent (selected list) and costs 1k/Class level and a maximum number of these of 1/3 Class level, though this gold can be refunded.

Hope that helps.

@Spontaneous
Dread Necromancer
Bard
War Mage
Sorcerer
Beguiler
Dusk Blade

Wizard ACF: Spontaneous Divination (complete champion)
Wizard ACF: Spontaneous Summoning (unearthed arcane)

More:
http://www.minmaxboards.com/index.php?topic=474.0

Peach me back if you like =]

[Gus_the_Unglued]

So I'll straighten out a few things I should have mentioned from the off. These item won't be available for sale in my world until I've made sure that they aren't ridiculous.

Scroll of Experience: I plan on only having fairly simple feats be gained in this manner. Dodge, Toughness, Spell Penetration. Also this was the means of having a few custom feats I've made introduced. Mostly it'll be simple feats and teamwork feats (which are restrictive in use anyways). And since I'm picking the feat, I think it'll be easy enough to keep under control.

I was not aware of this "dark chaos shuffle". Sounds like a dance beat. In that case, I would use my GM judgement and say no. Then my player can embrace/shun a particular finger of mine.

Band of Metamagic: Two things I forgot to mention. Each band is keyed to a specific metamagic feat. I gave them a few fairly low power ones, just to test it out. Merciful (which can come quite in handy, but is usually bad). Also like Metamagic Rods, there are tiers of Metamagic Bands. For example, a Lesser Band of Metamagic (Extend) can apply the Extend Metamagic Feat to a spell of 3rd level or lower without raising its spell level.

A rough guideline that I thought of was the price of the metamagic rod divided by 50. A Lesser Band of Metamagic (Extend) would be roughly 60 gp.

Gem of Understanding: Basically how it works is that beforehand a user looks at the scroll through the long flat side of the gem, which acts in a similar fashion to how a magnifying glass works. It kind of translates that spell into the actions one would need to make a successful UMD. From then on out, if the user uses that particular scroll they don't need to roll for it. In combat, it is a full round action to decipher the scroll. And next round, they can activate it. So UMD is still rather useful, as you don't have to plan ahead and it is quicker. When you need that Scroll of Reach Cure Serious Wounds, you need it now. Not next turn. Also UMD applies to all magic items, not just scrolls.

I found that out the hard way, when a GM gave my party a flawed Portal Hold. It needed an activation word, and we didn't know it. Luckily, Mitchell (our rogue) had UMD, otherwise we would've gone without a lot of loot.

As for price, I was thinking about a fifth of the market price of a scroll of that level (as per the scroll cost table).

Pearl of Preparation: This is an item that I've had to think about alot for. I realize it kind of under cuts the biggest restriction behind prepared casting. That is why I made it a full round action to use. In exchange for flexibility, the wizard has to be useless for an entire round. This item is fairly useless out of combat though, as any wizard worth his salt leaves a spell slot open.

Also I was thinking about adding in that activating this item is flashy, and can allow a spellcraft for enemies to know what spell he is gaining. That being said, this isn't something he can craft or buy. I will only have him have a few per spell level. I was thinking that this should be at least the cost of a pearl of power, if not half again as much.

[Gus_the_Unglued]

Seems good, might be powerful, might be normal. If he is that concerned, show him the divination school. At a certain level he will just be able to cast divination spells, figure out what the party will be fighting, and prepare accordingly.

These guys are level 6, so most of his divination spells are not at that level yet.