My post is regarding the Iron Bands of Binding, a relatively powerful 1/day item in the 3.5 rules. I am new to Pathfinder but have been playing 3.5 for as long as it has been around. I don't have the Pathfinder RPG Core Rule Book and am going off the Pathfinder RPG Reference Document description of the item (http://paizo.com/pathfinderRPG/prd/ under magic items/wondrous items/iron bands of binding). It seems that, beside its name, this item has undergone one other important change. In addition to a DC 30 strength check, and a DC 30 Escape Artist check, a DC 30 "combat maneuvers check" will also free you from the item. If I understand the new CM system right this would work off of a character's CMD which is 10 + BAB + STR mod + DEX mod + SSM. If I am right so far, however, there is no check to be made. Isn’t CMD a static # like AC, so what is a "combat maneuver check"? Would it instead add your CMB (BAB + STR mod + SSM) but it doesn’t seem like that would fit, it's not an attack.
The second part of this post may render the first irrelevant. Is the inclusion of the "combat maneuver check" legitimate in this item's description? It doesn't make sense to me that it would be. I say this for several reasons:
1) Lower on the page there is a Rope of Entanglement which does virtually the same thing but with lower DC's of only 20. This item does not include anything about a "combat maneuver check".
2) If it functioned off of CMB, why have both a STR check DC 30 and a CMB check DC 30? No one would use only a STR check when they could add their STR, BAB, and any possible size modifier to the same check.
3) If it functioned off of CMD, the item becomes almost entirely useless by mid to high levels (which would make sense for some weaker items but this is a 26,000gp item, a character wouldn’t be expected to have this before mid to high levels of play). A fighter of 15th lvl would have a CMD of 10 + BAB 15 + STR mod (which would probably be considerably high I would say at least a +5) + DEX mod (maybe not so high but even a +1 would help) + SSM = 30 at a minimum (probably more) which means they would have no effort to get free. A STR check alone would make this very difficult to escape but not impossible, however, a CMD check makes the item useless against any fighter of mid to high lvl. Even a wizard of 15 lvl would have a CMD of at least +7 but could be higher if they have a STR mod, DEX mod, or SSM. So, if this is the case your 26,000gp, one shot per day item is relatively easy to get around, if not completely useless.
Ultimately I don't think it makes sense and would like to know firstly if this is a legitimate rule and not a typo and secondly if it is legitimate, how is the "combat maneuver check" to be applied?
Thank you in advance.