Nergali of Cuthah's page

Vow of Silence
Aura faint illusion; CL 3rd
Slot Head; Price 53,000 Weight 1lb.

Description

This black leather mask covers the mouth and wraps around the back of the head where two buckles fasten. The phrase “silence is golden,” in bright gold paint, reveals itself along the mouth cover in the absence of sound.

Any creature that puts on Vow of Silence must make a will saving throw DC 13 or become mute. Only creatures who “willingly” fail the save, and become mute, gain benefits from the mask. A creature that takes the save and fails becomes mute but does not gain the benefits of use. An unwilling creature must make a save every round until muted or the mask is removed. Casting break enchantment, greater restoration, miracle or wish restores a creature’s speech. Creatures that willfully used the item and have their speech restored can never reuse the mask, but can become mute in the attempt. The willful wearer of the mask continually gains the effect of a silence spell, but the area of effect is personal. The wearer can hear all incoming noise, but emits no noise to others. The wearer and his gear are not hampered by the silence effect. Every surface the wearer touches in any way is not audible to others. Continual silence takes the form of a special circumstance bonus to stealth +20. Vow of Silence has an AC 16, 2 hit points and hardness of 2. Once per day the wearer can cast silence as the spell.

Construction
Requirements Craft Wondrous item, silence; Cost 26,500

Congrats Clark! Before I submitted my item I looked through previous year contests and found your commentary helpful. I hope mine was not auto-rejected though...that would make me a sad panda. :D

Viel Glu:ck!

I am a first time submitter, and anxious to the core. Just in case, I will be tossing around archtype concepts in my head, and on paper.

Pretty in depth editing you've got there *That Old Guy*. I am awaiting my best friend to get back from Korea. My friend will give the item a bunch of test runs and my sister is an incredible English Major/ Nazi. I am a history major and have gone through and made sure to pick all of the mechanics to death.

I scratched 2 items in the course of my posts, I believe this current item is a winner.

Yes it is under slot affinities,pg. 288 of the DMG for Dungeons and Dragons 3.5. It calls for a 50% increase in cost if it does not fall under a normal affinity for the item slot. Also goggles of giant strength should never be considered. :)

I agree that it is an art. Bending rules in limited ways to make balanced items is hard enough as it is.

5 x 9 x 1,800 = 81,000 x .5 = 40,500 + 81,000 = 121,500/1.6667 = 72,899 +cost + estimate = :)

Finding how to price the baseline wondrous items already in the book is a cool way to get figure in your own item. I also love playing with numbers.
Boots of Teleportation:
5th level teleport spell, caster level 9, and is a command word.
Since it is not continuous and is used 3 times per day it uses the special division against the base price, 5/3 times per day = 1.666667 forever.
5 x 9 x 1,800= 81,000/ 1.666667 = 48,599.99. Not including cost to create leather boots to masterwork. Along with estimating up creates the 49,000 market price and 24,500 construction cost.

Its a good exercise to gain accuracy on pricing.

I meant clear game rule mechanics when referring to myself as a lawyer. That way my item could avoid confusion, is it a command, single use or continuous ability? Or any confusion as to its mechanics whatsoever.

I am near completion. Making rule adjustments and adding..."flavor." I just hope I do not sound like a lawyer with this item submission.