The feature of discounting prices on magic items if the item has a skill requirment or some other restriction such as class or alignment is one that I feel is a problem. Here is the wording for the discount on page 20 of the magic item web enhancement:
Other Considerations: Once you have a cost figure,
reduce that number if either of the following conditions
applies:
Item Requires Skill to Use: Some items require a specific
skill to get them to function. This factor should reduce the
cost about 10%.
Item Requires Specific Class or Alignment to Use: Even more
restrictive than requiring a skill, this limitation cuts the
cost by 30%.
I don't feel this discount should exist - or perhaps if it does exist it should only reduce the resale price of the item, not the initial costs to create. Otherwise every time a player wants to create an item, he can make it have a class or alignment restriction and benefit from the 30% cost discount.
I have to agree here. Any restrictions put on an item being made by a PC will be keyed to the specific PC it is being made for, thus it will not be a restiction. It will be a cheesy way around the pricing guidelines.
I recall that the Hero game system had wisdom on this topic - "if it's not an actual limitation, it's not worth points" [my paraphrase]
Agreed. I would never allow this - houseruled out already.
I could maybe be persuaded to allow a tiny cost savings, say maybe 5% for skill, 10% for class/race.
For example, say the PC fighter has a ring of protection +1 that is fighter-only when the PCs find a +2 ring of protection in a troll's hoard. That fighter can pick the new ring as his share of the treasure, but then he can't give his old ring to anyone else in the group. If his ring had been generic, he could have given it to the rogue (or sold it to him, or traded for the rogue's pick from the treasure, or whatever).
So then the fighter takes his old ring to the city market and tries to sell it, but the merchants won't give him full price for a ring that most of their customers cannot wear. They might only pay half price.
Which means, the 10% he saved making it unique to his class costs him 40% later on when it's hard to sell.
Yeah, I could do that.
But it seems like too much hassle.
Still, if a player insisted, I'd let them. But only if it made sense for the item in question (no, no discount for a mage-only Staff of the Magi or a fighter-only tower shield).
Director of Game Design
|
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
There is part of me that is seriously considering doing away with both of these clauses, as they have never really been used to any useful degree, especially considering that most items, by their very nature, lend themselves to one class or another.
Thoughts
Jason Bulmahn
Lead Designer
Paizo Publishing
|
class and other restrictions can be considered quirks of construction. I would suggest that if an item creation failed by one, then the DM could include a minor quirk to the item, failure by two a more major quirk or a mixture of good and bad. You could consider some standard items as having come about in this way. Offers the DM a way to add more interest to items.
Special ingredients could be either a prerequisite for low magic campaigns or reduce costs in standard, or add beneficial quirks. What happens if you make a displacer cloak from displacer beast skins?
class and other restrictions can be considered quirks of construction. ...
They could be akin to lesser-cursed item.
I always felt that components costs represented special ingredients: how mutch would a (properly collected) displacer beast skin be worth?
The user resrictions shouldn't seriously affect creation cost IMO, they can actually be advantages in many situations when an organisation wouldn't want "their" items to be used by ennemies or competition.
They should affect base sale-cost or require more leg-work to find a full sale-cost buyer.
|
The feature of discounting prices on magic items if the item has a skill requirment or some other restriction such as class or alignment is one that I feel is a problem. Here is the wording for the discount on page 20 of the magic item web enhancement:
Other Considerations: Once you have a cost figure,
reduce that number if either of the following conditions
applies:
Item Requires Skill to Use: Some items require a specific
skill to get them to function. This factor should reduce the
cost about 10%.
Item Requires Specific Class or Alignment to Use: Even more
restrictive than requiring a skill, this limitation cuts the
cost by 30%.I don't feel this discount should exist - or perhaps if it does exist it should only reduce the resale price of the item, not the initial costs to create. Otherwise every time a player wants to create an item, he can make it have a class or alignment restriction and benefit from the 30% cost discount.
/signed
This, has in my experience been a metagaming tool used to lower the cost of items for min/maxy "Crafterbators".I do like the idea of failed rolls producing quirks lol
|
I have only utilized the "Class-only" clause in my games, and on a limited scale. Basically, when a class feature is required (a use of druid wildshape or bardic music) I tack on the 10% to account for the ability usage.
In other words, if I make a special item that casts Heroism once per day as a bard recites a famous passage (using Bardic music and perhaps Perform [oratory]), then I might discount it 10%.
I have only utilized the "Class-only" clause in my games, and on a limited scale. Basically, when a class feature is required (a use of druid wildshape or bardic music) I tack on the 10% to account for the ability usage.
In other words, if I make a special item that casts Heroism once per day as a bard recites a famous passage (using Bardic music and perhaps Perform [oratory]), then I might discount it 10%.
Which is probably the best way to handle it. It also explains with a Holy Avenger is not so powerful in the hands of a non-paladin.
Owner - Johnny Scott Comics and Games
|
The Skill Use discount doesn't bother me. However, the class restriction does. I would seriously consider getting rid of that discount.
However, if you must keep the class restriction option in as part of item creation, I would be tempted to go the other way: If you want to restrict an item's use to a specific class, alignment, or character, INCREASE the price. After all, isn't it an advantage if the item you create could only be used by you or an ally?
After all, isn't it an advantage if the item you create could only be used by you or an ally?
Not if you or that ally is incapacitated. I had that happen in a Planescape game I ran. A player created a item that would cast plane shift for a character with levels in the gate crasher prestige class. It was meant has a party evac item. That was all fine until he was paralyzed and could not speak the command word. After the near TPK, the party had another plane shift item made without the restriction so anyone could use it if need be.