First, remember that in Pathfinder, the maximum ranks you can have in any skill is equal to your Hit Dice, or your total level for most PCs. So to meet the prerequisites of 3 ranks in each skill, you will have to be at least level 3.
Second, the Eye of the Arclord feat increases the caster level of divination spells, not the actual level of the spell - so a level 1 Wizard may be able to cast Detect Secret Doors as a level 2 Wizard (increasing its maximum duration to 2 minutes), but that doesn't make it a level 2 spell any more than an actual level 2 Wizard casting it would. The spellcasting prerequisite for Mystic Theurge refers to the level of the spell, not the caster level.
So, no, that won't work. It's a cool feat (especially for characters who lack Darkvision on their own), but still the quickest route to Mystic Theurge is 3 levels of Wizard, 3 levels of Cleric (since level 3 is when each class gains access to level 2 spells), for a total character level of 6, not including the first level of Mystic Theurge.
Thanks so much! That's some pretty good food for thought. And yes, the intent was for the brooch to retain it's value even when removed - I had a clarification in the original version, but trimmed it out to save words :/
You are a machine, GM_Solspiral, and my hat is humbly tipped to you.
That said, I would be eternally grateful if you could do mine too! (I was on page 5. No, really!)
Brooch of the Dragon’s Hoard:
Aura moderate transmutation; CL 9th
Slot neck; Price 81,000 gp; Weight —
Description
This platinum brooch is adorned with an image of a dragon lying atop a hoard of treasure. By speaking the command word, the wearer of this brooch can cause a Large-sized phantasm shaped like a dragon to appear, which will then proceed to devour any unattended treasure indicated by the wearer of the brooch. Each round, the phantasm can devour either one magic item, or 100 gp-worth of coins and non-magical gear and materials, and can continue to devour items until dismissed by the brooch’s wearer (a free action). The phantasm cannot attack, nor can it devour any kind of creature; if it takes damage, it disappears instantly and can be re-summoned in 1 minute.
As the phantasm devours items, it completely annihilates them and stores their worth (full gp value for coins, ½ base price for other items), allowing anyone who wears the brooch to later substitute the power within for any material component for a spell or materials needed for the creation of other magic items (though when used in this fashion, the wearer must still provide the physical object to be made magical); this subtracts from the brooch’s total stored worth (to a minimum of 1 gp each use). In the case of a costly material component, the wearer of the brooch must choose to either use a material component or use the value stored within the brooch; he cannot choose to use a less-costly material component and “make up” the difference with the brooch.
The brooch can be used at will and retains its stored value, even while not worn.
Construction Requirements Craft Wondrous Item, fabricate; Cost 40,500 gp
Any feedback appreciated, good, bad, or insulting :)
Brooch of the Dragon’s Hoard Aura moderate transmutation; CL 9th
Slot neck; Price 81,000 gp; Weight —
Description
This platinum brooch is adorned with an image of a dragon lying atop a hoard of treasure. By speaking the command word, the wearer of this brooch can cause a Large-sized phantasm shaped like a dragon to appear, which will then proceed to devour any unattended treasure indicated by the wearer of the brooch. Each round, the phantasm can devour either one magic item, or 100 gp-worth of coins and non-magical gear and materials, and can continue to devour items until dismissed by the brooch’s wearer (a free action). The phantasm cannot attack, nor can it devour any kind of creature; if it takes damage, it disappears instantly and can be re-summoned in 1 minute.
As the phantasm devours items, it completely annihilates them and stores their worth (full gp value for coins, ½ base price for other items), allowing anyone who wears the brooch to later substitute the power within for any material component for a spell or materials needed for the creation of other magic items (though when used in this fashion, the wearer must still provide the physical object to be made magical); this subtracts from the brooch’s total stored worth (to a minimum of 1 gp each use). In the case of a costly material component, the wearer of the brooch must choose to either use a material component or use the value stored within the brooch; he cannot choose to use a less-costly material component and “make up” the difference with the brooch.
The brooch can be used at will and retains its stored value, even while not worn.
Construction Requirements Craft Wondrous Item, fabricate; Cost 40,500 gp
The brooch of the dragon's hoard. I can imagine people getting hung up on the metagaminess of it, but I just loved that it represented a solution to all those adventure designers who assign a gold value to giant immovable setting pieces and then snidely put a 'getting it out of the dungeon is a challenge left up to the PCs'.
Actually, archetypes were called "kits" back in 2nd edition. They took core class features away and gave new ones in their place. The most elaborate of kits were those for bards, radically rewriting the way the core bard class worked. The complete handbooks (covering all classes and races) had scores of them. Paizo updated the concept for their version of 3rd. I initially converted some kits when 3rd came out, but most early kits could be duplicated with feat selection and so abandoned the practice. Paizo's take (creating whole new class features) is a great improvement.
Really, 3rd edition had "Alternate Class Features" which are pretty much the same thing (Paladin of Freedom/Tyranny/Slaughter for example) - Paizo just did it better :)
I hate to say it but a lot of the low level items are not really useful by the time you hit 5th level or so.
Yeah, but some items are, and I think that's what makes the difference between "good" and "superstar" (in the case of low-level items). For example, even my mid- to high-level characters will usually carry around a couple of Tree Feather Tokens, because I always seem to be able to find a situation where growing a tree instantly is useful :)
I feel like people are missing something. The Black Blade is an intelligent weapon that refuses to work as anything beyond masterwork for anyone except it's magus. It seems to me that, following the conventions for magic weapons, it's a little silly to think of the Black Blade as actually gaining in power with the magus; rather, it seems more like every Black Blade is an incredibly powerful magic item that requires it's wielder to be at a particular level to wield portions of its power. In other words, it's like the Black Blade only allows its magus to access certain amounts of it's power based on the magus's level.
With that in mind, in my own games I would certainly allow a Bladebound magus to further enchant their Black Blade... but based on it's abilities at its full power. Therefore, one could not add a straight enhancement bonus (since the weapon ends up as a +5), but could add special weapon properties such as flaming by calculating the weapon's existing bonus as +5. So regardless of the magus's level, adding flaming to an otherwise un-enhanced Black Blade would cost 22,000gp (the difference between a +5 and an effective +6 weapon).
Of course, one could also argue that an epic level magus's Black Blade would continue getting enhancement bonuses (becoming a +6 weapon at level 21) since it is a regular progression, so it has potentially unlimited power... but as we've seen, one can make a lot of arguments about Black Blades :P
