Post/Author/DateTime	Post
NRLlewellyn 03-09-07, 11:49 AM	All, I'm trying to calculate out the base prices for a few items so they can be XP-drained (basically the Artificer ability). Any help y'all can provide would be appreciated! The Items: 1.) +3 Ring of Protection that only works against good creatures 2.) Necklace that allows drain 1 lvl/day (Will DC 25 negates), creatures drained to 0 raise as zombies 3.) Fighting chain. Does one of the following when it hits: - Slay Living - Drain 1 level - Drain random ability by 1 pt - Lose all spells for the day - Lose a class feature permanently and if killed by this weapon, soul is sucked into the weight at one end of the chain. Can store 10 souls. 4.) +3/+3 Dire Flail. One end has Icy Burst, the other end deals 3d6 acid damage Thanks!
Merestil Haye 03-09-07, 12:26 PM	I'm trying to calculate out the base prices for a few items so they can be XP-drained (basically the Artificer ability). Any help y'all can provide would be appreciated! The Items: 1.) +3 Ring of Protection that only works against evil creaturesThe basic RoP+3 is 18,000gp. I generally give a 50% discount for it working only against Evil creatures - because they are the onesthat you are most likely to need it against. 2.) Necklace that allows drain 1 lvl/day (Will DC 25 negates), creatures drained to 0 raise as zombiesAssuming this means Energy Drain, 86,500. 4.) +3/+3 Dire Flail. One end has Icy Burst, the other end deals 3d6 acid damageThis is trivial. The item is priced as the sum of the two separate weapons, thus 82,000gp. I'm not even going to look at the third item, sorry. I cannot see how to price that at all, and frankly given what it does it looks like it might be an artifact.
Matthew77 03-09-07, 12:35 PM	The Items: 1.) +3 Ring of Protection that only works against evil creatures 18,000 base, knock off 25% for a minor restriction = 13,500 2.) Necklace that allows drain 1 lvl/day (Will DC 25 negates), creatures drained to 0 raise as zombies Weak version of enervation = 3rd level spell, use activated item = 30,000. Plus some extra for the high saving throw and the zombification = 50,000. Divide by 5 for one charge per day = 10,000 3.) Fighting chain. Does one of the following when it hits: - Slay Living - Drain 1 level - Drain random ability by 1 pt - Lose all spells for the day - Lose a class feature permanently and if killed by this weapon, soul is sucked into the weight at one end of the chain. Can store 10 souls. Wow. hmm.. I'm gonna call that mess of abilities a +8 bonus, which would make a +1 spiked chain with that ability 162,000 gp. Doing something that nasty every hit should cost mucho gold. Tone it back to activating only on Critical hits, and I'd drop it to a +4 bonus, because it is slightly worse than Vorpal. 4.) +3/+3 Dire Flail. One end has Icy Burst, the other end deals 3d6 acid damage Double weapons you have to enchant both ends seperately. So the Icy Burst end is easy, +3 Icy Burst = 50,000. For the acid end, you mean it deals +3d6 acid on every hit in addition to the weapon damage? I'd call that a +4 bonus (slightly better than 3 elemental enhancements) so that end would cost 98,000. If you meant it only does Acid damage on a crit, knock that down to the same as the Icy Burst end. If the 3d6 acid replaces the weapon damage, then I'd call that a +2 bonus, also the same cost as the Icy Burst end. So all together, either 100,000 or 148,000 That's my best guess, custom magic items are always hard, good luck!
NRLlewellyn 03-09-07, 12:42 PM	The basic RoP+3 is 18,000gp. I generally give a 50% discount for it working only against Evil creatures - because they are the onesthat you are most likely to need it against. ACK. I mis-typed that... It should be only works against good creatures... *edits* Sorry! Assuming this means Energy Drain, 86,500. This is trivial. The item is priced as the sum of the two separate weapons, thus 82,000gp. This all makes sense. Thanks! I'm not even going to look at the third item, sorry. I cannot see how to price that at all, and frankly given what it does it looks like it might be an artifact. Yeah... I had a feeling this one would be hard to price out, but I figured I'd put it out there just in case. Thanks!
NRLlewellyn 03-09-07, 12:47 PM	Wow. hmm.. I'm gonna call that mess of abilities a +8 bonus, which would make a +1 spiked chain with that ability 162,000 gp. Doing something that nasty every hit should cost mucho gold. Tone it back to activating only on Critical hits, and I'd drop it to a +4 bonus, because it is slightly worse than Vorpal. Yeah... unfortunately, it wasn't designed by me... I just ended up doing the pricing work for it. But the +8 for all that makes sense to me. Thanks!
Matthew77 03-09-07, 01:22 PM	At least give that chain a saving throw vs all of its effects. The more I look at it, the more I think it should be bumped up to Epic price ranges. At higher levels, every hit can easily mean 3 or 4 times per round. Give it a saving throw of 10+(1/2 wielder's level + wielders CHA mod) and then'll I'll stick with +8. Otherwise, I'd like to revise my guess upwards :)
NRLlewellyn 03-09-07, 01:29 PM	At least give that chain a saving throw vs all of its effects. The more I look at it, the more I think it should be bumped up to Epic price ranges. At higher levels, every hit can easily mean 3 or 4 times per round. Give it a saving throw of 10+(1/2 wielder's level + wielders CHA mod) and then'll I'll stick with +8. Otherwise, I'd like to revise my guess upwards :) Heh. Like I said, 'tis not my design--I'm just pricing it. So feel free to revise your guess! :-) As it is, the dire flail looks like it'll have to be an epic item, since the Acid ability is almost identical to the "Acidic Blast" ability for epic level items, so feel free to adjust into epic if necessary!
Matthew77 03-09-07, 01:55 PM	Are you the DM or just a neutral party? I'd say a weapon like that is DM's call. The only thing that even comes close is Wounding at +2 bonus, and that duplicates the least dangerous ability on the chain. Also, wounding doesn't work on creatures immune to critical hits, I recommend adding that restriction to the chain as well. If the DM is okay with allowing it, call it +9, charge the full 200,000 gp to get a +1 weapon with those abilities. If the DM doesn't want to deal with it, call it +10, which throws it into epic for over 2 million and will effectively ban it from the game. If its already an epic game, it doesn't seem so bad to me. Or, if the player really wants to make it work, and isn't just cheesing around, take a look at how Legacy Weapons work. You could slowly add the abilities over time, while exacting a continual price in MaxHP or Ability scores to wield the thing.
NRLlewellyn 03-09-07, 02:11 PM	Are you the DM or just a neutral party? Just a neutral party helping out. The DM has already handed out the items--I'm just helping him price them out to deal with XP-draining (basically the artificer ability). If the DM doesn't want to deal with it, call it +10, which throws it into epic for over 2 million and will effectively ban it from the game. If its already an epic game, it doesn't seem so bad to me. I'll have to talk to him about it, but this sounds like the best bet. Many thanks for all your help!