Okay, so I had this idea.....

[big teej]

for a magic set of gauntlets/gloves with the following ability


static charge (or something similar)
the wearer of 'static charge' gauntlets may spend 1 round rubbing his knuckles together to generate electricity, which he may then discharge by
(one of the following, of which I have not decided yet)
touching someone (game terms: shocking grasp spell)
making an unarmed strike with an extra +1d6 electricity damage
other


soooo

members of the playground....

what do you think of this (basic premise)
and how would you feel about its implementation, also, how would you have the electricity be discharged.

[Chrono22]

It's in line with what some cantrips do, but given it would have an instantaneous duration as a spell, it would be somewhat pricier than a hand of the mage.
That said, I'm a lenient DM, and I usually price items based on their value and usefullness, rather than exactly based on the guidelines in the DMG. I would price this as 500-900 gp, with a standard action to activate.

[gooddragon1]

How long would the charge last?
Also, I'd think it might be better if you could charge and use this item in the same round... but either way.

[elpollo]

I believe being able to use Shocking Grasp as you like would cost [ 1,800 x Caster Level ] gp. What you seem to be proposing is considerably worse than this, however, as you have to spend 1 round charging it up before using it, so Chrono22's price seems about right.

I'd agree with not having the charge up time - it makes the item very bad. If you don't want the shocking to happen constantly you can limit the number of times it may be done per day (say 3/day). You could also say you need a swift action to charge it up, but this isn't a particular set back to anyone but casters, and they aren't likely to be using it anyway.

But yeah, what I'd do:

Static Charge
The wearer can use the glove to deliver a jolt of electricity to a target. The wearer can cast Shocking Touch with a caster level of 1,2,3,4 or 5, depending on the version purchased.
Faint evocation; CL 1/2/3/4/5; Craft Wondrous Item, Shocking Grasp; Price 1,800gp/3,600gp/5,400gp/7,200gp/9,000gp.

[Chrono22]

How long would the charge last?
Also, I'd think it might be better if you could charge and use this item in the same round... but either way.

How long the charge lasts would follow how "holding the charge" normally works for touch spells.

[Prime32]

What about an electric variant of produce flame?

By DMG item creation rules, it's 1,800gp to cast CL1 Energy Substituted (electricity) produce flame as a standard action.

This would result in the following

As a standard action you can rub these gauntlets together to grant yourself the ability to make melee touch attacks for 10 rounds which deal 1d6+1 electric damage, and add that much damage to your unarmed strikes. You may also choose to hurl the remaining charge as a ranged touch attack with a range of 120ft - this ends the effect until you activate it again.
Faint evocation; CL 1st; Craft Wondrous Item, shocking grasp; Price 1,800 gp; Weight 1 lb.

[big teej]

the reason I said a full round is because you have to spend time rubbing the gauntlets together to build up the charge in the first place, and given that a round is 6 seconds, being able to do that AND zap someone enough to do HP damage struck me as not having enough time to charge....

charge would last until you touched something that could 'shock' you

(how many times have we zapped ourselves on car doors? chairs? computers? other people? etc?)

[Prime32]

the reason I said a full round is because you have to spend time rubbing the gauntlets together to build up the charge in the first place, and given that a round is 6 seconds, being able to do that AND zap someone enough to do HP damage struck me as not having enough time to charge....

charge would last until you touched something that could 'shock' you

(how many times have we zapped ourselves on car doors? chairs? computers? other people? etc?)

Magic. MAGIC.

Take a look at the material components for lightning bolt.

[big teej]

What about an electric variant of produce flame?

By DMG item creation rules, it's 1,800gp to cast CL1 Energy Substituted (electricity) produce flame as a standard action.

This would result in the following

1) ye ninjad me
2) I like it, this works!

[Cidolfas]

Another possibility (since most weapons are made of metal) would be to extend the electrical current up a metal weapon to give it the shocking enchantment. This could be especially useful if you don't necessarily want to use a whole round charging up.

On that thought, my suggestion would be that the gloves naturally retain enough electricity to use shocking grasp and the aforementioned enhancement. If you spend a whole round charging up, I feel that it should be worth more, maybe 1d6 per caster level of the glove's maker.

[DracoDei]

Produce Flame allows ranged attacks, and thus is more powerful than the original idea. The ability to add Shocking to any weapon is even more strong (take a look at augment crystals (don't know the book, but there is a sample on the Wizards site) for a comparable item). But yes, Full-Round to charge it, especially if holding the charge is limited (which it might or might not be) is a big limitation. It is about equal to a feat if it adds +1d6 to damage in the first round (there is a feat in Tome of Battle that does that). I think the going rate for feat replication is usually 2,000 gp.

[ericgrau]

Shocking grasp at will ~2000 gp, 10,000 gp if caster level 5. Boosting unarmed strike about the same. Only attacking once every 2 rounds severely weakens it. I'd give 5d6 shocking grasp at half price to make up for it, so 5,000 gp. You can already add the spell damage to unarmed strikes with the existing spell. Technically this already takes a round to "charge" with the spell so the gauntlet is no longer slower than normal. But this is a minor use of the spell so I'd let it slide for free. I mean practically you can only do it once per combat without wasting time so you can't make a build around it.

That's only the price done roughly by the guidelines. I'd look at it closer and adjust accordingly. It should probably be available at level 5-7 or so to avoid being useless, so I think 2,000-3,000 is a better price.