Ring of Flight [Item or Artifact]

[Lavin]

All right, I wanted to have some fun with this one, so I did. One of my players suddenly sprung this idea on me before our campaign began. She wanted it for her character, and I agreed. Up until recently, she had been using it, with me only having a halfhearted idea as to the who/what/where/when/why/how of it all. Therefore, for my benefit as well as yours, I finally finished homebrewing the details. At the end, I will give a small idea as to incorporate it into your own campaign, which you may take or leave.

The Ring of Flight:
A thin ring, about ¼ inches in width. It is almost entirely inscribed with an ornate, fairly complicated pattern. In the center, facing up (when worn) is a vaguely eye-shaped portion in which the design does not intrude. Inside this clean portion is an embossed signet. It is similar to the flowing design elsewhere. When donned, the user will feel a connection with the ring, almost symbiotic in nature.

Operation:

When donned, the user will feel a connection with the ring, almost symbiotic in nature.
This is the truth. When activated, which can be done for two minutes per level once per day, translucent wings will emerge painlessly out of the users upper back, between the locales of the shoulder blades and spine. The wings, of the feathery angelic type, will immediately assume the color of the personality of the wearer. Every person(ality) is different, so much like snowflakes, that no two user’s wings will be the same color. If damaged during battle, the user rolls 1d6 non-lethal damage, while simultaneously losing the wings for the rest of the day, and experiencing intense pain between the shoulder blades something akin to being bludgeoned fiercely with a cudgel. If the ring were to fall into any other hands than the original owner while they are still alive, and subsequently worn, the ring would heat up and dissolve into ash. This effect is negated should the original owner die or be killed.

Details:
This was a bit trickier for me, so please correct me if you feel that I have made an error. The version I had in mind:

Moderate Transmutation, C.L. 10
Craft wondrous item, Fly, Price-25,000 GP

Also can be treated as an Artifact (Major), with no Craft.


Campaign Usage:

Option #1: This is the first option, and the simplest for the DM. Incorporate it in the campaign as just another magic item, nothing more, nothing less. If you choose to use this option, treat it as a wonderous item.

Option #2: This is the other route the DM can take for this item. Although it is more work, it opens some adventure doors, and may prove at least to be somewhat useful, at least in the way of making plot threads. For this option, the first thing you want to do is to increase the Market Price by 1,000 GP and treat it as a Major Artifact.

This item is indigenous to the people who dwell in the sky. This race is rumored to be either an off breed or direct descendants of the Celestial Race. They claim such blood heritage openly, in the same way that many sorcerers claim dragon ancestry. Their blood ties to the Celestials are faint, however.
They are known as the Angelicus, or simply the Angels, for short. They are identical to humans in every way, excluding a strange knack for the arts of stealth, and a strong tendency to want to openly combat the forces of evil.

In semi-crunchy terms, this means that this race is something of a combination of rogue/ninja, celestial, and paladin.
For full details, see my upcoming homebrew on the Angelicus Race. I’ll finish that project as soon as I have a spare moment, as lately I have been rather slammed.

As for the ring, well, I'm sure I've made some crunchy errors, so please, by all means, review (nicely) away!

[Stycotl]

not bad. price is off, though by how much i do not know. this is nowhere near artifact power, and even if it were, the price would be way too low. for artifact i would give at will flight, and some other related goodies, and up the price.

[Debihuman]

Ring of Flight has a duration time which should be predicated on the Caster's Level during item creation, not on the user's level. Also, the feat needed for creating rings is Forge Ring not Craft Wondrous Item.

Moderate Transmutation; CL 10
Forge Ring, Fly, Price 24,000 GP.

Fly is a 3rd level spell being cast at 10th level and the effect is use activated: 3 x 10 x 2,000 = 60,000 x 2 for duration 120,000 divided by 5 for once per day = 24,000 gp. This ring would allow for 10 minutes of flight once a day.

Debby

[BRC]

Use items like the Winged Boots, The Carpet of Flying, and the Broom of Flying as a guide. The broom, for example, gives you 9 hours/day of flight for 17000 GP

[Debihuman]

The problem is when you decide to create a magic item, the rules depend on whether you can use an item more than once a day or whether it is use-activated or has a command word.

My example was for a use activated ring based on a fly spell. If you want one that was command activated, the price would lower. It would also be lower if you only needed the ring for 5 minutes because the CL would be 5. For that you would probably pay only 8,000 gp.

The higher the caster level the more expensive the item. Also, a carpet of flying may last longer but is more limited by weight. Most PCs weigh more than 200 lbs. In order to carry 800 lbs you need to spend 60,000 gps.

The carpet (or the broom) is fine if you have time but the ring is more expeditious. The carpet is better if you are traveling a while and aren't taking much equipment but it adds to your total weight when not in use. The broom can carry even less weight than the carpet. On the other hand, the ring isn't meant for long-term travel. Moreover, it takes up no weight at all for encumbrance.

The winged boots are a comparable item but cost less because they only work for 5 minutes at a time (the ring works for 10 muniutes once per day).

Now, if I were to add a command word to the ring rather than use activated and made it it available 3 times a day obviously the cost would be different.

Note too that using an overland flight spell is not the same as using a fly spell for the basis of your ring.

If you use overland flight (a 5th levels spell) at caster level 10, you can travel for 10 hours rather than 10 minutes. It's slightly more expensive but better for long-term travel. Both the Carpet of Flying and the Broom of Flying use overland flight as the base spell not a standard fly spell.

Debby

[BRC]

Well the item creation rules say "Check to see if there is an existing magic item that is similar, then use that for a base." Which overides the fairly broken Magic Item Creation rules (Sword of True Strike being fairly cheap).

[Debihuman]

Well the item creation rules say "Check to see if there is an existing magic item that is similar, then use that for a base." Which overides the fairly broken Magic Item Creation rules (Sword of True Strike being fairly cheap).

Yes, I did look. You still have to consider the differences among a fly spell at 10th level, a fly spell at 5th level, and an overland flight spell at 10th level. At best you are paying 8,000 and at most you are paying 60,000 which pretty much matches the costs of other items.

Using overland flight is more expensive than a fly as the base spell as it is a higher level spell.

A Broom of Flying costs 17,000 but it cannot carry more than 200 lbs yet it has a duration is in hours equal to caster's level because it is based on overland flight spell.

A Carpet of Flying costs 60,000 but it can carry 800 lbs, duration is hours equal to caster's level again because it is based on the overland flight spell.

Boots, Winged cost 16,000 but the only weight restriction is the subject's maximum load plus any armor, however duration is 5 minutes.

The Ring of Flight that I posted is similar to the Winged Boots but the duration for the ring is longer because the CL 10 for the ring rather than 5 for the boots. Note: you can create a cheaper version of the ring using the boots as guidance. 3x5x1800/1.66 (16265). That's pretty close to 16000. It can be made even cheaper if you want a ring that can only be used once a day: 5,400. (3x5x1800/5).

You have to choose what you want. Either you want a spell that can last a long time but does not allow you to carry much, or you want a spell that won't last long but allows you to carry a lot.

Debby