My group has recently acquired some of the magic items from the Library of Last Resort, many of which were too large to use for medium sized characters or of the wrong kind for the wielder (e.g. no one in the party can wield the +1 keen scythe, and the Titan's adamantine hammer is Huge).
In order to tailor the items so that they may be used, the party's wizard thought to combine "Dispel Magic" and "Polymorph any Object" on the items. Since the polymorph doesnt work on magic items, he could dispel the magic from the item while he cast the polymorph to alter it. Thus making the +1 keen sycthe a +1 keen greatsword (or whatever), or a suit of Large magic armor a suit of Medium magic armor.
Taking it a bit further, characters who wanted to wear a ring of invisibilty but didnt want to give up the finger item slot thought to turn the item into a circlet of invisibility, or broach of invisibility.
I dont see a problem with the characters doing this, and its just the kind of thing I would expect high level parties to be doing. Also, I dont see a problem with the game mechanics, either. Eventually, the party has their hands on so many items they would need to find some way to "retro-fit" them for their use, rather just...taking them to market.
What do you guys think? Has this happened with your group, or have they found some other way to use their "spare" magic items. Do you think its broken that a high level wizard can do this and, other than the spell components (which total no gold value), should it be done with no cost of gold or experience?
Well, as DM, you're final arbitor. It was already suggested that Tenser could do this for the party in SoLS.
Personally, I'm a little uncomfortable with it. Some items (like rings) I envision as automatically resizing to fit the wearer. (Influence of Tolkien's description of the Ring in LOTR, I guess--I don't know if the rules back me on this one, but given the propensity of dragons to wear magic rings in recent Dungeon adventures it seems quite reasonable). Some items (like magic clothing) might be altered to fit a smaller sized creature with the appropriate craft check and some sort of use of Craft Wondrous Item or the like--kind of like adding a feature to a magic item.
Weapons and armor I have a bit of trouble with, and giant-sized items might be difficult (but not impossible) to sell. (When I DM'd the Istivin arc I let PCs turn in giant-sized items to the army for a bounty--it presumably being illegal to trade weaponry to the giants in a country that has had so much difficulty with them.) Anyhow, I've found that my parties are often composed of characters that are concerned to have just the right kind of armor--usually something that maximizes protection with minimum encumbrance, otherwise it's got to be ultra tough plate armor. Same with weapons--you have a particular set of feats by high level that make you best with your favored combo of weapons (at most 4), so you'd rather cash in the stuff you find and upgrade to a better version of your favored weapon, or get spare weapons like cold iron or ghost touch that work on specific enemies.
If you're merely trying to resize stuff, perhaps you could let them research a spell that permanently alters the size, using shrink item as a base to judge level and other requirements.
If I were to allow polymorph to alter the slot an item fits, I think I'd require both an appropriate craft feat and a material cost equivalent to the cost difference between a standard and non-standard slotted item. (Cloak of charisma turned into a ring of charisma, for example, should cost double, if I recall the magic item creation tables correctly.
In my campaign, I'll probably discourage the PCs from bothering with the giant-sized treasures if they don't have an obvious means of carting them off (titan's breastplate probably doesn't fit through the mouth of a bag of holding)--but I'm going to have Tenser give them extra high powered legacy items, with powers that they will not be able to activate until they go through certain waypoints in the adventure path, so they will have no cause to complain about not being able to milk the adventures for every last copper of treasure. Several of the treasures I give them will have magic runes that activate powers, runes whose meaning and pronunciation they learn only after drinking from the fountain of last resort. In another case, there's a magic book that will have an extra chapter appear in it after the fountain episode. [Edit--I posted four of these in a thread on Tenser/Manzorian's Gifts, and will be adding to the list next week].
So there are other ways of making sure the PCs get their due without bending the rules on altering magic items--if you do go that route, I'd at least impose some costs or limits, though.
In my group, its a house rule that magic items that can be worn (rings, boots, circlets, armor, cloaks, etc.) will change size to fit the wearer. Weapons and other items, unless specified in the description, do not resize. I don't see the problem with polymorphing items to suit the bearer. However, one exception to this is artifacts. Artifacts should not be susceptible to polymorphing. However, since you're the DM, play it how you see fit.
Bella Sara Charter Superscriber
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Let me start by cursing polymorph for yet again working against my expectations. I played in a 3.0 campaign where the character the used a particular artifact weapon was replaced by a character specializing in an entirely different type of weapon. We used polymorph item to rectify the problem.
That annoyance aside, I don't think I would allow polymorph to change item slots. The cost of magic items linked to the type of item (so, vision effects are cheaper when imbued in goggles, movement effects in boots, etc.) From the SRD:
"Wondrous items that don’t match the affinity for a particular body slot should cost 50% more than wondrous items that match the affinity."
So, by allowing your players to use polymorph any object, you are allowing them to bypass a significant cost.
Now, that being said, if you wanted to add a material component to the casting that would equal this cost (i.e., pay 50% of the magic items costs to change its form), I think you would have a relatively balanced solution.
Monte's rules (Arcana Unearthed) include a 0-level spell called Appropriate Size which lets the caster resize an item temporarily so it can be used by someone of a different size. Based on this, an item that can re-size a weapon should cost about 1000gp - maybe 2000gp instead, since the spell has a duration of only 1 minute per level. If you think it should be cheaper, as DM, you could set it to be cheaper and it wouldn't break anything in your campaign. This item could be a ring that's designed to function only when fitted onto the haft of a weapon, or a clasp that must be clipped onto an item (for use with a cloak).