Specific magic weapons / armor that are worth using?


Advice


(I am refering to things like Holy Avenger opposed to just a "generic" +1 holy whatever sword)

These are so often horribly overpriced for their power as to kill any use. Anything that isn't?

Only two off the top of my head are Luckblade (purely for the reroll) Eleven Chain (which isn't actually magic) and, if the duration is "until dismissed/canceled", Mistmail. Any others worth using?


Celestial Armor


Brawler Armor
Rhino Hide Armor
Holy Avenger

Of the top of my head


Elven Chain.

pistol of the infinite sky.


Lifedrinker :)


Pathfinder Rulebook Subscriber

seraphic pistol- Do damage, negate dr for one minute for everyone.
Dragoncatch guisarm (sp?)- Trip maneuvers on flying creatures with wings.


Trident of Warning is actually reasonably priced with an interesting effect. It's quite interesting the creatures that count as aquatic.

Great for clerics/inquisitors of Gozreh.


Celestial plate armor: it's the armor that allows the best Dex+Armor combo without armor training.


williamoak wrote:
Celestial plate armor: it's the armor that allows the best Dex+Armor combo without armor training.

I didn't think there was such a thing.


Voila:

http://www.d20pfsrd.com/magic-items/magic-armor/specific-magic-armor/celest ial-plate-armor

(Theoretically) the armor that allows the highest AC, better even than celestial armor

Celestial: 9 (armor)+ 8 Dex=17

Celestial plate: 12 (armor) +6 (dex)=18

For anyone without armor training, its pretty sweet.


williamoak wrote:

Voila:

http://www.d20pfsrd.com/magic-items/magic-armor/specific-magic-armor/celest ial-plate-armor

(Theoretically) the armor that allows the highest AC, better even than celestial armor

Celestial: 9 (armor)+ 8 Dex=17

Celestial plate: 12 (armor) +6 (dex)=18

For anyone without armor training, its pretty sweet.

Per Ultimate Campaign, it is legal to have it made of Mithral having Celestial Plate Armor count as light Armor, offer a + 12 AC, and has a max DEX of +8.

Mithral Celestial Armor has a max DEX of +10, and an armor bonus of +9, capping out only 1 AC lower.


See, a lot of this things were practically considered artifacts in 1st and 2nd editions. Sure, not -truly- artifacts, but damn close.

These weren't weapons and armor that a player's character banged out in 5 minutes of roleplaying at the table.

These were things that were found in the great red wyrms hoard, or sealed in the arch lich's crypt to keep it out of the hands of do-gooders, or reassembled from broken shards found here and there.

You shouldn't be able to craft these(in my opinion) in a day, and you shouldn't be able to buy them from the local wizard's magic shop(<-- also terrible).

But this is just my opinion. I also personally disagree with Wealth By Level, because back in the day(I know, I know, I'm "one of THOSE guys") you didn't look to your DM and think he was cheating you if you didn't have X amount of money/gear value at X level. You bought what you could afford, and traded for, did errands/quests for, or found the rest.

Anyhow, my two cents.


VonZrucker wrote:

See, a lot of this things were practically considered artifacts in 1st and 2nd editions. Sure, not -truly- artifacts, but damn close.

These weren't weapons and armor that a player's character banged out in 5 minutes of roleplaying at the table.

These were things that were found in the great red wyrms hoard, or sealed in the arch lich's crypt to keep it out of the hands of do-gooders, or reassembled from broken shards found here and there.

You shouldn't be able to craft these(in my opinion) in a day, and you shouldn't be able to buy them from the local wizard's magic shop(<-- also terrible).

But this is just my opinion. I also personally disagree with Wealth By Level, because back in the day(I know, I know, I'm "one of THOSE guys") you didn't look to your DM and think he was cheating you if you didn't have X amount of money/gear value at X level. You bought what you could afford, and traded for, did errands/quests for, or found the rest.

Anyhow, my two cents.

When I run games, I make my players quest to find epic crafters who can make the badass items they need, and even then they have to play their chracters in a way that doesn't piss them off and burn a seriously important bridge.

I also require to craft magic items, that the player purchase magical crafting reagents, which I control the availability of, which prevents cheese from crafting feats pretty well.

I also pretty much ignore WBL, and I throw items at the party that I feel they need. E.G. at the end of their 3rd level adventure, they found a chest with various items in it, mostly minor rings and amulets, so each player got the chance to have a +1 to their AC from a magic item. My dumb players decided to be smart and give two of them to the healer, jerks.


@ master marshmallow: could you link me the ultimate campaign stuff? It would be interesting to know, because I have seen pretty heated discussions on the subject.


Haha, good to hear that, Marshmallow! That's great.

Grand Lodge

Berserking Sword.


williamoak wrote:

Voila:

LINK

(Theoretically) the armor that allows the highest AC, better even than celestial armor
Celestial: 9 (armor)+ 8 Dex=17
Celestial plate: 12 (armor) +6 (dex)=18
For anyone without armor training, its pretty sweet.

