Adding shield properties to a Ring of Force Shield


Advice


Greetings fellow gamers,

I have a question: I know you can put armor properties onto a set of bracers of armor, but could you do the same thing with a ring of force shield? Obviously, it would only apply to the properties that could be added to a shield, but do you think it's reasonable to say that it should be allowed? With the same guidelines as the bracers of armor

The magus is looking at fortification for his, and I think that if he wants to put the money into it, that it should be viable.

Your opinions?

Very Respectfully,
--Bacon


This wasn't really a rules question, Ring of Force Shield doesn't say you can do this, or even imply it, so you can't.

Reasons not to do this:
-Bracers of Armor grant a variable bonus that specifically calls out that it can be directed to armor properties.
-Ring of Force Shield only offers a flat +2 bonus. This bonus explicitly mimics a heavy shield.
-Allowing a similar item that grants an even larger bonus nearly obsoletes tower shields (even if the item can't be set for cover like a tower shield).
-Even if you restrict additional bonuses past +2 to item properties, you're starting to heavily encroach into the realm of actual shields. You will need to be very careful to price so that it is not an automatic purchase for every caster class. (the existing ring requires no proficiency since it has no penalties)
-Part of the issue here is the force effect that applies universally and is difficult to negate/ignore.

Pricing:
Going by Table: Estimating Magic Item Gold Piece Values, a "shield bonus" falls under AC: other, and uses a formula, bonus^2 *2500.
(I'm not actually sure how the price of RoFS is derived, it appears to be this, 2^2 *2500 = 10k, with an ad hoc reduction, -1500, for also having to wield the shield(?))
Pricing it as "armor" shouldn't be considered appropriate as the existing item clearly does not use that formula.

Even using that formula, you may ultimately find such an item to be underpriced.
Bracers of Armor work fine as a "slot swap" because you aren't bypassing the necessity to wield something (and they can't wind up significantly more powerful than standard armor). Hand->(anything else) can be a very powerful swap if you aren't careful (this categorically includes items like wands also).

Although, I'm in the camp that says the shield created by RoFS must also be wielded in a hand to grant the bonus.
For a magus, this means he shouldn't gain the benefit during any action that involves somatic casting or otherwise requires a free hand. (unless his other hand is available)

If you insist on effectively making this an "unslotted shield"(ie. unwielded), the price should almost definitely be doubled (even if it's on a ring, slightly more if it's fully slotless, IMO).

There's also the issue of maximum bonus.
I'm unconvinced it should be another +8, but I also suppose it's not entirely unreasonable. I might cap this item at +5 (requires CL of bonus x3 rather than x2), but I'd need to see how the item was being used by players.

I'm a little skeptical of the price using this formula.
For your example, a "RoFS of Light Fort", would cost 22,500g "base".
It's probably still appropriate to apply the 15% reduction, I'm not sure, that price is 19,125g. This puts it a little over double the cost of a +3 shield(the equivalent bonus), I think that's relatively fair given the (greatly) increased utility over a normal shield.


I'm a little more inclined to think they priced the Ring of Force shield the same way as they did Bracers of Armor, since it's not really an enhancement bonus, or an "other" magic bonus, it's a type of armor bonus "shield" but I think they basically made the base ring priced at 4,000, and added another 4500 for not needing a proficiency to use, and being able to activate and deactivate as a free action, maybe adding 2,500 and 2,000, for those abilities.
In either case, I'm sure they didn't give you an upgradeable version of Ring of Force Shield for a reason, simply because letting the armor bonus increase, or giving special shield abilities to it, would basically mean a must-have item for many people, and they simply wanted to avoid that.

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