That is a 3.5 item, not Pathfinder RPG. Also underpriced.

master_marshmallow wrote:
Per Ultimate Campaign, it is legal to have it made of Mithral having Celestial Plate Armor count as light Armor.

And where did you find this in UC?


Ultimate Campaign, page 170 wrote:

Some new items are really existing magic items with a

different weapon or armor type, such as a dagger of venom
that is a rapier instead of a dagger or a lion’s shield that’s a
wooden shield instead of a metal shield. For these items,
just replace the price of the nonmagical masterwork item
with the cost of the new type of item. For example, a rapier
of venom has a price of 8,320 gp instead of the dagger of
venom’s price of 8,302 gp.

Considering the book lists two examples of transposing magic items, it is not unreasonable to say that it is legal per RAW to have celestial armor or celestial plate armor crafted onto a mithral frame. It even gives an example of us using a different material for a specific item, in the case of the Lion's Shield.


Pathfinder Adventure Path Subscriber

I prefer items that are usually 10,000 gp or less. Most of the unique/signature items are too expensive unless you are in a high-power/level game.

Generic +1 weapon/armor/resistance cloak.
Furious weapon enchantment for barbarians.
Seeking enchantment for archers.

Otyugh Hide is nifty. Unless you want the get a cure from the party healer. Make sure your low-charisma character wears it for more roleplay opportunities!

Rhino Hide for low level charge builds.

Adamantine dagger/battleaxe: the barbarian's lockpick. Though considering almost any weapon can be Adamantine not sure why they have specific weapon entries.

Boulderhead Mace.

Beaststrike Club, Large for a melee wildshaped druid.

Hurricane Quarterstaff.

Pistol of the Infinite Sky. (high level game obviously)


Adventure Path Charter Subscriber; Pathfinder Rulebook, Starfinder Adventure Path, Starfinder Roleplaying Game, Starfinder Society Subscriber

Equestrian plate is pretty useful for mounted combatants (other than druids, unless made of dragonhide). Ditto for a lance of jousting (or a shieldsplitter lance at higher levels).

Folding plate can be good for situations where you want your character to look non-threatening (i.e., meeting with government officials and other social situations where showing up in obvious armor is a no-no), but still want to have protection available at a moment's notice.

Prismatic plate is the most expensive specific armor in Ultimate Equipment, but IMO is worth considering at 20th level for the versatility.

Rhino hide has been mentioned for low-medium level charge-focused characters. A swift obsidian greataxe makes a decent weapon choice.

Scarab breastplate can be a nice option for a druid, especially when paired with a snakeskin tunic.

Warden of the woods is another option for a druid, but is probably best for an oracle with the Wood mystery (especially one that has the Wood Bond revelation).

Caster's shield/greater caster's shield is a very good option for a shield-using spellcaster with Scribe Scroll (especially if made of darkwood).

Quick block buckler is a good choice for a high-level archer switch-hitter looking for a defensive boost.

Dagger of doubling is a decent choice for a Two-Weapon Fighting thrown weapon character (with Quick Draw and probably a lesser belt of mighty hurling).

Everflowing aspergillum can be extremely useful against undead and evil outsiders.

Fighter's fork is an interesting option to use a single weapon at reach, as a one-handed weapon, as a light weapon, or thrown.

Frostbite sling provides a somewhat decent ranged touch debuff.

Lash of the howler can be surprisingly effective.

Ten-ring sword is one of the few ways to gain the benefits of more than two magic rings. With a hand of glory, a character can gain the full benefits of four magic rings at once.

Void scythe is arguably the best weapon choice for a high-level negative energy channeler.


Sunblades are arguably the best weapon for twf builds.

Silver Crusade RPG Superstar 2014 Top 16

Claxon wrote:
Holy Avenger

No thanks! SR is not a great thing to have as a PC.


Worse: HA gives the SR to "adjacent" things, not just allies. Yes, a melee weapon does that.


Mistmail is awesome for a Sohei monk. Just my 2 copper pieces.


I have seen both Blade of the Sword-Saint and Demonsorrow Curve Blade both wielded in campaigns. Both where awesome and drastically changed the game for the better for both people wielding them.


master_marshmallow wrote:


Considering the book lists two examples of transposing magic items, it is not unreasonable to say that it is legal per RAW to have celestial armor or celestial plate armor crafted onto a mithral frame. It even gives an example of us using a different material for a specific item, in the case of the Lion's Shield.

But those are minor sidegrades. Mithral Celestial Plate is "Double Mithral".


Pupsocket wrote:
master_marshmallow wrote:


Considering the book lists two examples of transposing magic items, it is not unreasonable to say that it is legal per RAW to have celestial armor or celestial plate armor crafted onto a mithral frame. It even gives an example of us using a different material for a specific item, in the case of the Lion's Shield.
But those are minor sidegrades. Mithral Celestial Plate is "Double Mithral".

How so? Celestial Armor and its plate counterpart are not listed as being made of any specific material, in fact, the old text pre errata had celestial armor listed as being made of gold or silver.

If you call it mithral, it is a house rule. Per RAW it is legal to have the armor made of mithral, and the benefits stack.

Liberty's Edge

master_marshmallow wrote:
If you call it mithral, it is a house rule. Per RAW it is legal to have the armor made of mithral, and the benefits stack.

You've sort of stepped up from "it's not unreasonable to call it RAW" to "It's RAW" without any intervening change.

You're making an assumption about how the magic in Celestial Armor works, anyways. I haven't actually read the text in a while, but if I recall it doesn't say that the max dex bonus is a result of any sort of modifier applied to the base max dex bonus of the armor. It just comes out and says what the max dex bonus is.

So, you could say that whatever material Celestial Armor is made out of, it always has whatever max dex bonus is listed in the rules. After all, the armor is first made out of a material and then enchanted, and the enchantment might not modify the max dex bonus, but set it.

Because it's not clear what the actual benefit of the enchantment of Celestial Armor is (it's a black box, we see the output only), you can't really say what stacks with what. Also, in the examples provided in the book, the enchantment bestowed on the item interacted with the item in a different way than the Celestial Armor enchantment interacts with chainmail, so I think that you, too, are operating in the territory of house rules. Which is fine, but it doesn't really look like there's a definitive answer one way or the other.


Axebeard wrote:
master_marshmallow wrote:
If you call it mithral, it is a house rule. Per RAW it is legal to have the armor made of mithral, and the benefits stack.

You've sort of stepped up from "it's not unreasonable to call it RAW" to "It's RAW" without any intervening change.

You're making an assumption about how the magic in Celestial Armor works, anyways. I haven't actually read the text in a while, but if I recall it doesn't say that the max dex bonus is a result of any sort of modifier applied to the base max dex bonus of the armor. It just comes out and says what the max dex bonus is.

So, you could say that whatever material Celestial Armor is made out of, it always has whatever max dex bonus is listed in the rules. After all, the armor is first made out of a material and then enchanted, and the enchantment might not modify the max dex bonus, but set it.

Because it's not clear what the actual benefit of the enchantment of Celestial Armor is (it's a black box, we see the output only), you can't really say what stacks with what. Also, in the examples provided in the book, the enchantment bestowed on the item interacted with the item in a different way than the Celestial Armor enchantment interacts with chainmail, so I think that you, too, are operating in the territory of house rules. Which is fine, but it doesn't really look like there's a definitive answer one way or the other.

Except that having it made of mithral specifically states in mithral's description that it is treated as one category lighter and the max DEX is increased by two. If I craft Celestial Armor onto a regular steel chainmail I get the same benefits that I get for dropping thousands of gold into a mithral chainmail suit?

Per RAW it is legal. Insinuating that the magic of Celestial Armor wouldn't allow it to be affected by Mithral is straight up house rules. Nothing in the rules says that the magical properties of Celestial Armor will invalidate the properties of the material that the armor is made of. Note that before this it was not possible per RAW to even have Celestial Armor made of mithral.

That's the difference. You are implying something not stated in the rules, and taking it as RAI when there is nothing that states it in the rules.


Custom Magic Items have always been at GM's discretion.
Whether you want a suit of Mithral Celestial Full Plate or Gloves of True Strike neither is any more or less "RAW" than the other.


Quantum Steve wrote:

Custom Magic Items have always been at GM's discretion.

Whether you want a suit of Mithral Celestial Full Plate or Gloves of True Strike neither is any more or less "RAW" than the other.

Except for the exerpt from Ultimate Campaign that I quoted that says you can.


master_marshmallow wrote:
Quantum Steve wrote:

Custom Magic Items have always been at GM's discretion.

Whether you want a suit of Mithral Celestial Full Plate or Gloves of True Strike neither is any more or less "RAW" than the other.
Except for the exerpt from Ultimate Campaign that I quoted that says you can.

I don't understand your response. What does the UC "say you can"? Also, your response would seem to imply the my post "said you cannot," which I don't believe it did. (Of course, I'm unsure what it is your talking about, so I may be mistaken.)

In any case, the excerpt you quoted from Ultimate Campaign was from the section "Pricing New Items." Creating and pricing new items has always been the purview of the GM and Ultimate Campaign confirms this.


Quantum Steve wrote:
master_marshmallow wrote:
Quantum Steve wrote:

Custom Magic Items have always been at GM's discretion.

Whether you want a suit of Mithral Celestial Full Plate or Gloves of True Strike neither is any more or less "RAW" than the other.
Except for the exerpt from Ultimate Campaign that I quoted that says you can.

I don't understand your response. What does the UC "say you can"? Also, your response would seem to imply the my post "said you cannot," which I don't believe it did. (Of course, I'm unsure what it is your talking about, so I may be mistaken.)

In any case, the excerpt you quoted from Ultimate Campaign was from the section "Pricing New Items." Creating and pricing new items has always been the purview of the GM and Ultimate Campaign confirms this.

For the sake of argument, even allowing the original items to exist is purview of the GM.

It is possible for the item to exist, and there are rules to support how to price the item. That's honestly good enough for me if one of my players is willing to drop 35,000 gp on it.

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